Day of the Dead and Sibiu Basketball

Hey there family and friends!(:

It was a great week this past week!

We were able to go this week to a big Sibiu Basketball game to go and support one of the members in our little branch. He and his wife and 9 month year old daughter are from the United States, and are here in Romania for him to play basketball. He is WAY good! And guess what is even more cool - hahaha they are from AMERICAN FORK! Lol and guess where they went to High School? Yes! AF High! hahaha graduates of 2012!!(: Super cool - We are super glad to have Marcel and Paige here!

We also got the chance to go with one of our members to his new job which is at a traditional Romanian bakery and that was SUPER fun! They make like 165 little loaves of bread in like 20 minutes in this HUGE brick oven, it was literally the coolest thing ever haha(: 

We met a super cute girl this week named Paula who has been coming to our English classes for a little bit - and she always loved the little spiritual thoughts that we shared at the end with her. So we offered to meet with her later on - to help her with English and talk about the gospel more and all that good stuff, and so we met, and we started to work on English, and she just kept bringing up God and faith and we were like, "well awesome!" hahaha(: So we just went right into a lesson and shared that really powerful "Because of Him" video with her. She immediately started crying, and the Spirit was SO powerful! She opened up about how she doesn't feel any self-worth, but how she knows that God will help her when she tries to do what is right. It was seriously SUCH an amazing lesson as we were able to testify that she is a daughter of God, and that the lessons that we have can bring great hope and JOY! (I love that word(: ) So we will see how it goes this week when we teach her the Restoration! Keep her in your prayers(: 

Also - on November 1st its a Romanian holiday, the Day of the Dead, where they all go to the cemetery and light a ton of candles on their ancestors graves. So Sora Gubar and I went and checked that out and it was literally the COOLEST thing ever - just a TON of candles everywhere. I truly love this country - Romania will always have my heart(: 

I sure love you guys! I hope that you'll have a great week - let me know if I can ever do anything for you!

Sora Armstrong(: 

Traditional Romanian Brick Bakery

At the cemetary!

At the Sibiu vs. Pitesti basketball game

Our District on the "Ziua de Mortilor" the day of the dead haha

Success is in the Progress!

Hey there Family and Friends!(: 

What a crazy week! So fun though - and totally just flew by!(:

So I got to head on back to CLUJ for a few days - ah it was so so awesome to see everyone and to see that amazing city!!! I tried to see Felicia but she didn't end up coming): But hopefully I will get to see her at district conference before I leave(: It was so surreal to be back - it truly is such a dear place in my heart! Will forever be a part of home for me(:  Zone Conference went really well and it was all about sharing our personal stories with people about why we came to be missionaries. It was just super powerful as we each went around and took 30 seconds to share the "why" of why we're here(: SO cool!

But this week here in Sibiu we have seen great miracles - we were able to meet with several members and we ended up having a amazing turnout at church on Sunday. Sora Gubar and I have been trying to help these members and recent converts strive to reach the next ordinance (so like the temple, priesthood, get a calling,etc) and we truly just want to help them progress. But it was so cool because this past week we sat down with 2 different members and made spiritual plans to help them go to the temple, and Cami (our recent convert from April) just received a calling yesterday to be in the Relief Society Presidency! We are so excited for this - and we know that as we continue working hard - we will know how to help them through the guidance of the Spirit to help them strengthen their testimony and the Sibiu branch. It was just so cool because often times as a missionary I think that you often measure your success by the number of baptisms you have - but in reality, you are sent to find people yes, but you are also sent to help and strengthen these members, less activies, and recent converts progress and "endure to the end" too ya know? Which is a big thing for this little branch haha(: 

We also had one of the coolest P-days ever yesterday with the Browns! We went up the mountain to go and see the famous transfagarasan freeway (look it up - its pretty cool) (: But like halfway up the mountain - we could not see ANYTHING out of Elder Browns car haha - it was just completely white. but we kept going in hopes that the storm would clear hahaha and nope. but it was awesome(: haha. SO we headed back down the mountain - saw all the amazing fall leaves (we literally experienced like 3 seasons all less than a hour haha) and then we headed to a cool Castle Fortress in a neighboring town. I literally am never ceased to be amazed about the amazing beauty of Romania! It truly is such a special country!

I hope that you guys had a great halloween - and that you'll have an amazing week(: 

sure love you all!

Sora Armstrong(: 

Gardening today with Mihai - he always gives us some awesome fruit afterwards haha(: 

Sora Brown, Sora Gubar and I at the fortress in Fagaras!(: 

We got to sit in the kings chair haha(:

Us at the Fortress(: 

We found some interesting things.

We love road trips hahaha

All of us on the top of the mountain(: 

Sora Green and I at Zone Conference!(: 

Our Halloween dinner(: 

A Literal and Spiritual Feast: It's a Win-Win!

Hey there family and friends!

It has been a great week, and we have been working hard and having a blast while doing missionary work here in Sibiu!(: 

We had an AMAZING lesson last night with one of our investigators - Claudia, and the senior couple, the browns. We had an amazing dinner at their house with her, and it turned into one of the most spiritual, unifying lessons that I have had on my mission thus far. We were able to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ - and the Spirit was so powerful. It was so great to have a Sunday meal together - it truly does just bring you like so much joy just to be together ya know? plus like good food? Then its a win-win(: I know that it made such a difference for Claudia as well. She is going to pray about setting a date this week - so we will keep you posted!

This week we are headed to CLUJ for zone conference! and I am SO STOKED to be headed back to my home city!!(: haha it will be great - I will be sure to let you know how it goes(: 

I hope that you have the best of weeks, and totally let me know if there is ever anything that I can do for you! Sure love you guys!

Sora Armstrong(:

Missionary Leadership Council in Bucharest

My Own "Fourth Floor - Last Door" Experience

Hey there Family and Friends!(:

What a crazy couple of weeks! First of all I am SO excited to say that I am staying here in the amazing city of SIBIU! It truly is SO gorgeous and I feel so blessed to be staying here with these amazing people.

We have been seeing so many different miracles this past week - and it has been so cool to see how obedience, diligence, and hard work have such an enormous connection and relation to each other ya know? My new companion (Sora Gubar) and I have been block knocking a lot this past week because it has been super cold here - and so that has been quite the adventure! You truly never know what lies behind each door ya know? haha. 

But for example, we met one of the COOLEST guys ever this past week who lived on the "Fourth Floor - at the Last Door" ( just like President Uchtdorfs last General Conference talk! #hanice) His name is "Ioan" and he is missing his right leg and lives by himself - but spends the whole day reading. So we gave him a book of Mormon and we are going to back to go see him tomorrow to see how he liked it! He said he would read so we'll see what ends up happening!

This week we are going to strive to set a baptismal date with a wonderful 22 year old girl named Claudia. She is amazing. She has attended church twice, has read several chapters in the book of Mormon (and highlighted many verses in specific colors according to how she felt) and just is so receptive to the love and peace of the Spirit. She would be such a positive influence for the branch and is just so full of light and joy! Super cool girl(: So be sure to keep her in your prayers!

Yesterday we had a super fun in the cool town of Sighisoara - which is the town where Vlad Dracul, the famous "Dracula" was born haha. We were so stoked to see his house and all that - and when we walked in..well. it wasn't what we expected hahaha - but got us all in the halloween type spirit(; haha

Sure love you guys! I hope that you have a great week - 

Sora Armstrong(:

Sora Gubar and I(:

Us with Eugen!(:

We went to Sighisoara this week for P-day(: an AMAZING cute little town where "dracula" was born haha(: 

Dracula was in Dracula's house hahaha(: so we took a selfie with him. 

Last Transfer - Staying in Sibiu

(Only received pictures this week! Alyssa is staying in Sibiu and has a new companion from the Ukraine).

A Romanian cemetery

Us with Eugen(: a member from the branch here

The mountains of Sibiu have SNOW!!!(: 

We all ordered the largest pizza in Sibiu - it was awesome (: #hanice

One of the largest Orthodox churches here(:

Eugen is a UTE fan - heck yes!!(: hahaha - the conversion continues(; hehe jk

Big Companionship Goals - 100 people in One Week!

Hey there!(: 

Sorry for the super short email this week once again - but it was truly such a good week and I am so excited for this upcoming one!

The past few days we were in Bucharest for MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) and it was amazing! We had a great time and we learned so so much about how to get the mission going with finding. Our mission received the challenge 2 years ago from President Kearon to be teaching 7 lessons a week per companionship, and finding 2 new investigators per week. We have been achieving the lessons goal, and have even reached 8 lessons a week per companionship - but we are still needing to work on finding new people. It was so cool because we talked about why that is so important, and it lead a lot to the subject of agency. That truly is such an amazing and special gift that is such an important part of Gods plan. 

So this upcoming week Sora Chandler and I are going to strive to talk to over 100 people together. AH!(: It will be awesome(: And we are going to try to not only just talk to them, but have a meaningful conversation with them. 

We are going to be showing the movie, meet the mormons this upcoming Saturday and we are on the mission to invite the ENTIRE city of Sibiu haha(: To come and hear about this!(: Its the last week of this transfer - and so we are going to try and give it all we got! I love Sora Chandler so so much and we have had an amazing past 5 weeks together -we have truly become such great friends and we have worked hard to push each other to be the best missionaries and people we can be. 

I sure love you guys! We will see if I will be staying here in Sibiu for my last transfer or not on Saturday - and I will be sure to let you know Monday! 

Have a great week!(: 

Sora Armstrong

Serving Up MIci Burgers at the Branch BBQ - Not a fan!

Hey there!(: 

This week was quite the week - full of all sorts of adventures here in Sibiu haha(: 

To start it all off we had a big huge branch BBQ on Saturday night which actually turned out really well! We had about 20 people there, including the 6 missionaries which is a pretty good record for Sibiu!(: 4 investigators came too which was awesome!(: The Relief Society made scripture bags #hanice and then the men were all downstairs cooking. They made some french fries and stuffed cheese mushrooms and Mici hamburgers. If you don't know what mici is - its like a Romanian sausage that is basically the meat AND parts of a pig, cow, and lamb all mixed together. nasty. So they made that meat into hamburgers haha it was so gross. but they all loved it. And to make things even more disgusting, after church yesterday there was extra mici from the night before, and we have no microwave, so for Priesthood they were all eating cold mici hamburgers haha #gross

So anyways! A lot of our lessons fell through this week unfortunately - but we were able to go contacting a lot which was pretty fun(: Sibiu is FINALLY getting some cold weather and so we are so excited to not be dying in the heat anymore haha(: 

This week I met a WAY cool family from New Zealand who are actually living in Brasov and came to Sibiu for a quick visit. They had the coolest accents ever!(: haha. But anyways - they were such open, happy, and bright people who just were so excited to hear more! It was so cool because after a week of just trying and trying - we finally found an amazing family! A tender mercy for sure(: 

Sure love you guys! Have a great week!

Sora Armstrong(: