promised Blessings

The strangest feeling is coming over me. I go home next week. What? It doesn't seem like it. There's no way a year and a half has really gone by. People keep asking me if I'm freaking out, but I'm honestly not because it feels just like any other week. I probably won't be feeling that way when I head down to Bucuresti. Ask me then.

For the past couple of weeks we started holding a family home evening activity. We were already having activities on Fridays, but I suggested that we also have an activity on Tuesday nights after English so encourage some of our English students to come. We've done that a couple of times now and I'm happy to report that each time we've had English students stay! We have a little spiritual thought and then have some sort of activity and sometimes treats. This week we played probably the most fun game of sign I have ever played in my life. It was hilarious! I don't even know how to describe it. It was frenzied and confusing and just hilarious.

We had a lesson with an English student named Camelia. She is so sweet! She actually helped us go English contacting at the beginning of the transfer. The lesson started off a little awkwardly because we'd had a miscommunication. She thought we wanted to see her to say goodbye since I'll be leaving soon. She didn't realize we wanted to have a lesson with her. When we realized the mistake, we kind of sat there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Thankfully, Camelia is super sweet and said, "Go on. Say what you wanted to say." So we were still able to talk to her a little bit about the restoration. We also gave her a Book of Mormon which had written little messages in just for her. 

At some point during the week, I was reading notes from the blessings I received as I was leaving on my mission and reflected on my mission as a whole. As I looked at the promised blessings contained therein, I tried to think of moments where I had seen those promises fulfilled in my mission. As I was pondering this, I came to a realization: sometimes the answers to our prayers or the fulfillment of promises from the Lord sometimes go unnoticed and one of the reasons for that is because they manifest themselves in ways differently than what we expect and even perhaps than what we want. Some of the blessings I was promised I thought I would see in a different way. As I was looking back, I can see how those blessings were fulfilled in some way or another. They weren't always how I expected, but they were definitely there. I can promise you that the Lord does in fact hear and answer your prayers, and He always keeps His promises. He will strengthen you and shape you into the person that you are capable of becoming if you allow Him to do so. He loves you. I can't stress that enough. We aren't perfect, but we are loved by our Father in Heaven and His son. If we follow in the path of our Savior, we will see those promised blessings in our lives, and He will guide us back to our Father. With His help, we can be with those we love forever in a state of never ending happiness.

Have faith and hope in the future because no matter what happens you have a savior who overcame all things and will always be there to lift you up when you fall.

See you soon :)

Sora Adams

Hello Again!

Hello everyone.

For our advanced English class we like to have some sort of question to get them talking and then we play a game. In our last question I asked, "If you knew that you were going to die soon, what is the last thing that you would want to tell those that you love?" I thought one answer a student gave was interesting. She thought the question was strange and then proceeded to tell us that you shouldn't be waiting until the last moments of your life for that sort of thing. She said you can't fix things in just one final day. The things you would want people to know should be obvious because you should have already expressed it to them through your life and through words as you lived your life. I thought that was interesting and a good point. Never hesitate to let those you know you love them, to give someone a helping hand, or to lift someone's spirit. You don't know what day will be your last or if you'll get a chance to impart some final words of wisdom. Let people know what you would want the to know through the way you live and the things that you say.

We met with Daniela again this week. I can't think of specifics to say except to brag about her some more because I think she's great. She's been keeping her commitments, reading in the scriptures, praying, and coming to church. She really hopes to gain a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel, and she's taking the necessary steps to do that. It was great being able to talk with her about how we receive answers to prayers and to share some of our own experiences.

We met with someone new this week named Sylvia. She's the mother of the branch president in Constanta, and she's not a member. She's incredible though! She fed us probably enough food for three days, and she was super sweet! The last missionaries who visited her made such a good impression that she had a friend over when we came so that she could meet us. Both women were super sweet and so faithful! It made me so happy to listen to them and see how they have so much hope and happiness in life because of their faith and trust in God. We agreed on so many things and it was nice to visit and to be edified by each other.

Yesterday, I gave a talk in church about gratitude. It's something that I have such a huge testimony of especially after some of the experiences I've had here. First of all, I'm finding that so many principles are connected. If you have one than you will have another and then another. (For example, faith, hope, and charity as Moroni talks about in the Book of Mormon). Gratitude is one of those things. When you have an attitude of gratitude you are happier. I can guarantee it. You recognize the hand of the Lord in your life. You realize there is still good in your life regardless of the circumstances. It fills you with hope, hope that you can make it through your trials and hope that you have a bright future ahead of you. You will be filled with love as you recognize that the Lord is always with you. You will be filled with greater faith, and it will be easier to take steps into the future no matter how uncertain it may be. I would encourage you to develop an attitude of gratitude. Make lists of what you're grateful for. I like to write three things in my journal every night for which I am thankful that day. Remember to thank the Lord everyday for all that He has given you. I promise you that you can find something in everyday to be grateful for. The Lord loves you and He will help you to recognize that He is a part of your life. Just look for the blessings, and you will find them.

I'm grateful for you :)

Sora Adams

You Are Loved

We had some cool things happen this week. I had my final zone conference where I finally got to me our new mission president. I really like him and his wife. They are really cool and have some good ideas. They gave us each some workout flash cards put together by their personal trainer. I've been using those for the past few days. I approve. I really enjoyed speaking with Sora Ivory for the brief interview I had with her. Upon hearing that I'm in my final transfer, she asked me about my thoughts on my mission as a whole.

 I told her how grateful I am for the whole experience. I'm so glad I came. It hasn't always been easy.

 There have been some trials that I never imagined I'd face, but even with those hard times I am so thankful because I have seen the hand of the Lord through it all. He has been my strength constantly! Not only that, I feel so blessed to have met all the people I've met. I've been so touched by their love, and there have been times where I have thought, "Why do you love me so much? I haven't even done anything." And yet there they were, blessing my life, and I'm so glad I've been able to be a part of their lives as well.

The STLs came to Craiova with us after conference so that we could do an exchange. I really enjoyed spending the day with Sora Hebdon. We did a lot of reflection of things we have learned on the mission. It's really cool to see how much we've grown and how the Lord has helped us overcome so much. 

Other than that, we've been doing contacting. We met with Daniela on Friday to prepare our Sunday school lesson. She stayed for our activity afterwards which was so fun. We played mafia. Daniela came to church yesterday as well. We were so excited to finally introduce her to the branch president's wife. What was even better was that they hit it off! That was our little miracle of the week. We know that the branch president's wife will be such a strength to Daniela. We'll be meeting with her again sometime this week. She's so fun, and seems to be doing well. 

Something that stood out to me this week was the chorus to a song that came on while I was exercising. It's a song by Mercy River. The chorus is meant to be from the viewpoint of our Heavenly Father. It goes like this:

Has anybody told you you're beautiful? You might agree if you could see what I see. Because everything about you is incredible. You should have seen me smile the day that I made you beautiful for me.

I don't know why, but in that moment it hit me so hard. Each one of us truly is a beloved son or daughter of Heavenly Father. He sees past all our flaws and imperfections and loves us unconditionally. To Him we are beautiful because we are His children. If we remember who we are and who everyone is around us, I know that we will be filled so much more with His love. We will want to serve others more freely because we will feel His love for them too. Don't ever forget that you are loved and that you have someone to turn to always.

Have a wonderful 

week!

Sora Adams

Fun Times in Craiova

What happened this week? I don't even know.

It's been really hot, but that hasn't stopped us from English contacting like crazy. Sora Parr and I have still been having advanced English classes. Hopefully class our class gets even bigger starting tomorrow. Our class on Tuesday was one of the best classes I've had. It was so hilarious! We played that game where you take turns telling one sentence of a story at a time and create crazy stories. They turned out so weird, but hilarious. We told stories of bears who went to the moon, lion cubs who climbed a magic beanstalk and found flying pigs, and a happy strawberry that was eaten by a seahorse that then gained magical powers. Maybe you just had to be there, but it was so much fun! Tuesday was also Canada day! One of Elders is Canadian so we celebrated with shoarma and cookies.

We had a lesson this week with Daniela. She's had many of the lessons already, and she's so great. I've only met with her once (and she came to church yesterday!), but I seriously feel like she's already a member. She helps us with our Romanian, which is nice. She's going to help us with our Sunday school lesson for Sunday. Basically she seems really sweet, and I'm excited to keep working with her.

I feel like this week was just full of tons of little spiritual touches or just really fun moments--moments I'm grateful for. For example:

- Sora Parr makes homemade bread. It's a little taste of heaven everytime.

- We got caught in a huge rain storm without umbrellas. I just laughed to myself as I saw everyone taking cover and then there were these two crazy sister missionaries just walking through the pouring rain like it was no big deal.

- For Independence day we played four square and decorated sugar cookies for a branch activity. And then someone randomly lit off fireworks pretty close to our apartment building so we still got our fireworks!

-We met with the branch president and his wife to talk about investigators, and they are so great! They have so much hope for the future of the branch and want to be involved in the work.

-Our English class on Saturday turned into a discussion about who we are as missionaries and the process of us coming out here to Romania.

-One English student who came to our activity and who has helped us with English contacting and has come to church before didn't realize that church was every Sunday. Now she knows! And hopefully she'll come again! We invited her yesterday, but she didn't come. 

Something that was kind of cool this week was one night when Sora Parr and I were heading
 home for the evening. We would have made it home and had an extra half hour to spare. I thought we could still just head home and find something that needed to be done with that extra time, but instead I suggested to Sora Parr that we English contact for that extra time. She agreed and as we did so we had some of the sweetest contacts. We were greeted with warm smiles and people telling us how they really want to come. We would have missed those people had we continued on our way home. I have no doubt that we were prompted to continue our work outside. 

I am just so grateful for the gift of the spirit in my life. I have seen it working so much in me this week. Through the spirit, I can be happy, optimistic, and full of love and peace no matter what my circumstances may be. Heavenly Father helps me to achieve my goals and to overcome my trials as I come unto Him in prayer. I see that all the time. I'm always so amazed at how willing He is to help me. I know that this is the Lord's work, that He wants all of His children to return to Him. One way that He accomplishes His work is through us! We can be those angels that lift the weary hearts and help lead them to our Savior.

On Wednesday I will have my final zone conference, and I will finally be able to meet our new mission president and his wife. They both sound really great from what I've heard. It will be good to finally see them in person.

I hope you all had a great Independence Day. Thank you for all of your love and support.

Va iubesc!

Sora Adams