My Mission and Before

July 14, 2014

Hey there!

Well to start out this week was a bit hard for me. Lot's of changes... now don't get me wrong. All the changes everything that is happening is AMAZING. The balance. The work. Our mission president. Everything it's fantastic. It's just taking some time figuring things out. It's trying to work in a different way and do different things. So there is just a lot of trial and error going on right now. So it was hard. It's hard having so many people close to the end and knowing in your head that I won't be here very much longer. It's hard! Now I don't want this to be a complaining letter because it's not. Everything is great. But I can't lie and say that sometimes, some days, it's just a little hard.

Sora Bastidas have been really working hard and trying to figure out how exactly we are going to be doing this balance work. We set up a lot of lessons with less actives and with members and with some hopeful investigators.

Honestly I just love teaching. I love lessons. I love that as we are going about our day we find people all the time. I feel like I find more people just going to lesson to lesson then I do when I contact for hours at times. It's been crazy.

So less actives. We met with three less actives this week and they were all great. Some were even not planned.

We met with Sora Dragu. Oh my goodness I just love this lesson. I told Sora Bastidas that basically it would be the most uplifting message ever and she would basically be teaching us. She loves to teach. She just can't come to church because she really is so ill. Her favorite calling was being a Sunday School teacher and just studying and then trying to uplift people. She's amazing. We talked about President Monson's general conference talk. She was so funny. She first starts off and says," Well if you haven't noticed I live in the ghetto." Oh my gosh I was laughing so hard. These words coming from this sweet old lady. haha but she had a point. She does live in a very poor part of town surrounded by gypsies. And well if I haven't explained this before I'm sure I have but Romanians do not like gypsies. Normal. So when she starts to explain of how she really does love her neighbors and tries to just show them how much she loves them by sharing the gospel with them and being kind to them. It was just the sweetest message in the world. Oh Sora Dragu :)

We also met with Sora Angela. She's pretty active but sometimes can't come to church because she has leg problems. It's pretty hard for her to come to church, but she tries. So we visited her and she is just a sweet heart. We are trying to help everyone progress to the next ordinance and so we talked about what we need to do to prepare for that next ordinance. We made a lot of references to that talk " Your 4 Minutes." READ IT! So she shared with us a lot of experiences for when she went to the temple for the first time and was sealed to her parents and her husband. She just looked up into the heavens and said that it was immaculate.

Genevieve. Now I know what your thinking. This isn't a Romanian name. Well your right because she's not Romanian. She's Filipino! Isn't that cool! She's here for work and unfortunately her boss wont let her come to church. I guess she works for this really rich family and lives on their property and wont give her the day off. It's so sad. She told us her situation and how she just needed to meet us and talk to us. So she called us and asked us to meet on her only day off. She just wanted to be uplifted. She wanted to come to church and take the sacrament. She's going to ask her boss if we could possibly visit her over there and then we can also teach her fellow colleague! Wouldn't that be so great!

We also met with two member families.

Sora Oros. HAHAHA. Gosh I love her. I really really do. SHe's so funny. We just get a long so well. She calls me Sora Stew. Church yesterday she would just turn around in her chair and smile at me and say," Hey Stew" or "Hey Stranger" Gosh. It's just not as funny if your not there. She just makes me laugh. She really is just so funny. Sora Oros has some of the most amazing stories. She really has just had a great impact of the spirit in her life. She is just wonderful. I love her. :)

Familia Verdeata. Okay so they are probably some of my favorite people ever. Fratele Verdeata reminds me just a lot of my dad. Just really sarcastic and funny. The nicest people ever. Basically every Sunday he asks me," Sora Stewart why are you always happy! Stop it! You can't be happy until you tell me the secret to happiness. Tell me!" Then one week he says," you are coming over to our house okay!" So this week we made that happen. I wish I could say everything that happened in that lesson because it was the greatest lesson really. He told us how they found the church which by the way is the funniest and amazing story! Then we talked about how we can help others progress. How we can invite our friends and family and help others receive ordinances. There 5 year old grand daughter was there (she was at Doru's baptism and said that she wanted me to baptize her) haha, we tried to get her involved and at the end of the lesson she said the closing prayer. She's such a funny cute girl. Then at the end she asks us to copy her and she starts doing the macarana! haha. So Sora Basitdas and I stand up and do it with her. Really funny tender moments. Fratele Verdeata told us later that that little moment reminded him of when they were first taught and the sister missionaries were the best of friends with their daughters. I just can't express in words how amazing this lesson was. It was THAT good.

We met with some investigators... but again we just got bunged a lot. Maya is bunging a lot. And we don't know what to do with her. Lot's of prayers right now since she isn't really answering us and she isn't keeping commitments or following through with what she has promised. That is the hardest part of missionary work. Really it is. Loving people and them not progressing. It just hurts. It's just hard. It really is. How much I want them to have all of the happiness which comes mostly from the gospel and having this eternal perspective. But it's just too hard right now for her. Still trying. We really are.

So back to this balance. It's hard. But it's great. We had so many great experiences from visiting these people and then trying to visit with our investigators. Sometimes it's hard. But there really have been so many blessings and cherished moments that have come from it.

Something I am trying to improve on right now is just being positive. Because I really need to work on it. I really do. Sometimes I'm a grouch. It's hard. Trying to find this balance and knowing I only have so much time left. A lot of changes that are focused in our mission are aimed toward the future and that's hard for me. Because I wont be here! So that makes me a grouch. But I really am trying. I'm trying. Then I read this...

"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." 1 Corinthians 9:24

I really just put everything in perspective for me. That yes. I will not be here next transfer. Yes I will have a different focus and different things going on in my life. But I still have a race ahead of me. I have things that I need to do now. I need to leave behind the sins that hold me back. I need to leave behind the grouchiness and the this is hard attitude, and just go for it. I need to just have patience and understand that yes, everything is hard but it is GREAT. Because it is! Missionary work is great. Romania is AMAZING! It's hard. It's so hard. But things are changing. But I have to change first. Lay aside every weight that I have and give all my sins away and then with steady patience go ahead and run what I can. The Lord is always there to help me.

I don't know if all of these things make sense. I'm not very good with words. Plus I didn't bring my study journal which I wrote this idea out much better much clearer. But it's true.

I love you all so much. I love Romania. I LOVE being a missionary of this Church. It is true. It is true. It is the greatest blessing I have ever received. I would have never done anything else to change my decision. I Love this. I really do.

I love you!

Sora Stewart