Fall + Hospitals....but not hospitals because I'm falling. Hospitals bc I accidentally stabbed myself in the hand hahhahaha

HELLO EVERYONE!

Scripture of the week WOOOHOOOO: Hebrews 6:10-15. ESPECIALLY 10!!!! Email me if you read it and tell my your thoughts :)

It is fall here in Arad. After the weird pre-winter weather we've been having the past few weeks, the leaves are changing and the sun is COMING OUUUUUT! So I don't have to wear my snow coat and 4 layers underneath it anymore hahaha.

Okay but yes. So. I stabbed my hand with a sharp knife. It was very painful. And there was lots of blood hahahahaha. STORY TIME: Okay so since the water isn't safe to drink from the tap, we have a water filter system in our apartment. But ours has a problem with squirting everywhere (ok I've been in Romania too long... I just spelled squirting phonetically... "skwurting" HAHAH oops). So I tried fixing it. Ended up breaking the faucet like really bad hahahaha. Anyways. Not too sure how to explain how I tried to fix it with a sharp knife...or why I thought a sharp knife would help? But I didn't want our proprietor to get mad. So I tried. And the knife ended up slipping and I stabbed my hand. Luckily it was just super deep, not long. And I missed all the major arteries? So yeah. But I didn't go to the hospital. ROMANIAN HOSPITALS ARE SKETCHHHHHY and not clean. So we went to a member's house (she's a nurse) and she cleaned it out/made sure it wasn't infected. Then the elders gave us some American super glue (Romania super glue is not really super glue haha)...SO PROBLEM SOLVED. YEET. It's gonna be a sweeeeet scar. Lit. 

But we did end up going to the hospital on a different day because our investigator Mariana had some heart complications, which led to surgery! SCARY OR WHAT?!?! She is the wife of a recent convert (who is actually in New York for the time being) who has been an investigator for almost two years. Doesn't really want to change religions (Orthodox). But she loves having us over. And eventually one set of sisters or elders is going to really connect with her and she will be baptized. She's an incredibly strong and faithful woman. LOVES prayer. And the scriptures. Especially the Book of Mormon.. ANYWAYS. We were kinda freaking out when we heard that she was in the hospital! So we went over to check on her. Her son Paul was there also (also an investigator....can't kick the smoking habit). Both were really touched that we came by. While we where there, I felt like we should call the elders to have them come over to give her a blessing. OUR ELDERS ROCK! They dropped everything to come over to give her a blessing. The Spirit was STRONG in that room. Paul and Mariana were in tears after it was over. I know that both of them felt the love that their Heavenly Father has for them. Powerful experience. 

HOW GRATEFUL I AM FOR THE PRIESTHOOD!!!! And the worthy priesthood holders I have in my life! YOU GUYS ARE THE REAL MVPs! Keep being worthy and willing to exercise the LITERAL power of God, on earth. 

Arad is the greatest. I literally never want to leave. I love their slow, lazy style of speech. This city will always have my heart <3333333 (unless I serve in Brașov bc THOSE TREES AND MOUNTAINS YO JK love Arad)

UGH I JUST LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Thanks to everyone who has written me letters, emails, etc. I can feel the love from 6,000 miles away :) I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I have THE BEST support system. Family. Friends. Wardies. You guys are the best. 

PRAYING FOR YOU!

xoxox Sora Idiart 

Okay I know it looks like nothing BUT IT WAS SO GROSS AND PAINFUL.

Little pieces of flesh (like muscle or something idk I'm not a doctor) were hanging out !!!!!!!!!

Super glued update. Hahaha. I'm an over exaggerator, OK I GET IT. I'M A DRAMA QUEEN. :)

Hehehe xoxox from your favorite sister missionaries !!!!!!! We are good doctors :-)

Since they don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving (duh), STRAIGHT TO CHRISTMAS! 

AKA it is acceptable to only play Christmas hymns in our apartment. 

And eat chocolate Santa's whenever we want. So we do. 

B/C it's DANG GOOD chocolate for like 15 cents. Love how cheap it is here <333

Little study corner updated with the recent letters I received

that had pics and drawings...THANKS CAM AND NIKKI!!! :) 

Almost died but didn't so that's probably a good thing ?!?! Yaaaa

HI FAM!

Don't be alarmed (this is a pun that you will understand in about 30 seconds) by the title of this email. I am not dead. Thankfully. Hahaha but Sora Stanley and I had a SERIOUS adventure this week, which greatly cut into our contacting time :( Our carbon monoxide alarm (see, this is the pun. I'm getting better at them. Sora Stanley didn't even have to help me with this one haha) was going off! Very sad story. In 2010, two Elders serving in Timisoara passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning...so it's a requirement in all the mission apartments to have a carbon monoxide alarm. If it ever goes off, you have five minutes to pack up your things, call Sora Ivory (mission president's wife), and aren't allowed to go back into your apartment. So on Wednesday night when Sora Stanley walked into our apartment at like 8:30 for dinner, we heard the alarm going off, we did just that! LONG STORY SHORT: there was NOT a carbon monoxide leak in our apartment. The alarm itself just was dying lol. But we didn't know that until like 2pm Thursday. So we had a sleepover *woot woot!* at the senior couple's apartment. They are saints. BUT IT WAS AN ADVENTURE THAT ATE AT 5 HOURS OF PROSELYTING TIME. But it was fun. And I had a good story to write, right!??!! Thanks for always praying for my safety :) 

Okay scripture tiiiiiiiiime :) D&C 123: 12, 13, 17

THESE VERSES ARE SO DOPE. Sora Stanley and I both realized last week that we could definitely be more hardworking and diligent and courageous. We decided to read the diligence section in Preach My Gospel. These verses stuck out like a ray of sunshine in rainy Arad (you would think I was back home in Oregon with how much it has rained this past week!). I LOVE verse 13... "we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven" WE KNOW THEM. SHARE THEM. BE DILIGENT! But I also love how it says in 17 that we need to do it cheerfully. This is a happy work and a happy thing to be believers in Christ, my friends :) 

Some other things this week! 

Elder Ditto! He's the newbie. From Washington. SO not only is our district the youngest, but we also are all from the #westcoastBABBBBY. Well except for Sora Stanley.....but. She only feels a little bit left out by all of our PNW (Pacific NorthWest) lingo haha 

I'm slowly yet surely trying to stop being shy.... Me shy?!?! Yeah, it's true. This language has made me become a scared little boboaca! (note from Sarah: literal translation is Freshman, but maybe it also means newbie??) But this week Sora Stanley really pushed me to stop being scared. And by that I mean she made me do all the talking. Everytime. On every tramvai (Train). And in every lesson. So! My language is improving. Love Sora Stanley. She's a hard worker :) and she's making me become a hard worker! 

ALSO HERE IS SOMETHING. I LOVE THE MEMBERS HERE. I know I've already said that, but seriously. Yesterday Sora Stanley and I did an improptu musical thing. Yeah.....so I now sing. A lot. All the time. Hahaha these poor Romanians...having to listen to me sing. Pray for them more than anyone else. ANYWAYS: Sora Decsy. She is an angel. After singing in sacrament, I sat back down next to her. She held my hand and was just a total mom. As in, she was like you mom. She was just so sweet. I could feel her love for me. AND MY LOVE GREW SO MUCH. Heavenly Father is really blessing me. I'm so grateful to be serving these people. It is such a blessing. I am becoming better because of them (and the atonement, duh). 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Even though it is hard - harder than anything I've ever done/probably ever will do - IT IS WORTH IT. I love Romania. I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Savior. I love all of you. Thanks for your prayers and support. Also, it has recently been brought to my attention that I say "hahaha" maybe a little bit too much ;) so. Probably won't stop hahhahaha but YEAH. I love you all and I pray for you all everyday! KEEP BEING STRONG AND WORKING HARD AND DOING YOUR BEST. The Lord will help you with the rest :)

Xoxoxo,

Sora Idiart 

Since I can't post pictures like this on snapchat all the time......here is a special treat :) hahahaha

Sora Stanley and I sooooooo happy to be eating at KFC since we had to evacuate our apartment......but honestly I was happy. KFC is DANK in Romania. So much better than the states. In fact, I love it. Very much.

LITTLE FRIEND FOLLOWED US HOME. Broke my heart that we couldn't rescue it. Sora Stanley kept tripping on it though. It would walk right under our feet hahaha Sora Stanley thought I kept trying to trip her until we realized that my foot was making a sound. And my foot in fact was a fluffy ball of fur. Fell in love. 

Classic Staninator face. Plus lil ole me. Hehe.

Sorry mom that I don't take any decent pics of my face. Whoops hehe 

Note from Sarah: When Emma was evacuated and had to stay with Elder and Sister Day, the Senior Missionary Couple, they sent me some pictures of her making a NORMAL FACE.  So here they are: 

 Sora Idiart, her companion Sora Stanley and Sora Day, a Senior Missionary

 All the young missionaries in Emma's district at Hunedoara's Corvin Castle

(When Harry Potter and friends first arrive at Hogwarts, the scene was filmed here!)

Aw, these two are so cute!  This castle was built in 1446!

 Romania had a country wide clean up day called "Let's Go Romania." 

All 6 missionaries and one investigator (The gal walking with Sora Idiart)

cleaned a bike path for a few hours.

The pipes you see here are part of an elaborate heating system that used to service the whole city. There once was a central heating plant --and steam was pumped to each block of apartments and businesses.  It was the communist way. 

Can you pick out Emma?  Not the tie dyed shirt, as you might think!

Look for the "Y"  They cleaned up 17 90 liter bags full of garbage (17 23 gallon bags fulls)

Eating at a Branch Member's home.
It looks like Emma's Amatchi's (Basque Great-Grandma) table setting and home decor.

"Sour cream on all the knuckles" + GIFT OF TONGUES

Alright fam, lemme tell you something about my good old trainer Sora Stanley..... SHE IS THE MESSIEST EATER OF ALL TIME.....AND I LOVE HER FOR IT. But honestly. Dad. You think I'm a messy eater? No. No way. Not compared to this mom of mine (for anyone who hasn't served a mission, a "mom/dad" is the person who trained you. So Sora Stanley is my mom haha). One of the foods we love to eat in our household are wraps. Every time. WITHOUT FAIL. Sauce ends up dripping down Sora Stanley's arm. All the way to her elbow. It is so entertaining to watch. Hahaha. BUT on Thursday night we switched it up and decided to have some quesadillas (I'm becoming quite the chef, hahaha). And Sora Stanley somehow had sour cream on all of her knuckles....but she hadn't noticed it yet. So I get both of us napkins, and she says, "Thanks! I'm probably going to need that later". No Sora Stanley. No. You need that now. Hahaha I just started laughing. For like 3 minutes. And then she notices. Sour cream on all the knuckles. So this story doesn't really have anything to do with the work...but it made me laugh. And I wanted to tell all of you :) I love Sora Stanley. I don't want another companion. She and I go perfectly together. Yin and yang. 

BUT NOOOOOOOOW IT'S TIME FOR THE SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK! Mosiah 8:18 - I want, JK, I NEED to develop the type of faith - strong enough faith - to be a benefit in the lives of my fellow man. Oh, how I am trying! But life is hard. We all have different trials and challenges. Whether you're the Bishop of a huge ward or a 19 year-old struggling to really believe that Joseph Smith SAW Jesus Christ and God the Father. You know? But I've come to realize and understand and LOVE faith. Faith is so crucial. Another set of scriptures that I LOVED are Mosiah 5:12-13. DO YOU KNOW THE SAVIOR?? I sure am trying. Let's all try better this week, yeah? Yeaaaah :) cool dude. Cool. 

Okay a few more items of business before we get to the best part: pictures. Hahah

S. Stanley and I met with the sweetest less-active named Alexandra. We got to know her and then had a way impromptu spiritual thought on the atonement. We didn't necessarily prepare a spiritual thought (shame on us as missionaries) because we thought she would spend a lot of time talking to us about herself. Romanians are such story tellers. THEY LOVE TO TALK. Usually it's hard for us to get them to stop talking long enough to leave a thought/teach a lesson haha SO we didn't really prepare a ton. And poor S. Stanley is starting to get sick....SO she had a major headache/head cold. So I led the way on the spiritual thought. And I was speaking Romanian. Like actual Romanian. And I'm not super sure what I was saying. In fact I can't remember a single word of what I testified. Because I'm pretty sure I don't even know the vocab I was using. BUT THE SPIRIT WAS PUTTING WORDS INTO MY MOUTH AND THEY WERE MAKING SENSE?!?!?! It really was an incredible experience. I've been getting really down on myself because I've finished my first transfer (!!!!!!!!!WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I haven't felt a ton of progression. ANYWAYS. Such a tender mercy. The Lord truly blesses us when we are trying to do our best. I am trying so hard! I am failing SO MUCH. But He and the Savior are CONSTANTLY picking me up, dusting me off, and pushing me forward again. Can I just tell you?? I KNOW. With zero doubts. That Jesus Christ lived. He suffered for us. He DIED for us. He died for you. He died for me. AND HE LIVES. And because HE IS ALIVE. He knows what each of you are going through. He knows that I am struggling with this language and with these people. He knows that every single one of our investigators dropped us, and we're back at square one. HE KNOWS US. He knows you. I hope and pray that you know that. Sweet Alexandra does. And He really does. He knows her just like He knows me and He knows you. 

A super highlight of the week: I finally ate Romanian food, made by a Romanian! AND IT WAS DANNNNNNG GOOD. So good. I shed a tear. MMMM IT WAS GOOD. I love food. Hahhah. 

ALSO IM GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPEEEEE! No longer the baby in the district :') So that means that Elder Winder is leaving (sad!) and Elder Giron will be training! HOW FUN. Arad is officially the youngest district in the mission hahah because I'm going on my 2nd transfer (UM WHAT?! 2ND TRANSFER?!), S. Stanley is going on her 6th, and Elder Giron is going on his 5th. All of us combined have been out for less time than a lot of the missionaries on this mission hahah. DOPE. Fresh minds and energy. Arad needs it! 

UGH IF ONLY I COULD GIVE ALL OF YOU BIG HUGS??!?! I love you all. Thanks for your continued support. Keeps me going from day to day. UGH I LOVE YOU ALL AND I PRAY FOR YOU ALL, EVERYDAY LIKE 50 TIMES A DAY (because literally we are always praying. Seriously. I have never prayed this many times a day in my life. I love it hahha). KEEP IT REAL. I LOVE YOU.

Cu drag,

Sora Idiart 

At a new investigator's house! She is obsessed with mirrors.

They are everywhere.

Also she's like 70 and has traveled everywhere in the world.

And she loves books.

I would guess that she has like well over 1,000.

It is NUTZ. 

I FINALLY GOT A PICTURE OF A GYPSY CART !!!!!!!!! 

I have been trying to get sneaky pics since my first day in this country lol.

They are everywhere in Arad. So awesome.

PS  Sorry, not a lot of pics this week :( me and S. Stanley are going to be better at taking pictures. Maybe. Hahah 

ANOTHA WEEK ANOTHER CHANCE TO BECOME BETTER

Hey fam :) 

SO THIS WEEK'S SCRIPTURE ISSSSSSSSSSSSS *drum roll*

Not really one verse hahaha :) I started rereading the Book of Mormon lately and a few things have really been sticking out to me. THE ISAIAH CHAPTERS IN 2 NEPHI ARE DOOOOOPE I love them. And Jacob. That's also a really powerhouse book. But I love how they prophesy and talk about our day. Two things have been sticking out to me: diligence and keeping the commandments. Have you ever noticed that that's all we really need to do? KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. And the blessings of heaven are poured out unto us. And if we keep them diligently and with a willing heart then BAM. Everything will be okay. Keeping the commandments is hard. But so is out-running Sora Stanley. Fortunately for me, one of those things is attainable and what the Lord expects of me (the keeping the commandments thing. Even though Sora Stanley makes me go running every morning for excercise time hehe). He expects that of all of us. We agreed to it before we came down to this life. So let's recommit to keeping the commandments a little better this week, shall we?!

AND there was actually one scripture that I really want to share with you all. Sora Stanley and I decided to study and pray for patience this week. I understand why they caution you to ask for more patience in your life.....hahaha kidding. This week has been full of miracles and moments that have made me grow (by trying my patience lol). Mosiah 23: 21-22 = patience, faith, and trust WILL lift us up to the level God knows we can be at. And also one more scripture. Alma 31:31. Doesn't get better than that. 

ALRIGHT sorry for all that doctrine according to Sora Idiart haha about my week! 

SORA STANLEY is a flipping wizard at the violin. No joke. We went music contacting on Monday night after getting back from Hunedoara (WHICH WAS SO COOL I WANT TO BE A PRINCESS AND LIVE IN A REAL LIFE CASTLE ONE DAY). We met a really awesome Hungarian family - unfortunately both of us felt that we shouldn't push them for their contact information/set up an appointment. But following the Spirit's promptings WILL bring blessings. We were able to clear up some misconceptions about our church/beliefs for them. Oh how lovely anti-Mormon documentaries are :) 

We spent a lot of our week contacting and searching for church members who are less active to invite to conference/to come back INTO THE FOOOOOOLD of the Lord. We had a ton of success with that! Which resulted in a few of them coming to conference and feeling of our love BUT most importantly the Lord's love. We also had two of our (eternal) investigators come to conference. They LOVED the messages and went away with a conviction to be better people. 

WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT TOPIC: CONFERENCE! So I watched it in Romanian! Which was a very cool/headache inducing experience :) haha jk it was mostly just awesome. Not really knowing what the speakers were saying lead me to really rely on the voice of the Spirit. So honestly. I learned SO MUCH. And so many of my prayers were answered. But I'm very excited to start rewatching it in English after my hour of emailing is up :) so many of the talks applied to me. As I'm sure all of you also think haha :) but let's be better! Better brothers, sisters, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandkids, grandparents, friends, and disciples of Christ. Really implement the advice and challenges given by God's called and chosen prophets, apostles, and leaders of His church. We will be blessed for our efforts! 

BE DILIGENT AND KEEP GOING! I love you all. Praying for you every morning, night, and every other minute of the day :) THANK YOU for your love and support. I have the best fan club :)

Cu drag,

Sora Idiart 

ps Sorry I didn't really take many pictures this week...my camera died at Hunedoara....and I forgot to charge it until right now haha :) so I'll try to be better about it this week! 

HOW DOPE IS THIS?! A REAL LIFE CASTLE. I LOVE IT. I WANT ONE. 

Kinda really creepy...but apparently she lived in this castle at one point? Jealous. 

This is for you Stebbs

Reminds me of like Harry Potter or something

(don't actually know because never read those books ??? whoops) 

Just hanging w/my HOMIESSSSSS

HAPPY AS EVER !!!!!!!!

We caught a HUGE nasty flying bug in our apartment the other night. I made this trap to make sure it didn't escape. Because it would have killed us. Idk why but Romanian bugs are bigger and scarier than in the states. Not a fan.