Wednesday, July 31, 2013

I was a little sad about leaving Cluj. Cluj is so pretty and I was packing all my stuff up that day.

By the end of the day I felt like this.

I found out my camera had a lot of super cool effects and settings... so I took a bunch and I mean a bunch of pictures!

We said goodbye to T. :) Love her. She left for England this last week.

And I took a lot more pictures of Centru.

We found a really pretty other route to get to our lesson... which ended up not coming.... but I just had an opportunity to take some really pretty pictures of the Cluj Park.

They also had this lake thing in the middle of the park and so we took a lot of pictures there too.

They had all these little ducks everywhere. That I tried to take a picture of.

This is my new companion (one of them) Sora Gerhartz. She doesn't really like mornings and this is how she came out one morning :) haha she makes me laugh.

This is my new companion (one of them) Sora Gerhartz. She doesn't really like mornings and this is how she came out one morning :) haha she makes me laugh.

And this is in Buch... unfortunately I haven't taken many pictures in Buch yet... But these are of the capital building which is like the second biggest capital buliding in the world besides the pentagon. But it's so pretty. :)

And this is in Buch... unfortunately I haven't taken many pictures in Buch yet... But these are of the capital building which is like the second biggest capital buliding in the world besides the pentagon. But it's so pretty. :)

So this is us at M's baptism!


Sora Gerhartz is a doll and M loves her so much.

Me, M and the elders in our district

M. and I and S.

This is also my friend Elder Nathan Davis who is actually Brother Bunker... in the Canyon Gate ward, I believe grandson. And we met him on the Church History tour years and years ago and now we are serving together. So this is our super awkward missionary picture together as we arrived at the gara.

July 29, 2013

Oh my goodness. I can not tell you how amazingly happy I am! I am so grateful and I just love everything about how this transfer is going. It is such a blessing.



So I was a little nervous about going to Panduri and serving with these two training sisters for 2 weeks and then having to get a new companion that has never been to the MTC before. But I can honestly tell you that these last few days have been absolutley AMAZING! Gosh I kinda think I may have lost sight of how happy I really can be and how much I absolutely LOVE being a missionary. It's so fantastic you have no idea.

 

I really love my companions I am serving with Sora Stapley (from Arizona) and Sora Gerhartz (from New Jersey) and they are BEYOND amazing. We have so much fun everyday and I mean everyday and we are so focused on the work here and what we are doing. I can just feel how much they already love me and how they want to help me succeed and how much they want to make me feel comfortable. They are just so great I love this transfer already and it is just starting.
I also really really really really really love Bucharest. A lot of people and I am just going to make a guess here and just say the majority of the missionaries don't necessarily want to serve in Buch. Because it's a HUGE city. And trying to get anywhere in this city at least takes an hour. But I absolutley love it. I think I was just born to live in a city the rest of my life because man it just feel great. I love the city.

 

We also had a baptism this Saturday and her name is M. I would spell it phonetically but it is... Anyways. Sora Gerhartz has been serving in Panduri well for her whole mission and this is her 6th transfer so she and her other companions Sora Ewell and Sora Drotar have been teaching M. and her daughter S. They are darling. Oh my gosh they are so cute and I really really love them all ready. I was a little nervous about meeting other investigators because I have only served in Cluj and they have always been my investigators. But when Sora Stapley and I met M. she came up to us and gave us a kiss on the cheek and hugged us. She is so darling and her daughter is just a ball of fire. So cute so so cute.


So anyways with transfers and all the craziness that goes on here and a lot of people are la tara right now. The baptism was a little crazy. We had speakers.... sorta. And one of the elders accidentally dropped his planner and his bus pass in the baptismal font and so because we wear skirts I had to climb into the font and try and grab his stuff. It was great. But it really was amazing. Sara and Sora Gerhartz surprised M. by having S. sing," I am a Child of God." I am not kidding when I tell you that there were tears everywhere. And when M. came out of the font she told us that she wanted to be baptized everyweek. The spirit was so strong and she bore such a powerful testimony. She is just amazing and we may have another baptism this week with her daughter S. (she's about 9) but it also may be in two weeks so stay tuned.

I wont have my new mini missionary yet that wont be till around August 6th I believe so until then we are in a trio. And so many people told us that trios are so awkward but we absolutely love it. We really love each other and it's crazy to here about how much we have in common with one another. Sora Stapley :) is a mad contacter. Gosh she is so dang good at it it's ridiculous! She is so inspiring in this and I have made goals so that way I can reach to where she is in this. Sora Gerhartz :) Gosh Love her. She is just so funny and when she teaches she teaches people. She teaches directly to their needs. And she cares so much about people. She is so loving. I just feel like I have to catch up with these sisters because they are so amazing! I am so excited to see what else I will get to learn by being with these wonderful sisters.

 

I love you all so much and I am going to get better at writing responses down that you ask me. Promise!

Spencer I am super excited for you to go on a mission! It's fantastic I love it. I seriously seriously love it! Best decision I have ever made in my life... well I did go to the temple. But you know what I mean. And well I think that you are going to go... hmmm....  Bulgaria :) You'll be right next to me. Although pretty positive their language is harder. Bafta :)

Also if I can give some advice that I really wish I would have worked on more before my mission that would have not necessarily made it easier but it would have made my work ethnic more powerful. Is read Preach My Gospel. Scratch that STUDY PMG. Study the Christ like characters. Study how to feel the spirit. Study how to manage time. Study the lessons that are given. Do the activities. Read the stories. Memorize some scriptures that would be good for contacting. I really wish I would have applied more of that in the day to day studies before the mission. It would have helped a lot.

 

Mom: is it okay if I still order those books of mormon or no? Let me know. I never ordered them... well because it was in the midst of the hospital incident... is that how you spell that?

 

Dad: I am so excited to hear about the work progressing back home and with our neighbor? I can't tell you how happy and excited I am to see that you are helping this. And with what I have gone through just in these few transfers... man it's really really really really hard to get members to help in missionary work here... you really don't have an idea... So just to know that you are trying so hard to help the work progress back home in our ward it makes me insanely happy. :)

 

 

Ummm... I think that's about it :) I am just LOVING life right now. I absolutley adore Buch... even though they speak quite a bit faster here. I just feel like I am on clouds... Just growing every single day. It's great I love it :)
Cu Dragoste,

Sora Stewart

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

I think it's ironic that Bucharest ended up winning as now I am being transferred there.


I forgot to send this picture a while ago. Us at zone conference in arad.

And this sweet girl C took my place for almost a week while I was in the hospital. Grateful for her.

Us companions

Elder Staheli and the elders. We all said goodbye to him last night. He is on his way home to Colorado. He was such a dedicated missionary. Really grateful he was my district leader.



Elder Staheli and the elders. We all said goodbye to him last night. He is on his way home to Colorado. He was such a dedicated missionary. Really grateful he was my district leader.



At the Rugby Game

Elder B, taking my place in the hospital :(
 

This is one of my favorite investigators T. She is beautiful and wonderful and I adore her. She is leaving for England this week :( But I am also leaving to Buch too.

All of us are leaving. This is Sora I the branch presidents wife and her cute son S. Gosh that kid haha. And then the boyds grandkids. and T.

Another cool picture of the stadium. That's the most grass I have seen in Romania.... that may be a lie. Where I am at there is a lot of hills. That is a lie. But it was still cool.



haha this is W. He is the Boyds' grandson. And he cracks me up. He is OBSESSED with imagine dragons. And when I was telling one of the Elders about moms email of what Tena said he about had a freak out. It was too funny. :) So this is him playing the piano upside down. Impressing all of us with his mad skills. :)

Tuesday, July 23, 2013


Walking through the big centru park here. :) Beautiful. Gosh I am going to miss it.

walking home from the hospital we found this really cool catholic church that I had to take pictures of.





Stadium.

Elders and Sora M. Poor Elder B was in the hospital by this time.



They call all sports here just sport. Drives me crazy. When we ask them what they like to do they say sport. I don't understand that. SPORT WHAT SPORT????

So the past few nights like everyday since I have been home there are like milions and I am not kidding millions of black ravens that fly across the sky for like 10 minutes it is the weirdest and coolest thing!

So the past few nights like everyday since I have been home there are like milions and I am not kidding millions of black ravens that fly across the sky for like 10 minutes it is the weirdest and coolest thing!

RUGBY!

They have these Las Vegas signs everywhere. So I thought I finally should take a picture. Although the picture is not of Las Vegas. That is not home. That looks like New York. It was super funny when I finally realized that.

They have these Las Vegas signs everywhere. So I thought I finally should take a picture. Although the picture is not of Las Vegas. That is not home. That looks like New York. It was super funny when I finally realized that.

These are what some typical gypsies look like here.

So a bat flew through our window and came into our apartment. And he left all these lines on our cealing. I don't think I told that story. Because well I was in the hospital. But short version. A bat flew into our apartment in the middle of the night and the caught it two days later while it was sitting on MY BED! and they through it out the window. It is dead. Although a few days ago we thought we heard another bat fly through the window. I may have taken a white board and sheilded myself. No worries false alarm!

Okay so we took a few pictures of me in the hospital. And hey for being in the hospital I say I look pretty dang good. :)

So the first few are of me in the regular hospital before they took me to the ICU.





the last two are well obviously I am in the ICU. They had to wear those funny outfits.