Brown Eyed Girl Takes on the World: 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!