Some of the sweetest moments here come from watching these children develop. I've become particularly attached to one 5-month-old who is just beginning to smile and who laughed this week for the first time! (At least I like to tell myself that he shared his first smiles and first laugh with me...) A couple of other one-year (ish)-olds are learning to walk, and it's fun to be there during this exciting time for them, too! If only Romania wasn't closed to international adoption, I would find a way to take them home with me! I continue to learn so much from the wonderful, wonderful kids that I get to be with every day. As I have been here, I have come to know that our Father in Heaven loves every person on this earth, and I've been blessed to be able to feel that love for a few of His children, for which I am so grateful! I am so grateful that God trusts us to care for each other and learn more about His love and the way that He cares for each of us as we do so.
I am also so grateful for the great group of girls that I am here with. I have definitely learned so much from interacting with them each day. It's so neat that all people have different strengths (and weaknesses), and we can just help each other fill in the gaps and learn from each other's strengths (without comparing them to our weaknesses, which can be discouraging-- I know that one from experience :) ). Even though we all miss our families quite a lot, it helps that we have all have people who love and care about us here, too.
It's also been fun to learn the language as I'm here. Some days are more encouraging than others, but it's nice to be able to communicate with people in their own language (even if it's very simple conversation with broken grammar...) As in everything here, I'm learning how important it is to rely on the Lord's help and not become prideful. When I rely on my own merits with the language, I feel more discouraged and overwhelmed, but I know that the Lord helps me if I am humble enough to recognize that. I also need to make sure that I do my part!
Last weekend, we took a five-day mid-semester trip to Brasov, a city in central-ish Romania that dates back to midieval times. My favorite parts of that trip were visiting a midieval German church and a castle from the late 1800s/early 1900s and hiking though a canyon full of waterfalls in the beautiful Romanian mountains. Such a neat experience!
I hope that your summers are going well-- I'd love to hear back from any of you if you have time! Happy 4th of July a day late (or, for you Canadians, Happy 1st of July four days late)!
Hello family!!!
How are you all doing? I hope moving is going well, Matt. Chad and Kellie, what have you been up to of late? Adam and Ashley, how are you? Mom, Dad, Erin, I just talked to you! Hooray!
Here's a bit of an update of life aici în România. This week was interesting-- there are so many ups and downs, but I think that the downs make the ups sweeter, and there is a lot to be learned from both. Sometimes it's just so hard to think about the struggles that these children go through, especially because I love them so much, and it just doesn't seem fair that such amazing children have such undesirable circumstances. When I forget to have an eternal perspective, there seems like a lot of reason for despair, and sometimes it seems like there's no hope. But I know that angels watch over the children that I work with, and though this life is not fair, I know that in the eternities, everything will be fair, through the Atonement.
On a bit of a lighter note, we visited the countryside last weekend in NW Romania, and it was SO beautiful! It was just one of those experiences that rekindled my love for life. It was so refreshing just to look around at the absolutely beautiful scenery, and the group of girls I went with was SO fun. We stayed in a traditional-style house in a small village, and it was just so quaint and beautiful in its simplicity. I will gladly share more of my pictures when I return home, but for the time being I'm just going to attach some of them to give you a taste for the beauty of the countryside and the fun that I had with my friends there.
Vă iubesc foarte mulţ!
Sara
P.S. Matt, I wish you could have been there to really capture the beauty of the countryside! These pictures just don't quite show how absolutely beautiful it was.
P.P.S. Explanation for pot tree-- there are three meanings: 1) it's tradition (not so deep here) 2) it means that there's a daughter living in the home who is ready to get married (because she has lots of pots!) 3) it just make sense (of course!) When you have too much stuff inside, you put it outside and hang it on a tree.
As I have spent time with these children, I have felt so strongly that they are truly children of God, our Heavenly Father, and that He comforts them and watches over them. I have never felt God's love more strongly nor had a stronger testimony of the Plan of Salvation than when I hold one of those babies or kneel by the bed of one of the children. I know that they lived as spirits prior to coming here to earth, and they chose to come to this earth, and they will return to live with their Father in heaven. I can feel that they are so close to God's love-- closer than most other people on this earth. I am so grateful for all that they've taught me so far, and I look forward to learning even more!
I hope you are all doing wonderfully wherever you may be. I love you all!
Sara Collet
This is after we got caught in the rain for about 35-40 min on the walk home. You can't really tell, but we were pretty wet!
Love you all!
Sara
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