One year older and Wiser too!!

Guess who's one year older and (hopefully) wiser too! Yep, my today's my birthday and it's been a good one. I started the day off right by eating brownie and banana bread for breakfast. Then I opened up my gifts from home (thanks for those!). That was soon followed by a fashion show of clothes that other sisters have left behind. After that, we headed to the mall and I bought myself a new journal. It's so adorable. I can't get over it. We then met with our district at the church, ordered pizza, and watched the Single's Ward. The best moment was when one of the characters said, "To quote Brigham Young 'If you are 25 and not married you are a menace to society.'" My zone leader then turned to me and asked how old I am now. That's right. I'm now officially a menace to society. Ha! The zone leaders were awesome and brought me some chocolates. So pretty much, it's been a great birthday.

As you know I'm not in Arad anymore. It was sad leaving such a great district, branch, and boboaca (aka greenie). I sure had some great times in Arad. When we went to get our tickets, the sleeper train that went directly to Buch was full so we had to take a train to Timisoara where we would meet the missionaries there and then head to Buch. Well, we missed our train due to some confusion when reading the departure board. The good thing was that there was a few hours that we were going to have to wait in Timi anyway and there was another train that was leaving from Arad that would get us there in time to catch our train to Buch. So thankfully it all worked out.

Wednesday was transfer day. I got all of my stuff to my apartment. A huge group of us got together outside of huge mall and sang hymns while others spoke to people passing by, handing out pass along cards and such. I loved it. I love being able to use my talents to share my testimony and the love of our Heavenly Father and his spirit with others. I ate a bunch of food, hang out a bit more with Sora Bird before saying goodbye to her at the train station, then headed back to my apartment with Sora Deruvo and six other sisters who stayed with us that night. 

I didn't have chance to unpack until Friday. On thursday we had mission leadership council at the mission home. It was a great meeting. We were fed spiritually and physically! Seriously. Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. I was a happy camper. And then sarmale, mamaliga, coleslaw, goulash, and bread for lunch. Dang. Curse my need to try a little bit of everything! It was worth it though. We figured out which girls we get to go do exchanges with. I'm excited to do those and to see the sisters! Oh by the way, we had nine new sisters come in this transfer. I don't even know what else to say about that. Basically we have a good amount of new faces around. I got to meet them all briefly and they seem really cool.

We were able to have a lesson with a family that lives pretty far away yesterday. Sora Deruvo had met the mother a week ago but yesterday was the first time anyone had actually visited with them in their home. We had to take 3 types of transportation to get there and two of their daughters came to greet us. They are so beautiful! They are 12 and 14 and I already love them even though they talk really fast and I couldn't always understand what they were saying. Ha! It was cool to have a lesson with the entire family (well all except for one child who was at a friend's house). We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and about prayer and how through prayer they kind find strength through their trials. At the end we asked if one of them would like to pray. The son (who is younger than his two sisters) said he wanted to but he didn't know how. With Sora Deruvo's help, he was able to say the prayer. It was so cute! They said we can come back, that we're welcome just as if we were family. They really are a great family. Hopefully we'll see some progress with them.

Something I'm grateful for this week is blessings. This week I reread my notes from my blessings from when I was set apart as a missionary and then the final blessing my dad gave me before I left. As I was reading them, I was touched by the things I was promised and by the things in there that I need to know. As I read I was reminded how much blessings are proof that Heavenly Father knows us each individually, that He knows what we need now and what we will need in the future. It was amazing to me to realize that even before I set foot in Romania, Heavenly Father provided me with council that I would specifically need. He knew/knows the trials I face. He also knows that I can overcome them and become stronger from those trials, and He will give me the tools to overcome those.

Again I want to emphasize that I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. There were a few things I was struggling with yesterday. I poured out my heart to Heavenly Father during the sacrament. Within the next few hours of church, I saw all my concerns being addressed. Answers don't always come that quickly, by I assure you that Heavenly Father will answer in the way and time that He knows is best. We must put our faith in Him, and we will see His hand in our lives.

Have a great week!

Cu drag,

Sora Adams

                                                               Sister Deruvo and I

Heading Out!

First thing's first. I'm heading to Bucharest for transfers, and I'm staying there. I'm going to be a Sister Training Leader (meaning I go on exchanges with sisters and help them with goals and such. A Zone Leader for the sisters), and I'm going to be serving with Sora Deruvo again! I'm really excited! I'm going to miss being with Sora Bird, but it'll be good.

We had some good things happen this week. We met with a former investigator who we've met with only once before. She's super sweet and remembers the sisters who taught her before with fondness. She was being so cute. She was telling me how I was doing a great work and that I would blessed for my service. She then told me that I'm a princess and the God is preparing a prince for me and she would pray for me that I would get him. She then asked Sora Bird how old she is and told her that she still has some time to mature. I guess time is running shorter for me ha ha. This woman has great faith. 

We met with a less active, Ana. She's only less active because of health restrictions. She's really funny. She encouraged Sora Bird to speak more so that she can learn the language. "The only way to learn is to be corrected and how can you be corrected if you don't speak?" She then told me not to translate and to have Sora Bird speak on her own. So she gave our thought, and she was awesome! 

I mentioned another less active last week who we have a hard time getting in contact with. Her name is Cristina. We were able to meet with her again this week. She really is great. She's a little more introverted at times, but she's very loving I feel. Again as we were visiting with her I could feel the spirit. Since we've met with here these past couple of times, she's been making more contact with us. I see this as a positive sign, and I feel that our visits really are making a difference for her. I'm glad we were able to get to meet with her so Sora Bird can easily continue to visit with her when I'm gone.

We met with a member this week as well, Sora Krista. She shared her conversion story with us, which I really enjoyed. She started looking for religion when a doctor made a mistake and told her that she had cancer. For months she lived with that emotional weight, but as she was going to go in and start treatments, the new doctor she was going to rechecked everything and discovered the mistake. She didn't have cancer after all. She was investigating some religions at this point. One day she was watching TV and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was doing a European Tour. They were showing some footage of the choir in Hungary and Sora Krista felt the spirit so strongly as the music played even though it was in English and she couldn't understand the words. The reporter mentioned a few things about Mormons and Sora Krista said to her husband, "Truly this is a unique group of people. I would like to learn more about them." At the time, the church wasn't here in Romania. After communism, the church made it's way here. When Sora Krista heard about it, she went to the building where the church was at the time and knocked on the door. The branch president and missionaries answered. When they asked her who she was looking for she said, "You! I'm looking for all of you!" The missionaries began teaching her and she was baptized shortly after. I was just so impressed how she was touched just by hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and that feeling stuck with her and she remembered it when the gospel became available to her. It's an amazing story to me, and it's just an example to how important and powerful the witness of the spirit is.

Friday was Valentine's Day. We took some time to make some sugar cookies in the shape of hearts and we gave them to all of the members yesterday. They loved them! It was fun to see their reactions. It was a good way to celebrate the day.

Concluding thoughts:

I have a couple. The first is thus: we don't know all things, and that's okay. I'm reminded of a statement by Elder Anderson.

"Nearly 40 years ago as I contemplated the challenge of a mission, I felt very inadequate and unprepared. I remember praying, “Heavenly Father, how can I serve a mission when I know so little?” I believed in the Church, but I felt my spiritual knowledge was very limited. As I prayed, the feeling came: “You don’t know everything, but you know enough!” That reassurance gave me the courage to take the next step into the mission field."

Truly we learn line upon line. That's the only way to learn. We are all at different points and levels of understanding. As we continue to strive to follow our Savior and to nourish our testimonies our knowledge will be added upon. We will be able understand a little bit more about a gospel concept than we were before. We can't receive it all at once. You still wouldn't understand. It's like the idea of feeding meat before milk. It can be frustrating at times when we don't understand everything. There are some things we just can't fully understand at this point in time. That's where faith plays a huge role. Even if we don't always know why, everything that Heavenly Father asks us to do is for our benefit. He has a knowledge and sight that we don't have. It's like he's on the watch tower and we're in the city below. We would never ignore the one on the watch tower. When he gives the signal of danger, we make the necessary preparations. We put all our emergency preparedness into practice. So we should trust the words of modern day prophets and trust the guidance we receive from the spirit. Even without understanding all at this time, the Lord will not leave us to navigate this life alone. He will guide us down the path back to where He is.

I'll make my second thought short. Keep a journal. Record inspiration and blessings of the Lord in your life. It will help you see that you are not alone. It will help you remember answers you've received when you begin to doubt yourself. It can become a form of your own personal scripture. Write often and reread it to reflect on the many things you've learned and how the Lord blesses you in your life.

Have a great week! I love you all!

Love,

Sora Adams

Happy Valentines Week!!

Hello there everyone! I don't even know where to begin.

We were able to meet with Ana again this week. It worked out well because we had a lesson cancel on us, so we gave Ana a call, and she told us to come on over! We taught her the second half of the plan of salvation. We gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet and she just loved all the pictures in there of Christ. She still seems to agree with everything we're teaching. She's told us that she knows that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ like he said he did. She also believes the Book of Mormon is a good book, that because it testifies of Christ it is true. I'm not sure if she completely understands the significance of these truths just yet.

All the calls we've been making from our former investigator notebook finally paid off! We made contact with this woman named Viorica and she was very happy to have us stop by. We headed over to her home after district meeting on Thursday, and talked to her a little bit. We focused on the Book of Mormon and asked her what she remembered from past lessons. It was  clear that she remembered some basics but needed a review. We read the introduction with her and promised her that if she would read and pray that she will know for herself that the Book of Mormon is true. She said she would read the chapter we gave her and pray. She was so kind and welcoming! We're hoping to meet with her again this week!

I was also very pleased that we were able to meet with a less active member this week. She really is great, but we have the hardest time meeting with her! We finally set something up for Saturday, and we were able to have a nice long visit with her. I feel like she really needed it. She wants to meet with us again this week, and I really hope we are able to as it's the last week of the transfer. I would like to see her again in case I'm transferred.  

Thinking back on this visit with this member, I'm reminded of something I've learned out here concerning the gift of tongues. I think there was a part of me that thought when I came out here with the gift of tongues being promised to me that I would just magically be able to speak the language perfectly. That wasn't the case, but what I did come to realize was that just as the scriptures promise we will be given words in the very moment we need them. There have been moments in my mission where I've really felt prompted to say something specific. Sometimes it's a one liner, sometimes it's longer, in either case in that moment any fear of the language melts away, and for those brief moments I sincerely could feel the power of the spirit behind my words. Although my speech has been simple, I know in those moments that I have said the words that Heavenly Father wanted me to say. This particular member is fluent in English, so we visit with her in English. Before we left, the thought came into my mind to tell her a couple specific things. As I began to say those things that came to mind, I felt that spirit behind my words, and I knew that those weren't fleeting thoughts. That was guidance, something that she needed to hear. I felt blessed thinking on it later realizing that I can be an instrument in God's hands for good despite my weaknesses. I also think that many times we are guided by the spirit without even realizing that we are being prompted. That thought I had wasn't a loud dominating thought, but I know it was a prompting of the holy spirit.

                 

                                             ( You should see the bottom of my socks!!)


Anyway, we had some other fun things this week:

-Interviews with President and Sora Hill. Is it weird that I love interviews? Mostly I just love seeing the Hills. I love them, and I feel like they always have this spirit of love about them. Visiting with them just makes me happy. At interviews, President confirmed that my official coming home date is August 6. I guess you can all mark your calendars now!

-Celebration of my one year mark. Yeah, we totally had a fiesta. By that I mean we made a bunch of food and ate it all together with the elders. We ate way too much, but it was so good! Sora Bird's parents sent her some salsa and tortilla chips. Those didn't last very long. It was delicious. All of it!

-Service and English classes as per usual. When we told our English students that one of us may be leaving soon, they expressed their disappointed at losing one of us. Remember how I was nervous to teach beginners? I've since realized that I actually enjoy it and this moment just added to that. If we're going to be missed, that must mean we're doing something right!

-There were so many people at church this week! It was so great. There were some people who have either been less active or out of the country for awhile who all came. It was so great to see all the excitement of the members and the reunions. One of my favorite moments was sitting down in Relief Society and seeing how much our Relief Society president was beaming. That was a little miracle.

Okay, one final thought and then I promise I'll wrap this up. As a district we've been trying to dedicate each week to a different Christlike attribute. We're on patience right now, something that's not always easy. I think one of the biggest things that has stuck out to me as I've been studying patience is the importance not only of having patience with others, but having patience with yourself. So often I think we want to be perfect now. We want our flaws to disappear. We want to instantly be able to master a new instrument or understand a new concept. We become frustrated when these things don't come instantly, and many times we just give up. We may have bad thoughts or feelings towards ourselves because we just weren't as good as we wanted to be. Speaking from personal experience, this is a very destructive mindset, and you definitely won't meet any of your goals if you let your mind stay there. Instead, practice patience and don't give up. I wish I had my study journal with me so I could share more of my thoughts, but know that just like anything else, Heavenly Father can help you develop patience. I feel like patience goes along with the attributes of faith and hope. The more we can develop patience the more peace we will have in our lives and the more hope we can have in the promises our Heavenly Father has given us.

Happy Valentine's Day this week!

Va iubesc!

Sora Adams

Promptings, Example and Sacrafice

I feel like I've had a lot of firsts on my missions (riding a sleeper train, eating liver, becoming branch pianist, etc.) Today's first was paintballing. That was legit. The missionaries from Timisoara came and joined us. It was a lot of fun. I have a nice welt on my leg though because I kept getting hit in the same spot over and over again. It's okay. Battle scars build character.

We had a lesson with Ana this week. We talked to her about the first half of the plan of salvation (pre-earth life to this life and the atonement and such). She agreed with everything with shared with her. She's already a very faithful woman and very caring. She offered to let us live with her so that we could save money on rent. I was quite surprised, but also very impressed that she would be so willing to serve two people she barely knows in that way.

I've been impressed lately by how Heavenly Father really does answer prayers. I can't deny that He's aware of me and the things we're endeavoring to do. This truly is His work. He really does care about us individually and has a greater hand in our lives than we realize. The other day, we were able to visit one of the members. I wasn't sure what we should share with her, so I began flipping through my Book of Mormon looking at the verses I'd marked at some point in time. I came across these verses from Alma 37:

 6 Now ye may suppose that this is ^afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by ^bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

 7 And the Lord God doth work by ^ameans to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very ^bsmall means the Lord doth ^cconfound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

There wasn't anything in particular that said, "This is it! This is what you should share!" It was just the one that stayed in the front of my mind instead of any of the other things I found. I shared it with Sora Bird, and she agreed that it sounded like a good plan. When we were in the lesson and shared this thought we talked about it for a little bit and then this member thanked us and said that it was exactly the thing that she needed to hear. It was a simple thing for me, but also a testimony that Heavenly Father is aware of this woman's needs and that He will use us to fulfill the needs of others and to answer prayers. I'm so grateful I can be an instrument in His hands for good.

We're still really trying to make connections with members and less actives to help strengthen them and to help get them involved. One way we did that this week was by a little act of service. A few kids of the branch were having birthdays so we made some brownies and delivered them. With one of them we had called ahead to make sure we could stop by to drop something off so we wouldn't be interrupting anything. When we stopped by that night, before we knew what was happening we were being pulled in, singing happy birthday, and homemade cake was in our hands and we were just part of the family and their little celebration. We felt a little bad and out of place mostly because we were afraid we had intruded, but I'm also so grateful to see the love they have for us, that they were happy to have us there and wanted to include us. Truly, there are amazing people here.

Something else that impressed me this week happened yesterday. We have choir before church every Sunday. When we arrived, our choir director was happily going back and forth from the sacrament room to the office, apologizing every so often, saying we'd start soon. When she was finally able to start, she came over to me to tell me the great thing that happened. She had just been helped to set up an e-mail address because she needed one to have a member account on the church websites. When that was done, she was able to start up those accounts and log on to family search and see her family tree. Her face was lit up with the biggest smile and the anticipation of great things to come. She told me that now she could prepare more family names to take to the temple. She was practically glowing. I love that woman. She is an inspiration to me. She shows so much love to me and to everyone around her. She truly is an amazing woman. And I'm so amazed by the members who make the sacrifice to save up their pennies so they can make the journey to the temple (in Germany or Ukraine depending on which side of the country they're from). Some are even discouraged by family members who tell them to use that money in a different way. Still they realize the great blessing that comes from their sacrifice, and upon their return, the begin saving away pennies again so they can return as soon as possible.

So remember this for the following week: You can be an instrument in God's hands even through small means. Turn to Him, and look for His influence in your life, and you will be amazed at how often He guides you. Also, there are somethings in life worth sacrificing for. Family and the gospel are two of those things. Don't become discouraged, but take strength in the knowledge that you have a Heavenly Father and a Savior on your side.

Have a great week!

Sora Adams

P.S. This week marks a year since I entered the MTC. How weird is that?

Bricks of Faith

We finally have snow. I'm grateful it's not a lot where I am. There's a lot more in other parts of the country. We're still keeping warm and finding ways to continue with the work.

We started English classes again last week for example. We're teaching beginner's which I've never done before. I was a little nervous, and then I saw how many people showed up and I was even more nervous. We had a great turn out! It turned out well. The whole time I was worried about it. I think I just needed to get that out of my system though. Our second class was on Saturday and I wasn't nervous at all. We have some good people in our class who are happy and have a sense of humor which makes it all the nicer. A few students have been approaching us to learn more about the gospel. It will be great if we can find more people to teach that way.

We had exchanges this week with Sora Polatis and Sora Peterson. It was so great to see Sora Peterson and to talk to her for awhile. She was in my MTC group and it was just so great to see how much we've learned and how far we've come. It will be fun to see her again at the end of our missions and have a final look back at everything.

We got to visit some amazing members this week. I really can't give over how great some of these people are. They have strong faith and love. They love when we can visit and they always want to serve us. It never ceases to amaze me. One of these members just came up to me at church on Sunday and asked us if we had any appointments after church. When I said no, she invited us over to visit and eat with her. While there, one of the things we talked about was tithing, and I loved one of the things she said about it. She said that she doesn't have a hard time paying tithing because even if it's small she always imagines that her little donation is represented by even the smallest stone that goes into a new temple and that gives her great joy. I also admire the optimism of both members we were able to visit. They have such joy in their lives even if it's hard and if other members of their famililies aren't members of the church or aren't active. They love their families and have hope for them. They recognize how the gospel has blessed their lives and they don't want to go back to their old lives ever.

I feel like I had so many thoughts and insights this week that I'm sure which to share. Okay. I've decided. The other day, I was thinking about talents. So often when we think about talents, we think of the arts, and many times we think we're not talented because we can't sing or play the piano or anything of that nature. But there are so many more gifts than those. The ability to remain positive, to have patience, to laugh, to comfort. The list is endless, and each of us have been given talents by our Father in Heaven, and He will help us to develop those talents and use them. If we desire a talent or to improve at one we already have, we should involve Heavenly Father. He will help us in all things. I have truly seen how if something is important to us it is important to the Lord. You are not talentless. It may be hard to see in yourself, but I promise that you have been blessed with special gifts, and Heavenly Father will help you to use those gifts to bless the lives of others.

Thank you for all you do for me and for those around you.

Cu mare drag,

Sora Adams