Many Meetings

Life is good. That just seems like a good way to start. It doesn't always go the way you expect it to go, and that's not always a bad thing. Sometimes you experience things you never thought you would experience, but those unexpected adventures make some of the best stories, and you learn things along the way. I repeat, life is good.

It was fun getting to be in Timi again on Tuesday. Plus, I really enjoyed zone training meeting. It's always fun seeing some of the other missionaries, and I just loved some of the things that were shared. We talked about goal setting and tips for contacting and such. I really liked an analogy that some of the elders shared with us. I can't remember why they shared it, but here it is. First they told us to think back on our parting with our families before we entered the MTC. What was the last thing they said to us? What was the last thing we said back? After that and a few laughs as a couple people shared what some of the last things were, they told us to then think about our pre-mortal life. What do we think was the last thing Heavenly Father said to us, and what did we say back? I have never thought about that before, and it touched me. I imagine that each of us gets one last big hug and some words of encouragement, one last I love you and you're going to be great and I'm going to be with you the whole time. Then maybe we would tell Him how much we loved Him too, how we would try to make Him proud, and how we would see Him again in no time. I don't know about you, but that's one reunion I look forward to.

We were able to meet with a member this week, Sora F, who hasn't been able to come to church regularly recently because of her current job. The cool thing is she told us that she's trying to arrange things so work won't interfere with church. Also, she was able to come for sacrament meeting yesterday. We'll be meeting with her later this week as well to visit another sister for visiting teaching.

We had a couple cool experiences this week that were really simple. We were walking through the park one day and we were stopped by this man who wanted to ask us about our religion. Specifically he wanted to know about tithing. He was really nice and said he might come to our English classes. He also said he would be interested in coming to church sometime just to see what our religion is like. He told us that he admired what we were doing, that we would leave home and family and make the sacrifice to come out here to teach people.

Another day, we were doing English contacting and Sora Ralls felt like we should talk to this woman who was sitting on a bench and who seemed at peace with life. She just gave off that vibe. We'd already passed by her and said hello and given her an English card, so as we approached her again I just said, "Hello. We would just like to talk to you if that's okay." She smiled and said we could. We shared a passage with her from the Book of Mormon (the last verse in Alma 26), and she told us it was beautiful. We told her about the restoration and about the Book of Mormon. She accepted a copy and said that perhaps she would come to church when she got the chance. She believes that all churches are good.

Today we were trying to find the apartment of a member. There were some women fixing up things outside an apartment complex (raking leaves and such). One woman asked us if we were looking for someone. We showed her the address and she gave us directions. She then asked us a little about ourselves, where we come from, why we're in Romania, etc. She was so open and kind and wasn't really able to talk to us at the time, but she gave us her name and address, accepted a restoration pamphlet, and told us to stop by when we're in the neighborhood so we can tell her more about our message. We didn't even have to offer! She approached us! Basically we ran into some really kind and awesome people this week.

Oh hey, before I forget, Happy Halloween! Have fun. Be safe. Eat tons of candy.

And as a last note, remember that you are loved. You are not alone. You have a Father in Heaven and a Savior who will help you every step of life's journey. They will help you make it back home. Turn to Heavenly Father often in prayer. He wants to hear from you, and you can't strengthen your relationship with Him if you never talk to Him. I promise that He will guide you and you will feel of His love as you strive to come closer to Him.

I love you all, and I'm so grateful for your support! Have a great week!

Cu mare drag,

Sora Adams

Arad

It's official. I'm in Arad. It's pretty close to my first area (Timisoara). The funny thing is that I used to come here for conferences all the time, and now I'm actually serving here. Also, tomorrow we'll be going to Timisoara for zone training meeting. I'm kind of excited to see the city again. It will also be a little weird being back after so long. 

I saw some beautiful scenery along the way:

                                                       Saying goodbye to my companion.

    My pony companion and our new adventure.

                                               

It's hard to think of what to talk about on transfer week sometimes. There's packing, making it to your train on time, unpacking, learning about the new area. There's a lot to be done! I did go to Ikea this week. That was exciting. It's only the third time in my life I've been and the first time I've eaten there. Not bad. Not bad. I also got a cold. At least I didn't get it at Thanksgiving this year, right family? (I probably just jinxed myself to get a secondary cold. Should have thought that one through.) I'm hanging in there though! Never fear! I can also tell you this--Sora Ralls is awesome. I feel like we've hit it off pretty well so far. Plus we have some similar goals for the transfer, so it's going to be good! Mostly we've been working on contacting for English classes which start back up again next week. 

Other notes on Arad:
From what I've seen so far, it seems like a nice city. Also there's a covrigi (pretzel) place right down the street from my apartment. I love those. So it could be a blessing and a curse really. I already love the branch. What more can I say? They just seem so awesome. I can't wait to work with them more.

We have already set up some lessons for this week, so hopefully I'll have more to say next week. Until then, here's your spiritual thought for the week :)

Let me tell you a few reasons I'm grateful to Heavenly Father this week. First of all, He helps me overcome my weaknesses. I'm not perfect. None of us are. I'm reminded of a quote I saw recently by Neal A. Maxwell. It says, "God does not begin by asking us about our ability but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, He will increase our capability." I think that so often we don't necessarily feel confident that we can accomplish all the things that may be required of us. The idea of a new calling may be overwhelming. But as I've been learning time and again, Heavenly Father works with imperfect beings. He brings forth His work by small and simple things. So often, it's the simple things that have a changing influence or the strength to make a difference. We are weak, yes, but through the Holy Spirit we are made strong, and we can be led to teach, comfort, guide, to be answers to the prayers of another.

I'm also grateful to Heavenly Father because He knows the desires of my heart and He knows my concerns and He responds to them. And He helps me to realize the blessings in my life, and how I'm improving. He helps me to have hope and optimism in life. I have hope for the people here in Romania. It occurred to me this week that the more I serve among them the more I come to love them. There truly are some wonderful people here, and I'm grateful for this opportunity to be here with them. Not all of them are ready for the gospel yet, but I'm confident that every touch is important. Even if we can help brighten someone's day, I feel good about our work here. I do feel like we're making a difference, and that this work is of great importance.

In conclusion, I'm so grateful to our Savior through which we can receive the ultimate hope, hope for a better day, for eternity with those we love, for exaltation.

I hope you all have a great week!

Cu mare drag,

Sora Adams


PS: Thanks for the packages from home!! They were wonderful! =)

Guess Who's Being Transferred

It's that time again. My time in Cluj is spent. I'm being transferred to Arad where I will serve with Sora Ralls (who was trained by my current companion!). I'm a little sad to be leaving Cluj. It's a great city with a great branch. However, I'm also excited to see Arad. Well, more of it anyway. I've been going there for zone conferences and things since the beginning of my mission. Now I'll get to see more than just the church, mall, and train station. Plus, I've already met Sora Ralls and I know that it's going to be awesome to serve with her!

In this, my last week in Cluj, I started off by going with my district to some salt mines in the small town of Turda. I went last transfer as well, but I don't remember if I ever mentioned it. There's something really cool about playing bowling who knows how many feet under the ground. It was a good time. Plus, there were these three little boys who would hand us the balls and watch us bowl. They were adorable.

I saw D for the last time on Thursday. She wasn't able to come to church this week. We visited her with the Boyds. She cooked a wonderful meal for us, and we taught her about the law of chastity. The concept wasn't knew to her, so she didn't have any problems with it. One of the sweetest moments during the lesson is when Sora Boyd shared her testimony. She told D that great blessings would come to her and her family as she came to accept the gospel and her children followed her example. Her response was, "I would like that." I so hope that she will be baptized and that her children will as well in time. We gave her a date to think about, but we haven't officially set a date.

We were also able to meet with Sora S this week. She's the member who can't always come to church for health reasons. She is so sweet. I really appreciated something she told us. She told us how she admired what we are doing, that it's not easy to come to a foreign land with a foreign language and just the fact that we are here is a sign of our bravery. I don't always feel very brave, so I appreciated that. Moral of the story, you are braver (stronger, better, fill in the blank) than you may think you are sometimes.

On Saturday, we had an unplanned meeting with one of our English students. We met with her a couple of times last transfer, but we didn't really have a chance to teach her any of the lessons. We were helping her a little more with English. Sora Deruvo and I have been wanting to try and share a little more of our message, but we were never able to meet with her until Saturday. We got to know her a little bit more. It turns out that she already had a copy of the Book of Mormon that she had received from some Elders who knocked on her door some time ago. She's read from it and found that it goes along with what she already knows. Hopefully, she'll continue to be open to our message!

On a final note, something I'm grateful for this week is the gift of the holy ghost. Heavenly Father really does have a hand in our lives. He hears and answers our prayers. He definitely answered mine this week. I felt His love and guidance and even comfort as I expressed some of my concerns to Him or asked what it was that we should do. I'm finding through my own experience that, just as the scriptures say, the spirit speaks with a small voice. Often times, I don't think we even realize we have been guided by the spirit. If you look back on your day though, I can promise you that Heavenly Father will help you see how He's had a hand in your life that day. My suggestion is to write those things down. This morning, I read over my journal entries from this past week, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how often the Lord had helped me this week. He truly is our Father. This is His work. He loves us all more than we can comprehend.

                                                       

I hope you are all doing well! As always, thanks for your support!

Cu mare drag,

Sora Adams

You Can Be A Missionary Too!!

Have I mentioned how there's some really awesome people here in Romania? I love the sweet people I've been able to meet and work with. Last Sunday, one of the members of our branch came up to me, put her hand on my arm, and asked, "So when are you going to come visit me?" She was so cute! So of course we visited her this week. We weren't sure what message we should share with her though. We were sitting at our desks thinking and thinking and nothing seemed to work. Sora Deruvo looked at the wall where she has Helaman 3:35 posted. "Why don't we share this and talk about prayer?" We agreed and talked about a few thoughts we had on prayer. When we went to visit this member, we got to know her a little first as we haven't visited her before, and then we shared this scripture with her. After we had her read it, she paused for a moment, and then she began to tell her how interesting it was that we shared this scripture with her as it went right along with something she's been reading lately. We were than able to have a cool little discussion. It was a simple thing, but I'm continually learning how the simple things are some of the greatest things in reality. Another thing I'm finding is that we are so often guided by the spirit without even realizing it, even with little spiritual thoughts. Heavenly Father truly knows all of His children individually and what they need at any given moment.

We were able to visit another member as well who fed us so much food! She's so fun. She told us about how she was able to go to the temple dedication in Ukraine and hug the prophet. She has this really funny giggle when she talks about it. She's so cute! She also told me that I speak Romanian well and because of that, I should have more courage when I speak. She gets bonus points for telling me I speak well :)

We were able to have another lesson with D this week. The Boyds came with us, for which I'm so grateful. They shared wonderful testimonies and there's just a great spirit about them. Plus they connect with Delia really well. Again, Delia always seems to show an understanding for the things we teach her. She was also able to come to a session of conference. She had to leave before we had a chance to talk to her about it, but I hope she enjoyed it.

Recently the thought crossed my mind of how I can be a missionary when I'm back home and I don't have a badge. It was just one of those random thoughts, and it was accompanied with some of the things I've tried to do to reach out to people. Then it occurred to me that we do misisonary work be reaching out to people. We sit by the person who's sitting by themselves. We ask how someone is doing. We attempt to do small acts of kindness. I was telling Sora Deruvo that I should get into food bribery again (this was my term for writing nice notes, combining them with baked goods, and going to peoples homes to deliver them and as a way of saying "we haven't forgotten you.") I believe that simple things like that can be missionary work. Also, doing your home and visiting teaching. I've felt recently that there is a great importance in both of these callings. I don't think we always realize what a big difference it can make. I can tell you from personal experience that you will be blessed as you strive to do your visiting/home teaching. I guess all these thoughts came from a little bit of fear that I'll lose all my missionary skills when I return home (but remember what we learned about fear? It's an opportunity!). Basically, what it comes down to is missionary work has been a big topic lately. Sometimes I think that we don't feel like we're capable of missionary work, but I promise that you are. Keep being the good people that you are. Bring people to the gospel by your love and example. 

In General Conference, one of the speakers (possibly Sister Oscarson) talked about how if we don't have a testimony an a certain principle that we can gain a testimony of it by living it. As I was getting ready for bed last night, the thought occurred to me that that can apply to missionary work to. If you don't have a testimony of missionary work, or you don't think you can do it, try it. Turn to Heavenly Father. He will help you. I can promise you that you will see blessings. This is the Lord's work. Didn't He say that His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man? Missionary work is one way He does that, by bringing people to the knowledge of their Redeemer, and it is only through Christ that we can receive those blessings.

Next week is transfers! It always seems to come so fast. We find out all the details on Friday at the transfer dinner the Boyds like to put together for us. Have I mentioned that the Boyds are wonderful? Senior couples really are the best. Stayed tuned!

And if you didn't get a chance to view conference, you should. The talks are already available at lds.org :)

Cu mare drag,

Sora Adams

Conquering Fear

Buna ziua, tutoror!

We’re a little late this week (just a little), but that’s because we had zone conference on Monday. We didn’t get back until yesterday and then we had to make preparations for English and such. But all has been going pretty well.

We had exchanges last week with Sora Stepli and Sora Heim, both of which are awesome. I worked with Sora Stepli for the day, and I gained some really cool insights from her. One of my favorites was some of her thoughts on fear. Since the beginning of my mission, one of my goals has been to gain more confidence. Talking to people you don’t know in a foreign language isn’t always easy. She told me that she looks at fear differently now then she did before. Now she sees it as an opportunity. She’s come to realize that fear can do one of two things: it can keep you from doing something, meaning you stay in your comfort zone and ultimately don’t progress in some way, or it can give you the motivation to do something, conquering the fear and gaining something from it. Something else she mentioned is how love is the opposite of fear, or in the words of Moroni “perfect love casteth out all fear.” I can’t think of anything else to add, but mostly I really like this idea. I’ve definitely seen in my own life how fear can hold you back. I’ve let it do that to me. Most of the times, it’s probably not a big deal, but there are sometimes where it can leave you with a sense of regret because you didn’t do something all because of fear. Don’t let fear keep you from doing something great or trying something you really want to try.

We were able to have a few lessons this week. We met with our investigator  "D" and talked to her a little about the importance of commandments and how scripture study is important. She seems to be doing really great. Her response was something to the effect of, “I know that I need to be reading in the scriptures more. I really needed this reminder.” One thing I love about D is that everything makes sense to her. She’s also a very lovely woman who works very hard and loves her children very much.

Did I mention we’ve started meeting with an inactive member?  She has the most adorable cat ever! Also, said cat was a little crazy when we were there this past week, but that’s okay because she then curled up in my lap and went to sleep. I feel like the lesson went really well in that T seems comfortable with us, and we were able to say the things that came to our hearts and minds. She still didn’t come to church this past Sunday, but we’ll continue to meet with her and hopefully she’ll start coming.

We were also able to meet with a member and talk to her about service and charity and how acts of service don’t always have to be this huge thing. Often times, small and simple things have a greater impact than we realize.

                                                             

General Conference is this weekend, and I can hardly believe it! I absolutely love it. I encourage all of you to participate in some way (at church, over the internet, etc.). This is a great opportunity we have every six months to hear from the prophet and apostles. I hope you will listen with open ears and hearts and that you will feel the confirmation of the spirit that the words they speak are true.

Have a great rest of the week!

Cu drag,

Sora Adams

Patience

There are so many things I could talk about this week. A lot of them are little things, but things I find noteworthy. I’ll try to give you the highlights.

We weren't able to see our investigator again this week, but the good news is she’s back on her feet and wants to meet with us again.

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I ended up having a short Word of Wisdom discussion with my English class on Saturday. We still had a few minutes before class and the students were asking me a little about myself. They asked if I cooked, baked, made coffee and tea. Thus our discussion began! We had to keep it short as we had to begin English, but it’s interesting how an ordinary moment can become a teaching moment.

As a mission we’ve added another number to the list that we report at the end of each week to help us reach goals. We now count the number of hours we spend proselyting, having lessons, and doing English classes and how many Book of Mormons we hand out. We’ve only done it for two weeks so far, but it’s really cool. It helps us realize that we really are doing work, or if we need to be doing more work!

There are a couple of things I’ve been thinking about this week. The first thing is patience, more specifically how learning takes patience, and how we need to exercise patience with ourselves as well as with others. I was able to set aside some time to practice the piano this week to prepare to play for Sunday if our regular pianist would still be out of town (she was so it’s a good thing I practiced!) I played the same four songs over and over again. I really wanted to get them down. Also, there were some moments where I had to play the same measure or two chords over and over until my fingers could get it right. As I thought about it later, it occurred to me that learning takes patience and a real desire. If you don’t have those two things, the moment something hard happens, you’ll just give up. You’ll never reach your potential. When I actually played the hymns on Sunday, that one measure that was driving me crazy, that I practiced countless times, was probably the measure I played best! It pays off! Work! Have patience! And have hope!

My thoughts on patience were continued when I was asked to give a talk for church yesterday. I decided to speak on President Uchtdorf’s talk from the priesthood session of General Conference in April called “Four Titles.” One of my favorite parts is when he compares us to a child learning to walk; 

„We have all seen a toddler learn to walk. He takes a small step and totters. He falls. Do we scold such an attempt? Of course not. What father would punish a toddler for stumbling? We encourage, we applaud, and we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents.

Now, brethren, compared to the perfection of God, we mortals are scarcely more than awkward, faltering toddlers. But our loving Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him, and, dear brethren, that should be our eternal goal too. God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.

I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged—never to give up or flee our allotted field of service—but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying.”

Heavenly Father knows that we won’t be perfect in an instant. It takes time. But He knows we can improve, learn, and become like Him. The best thing is that we don’t have to go through that process alone. He’s always there and willing to help. And though our trials may seem hard, they will help refine us and teach us and help us to recognize the sweet from the bitter.

Don’t be too hard on yourselves. Continue making even the smallest steps in the right direction. And if you stumble and fall, take comfort in the fact that there is someone to pick you up again.

Thanks for all of your support! You are all amazing. I hope you know that.

Cu mare drag,

                                Sora Adams