Kicking Iarna's Trash

Well I am having Galați (pronunced gah-lots) of fun in Galați! It is definitely very different compared to Bucharest but I am really liking it so far.  

Galați is in the eastern part of the country next to the Danube river.  The accent here is so different and I am really surprised at how weird it is!  My Romanian accent is a western accent and my companion Sora Wright (she is 21, from Massachusetts and one group ahead of me) has a Moldovan (east) accent!  It is super fun!  We get along really well and we are going to have a great transfer here.  We are really happy and bubbly and we definitely stand out! We are sister training leaders, which means we get to go on exchanges with other sisters in other areas and help them in their work- so that will be exciting!  

I really do miss Bucharest, which is weird because at first I really didn't like it one bit but it was so sad to leave behind all of our investigators, ward members and city friends.  Sora Trebas is still serving in Bucharest and I miss her so much!  One of the newest rules in our mission is that we aren't allowed to email other missionaries in our mission....so that will be hard for me to not be able to check up on her!  Every rule has a blessing though.  If we can follow the mission rules we will be blessed.  

I really don't have a ton of time to email today- we have to be home early today, our apartment is getting some work done.  Will send more pictures next week!

Te pup!  Pa pa!

Loving the work, Loving the people and Loving the Lord,

-Sora Kendall Lee

PS The subject of our email is "Kicking winter's trash" because it is FREEZING here and despite the cold we are going to work like crazy this transfer!

Me and Sora Wright

 The sweet building next to our church

The communist amphitheater behind the church

Sister Training Leader Round 2 !

Well Transfer Boards came out and I found out that I get to be a sister training leader again, but this time in Galaţi and I a super excited!  6 months ago I went on an exchange with sisters there when I was an STL in Iaşi so it will be kind of cool to hit those streets again!  

This also means that me and Sora Trebas are going to be separated and it makes me want to cry.  It's always hard to say goodbye to a companion that you love.  I know that we will be friends after this mission- we even made a list of things we have to do when she gets home!

So this week was a great one.

SPECIAL FRIENDS:

We had the opportunity to visit our special friends this week and it was incredible.  They are the absolutely sweetest spirits in the whole world.  My mom had sent me several "Choose The Right (CTR)" rings in my Christmas package and so Sora Trebas and I prepared a little lesson to share with them.  I shared the lesson about why we should make good choices and Sora Trebas played and sang the hymn "choose the right" for them on the guitar! In Romanian, they say "Alege ce e drept" and at the end of the lesson all of the kids put on their rings and yelled, "Alege ce e drept!"  It was a moment that will stay in my heart forever.  

We also invited them to church on Sunday and they came!!!!! It was such a wonderful experience and I was just so happy.  Ah, I LOVE SPECIAL FRIENDS!

FRIENDS ALL OVER THE CITY:

This week we met up with all of our friends around the city and said goodbye to them.  It's amazing how many people we have met who we helped learn about the church.  I have really learned that the way we choose to behave says a lot about who we are.  How we look, how we speak..it really does a lot of talking for us!  

We have no time, I gotta go!

LOVING the People, LOVING the work and LOVING the Lord!

:) Sora Lee

Sora Vasile

I Love HER!

Special Friends!

Ward members!

Goodbye Buc!

                          Marian! He has the coolest mustache! (Our favorite guard and future stake president)

Gabriel- so chill.  Our goal every day is to make him smile

Emil!  He will be a member one day!

Ugly Shoes = Miracle Makers

This week was incredible.  Sora Trebas and I only have one more week together before Transfer Boards come out next week.  They usually split up the trainer from the trainee so we are bummed but we decided to make these last few days "perfect" days!  We had an incredibly busy week and we were so happy that we got to have another "perfect"day.  I have also been in Bucharest for 6 months.....CRAZY.  I wonder if I will be transferred to a new city....cine știe?

6 months left . . . . . 

SACRIFICES

One thing that my mission has taught me is how grateful I should be to have so much freedom to make my own choices.  Back in the states, you can do just about whatever you want- and people recognize that everyone has their own agency. Want to have purple hair and run around in your undies?  Go for it.  Do your own thing, do what makes you happy.  Here, it's a lot different.  If you stray away from the "norm"you are  an outcast. You're shunned.  This week while meeting with several ward members, we learned of the sacrifices that they had to make to become members of the church here.  People gave everything up and I never had to.  

We have an incredible investigator who was kicked out of her apartment, dropped by her friend base and is now struggling to find a job because she is meeting with "the Mormons".  Her testimony touched my heart.  She called us after church one day and said, "Sora Lee, I don't understand what I am doing wrong.  I came to church, and I felt so much peace and happiness, I have never felt that way before in my life.  You are good people, peaceful people with good hearts.  I don't know why people hate you, or this church.  But Sora Lee, I can go through all of these problems because I know that this is true, that this is something good.  It is my choice to change my life. It isn't my landlord's choice, my mother's choice or my friends' choice, it is my choice".  

She is so right.  

UGLY SHOES AWESOME STORY

My dumb knee has been giving me flack this week so Sora Trebas got me to wear my classic sister missionary clunker shoes.  Embarrassment.  The most stylish city in Romanian and I have refrigerators strapped to my feet haha.  

Ugly shoes = miracle makers. 

We had the perfect day that day!  It was incredible!  So SO great!  

Ugly shoes = magic (?)

While waiting at the post office to pick up a package we had a really awesome experience.  We see this man walk in with an American flag hat on and I'm like, "Yes, we have to talk to him!" So we get chatting and he is like, "Your Romanian is great, are you Romanian? " HAPPIEST DAY OF MY MISH and I said no, I'm American.  And he asked us why were here.  We told him we were missionaries with the  . . . and pointed to our name tags.  He had never heard about the church.  

"Ați auzit despre Mormonii?  Suntem :) "

And once I told him we were Mormon he kind of shut off.  I took it as an opportunity to explain to him why that's our nickname, and told him about the Book of Mormon.  Taught a little baby lesson in the post office, as I'm sitting on a half broken bench up against a moist wall.  The man was humbled, thanked us for the information and wished us a very sincere "good luck" with the work here.  We gave him a card with more info on it and invited him to learn more before he left with his package.  

So in all of the hurry and scurry in the post office, this man comes up to us, and starts talking to us in English.  Come to find out that he is from Italy and is working in Romania.  He asked us if we worked here (name tags make us look so official) and we told him no.  So he asked us who we were.  So we told him!  He was so cool and we taught another little baby lesson right there.  

It was just awesome.  Thank you ugly shoes, thank you!

YEAR MARK

We celebrated my year mark at the Hard Rock cafe.  Our waiter, Bogdan made it so fun for us- he let us choose all of the music we wanted to hear!  Ha ha! Talk about a tender mercy of the Lord!    Most of the ingredients were imported from America . . . and  . . .we learned that American dairy products WRECK US.  But anyways it was a super cool moment and we shared a little message with Bogdan as well.  We also did some "normal people contacting" as we grooved along to Queen!  For some reason...people here think Mormons can't sing or dance or listen to music or use computers........people honestly think we are Amish or cannibals. 

True fact.  

LOVING the work, LOVING the people and LOVING the Lord. 

:) Sora Lee

Photo 1: I wore the ugly shoes!

Photo 2: Leebas at eh Hard Rock!

Photo 3: Some of the coolest members ever, the Brînaru family, who sacrificed SO MUCH to join the church. They also live outside of Bucharest La Țara, or in the countryside and we headed out there to visit them this week!

Photo 1: I wore the ugly shoes!

Photo 2: Leebas at the Hard Rock!

Photo 3: Some of the coolest members ever, the Brînaru family, who sacrificed SO MUCH to join the church. They also live outside of Bucharest La Țara, or in the countryside and we headed out there to visit them this week!

Photo 1: Piftie - IDK Meat jello with garlic powder dumped inside..... a DELICACY here..

Photo 2: Sick building of the week

Photo 3: PINK SNOW

Making the Best Out of CRAPpy Situations

LA MULȚI ANI!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Lah- mole- tss- aahn)

HEY EVERYONE!  I hope you all had a rocking New Year!

NEW YEAR NEW FRIENDS:

For our New Year we had to be inside by 8pm for safety reasons, which was perfect for us because Sora Trebas and I were exhausted.  We came home, ate dinner/ showered, finished her 12 Week new missionary studies, and then decided to run some banana bread that we made over to our nice neighbors.  We were in our pjs so we figured, "They won't invite us in like this-we're good".  Welp, they open there door and we're like,

""We made bread for you!" Followed by lots of air fist pumping, giggling and smiles.

They were like, 

"You just must come in, we are having a little party, come in"

And we were like, 

"We can't we have stuff to do"

Let me just say this: It is really hard to tell a Romanian "no". 

So we come in, Mormon missionaries in pjs and wet hair.  Slummin' it up.  Everyone inside is dressed up to the nines, and here I am, grateful that I wiped the zit cream off my face. We are Bffs with their daughter, Anna Maria, and she is like, "Hey!  Come meet my friends!" So we meet them, pjs and wet hair and all haha.  It was a very humbling moment.  We sat on the floor of  her bedroom , surrounded by 2 of her best friends (they thought we were so cool because we were American and everything we said in English made them smile) and we just talked.  

They started asking us about things we didn't do, (smoking, drinking, and other things) and we got to bear a little testimony of how our bodies are a gift from God and how we need to take care of them.  They thought it was super cool!  Then her friend was like, "So you're religious?  What church?" So we were like, oh the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and she just looked so confused.  

"Have you heard of Mormons?" 

And she said, "No.  But I think you 'Mormons' are really cool people!" #success

Then Anna Maria's dad is like, "Girls come drink some beer! " Haha and we just laughed and told him no.  He knows we can't but he always offers it to us...haha we love him.  

We leave after a good solid 10 minute conversation explaining why we can't stay for the party and our neighbors really liked how dedicated we are to this cause.  They gave us plates of yummy food to snack on to celebrate the New Year.  We ate it and then decided to go to bed after our 10PM prayer.  

OH CRAP:

So we wake up 4 hours later....and Mama Food Poisoning was going to work.  Mama's wrath came every 20 minutes.  We got no sleep that night.  

We were out for 3 days.  But Mama finally let us alone.  

We got a lot of studies done these past few days and I've learned a couple hundred new words- yay!  

Lesson learned : Make the best out of crappy situations.

EXCHANGE WITH SORA SCHWAB - "THE PERFECT DAY"

President Ivory has issued "The Perfect Day"- which involves, 3 hours of studies, 3 "POPs" (short, spiritual lesson practices), 3 Prayers (one at 6:30, one at 10am and one at 10pm), 3 Lessons  (one with a member, one with a less active member and one with an investigating friend), and 3 hours of contacting.  

AND WE ACCOMPLISHED IT!!!!!  Ah!  It was incredible.  

We taught a taxi driver the Plan of Salvation, defended our beliefs in another taxi.  

We found a less active member, who is 22 years old and hilarious.  We made such a great bond with her and we are excited to visit her again.  Best part was, her bloc was open (hardest part!) and she LET US IN!  AHHH!!!!!  

We also had a lesson with Luana and Luca and we are currently preparing them for baptism!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

It was just an all around cool day.  Sora Schwab and I always have the best exchanges. Our last exchange, I was her STL and we drank from a well in Moldova!!!!!!!!!!

I also LOVE Sora Trebas.  She is just my best friend and the work goes way smoother when you love your companion.  We will be sad to say goodbye to each other in 2 weeks when we will get transferred but our goal - LEEBUS TAKES MOLDOVA!   Coming to theaters near you in Summer 2015.   

Loving the work, Loving the people and Loving the Lord,

:) Sora Lee

P.S. I HIT MY ONE YEAR MARK THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo 1:  We got a lot more snow!  Uite! (Look!) An orthodox church!

Photo 2:  Sometimes our water comes us dirty . . . water

Photo 3:  Check these OUT!

Photo 1:  We got a lot more snow!  Uite! (Look!) An orthodox church!

Photo 2:  Sometimes our water comes us dirty . . .

Photo 3:  Check these OUT!

CHRISTMAS IN ROMANIA (Is Da Best)

I don't have a lot of time to email today but I just wanted to tell you all just how much God loves you.  

This Christmas, I got to spend in another country, away from my family and away from all of the bows and ribbons that seem to make up Christmas in America.  And, this Christmas has been my favorite one, because this Christmas, I focused on Christ.  

Every day we defend our beliefs, and strive to represent Jesus Christ and I'm starting to get a glimpse of what the Savior's life must have been like.  

This Christmas we focused on serving and helping others and in return, we found others serving and helping us.  

On Christmas morning, as we headed home to our apartment, after having talked to everyone on the metro (no one seemed thrilled to talk to us or even smile to our "Merry Christmas" wishes) and we felt down.  Just like :

"Seriously?  No one wants to talk about Christ...and today is Christmas!"

Then Sora Trebas and I walk up to our bloc and we just start talking about how we wish we had a "Little Princess" moment (EVERYONE WATCH THIS MOVIE NOW) and how when we came into our apartment it would just be filled with food and warm and goodness.  

We get out of the elevator and our neighbors come out.

"Where were you girls?  We have been beating on your door all morning, we made you a Christmas meal".  And out comes Mrs. Neighbor with a huge silver tray, piled high with Romanian delicacies.  She even threw in a little candle.  

Treebs and I started crying- someone thinking about us?  On Christmas?  We were bawling, we had our "Little Princess" moment and Mrs. Neighbor, kept saying, "Why are you crying girls?  Be happy, it's Christmas".  We just thanked them over and over again.

I know that Heavenly Father blesses his children and he often helps us through other people.  

The phrase, "Never be weary in well doing" is seriously so true. 

I loved this Christmas, I love being a missionary

I love Romania, I love Sora Trebas 

And as always,

I'm Loving the work, Loving the People, and Loving the Lord

:) Sora Lee

PS We had so much fun this week too- sorry for the picture spam over load!  

PSS Here is my blog link to those of you who wanted it http://browneyedgirltakesontheworld.blogspot.ro/

                                                                       Buch is pretty

                                                             Hard ROCK district dinner!

                                                           Christmas Eve was SUNNY!

 

                                                     Caroling in the park on Christmas Eve!                                       

                                                   California Christmas- no jacket needed

                                                 

                                                      Man suntanning from window!  OK!

                                                                         DOGS WOOF!

                                                                     My big spoon!

                                                                       Outside the targ

                                                                             I'm happy

                                                          

                                                                       Naked friends

                                                                Smiley spoon loves KFC

                                                               Me and da xmas bucket

                                                                      The xmas sun!

                                                                 Some sweet factory pics

                                                   Layin in da street cause no one was outside

                                                          Chillin with our silly glasses

                                                                        The miracle food

REMEMBER WHEN I was being trained in Timi and I walked around on Christmas and told everyone "Christmas Fish?" instead of "Happy Easter"? Well, look what got passed around at our white elephant gift exchange-A CHRISTMAS FISH!

 

                                                  We also built a fort and did our studies in it!

                                              Cover your plants with bottle or they'll freeze!

                                                                    A cool monument

        Meat on the line.  Ahhh yeah.  You know it's cold when it's colder outside than in your refrigerator!

                                                                          Pretty parks

                                        

                                                                           My friends

                                                            Modeling with my home girl

Being unicorns

                                                                              COLD

                                                          Pretty snow covered stuff!