My Mission and Before

June 16, 2014

Hello all,

Well. Weird P-day since we are doing just a part p-day. This week we are going to go to PELES abia astept! So we are only doing part of our p-day today. Duh.

So this week. We also just got bunged a lot this week. Makes me so frustrated but Sora Bischoff and I just keep telling ourselves that we are trying we really really are.

We met with Maya this week and she happened to come right after a few of the members had a temple prep class. Sora Alexandru comes down stairs and sits just right next to me and we start talking. She is a doll. She's pretty old probably around late 80's and she just dances and sings and just does it all. Anyways, we start talking and she tells me of how she met the missionaries and things that happened in her life. It's amazing. She told me a story of how BEFORE she met the missionaries one night she had a dream (for all of you to know, a major way of revelation for Romanians is through dreams. I don't know why but a lot of them have really powerful dreams.) so she had this dream, She dreamed that she saw this wide road with all these beautiful houses and just this beautiful area and then in front of her she saw this massive building. Full of towers and speyers... know that I spelled that wrong...  She said it was the most beautiful building she had ever seen, and on the very top was a golden angel. She had no idea what it was and when she woke up she just wanted to go inside so badly. So she searched and searched and searched until she met this missionaries. It was the most beautiful story. 

She just has an extremely strong testimony of the church and she stayed for our lesson with Maya. So In our lesson we went over obedience and the ten commandments with Maya and she still has troubles with keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Normal. Nobody here understands that. JUST COME TO CHURCH! That should really be my official slogan for my mission. Just please please please come to church! So this week we are going to talk to her about that.

We had zone conference this week which meant a ton of sisters over at our home. Craziness! And a ton of fun :) I enjoyed it. I just love all of the sisters in this mission. They are all amazing. Zone conference was bitter sweet. It was the last time officially that President and Sora Hill would stand in front of us as missionaries and be our mission president. It was sad. It's jut crazy to see that they are going to be home in just about two weeks.

With that said however I am so excited to see all that President and Sora Ivory will be able to do. From all the "rumors" around here from my old branch president he already speaks Romanian. I just feel so strongly that he will be able to change this mission and really help these people. I just can't wait to see all that happens here. Unfortunately I may not be a HUGE part in that aspect but I am grateful that I can be there at the beginning to just give my service and to do all that I can do. 

We had a really fun activity of "Family Night" but technically it was in the afternoon. We had a pretty good turnout and it was just too much fun. We broke up into different families and basically conducted our own Family Home Evening. We wanted the members to start incorporating this into their lives and we know that it bless the lives of others as well. So we played games and sung and did a bunch of things. Then after we all gathered together and did a huge competition between the families. Needless to say our family won :) Hello I am a Stewart. Duh. Elder Covey gets pretty competitive too though and was not as happy as we were :) he he he he :)
Then we closed with a video about how important families are to us and how we can be united. It was just so cool and the spirit was there. The Branch was there to support us and it really was a great activity.

Even MARIA was there. The one that I met at District Conference and the one that we were trying to teach back when I was in Panduri. Bad new about her though is that she is leaving for a month and wont be back really until August. Well BOO! I leave then. As long as someone else takes care of her and meets with her that's all I care about.

Other than that we really just did some contacting. Tried to follow up on some potentials that we met while block knocking and well... they didn't work out so well. But hey we tried! Still trying :) 

Today we are going to be having dinner with our Senior Couple along with the rest of our district. I just adore our Senior Couple. Sora Dodge. My gosh she is sassy and I love it :) Hehe and Elder Dodge is just the nicest person ever. Well they both are :) Early today though Sora Bischoff and I went for a run and since the weather still can not make up it's mind it was cloudy. Wasn't raining. As we start going though it starts to rain and then gets harder and harder the farther we go. We ended up making a wrong turn somewhere and got completely lost in the rain. We are soaking wet and we are running. We looked like the weirdest people ever. Haha. It was super funny. Later though I just though about the concept of just running in the rain and there was a point while we were running that I was trying to run FROM the rain. I wasn't trying to run IN the rain. And this is the point I want to make. Life is hard. A mission is hard. It's just hard sometimes. It's uncomfortable, we have trials, hardships, temptations, and whatever else. What are we trying to do in those moments are we running away. Are we trying to avoid them. Are we blaming God for what has happened. What are we doing. What am I doing? Are we just trying to take the easier way out and run into a building and hide. What, what are we doing? There was a moment today when I just wanted to get out of the rain. I ran faster to try and escape it, I tried to run under ledges and different things. Nothing really helped though. It wasn't until I decided to just enjoy it. Enjoy that yes I am soaking wet and all these Romanians are just staring at me like I am insane. Yes I am going to enjoy the fact that this is uncomfortable. For this moment I am just going to enjoy running in the rain. And you know what I did. I loved it. It was fun. I was soaking wet and it was hard to see after a bit. But it no longer mattered if I stepped into a puddle or a car splashed me. :) It was just I had decided to enjoy it. I think it is the same for trials. We can enjoy the moments. The little tender mercies the Lord gives us. It's not easy. There are hard things and we do have to figure those out. But the Lord gives us trials to grow. To become accustomed to and to be better. We don't have to look down on life or on our sins and trials or whatever it is. We can look up and look at the mercy that the Lord has given us knowing, that we can repent, we can grow, we can be strengthened, and one day we can be exalted.

Well now that I have blabbered on a bit. I think I will just end it here. Just know that I KNOW that this church is true. It is the Church of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary. It has been fantastic. Full of trials, full of hard times, but they are AMAZING! I love this work. I do.
I love you all and I pray and wish you all the best!

Love always,

Sora Stewart