My Mission and Before

March 10, 2014

Hello all!

Well first off I'm freezing. I love living right on the beach. It's so beautiful and looking out onto the sea everyday is so breathe taking. I really didn't think that there could be a down side to this... well I was wrong. It's freezing. Freezing, bitter, ice-cold winds. So COLD...  It was really funny though on Sunday we were walking home. Normal. Mihai and Andreea were walking with us and Mihai lives literally right next to us and he said last year at this time he could go and walk on the beach. Haha it was really funny he was super mad that it is so cold and I can't blame it. I'm not a fan of it either!

 

Well this week was good. Every week is just great honestly :)

 

First of all I love my companion. Sora Ule is amazing and she is so talented. She has been such a trooper especially with all the weather and craziness. Like I said weather has been so bad with the wind and the rain. Haha it's just been really bad. But contacting goes on and she's been so good! I love her! Especially since she hasn't been feeling all too well this week, she is still going! She pushes me and I love it! I love working!

 

Well we started our English Classes and they are really good. We actually have like two more lessons this week because of English Classes. We went from like 1 investigator and now we have like 6! The Lord is blessing us. Literally blessing us. English was really good though and we are trying to just have really really professional and amazing lessons as well as spiritual thoughts. We are trying to incorporate a lot of the media that we can use at our disposal... the hard thing is that... well not a lot of it is in Romania but we are trying to figure out all we can do and it's been really good so far.

 

We did quite a bit of contacting we didn't make our goal of 20 hours but that's this week. We are going to push it! Praying for good weather so we aren't stuck in Blocs all day. But whatever it takes. Embrace the suck right dad? :) 

 

We finally had a lesson with Alina... well this will be a long story. I've been extremely frustrated with this. Just the situation in general... because she keeps partial commitments... never comes to church but will basically do everything else. I've been praying so much for her and about her just asking what on earth we should do, I didn't want to waste the time we have and I don't want her to get baptized if she isn't going to be completely converted. I asked Heavenly Father and He said,"Don't give up." So I'm not. So we are still meeting with her and I told Sora Ule everything that she knows and how I just didn't know what to do. I'm so grateful for Sora Ule. Just so you all know. She sat there and then says why don't we talk about how the gospel should be the foundation. I was willing to try anything so we planned out our lesson and we go in there. I was worried for like 3 hours that she would cancel to be honest. She didn't. She came and we started to talk. Sora Ule and I discussed that we really just have to get to the bottom of her desires and really understand where she is at. It was AMAZING. Honestly. I love blunt front forward questions because that's just how Romanians are upfront and blunt. We literally asked her if she wants to meet with us and if she wants to know more about what we teach her. We asked her if she would actually apply these things in her life to really know. She agreed. So testing her faith we challenged her to a baptismal date again and she accepted. With some hesitancy. I know she can be baptized. I know she knows it's true. There is only doubt because she isn't doing EVERYTHING she can yet. I know she can get there and I know I am here in Constanta because she needs this. I know it. She didn't come to church which just about broke my heart. We will be meeting with her this week and we really want a member to come with us. It really might be through the fellow shipping that she will get there.

 

Met with Andreea :) Love her. She's perfect. Literally. Love her so so so so much. She's basically my favorite person ever. :) We are still meeting with her for her new convert lessons every time we have a lesson though she just teaches me and I sit there with my eyes watering because I am always amazed at how she applies the gospel in her life and how much she has changed to be who God wants her to be. I think I just want to weep with happiness basically every time I am around her. She has changed me.

 

We might be starting a piano teaching class since Sora Ule is a boss. :) Literally she's great and plays piano like a beast. She started teaching Andreea how to play the piano. We also had a few potential English students in the past that asked me if I was willing to teach them how to play... if only they knew that I just don't know how to read notes so I can't really teach them but now we have Sora Ule :)

 

We met with Vali this week without Daniela. Daniela wasn't able to come so it was just Vali and now we are meeting with Vali twice a week :) She's the nicest 16 year old ever. She really feels the spirit. During English we watched a film and she was tearing up and was really taking it all on. I love how the spirit teaches people. I absolutely love it. She didn't read in the Book of Mormon this last week... which I kind of anticipated just because they said they didn't understand it. So we planned a lesson on Alma 32.. I feel like that was the best I had ever done talking about that passage of scripture. It was so interesting and it was just because the spirit really wanted her to know this. After she agreed to read all of Alma 32. It was really cool. She also didn't come to church.

 

Saturday was Women's day and I got so many La Multi Ani it was crazy :) We also had a relief society activity... ummm there was 6 of us... 2 missionaries and three members and Sora Mihaiela's mother in law. Sora Mihaiela was so funny we had so much food left over so she calls the elders and tells them urgently," You have to get over to the church now! We need your help now! It's urgent get over here!" I can slightly hear Elder Myler on the end and he was just so confused and sounded pretty worried. I just about died laughing as they got here and joined us sisters eating. Then he ended up doing dishes :) It was a happy women's day after all :)

 

Later that night we went contacting and we met the coolest couple they had been living in New York for the last 17 years they knew English perfectly. They were probably some of the happiest Romanians that I have ever met that didn't have the gospel in their lives. We just started talking for forever and they want to have us over. They came to Romania to take care of their parents and they are just looking for jobs they just kept commenting over and over though that they have just been so blessed and they are grateful for their lives and for God and so on. Gosh I pray that we can meet with them! They were amazing!

 

I gave my second talk in the branch. I thought that talking in front of people would get easier in Romanian it doesn't I get so scared! Alin (our branch president) called me and Elder Bonner the night before and asked us to speak. I talked about faith and I got emotional. Dang emotions. It was okay though as I looked at them and as I am tearing up I see a few of the members and how they had tears in their eyes. That makes it worth it. Tender moment from the Lord.

 

We have so much planned for this week. CONSTANTA IS CHANGING! Literally I have been fasting for the last couple of months for Constanta. That their hearts would be opened and that they would accept us. Since Sora Ule has gotten here things have just fallen in place with English classes, past investigators, current investigators, and potentials. We should have at least 5 lessons this week. And those are actual planned lessons. We have a lesson every single week basically. And with the contacting we have planned we are bound to have a surprise lesson. We called a past investigator named Alina and she wants to meet with us again. I'm so excited. Things are happening. And I just have to give all the thanks to Heavenly Father. I could never be anything without him. Trying to base my transfer off of this quote

 

"If I fail it's my fault. If I succeed it is because the Lord has prepared me to succeed." It is so true. Giving Him all my thanks. I'm so grateful to be here as a missionary. I really don't want to leave. I want to just stay here in Constanta with these people that I Love so dearly. I've been praying and pleading with Heavenly Father that He will let me stay for at least another transfer or another 3 :)

I love you all. The church is true. There is not much else to say then that. Christ lives. Heavenly Father loves us. In these facts that is where we find true happiness!

Love you all!

Sora Stewart