Toamna a venit, si iarna vine

Hello friends and fam!!

Update: it's starting to get cold here in Moldova, and it's going to soon be much much colder. Chisinau is the coldest place in the mission I could have been called to serve in, just in time for winter! But it's chill lol (get it, chill...hahaha) we bought some pretty warm scarves and hats for the upcoming months. Ahh I love love love European clothes. Definitely ordering off of Zara once I get home.

Not a ton happened this week. One advice I have for you all is: if you set up a meeting with the cute amazing sister missionaries, lol show up. But we have been meeting a lot with this cute cute cute girl named Lidia. She actually is moving to Massachusetts with a green card in April, and meets with us to learn English as well. Two things I love that she has said to us: 1) "Everytime I come to this church I am just so so happy!" 2) When I asked her conversationally what she did that day, "I read the Book of Mormon. I couldn't stop reading it!"

Love her. And I want so badly for her to be baptized! That happiness that she feels in the church building can be with her always!

Umm embarrassing moment to share, cause I know you all love those lol: We have activity nights for the youth and investigators every friday night, and this week it was minute to win it type games. In this order I 1) tripped over the table in front of literally everyone 2) was chosen to try to blow the biggest bubble gum bubble, but those who know me know that I honestly absolutely cannot blow bubble gum bubbles. and 3) During the egg toss smashed an egg all down our investigators shirt. But it all worked out cause our team won in the end.

General Conference was amazing! I was able to watch two sessions in English, and two sessions in Romanian. The internet was down for a bit and there was a chance we would have to watch the entire thing in Russian, would have been a great way to learn limba Rusa I guess. Anyways, I thought the whole thing was incredible. I loved the messages on Relying with your whole being on God! It is so true, especially here on the mission. We are so weak without Him, but through Him we can be made strong! Love that!

I love and miss you all! Hope all is well!

 O zi buna,

Sora Ebert

Pics: we hiked to the hill where Moldova was dedicated for missionary work by Elder Ballard

Also I saw this guy giving haircuts on the side of the street and was really tempted to try it

Week of Straight Miracles

Well Friends and Fam, this has been a good one.

This week started out a little rough, with zero progressing investigators, zero baptismal dates, zero investigators at church, many rejections, and very few promising contacts. But we prayed (a lot) for more faith, more energy, more contacts, and more investigators, and our prayers were answered! The very next day, we worked so hard talking to everyone with a crazy amount of faith. By the end of the day, we had 4 promising contacts, 7 referrals (we normally get 2 a week- never 7 a day!) and 2 english students asking to learn more about our church! It was crazy and we could feel the difference in our energy and faith. The difference was we didn't just pray and expect something to happen. We prayed, and the acted! We worked so hard, and the God helped us! We are so excited because this next week is crazy busy running from lesson to lesson! Our goal is to get 6 new investigators this week! 

I don't know if anyone remembers Ivan and Olea? Ivan is a less active member and his wife is orthodox and was very against the church. We have been serving her and loving her the past couple of weeks, and on Saturday she told us that she wouldn't have an issue with Ivan taking her kids to church! HUGE STEP for her! She even said that maybe sometime she would come at some point! The key is love and service my friends!!

We had Zone Conference this past week and it was awesome! I loved it and learned so much. Honestly President and Sora Hettinger are so amazing! We learned about spiritually finding. If we don't know where to go, or who to talk to, why are we struggling alone? We need to just ask the one person who knows everything, and He will give us the answer. If at any point in life we need an answer, and we don't ask God first, then we are limiting ourselves. It was an awesome conference, and I can't wait till next transfer. 

Crazy moment of the week: the pipes broke in the church the day before district conference (like stake conf) and all missionaries spent quite a bit of time mopping up 5 inches of water before it could drip down into the chapel. Oops!

Anyways friends this week I learned a lot! I wish I had a funny story to share, but spiritual ones are 10 times better! I love you all and hope everything is going great back home in America! 

Love, 

Sora Ebert

1) Fall is here! I wore my rain boots and tights today, and I'm not sure how to feel

2) Biking for pday

Nu Vorbesc Limba Romana Apparently

Hellooo Friends and Fam! 

I hope everyone is doing well. I hear America is going through a bit of a tough one with all the hurricanes, earthquakes and fires. I hope all of you are doing alright, especially cute little Henry and Sam in Miami!

If anyone would like an update on my language and pronunciation skills here's a story for you: We were contacting on the street yet again, and this mom walks by with her daughter. In my profound Romanian, I tried to tell her that the little girl is super cute, and she looks at me really confused and says, "Nu vorbesc limba engleza, scuzi." It was pretty awkward. Apparently when I speak Romanian to a Romanian they think I'm speaking English lol.

One funny thing I am learning about Chisinau is that they will put their celebrations and random events above the functionality of the city haha. Literally every week they will shut down their biggest street running through the entire city, and hold a huge event. One week it was a concert, the next it was a chalk throwing festival, two days ago they had traditional flag dances, and yesterday they held a professional wrestling/karate/weird fighting competitions. It's super fun to watch as we are walking by, but I think it is funny bc all the bus routes are messed up for the day, cars can't get through, and then the next day is spent taking down the stage. But it's a party here in Chisinau.

Iulia got her mission call! She is this cute cute member who has waited for months due to medical stuff, but she finally opened her call in sacrament on Sunday. She is going to Birmingham, England. Maybe she will be comps with Sister Knight? Ahh I am so excited for her, she will be amazing! It is so exciting for us missionaries here to see the church growing enough that it is sending its own missionaries out into the field! I know that this is God's work and that it is progressing faster and faster than ever before! 

Sad news of the week: Sora Ebert's fav pen ran out of ink and we are currently in mourning. 

Fun news of the week: We are starting a children's english class this week! It has been a lot of work to put the curriculum together, so we are so excited to start teaching! Hopefully this way we will be able to find some awesome families who are interested in the gospel.

The work is going great here, and Sora Dusenberry and I are working hard. I love you all back at home and I pray for you every day! :)

Cu drag mult,

Sora Ebert

Pics:

Sora D and I were looking for this less active member in this super old creepy block on the 11th floor, and then all the lights turned off. So glad we had a flashlight lol for the long walk down the stairs.

Iulia's call opening!

Our zone's creative contacting for the week: If you can guess how many ties are on Elder Soloviov, you win a free book! ;)

Marturii Lui Lehova

Buna Buna Buna Friends and Fam!!!

Well my friends I must say I can now check being contacted by the Jehovah's Witnesses off my bucket list. They came to our door on Tuesday. Super nice older ladies. To be honest that run in made us 10 minutes late getting out the door in the morning (well I guess technically we were in the doorway) but their video they showed us was very interesting. I kept waiting for them to notice our name tags but they never did. Maybe we need bigger tags lol. We didn't really know how to handle it, so now we have several JW pamphlets and business cards in our apartment, and they say they will come back next week. It was only a matter of time though...we see the JWs every day here on the streets, and the Mormons have become good friends with them. In fact sometimes we contact right next to them- respectfully of course. :)

Good news: President has been really stressing creative contacting here in the mission this next transfer, and the Chisinau Zone is so ready for that! We ordered new street banners, we are going to carol in the winter, some elder had some idea about using popping balloons or something, and we are going to contact the pants off of Chisinau these next few months. SO excited!! Honestly contacting as a Zone is so effective and so fun and brings so much energy! (even if sometimes we look ridiculous). 

MIRACLES: One super cool experience this week for Sora D and I was meeting Tania and her family! We were going and trying to find all the less actives on the branch list (it's honestly like a detective/scavenger hunt type thing here...Somehow people, and even houses, disappear off the face of the planet) and we were looking for one lady who lived in the far outskirts of the Botanica sector. We asked everyone how to get to this one neighborhood and no one knew. Just before we were going to give up, we find the developer who apparently built that area on the opposite side of the city who was going in that direction. Wow crazy coincidence. Then...we literally walked forever and couldn't find the right street. Literally right when we were going to turn around, we found it. Then...we found the house but no one seemed to be home. We were going to leave a note, but just before we left, Tania came out!! She said she was one of the first members here to be baptized in Chisinau, and she hasn't been to church with her three kids in years. But she misses church!! She says church brought her so much happiness and that she wants to come back! So we will be working with her and we are so excited! Anyways, I know that God helped us find her, and that we were able to meet her because we had faith and didn't give up! So many moments we were going to turn back, but then MIRACLES! Super cool, and we are very excited. :)

Low point of the week: I got pooped on by a bird for the first time in my life. Had to happen at some point.

High point of the week: WE FOUND MOLDOVAN COSTCO!!! It's called Metro and we now have a membership card (it was free yay). Honestly though it's a gold mine and so much cheaper to buy things in bulk. To be honest it's more like Costco, SuperTarget, and HomeDepot all combined in one.

Anyways this email is very long, but this week was very exciting. I love you all and I love hearing from you! I hope you all are safe with the hurricanes going on and such. And if anyone would like to update me on the Utes this football season, I would be forever grateful.

With Love,

Sora Ebert

Very sorry, I forgot to take pics this week. But we took this cool photo of our street board while contacting (just so you know, we moved to a place with more people to contact lol)

First Transfer Down, 11 More to Go

Buuuuna Friends and Fam!

Well this week has been a fast one, time is beginning to fly. I feel like I emailed you all two days ago! I can't believe transfers have come already. Sadly Sora Nemelka and 3 of the elders are leaving Chisinau, and I will miss them all, but I hear some amazing missionaries are coming in after them!! Super excited to continue training with Sora Dusenberry this next transfer and to continue serving with the most amazing people ever!

We did lots and lots of service this past week, mostly for members of the branch. On Wednesday however we did a huge Zone service project where we fixed up a community volleyball court where we hold weekly volleyball nights for members and investigators!! (I have learned that my volleyball skills are severely lacking compared to some of these other missionaries, oops). It was fun, Sora D and I painted some benches and had blue paint all over us for days. 

Also, this past Sunday was awesome!!! Honestly I looked around during the Russian branch sacrament meeting, and there was not an empty seat!! SO awesome! There must have been almost as many investigators as members there! There is this less active member, Ivan, who we have been working with these past few weeks. His wife is pretty strongly Orthodox, and is against the church, so he hasn't come since they have been married. But they just had a brand new 1 week old bebelus, and we have been taking them dinner, treats, notes, etc. and on Sunday Ivan and three of his kids walked in the door of sacrament meeting!! Sora D and I were so happy and so excited to see them! Definitely a highlight of the week. I know that because we reached out to be kind and invite them to church, they were able to come and feel the spirit! I hope you all are doing your best to look for those who could use an invitation to church, because sometimes that's all it takes, and it's honestly the best.

Life is so so good here and I feel the spirit every single day! (Also the kitchen bug situation is solved yay!) I miss you all and I hope all is well! I pray for you all every day! Let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you!

Love,

Sora Ebert

Many Slightly Gross Adventures

Salut Friends and Fam!!

This week was awesome; we have met many cool people and have started teaching more which is great! Also all the investigators that leave for the summer and coming back! So we are excited for these next couple of weeks!

I have definitely grown a tougher skin dealing with gross situations this week lol. First of all our friend who is a member invited us to her apartment to help with repairs. We went over and it was the most chaotic scene I've ever seen (lol poetic). She didn't have a fridge, so all this food that should be kept cold was just left open on the table everywhere, with flies all over it. She fed us watermelon, and poor Sora Dusenberry tasted it and it definitely was rotten. We also politely refused the tea served in suspicious really dirty mugs. And all at the same time we had these two cats who looks like they definitely had some sickly disease were running all around us. We did as much "repairing" as we could and go out of there quick.

Secondly, we were so sad this week, because our kitchen got some kind of bug infestation. We spent 3 hours this morning going through all of our cupboards, throwing almost everything away and spraying everything with like bleach or something. Anyways, I guess now we can go on a spice rack shopping spree. It was pretty gross and I really hope I haven't been eating bugs for the past month.

Haha I'm sorry for this gross update, this week had been super fun other wise. Yesterday was Moldova Day!!! They basically have a huge concert in the center of the city with traditional music during the day and normal (?) music at night. And fireworks! It's super fun, they have all these markets selling traditional Moldovan things, and all these families are out in the parks all day celebrating with icecream and picnics, etc.

Quote of the week: "The greater your faith, the stronger your character; increased character enhances your ability to exercise even greater faith." -Richard G Scott

I love you all! We are having so much fun here in Chisinau and working super hard! 

Sora Ebert

PS I forgot: one highlight of the week was someone gave us Kraft Mac and cheese and it was so American and tasted heavenly. :) Don't take American food for granted haha

Moldovan Emergency Room

Hello Friends and Family!

Well for the first half of this week I spent many hours reading Jesus the Christ, listening to the MoTab and cleaning the apartment because poor Sora Dusenberry was sick! We aren't really sure what it was, but she's better now. However, on Tuesday she wasn't doing so great so we got to go to the hospital! Let me just say I am really grateful that they send us missionaries to the private hospitals here, because it's super similar to America and the doctors are great as far as I know. Sora D told me a bunch about the healthcare system here. It's honestly so sad, and the whole system is so corrupt. Basically a patient may come in with a headaches or something and they will be told that they are going to die if they don't have surgery or something. For example, there's this cute 17 year old girl who comes to the Russian branch and she recently had her ovaries removed and is currently undergoing chemo and radiation, though there really doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her, and we are all pretty sure the doctors have been lying to her in order to get more money. It's so so so sad and happens all the time here. But don't worry!! That doesn't happen at the hospital we go to luckily!

On a happier note, we've had a great time contacting less actives this week! There is a long list of members here in Chisinau, and only a percentage of them are coming to church, so this week we made some cookies and bought some flowers for some of them! Basically here in Chisinau, everyone lives in these huge apartment blocks, and almost all of them are super old, super creepy, and super dark, all left over from communism 30 years ago. Plus they smell super weird.Yesterday we went up this old creaky elevator for 17 floors with it sounding like it was going to break any second. But we had fun and it's definitely an adventure.

Also I wanted to say that the people here are so nice and I love them all, and some of them are hilarious. We are friends with Ecaterina, this old member in the ward who every morning and night she calls us to pray with her. Plus every time we see her she asks to pray with us. Some days we end up praying with her 3 or 4 times, and it's awesome she's the sweetest. Plus you can never have too many prayers!

I love you all! I hope all is well!

Sora Ebert

Pics:

1) poor Sora Dusie, glad she's doing alright

2) Cathedral Park, literally we spent countless hours here each week

3) this is our branch building and I forgot if I've already sent it to you guys! But the church rents out this cute villa and it's my favorite

Life is Good

Buna Dimineata Friends and Fam!!!

Life is good here in Chisinau. Lots happened this week, haha but every time I email I forget it all. 

Our investigator Virginia was baptized!!! She is this cute mom of two little girls and I love her and am so happy for her! Her husband Ghenadie was able to perform the baptism which was awesome and they are they cutest little family! Love them. :)

We had zone conference this past week which was fun. It was fun to see Elder Cloward from the MTC and all the other elders in the two other moldovian cities. Also it was very fun to see President and Sister Hettinger again, they are the best. I learned a lot. 

It's so fun, the sister missionaries have started a young women's program here! We had an activity last week where we watched Mormon messages and learned how to make brownie balls (so good) and I think we are having another activity this week decorating journals. The girls are so sweet and it is so fun to have enough youth to have young womens! Probably more than half of the girls are actually investigators who come every week and are super solid. Super fun :)

It's kind of weird to think I'm one of four sister missionaries in this entire country. All of us are here in Chisinau and we are able to go contacting or go to lunch with them all the time.

This week was pretty good! Sora Dusenberry have a goal to "forget English." We try to SYL (speak in Romanian as much as possible) any time we are out of the apartment. It actually makes everything so much easier cause then you are already in the habit of speaking and thinking in Romanian. 

Life is good here! I love you all and I hope you are all great!!

Cu drag,

Sora Ebert

Pics

1) Bonus Points if you can find my name in Russian

2) Me with cute Vica (Virginia's daughter)

3) Virginia's baptism :)

Hello From Mini-Russia

Buna Ziua friends and family!!!

I have made it safe and sound to the mission and am serving in Chisinau, Moldova (pronounced keesh-i-now) with my amazing trainer Sora Dusenberry! Love her!! I was not expecting to be sent to Moldova first I'll be honest but I'm so happy to be here. Moldova is kind of like one part western Europe, one part third world country (cause it is one) and one part Russia. 

So far I have tried quail eggs, sarmale (soooo good), Russian Snickers bars, and many other Ukrainian or Russian foods. Also they have the best sandwiches on the best best best bread for less than one dollar here. Awesome. Also my personal groceries here cost less that 10 dollars per week, which is great. :)

The language is coming along, we have sticky notes all over the apartment with vocab right now and I am starting a big notebook for new words. The problem is though, people here speak with a huge Moldovan accent and then throw in a bunch of random Russian words. To be honest, half the time I can't even tell what language they are speaking haha. But I'm definitely grateful for the Gift of Tongues! Maybe I'll be able to speak a little Russian by Christmas! 

Church is kind of funny. The electricity goes off every ten minutes or so, so that in the middle of sacrament meeting the lights go off and a loud beeping noise starts. But you get used to it. Also we are assigned to the Russian speaking branch (we actually attend both Romanian and Russian services) and all of Russian sunday school is spent by these old Russian ladies standing up and yelling at each other over something about the devil. Idk I don't speak Russian.

Guys the work is on fire here in Moldova! Everyone is talking about how  something is happening, the church is growing, and we are seeing miracles! We have set some pretty high goals for this next transfer but with hard work, faith and God's help I know that He will help us achieve them!!

I love you all! I wish I could explain everything about Moldova, but it wouldn't do it justice. This kind of feels like it's the most insane thing I've ever done but it's also the most fun I've every had. Every day is a blast. I love Moldova, I love the cute old ladies, I love our investigators, I love love love my awesome trainer and I love everything I am doing here!

Cu drag,

Sora Ebert

Three Days Until the Real Mission

Hello Friends and Family!!

Basically, this whole week was just our district becoming more and more excited to get to Romania and everything else becoming harder and harder to concentrate on. We leave Monday morning at 4:20 and don't get to Romania until 1 PM (Romania time) on Tuesday. So I think I'll have like 15 hours of time to read the Cartea Lui Mormon and PMG. Life of a missionary :) But guys I'm so excited to get there and meet the people and see the country and eat the food and learn more of the language!

I just want everyone to understand that when we say we are going to Romania, we are not going to a city in Italy. Especially when we say we are speaking Romanian. They actually speak Italian in Italy believe it or not. Haha I can't believe how many people here get confused between Rome and Romania, it's pretty funny.

Ok, the highlight of this week was on Monday when we had the opportunity to skype a member of the church in Ias, Romania!! Her name is Lidia and she is this cute cute old lady who lives alone in this small house with cute purple floral walls and a floral print refrigerator (that was all we could see haha). Anyways it was so fun to actually teach someone from Romania (not just skyping returned missionaries living in Orem). It was so fun, she was so fun to talk to, and was so nice to speak Romanian so slowly for us. :) She told us that she goes into surgery this next week and when we said we were sorry for her, she said, "Don't be sorry, be glad because the surgery is making me better!" Anyways I hope that someday I can be as cute and kind and optimistic as Lidia, cause she is awesome and made our week!

The Provo temple finally reopened! I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to go this morning, especially since it's the last time that I will go for the next 18 months. I love love love going to the temple, and I also love eating breakfast at the cafeteria haha! Super yummy omelets. 

I miss you all! I hope all is well! I can't wait to tell you all about Romania next week!! So excited!!

Numai bine,

Sora Ebert

Pictures: 

The Italian missionaries found a wearable Romanian flag for us? 

We took one last photo with our whole zone before the Italians left

We learned in a fishbowl this week!

Hello and buna seara friends and family!!

To be honest, not too much happened this week. Time is flying faster and faster- we hopefully get our flight plans tonight!! Ahh we are so sad to leave all our teachers and friends in a week, but also so incredibly excited to meet the people of Romania and get to work! Our teachers tell us everyday how amazing Romania is, so I'm so ready to go and finally eat delicious food! (I will miss the brownies here though). 

One major update on the MTC though is that they are hosting open houses! Right now it's just for BYU and MTC employees and their friends and families, but right after I leave the public one opens up. Basically it's thousands of people each afternoon and evening walking past our classroom and watching us learn as they tour the campus. Our classroom is made of beautiful windows, so we make jokes about "Please, do not tap on glass. It startles the missionaries." Or, "Please, do not feed the missionaries." Haha but it's so fun to see all these cute families come through and the new campus is so beautiful, I'm so glad they get to see it! 

No one knows, why, but this week they have had us move classrooms twice. So some mornings we come to class and there's a notice to move all of our stuff out of our desks and hike to the other side of the building until we are told to move again. Super weird and unusual, but quite the adventure. 

My teacher Brother Brundage told us about Romanian history this past week! One day he was talking about the revolution. Literally Romania had a revolution only like 25 years ago, and everyone there fought in the revolution or at least totally remembers it. Guys this is not just a minor upset. Like 25 years ago people were being dragged into the streets and killed, or hiding in bathtubs from the fighting! Crazy stuff. Most people think the government now is better than communism was, though it's still super corrupt. But don't worry!! Romania is super safe now and I'm so excited to talk to all the people that remember what it was like under communism and what it was like to overthrow the government! Super cool!

Also, you guys should all look up the Romanian anthem with English subtitles, it's super funny. It makes the Romanians seem like war hungry barbarians or something. (Which they aren't, I promise).

Guys I'm so sorry but I don't have pictures again!! Honestly, I don't know what I could take pictures of in the MTC that is all that interesting, and I never have my camera on me. But I promise, once I am in Europe in a week and a half I will take so many beautiful pictures of all the awesome buildings and parks and people and food and everything!! 

I love you all, and I miss you tons! Life is so good here, I love it. I know that I am doing God's work and that He is helping me- I feel His love every day! I hope you all are well; you are in my prayers!

Cu drag multe,

Sora Ebert

Never say foot to a Romanian

Buna ziua friends and family!!!

This week flew by; I feel like I was emailing you guys yesterday!! We hit our MTC halfway mark on Wednesday-- less than 3 weeks to go now!! Ahh I love it here but to be honest, I'm so excited to get out into the field and meet the people of Romania! 

Also I heard that this last week was both free slurpee day and free Chick-Fil-A; I hope all of you ate enough for me, I really missed out. They do give us Chick-Fil-A once a week here though, so I guess that makes it ok. No 7-11 though. 

Our investigator Daniel is hilarious. He is one of our teachers acting as a teenager he taught in Romania, and definitely has some lit times. He never stops talking about his funny life, and our first lesson went 20 minutes of him talking super fast before we had two seconds to share a sentence on the Cartea Lui Mormon. Then he ushered us out "cause he had no more time." He asked me about how I go to the U and my companions go to BYU, and I started talking about how Utah football is the best. Anyways, the word "foot" is a very offensive Romanian swear word, so you can imagine how that went. He honestly wouldn't stop laughing at us for the rest of the lesson, and he loves to make fun of the missionaries. But it was hilarious. 

Our zone got to host the new missionaries this week and it was super fun! We all forgot sunblock and got burned, but it actually was way fun, and I'm glad I got to do it. I was so sad for all the crying moms, but so so so excited for the new missionaries; they are going to do such great things.

Update on the language: In Romanian we learned that if a word sounds weird, you change it. If you don't like the word order of a sentence, you can just switch it almost any way you want. Also if you don't want to say a word, take it out of the sentence. There are a million Romanian words for one English word, and one Romanian word for a million English words. It is hard but so fun, and the point of the language is to sound pretty, and I love it. I know the Gift of Tongues is real. We pray so hard all day every day for help with the language, and study so hard during every moment, and God is helping us! I am amazed at how quickly the language is coming, it is so awesome.

I hope all of you are well! I think about you everyday, and love you all!

Cu drag,

Sora Ebert

 Sister Quibley is so cute and loves to draw all of us on the board, so we took a pic

Elder Cloward's younger sister made us all Romanian flag bracelets!! So cute!

Our picture to commemorate our halfway point. The romanian flag is the one in the far right corner

Olympus High reunion!! This is maybe 10% of the Oly population at the MTC, I see people here all the time

One week down, 77 more to go!

Buna ziua familie si prietenii!!

This week was awesome! So much has happened, I wish you were all here with me to experience it! (Feel free to sneak in and join me lol-- jkjk that is definitely a joke) 

Many funny things happened haha many of which are probably "you just had to be there;" I wish I had space to tell them all. First of all, in class on Monday we were a bit distracted and our teacher Sora Trebas used a Romanian expression meaning "let's gather the sheep." Anyways what I thought she said was "Let's pray now" so I stood up and closed my eyes and folded my arms ( we always stand in a circle ). Anyways now I am constantly teased every time our teacher needs to "gather the sheep." Super fun ;)

I cannot roll my Rs haha. Romanian is going well, except for the fact that every R is rolled and 70% of the words seem to have multiple Rs in them. Our teacher is trying to teach me, but it's so hard and I'm supposed to walk around saying "arrrrrt" all day haha. But the gift of tongues is working and our Romanian is coming along unbelievably fast.

Weird fact about the MTC: they love to sing hymns. And I like to sing hymns too so it's awesome! You think you are singing the opening song of a meeting or devotional when really you are singing hymn 1/5 of the prelude songs before the opening song.

Last of all, I wanted to talk about our amazing devotional on Tuesday! It was the anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in case any of you didn't know, and Elder Bednar was coming to speak since all the mission presidents were here being trained! Anyways, we were really confused when Elder Ballard walked in instead of Elder Bednar. Then Elders Cook, Rasband, Stevenson, Holland, Christofferson, Oaks, Anderson, and Renlund walked in!!! Then Elder Bednar came in and spoke. TEN  of the quorum of the twelve apostles walked in and it was so cool! Basically our own General Conference right there. It was amazing to see how important missionary work is to this church that ten of them took the time to be there. We learned so much about the power of God's word and the power of Christ growing within each one of us. So awesome!

Anyways, the MTC is still amazing, still a ton of work, and still so much fun!!!

I love it here and I miss you all.

Cu iubeste,

Sister Emilie Ebert

PS if you want a Romanian tongue twister say this 10x fast:  "Oaia aia-i a ei" (remember to pronounce every letter separately-- it's really hard) it means "that sheep is hers"

Hello From the MTC!

Buna Ziua!!

Hello everyone, I miss you all! First of all, I love it here! The MTC is so fun, and I see people I know all the time. Sorella Lauren Taylor is my Sister Training Leader, so I literally live right next to her, and I see her several times a day, and it's so fun! I am in a tri-companionship with Sora Folsom and Sora Steele. Sora Folsom is super cool- she was in the ROTC Air Force at BYU before this. Sora Steele I love- super hilarious and nice.  We are in a district with Sora Pitcher, Sora Quibley, and Elders (Varstnicul) Jacob and Cloward. I love them all, seriously the best district ever. Super fun people. 

Already we know a lot of Romanian!! They really just throw you in there. Literally you arrive at the MTC, get your name tag and books, run to your residence to drop your suitcases off, and head straight to language class. And your teacher never ever speaks English. But it's so fun! Honestly the language classes are my favorite part, but I love everything!! hardest part of the MTC so far: chewing gum is not allowed :(

Pdays are the best, because you get to go to the temple! Sadly we only get to go twice because after this next week the Provo Temple will be closed for cleaning until we leave. But it was amazing today, and we got to eat breakfast in the cafeteria lol. Super yummy omelets, but maybe avoid the mysterious squishy white fruit in the fruit bowls :) 

We are thinking about joining the choir! Tbh mostly because you eat dinner before everyone else-- even on fast sundays!! ;)  Also I hear that this Tuesday the devotional is supposed to be awesome-- super pumped for that!!

I love you all! 

La revedere,

Sora Emilie

Farewell Talk

Good morning brothers and sisters. I am so happy to be here today, preparing to leave on Wednesday to serve a mission in Romania and Moldova. Four months ago, while I was impatiently waiting for my mission call to arrive in the mail, I imagined preparing to serve in California, or possibly South America. I didn’t even know where Romania or Moldova was on a map, and I definitely hadn’t imagined living there for eighteen months! However, since opening that call, I have realized that Eastern Europe is perfectly where I am meant to be, and I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity to preach the gospel there. Today is made even more special in that we have the opportunity to celebrate fathers, as I am so grateful for everything my dad has taught me and the example he has been to my family throughout my life. As I was thinking about today and preparing for this talk, I realized that not only can we use today to express our gratitude towards our earthly fathers, but we also should be thinking about everything that our Father in Heaven has done for us.

Many people in the past year have asked what made me decide to serve a mission. I never really knew what to say, because there wasn’t one crucial moment when, all of a sudden, everything was clear and I immediately planned to serve a mission. For months, I debated back and forth with myself. I would decide to go one day, and the next I would be reminded of everything I would leave behind here in Utah. However, after months of frustration, decision and prayer, I realized that I want to serve a mission because my Father in Heaven loves me, and I love Him. For me, this was the answer I needed. I felt peace as I looked at everything I have, because of Him. I remember thinking that the desire to serve because I love God is more important and worthwhile than any other inconveniences telling me to stay.

Once I made my decision to serve a mission, I began to be more aware of the gifts and love our Father in Heaven has given me and my family. That increased my motivation to prepare for a mission and serve Him. One of my favorite quotes from Dieter F Uchtdorf says, “Our Father in Heaven has given us, His children, much more than any mortal mind can comprehend. Under His direction the Great Jehovah created this wondrous world we live in. God the Father watches over us, fills our hearts with breathtaking joy, brightens our darkest hours with blessed peace, distills upon our minds precious truths, shepherds us through times of distress, rejoices when we rejoice, and answers our righteous petitions...He has promised us all that He has. If all that is not enough reason to love our Heavenly Father, perhaps we can learn from the words of the Apostle John, who said, ‘We love him, because he first loved us.’”

Everywhere we turn, we can see evidence of the love our Father in Heaven has for us. The earth itself is so amazing. I am constantly reminded that of course God exists and loves us, because without Him, how could something so diversely beautiful as the world be created? My parents and I had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii earlier this summer. We love to hike, and my mom definitely had many adventures planned trekking to the top of waterfalls, green sand beaches, and amazing volcanic lookouts. I remember one particular hike that looked out over the bluest ocean, with waves crashing on a black sand beach, and a tall waterfall out in the distance. It was one of the most stunning views I have ever seen, and I remember thinking how grateful I am that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us enough to give us such a beautiful place to live. Each time I look around at the nature surrounding me, I have no question that our Heavenly Father loves us and for me it is evidenced in the unique ways he has provided to help us simply find joy.   

A couple of years ago, my family was living in Columbus, Ohio. We frequently had the opportunity to have the missionaries over for dinner. Each time they would visit, they would share a scripture or thought before they left. One time I remember one of the missionaries shared with us his favorite poem titled “The Race,” which really helped me think about the nature of our Father in Heaven and how He wants us to succeed. The poem describes a boy who is running a race with his father watching on the sidelines. This particular boy is in the lead and thinks to himself, “My dad will be so proud.” However, he soon stumbles and falls. He picks himself up, continues running, and then just as he begins to catch up to his peers, slips and falls twice more. Each time his father calls to him, “Get up and win that race!” The poem is quite long, so I will just share with you my favorite part in the end.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,

for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.

Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!

You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”

So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,

and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,

still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.

Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.

Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,

head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.

But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,

the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,

you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”

“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

This poem exemplifies the relationship between us and our Father in Heaven. Our experiences here on earth are part of the so called race in the poem. We are here to progress to the finish line of living with God once more. Our Heavenly Father is watching us and cheering us on, and when we fall, which we will, He is there to tell us  “you were not meant for failure here, get up and win that race.” And in the end when the race is finished, just like the father in the poem, all that matters to Him is whether or not we rise each time we fall.

When I think of God’s love for us, I begin to think of the Atonement. In church classes, we often learn about the immense love that Christ had for us to atone for our many painful sins in Gethsemane and sacrifice his perfect life for all of us living imperfectly. We talk about how hard it must have been for Christ to willingly bleed from every pore while his friends slept through his pain. How hard it must have been for Christ to be betrayed by his friend Judas and then be forced to wear a crown of thorns and carry his own cross through the mocking crowd. I think it is very important for us to ponder the perspective of our Father in Heaven as well. How hard must it have been to see His Son Jesus Christ go through all of this? God had such unimaginable love for us that He sent His perfect Son to suffer. We are so imperfect, yet He still loves us so much.

One of my favorite lessons in my high school seminary classes helped me understand the overwhelming love God has for each and every one of us. My teacher, Brother Lammers, used Elder Melvin J Ballard’s talk, “His Great Heart Almost Breaking” to help us have a deeper understanding of this love. This talk has become one of my very favorite messages, and each time I read it I am blown away as I remember God’s overwhelming devotion to each and every one of us.  Elder Ballard begins his talk by telling the story of Abraham and Isaac. Brother Lammers used the symbolism of this Old Testament story to help us understand the Atonement sacrifice. Before this seminary lesson, I never thought of the connection between this story and the sacrifice God had to make to send Christ to earth to be crucified in the Atonement. This seminary lesson changed the way I thought about God’s love, as I realized how hard that would have been to see the Son which our Father in Heaven loved so deeply, suffer so much.

While I highly recommend reading Elder Ballard’s talk, I will share his concluding remarks, describing the pain that Heavenly Father experienced in sacrificing His Son so that we can live again with him. Elder Ballard testifies, “In that hour I think I can see our dear Father, behind the veil looking upon Jesus Christ’s dying struggles, until even he could not endure it any longer, and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles. So he bowed his head, and hid in some part of this universe, his great heart almost breaking for the love that he had for his Son... And so this is what it cost, in part, for our Father in Heaven to give the gift of his Son unto men.” I love this quote, because it makes me even more grateful for God’s love for us. He could have stopped Christ’s suffering. He could have interfered and saved our brother Jesus Christ on that cross, saving himself from watching his Beloved Son die for us. But He did not, because of His love for each and every one of His children. Our Father in Heaven watched His perfect Son suffer and be crucified so that we may live with Him again.

I have felt the love of our Father over and over throughout my life. I feel His love every time I pray and find answers. I feel His love when I take time to appreciate the beautiful world He has given us. I felt His comforting love when I moved away from my family to study in college and I felt His love when I decided to serve Him on a mission. I feel His incredible love right now and always. The love of our Father in Heaven is why I am here today preparing to leave to Europe for eighteen months. It is why I continue to go to church each week, pray, and study my scriptures every day. I know that God has a plan for all of us. He knows what we need, and how we will best progress toward Him. He sees our potential, and because He loves us, He has given us everything. Our Father in Heaven wants us to be happy, and He has a plan so that we may find joy.

My Father in Heaven has given me my family, which is one of the greatest gifts ever given. I am so indescribably excited to serve the people of Romania and Moldova, and teach them that God loves them. To teach them that they can live forever with their own families just as I can live forever with mine. This gospel makes me so incredibly happy, and I want to share that happiness with the people I will be serving on my mission. I know that God will help me learn and grow throughout these next eighteen months. It is my hope that on this Father’s Day, we all will ponder our Father in Heaven’s love for us, and our gratitude toward Him and everything He has given us. I am so grateful for this gospel, for this ward and your support, and for my family and everything they have taught me. I thank God for His love and the gifts He has given me, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.