halfway done and already out of subject ideas

So basically I sat for 10 minutes not knowing what to write for my subject so this is the best everyone gets haha 

Here's some happenings this week :

☆was warm enough to play sports in shorts on monday!! 

☆had a super awesome lesson with our friend about the plan of salvation and she kept saying how it made so much sense

☆had a lesson with another friend and she kept saying how everything Joseph Smith had questions about and all the answers make sense and is relatable 

☆went to another town to try to find an inactive member but we couldn't but ended up having some good convos there (also got yelled out of a block )

☆had lunch with someone who has been a friend of the missionaries for over 20 years but has yet accepted to be baptized

☆had games night with our branch which was super fun! 

☆had 2 friends at church in person on Sunday! One was the friend (ana maria) who we taught the plan of salvation too and she really liked it and we had a good lesson after and she said she liked that our church building wasn't like the other churches in romanian (ours is literally a house everyone) 

☆another friend watched church online and loved it!

☆it's raining a lot and usually I love the rain but it's a little hard to do missionary work in the rain 

☆some super odd lady asked us what church we were missionaries for when we knocked her door and we told her multiple times and she did not understand and shut the door but she opened and proceeded to creepily watch us knock other doors until I said hi and she slowly crept back into her door and we promptly left, it was super creepy and goofy

☆some random couple from Utah bought us a treat and talked with us

☆just had some pleasantly good times finding and being a missionary this week 

Basically it for this week! I studied a lot about the plan of salvation this week and it is such a beautiful plan. A merciful plan for us by a merciful Heavenly Father. I know this plan is true. I know we can all return to Him if that's our desire. I know this plan will make us happy. God gives us exactly what we need to be happy in this life and for eternity. It's a beautiful perfect plan and if we put our trust in it, it'll all work out for our good! 

I love you all! Email me throughout the week, I love getting emails during the week! 

- larry 

P-day hike

Lunch at our friends Edith's house

Felt like a real hiker

Amazing P-day hike

Got our monthly money so we treated ourselves after the hike

The bloc where the creepy lady was. Cute building though

The essentials: Bread, bananas, nutella, and the book of mormon

The brownies from the random Utah couple

Our friend Edith. Twenty years of missionary friendship

Transfer board predictions

9 Months of Joy!

Ok everybody- if you are reading this title and are shocked, so am I, I've been a missionary for 9 months today!! Which means I'm halfway and only have about 9 more months here in this beautiful country 😢 

These past nine months has been full of hard times, tears, laughs, smiles, suc, sarmale, walking, door slams, so many commie blocs, sticky notes, trains (a lot of trains), beautiful friends with tender moments, the Spirit, and so much growth and JOY! Everyone will tell you missions are hard and they aren't wrong, but everyone tells you they are also so full of joy, and they aren't wrong. These past nine months have in no way been easy but they have been so full of joy and happiness and fun. I can't describe it. When you tell someone about who Jesus Christ is, help someone understand God's plan of happiness, share a smile or a hello with an old baba (grandma) on a bench, you can't help but be filled. I'm sad that I'm already half way done but so so excited for the next 9 months I have to serve here in Romania and to talk about Jesus- I wouldn't want to be doing anything else 💗 

Here are some weekly highlights : 

- had zone conference! I love zone conference a lot and it was perfect, it always brings a new energy or morale to missionary work and I love seeing all my mission friends 

- got a nice train on the way to zone conference so that was awesome 

- met some super cool people who just want to be closer to God 

-taught our friend the plan of salvation and his mind was blown, you could see how happy he felt knowing God had a plan bigger than just this life on earth, it was tender and amazing 

- the weather has been getting a little nicer so hopefully it stays warm 🤞

- really understanding more and more the power of the atonement in my life and how grateful I am that we have this gift and I get to share about it everyday 🤎

- met a man from south Africa, who lives in Saudi Arabia and Romania, directed a movie in America and speaks 5 languages, I wish I could fully explain this crazy interaction I had 

- met a crazy man who said "I'm not the bad people, I'm the man who tells you of the bad people" 

Spiritual thought: 

We taught a friend this week about the plan of salvation and we read in 2 nephi 2 about the need for a Savior and redeemer, how we need the atonement in our lives in in order to progress and make it back to our Heavenly Father. I'm so so grateful for the gift of the atonement, if my mission has taught me anything it's about the hope the atonement brings and opportunity we have to grow and be better every day, we are not going to stay as we are, we can grow and change and be better because of the atonement and it's a such a beautiful thing I'm grateful for 🤍 

Love you all

- sami 

Also I love emails throughout the week so please write even if I'm bad at responding! 

Nine Months!

Zone Conference

Fancy train

Zone Conference