Making the Most

I realize I’ve been a pretty lousy blogger for the last three months. I seem to only update my blog every couple weeks or so. Here are the thoughts I’ve had in the last couple weeks:

I don’t think going abroad is the only time people should really try to “make the most” of their experiences. People can live up whatever life circumstance they are in, whether that be being a mom raising three high-maintenance boys in a tiny apartment in ghetto Houston (props to Audra!!), being a mom of four girls in the Georgian countryside (holla for Jessi!), teaching the scriptures to twenty teenagers every morning at 6:00 am (yay for Mom!), or working thirty hour shifts every four days in a hospital that isn’t infested with cockroaches and does have AC (I miss you Chad!). Life has so much to offer, if we just take Audra’s advice and pay attention to what it does have to offer. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father can help us see the beauty in our lives, wherever we are and whoever we are with.

After being in Romania for a couple weeks now, I can tell that Romania has a lot to teach me. I’ll keep a log of them in this blog, both the comical and serious ones.

Lesson #1: I wouldn’t call the Romanian mentality a perfectionist one. Sometimes the washing machine stops working, sometimes the water gets turned off, sometimes the internet goes down, but do Romanians fret over it? Nope. Because, everyone knows that “sometimes it does that.”

Lesson #2: Romanians know how to take risks. If there are driving rules here, no one seems to abide by them or enforce them. So each day on the road is an adventurous one.

Lesson #3: Gypsies really do exist, and they really do wear bright-colored dresses and their hair in long braids. And Romanians don’t like them. But I’ve enjoyed talking (if my molasses-slow understanding and speaking of Romanian could be called talking) to the gypsie moms at the hospital. They have the cutest kids!!

Lesson #4: It is amazing and exciting to see how surprised and pleased people’s faces become when I smile at them! I just love it. One of the highs of this semester thus far has been those moments when I say “Buna ziua” (pronounced Buna Ziwa) and smile at people, and I can tell I brightened their day. And to those other souls I don’t know how to reach, I can pray for them. I’m so grateful for prayer, because it has brought so much peace to my heart, during those moments when I feel powerless to help someone, to know that I can at least pray for them. I’ve been trying to remember to pray for the people I pass when I walk to and from the hospital/store/etc. And of course the beautiful babies in the hospital—those fighters who teach me so, so much about patience and enduring to the end and long-suffering. They help me see the beauty in my life. Please pray for them!

Lesson #5: You have to give up your fears of making a fool of yourself if you want to make your dreams come true. I’m still working on this one—I’ll let you know what more Romania teaches me concerning this!

Lesson #6: If I want to be happy, I should try to love and serve everyone like I love and serve the babies in the hospital.

"I Can Do Hard Things"

I love this statement! My sister Jessi taught her daughter McKenna to say this while McKenna was going through a stage of often getting frustrated by not being able to do new tasks correctly right away. This is something that I think we all could benefit from saying to ourselves periodically.

Last month Chad and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos. During about the third hour of the hike, we talked about how people can often do way more than they allow themselves to do, because they set limits on themselves and don't believe in themselves. If they would just believe in their ability to do hard things and go forward with the commitment to do them, they would surprise themselves by their ability. I think that is so true--we really can do hard things!

Tomorrow I am going to Romania. I am so excited--I have been waiting for this for months. And yet, I am still a little bit scared, especially concerning my lack of fluency in Romanian. I will have to remind myself that I can do hard things. I will have to remind myself to believe in my ability to excel in Romania. Fear won't get me anywhere, but faith will.

There is something my uncle Joe said a few years ago to his scared and crying son that has really stuck with me. He said, "This is a good time to be tough." I love that! I think that is such a good life attitude! Sometimes you just have to be tough and believe in your ability to successfully ride through a time of uncertainty and risk.

Another statement I think is a good life attitude is something my amazing roommate Teri said when talking about an unpleasant situation she was in. In conclusion to her story, she said in regards to what she was going to do about it: "So what do you do? You get over it!" I think that's fabulous advice on how to accomplish hard things. Some things are just out of our control, and we have to get over them! We shouldn't dwell on what we can't change, but rather we should dwell on our blessings and get to work on the things that we can change for the better.

I hope I can live this advice while in Romania. I hope I can remember to believe in myself. I can do hard things. This is a good time to be tough, and I can be. I can get over the things I can't change, as I work my tail off to do everything I can to improve the quality of the lives of the people I come in contact with in Romania. Romania, here I come!