YIPPEEEE THE BIG 20

Hello everyone who I love.

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY LOVE AND WISHES. Today was wonderful. I took a 20 minute nap. Much needed after Daylight Savings yesterday. Also I ate cheesecake (THAT ACTUALLY TASTED ALMOST LIKE AMERICAN CHEESECAKE) for breakfast. #missionmiracles  Sora L is the best and got me a Romanian Bible in Russian letters. I am so stoked. 

OH ALSO TRANSFERS CAME OUT: I'm still in Chisinau with Sora Langenstein. MIRACLE. And remember my sweet Sora Dusie (Dusenberry) - one of my comps in the MTC? WELL SHE IS COMING HERE. TO CHISINAU. And serving with Sora Strader. Elder Lemon - also from my MTC group - left me :') but all is well. So let's get on with it. 

The scripture I want to share with you this week comes from President Ivory. Last night on the MLC call he had us read Alma 16:14. The word that he emphasized and which stuck out to me was "continually". I've been thinking a lot about that word. And realized that hmmmm I have been slacking the last few weeks in my urgency to continually be sharing the gospel. So after some repenting, I'm ready again to hit the road running. STOKED.

This week was great. Flew by. I will keep this short because I have like 900 pictures to send BUT here are the highlights:

We showed the movie: "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" and two of our investigators came! So much fun. It was almost like going to see Beauty and the Beast in theaters.....except not :') 

MY CUTE SORA SCHOW CAME BACK TO CHISINAU FOR THE DAY FOR AN EXCHANGE. We had a good long chat about life. Had some great lessons. It was so great to be with her. I love her. She is my fave. 

We're teaching one of the recent converts - Iulia - about the Plan of Salvation/aka reading Moses with her. She is so funny and sweet and cute. She just opened up her mission papers! SO EXCITED FOR THE FUTURE SORA IULIA :)

One of the members, Mariana, came a did a little mini mission with us all day on Saturday. It was great. She is cute and fun and the best. All these people are. I recognize I say that a lot. But it's true. They are. 

Uhm also. Sora L and I tried to do some sugar waxing on my legs. Secret: I didn't shave one time all winter. The beginning of October until today................hahah gross, I know. ANYWAYS: So we attempted sugar waxing. Went terribly wrong. I know have a thumb sized 2nd degree burn on my leg. Hurts like heaven. Hahahahahaha. Elder Edwards says that I may have trouble tanning in that (semi-large) area for the rest of my life.....hahahahha I can't stop laughing. 

Okay this actually turned out to be a long email hahaha. Anyways. LOVE YOU ALL THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT. Seriously. I was blown away. You all rock. I pray for you and love you all.

xoxoxo

Sora Idiart 

Darn, I ran out of time to caption these. just enjoy. 

(But Good Ol' Mom did some Google Searching and found that these pics are from what looks like a Preparation Day trip to Orheiul Vechi, the most popular tourist destination in Moldova.  It's a Orthodox Monastery carved into limestone cliffs overlooking the Raut River.  The Cave-Like Monastery was dug by monks in the 13th Century and inhabited until the 18th century. In 1905 an additional church was build above ground, but shut down by Communists in 1944. Everything was opened in 1996 and the church is used today by the three surrounding little towns.  Women must cover their heads in the Monastery and shorts are forbidden.  It looks like the Sister Missionaries took photos on top of the caves, inside the cave and in front of the cave windows.  Also, if you're reading this far. . . Emma's silly finger placement, while I'm sure isn't meant to be disrespectful has significance.  I'm going to email her about the significance, it's actually quite meaningful!  In Orthodox paintings/carvings, Christ and certain Saints fingers are placed in a similar way to Emma's attempt.  They're meant to form the letters ICXC which are the first and last letters of Jesus and Christ in Greek.  The Index finger points upward, forming an "I."  The middle finger is curved to form a "C,"  The fourth finber crosses over the thumb to form an "X," while the little finger is curved in a manner similar to that of the middle finger, thereby forming another "C.")

Tattoo talk over Sloppy Joe's

HELLO FAM 

I am a bad missionary. This week was tiring. BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD. But I forgot to write down a scripture to send you. Sorry that I failed. Next week I will send two :) 

Also this is going to be a short email. Without pictures. Because I still failed to take pictures. Because I forgot to buy batteries every single day. Hahahahahahahaha sorry. My bad. 

OKAY SO HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

Tania is getting baptized May 27th :) Had a SUPER POWERFUL LESSON with her about the Restoration. She connected all the dots aka she understands. And she came to church. And she loved it. Even if she couldn't hear it....like at all. BUT YA KNOW. WE CAN ALWAYS FEEL THE SPIRIT. AND SHE WAS FEELING IT.

So right now, two of our investigators are on track to being baptized. Tania and Maria. The Lord is working miracles through us!!! 

Okay so here is a REALLY SUPER FUNNY STORY: so we're at the Edward's house (one of the senior couples here) for dinner with Mihaela (our 16 yr old investigator), her brother (19 or 20) Dorin, the Zone Leaders, and a recent convert Ioan. We're eating. Somehow Nirvana (the band from the 90s) gets brought up. Ioan is a huge fan. Elder Edwards is not. Ioan has a tattoo. Of Kurt Cobain's face. On his shoulder. To make a long story short, Ioan didn't want a tattoo of Kurt's face. All he wanted was the smiley face from one of the albums. I will retell this story when I get home. Can't do it justice in the short amount of time that I have now. But just wait. It will make you laugh so hard. :) 

We also met up with this suuuuuper awesome 15 year old girl named Nicole. She was a referral from some of the Russian elders. She is really curious to find truth, positivity, and purpose in her life. LOVE THOSE KINDS OF PEOPLE. LOVE LOVE LOVE. 

Yesterday I made Mac + Cheese for lunch. It was the best decision. Ever. Nothing makes you miss America more than processed powered cheese.

So lots of stuff happened this week.....but that's all I have time for. But don't worry, I was really good at writing in my journal. 

OKAY I LOVE YOU ALL! I LOVE CHISINAU. I pray for you everyday. Thanks for all the love and support the last 8 (already. wow) months. 

xoxoxo

Sora Idiart 

THIS WEEK WAS REALLY GOOD

HEY FAM

MOLDOVA ROCKS

THEY HAVE A DAY SPECIFICALLY JUST TO CELEBRATE WOMEN. Not just moms and grandmas and aunts. BUT ALL WOMEN. HECK YEAH. More to come on that. 

Who is Jesus Christ? Here is a real good explanation. Mosiah 3:5-11. Also. Notice the shout out to His mom, Maria? #Women'sDay

Okay. So. Moldova. Seriously my favorite country. I never want to leave. 

March 8th=Women's Day. You better BELIEVE I'm gonna celebrate this holiday when I'm back in Statule Unite.  Okay so one of our english students brought me and Sora L flowers. Tender. I ended up giving them away to a very sad girl. Which made her smile. Cool :) 

ALSO the 12 elders here in Chisinau did a real nice thing. They prepared a feast for us sisters - there are only 4 of us in all of Moldova - which included poorly cut up fruit and brownies that maybe accidentally had 2 cups of salt instead of two cups of sugar.......but they sang "As Sisters in Zion" for us in Russian and gave us MORE flowers and these little strange hairclips as gifts . . . oh, Elders. 

SO MARCH 8TH IS MY VERY FAVORITE HOLIDAY OTHER THAT CHRISTMAS, EASTER, AND MY BIRTHDAY (which is coming up. Don't forget ;))))))  

Also. Miracles this week. Our investigator Maria is getting baptized!!!!! Unfortunately, her mom is pretty much NOT on board.....so she can't get baptized until her 18th birthday (June 10th). But you better believe Saturday the 10th she will be getting baptized. When we asked her why she wants to be baptized, she gave a very simple and sweet answer: "God spoke to my soul and told me it is the right thing to do." :') tears of joy. Just within the last few weeks of meeting with her, she has made REAL progress. Knowing that God loves you and knows you gives you a real sense of confidence. 

We had dinner with one of our less-active BFF's, Lariska, this week. She is from the Netherlands. She is my favorite human. During dinner we talked a lot about trials and challenges we have. Our trials and challenges are specifically given to us to handle. Our hardest trials may be easy for others. They may be unmanageable for others. Same principle applies for other's trials in our perspective. You just have to keep going. This mission may always seem happy and positive from my emails, and it truly is, but I also go through hard things! The thing that matter in the end is how we react to our trials. Will you choose to learn from them or will you choose to let them break you. GOD DOES NOT GIVE YOU THINGS YOU CANNOT HANDLE. YOU GOT THIS. 1 Corinthians 10:13

So anyways, I love you all and I pray for you all and I hope that you all have a great week. I am happy and healthy and JUST SO HAPPY TO BE A MISSIONARY. Thank you for the love, support, and prayers. You guys are the best. 

xoxoxoxo

Sora Idiart 

Also...sorry about this pictures this week. The batteries in my camera died. And I kept forgetting to buy batteries. And I forgot to buy them this week. BUT enjoy this video of the elders singing and then also our english student Petru with the flowers he bought us. Hahahaha. ​

NOTE FROM SARAH: I couldn't get the video to upload.  I think it's too big.  Just imagine some really bad, monotone singing from these cute missionary faces.  I responded to Emma's email, telling her the whole world celebrates Women's Day and this was her response: "psh. we never celebrated it like they do in moldova. ppl get school off. like high school was out for the rest of the week and college was off for the day and like many women didn't have to go into work. basically stores closed to be able to celebrate women. so great. "

Sometimes we get really lost when we visit villages

HELLO EVERYONE

Here are some scriptures for you to read. They are very good. I read them many times this week:

Helaman 10:4-6 - Guys. He is God. You are you. He knows your name. Let that sink in.

Jeremiah 16:16-19 - another refuge one. SO GOOD

John 14:18 - Niciodata (NEVER) will He leave you. POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST BABY

John 12:46 - Get out of darkness. Believe in Him. 

John 10:3, 11, 14 - Dude. He knows us. Do we know His voice? 

Here are some highlights from the week:

1. We rearranged all of our furniture with the help of the other sisters in preparation for our guest (most on that later). So......... That was a huge PAIN. But also, it looks great. And I get a heck of a lot of vitamin C in the morning. BECAUSE THE SUN IS SHINING ALL THE TIME HERE !!!!!!!! GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, PEACE ON EARTH GOODWILL TOWARDS MEN. 

2. I love the sun. It is so warm. I think the tights will finally come off, after a long 5 months of keeping my little legs warm. HALLELUJIAH. 

3. We got very lost when traveling la tara (IN THE COUNTRYSIDE). BUT eventually found the house of the investigator that we were looking for. We left a cute note. Will attach pics. Turns out she moved to Moscow for 2 months - these people just leave without telling anyone....like all the time. BUT her daughter went to go pick up a box of stuff, because now she has to live in Chisinau while her mom is gone - also happens a lot - and she saw our note and texted us :) tender mercies. 

4. WE HAD A NORMAL HUMAN LIVING WITH US FOR 3 DAYS. We got a call from President Ivory on Tuesday telling us that a family friend of theirs is living with them in Bucharest for a few months. But he wanted her to come to Moldova to live with us over the weekend, instead of having her go to Ukraine with Sora Ivory and Ellis (their son) for Ellis's basketball tournament. Her name is Claire Tempest - funny thing. I met her sister once time at BYU. Small world. ANYWAYS: She came and lived with us and did missionary work and IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. 

5. I learned that I need a lot more meekness in my life, if I'm ever going to be a successful missionary, mom, wife, daughter, sister, well basically just human in general. Good stuff :) 

6. Also for Family Night - aka the weekly YSA (Young Single Adult) activity - we went bowling. I hate bowling. But. I won. So I guess that now I hate it less. Because I'm super good (I got 91 hahahaha)

So that is my life. Mostly all of our investigators/friends could not meet up with us this week. Very sad and a little frustrating, BUT ALL IS WELL. The work still goes on :) 

I love you all and pray for you everyday! 

Church is true! Tell your friends :)

xoxoxo
Sora Idiart

fun trio :) (Me, Claire Tempest and my companion, Sora Langenstein)

Here is me. I am in a village. I am lost. I am not cold. BECAUSE OF THE SUN :)

One of my fave members - Mariana. LOVE HER TO PIECES. 

Best Trio + Stefan cel Mare. What a man. Legend.  Also yes. I did wear all blue . . . 

I realized the errors of my ways after leaving the apartment. Got a lot of looks that day. 

lil old me

Notes #middleschooldayzzzzzzz

Me and Claire <33333

"Neature" 

Here is my zone, during zone conf. I'm next to President Ivory, Blue tie, front row. good man.