WEEK 54

Oh My Iași

Mihaela

Monday, July 24
So on Monday we had a pretty chill normal PDay. After emailing we went over to a member's house and I helped her do family history. It was a ton of fun. Not much else.

Tuesday, July 25
Tuesday morning, we had interviews with Sora Hettinger at 8am--which meant we had to leave our apartment at 7am. After that we came home and actually got ready for the day. We spent forever trying to find a less-active member's house and then we finally found it and she seemed normal. We got stuck in the rain after that. I have some videos.

Then we came home and did studies because we didn't have time in the morning. We got stuck in the rain for like an hour. 

Wednesday, July 26
We visited Sora Lature, then we did lunch and comp study. Then we had to run to the grocery store to grab laundry detergent and some food because we didn't go grocery shopping this week. So we were out of food, oops. Then we visited Anamaria and her family and it was so great. We taught the plan of happiness and she LOVED it, even though her husband was skeptical. She has a light in her. 

Thursday, July 27
We had to go to the church to let the elevator repair man in. Then weekly planned. Then a lesson with Alexandra. She's great. We met a girl named Alina who's also great. 

Friday, July 28
District meeting was OK. Nothing special. We went home for limba and lunch. We visited Sora Lature again and then went to Piata Unirri and got milkshakes and comp studied. Then we visited Romeo and Simona. They're going to SLC to get sealed this month! I'm so excited. They made us steak and we talked about member missionary work. 

Saturday, July 29
Transfer board. I'm going to Iasi and I'm gonna be in a trio again. I spent Saturday packing. 

Sunday, July 30
Church and then visiting the Bogdan family for Ioana's birthday. She taught us how to make sarmale. Her husband had really loud annoying music on so we asked if we could pick a song and changed it to MoTab and he actually liked it. lol.

Monday, July 31
Happy birthday Harry Potter. We had a bunch of treaba de facut. Nothing fun or exciting just me being sad because i don't want to leave Buc :))))))))

Sora Lucy Gleason
România/Moldova Mission
July 2016-January 2018

WEEK 53

House Arrest and Spa Day

TUESDAY JULY 18
Probably the most boring day ever. Other than Wednesday. So we had to go grocery shopping in the morning because we didn't have time after the concussion and the hospital on Monday. Even though the mission president gave very specific instructions that I wasn't allowed to leave the house for two days since I was concussed.... we were out of food. It was an emergency. So we got groceries and then.... well okay, so on Monday we had an appointment with a member that we had to cancel and I felt really bad soooooo, we went to go see her on Tuesday. I did her makeup. It looked great. Then I got a bad headache so we went home and I took ibuprofen and we called the elders and asked them to cover our English class. Elder Green was really funny about it, oh my goodness, he feels so bad for concussing me. He offered to bring us medicine because he didn't know if I had any and he apologized about a million times. Honestly I still just think it's so funny. An elder gave me a concussion. How fun is that story??? Then Tuesday night I made ciorba and it was gooooood.

WEDNESDAY JULY 19
Don't worry, Mom, I actually stayed home all day Wednesday. In the morning, we blew a circuit because I guess there was something wrong with our lightbulbs??? Idk. So we had to call our landlord and he sent an electrician over to change all of our lightbulbs. I made a planner cover and taught my companions how to play Rummy and I made a cake. Hold up. Lemme tell y'all about this cake. So it's called a Kentucky butter cake but I call it the Paula Deen cake because it seriously uses like three cups of butter. It was one of my favorite things at home so last week I googled the recipe and decided to make it. It's supposed to be a bundt cake and we don't have a bundt pan so I had to kinda just wing it in a casserole dish. But oh my goodness it was glorious. Seriously I'm amazed it turned out thought because baking here is always a mess because everything is different. But it was bombbbb.

THURSDAY JULY 20
On Thursday I officially became a baba. I've been a missionary for a year. How disgusting is that. I was finally allowed to leave the house. We went to the office to grab refunds for some stuff and then ran to Piata Unirii for lunch. Since it was my year mark I was like hmmmm #treatyoself so we went to Starbucks so I could get a frap. We knew the guy working that day and he wouldn't let me pay. He just wouldn't take my money.  Then we went to go visit a friend at her job. After that, we weekly planned. 

FRIDAY JULY 21
District meeting! So we had a normal district meeting, buuuut we also had spa day. That was fun. The elders had no idea how to wash their faces and they all used my pink headbands.

 I also brought my makeup so I could put a face on after district meeting without having to go home and so the elders were like "teach us about makeup" so I taught them about makeup and they were so confused about the difference between a primer and a concealer and it was just really funny. So spa day was fun. Then we visited Sora Sergentu and I got to help her put all her family history on family search :)))) I love family history so much. We visited Sora Florica after that and she gave us ice cream and was just adorable. She has polio. Lots of people here do. She lectured us for like twenty minutes about why vaccinations are freaking important and I was just like yeah. You right. When we got home, I called a member from Cluj because it was her birthday and six months ago I promised I'd say happy birthday and she didn't believe me. Ha. I win :) She was so happy it made my day. 

SATURDAY JULY 22
English! After English we went home for lunch + to change because we were going on a pioneer day hike with the YSA and some investigators. 

It was SO MUCH FUN. We found this old abandoned building that looked like a church but turned out to be a weird crypt thing. 

SO COOL. It was crazy hot and the mosquitos were eating us alive but it was such a fun day. Oh man. 

SUNDAY JULY 23
Church! I translated again. I love translating. We almost always have some American visitors in addition to the senior couple. So the way translating here works at least in this branch is they all have a headset and then I sit in the back with a microphone. Occasionally I have no idea what someone is talking about or they say a joke that just doesn't translate well and also I'm me, so I throw in commentary every once in a while (like "she's quoting a scripture and I didn't catch the reference but it's probably the Old Testament because it doesn't make any sense") and it's always fun to watch the English speakers react to my translations. I usually get a few laughs. It's great. After church we came home and made quesadillas for lunch. With homemade tortillas because somehow I've turned into a great cook. Whaaaaaat? And Sora Lehr made cookies because that night, one of the elders here was doing a piano concert. He's crazy good. So we went to that and then came home.

MONDAY JULY 24
Holy guacamole. So this morning we went to the mall because Sora Sterrett decided she wanted to start wearing makeup and she wanted help buying stuff. She ended up buying one of the palettes that I own because last week I did her makeup and she fell in love with this palette. And now she owns a lot of really good makeup because we went to Sephora and I'm jealous. Also I'm feeling shopper's remorse secondhand for her because she spent a lotttttt of money. But it was fun to shop for makeup but not actually lose any of my own money lol. Then we got stopped by some mall kiosk girl and she curled my hair and was just a lot of fun to talk to. We got her number :) She was super cute. And now I'm emailing. Hi friends. 

Sora Lucy Gleason
România/Moldova Mission

WEEK 52

So I didn't break my neck but I do have a concussion. Thanks Elder Green

Tuesday July eleventh
I don't remember 100% what we did all day on Tuesday other than buy train tickets and then teach English and then take a train to Ploiesti for exchanges on Wednesday! It was a nice train ride. We got first class because it was super cheap and then I got to see Sora Lee and Sora Djahanbani :)

Wednesday July twelfth
Exchanges! Sora Sterrett and I went with Sora Djahanbani. It was mostly just a day of contacting. We randomly ran into a bunch of American military people and it was suuuuuuper cool. I got to hold a really big gun and stand on a tank.

Completely disarmed. They were letting anyone handle the weapons as a PR thing for military transparency or something.

Then we rushed home to go to games night and the train wasn't first class so it sucked. Games night was a ton of fun.

Thursday July thirteenth
In the morning we went way la tara and helped weed a lady's garden and then we had lunch with the Shurtleffs (a senior couple). It was great. But weird being around Americans. Then we met with Diana. It was a lame lesson.

Friday July fourteenth
District meeting! And I don't remember what else

Saturday July fifteenth
English! and games night. Diana and her Finnish stepbrother came. It was a fun time.

Sunday July sixteenth
Church. idk what else

Monday July seventeenth
WHAT A DAY. SO. We woke up and got out of the house early so we could go play soccer with all the missionaries in Buc. and I was like wel,l I have a bad knee so lemme just be the goalie, which was fine until Elder Green decided to KILL ME. JK, it's not his fault, it's just kinda funny. So he like kicked the ball really hard really close directly at my forehead and I snap back and fall flat on the ground and guess what's on the ground? A metal goalpost. So I snapped my head really hard on that. Since there was a senior couple there they made me go to the hospital, which was awful because all they did was give me x-rays and then tell me I had a concussion and all the stuff that goes along with that. So then the Shurtleffs bought us KFC and now i'm emailing. whooo-hoooo. Also while I was in the hospital I called Elder Green and told him I had a hairline fracture in my neck and he felt really bad and then later I told him the truth but it was pretty funny. Maybe you just had to be there........

But yeah. that's my week. Also if anyone out there loves me a ton and wants to send me a package, I need American deodorant and American tampons. The stuff here REALLY doesn't work.
pa!

Sora Lucy Gleason
România/Moldova Mission
July 2016-January 2018

WEEK 51

My country tis of thee sweet land of hotdog eating contests of thee I sing!

Monday July Third
Monday after I emailed we went home and ordered pizza and I made ciorba for the week and it was freaking great. 

Somehow I've learned how to cook on my mission and my companions thank me for feeding them by always doing the dishes :))))

Tuesday July Fourth 🎇🎇🎇🎇🌭🌭🍔🍔

Lemme just say that it was incredibly sad to spend one of my favorite holidays in a country where NO ONE CARES. No fireworks. No barbeques. No red white or blue. SO SAD. Anyway so we did some language studying and some park contacting and nothing fun happened and then we went to lunch at Hard Rock to celebrate the fourth. 

We all got burgers except Sora Lehr who got hot wings that were buy one plate get the second free so we all shared the second plate. It was pretty good food but I still miss America. I miss the hot dog eating contest. Who won by they way??? After that we did some more contacting and then we taught English. We analyzed the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody and then had them watch the music video. I love teaching advanced :)))

Wednesday July Fifth
We did some comp study at Starbucks and then we went into city center for lunch and language study. We met with Diana and it went SO WELL. She taught us the whole resto and planul salvarii and then we just filled in the gospel lesson. She's so great. When she was talking about the Plan of Salvation she was like "there are some girls at my school who do whatever they want and then go to church on Sunday and then just do the same things the next week and they think it's okay. Like no girl, God knows, you're going to the star."  (Telestial Kingdom) idk it was just really funny. Then we met with Mirela and I didn't fall asleep! Hallelujah. Then English immersion games night. It was super dope. Diana came and we played signs and it was just littttttttt. 

Thursday July Sixth
We ran to Mihai Bravu so Sora Lehr could practice the musical number with Sora Schow for zone conference. We got food and studied and contacted and then had interviews with President and Sora Hettinger. They're super great and I really like them. 

Friday July Seventh
Zone Conference! It was really good except apparently if you don't take a full hour of dinner before 9pm, you're not being obedient. LOL. Ain't nobody got time for that. But we're trying.

Cockroach outside our door

Saturday July Eighth
English! Then lunch. I helped a Swedish guy order food. It was fun. Then contacting and studying and such also we got bunged and that sucked. Games night. MB games night is weird. They basically just do an hour of Sunday School type lessons and then 20 minutes of games. It's weird and no one likes it. Sooooooo we started our own lol oops.

Sunday July Ninth
We visited Sora Anstchel and she's doing well. That was about all we did other than church

Monday July Tenth
Basically nothing except grocery shopping and I mailed a package home to my family and the Romanian postal workers are LITERALLY THE WORST THING EVER. They better appreciate it lol.

Sora Lucy Gleason
România/Moldova Mission
July 2016-January 2018

WEEK 50

Happy Birthday America US US US US

MARTI 27 IUNIE
So on Tuesday, Sora Lehr and I contacted a buuuuunch of people from our area books and phones and then we went out. We ended up visited this one guy named Sebi at his work (Starbucks) and the whole meeting was pretty good until he told us that he just wanted a wife. Ha. So we am plecat real quick. After Sebi we limba studied. We've been going to a bookstore lately. After limba study we ran to the mall to get donuts for Elder Boud because it was his birthday! We had Elder Meek ask him what his favorite dessert was and he said donuts so we got him donuts and candles and a birthday card. We surprised them before English. It was fun. Then English. We get to teach advanced this transfer so I actually don't hate it. It's a miracle. After English we ended up playing ping pong with a member and the elders to celebrate Elder Boud's birthday. 

MIERCURI 28 IUNIE
Wednesday morning I found something fun under our couch. A list of every missionary's birthday. Do you know whose birthday ISN'T June 27th? Elder Boud. Wanna hear something even more sad? I ALREADY CELEBRATED HIS BIRTHDAY WITH HIM THIS YEAR AT ZONE CONFERENCE AND I FORGOT. I ALREADY SIGNED A BIRTHDAY CARD AND SANG HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I felt so dumb lol. So we called the elders and chewed them out a little bit because all four of them were in on it. Losers lol. Then we visited Sora Lature. Her son is getting married in a month and she somehow talked Sora Lehr and I into doing her hair and makeup.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. We'll see how that goes! Later that day we went to visit a less active member with a member named Sora Preda. She's like the best member missionary ever. It was fun. After Sora Preda we went to the church for an English immersion night we're starting and the elders had apology donuts! It was really funny. They wrote notes on the box lol it was really sweet of them. Even though they LIED to us! It was nice :) The English thing went well. Not a greaaat use of time but it was okay. 

JOI 29 IUNIE
Thursday I don't remember what happened in the morning but eventually we met with a girl named Alexandra and it was the best lesson of my entire mission. We ended up spending a few hours with her and she's the most prepared person I've ever met. It was incredible. After her we met with a Nigerian girl from England named Tolu. She's going to med school here. She's super cute but going back to England for the summer :((( Oh well. After Tolu we ran to the gara because there were some missionaries in Buc that Sora Lehr wanted to say hi to. 

VINERI 30 IUNIE
District meeting! It was aight. Then pizza. It was pretty good. Domino's here is just so much better than at home. It's weird. For the rest of the day we studied and contacted and then went to visit Mihaela and her family. She wasn't home so we ended up talking to her mom. Sora Lehr and I just felt like crying afterward. It was rough.

SAMBATA 1 IULIE
We got to Cismigiu Park at 10 to meet the new mission president! He and his wife are so nice. All of the missionaries in Buc were invited. It was great. They're really glad to be here and we're excited to have them! It's gonna be good 'cause it's great. After Cismigiu we came home and weekly planned and called people from the area book again because it was like 110F with humidity on Saturday and it was DEATH. We went to the church at 4 for a YW activity and then there was a baptism at 5. So this family from Norway came to baptize their 8 year old son because the wife is Romanian and she wanted her family to be there. So we got to hear some Norwegian! It was really cool. 

DUMINICA 2 IULIE
Sunday was fun. Church was good. I got to translate :))))) And then we taught youth sunday school. It went well. After church, we finally got reunited with our beloved Sora Sterrett! She's back from her week-long exchange and we're so excited :)) Also last night there was a huuuuuuge thunderstorm and it was dope. The thunder was so loud that it woke us all up at 3am. It was freaking cool. 

LUNI 3 IULIE


Click to see video.
Today we deep cleaned our apartment. It was wonderful. It's still raining and lightninging and thundering a ton and the streets are flooded and my feet are wet but honestly it's better than the heat!




Sora Lucy Gleason
România/Moldova Mission
July 2016-January 2018