Hello one and all. I hope you are beginning to see some sun where ever you find yourself in the world right now. We are very happy that tights are no longer a necessity. Well, according to us. Older women keep commenting on our naked legs and saying, "Aren't you cold?" When we tell them we're fine they comment about our youth. I love these people. They make me smile.
We had our final exchange this week with the other set of sisters here with us in Panduri (Panduri is a section of Bucuresti. There are two districts here: Panduri and Mihai Bravu.) I had my exchange with Sora Hovey, and she is great! We had some cool experiences together. One was during our contacting time. I'll be honest, even after all this time it's still a little hard for me to go up and talk to people. I really have to push myself to do it sometimes. And it paid off because we met this wonderful older woman named Carmen.
She was sitting by herself on a park bench. We approached her and asked her if she would take our survey. She invited us to sit down next to her, and we began. We learned so much about this woman! She is so faithful! She told us a lot about herself--how she's a
widow, how her only child lives far away and can't come home to see her, things like that. Her faith was very evident as she told us how God helps her through her struggles. She talked with us for a long time. As she did, tears came to her eyes. She then told us about how she had had a dream the previous night where she was eating grapes. When she woke in the morning she asked God why she would cry as apparently having a dream where you eat grapes is a sign that you will be crying. She then said that in that moment she understood why. She told us we were angels sent to her from God. Afterwards, we helped her get to the bus that would take her home. As we were helping her to walk I just kept thinking, "This is what it's all about." I was amazed that she was so touched by us when I didn't feel like we had even done much of anything. Even so, I know the spirit was there with us, and I'm so grateful for opportunities to serve! Sora Hovey and I were both really touched by this experience.
Sora DeRuvo and I also had a lesson this week with a woman that she and Sora Fletcher met in a park. The lesson didn't seem to end so well, and the woman seemed to have no further interest in meeting with us. So you can imagine our surprise and joy when she showed up at the church a few days later wanting to meet with us! We haven't been able to set up something yet, but we're hoping that will go through!
On Saturday we had the chance to go to a member's home and help them with their garden (think big garden not wee little garden). We were out there for a few hours working the land. Well, mostly I was gathering twigs and putting them in bundles, but still, it was good work. It's always nice to have opportunities to do service. We don't get a lot of it here and we always enjoy it. There truly is great satisfaction in it. We all had a picnic together of roasted chicken and rolls. The chicken was served by tearing it from the full body with bare hands. That's the way it should be eaten :) It was a great day.
In other news, we had zone conference this week. We spent a good amount of time preparing for that as we had a 45 minute presentation with the other STLs and we prepared a special musical number. It was great to see everyone, to feel of the spirit, and have encouraging words from President Hill as he assured us the work is moving forward and we are doing good things here in Romania. He told us that we are blessing the lives of these people and that's what this gospel is all about. He also said that we are fulfilling the role we were sent to do. He also assured us that we have the right to ask Heavenly Father to know how we're doing.
This is something I know to be true and something that applies to us even when we aren't on missions. It's so easy to get discouraged and to think that we aren't doing enough or that perhaps we aren't as good as Brother or Sister so and so. We may be afraid of what other people think of us, but the only opinion of us that matters is Heavenly Father's. We are His children and He will love us no matter what. And if we are afraid that there is more that we can be doing or something needs to change, we can turn to Him to know what that thing is or to receive the encouragement that we are doing better than we think we are. If we do have something that needs changing in our lives, He will help us to change it. I have come to see more and more how Heavenly Father really does have a hand in our lives every single day. If you strive to look for those moments, you will find them.
Cu mare drag,
Package from home!!!
Thanks for the socks Sister Peterson!!
And taffy from Leavenworth from Dad!!!
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