My Mission and Before

June 9, 2014

Hey everyone,

Well another week has come and gone. Sora Bischoff and I seriously don't know where these last couple of weeks have gone to. We really are just busy. We are always doing something. We've also been doing great on our goals. We just can not believe that this transfer is already half way done! 

And as you can see from the title of this email we got bunged a lot this week. It was so sad too because we set up a lot of lessons for this week. They all just basically canceled last minute besides one of them. It was a bit frustrating. It just left a lot of room for us to contact. So in this email, instead of doing the regular thing of going through the day to day things I'm just going to touch a bit on the highlights of this week. 

After get bunged Sora Bischoff and I decided to go contact in Tineretului which is just one of my favorite parks right now. So there we go just talking to people... and we see this women on a bunch and she is like peeling beans to get all of the peas out. So we introduce ourselves and then ask if we can sit and talk to her more about Christ. She looked at us for a minute and then looked to the empty space next to her and said," Sure why not?" It was hilarious because in that moment Sora BIschoff and I just did not even know what to say or do so we awkwardly stumble over our legs and sit down on the bench next to her. She is SUPER COOL! Her name is Viorica and she just talked to us about her family and about God. She just has this sweet spirit about her and she really loves her Heavenly Father. It's just beautiful to see some of these people and how much they really love Heavenly Father and Christ. We talked a lot about families with her and really asked if she believes that she can be with her family for eternity. It was a really tender moment for me as she looks up at me and then looks at the sky and just says," I hope so." Just the words that came from her mouth laced with the emotions of her heart, we just looked at her and smiled with tears in our eyes and testified that through our message we know that she can. After talking for a bit it started to POUR and so she gave us her number and told us that we can call her. It was really cool.

So the next day after getting bunged by 3 different appointments we go again to Tineretului. You need to realize though that this park is huge. I mean it reaches about 4 metru stops. I really can't explain that. But it really is just a HUGE PARK! So when we met Viorica we were on the opposite side of the park. So we start walking through the park and we stop to talk to a few people and there were some cool people... and some not so cool people. After talking to a couple and inviting them to know more and them saying no... normal... we walk away and head to the next person. I just see this women with a newspaper in front of her face. And would you believe it! It was Viorica! She throws down her newspaper and looks at us and tells us," Girls this does not happen ever. This is not by chance. God wants me to learn something from the two of you, this is why we just happen to meet again." It was so cool. She is just so legit! So we stayed and talked to her some more and gave her a Book of Mormon. She even told us that she wanted to come to church. It was just a great experience. 

As Sora Bischoff and I walk away we just started talking and we just felt so grateful that the Lord really does guide our days day by day. Even though we got bunged a lot. People canceled and didn't show up and just gave excuses. The Lord still blesses us and gives us these tender mercies and just shows how there are people that are prepared. How prepared are they? Well I can't say. But they are prepared for what we have to say in that moment as long as we OURSELVES are prepared. 

I feel like if there is just something that I have really been learning and trying to apply over and over again this transfer it is to the "will of God." Just give everything to Him. EVERYTHING and He will guide us. As it says in "the fourth missionary" it's just so much easier this way. Just do the things that he wants you to do. Just give it to Him. That is something that I have specifically tried to focus on this transfer and I am just shocked and surprised everyday at how the Lord really is blessing me and guiding me. I really shouldn't be surprised or shocked. But I am. Everything just is so much happier and you really just feel the burden taken off of you as you do His will.

We also went to Ploiesti this week for our sister exchange. It was a crazy BUSY exchange. The Ploiesti sisters are just doing amazing work and they are fantastic missionaries. I really feel as a STL I learn way more from the sisters I am with then they learn from me. I think I will just always feel that way for everything. I went on an exchange with Sora Basitidas and it was great. She is a FANTASTIC missionary. She really is just a let's go and do it. She told me she really wants to become better at gospel contacting. When she told me this I whispered to myself," Me too!" Gospel Contacting is just hard sometimes. So when we started our exchange and got bunged by our 2 lessons that day we had some time to contact. We went and did so many forms of contacting. It really was fun. It was still hard. There isn't anything fun about people being rude and mean to you and saying no. But there was just a comfort there during contacting, just the knowledge that we are giving chances to people. Just a chance that's what we have to do. We ended up going into a shop because it was burning hot and buying water. We had no idea that in that moment we would end up talking to her about the gospel. At the end of it she become the sisters new investigator. She was a doll. I'm so excited to hear about the things that she can do. She really does just have such a strong faith and is open to hearing about other religions. Then later (earlier in the day we ran into a former investigator and set up a lesson) we went to a lesson with like 6 people. Two of them had never heard about the gospel before but intently listened to our message of the Gospel and now they want the sisters to visit them and teach them at their home. It was a crazy successful day! It was just so cool. 

Like I said it was as if the Lord just guided our day and as we had planned and prepared ourselves, prepared people just fell into our hands. They now have like 5 new investigators to work with. I really am just happy and excited for them. They are doing amazing things there!

I gave a talk in church this Sunday also. I was super nervous. I don't like speaking in front of large groups of Romanians. I mean I stutter and don't like speaking in front of groups of people in my own language let alone in Romanian... ehhhhh. But I gave a talk. I had just felt so good. I just felt the spirit so strong. And I was the last speaker so I get up and I felt that the Lord just took away all of the nervousness. I didn't read my talk. I felt like I was speaking English. One of the coolest moments. I could look at our little branch and see that they were intently listening and they were just smiling. Happy smiling faces. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

It really was just a beautiful week. Lots of tender mercies.

Fun fact for the week. Our DL and his companion when they went contacting one day decided to tally how many times they were rejected. They got 161 people. Haha. It was crazy! After they celebrated by getting a chocolate covrig :) YUM!

Today we are going over to our senior couples house the Dodges! I AM SO EXCITED! Sora Bischoff and I really just wanted a Sora Dodge day. I love the senior couples! So we will be heading over there after Internet :) This week we also will have zone conference and another exchange with our other set up sisters in our district. It's going to be so great :) I'm really excited for all that we have prepared for this week.

Love you all!
Sora Stewart

p.s. Get better grandpa! Always keep you in my prayers. Love you!