Sora Armstrongs Adventures in Romania & Moldova: First Generation Baptism

Hey Everyone!

This week was great! It's been beautiful here in Cluj, I honestly love it here..probably one of my favorite spots in the entire world(:

So I turned 20 this week! AHHH! But honestly - it was a great day(: It turned out to be Elder nelsons birthday as well so we all went out to a fun dinner, and earlier that day we went to Adriana's and Stefan's house and they fed us SARMALE! One of my favorite things EVER!(: She is honestly the best - she made a homemade cake, gave me a beautiful silver bracelet, flowers, just like SO kind! I like totally started crying because I just felt so loved, and when you're surrounded by the people you love, what more can you ask for?(: ya know?

Last week we had a baptism in our branch, and it was for a little boy named Razvan who is 9(: It was a really special baptism for our branch, because it was the first child to be baptized into our branch. The first generation of children in Romania. Everyone else who has been baptized into our branch has been a convert when they first met the missionaries with their families. Razvan was born into the church, and now was the first to be baptized. It was so exciting to see the Branch so happy and supportive. Of course, because we live in Romania, things had to be interesting though. Because our church is in a house, we don't have a baptismal font...we have a basin/pool thing that we had to set up the morning of, just like how Liviu's was(: We got to the church around 10:30 I believe and the Elders were already there trying to figure out the water system. Hahaha it took us all morning to figure out connecting hoses, trying to get warm water, filling buckets with hot water....when finally we figured out a way. By connecting a hose to the shower in the top floor of the house...and then feeding the hose out the window. #hanice. Luckily we had our investigator ANGEL there so he helped us out haha(: #yesss

We also went to the Botanical Gardens here in Cluj. We went with the Nelsons, and Felicia, and it was so pretty! Flowers EVERYWHERE. Cluj is seriously just gorgeous right now because there are trees and flowers everywhere you look.

Transfers are this weekend and we are freaking out because we have no idea what is going to happen. Sora Falkenberg and I really want to stay together, but because I've been here for over 6 months we aren't sure what will happen..... AND Felicia's baptism is next weekend on the 30th (that's the for sure date because her friend from Italy is coming then), and so if I leave, I would miss her baptism by just a few days....but its okay! All that matters is that she is takin this next step ya know?

The Nelsons, the Senior couple that moved to Cluj are SO SO great. We love them!! They help us out so much. They have been going to appointments with us, they have been helping us with our lessons, Sora Nelson is a fabulous cook and makes us homemade meals making us feel a little bit more at home. And Elder Nelson is hilarious(: He was in the Navy so he has been teaching me all the military sayings haha like "She walks she talks she's full of chalk." or like "Alpha, bravo, charlie..." They just crack me up and are such an addition to our branch here! A HUGE strength(: and great friends!(:

Felicia is doing great, and she is so prepared for her upcoming baptism. She just has such a testimony that this church is true and that it brings her so much happiness. Yesterday after church President Ivory and Sora Ivory skype called her because they speak Italian and we thought it would be a good idea to talk with them. She started crying telling President that she feels so loved here, and she feels like we are family. She told us she is so proud of us for being here in Romania, doing good things for the people. I just love her!

Well, that's about it for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I will keep you posted on what ends up happening(:

Sora Armstrong