First week in Romania

HELLO!
Well if you can't tell already I'm pretty excited to be here! It was a really really really long flight over and basically I think that's the only bad news I have! Oh also we met one of the sister missionaries dads at the airport. He was so excited and took a picture with us. He told us that his daughter Sora Ewell would be training on of us! Which is good! Somehow though because my last name starts with an S I was always sitting by myself. On the last plane I asked the guy if we could switch. He was really nice about it and said he would. Thank goodness, haha I was a little anxious and nervous about being in a place I had never been and speaking a language that... well I don't know very well. The last flight I was reading my Romanian Book of Mormon to calm my nerves and to just practice Romanian when I felt this guy sitting in front of us staring at us "speaking" Romanian. Sora Petterson and I started talking to him and he was super nice we talked about religion and had a cool religious discussion, so we gave him a pass along card. Sora Case and Sora Adams were across the row though and took my Book of Mormon and gave it to a guy right on the plane! It was awesome he was so interested and just started reading it right away. He wanted to meet with the missionaries but he is going to Saudia Arabia next week... I hope I spelled that right. Anyways it was cool.

So we met our Mission President and his wife Sora Hill. They are WONDERFUL! Sora Hill is so funny she is just filled with spunk and attitude and she just makes me laugh! President Hill is so unbelievably nice I love them so much already. They really love the people and they love us. How wonderful that is that they just LOVE! We went up to this Park where Romania was dedicated for missionary work and we read off the prayer and sang some hymns. Can I just say how much I love the spirit and how it speaks to everyone. We were singing when this guy came over and just started singing with us and singing his own religious hymns which were beautiful! And after that we went contacting. So yeah people in Buch aren't as nice or maybe I'm just naive. Probably a little of both. I went up to everyone and said Buna Ziua and they all just started and said who are you... haha it was super awkward and super funny. Don't worry I wasn't down in the dumps, but yeah they didn't really like to talk to the random American missionary. It was cool though.

Anyways we met some of the trainers earlier in the day and then we just went in to get our Visas. I still wont have one until the next transfer though which is just fine. As long as I don''t get kicked out of the country. :) We ended up going to the mission home and Sora Hil went over all the rules with us. I thought it was super funny though because all of the missionaries were so jet lagged and they were all falling asleep and I was honestly as awake as ever. Maybe your right dad I no longer need sleep, I have slept to long in my lifetime. But they were all falling over and I couldn't help but laugh! Deci we were introduced to our new companions and our new areas and the moment all of you... or I was waiting for at least... I am serving with Sora Ewell who is from Salt Lake she is wonderful and we get along super duper well. And I already met her dad! Haha weird but really cool. We are serving in Cluj which is just the most beautiful place I love it here!

People are nice here in Cluj we say hello to everyone here and they respond and people actually come up and talk to us! Well technically we go up to them but we still talk to them and they talk back! It isn't Buch! We took a 8ish maybe closer to 9ish train ride and came in the morning. We got everything all settled in and then we went to work. My first couple days in Cluj I didn't know what to think or what to do or what to say. It was kinda overwhelming since our first person we taught was an inactive member who just has no desire to change or make her life better. She is super knowledgeable in the gospel but it was just so sad to see and then our next day was the same too we visited a non memeber and she was just quiet and didn't want to do anything.

Don't worry I wasn't down in the dumps because we had some awesome opportunities. We went over to this families house the mom is a member inactive Sora Sumurdecan and the rest of her family isn't members. We went to go teach her daughter, but her daughter had to leave somewhere so we ended up teaching her just about being an elect lady and how she is part of God's family. She loved the lesson and the scriptures we shared. And her husband joined in the lesson. He said the closing prayer! Which is unusual I guess since he wasn't realy on good terms with the church but HEY it's an improvement. But they both said they would come to church! AND THEY DID! They stayed for all 3 hours and participated and everything. It was so awesome.

We then have a new investigator named Claudia who they met through English classes. She is the most sweetest soul! She is so enthusiastic and sincere. And she just wanted to know about our religion, what are standards are, and what we do, what we believe. So we gave her a strength for the youth and we shared with her the restoration. She seemed interested and wants to meet again. It was really awesome because a lot of people here just seem complacent in what they are doing how they are living. And she told us straight away that she wasnts to be better and make herself better and always improve. It was a really cool lesson. :) I really love her already.

I was going through the area book (I read it ALOT) and we saw this family who has been seeing the missionaries for over 7 years. THey all want to be baptized but the dad wont let them. We are going to teach them this week. And I am so excited this family is AMAZING. They are the best members and they aren't even members! But we asked them to come to church and the mom said she would probably be the one one to come and it ended up that the dad came too and one of the sons! We also have another investigator and they pretty much only speak spanish. So I guess I will be learning spanish here too :) Since I don't really know Romananian yet. We teach them tonight and they are such a sweet family. 'We have to have people translate and so it's going to be realy interesting...

Ummm Quickly really fast. The members here are AMAZING. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! I didn't really understand a ton of what was going on I understood but just some. But they spirit is just so strong there and I was just thinking of how awesome it is that every single one of them is a convert to the church. They have all been on that other side of the door and they have completely changed their lives and you can see how happy they are. They treat us missionaries like we are the best things in this world which is super strange for me, I don't think we have treated our missionaries at home as good as they way these members treat me. They are so willing to do anything to help missionary work. They want people and their families to accept the gospel so much. It really is the most beautiful and humbling experience.
I'm well, I am happy, this city is absolutely beautiful, the people are really nice (for the most part), and their is so much work to be done! And I am so excited and thrilled that the Lord called me to this place. That I can just be around them, learn from them, and I just pray and pray and pray everyday that I can help them in their lives. That I can share the gospel and make their lives filled with purpose and love. I love this gospel :)
I love you all I was going to share pictures but I forgot my connector. My bad :)
Love you all,

Sora Stewart