Happy

My first view of my new assignment:

I made a new friend this week. His name was cockroach. Alas, he perished after only a few moments of us knowing each other. I have begun taking necessary steps to prevent meeting new friends of that sort. Cockroach will be missed by all his friends and family, but he's in a better place now.

In other news, I'm in Craiova now! Craiova is the sixth largest city in Romania. Even so, the branch here is really small, but I like them. I also really like my district. There are just four of us missionaries here in this city and one of the elders goes home at the same time I do. We're having some good fun together. We shared cookies and rolls with them. They shared chocolate cake with us. Yeah. I think we'll get along. Also, my companion is Sora Parr. She's in her fourth transfer, and she's so great!

It seems that we have a solid group of English students, which I'm excited about. We are teaching advanced, and we met with them on Saturday. We played a game played telephone pictionary (if you don't know what that is you should find out!), and then just talked with them a little bit. Sora Parr shared a thought about being positive, optimistic, and happy. One of our students, Raluca, made a comment that was something like, "But how can you be happy all the time? For instance, what if you get caught in the pouring rain and you get soaked?" I immediately thought of an instance where that very thing happened on my mission. It was back in my third transfer. Rain came out of nowhere, buckets of it, and our umbrellas were rendered useless by the sudden winds. I told Raluca this story and she asked, "And you were happy?" I truthfully answered, "Yes." That night is probably one of my favorite nights of my entire mission actually. During that moment and all the crazy things that happened after that moment, all my companion and I could do was laugh, and laugh, and laugh. So yes, it is quite possible to be very happy even when you are being drenched with rain.

The other day, I was thinking about that moment during personal study. I had shared with Raluca some things that help me to stay optimistic, but as I was sitting there, I realized the biggest thing that helps me to be happy in this life: the gospel. Pure and simple. I have so much hope and peace in life because of the things I know through the gospel. I have hope because I know I have a loving Heavenly Father. 

Knowing that I am His child, I can have faith and confidence that He didn't send me to fail, that He loves me, and that He wants me to return to be with Him. He wants us to be happy. Furthermore, I can have peace even when the world is in turmoil because there is one who spoke unto His disciples, "Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." Because of the Savior's sacrifice, we too can overcome all that we are faced with. He will help us. Because of the gospel I know that this life is not the end. I know that our lives have purpose and that we are guided in life. The gospel is my greatest joy and my greatest strength.

I'm so grateful to be here at this time. I'm so grateful for all the people I've met. I'm so so so very grateful that the Lord guided me here, that He trusts me and guides me to help those around me. I'm know He answers my prayers, and He has helped me so much!

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Love,

Sora Adams

(This is at last transfer. President and Sister Hill are going home. )