My Mission and Before

April 8th, 2013

Good morning!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and week filled with amazing experiences. Especially since Conference was this weekend. The way we do conference here in Cluj is a little different, I did get to hear it all in English thank goodness, but we watched it at 7 at night. It was kinda a weird experience for me yesterday to be looking at the screen and have it be the spoken word. My thoughts honestly were why is the spoken word on it's night time. Obviously my brain really hasn't hit that I am like 9 hours apart here... hopefully my math is right. Anyways conference was absolutely wonderful and I really am just so grateful for just the privilege to watch Thomas S. Monson and the apostles and the other general authorities. How grateful and blessed we are to have wonderful, righteous leaders in our gospel. That what they really want for us, for everyone, is to be happy, make righteous choices, and return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. What greater blessing in this world could there be to have leaders like this in our world???

This week was extremely different for me and even for my companion. We had our zone conference which is in Arăd, and about 5/6 hours away by train. So because it was so far away and it was on Wednesday we had to get on a train Tuesday afternoon and we wouldn't be back in Cluj until about 12:00 am Thursday. It was a long couple of days. The conference was wonderful and we had some fantastic presentations given on how to better our missionary efforts. Sora Ewell and I had to give a presentation on how to make a baptismal service a more spiritual experience. We think it went well, since our time was cut in half. The Lord does love short powerful statements. :)

I don't know if the Romanian mission is just super different because we are all spread out everywhere and have to travel a lot but it's extremely interesting what the elders do on train rides. The Elders in our district like to crochet. It was extremely funny when President Iepure (branch president) walked in on us watching General Conference and started at our Zone leaders and said to them... is this normal for men to do these things. Here only women do them. Later his wife came in who is from Poland and said the same thing but told them they were doing a good job. Sora Ewell and I just laughed. We have a great group here let me tell you. :)

Anyways as far as lessons and things were concerned all of them, and I am not kidding you went out of town, or just couldn't meet with us. Or when we had scheduled our lesson we ended up having to go on a train, since we didn't know when our train was leaving, and trying to reschedule for that week wouldn't work for them. It was extremely frustrating. Especially since this week we really have not wasted any time. We were out contacting all day. I have found out that when people cross themselves around you and little old women run away from you. It has now become super funny to me. Sorry short little comment everytime Sora Ewell and I are on a bus there is at least 5 people around us that cross themselves as they stare at our nametag. It's my favorite game now to watch and see how many people do it. But yes, we contacted all this week and some people aren't nice about us wanting to share the most beautiful message of this world. But we did it anyways. We both feel that the Lord will bless in our efforts this week, with lessons with all the numbers we were able to gain.

Really cool experience this week though. The guy Ionuţi or I may have called him Johnny (name he had in America) we called to invite him to come to institute again and he really paused and sincerely thought about it, but then told us that he couldn't make it. Later that night though he texted us and told us that he did want to take lessons, that he is interested in our message, but just at that point in time with exams that he was taking he didn't have time. He is seriously one of the most sincere people I have met here. It really gave me hope that the Lord does truly guide us to who is ready to except the gospel, except Jesus Christ as their Savior, and change. It's a beautiful thing to see.

Something that I have really learned this week (as I have been reading over last general conference) is to just do the Lord's work, not just me but everyone. I hope everyone will go back and read Elder Holland's talk. Super awesome. I think I have reread that about 10 times this week. We all need to be his disciples not just now as I am a missionary and I am litterally bearing His name and trying to have others see the truth and have true happiness, but after this. Everyone of us needs to be doing this. And I'm really sad to say as I look back I wasn't a perfect disciple, nor am I now but I am trying. Don't be compacent! There is always always always something we can do better in our lives. "Do you love me?" that's what the Lord asks of us and if we do, go out and do this work. Be his disciple for eternity. He needs us. Be that ward member that will invite someone to church and help eveyone you meet understand that they are God's children. Do His work.

I love you all :) I will get off my soap box, but I know as we have approached every person that we come in contact with, even when they yell, run, or cross themselves. I am trying to be the Lord's disciple.
With all my love!
Sora Stewart