Natalee's Letter April 30, 2012

Well hello to my family and friends!

A few things before I get started on my week.  I think to get to Germany it is about a 17 hour bus ride, but if we drive or take a train its not as long.  I will have to check into that.  Also, the best airport in Bucharest or the Biggest one is Henri Coanda.

We had such an eventful and lovely week!  Yesterday we had a great District Conference in Bucharest. Elder Kerr from Scotland came to be with us, he was fabulous!  He was truly inspired to share with the us thoughts and impressions he had.  He challenged us to invite more people to hear the gospel.  He told us as missionaries, to work hard on the language and to love the people.  They discussed a lot about how we can be worthy to go to the temple and being prepared to go and how we need to go often.  I CAN'T wait to go to the temple! 

Sora Atkins and I have spent a lot of time in Bucharest this last week.  More than we wanted, I think.  We came back last Sunday night together after the emergency transfer, then Tuesday morning we left for an exchange, then I went back Wednesday night to pick her up.  We had the Thursday morning in Bucharest.  Came back to Ploiesti, but then Saturday afternoon we went back for the District Conference and got back last night at about 7pm or so.  So, we had a busy day with TOO much time on the train. Nonetheless we are excited to be back in Ploiesti working hard. We hope to have a FULL week together here in Ploiesti!  I had an exchange here in Ploiesti with cute Sora Sam, she is in her 3rd transfer.  

We are working hard at trying to find people.  We are contacting as much as we can in order to find those people who are prepared.  Mariana is doing so well, she reads and reads from the Book of Mormon.  We did not meet with her this last week because she has been really busy taking care of some business for her family, but we will be meeting with her tonight. I love teaching so much and I am so excited to find more people to teach.

So, two weeks ago I decided, since the weather is getting warmer, that we should be playing more SPORTS!  So, I brought up the idea to invite all of our investigators, English students and members to a SPORTS NIGHT!  We play soccer of course (or football if you are the Howells family) they always made fun of us Americans when we would say Soccer...and in all reality they are right.  Soccer really does not make sense, but it is not like we can have two sports in America called football.  Anyway, I had to give a shout out to the Howells because at this very moment as I am writing you they are getting on a plane to go back home!  They are from England, but are moving to Scotland. LoVE YoU BoTH!!!!

Sora and I have a TON of fun together.  She is so dang funny and I just LOVE her.  I really am so excited to be with her.  We are going to work really hard together.  We both have an advantage because as sisters we are the older sisters.  There are about twenty sisters in the mission and 70 elders with 8 senior couples, I believe.  I haven't count, but that is my guess.

Well, I hope you all know I love you!  Have a wonderful week.

Sora Hickman

Natalee's Letter April 23, 2012

FAM BAM AND FRIENDS!!!

Well, as always it has been an interesting week in the life of  SORA Hickman.  So lets get started!

First, I want to start by telling my sister Camille and bro-in-law Andrew congrats on your new baby girl Raelyn!  I love the name and I am very excited to get home and meet her.  Mom sent me pictures...Dwyn is so big.  I can't believe it!  Wow they grow up fast.  Also, I am now in the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon, so I am almost done.  Actually I bet I will be done this week.  Mom, I did get my "choose the right" (CTR or ACD in Romanian) ring.  THANK YOU!!  I didn't find it till about 2 weeks later.  I was looking at the box and wondering why there were cereal crumbs every where!  I had ripped off what I thought was a random piece or tape when I first got the package, thinking that it was there to take care of an unpatched hole.  Then when I went to go eat the cereal I was so surprised!!  It was the BEST cereal surprise I had EVER got! THANKS!

I will start with the biggest news.  I have a new companion Sora Atkins.  We, meaning Sora Stark and I and 2 other companion ships, had an emergency transfer yesterday.  We found out late Friday night and we left right after church yesterday.  Sora Stark is now in Galati with Sora Savage, I got Sora Atkins, then the Bucharest sisters in Panduri are now Sora Watt and Sora Henrickson.  It was quite the surprise, but I know that things will work out how they need to.

I am very excited to work with Sora Atkins.  She was studying at BYU before she came out.  She is from Idaho.  She is just a few transfers behind me and we are STOCKED to work together.  We have had about a total of 12 hours together.  I have not yet had adequate time to get to know her.

I have thought a lot about missionary work this week.  As a Zone we studied about BAPTISM this week.  I came to appreciate how wonderful it is that when we are baptised we literally become sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.  I am so grateful for a Savior who came here to Earth and set the perfect example for me.

Well, mom you had a question about the type of missionary work that we are doing.  Lately we have been working with a lot of less actives, but with English and our own contacting efforts we are hoping to get some new investigators.  We do have one really awesome investigator right now, Mariana, who is just a doll.  She can't hear hardly at all, but reads lips very well.  She loves meeting with us and feels such a difference in her life when she does.  We meet with her about twice a week at Camelia's house (recent convert).  She was a referral from one of the recent converts.  Her family is Orthodox, so we have challenged her to baptism, but she is not ready to set a date yet.

I apologize this weeks is a little shorter, but I love you all.  Cars, I am so glad that you got my package!  Really, I can't tell you how much I love each of you!  Have a great week!

The pictures are of me and the Howells family.  They are an AWESOME senior couple here from England and they are leaving to go back home next Monday.  So, we had a little party and a few pictures.  The elders are from the party and then the last one is Sora Atkins and I.

Sora Hickman

Natalee"s Weekly Letter April 16, 2012

Oh man I have so much to tell you all this week! SO hold on tight because we had such a awesome week!

To start off with a few items of business. I am in 3rd Nephi 16. I have taken my reading a lot slower this past week because I was studying a lot about the life of Christ. Also, Tiffany wrote last week and asked when I was being released and where we would fly into. I'm released on September 12th, but we will travel for about a week so we will be home I'm guessing like the 20th-21st of September and we will fly into the Colorado Springs Airport, I'm sure. Also, Amy Crockett emailed me and she is going on a mission to the Central Salt Lake mission! SO, awesome! Congrats Amy! I got a letter from Sarah Griggs. She is doing WONDERFUL! It was great to hear from her.

Well, as most of you know we celebrated Easter here in Romania yesterday. Easter or Paste as you would say it in Romania is a very large holiday, bigger than Christmas. We had Sacrament meeting yesterday, then a little program, put on by the little primary, it was SO very cute. We were then invited over to Brother and Sister Musat's (he is the 1st counciler in Branch Presidency) and then with President Pasere (the branch President) and his family. We ate and we ate and we ate some more! We started with cheese and Veggies and this other stuff called drob. It is pretty much a meatloaf of all the insides of animal like the heart, liver and kidneys I liked it. Of course, it wasn't my most favorite thing, but not bad. Then we have a meatball soup with bread followed with Sarmale (cooked cabbage wraps), lamb roast and chicken legs. Finally we had dessert which was a cake made from little sweet crackers and cozonc which is a sweet bread. It was AMAZING! I LOVE sarmale and the lamb was pretty good also.

We had planned to do a meal together as missionaries, so I made funeral potatoes, chicken and the elders made rolls and veggies, but then we got an invite and we thought no big deal. We will just eat 2 meals. By the time that we were all done with eating we couldn't do another meal, so we will do it later today.

Another fun cultural experience was going to a midnight mass at the BIG Orthodox church here. It is the start of Easter. So what they do is the priest had a candle and he passes out the light and it is suppose to be light from Christ. Then you light your candle and if you can keep your candle lit till you go home it means you will have good luck for the whole year. Unfortunately my candle blew out before I even got across the street. It was fun, we were there till about 1:30 am. They read from the Bible and say, "Isus a inviat" ( Christ was resurrected) then the crowd responded back adeverat a inviat (meaning true he did rise). It was fun. It was really rainy so not a lot of people were there.

Finally, for my week, on Friday night we got to go to a SOCCER GAME! President Pasere, he asked President Hill if he could take the missionaries out for cultural experience! It was one of the best cultural experiences I've ever had. Really though it was so much fun. Cluj and Ploiesti tied.

We had a wonderful Sacrament meeting yesterday. I was so impressed and just felt so blessed that I have an understanding of what Christ did for me. I am so grateful for His Atonement and for the great power that is it. I read a story from the April 2012 Ensign entitled."The Atonement" by Elder Bednar. It was great because he talked about the relieving portion of the Atonement, but also the enabling power of the Atonement. I often forget that we really can't do ANYTHING without his help. He enables us to overcome our trials and hard times and for this I am grateful.

I love you all! Attached a a few pics from dinner and Sora Stark and I are in our Sunday Easter outfits.

Va iubesc,
Sora Hickman

Nataee's Letter - April 9, 2012

Hello hello hello!

Well, what a week. We celebrate Easter next week. I will send you all the information. Easter is HUGE here. Kids are out of school for 2 weeks. Everyone here are doing spring cleaning and are preparing themselves for a wonderful time to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am very excited to be here for all the celebration.

Man, another week down! Can you believe it? We had a wonderful week. I got a WONDERFUL surprise yesterday. I walked into church, guess who was there? TIBI Yep that's right the convert baptism from Cluj. The new member we will be going too the temple with in September! He came to see me and Elder Speth and Sora Stark have all served in Cluj too so he came to see us all. I was Shocked to see him. I just wanted to run up and HUG him, but then I remembered, oh wait I CAN'T! It was really exciting to see him.

We did a lot of advertising for English this week. The English classes I don't think will be like they are in Chisinau, (HUGE) but I am really excited. I really have gained such a love for teaching English here in my mission.

We were suppose to have Elder Causse, a member of the Seventy, here in Bucharest next week, but then last week in General Conference he was called into the Presiding Bishopric, which is great for him but now he is NOT coming. Which means we get to have interviews again! Interviews are when the president and his wife come and interview all the missionaries in the areas. I LOVE it when we get to see them. I can't wait.

Sora Stark and I are doing fabulous. She is super funny, I enjoy being with her. We are constantly laughing and making jokes. Can you believe that I have almost been here in Romania for over a year? Few more weeks and I will hit my year mark in the country.

One of our Zone goal is to study each of the points of the Gospel of Jesus Christ every week. We started with Faith. I love learning more and more about the simple things of the gospel because I feel like it helps me grow, in simple but profound ways. I learned about how much Faith really is a word of ACTION. You have to do something; you can't just pray and pray and expect it to come, you need to act. Faith really is so essential. This next week is Repentance.

I want to give a big shout out to Sora Mullen, Harward, Puckett! I love you girls! Also, Nicole and Tiff wrote me this week. You both are the best! I have the best friends ever! Also, Carson, there is a person here in Romania named Grant. He is from America. ( he is doing some research here) He volunteered in the MTC when I was there. Well, he should be contacting you when he gets back. I said, I had something special that I need to get to you. It won't be for a few weeks and don't get too excited, it is NOTHING big.

Well, I gotta run! I love you all!

Sora Hickman

Natalee's Letter April 2, 2012

Hello family and friends!

First things first... MOM HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I know it is not untill Friday, but I want you to know that I thought of you and I love you and I really appreciate all that you do for me; especially here on a mission. I finally got my Valentines card, I got 3 awesome packages and mail on Tuesday! Thank you Tiffany, Kari and Ed and Mom and Dad!!! I got LOADED!!! I love packages. I really can't tell you how much they make my WHOLE transfer. I have gotten to the point now where America has become this dream to me. ha ha Really it is like this whole other world...so when I get peanut butter, marshmellows and cereal from our beautiful country called the good 'ol USA, I get super excited. So THANK YOU all so much. I loved them all and I am again very grateful that I have such a wonderful family and friends who care and support me out here! I really am so lucky! THANK YOU!!

Man, I cant believe that, one it is April and two I am starting my 9th transfer! I am liking Ploiesti so far. I am trying to get use to every thing and get into my groove. It always takes me about a week to get settled and get back into the swing of things. Sora Stark is wonderful! A California girl, but has lived in Alpine for the past 6 years or so. She is super fun and funny I might add...I continually find myself laughing at her and having a good time. She is 26 and was in the same MTC group as Sora Cottam, Schuld and Hall.

Well, what a week! I can't believe that time really does go by so SUPER fast here. We had a great last district meeting last week. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone. I will really miss my last district, they were FABULOUS! I got along with them so well, but as missionary life goes you learn to love and appreciate every area, every district and zone so just give me a week or so and I will adjust.

Sora Hall and I had a train ride down to Buc on Tuesday night...it was fun. When we got to Buc we went to get cleaned up and ready to go, then Sora Stark and I went back to Ploiesti it is about a 40 minute train ride from Buc to Ploiesti. So super short and way different compared to all my really really long train rides, I've had in the past. Ploiesti is small, but the branch is BOOMING! Really this is the envy branch of all the ones in the mission because the members just get the missionary work; the importance that it has with the missionaries and how we really need to work together. It is wonderful. I haven't met a lot of the members because I watched conference yesterday. That is another great benefit of having a chapel...an actual chapel here not a villa. ( like a rented out home) We got all the sessions except for Sunday afternoon.

I LOVE CONFERENCE. I have been praying and thinking all week of questions that I could ask and how I could get the most out of conference. I had my questions answered and was very spiritually uplifted. I really enjoyed Elder Scott's talk. I just love him. I got a lot of impressions and thought about my life after my mission. I am very excited to take the things that I am learning now and apply them to my life. I am very excited to raise a family in this great gospel. I really can't imagine my life with out the gospel and definitely not raising my family with out it. Mom and Dad, I want to say thank you so much for helping me. Thank you for being a wonderful example for me and for raising me in this church. I really am so blessed to be a part of this great and growing church.

Well, I talked with Tibi about what temple. He said that financially it would probably be better to go to Germany. I really wanted to go to Ukraine. I will talk to him more in detail. I am thinking that it will take a week to 9 days to get through the mission and get to the temple. Tibi did write me today and said that his fiances are tight and that he is hoping that all will work out for him to go. Now that I am back in Romania it will be easier for me communicate with him. I feel like one to two days in each city would be good and then I am sure that we will want to travel to Dracula's caste (Brasov another city in Romania) and do some fun stuff along the way. Of course, for one Sunday I would like to spend it in one of my branches. If we started Wednesday or technically I think we could start Tuesday because Tuesday is like a free day for the missionaries who are going home. You get to do just about what ever you want. If you came in on Tuesday then maybe we could start in Bucharest and then move on to Ploiesti since they are so close. Arad and Cluj are close and then we have Chisinau which is NO where near to anything. It is really hard for me to know how much time it will take and all the details because I really don't have the resources here. Anyway, it will all work out! We will celebrate Easter here is two weeks, I think? I am very excited because Here Easter is HUGE!

Well, I have to go, but I want you all to know that I love you! Have a great week!

Sora Hickman