Monday, July 24, 2017

Inspired Pizza


Selfie with Sora Schow
So -  my fun story of the week starts with contacting in the park with George. We had been trying to talk to people for about an hour without much success and George had to leave for work. As we were walking, he hit his head against the Book of Mormon he was holding.  We asked him what was wrong, and he said something along the lines of -  we didn't find anyone that was interested. We told him that we simply just need to show our faith by going contacting. That's what matters; not whether or not we find someone who is interested. If we show our faith by contacting, even when it's hard, God will bless us. Sometimes, that comes through finding someone that's
Titan Park 
interested or sometimes that comes through someone who is prepared just walking into the church wanting to know more. He said okay, I get it. THEN later that day, Sora Schow and I decided to order pizza to the church before English and when we went out to meet the pizza guy he said, "Can I ask you a question? What do you believe in your church?"- SO COOL. So it turns out, that this guy used to come to church and had met with the missionaries when he was young but lost interest.  Now he wants to learn more! He even has a Book of Mormon. We told George about it and he thought it was pretty good too. 


The Beloved DJB
Besides that we....
almost missed our train...twice 
had exchanges with Sora DJB (the beloved) and Sora Lee. I got to go with Sora DJB! I was quite happy. 
Ate very very yummy curry made by a member named Canut who is from India and he is very awesome as well 
got insulted by a less active member (woo-hoo) 
and Sora Schow was part of a concert last night and rocked it! (she played the Violin)

The elders snuggling on the metro on the way home from the concert

Sorry for the short email this week. I love you guys. Have a good week. 
Love Sora Vann 




Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Did I mention that George is awesome . . . ?

Me and Sora Schow at the village Museum
So this week was pretty crazy and I don't have a lot of time so I will have to make this quick.

We got an awesome new investigator this week! Her name is Allex (yes two Ls). Her friend invited her to English class and she asked if she could do 30/30s with us. The first time we met with her, we told her about the Book of Mormon and she loved all of it and said she could feel the spirit very strongly (apparently to her it feels like she is hungry - haha). Second time we met with her, we told her the whole Restoration lesson and she loved all of that as well! She thought everything just made sense and she told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true already! She is 17 and super cute. She wasn't able to make it to church but we can't wait to meet with her this week! 

Sora Schow, Me and George
We also had a lesson with George (our recent convert) this week and instead of us teaching him, we had him teach us! He is preparing to go on a mission himself so we thought it would be good practice for him. He did a good job and it was cute because he was nervous even though it was just us and he really had nothing to be nervous about. We are going to help him work on his teaching skills and learning how to understand and teach the gospel better. He is a very eager learner :) George also went contacting with us this week. He goes contacting with the missionaries in Bucuresti all the time, it's so awesome. 

Bucuresti
Tuesday night after English, we had dinner with our friend/investigator Lidia at this Greek place. She ended up ordering a lot of food for us and it was so good and we didn't want it to go to waste, so we ended up being completely stuffed. I was thinking Sora Schow might have to roll me on to the metro to get home because of how stuffed I felt but I was able to make it okay. haha. 

Village Museum
Today we went to the village Museum with George and it was so cool! (see all the pictures!). So they have all these little mini traditional houses they have built from all other the different regions of Romania. I have really only been in the Transylvania region so it was cool to see houses from the Moldova region (it's the eastern part of Romania not actually the country of Moldova). 

Sheep at the Museum
Anyway, I think that's about it. I'm doing okay, thanks for all the prayers for me and my family. I love all of you. Have a great week! 
Love Sora Vann 




Tuesday, July 11, 2017

How Does One Missionary . . .

This week has been interesting trying to figure out how to be a missionary yet still deal with all the emotions, all the "feelings". I'm working on it, along with getting over jet lag.  

Me, Sora Schow and Lidia
We realized that our two most promising investigators were not progressing at all and in fact ,were very stuck and so we realized that we can't really teach them anymore, so that kinda sucked, but that's okay. One of them, Lidia, is a very sweet girl who just thinks of things in very abstract ways and she thinks all churches are good. We met with her Tuesday and tried to have a lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and we couldn't even get past faith; so that wasn't good but we had a 'taco party' with her after our fail of a lesson. haha. 

Cute little (full of fleas) Kitten
Wednesday night we had a fun crazy adventure of deciding to pick up a stray kitten off the side of the road and then having to figure out what to do with it. It turned out that this poor little thing had a TON of fleas all over it! We ended up being able to take it to the vet with the help of George, our recent convert, and getting it some flea shampoo. We were also able to find it a home and a new loving owner before the end of the night; so go us! Even if it was a really stupid decision in the first place. 

Thursday, we had our first zone conference with our new mission President, President Hettinger,  and it was awesome but very different from zone conferences with President Ivory. It will be exciting to see how the mission changes in the way it needs to for this time. 

A cool thing happened this week when we went less active finding (where we take a list of members that don't really come anymore and try to go visit them). One of the couples we tried visiting actually let us in and we talked with them for about an hour. It turned out that that day was the day they had gotten baptized many years ago. They shared pictures with us and their stories of how they came to know the church was true. It was super cool, and the wife came this Sunday! (The husband has health problems). 

I think that's about everything or at least I'm out of time. I love you guys. Have a great week. 
Love Sora Vann

Monday, July 3, 2017

The Old One

Heidi and Michelle
One of my nicknames for Michelle was "the old one" because one time I meant to say that she was the older one, but accidentally said the old one and then it just kinda stuck. 

This week I was home to say goodbye to my sister. I think most of you know, but my sister, Michelle, passed away. 

Sunday morning here, and Saturday night, there, my mom called to tell me that Michelle had a brain bleed. She was brain dead but still hooked up to life support. I was able to fly home the next day and get to see her and say goodbye before they took her off life support. She was able to donate her kidneys and her heart valves. 

Sisters saying Good-bye
Tuesday morning, I was able to go to the temple with my parents, and I am so grateful for that. I felt a lot of peace being there with my parents. I am so grateful for temples and the peace that we can find there. 

Thursday was the viewing and Friday was the funeral. She didn't look much like herself, but people never really do. A lot of people came to both the viewing and the funeral; which was nice to see how many people love and care about Michelle. They had time at the funeral for people to get up and say things they wanted to share about Michelle. All three of her kids got up and talked about what an amazing mommy she is. I might not have Michelle anymore but I am so lucky to have her three little wonderful kids, along with Abe (who is wonderful too). 

A lot of people from Michelle's ward reached out to help in the form of food, so we had wayyyy more food than we could eat and so did Abe. It was very sweet of people. 
Abe and Michelle

Michelle and her Children (Ace, Cash and Heidi)
I flew back out to Romania Saturday night, and am still planning on finishing my mission. I know that's what Michelle would have wanted and I know the Lord will help me, and strengthen me to be able to do it. 

Michelle in college











I am so grateful for Michelle. She is such an amazing example to me in everything she did. She is the most amazing mom, sister, wife, and daughter. I cannot wait until I get to see her sweet smile again and give her a big hug. I am so grateful that I get to be her sister, and that I am part of her life and she is part of mine.

Michelle's casket
I am so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation. As hard as it not having her here, I know that I will see her again. I also know that even if I can't see her or touch her, I know that she is still there for me. I know she has a work to do right now on the other side. I know that I will be with her for forever after this life, and I am so grateful for that. She will be my "old one" for forever. 

I love you guys. Hope you have a good week. 
Love Sora Vann