Romanian Plumbing...Fun Times!

Hey there friends and family!

This week was honestly quite a long one, but all is well, we are doing great(:

We started off the week by having yet another great cultural experience with Romanian plumbing. We have a drain in the floor of our bathroom, where the bathtub, bathroom sink,and kitchen sink all drain too - and it ended up completely exploding hahaha. Green stuff and water was everywhere. We couldn't use the sinks or bathtub for days without water erupting all over the bathroom haha - so we poured some drain-o down, and a few hours later, the water still was clogged, but didn't come up out of the drain...it was draining somewhere else. Long story short, all the water that we used, and the neighbors above us used, ended up in the ceiling of our downstairs neighbor...ah poor guy. He came and shut off our water like 5 times and was SO mad haha, but eventually our landlady came to help us out, got the water problem fixed after a few days, and all was well. 

Also this week poor Sora Wyatt wasn't feeling too good, so we were inside for a few days, but we ended up getting all ready for zone conference that is going to happen here in Cluj later this week! Its going to be great!(: 

So after the drain fiasco and some medicine/rest for Sora wyatt - we had a great lesson with one of our hilarious eternal investigators named Edith haha ah I love this lady. She is SO awesome. (same lady who spoon fed me the stomach soup) haha(: Anyways, this week we went and talked about temples with her, but the whole time she was SO sad because the brand new white pan that she had bought, got discolored after she used it one time. I have never seen Edith more distraught. She looked near tears...and just stared at this poor pan for like 20 minutes straight without saying a word. Ah we felt so bad...so we ended up going to Cora (like a grocery store) and buying her the exact same pan haha. We tried to "doorbell ditch it" on her front door, but after like 10 tries, still nothing haha. we had her neighbor go down there and knock the door - and ah she was so happy! Ah I sure love her haha(: It was one of the main highlights of my mission for sure(: 

I hope you all have a great week this upcoming week! And if there is EVER anything I can do for any of you guys, like buying you a new pan(; let me know! Its great hearing from you(: 

Love you guys!

Sora Armstrong

The new pan for Edith!

Fun times from last transfers(: Me and some of my cute friends from my MTC group!!

Our Valentine's Dinner.....Romanian Stomach Soup

Hey there Family and Friends!(:

This week was super awesome, a lot of crazy and exciting things, but a lot of amazing things as well!

To start it all off, we went and visited our dear investigator named Edith. She's in her 60's and has been investigating the church for over 11 years now, and is just this dear dear sweet woman haha. Seriously love her so much(: Anyways, we headed over there and she made us lunch, and usually its super incredible Romanian Food....but she made us a surprise. Romanian Stomach Soup. Yep. I wish I was kidding. My stomach did not like having another stomach in it  AT ALL haha. Bless her heart. These people here literally use EVERY part of the cow, which ya know, is great haha but man it was different.

Later on in the week we went to visit this cute member, and she fed us some awesome Romanian Food as well, including Fat Soup. Literally. Just imagine clear broth with 5 or 6 white ball/potato looking things of Cow and Pig fat. Yep...I"ll just leave it at that haha.

All food experiences aside, we met with some really amazing people. We were able to meet with this AMAZING new investigator named Felicia. She is originally from Romania, but moved to Italy for work for 14 years, and then recently came back here. She is so awesome you guys. She moved back to Romania on a Friday, and came to church that same Sunday! That was about two weeks ago, and hadn't been able to met until this past Saturday, but we were finally able to sit down with her and talk about how she is, where she is at, etc. We also got in touch with the sister missionaries who taught her in Italy! One of the sisters who taught her is Sorella Anderson, who was in the MTC with me and my group at the same time! It was such a tender mercy because I had already had her email, and so we were able to obtain her teaching record. Turns out she has been taught most of the lessons except for a few of the commandments, and apparently had a baptismal date in Italy. We cannot wait to discuss it with her, and see how we can continue to help her progress!(: SO PUMPED!!

We didn't get to see Angel this week, but we were able to meet with Sebi and Ana, with the Iepures present! The branch president and his wife! It was great to see them strengthen their friendship, and as we watched the Restoration with all 4 of them, they all participated and added really good comments, including Ana. It was a highlight for SURE!!!(:

I sure hope that you guys had a great week, and that you will have one in continuare!(: Sure Love and miss you all!!(: 

Sora Armstrong 

Sora Wyatt always takes random pictures of me.....ha ha.....

...so then I take random photos of her...ha ha! 

So Many Sheep!!!

First off, a little bit of a downer, we couldn't meet with our investigators Sebi and Ana this week. They were also unable to come to church because Edward (Sebi's son)  made soccer finals so they were in Timisoara. haha he's a good dad(: BUT we were able to work super hard and meet with a lot of our other investigators which ended up working great(: 

We had the opportunity to meet with Angle a couple of times this week. He is SO awesome. Literally, amazes me every time we meet with him. We wanted to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week but he ended up having some questions about the restoration that we went over instead so that was great. He seems to have a really great understanding for the Restoration now and accepts it readily. He keeps asking questions and then being like "Í'm sorry  I have so many questions but this is all new information to me!" And we are like "no no no fire away!" But it is so cool because he just accepts it as truth because of the spirit he feels from it. So cool. He is just super great. haha yep #rockstar

We have also been working with a less active family here who is actually from America, the Sheilt family. The mom is married to a convert to the church named Jason who is Hilarious haha, they have 2 kids Cora (9) and Carson (5) who are super cute and seem to have been taught the gospel basics pretty well at home. It is cool because Sora Shielt is always open to us sharing a message with the kids and wants them to know good principles. We have been working hard to try to build trust with them because they are just such a wonderful family and yesterday we ended up being able to go on a cool adventure with them for our preparation day. We went out to the country side to this little village called Rimetea and had lunch and hiked to this SUPER cool old castle ruins in Coltesti. It was so incredible! Really felt just super Romanian haha, there were fields of sheep and goats everywhere, and people washing their plates and things in the stream, it was awesome(:

it really was just such an amazing week. I am SO grateful for Romania, and for the chance to be here with these people and in this beautiful culture and language - its been such a huge blessing and I am grateful for every minute!!(:

Have a great week you guys!(:

Sora Armstrong

Exploring a castle in Coltesti Romania

Jamming out to Romanian Primary Songs (Nephi's Courage) haha

Me and my bud Carson(:

All the sheeps!

It's Raining....MIRACLES!

Hello everyone! 

This week was great here in Cluj! Been thinking a extra lot about Corina this week because she left for her job in England...but things are all good and she is going to be meeting with the missionaries there so it will all work out(: Also found out that I will be staying here in Cluj for another 6 weeks with Sora Wyatt! Super rare - but we are SO pumped!!!:) Can't wait for what's in store! (Also hit my 8th month mark this week and FREAKED out haha) (:

We started off by going on a fun Exchange this week!  We got to go to a city here called Oradea! It is so beautiful there! I loved it! :) I was with Sora Brinkman for my exchange and she is just one of the nicest people ever. We had a couple lessons with some great investigators of theirs, had a great language study and  ate lunch at this really cute investigators house. The investigator used to be a chef so the food was SO good! We taught her about prophets and Jesus Christ's ministry on earth, and it was so SO cool to hear the experiences that she has had with the Savior and how she has seen what a blessing the atonement is in her life. its so personal and unique to everyone - its amazing(:

A fun adventure that we had this week was visiting a family from our branch--the Kiss family (pronounced keesh)--they live in a little town just outside of Cluj called Floresti. In order to get out there you have to take 1 bus to the end of the line and then wait for another bus that comes about twice every hour so it is a little bit of a process getting out there. As we were walking to the bus stop it started to rain pretty hard and by the time the 2nd bus had come we were pretty soaked haha but we were determined to visit them! We got to Floresti and got off the bus, it was still raining and they live pretty far from the stop so we were walking along the road tramping through the mud and the rain. When we finally got there I am pretty sure they didn't even recognize us at first but it was a great lesson. They have 3 little kids so we brought my guitar and we all sang I am a Child of God together. Honestly SO awesome(: 

Yesterday we had 6 investigators in church again! It was super cool! 2 of them were Sebi and Ana ( I talked about them earlier)- they are just rockstars. We love them. Edith also came, she has been investigating the church for about 11 years now. She is a great lady but her progress has sort of halted because she wont take that next step to baptism even though she comes to church more frequently than some of the members. 

We also had a really cool miracle, there is a family in the branch named the Militaru family and they have been investigating about as long as Edith has. The whole branch knows and loves this family because there was a time in the past where the whole family would come to church together. In our coordination meeting before church we talked about how we could help them all start coming to church again because they have not come as a family in a really long time. The father is against his wife and 16 year old daughter being baptized so it is a bit of a hard situation. After the meeting we went downstairs and the Sacrament meeting started as usual but half way through the 2nd hymn the Militaru family walked in the door! It was so cool! After church we set up to meet with them this week so we are REALLY excited about that. 

Our last friend in church yesterday was also a sort of a little miracle. A lady walked in during the announcements that we had never seen before. She looked a little lost but we talked to her, found out her name was Felicia and she had been living in Rome for 14 years where she found the missionaries, but has now moved back to Cluj! The missionaries in Italy gave her our address and so there she was. The crazy thing is she just got here on Friday and yet she took a break from busy moving to come to church. She stayed for the investigator's class and was making great comments! We are so pumped to start meeting with her this week! Just some amazing miracles this week for sure(: 

I sure love all of ya'll! And I hope you have an AMAZING week!(: 

Sora Armstrong

Last District Pic with Elder Blaylock! (Look how well coordinated we are - District Unity!)

SOAKING WET after the HUGE rainstorm. 

From the Branch Christmas dinner - just something fun to see. That's Sarmale! 

One of the Coldest Weeks....Calls for Milkshakes!

Hey there family and friends!(: 

It was such a great week and I hope that ya'll were able to have the same! 

Yesterday we were able to have a lesson with two of our most progressing investigators named Sebi and Ana. They are ROCKSTARS! SO classy(: haha and just so spiritually ready ya know? Sebi immediately began talking about the Book of Mormon, a few seconds after they came through the door haha - and said how he had read till the middle of Mosiah, but had started over because he wanted to highlight and underline things, as well as remember the history and genealogy of it all. He had cut up yellow post it notes to mark his favorite spots - and had underlined and wrote in ways that he could apply the messages and stories contained. SO awesome. 

We taught them the Restoration  - and it went really really well. When introducing prophets - we asked if they had a favorite one and Ana immediately said "Moses,} and Sebi sat and thought for a while and finally said...."Alma was a prophet, right?" I would have to say my favorite prophet is Alma" haha it was so great! We were  just like YESSS! haha 10 points to each of you(: Loved it! Such a great highlight of the week.

Also this week we were able to meet with our most progressing investigator at the moment named Angel,  the music student from Mexico. He is a rockstar!!! So talented and SO receptive to the Spirit. We were also able to teach him the Restoration this week - and he, as well as Sebi, said how he just felt complete, true peace. We are striving and fasting that we will be able to set a baptismal date with him sometime this week - so be sure to keep him in your prayers! 

On Wednesday there was a World Wide Missionary Training and it was awesome! My big take away was the fact that our first responsibility is to testify of Christ, when we don't know what to talk about, testify of Him! He is our message! 

I sure love each and every one of you guys - and hope that you have a great week(: 

Love,

Sora armstrong

Sora Wyatt and I - Guitar Skills! (:

We discovered how to make milkshakes hehehe. 

Tried it with blueberries, banana, strawberry and oreo. #hanice (: 

The Church Continues to Grow in Cluj!

Hey there family and friends!!(: 

We got a TON of snow dumped on us Saturday night and right now the whole city is covered in snow.  It is beautiful! (no more slipping this week) hehe(: 

We had a bit of an interesting week this week! We kicked it off with a doctors visit (always fun in Romania) to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor for Sora Wyatt. Poor girl couldn't hear well at all due to a super bad ear infection that she had): Actually funny story though. There was this super weird creepy guy on the bus saying just full out weird, bizarre things to us, saying how Mormons come from another planet or something, and Sora Wyatt didn't hear it at all haha. Had no idea that the guy was even talking to us haha. So probably a good thing in that situation - but after the doctor and some medicine - she is doing a whole lot better and is hearing just fine(: 

We also visited a Less Active member named Viorica on Friday Evening. I was able to bring my guitar so we jammed out with her and sang some fun hymns with her(: It was so cute because she used to be a opera singer so she was singing really loud and told us how much she loved that we came to visit her because she is all alone. We told her that she could feel the spirit of the Hymns every Sunday at church and she could feel the friendship that is there. She says she misses that, but unfortunately we didn't see her at church this week! We are going to keep trying though!

We are also really excited right now about our friend Angel - a 26 year old music student from Mexico. He is smiling CONSTANTLY! Haha its awesome!!!(: We have met with him a few times this past week - and even found some Spanish pamphlets that we can give to him in future lessons. He is really wanting to practice English and so we have been working with him on that - but have really developed a strong bond with him talking about guitar, language, and the gospel. He's been to church twice now which is so great and has made fast friends with several of the members!  They all call him "Fratele Angel" already hehe(: So cute! And he wore his nice sunday shoes and vest to church! We were SO proud of him! haha love it! We are going to try and set a baptismal date with him this week which would be HUGE!(: There was only one baptism last year in the Cluj branch - but its super exciting cause we are close with about 4 people! The church is just continuing to grow and grow!(: 

I hope each and every one of you had a magnificent week - and that you are getting at least some of this fun snow haha(: I love and miss each one of you!

Sora Armstrong 

Cluj never ceases to amaze me!(: 

Cluj never ceases to amaze me!(: 

Me and the Romanian flags(: 

Stay Positive...and Don't Let the Little Things Get You Down!

Hey there family and friends!

This week was super crazy busy - but totally worth it(:

To start it all off...IT SNOWED!! AH FINALLY! I was SUPER excited and was just running around haha. It totally felt like Christmas all over again(:

This week we didn't let any snow or gypsies or anything hold us back - we had a TON of lessons and just worked really with all we had. But was so good and cool about it was that we worked super super hard, but we also had a TON of fun(:

For example it was like a full out blizzard so we headed out with our scarves and gear and we make it like 30 feet out the door when my bag totally breaks. Past the point of no return haha and it was only just the start. So we headed back home and got another bag and tried to start out again - but we both ended up falling down the stairs haha ah it was rough - but we just picked ourselves back up and kept heading out(:

We ended up having an awesome lesson with a less active that went really well about the Savior - but as we got up to leave - and started to walk down the hill to the bus stop - we totally slipped and fell again right after the Jehovahs witness'  church at the bottom of that hill got out of their weekday service. It was brilliant hahaha and of course they TOTALLY knew who we were so that made it even more of a sweet experience haha(: They just kept shouting "Mormonii" and shaking their heads - but Sora Wyatt and I were just laughing our heads off haha - it was so fun(:

So our day just kept going like this - slipping and falling and drunk people and gypsies and it was a day that was just...rough and discouraging. But what was super cool is that even though we both knew that it was a rough day, we did our best to have fun and turn it around into a positive thing(:

And it was so worth it(: Later that night we had a lesson with one of our main progressing investigators named Corina. AH SHE IS A ROCKSTAR! She is 25 and seriously is such a tender mercy! She has had 3 lessons with us this week and has read 41 pages in the Book of Mormon! ITS SO COOL! We had a super powerful, Spirit-filled lesson about how God has a plan for each and every one of us - and how we can receive inspiration and power and guidance through the Book of Mormon. We are going to try and set a baptismal date with her this week so be sure to keep her in your prayers as well.

Anyways - after this lesson Sora Wyatt and I were talking about how amazing that lesson went - and how important it really is to just stay positive and not let the little things get you down. I really truly think that if we had let the snow and all the things that had happened that day take a tole on us - we really wouldn't have been as positive or as strong in the lesson that we had with Corina that night.

So don't worry - be happy!(:  I sure love you guys! Have a great week!

Sora Armstrong

(Let It Snow!!!!) 

(A random pig leg in the street....#romania)