So I cook... a lot here. Mom I would love more recipes please :)
And I tried to open a can of tomatoes and it just got everywhere. You can't even see it very well in the picture but it was all over the drawers and the wall and the counter and well all over me.

Picture of cluj from the "book man's" apartment. He is the man who binds everybody's books here. He does a great job.

 

Pictures of Centru. We went there contacting this week. It was bloody hot.

 

Pictures of Centru. We went there contacting this week. It was bloody hot.

 

My companion love to dance to the music on my ipod. haha she makes me laugh.

 

I still like my girly things :) haha Jess I still paint my nails all the time!

She wanted jumping pictures. Hahaha she is too funny.

July 8, 2013

Goodmorning again,

Well this week has been a struggle for me because well I'm having some health problems.... For the past couple weeks I have just been coughing and coughing and coughing and just not being able to breathe. Then this week it has completely disrupted my sleep and so I told my district leader about it. And he thought that I had walking pneumonia which about scared the pants off of me.  So finally with the persuasion of my district leader I called Sora Hill and then I had a call from a doctor in Germany that helps with the missionaries in Eastern Europe. Well after talking to the doctor he told me that I don't have pneumonia (thank goodness) but he said that he believes I have bronchitis. Which just wasn't the news I was hoping for. But I am now on some antibiotics and some vitamins and what not. So I pray that I will get better. Although yesterday... man church was hard yesterday. And so I asked if I could have a blessing and I was feeling a bit better yesterday.

Anyways we were able to fit in some lessons this week with D and her daughter D and an eternal investigator named T. And T pronounced (Te-ah) just recently returned from America where she was a foreign exhange student. Well her teaching record goes on for days and days. And so we were able to meet up with her and it was such a good lesson. Obviously for investigating the church for forever and ever we weren't really sure what we should talk to her about. But we wanted to meet up with her to try and help her not give up on the church when she moves to England (for college). Anyways the lesson was just completely directed by the spirit and we really began to just teach to her needs. We were able to talk about our conversion stories and how we know that Heavenly Father loves us. It was so AMAZING. And by the end of the lesson she basically just stared at us and kept saying it's like you guys are reading my journal or are following me. Haha it was funny. But she agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon again and she seemed really excited to go back through her journals and experience the feelings that she had previously felt.

We were able to meet with D once this week, I wasn't really able to get around much the other appointment we had, but they really are just the cutest people I have ever met. And it was so sweet that when Sora M called to cancel our appointment on Sunday we get a call from D and she just wanted to know how I was doing and if she could do anything for me. I love it here I really do. Despite what difficulties I am having right now.

I don't think that I have ever felt so much love ever before! On Sunday all of the members could tell that I wasn't feeling well. Something about the fact that I wasn't smiling. :) Anyways and they just all came up to me and they were just amazing. The relief society president Sora H (Spelling it the American way, because I can't think of how to spell her name right now) Anyways she just comes up to me and grabs me and just says,"Let me see you, let me see you. How are you? Are you talking medicine? Do you need any help?" Gosh I love them so much. This branch really is the greatest branch ever! I don't know how I can ever get transferred away from Cluj. Later on Sunday we also went to dinner with S and A (WHOM I LOVE SO MUCH) and they have one of their friends who is a member but just doesn't come to church because she is always on a mission! Cutest sister ever her name is Sora C.. I think that's how you spell it. And she is about to go on another mission in Spain at the temple there. And so we had dinner with all of them and they are all just concerned about my health that Sora A made this... ummm how would you call it? Some sort of medicine? It's like a homemade remedy that she makes like once a year and she only had a little bit left and she just gave it to me. I can't tell you enough how amazing this branch is and the members here. And our elders in our district.
I really am so grateful I just feel so much love from everyone. It's fantastic. It's so nice to be loved.

I really love being a missionary despite me rather being in my bed back home when I am sick. I love being here. It is the most amazing experience I have ever gone through. And just being a part of the Lord's work. Gosh I wake up everyday and I just think to myself," Am I really in Romania? Am I really a missionary? God chose me to come here? My gosh does He have a lot of trust in me. I can't believe it." And sometimes I really can't what an amazing blessing He has given me to be here :) Despite all the struggles and things that come to past. Gosh I am so blessed.

I love you all so much. And I am so grateful for each and everyone of you and I feel your prayers. I really am the luckiest most blessed person ever to have such wonderful people in my life.
With much love,

Sora Stewart

July 01, 2013

July 01, 2013

 

Hello again!

I feel like I write a lot and so I have a hard time thinking of what I need to write. Also I am on a mission and so you know we have missionary work to do. Hahaha the work doesn't change here, which I really like. But that just makes time go super fast here. Like the weeks just go by super fast here and I don't know how that is even possible really.

Anyways off my random box...

This week went by extremely extremely fast for me. And I think it's because it was a traveling week. We had zone conference this week which for our zone is in Arad! So we left Thursday afternoonish and got in to Arad around 10ish... and well I just am loving train rides! haha No there not bad just a lot of time on your hands. And train rides aren't bad if you have two districts that you just love and adore so much! Anyways we had a really good zone conference that really just talked about unity in companions and what we want our zone's to accomplish with the Book of Mormon. I believe I told you before that our mission is focusing a lot on passing out Books of Mormon. We really want every home to have a Book of Mormon in their house. Anyways so we focused a lot on using the Book of Mormon in our contacting and in our lessons and in just every aspect of missionary work which is what it should be anyways :)

And I really loved Zone Conference because I get to see most of my sisters from my MTC district and I get to see Sora Lund who wasn't in our MTC district but I just adore her and love her! She never has a bad day I swear!

Oh I almost forgot that President Hill announced some fantastic news for our mission we are getting 18 new sisters! WHICH MEANS that we will have sister missionaries in ever branch! Because right now we don't have enough sisters for every branch so they open an area and then they will switch stiti? But isn't that amazing so we will have a total of like 40 sister missionaries in ROMANIA! And then we have around 60ish Romanian speaking Elders and then 10 Russian speaking Elders and 13 senior missionaries! I am so excited to see all these new changes come into this mission!

 

I guess we did have an exciting adventure this week we got to live without power! HOORAY! It was actually super funny and I basically just laughed the whole day. We had apartment checks and we had just gotten signed off and everything was just fine and dandy and then we get a random knock on the door. And this guy tells us that 4 months agoish that the power wasn't paid and so they turned off all our power. Luckily the wonderful Boyds were still there and so they helped us get out of that trouble which just consisted of standing in lines for a really really really long time. And it would have been longer but the security guard really liked us because we were the only ones trying not to fight with him as everybody was well not happy campers. That is the wonderful gift of being patient and happy in extremely stressful circumstances.

 

We had a really good lesson with D and D this week since there really the only ones that are somewhat progressing. D is really one of the smartest and most diligiant 17 year olds I have met. But she is also extremely stubborn and has a really hard time understanding that Christ's Gospel can help her in her life. So we have really tried to focus with her how we have a LOVING Heavenly Father. And there is this awesome Mormon Message that talks about Earthly Father, Heavenly Father. And we figured out that it has Romanian subtitles which was super awesome. The spirit was so strong and so she is slowly reading the Book of Mormon which was our other lesson with D and D. We both testified that the Book of Mormon had changed both of our lives and that we know it's true and all they have to do is read it and pray about it. That they can know it for themselves! And they agreed to slowly with some hesitancy. And unfortunately they weren't able to come to church this Sunday. But we are looking forward to seeing them this week and seeing how they are doing. 'They really are adorable and they don't want us to leave. They always ask,"Are you in a hurry? Do you have to go? You can stay if you like?" I want them to progress into the gospel so bad! AHHH!

 

We also had a wonderful lesson with one of my favorite members Sora S! AHH I love her so much! She is so dang cute and whenever she sees me she just talks my ear off! So last Sunday she comes up to me and asks when are you going to come visit me? And I just told her that I didn't know and she looks at me and just says what you don't know how about this week?? And I mean she is really concerned for when we are going to visit her. And so I just told her that we would call her since I didn't really know what lessons were on which days. And so last Monday she calls and tells us to come over that night and she made us Saramale and just had a wonderful lesson about the Temple since she just returned from the temple! Super cute. I will get some pictures with her soon.

 

Sunday we watched the Missionary Broadcast as a branch so it was in Romanian so ya know didn't catch every word there. But I am excited to here about all the new ways we will be able to do missionary work here. Which is good because phones here for Romania well they don't work a lot of the time so being able to use the internet to try and connect with our members and investigators is fantastic! It's not going to take effect here right away as far as I know, but eventually! Missionary work is getting exciting over here! ... sometimes.... :)

 

Missionary work was a little slow as you can see. And I have really thought of things that I have learned on my mission so far. Which is a lot let me tell you how much I have to change and the little/drastic changes that are happening in my life as a missionary. Anyways and I have had a lot of discussions with other missionaries about the work here in Romania. Because it's slow. It's super slow. The branches are small... I shouldn't say this since we have one of the biggest branches here in Cluj but in general there small. It's hard to get member presents on lessons. It's hard to get referals... okay it's nearly impossible to get referals here. Because it's really hard for them to share the gospel. Being a member of a different religion isn't like it is back home... it's completely different. And it makes me really grateful to be from America. Where I can be any religion and share my religion with my neighbors and friends and family. And that's one thing that I will make sure I am better at when I get home is being a better missionary. Because this work is IMPOSSIBLE without members. Absolutely IMPOSSIBLE! If the missionaries call me to be a member present I will be there. If they ask for a refferal I will give one prayfully. I will do my job as a member.

 

Anyways life here is good. It's hard... but I love it. I really do. Being a missionary well it's nothing and everything I thought it would be. Contacting... is well interesting sometimes fun, and teaching is wonderful. Really being an instrument in Heavenly Fathers hands is AMAZING. And these experiences I will never ever forget.

 

 I love you all so much. Sorry it's not a super happening letter! And it's also super random :) Have fun!

Love,

Sora Stewart

Inside the Sibiu tower this is the mechanism thingy for the clock.

Elder B and Sora M are in there too. haha

 

Our funny elders on the way back from our trip to Sibiu!

Our funny elders on the way back from our trip to Sibiu!

Stairs up the tower. Super sketchy.

Beautiful Sibiu!

Beautiful Sibiu!

There was so much fog from the rain that I couldn't see some of the buildings and some of the hills around our apartment. So cool. Pictures just don't do it justice!

HUGE Rain storm came in through Cluj. One of the best moments this week as I was praying for Rain.

June 24, 2013

Buna Ziua,

I think I should start off first by apologizing for my letter last week. Because well it was a hard week for me. Personally. But that doesn't stop the blessings from coming, the work progressing, and spirits slowly being lifted. Things are good here in Cluj first exciting news is that we had 8 INVESTIGATORS at church this week! That's a huge thing for us here! The whole Militaru family showed up even the dad! Isn't that amazing! And the oldest son who I have never ever met. And we had a new investigator show up to church as well that we haven't met up with. We contacted her villa knocking around our church building and we called her this week and she said she would come. She goes to the baptist church and has been going there for the past 5 years but was never baptized. She said that she really enjoyed our church and said that she would like to learn more. She also said that she would come to church again on Sunday! Hooray! My heart just springs with joy to see people actually feel the spirit! They feel the difference! We also had our sweet sweet wonderful investigators D and D!

 

I'm just going to take some time and talk about this sweet mother and daughter because the way they are going they are just amazing people! We taught them this past week the Restoration and D (the mom) was a lot more open then her daughter who we were spending a lot more time with. We bore our testimonies and asked them to start reading the Book of Mormon they both agreed. D because of Family troubles has a hard time believing in religions and that they will actually bless her life. And when we explained about Joseph Smith seeing God the Father and His son Jesus Christ she looked us and said I am not going to believe this. And my heart just dropped! But she accepted our invitation to come to church and to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. That day we also made Saramale together which was so much fun and actually pretty easy. We fed the Elders the next day for lunch during district meeting. Anyways we came back later this week and she told us that she started reading and that she thinks it's interesting. Which interesting here in Romania is a good thing... for the most part. And on Sunday we picked them up and they said that they really enjoyed it. Which is just absolutely fantastic. Such a beautiful story these two are!

 

Some sad news this week is with our investigator K from Peru. I feel like anytime we take a step closer to baptism and a step closer to her accepting the gospel into her life she takes 10 steps backward. We had a beautiful lesson with her about the atonement of Jesus Christ and we wanted her to develop a stronger testimony and to just realize how beautiful the Book of Mormon is so we read a ton of scriptures from the Book of Mormon. And the spirit was so strong. These are the moments I absolutely strive for on my mission! Where the spirit just testifies everything and there is just no need for words! And by the end of the lesson we were all basically in tears. And Karen told us that she felt like she had received an answer to her prayers through us. What an amazing amazing experience this was! We met with her a few days later though and it was like we were starting from the beginning. She finally confessed to us that she doesn't want to get baptized because she doesn't know how long she will be staying here in Romania. And that she misses her old church, her pastor, her friends, the way they teach and the way they use the Bible. We tried to explain to her how important it was to realize that this is the true church and that if she doesn't pray DIRECTLY to Heavenly Father with a DIRECT question then how is she supposed to know. Elder Boyd even tried to ask her what would she do if God himself told her that the true church was restored back upon this earth? And she told us that she would have to ask Him a lot of questions first. So we are taking a little bit of a break with her. And hopefully she will see that the feelings she has with us will remind her that what we teach is true.

 

We went to a baptist church this Sunday with our investigator E. It's really interesting to go to all of these churches because I feel like when I go there I understand a whole lot more of how they are taught of what they are taught and what things they accept and what things they don't accept into their lives. Or even just how they worship and how I can explain to them better of how we worship and why we do the things we do. Super super interesting though. But every time I leave I say a quick prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father for giving me the greatest blessing of them all in being born into the Gospel. And to really just KNOW... really really know that this church is true. And I love it. I love everything about this church. I love that we have the restored authority and that anytime I would be sick or ill or just have a bad day or have just whatever it is I know that I can have a priesthood blessing. I love knowing that this church does so much good. It teaches nothing but being a good person. Of Christ. Of using His atonement. How beautiful this is. And how much I take advantage of it. I know I do. And I really should try to be more thankful of everything I have. My family, friends, gospel, my savior Jesus Christ, having just the opportunity to be a missionary. What greater blessings could I been given?

 

Things are still hard ya know the language. But it's also a lot better. I'm grateful for your letters of encouragement and love and they really have helped. ALOT! And I know that I'm just extremely extremely hard on myself... I'm a Stewart we strive for perfection :P hahaha. But no I have reevaluated my goals and have looked at what I can do better what I see for myself and what I see myself doing at the end of this transfer. And I think one of the biggest things is that I'm afraid. Of making mistakes, of disappointing others, of failure, of others judgement, of not living up to my potential. And all that fear does is make you a failure. It really does it's absolutely horrible. And so I now I wake up and get on my knees and just ask Heavenly Father for strength and not to be afraid anymore. I'm not perfect, but I'm getting a lot better and instead of having sweaty palms and shaking my legs anytime someone asks me to read a scripture or say a prayer out loud, I volunteer. I'm still struggling I don't know everything I read, and I know a lot of times I don't understand what they are saying, and I say A LOT of things wrong. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm trying. And I feel Heavenly Father smiling back at me.

 

We went to Sibiu this week for zone training and it was beautiful. Sibiu is just a beautiful area. And this time we went up to the top of one of the towers in Centru and just took a ton of pictures from the top. :) It was fun.

 

I love you all so much and I can feel you're prayers. Thankyou. You have no idea what it means to me.

Sora Stewart

Sora M and I. It's getting a little hot here in Cluj,

they had a huge ice cream festival here in Centru this weekend. They had a ton of ice cream over by the Catholic church. They also had a bunch of native dancers. It was really beautiful. This was the only picture we took though. And of course this is the catholic church.

Me and Familia C.

Sora M and I with Familia C! They are some of the strongest members here in Cluj. So powerful we had a wonderful lesson that day.