Busting out of here!

Buna Familia!!!

I think that maybe this week has gone by even faster than the previous week!! We got our travel plans the other day and we leave bright and early on MONDAY!!! AHHH only 4 more days!!! We fly to New York, Amsterdam, then to Romania. I AM SO EXCITED!!! Nervous of course, I don't feel like I am as far in the language as I want to be, but I guess I can get by :)

Me being me...& enjoying TONS of veggie straws! Thanks Dad!! 

This week has been great just like all of our other weeks. We do this activity called TRC where we talk to all these returned missionaries in Romanian, then leave them with a little spiritual thought. It is cool to get to ask these missionaries about the mission. One class period though we got to do it with out teacher so we could ask him all these questions and got to know him a little more. It was really awesome!! Probably one of the coolest experiences we had as a class. It is hard to explain in a letter. It was great though!

Me, Elder Brown, & Elder Bonner studying! ..this was not posed..

Today we got to host the new missionaries. I got to host one of the foreign missionaries who is actually in our zone now going to Italy and she is from ENGLAND!!! She actually came Tuesday so I met her then. I got to take her around to her hall and class. It is actually cool. This week we are over lapping with other people. Usually new people that are going to your mission come a week after you leave. Now we have a few days with the new kids going to the Romanian/Moldova Mission!! We are all excited to see them!! We tried to see them today but we couldn't. We will start our classes with them though so we will get see them later. 

I forgot my journal so I don't remember too much that has happened this week. I just know that we have so much to do before we leave! I have 5 suro in my room so all of us trying to pack is going to be a disaster!!! 

We all wore blue one day!! 

Sometimes.. we like to have food parties in our room :)

Ohh we have had some pretty great speakers this week on Sunday and Tuesday! The one on Sunday was SOOOO funny!!! We were all laughing so hard!!! It was great she was like "We believe in meetings, we hope for meetings, we have endured many meeting, and hope to endure all meetings" She was great!

Sorry I should have more next week! I will be in Romania in 5 days!!!

Love you all!!! :)

-Sora Bynum

Two weeks left!! :)

WOAH!!!

The weeks here are just flying by!! I only have 2 weeks left till I leave for Romania!!! We leave on November 25th as far as we know. We don't have to worry about getting visas either. We got some paper saying we didn't need them or we get them there. Either way a visa is not going to delay our departure which is great!!!

I have so much laundry!!

We are still teaching our simpatizants (Cristian and Ion). Tuesday we have 2 lessons in the AM class period which is usually stressful but they went SOOOOOO GREAT!!! I think they were our best lessons so far! Usually we bring in notes on what we need to say and kind of write it out, because we don't really know everything in Romanian, but this lesson we made it really simple and didn't write down word for word what we wanted to say!!! It was great! We were also able to understand what they were asking and could give them an answer!!! The BEST feeling in the world!! We actually looked in the dictionary less this lesson than any other lesson! It was just a great feeling!! I had one of those moments that was like "okay, maybe I can do this!!!" I also had individual coaching (coaching is just where our teacher will take us out in companionship's and talk to us about what is going on and what not) This time it was individual. It was nice just to talk to Fratele Boynton one on one. We just talked about how I felt that I was so focused on the language and the lessons that I didn't have enough time to focus on the doctrine as much as I wanted to be doing. We just came up with a plan to separate my time. Also to actually have personal study when it says to and not focus on the language at that time. I did do that Monday and Tuesday was the day we had our lessons that were great! I think I should keep it up!!! :) 

Romanian grammar rules

Decorations in our classroom

Our devotional last night was GREAT!! Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us! It was so cool to be in the same room as an apostle!! I joke with Sora Bird every week that Elder Holland or President Monson is going to be the speaker but she just always tells me "That's a negative." Elder Perry was close though!!! He talked all about companionship and the importance of them. The devotional was broadcast to about 4 other MTCs. I also learned that our MTC has 2700 missionaries here right now. 300 senior missionaries!! WOAH!!! It is so cool that we are all different and come from different backgrounds but we all have the same purpose!!

I would just like to say that say that I now have the 1st Vision memorized in Romanian!!! It took me a few language study classes but I now have it!!! I would type it but I don't know how to spell sometimes :P I also have the purpose, but I've had that down for a while haha. 

Best seat in the WHOLE class!!

My district is still great! Elder Anderson apparently wasn't writing his mom enough so she sent him a fill in the blank letter for him to fill out and send back (she is a kindergarten teacher) so we made a mad gab out of it :P.... My stomach hurt so much from laughing!!! It was hard to breathe!!! So if Meredith wants to"Dear Elder" me one, you will get a funny response!!!  We decided that we wanted to play some language games during language study. One rule though is that we had to whisper so we wouldn't disturb others in our room. We made it like a game show. Elder Anderson was the Host. We just combined a lot of game shows. We sometimes used the "What is.." form when we answered. It was a Suro vs Elders. We ended up tying at the end. We are playing again today to see who wins!! I asked when I would get to spin the wheel (like the wheel of fortune) but they never answered me. :(

Our zone.. Romanians & Iltalians

All is well here! Some days are freezing and some are really nice! Utah is weird!!! Love you all!! Hope all is well for everyone!

Love, Sora Bynum

Funny line of the week:

*Elder Brown and Elder Bonner have an investigator (Fratele V.) who just asked these ridiculous questions so this is what happened after one of their lesson*

Me: How did your lesson go?!?!

Elder Brown: He asked if we had plural marriage.. When I said no not anymore he got really disappointed....

Me: *I just laugh*

Elder Brown: *while semi laughing* Then he starts asking us this question and I'm in my dictionary trying to figure out what the world it is....It was Dinosaur.... then he went  to the computer and pulls up this picture of Hristos (Christ) holding a dinosaur...*the picture where Christ is Holding a sheep but it was replaced with a dinosaur* I didn't know how to react... The plus side I now know the word for dinosaur!

I am so glad none of my investigators are like that!!!! 

Bună Familie!

This week seems to have gone by in a blur. On Halloween one of the Sisters Aunt's sent her a lot of goody bags. It was so nice of her! Later that night we decided that we wanted to have a "party" which was just the sisters bringing all the candy and things that they were sent. We put it all in our class and the whole zone came in and ate food and hung out during our language study time.

My companion and I got both of our investigators to come to church. We asked our teachers if they really came and THEY DID!!!! SUCCESS!!! They are on the right path to baptism. It is still kind of weird though because they are our teachers, so we will go teach them as investigators and then they put their tie back on and become our teacher.

We also have this thing called TRC. I don't know what that stands for, but we go and talk to these volunteers in Romanian and are supposed to share a message with them.  The 1st week we did it was  AWFUL!!! Our teacher told us to prepare a lesson, then this guy came in who is in charge of TRC and told us not to teach a lesson. We were so confused! This week was so much better though!!! We had one lady from last time. The people we talked to were all return missionaries that served in Romania. It was cool to ask them questions and learn more about the mission and what it is like. All our teachers and  missionaries that go to Romania get these cool covers on their scriptures from this one place. We are all excited to get our scriptures covered!!

We honestly haven't done anything too exciting this week. We went to the temple this morning and on the way back to campus I ran into Elder Garrett who reports today!!!! It was nice to see a familiar face!!! I forgot he reported today. That was pretty nice. 

For some reason our zone has come up with an obsession with riddles. They give some hard ones! We used a whole language study trying to figure some out!! I know not the best way to spend time but we just HAD to know!!! We got them eventually :-P It is mostly the Elders who come up with them.

Classes are all the same, teach investigators, grammar,  then somethings else depending on the day. One day we had to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in cince (5) minutes, then 1, then, 30 seconds!! It was so hard!! Especially in Romanian because you have to think what to say and if you can say it.   We changed leadership positions last night. It isn't effective until Sunday though. Everyone in my district has a calling now except 2. We have the zone leaders, the sister trainers, and a district leader. My companion and I are now in charge of picking music for sacrament and priesthood meetings.      Everything is great here! Still busy as ever! Sometimes the days catch up with you and its a hard to focus and stay awake.

Love you all!!!! Have a Great Week!!

Sora Bynum