This week... oh wow, I
can hardly believe it's only been a week since I last emailed... so much has
happened and yet the time has flown by. So I'll start with the crazy stuff then
attempt to explain the awesome spiritual stuffeses ;)
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| There is still time to have some fun! |
Sora Atkins, Sora
Smith, Sora Cook and I were on the Tramvai on Wednesday. S. Atkins and S. Smith
were in Arad for 2 days for exchanges with us, so we were on our way to some
blocs to go contacting. We were spread out on the Tramvai all contacting
different people. The drunk, toothless man next to me was proclaiming his
desire to come to church with us this Sunday (at least I think that's what he
was saying... either that or something about multiple Gods) then all of a
sudden the woman in front of us... whom Sora Cook was attempting to contact
started vomiting! I think she'd drunk an entire keg of beer cos it was just
pouring out of her and running under the seats and me and the drunk, toothless
man jumped up and moved to avoid getting covered in it. Sora Atkins was
contacting a nice lady in front of Sora Cook and the vomiter, and they had to
stop talking about the Lord in order to move. Sora Cook attempted to help the
vomiting woman but she didn't want help... so yeah... weird... the next stop
was then ours... so yeah.... super weird contacting times on the Tramvai.
The next day we got
yelled at... A LOT!! By alll sorts of different people... so yeah that was
weird and sad... then we also had some super nasty food from this crazy lady.
The soup was basically salt with a touch of water and Sora Cook was lucky
enough to have the chicken's head floating in hers. The lady also gave us
slices of a questionable black block of bread/cake thing... I dunno what it was
but it was a little better than the salty water chicken head soup.
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| Me with one of the Lovely Members |
Okay now for the good
stuff... We met the most amazing couple one night last week. Florin and
Cristina! We had a private English lesson with them and then afterwards we were
sharing a spiritual thought. But they asked so many questions and had such a
desire to learn we ended up teaching them the entire Joseph Smith story and
invited them to read the Book of Mormon. We then met with them a number of
times during the week and they were really progressing... keeping their commitments
and loving reading the book of Mormon. They’re the cutest couple. They have
been married for 15 years, they don't have any children but they have two
little nephews, Florin's sister’s children whom they just love and adore. They
just kept saying how much they want to have the peace and light that we have.
It was so cool! They came to church yesterday and the wonderful members of our
little branch did a great job at talking to them and making them feel welcome.
But then they told us that their work called and they are moving to Italy this
Thursday until April or May :( We had hoped to invite them to be baptized
this week, but unfortunately we can't now. But we have their Italian contact
info and we're going to speak to the office Elders so they can have
missionaries in Italy go visit them. They are super amazing and although I
won't get to see them progress in the Gospel, as I'd hoped, I'm so grateful the
Lord allowed Sora Cook and I to witness their growth in the last week. I love
them so much, and I pray for them. I know the Lord will take care of them and
help them to receive the truth into their lives. They are also a blessing
because we are hopefully going to start teaching Florin's sister and her family
this week..., which would be wonderful!
The branch here is
having a hard time. They are so wonderful and amazing, they just have so many
trials :( I pray for them every day and even in my short time here I can see
the Lord's hand working miracles. It's like the early church. People here are
pioneers. They are the first generation. So along with that comes many trials
and it's not like elsewhere in America or England where once they join they are
then fellowshipped by people who've been members for 30 years... oh no,
everyone here are fairly new members... in comparison to what I'm used to, but
their faith is completely incredible!! They talk of their lives and I can
hardly believe what they've sacrificed to become a member of the church. They
are so passionate about the Gospel. I just love it! They're a wonderful example
to me, and I hope when I get home and participate in a ward, I can remember and
be just as passionate and faithful as these people.
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| Me & a couple of the Elders at the MTC (before Romania) |
Soooo I have a
wonderful district! The Elders and Sora Cook are wonderful examples to me and
they strengthen my testimony everyday. Haha... and we've been going
Contact-caroling... where we knock on people's doors, sing them a Christmas
song and invite them to Church for our branch's Christmas party this week.
Elder Benson plays the guitar and we all sing a carol in Romanian. But
sometimes it’s super super funny because we'll know on the door, they open it,
we sing "Joy to the world..." SLAM!! the door is shut in our faces.
hahaha we usually just burst out laughing... or one time as we sang joy to the
world "E bucurie in lume...SLAM" Elder Groberg exhausted, just said
"I guess these people don't want joy" It was funny at the time...
probably cos we were so tired... but still! Sometimes though, people are nice
and you can tell that we really brightened up their evening and they're excited
about the Christmas activity. So even though many people slam their doors, the
ones who open them are very grateful :)
Okay I gots to go! Love
you all! Merry Christmas!!
Oh and you should all study Luke 15... its an
amazing chapter... and notice how the sheep wanders away out of
misunderstanding i.e. people who aren't taught well in the Gospel and just
don't grasp its importance, the silver coin is lost out of carelessness i.e.
when we don’t fellowship or take care of members, and the prodigal son... he
knows exactly what he's doing, and we just need to be patient and pray to the
lord that these people will use their agency to return. But notice how all of
them when returned to the flock are received with rejoicing... just some cool
stuffs from my studies..
Keep the Faith!
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