May 18, 2008 (Sunday)

Sunday hit once again – we had choir practice bright and early. Luckily today they didn’t make us sing anything we practiced that morning. Not that it would be a huge deal but it’s nice to have some preparation…Next Sunday I get to teach a lesson in Sunday school. I’m excited about that. I’m hoping to try and get a lot of participation. Too many of the lessons here people just get up and lecture, and I think that gets really boring really fast. I fell asleep almost twenty times today. I feel so bad, but tiredness and lessons in a different language that require little participation are quite hard for me to be attentive in. I struggle…

After church I came home and took a nap. It was heavenly. I haven’t felt real good, and I desperately needed a little extra sleep. Then we made dinner – it was our turn to cook dinner. We made parmesan chicken, French fries, fry sauce and broccoli. I’m learning some good recipes here. Then we had a fruit pizza dessert. My mom called as I finished eating. It was great to talk to her…it reminds me of home a bit! I just told her about my latest adventures…there are a lot here in the little land of Romania.

Right after we finished eating dessert Elisa got off the phone and was like…”umm guys, one of the sisters in the ward apparently made dinner for us and we have to go over and eat it at 7:00” – it was about 6:30 when we were told and we were all stuffed – VERY stuffed. I guess they had tried contacting us earlier, but they couldn’t get a hold of us….we all let out a groan. It was nice of the sister to make dinner, but we were SERIOUSLY stuffed full. However, we decided to grin and bare it. If we only would of known what lied ahead.

The Elders showed us where Sister Geneviva lived and we were warmly greeted. You could tell she had worked hard on the meal – we all felt bad that we weren’t that hungry – we would have to pretend that we were. We didn’t want to be rude so we all sat down and were ready to face the meal. Right before the sister brought out the food Elisa said that she could tell her that a couple of us weren’t feeling real well and that we didn’t want much to eat. I quickly volunteered. Boy did that backfire. Elisa had the missionary translate and tell Sister Geneviva that I didn’t feel well (she doesn’t speak English). After he told her that I figured I wouldn’t get any food. The sister brought out some soup and bread for everyone except me. In my head I was like “score!” All the other girls were trying to get it down we were soooooo full….I was watching and laughing at them. They looked like they were painfully trying to get it down. Then all of a sudden the sister comes in with a bowl bigger than all of theirs with soup for me. I wanted to die. They all started laughing hysterically. The poor sister had no idea what we were all saying to each other…So I mechanically started eating my soup. Mindy tried helping me eat some of it…such a good friend….

We all got done with our soup and were like okay that wasn’t too bad. Then all of a sudden the sister brought out another plate full of beans and some weird meat. We were all dying laughing when she walked out of the room…Elisa kept saying “no more, no more”….we were rolling. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at dinner. Then the sister got schwarma (some of the soup she made) in MacKenzie’s hair and dropped beans all down Melissa’s shoulder. Then I accidentally flicked beans all over poor Annie when I was trying to cut my meat. I wish we would of videotaped everything…the Elders were sitting there acting like our coaches telling us we could eat it all and keep it down. After we were done with that we were definitely brought out another course – oh yes. It was some weird kind of sausage, by then we were all forcing it down, and I felt like I was gonna throw up. Then the sister came in and the Elders translated that she said “to eat up because she had lots more.” We were like please no, please no….

The last thing she brought us was this little dessert thing. It was small, but wow I was ready to puke. We all sat lethargically in our chairs. I felt like I was pregnant, and my shirt that had been loose that day was now quite tight. I went home and made myself throw up because I felt sick…but at least it makes for a good story…one I will never forget…the memories, the memories.