Much to report. SOOOO MUCH.
It starts like this...
First of all, lets start with this craziness: I HAVE BEEN STUCK IN ROMANIA ALL DAY! We left Moldova two days ago, to attend an MLC (mission leadership conference) in Bucharest, Romania. Our journey there was wild. We took a maxi taxi 5 hours to Iasi, Romania, and slept the night at the sisters apartment there. We got to bed at about 2 am. Then, we woke up at 3:30 am to go to the Iasi airport, to take a flight to Bucharest. Running off of an hour of sleep... so fun, let me tell you. :) So we arrive in Bucharest, and I get to spend the morning with my recent convert/ eternal best friend TALITA :) We walked around Bucharest and ate breakfast. It was amazing to spend time after not seeing her for a few transfers :) Then all of the mission leaders (the zone leaders and the sister training leaders) went to the mission home to have the conference. We started with a HUGE fourth of July BBQ, since this all happened on the 4th :) MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY! It was perfect, the only thing I was missing was the fireworks, fam, and friends! But the food was great and I was reunited with some of my best friends in the mission like Sora Cutler :):) I have been blessed to see her and hang out with her so often the last few months of my mission!!
The most influential part of this week, my mission, and my entire life as a whole: the MLC Conference. After 18 months of conferences, trainings, meetings, etc.... this one changed me entirely. This conference, it felt like everything just clicked. Perfectly. It was definitely the strongest spiritual feelings I have felt in my entire mission so far, a pretty remarkable experience. I wish I could explain it better, but I truly just cant! I felt changes that had happened to me throughout my mission. Sitting there in that conference, I felt new things and learned more about myself than ever before. I couldnt help but cry and cry and cry even more, as I testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and listened to the testimonies of other missionaries. I couldnt help but cry as I felt the immense love that Prez and Sora Ivory have for us. I felt a stronger love for the gospel than I ever have before. At the end of the end of the conference, it absolutely clicked to me.. the kind of person I will be after this experience. The things I have experienced, the things I have learned.. they have changed me in ways I cant even explain. And I truly felt that yesterday. I honestly just bawled, also because it hit me for the first time yesterday that I am ending my mission. I see Mom and Dad in Bucharest exactly 2 weeks from today. And it hit me so strongly that these are my last two weeks to enjoy this life here. Once again... I cant fully express to you these feelings over email! When I am home, I cant wait to tell you all stories and experiences that I had here. Too amazing for words :)
The conference ended with a big surprise: BOWLING WITH THE PREZ ;) Yes.. we have the most incredible mission president ever. He took all of us to the nicest bowling alley I have ever seen, in north Bucharest. We had some serious bro time with prez, while he literally kicked all of our butts in bowling ;) I thought I was bad before the mission.... hahahah.... ITS A LOT WORSE NOW. Its bad. I gotta step up my game when I get home, thats for sure ;)
Basically, it was the most incredible, spiritually uplifting, craziest, and happiest Fourth of July I could have ever asked for :) Besides the fireworks.. im pretty sad about that part. Haha. I am so happy and proud to be an American!!! WEEOOWWW!! :)
So, back to the story. We left bowling, and drove to the airport in Bucharest. We almost missed our flight, but that just made it a more memorable experience ;) We then flew from Bucharest, back to Iasi... to sleep ANOTHER NIGHT in Iasi. BUT.... PLOT TWIST... We get a call from the office elders telling us that the only maxi taxis back to Chisinau, Moldova were at ONE in the morning, THREE in the morning... or the next day at SIX pm. Well, it was way to sketchy to leave that night alone, in a foreign city. So, we decided to stay in Iasi all of today and take our pday here, then take a maxi taxi late tonight. So here we are in Iasi, one of my favorite cities in Romania! We went shopping at the famous Palace Mall (google that, its magnificent) and took advantage of the amazing Romanian food that we dont have over there in Moldova ;)
So I look forward to the next week and a half that I have Chisinau, then I will go to Bucharest for interviews and meetings before I meet Mom and Dad! I probably wont get to email that last monday, so that means that next monday will be my LAST FAMILY EMAIL!!! :(:( WOW
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY
I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON
I LOVE YOU GUYS
I AM SUCH AN EMOTIONAL SISTER MISSIONARY
I AM GOING TO SHED A LOT OF TEARS THIS WEEK I JUST KNOW IT
xoxoxo
Sora Draper
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