She's BAAAAACK!!!!

I have no doubt that 2013 is going to be my all-time favorite year.  And it's events like this that prove it!

For those of you who might have forgotten (since it's been 18 months since she left), Ashley was called to serve a mission in Romania and just got back almost two weeks ago. 

There are a few moments in life when we have the opportunity to see how Heavenly Father knows each of us completely.  One of those moments is when you receive a mission call.  When Ashley announced that the time had come for her to serve a mission, with all of my heart I just hoped that she would go to a place where she could enjoy life.  I wanted her to thrive where she was and be appreciated by those around her for her amazing joy and humor and love.  I wanted her to realize how truly amazing she is.  And then the call to Romania came! Haha, I know that there are a lot of spiritual moments that she could share, but it seemed like every single e-mail was about something crazy happening.

So, in honor of Ashley returning, I'd like to share with you some highlights of Romania through some of her past e-mails...

Her first experience bearing her testimony in Romanian:
" Oh yeah, on Sunday I had to bear my testimony and introduce myself...it was awkward.  There were other elders who had transferred in who also introduced themselves but their language was crisp.  Mine....well not.  I got up and meant to say...."I don't want to lie I don't like being up here speaking in public, If I fall over and die please call my parents." What i actually said was, "I don't want to lie I don't like being here, if I die please call my parents." I knew immediately I had done it but carried on hoping that people would understand, I bore my testimony well enough and afterward people said thank you.  On the other hand there were a lot of people who came up to me and said...we have so many missionaries who say they love it here...i just feel like you were so sincere."

Her first apartment's view:

Yeah, they're just cutting up some meat... haha

2 Nephi 26 - Pray in All things:
"I start praying...don't know exactly what for so I'm praying for everything, "to have good lessons with our member families this evening, no contention, sunny skies...patience in trials... a pleasant walk....(at this point I'm obviously stretching)...nice people...clean shoes...food in the fridge...dogs not to eat us...amin."  Dogs are everywhere here, disclaimer! lol.  So we start walking and they are all like "I'm glad we had a big lunch.  Lessons are going to be great, I won't even care that I'm not eating..."  LIGHTBULB, "Did you just pray to start your fasts?"  They start laughing, "yes, what did you pray for?" I looked all dumbfounded, "I prayed for a nice walk and the dogs not to eat me...I don't know." "Why did you think we were praying?" "I don't know I figured we were following 2 Nephi 26 and praying in everything." hehe stupid."

Beware of Gypsy Carts:
"these signs are everywhere! Not just one or two places...I am in gypsy village and instead of deer or children to be cautious of...BEWARE THE GYPSY CARTS!  It's funny to look out the window and see car, car, car, gypsy cart, baba (old romanian lady), car, car, baba on gypsy cart."

I loved this GOOGLE Image Search:

There are also Wizards:
"We had two other people we met contacting, while talking with one on the street, Tinel, I could tell he was not open to anything other than his "magician"-ness.  No joke he was a white wizard. lol...just saying can't be done with a straight face.  Both Sora Zimmerman and I were and are still rolling.  He wanted to convert me to the awesomeness of the magical side.  But I still got his number and he said we could meet up anytime.  The other person on the street was Julius, a black wizard...lol...and Sora Zimmerman gave him a Cartea lui Mormon but did not get a number for him...she walked away saying "He's totally gonna believe that book!"

. . . (later talking about a lesson with the black wizard) "The whole time I am thinking NOTHING can be as bad as the lesson with Tinel, the wizard.  lol.  So we show up and it's Julius, friend George and TINEL!  SO we go to George's house...mind you the whole time I am standing in the door way ready to bolt....DID NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE! So we're like talking to Tinel, or Tinel is talking at us, and all of a sudden he brings up how he smokes marijuana to receive revelation!  I moved closer to the door...and Sora Zimmerman was like "you don't need to smoke to think, do you?" Julius responds, "we think better with it, could we show you?" Zimm was up like lightning and was all, "we're going to go, so that you all can light up." hehehe.  I was so in the door at this point, that the door and I had become one! Meanwhile George is looking at them saying we don't need to leave... and then talking to Julius, saying can't he wait til after we leave so we can have a discussion.  Zimmerman was all, "we're leaving but thank you for having us over, and have a good day."  I finally voiced something to just Sora Zimmerman saying, "get his number...George's" and then went mute again.  Sora Zimmerman asked for George's number and George gave it to us very politely and walked us out of the building and only then did I find my voice and invite him to church on Sunday...and he said yeah, I'll be there and then after church can we talk about your message.  WE WERE STOKED! " (George later became her first baptism) 

The Church isn't well-received...
"Also had a woman stop me on the street and said I needed to dress warmer and was all cute and cheery and then saw my tag and asked what church it was, I told her and then she said are you mormon? I said yes. She said I don't like you and walked away.  lol.  Just another day in Romania." 

It gets pretty cold:
"The only downfall is it's so COLD outside we are not allowed to be contacting if it gets below -10C."


And pretty hot:
"Weather front here...1 degree from melting....just passed it.  WE ARE MISERABLE! No pools, no sprinklers and of course more is better when it comes to clothing of a missionary.  KILLING US! Upside....still completely white....gross!"

Oh, and we can't forget about Dracula!  His castle presents a great area for missionary lessons: 
"Sightseeing we taught Magda and Alexandra in Targoviste and did it at Dracula's castle and tower there...WHAT?! Crazy.  Only one place he was but sick.  Vlad Tepes...or Dracula! Badang.  I am super cool.  I didnt even cry once.  There were some tears but that was from the wind at the very top of the tower...it was super cold"

 

She made all sorts of acquaintances:
"Funny story we, well I found a visitor in our house last week.  I call him Fac-o-pipi, but he's about 4 inches long, gray, likes little holes in the bathroom, and running all aroudn the bathroom and then straight at me when I already have to go to the bathroom and makes me scream at "baby cheetah" level.  Oh yeah we got a mouse.  Of course Sora Zimmerman is no help with the issue so I am shaking trying to shove towels into all the holes in the bathroom.  I hate mice.  The elders say I shoudl remove the towels or else it might begin to smell.  I replied it's Romania I'll be fine.  Hope you enjoyed my horror story, I enjoyed not one of the Elders coming over and helping."

"I wanted to share with you a fun story of ours and our house pet...his name is Rover, he's a cockroach.  We found him on the floor next to our wardrobe and he looked dead...so we swept him into the dust pan and Sora Zimmerman saw him moving and I freaked out she assured me he was dead.  So we went on with our life and then we left the house and returned later in the day after church to find Rover had fled the dustpan...alive?  We found him in the same spot next to the wardrobe on his back again.  I joked that he was "Playing dead" like a dog and there we named him Rover.  SO we swept him up again, and I walked out of the room and skeptically checked 2 minutes later and he was still there....however 5 minutes later he was not...he was MIA until this morning when we found him again by the wardrobe.  Needless to say he is a master of the playing dead role now...so we're wondering if we can get permission to have him for a housepet? Soooo kidding by the way...I made sure he has officially vacated the premises."

Her creativity was not wasted:
"FUN CONTACTING IDEAS:
1. Shade Contacting
     Basically contact anyone who's in the shade, you don't leave the shade (that's a rule).  It's too hot outside for Sun contacting.
2. Ghost Contacting (aka Ghosting see youtube search Hamish and Andy..ghosting)
     When someone realizes you are Ghosting them you must contact them! (RULE)
3. Speed Contacting (aka Speed Ghosting see above)
     Basically being a creeper and contacting them while they are trying to have a peaceful morning jog.
REJECTED IDEAS :
1. I thought about 3 step hiding...but I think it might be counter productive. (See youtube search Hamish and Andy 3 step hiding)
2. Bus contacting with a boom box saying, "In this corner is Sora Stark looking all types of fly, and in this corner is Sora Savage just doing her own thing and looking fine doing it....and they have a message for you today about THE TRUE GOSPEL!"
3. More Bus Contacting saying, "You are the lucky 15th maxitaxi we've been on today....you're all winners of a free BOOK OF MORMON!" (or Free Salvation...couldn't decide)"

"After P-day we went sing contacting....not that effective, don't want to lie.  But I contacted someone, a lady named Maria, very nice don't think anything will come of it, but I'm happy.  I'm happy with contacting if I contact one person.  I chalk it up to a good experience especially because...I stink at it so badly.  Last night we went contacting again, this time on our own turf so it didn't take us an hour and a half to find it....and we did chalking.  We forgot to take pictures dang it.  We did Lehi's Dream, and we asked people where they thought they were.  It was a little more difficult for some people to explain.  But I really enjoyed it.  I was chalking more than contacting personally....our district is not that artistic...but I did get to contact a woman and her son.  Her son Tavi, was chalking on the floor and she asked me what the purpose of the whole thing was, and I told her.  Her name is Simona, and I was able to explain the tree and straight and narrow path with her."

Companionships were a little weird at times...
"Oh funniness...we, Savage and I, bought atrocious matching companionship jumpsuits...eww.  Seriously something out of Anne of Green Gables, Martha Stewart, backwards Romanian style, and a little jungle fever put in there too.  Pictures attached....they are better than the leopard print pants Zimmerman and I got together...There is no photographic evidence of those, thank goodness.  Hehe"

And districts can be weirder...
"My district is the Fellowship of the Ring now....we have nine members it's perfect.  Schaub is Gandalf (DL leader of the pack), Cunningham is Aragorn, Lippert is Borimir (he's dying to us soon...death by MOLDOVA), Miner is Gimli (dwarves are born miners), Brady is Legolas (he's actually an archer), Staheli is Sam, Heyrend is Frodo, Savage is Pippin and I am Merry.  So funny, Savage and I worked quotes from our characters into interviews today, "my point is President she's clearly overreacting."  It was fun.  Savage and I were originally Frodo and Sam but Merry and Pippin suited us more.  Hehe.  I love us."

You can keep up your fitness:
"Okay....little secret, the gym thing wasn't working out for my companion...she ways like nothing, so can't even move the machines...it's funny.  So instead we signed up for exercise classes...Kangoo Jump classes.  It's hilarious.  We have these bounce shoes, and we do aerobics.  It's ridiculous.  But my companion and I love it.  I don't think Sora Ewell will be up to going to this....or other stuff...so 4 weeks with indoor workouts at 6:30am.  I'm actually super excited because that's my favorite time to workout.  Anyways, so look up the Kangoo Jumps...it's ridiculously wonderful."

Romania sometimes clouds your judgment:
"Saturday, Went to Coafor again to talk with Angela, Language studies, Companionship studies, Hair cut and a contact all in one.  However don't think she's overly interested in the gospel...she did help us with our language and sold me and my companion....on....perms.  Don't hate.  My hair is already crazy...now it's more managed crazy.  But the curls are soooo stinking tiny.  Day two now and still getting used to it.  It is, however, looking so much better than Saturday.  Pomeranian seriously...I've never had my hair teased like that...hair spray, mousse, more hair spray, more mousse...plus she put layers in my hair...and did something weird with my bangs.  I played with it today though ....working-ish.  What the hey...when in Romania right?!  Hehe.  I can't stand my spontaneity sometimes.  OH well....live and learn."

Let's take a look at that perm!!! :)

I want to say that even though there were PLENTY of spiritual nuggets that she shared, I would be lying if we didn't look forward to the crazy things, too.  Thanks for being so fun, Ash Bash! I'm so glad you're home!!!  How great is it that I have amazing examples in my life like these two!  Can't wait for Elder Stark! :)

France: Part 3 - PARIS!!!

I think that when anyone thinks of going to France, they immediately think of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and seeing the Mona Lisa, or the Notre Dame Cathedral.  I'm not going to disappoint you and say that we didn't see those, because of course we did!  But honestly, I'm extremely glad that Jeff and I got to see the country outside of Paris as well.  On our drive from Sedan to Paris, I started crying because I had an overwhelming sense of fulfillment.  I felt complete and at home, and I was so thrilled that I got to share this experience with my husband (and thought of how great it's going to be when I go back again with my mom in the future!)  So when I then saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance - it was the end of me. haha I couldn't stop smiling!

I want to put a disclaimer in that I ADORED Paris, so this is a long post...

We got to our hotel and we weren't disappointed! They had Jeff's chocolate-chip croissants and, going with the theme we've discussed from our other hotels, a nice accent piece on the bed's wall:

And yes, that is a spotlight on it!!! The spotlight was right above the bed and aimed at these lips... they must have thought would "set the mood"... not so much. haha A for Effort?

Here are a couple of the views from our room:

And yes - that steeple is the top of the Eiffel Tower :)

So the first thing that we did in Paris was walk down to the Louvre.  Our hotel was in an awesome spot because we were within walking distance of the Louvre and of the Notre Dame, and the metro/subway station was a block away to get anywhere else.  So here are a few pictures from the Louvre on our first night (Warning: inside of the museum, you couldn't use flash photography and since it was night time, some of them are a little blurry):

Aristotle, Plato, & Socrates

Athena

Venus de Milo - something that was really cool about this that I didn't know was that this statue is actually two pieces of marble that were sculpted and then put together!

You can't see the separation too well, but she's sliced in half at the torso - it was even more impressive when I found that out!

Haha Jeff was so proud of his photography on this one because of the hand placement... haha something really cool about this piece is that this is one of the few copper sculptures still remaining because during war time, most sculptures were melted down for weaponry.

The Louvre used to be a fort that was then turned into a palace and then later turned into the world's largest museum... so every room has extreme detail like this - my eyes were sometimes drawn to my surroundings more than the actual pieces within the room...

Something that was really difficult about the Louvre that I didn't even think about was that all of the descriptions of the art were in FRENCH - duh, you're in France! haha it was one of those, "Oh yeah.." moments.  So if I ever get to go back, I'll be one of those tourists with headphones on... :)

So many people have blogged about how disappointed they were with the Mona Lisa - I honestly don't know what they are talking about.  It's roped off and has glass surrounding it, but you can see all of its detail and it was amazing to see it in person! I loved that we decided to go and look at it - I would have been disappointed if we hadn't, I think.

This was what Jeff wanted to see... haha not the Mona Lisa or the Venus, "I want to see the inverted pyramid!" So we did :) And it just made me think of the Da Vinci Code...

The next day we went to see the Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.  I think that the Notre Dame was actually mine and Jeff's favorite part of the entire trip.  We got to go through an English guided tour and hear all of the symbolism and the history.  It was amazing! And this year is the Notre Dame's 850th anniversary since construction began, so there was a lot going on with celebrations. They were actually having a blessing ceremony for the new bells coming into the cathedral the day that we were leaving! I was so bummed that we missed seeing something like that!

So, like I did with L'Epaule de Gallardon, you get a little bit of a history lesson, because I LOVED HEARING IT!!!  The Notre Dame ("Our Lady") is built to honor the Mother Mary. Construction on this building started in 1163 and it wasn't finished until 1345!!!  Something that we learned about France during our various tours was that there was a lot of class warfare... the Notre Dame at one point was on the verge of being destroyed because the cathedrals were viewed as a sanctuary for the aristocrats.  There are actually statues at the front of the cathedral that are repaired from being beheaded by the lower classes during the revolution. They were later discovered during renovations of another building and then were put on the cathedral (with the heads back on)... Also cool to note: Napoleon was crowned Emperor at the Notre Dame in 1804. So, I think that that is enough to either stop the suffering for some, or get you curious to study more of the history on your own if you're like me :)  Now for some pictures!!!

Something cool about that center circle - the Circle is symbolic of God because he is eternal, without end.  The square that surrounds that circle is symbolic of man, so the circle being placed within the square represents the communion of man with God.

So at the top of this picture are some of those statues of kings that used to be under the judgment of "Off with their heads!" But they were resurrected and made perfect again... haha

First of all - are you seeing this detail??? Amazing! You could spend DAYS looking at this! There were three archways with different stories behind them. This archway represents judgment day and how our actions determine where we end up after this life.  

On the left side were a bunch of angels and the left had demons and they represented the struggle of life. So up toward the top of the picture, you see an angel and a demon holding a scale in determining where the next soul would end up.

  

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This is the second arch which is about Mary.  The statue in the middle is Mary.  Above her statue is her passing on to the next life and angels taking her away, and then above that is the portrayal of her being crowned with glory.

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This is the final arch, and it's interesting because these are not original to the cathedral - they were actually a part of the cathedral that existed prior to the Notre Dame and were then used as part of the new cathedral.

And this is our tour guide, talking about all of the symbolism and pointing out the extreme amount of detail and how amazing it is that these carvings have remained so well-intact for this long.

I loved that the cathedral was intentionally constructed to make it very tall and long, so your eyes were naturally drawn up which was symbolic of looking up towards the heavens.

Here are the bells that were going to be blessed on Saturday, and you can also see the narrowness of the cathedral, and naturally looking up.

This is the South Rose stained glass window - it is dedicated to the New Testament and its apostles and prophets. at the center is a depiction of Christ of the Apocalypse. The bottom windows were interesting, too - I stole a picture from the internet so you could have a better look:

So in the center four are the four great prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) with the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) on their shoulders to represent that we can see more than the prophets of old, not because we are wiser than they are, but because we are lifted up by their greatness (dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants).

This is the North Rose which is mostly original stained glass window from 1250, which is extremely surprising since most of the other stained glass windows have since been replaced since original installation because of poor workmanship or wartime.  If I remember correctly, it was around 85% still original.  The North Rose represents the Old Testament, and is purple to represent sorrow.  At the center of the circle is Mary.  

In the center of the building were engravings depicting Christ's life.  Jeff especially liked this one because on the left it shows him as a resurrected being, to which the tour guide said, "And Mary Magdalene thought that Christ was a gardener because he was carrying a shovel..." haha pretty sure that a shovel's not mentioned in the scriptures.

Out a few steps from the cathedral is the center point of Paris - all measurements of the city are drawn from this point. So we were literally at the heart of Paris :)

So after absorbing as much of this information that we could, we were off to the Eiffel Tower! Enough said.

Me and ol' Gustave :)

I HAD TO TOUCH IT!!! haha it kept making me think of Finding Nemo: "He touched the butt!!" haha I have no idea why... but it did

So on our last day in Paris, we decided to be tourists and go on a tour bus and see everything that we missed... which is when we truly realized that we needed more than three days here! :(  The main thing that I took away from the tour was that I needed to read a biography about Napoleon.  Because that guy seemed like a character, to say the least.  So many of the artifacts around Paris were ordered to have his war triumphs carved or depicted somehow on them. He was pretty obsessed with himself and grandeur - right up my alley! haha

What would a tour of Paris be without the crepes and pastries?  Mine was kind of like a cream puff, but was more bread than I would have liked, and Jeff's was delicious with all of the hazelnut goodness we put in it :)

This is in front of the Musee d'Orsay - it was a museum converted from a train station that contains art of Monet and Renoir and Van Gogh - this was the one place we definitely would have gone if we had one more day to spend there. Next time. :)

This is the Egyptian obelisk of Luxor that is placed in the center of the Place de la Concorde.  It used to be the place of a statue of an old king... but with the revolution... that statue was battered.  One of the bridges we went over was also part of an old aristocratic building that was then made into a bridge so the people could literally "trample on the elite." haha I love it!

This is a random obelisk that Napoleon erected to brag about his victories... :)

Us in front of the Arc de Triomphe - another one of Napoleon's monuments for "showing off".

Champs Elysees

L'Hotel des Invalides - this is the place of many museums, and under that dome rest the remains of Napoleon as well as other military leaders. (Napoleon's remains were moved 19 years after his death from St. Helena to here by King Louis-Phillipe in 1840)

 

And a random statue of George Washington :)

And then back around we came to the Eiffel tower to go to the top and end our trip with a great memory!

A graph to show how the Eiffel Tower measured up to other landmarks... the whole floor was lined with the comparisons.

That ferris wheel is at the Place de la Concorde :)

Champs de Mars and L'Ecole de Militaire (where Napoleon attended, and his superior officers said of him, "He will go far." That man was clairvoyant, to say the least.)

Look who else was up there! Gustave and Maurice Koechlin going over the plans (it was a little creepy, not gonna lie)

Thought I'd leave you with a video: Every once in a while, the tower would start sparkling with the lights. And right when we were leaving they were bidding us "Au Revoir!"

Things we learned about France this segment:

-French Toast: Not to brag or anything, but mine's better.  Although, I do like their concept, so I might try it sometime with my flair added to it.  They dip their croissants in the egg batter and leave it at that... so it was like super moist croissants... not sweet or anything. So I'll donate my win to America :)

-Metro Entertainers: Jeff and I thought they were pretty cool... the French did not! haha I remember Jeff and I looking at each other and telecommunicating, "This is AWESOME!!!" (because they were good!) and then we quickly changed our faces to blend in with all of the French people around us which looked like these guys (courtesy of Google Image Search: "French scowl"):

haha but seriously this is what we saw on ALL of their faces!!!! Really funny! So don't try to move to France to be a metro entertainer - I don't think you'll make it. So for mastery of the metro scowl - I'll give it to France :)

-Fire Trucks: America wins!!!! Jeff and I were driving to the airport and we see this on the road:

 vs.

when it comes to putting out fires, I think anyone would want a super soaker for the job over a teeny squirt gun... :)

I REALLY MISS FRANCE, BUT I'M SO GRATEFUL THAT I WAS ABLE TO HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE AND HAVE MEMORIES TO SHARE WITH YOU!