Miracles in Constanta

Buna Ziua!!

I feel like that little fish from Finding Nemo "I'm obnoxious!" but guess what?! I love Constanta! Just in case you missed that notice in the last month's emails! It's just sooo beautiful. We're still running on the beach everyday. And the sea breeze keeps us from getting too hot. This country is stunning, maiales, Constanta! :D

The beach

Okay, I'm done with my weekly comment on the scenery.... This week was yet another wonderful week. The weather has been touch and go, with a couple of showers, a few scorching hot days, and one or two thunderstorms. Andreea returned from her trip to Moldova, stronger and better than ever! She's now reading straight through the Book of Mormon, and in two weeks was finishing 2 Nephi. She's is such a rockstar! We had a lesson with her and Mariana, the branch president's wife, last Friday. It was fantastic! We set a baptismal date in September.  I hope and pray that I'll still be in Constanta to witness Andreea's baptism. Mariana bore the most incredible and powerful testimony during the lesson. She's so legit! Andreea really looks up to Mariana, so it was completely perfect. I also really look up to Mariana. She's one of the coolest people I've ever met! 

Holding a little black chick

One out of the three Alina's is still an investigator. Alina with the backpack. She's awesome! She's started progressing and is starting to recognize the hand of God in her life. She also said her very first prayer, using her own words, the other day. It was so perfect and beautiful and the Spirit was so strong! Elena, from the branch, who is the same age and a recent convert, has become friends with Alina and they hung out all day Saturday! YAY! Elena is so legit! Then Mariana invited both Elena and Alina over for dinner Saturday night and talked to Alina about the church and the gospel. These members here are mind-blowingly awesome! We are so blessed to have members here that will hang out with our investigators and share the Gospel with them, without even being asked.

An elephant!

Then, we also have a new investigator, Andra. We met Andra a couple weeks ago, street contacting for English. She is just finishing High School, and will be turning 18 this summer. She spoke excellent English, and told us that she was preparing to take the SAT because she wants to go to university in America. Then on the street about 2 weeks ago we saw her and we waved to say hello but she was in a hurry and so we didn't get much of a chance to talk. Sora and I talked about it, and decided that if we saw her again we should try and get her number and set up a lesson. Then, in the library on Thursday last week, we were making our way up the stairs and we ran into her! We talked to her for a bit and before we could even say anything she said, "You know, I've ran into you 3 times now, it must be a sign, I think I'd like to know more about what you believe." Sora and I couldn't believe it! Andra was taking the SAT on Saturday so after that she said she was free to meet with us. We invited her to church on Sunday and she came!! She absolutely loved it! Young Womens was all about the Word of Wisdom and everything made complete sense to her. Then, Gospel Principles was about Tithing and even that made sense to her. She participated the whole time and totally understood it! We also gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her a 5 minute version of the Restoration. She loved all of it! Elena also did an amazing job of explaining things to Andra and answering any questions she had. Then, Sacrament meeting was Fast and Testimony, which, as most people can tell you, can be a bit of a gamble. But, I just prayed the whole time that the Spirit would help her to understand, teach her the things she needed to hear, and give her spiritual ear muffs to anything crazy. And yay! It was perfect! She loved the whole thing and even cried as one of the members testified about God knowing us perfectly. Andra is so prepared! I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for her. We'll be meeting with her again tonight and I can't wait!

Random funny language moment - This actually belongs to Sora Caruso but it's too funny not to tell. After Frisbee on Friday, Sora had a huge bruise on her leg! I asked her what happened and she said "Am crezut in iarba!" Which means "I believed in the grass! What she meant to say was "Am cazut in iarba" which means "I fell in the grass". hahahaha. She's so cute!

Miracle in the rain - Yesterday, we had a cool little experience. We went to go contacting in the park, and all of a sudden dark thick rain clouds rolled in. The heavens opened! "The rains came down and floods came up ;) We were soaking wet in seconds! We ran for shelter onto the staircase of a bank. We were a little disappointed that we couldn't go contacting. But then, two girls, also trying to escape the flash floods came running on to the staircase too. We all looked at each other and laughed about the mascara running down our faces and our ruined hair. We got talking to the girls and had a 15 minute gospel discussion. They weren't interested in meeting with us, but it was a really good conversation and who knows, maybe we left them with a good impression and a few seeds were planted. Just goes to show, that even when the rain clouds come rolling in, you can still find little miracles and things to be grateful for.

Okay, familia mea si prietenii mei, am plecat!

I love you all and I'm so grateful for you love and continued support!

Keep the faith!

Sora Rivera