July 24, 2008 (Thursday)
The Lord’s Hand in my Life: Thunder and lightning storms…

The rain carried over from last night until this morning – along with the lightning. I absolutely love thunder and lightning storms – especially when I get to fall asleep to the sound of them. I think that’s why I slept so well last night…

As Annie and I were getting ready I noticed she had Christmas music playing –which I thought was funny because it’s the middle of summer. She looked at me and laughed and said the cold and rain outside reminded her of Christmas so she wanted to listen to Christmas music. Gotta love Annie.

At the orphanage it was a pretty regular day. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened. The only thing was that we made voice recordings of all our kids so we can listen to them when we go home. Elisa’s last day at the orphanage is tomorrow, and she has to take the tape recorder with her so we tried to get as many clips as possible of our kid’s voices. Most of the kids cooperated, but my Maria would not laugh for anything. We kept attempting …after about the 4th try she finally did…oh boy…

Andrei was kind of cranky today for some reason. Every once in a while he gets like that, and I’ll have to take a break away from him and go play with another child. I still love him, but boy can his continuous little tantrums start to get to you.

The speech therapist walked in today to work with Andrei and I could tell he really likes her. It makes me happy to see that there is someone he cares about, and that she cares about him. It actually gives me a lot of comfort knowing there is at least one person who will treat him really well while I’m gone. Thank goodness.

At the apartments it was pretty sedate as well…it was just a very regular day. Nothing to report.


When I got home I called my friend Kristi to find out the details of her engagement. She told me how Todd proposed and it was adorable. He told her to get dressed up and she did. Then he took her dinner and a place where his friend sings Jazz music. Then he took her to Rock Canyon Park and they danced in the middle of the field to the song Storm by Lifehouse. She thought he was going to propose there – nope. Then they went and talked outside the Provo Temple for a while. She thought he was going to propose there – nope. By then it was about 11:00 and she said that he was like “well I don’t have anything else planned for the night – lets take you home.” She told him that she’d rather spend some more time with him before they went home – after all 11:00 is early for a college student. Then he looked at her and was like “Kristi it’s been a good night lets not drag it on.” Kristi said she was so hurt and that the car ride back to her house was so awkward. She was like “Whitney I kept thinking that comment was soo wrong.” Then he dropped her off and was like “see you later.” She said she got out of the car, and he drove off. She couldn’t believe it. She said she wanted to cry…Then she walked up the stairs and opened her door and her favorite Michael Buble called That’s All was playing. Then the lights were off and candles and rose petals were all over the floor in a trail. She said her stomach jumped because she knew it was going to happen. He totally tricked her. She followed the rose petals and it lead to a huge bouquet of roses and lilies. In the bouquet there was a card that said “go back outside beautiful.” Then she opened the door, and she said he was sprinting up the stairs with a huge grin on his face. He came upstairs, and they danced to Michael Buble and he proposed to her. She was so so excited to tell me the whole story. She said it was the perfect proposal. I can tell she is really happy, and I’m honestly so excited for her. However, I’m just not excited to have an engaged roommate in the fall…oh well… at least I will have fun shopping for wedding dresses with her. That will be fun!

It was Annie and my night to go to Outreach. We were both thrilled as usual. There were about 9 people there including ourselves. We all played a couple rounds of Uno – I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of card games after Outreach. Anyways, Ionut was there and boy was he being a pill as usual. He isn’t a member of the church, but he is a Romanian college student who comes to Outreach to practice his English. The second we walked in I made that comment that I felt like I hadn’t been there for a while, and he quickly retorted “I know. That’s because you haven’t. I noticed.” I was like okay…I knew it was going to be a long evening.

In order to continue Ionut’s rudeness he was like “I curse you that you will marry a Romanian.” Annie and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. I didn’t think twice before I said “that is not gonna happen.” However, he insisted that whatever he curses people with comes true, and that he is never wrong. When I asked him why he cursed me he said “because I want to see it be hard for you to learn the language.” I was like okay…that’s rude…Then he wanted to make a bet, but I told him I didn’t bet with money – only food or candy. The bet is 100 pieces of candy. If I marry a Romanian man I have to send him the candy, and if I don’t he sends me the candy. I didn’t want to bet him, but he insisted. Then he said he had to have my email address so he could keep in contact with me to let him know if I marry a Romanian. I tried to avoid it…but it didn’t happen. He managed to find a piece of paper and three pens so I could write down my email. The first two pens didn’t work – he kept giving me them until he found one that worked.

Then to make the conversation more awkward he said “How is that guy you were dating?” I looked at him and said “I’m not dating anyone, and I haven’t dated anyone all summer.” Then he said that he was referring to the guy that was at the picnic at me. I quickly told him that Elisa talked to Sera, that he has left me alone and that it is for the best. Then he started asking me all these personal questions. He was like “Did he kiss you? Hug you? Touch you?” Finally I looked at him and was like “Why are you asking me such personal questions – my dating life is none of your business.” In between our bickering he asked me what I was wearing on my lips. I told him it was lip gloss, and he asked me again what the name of it was. I said “There is no name I got it when I worked at Nu Skin.” Then he jumped topics again and was like “Do you believe in fate?” I told him I didn’t believe in fate, but I believe the Lord guides our lives if we’re living righteously. Then he went off about how the Lord is all powerful and can make people do whatever he wants. I told him that I disagreed, and that the Lord is not allowed to make us do anything. I explained to him that we were sent to this earth and given our free agency to make decisions for our self. Although the Lord can guide us down paths he wants us to take he cannot make us take any of them. It is only by our choice. Then he just tried to start an argument and said “Do you follow the Lord’s will?” I said “Yes – I try.” Then he said my statements were contradicting…I finally told him that I wouldn’t argue with him and that we were going to have to agree to disagree. People that only want to argue drive me crazy…

Then to top off the night there were two girls at Outreach that were really sweet that Annie and I were talking to. We were chatting with them about how amazing the Twilight book series is and about their lives. Both of their moms are working in Italy and have been working there for several years. It’s crazy…but not a story I haven’t heard over and over again in Romania. Then as they left to go home I said goodbye and said to Annie and Ionut “they’re cute girls!” Ionut gave me a dirty look and said “you think they’re cute.” I said “yes,” and then I said “you don’t? Then he simply replied “no I think they’re disgusting.” Annie looked at him and was like “we are not talking with you anymore.” I couldn’t have agreed more. Both of our jaws dropped when he said that. He is so brutal it’s ridiculous. Thank goodness the girls didn’t hear him. That would have been cruel. He told Elyse she was ugly one night – then he said something to Iulian (a Romanian young adult who comes to Outreach) who will not come back because of something that Ionut said. I don’t know how someone could deliberately be so mean. The thing is that he doesn’t even feel bad about it. He has this mentality that if your feelings are hurt by something he says it’s your fault. I don’t know about him…

On the way home it rained and thundered – like it has been the past couple of days. I love it though! It helps cool everything down. The only problem is that my hair doesn’t love it- it has been a huge poof ball…oh well there is no one to impress.

P.S. I found scabies on my face – not okay. I put cream all over it…AHHHH I WANT THEM TO GO AWAY!