La multi ani!

Ceau family,

La multi ani! Adica... Happy new year!
I was going to write this email all about the new year and give my insights on new beginnings and whatnot, but President Hill said it perfectly in his email, and if it's okay with you, I'm going to just share with you what he said. It's beautiful.

"Happy New Year!!  It’s hard to believe that 2012 is ending and 2013 will begin in a few hours from when you read this.  I’m sure you’ve heard about the Mayan calendar ending on December 21, 2012.  That created quite a stir in the news.  Of course, December 21 came and went and nothing notable happened.  Our neighbor and former home teacher, Professor Allen Christensen, BYU, is one of the world’s leading experts on Mayan culture.  He pointed out that the Mayan really did believe the world would end on December 21—but it would immediately be renewed and improved to move forward into the next year.  In fact, they believed that renewal process happened every year with the earth and with people. 

That’s actually not a bad way to look at things.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17) Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can, through the process of faith and repentance, “start over”, in effect, when we are baptized and confirmed.  And we can continue that process of cleansing and renewing ourselves through faith and repentance when we renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament.  We can be forgiven and move on and “become new.”    

The New Year is traditionally a good time to take stock of where we are, where we’d like to be, what our Heavenly Father wants us to be and what we need to do to improve.  And a mission is the perfect place to make those renewing changes with the support of a loving, caring companion, at a time when we are more focused on studying the scriptures, and while we are highly engaged in following the Savior and doing His work.

May each of us pray to know, as the young rich man asked of the Savior, “What lack I yet?” (Matt. 19: 20).  He will help you know how your can resolve to be a better missionary, a better representative of the Son of God.  And then be willing to accept the inspiration you receive and go forth with a determination to grow into the person Heavenly Father wants you to become."

Enough said. How wonderful is my mission president?

Well, this week was a strange one. I found myself in a bit of a loop last Tuesday night after talking to each of you -which was wonderful, by the way. Elder Groberg kept laughing at me as we were walking home from the internet cafe and said that I looked like I was in a trans. I kind of was. And I stayed in that trans for a lot longer than I expected. I'm happy to report that I am out of that loop and back in the groove of missionary work. My poor companion and district had to put up with me being mopey for a few days. Oops. I just kept saying "Why does my family have to be so wonderful??" haha. Yes, I am pathetic. It was so beautiful to see you all and to talk to each of you. It was way too short, but so amazing. I'm so grateful for our twice a year phone calls.

Braden, congratulations on being one of the newest members of the Church of Jesus Christ! So proud of you and your decision. I have a kind of cool story to share... At the beginning of this transfer, I told Sora Rivera that I would make sure someone I loved would be baptized on December 29th.. I didn't know who or how, but I knew that that date would be a very special day. When we started teaching Cristina and Florin, I thought maybe it would be them and when they left, I wasn't sure who it would be, but I still did not doubt that it would happen. The next monday, I came to internet and heard that would be when Braden would be getting baptized. As I went home and re-read through my journal of when I had written that someone I loved would be getting baptized on that day, I felt overwhelming sense of peace. So grateful that someone I love so dearly was baptized on that day. Even though I couldn't be there, I still somewhat feel like I was apart of it as I felt that specialness of that day. He was on my mind all day. So, like I said Braden, I am so proud of you. I know Heavenly Father is too. You are so special and I hope you never forget all you felt on that sacred day.

Have I ever told any of you how much I love communication?? Because I do. So much. This week, my companion and I had a much needed conversation and I feel so much more love for her. I love  the opportunity to express myself, my thoughts and feelings, and listen to others and strive to understand their points of view. As I seek to understand those around me I feel so much more of a pure, sincere love for them.Sora Rivera and I strengthened our companionship and grew even closer together this week as we opened up and communicated with each other. It's beautiful!

I have eaten more food this week than I have the entire time I've been here. (Probably not that much of an exaggeration.) We got fed SO MUCH food. I would not be upset if I never ate sarmale again (don't quote me on that.) We went caroling to all the members throughout the week (caroling is done well after Christmas here) and at every home, they fed us a full on meal. And we couldn't NOT eat it because they had prepared it specially for us, not knowing that every other member did also. SO much food. And so much dessert. And not all of it was the most delicious either. That's okay though. It was so kind of them all to take the time to prepare the food. How much they sacrificed just to feed us is one of the only reasons that I kept putting the food in my mouth. They people here are so kind and so hospitible. I love Romanians.

We went and saw The Hobbit this last week as one of our Christmas movies. Not too bad. The sound effects were a little dramatic. We may or may not have put our own commentary to the entire movie. I usually hate "commentators" but Elder Benson is hilarious. At one point when the orches (sp?) are talking in their really ugly language, I turned to Elder Benson and said "That's a really pretty language, let's learn it." and he said "I think it's spanish..." Okay all you spanish speakers, don't get upset. Spanish is a beautiful language, but that comment was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing. And every time the orches started talking after that, we all just laughed. It's a good thing we were some of the only ones in the theater.

Funny false doctrine moment in church yesterday... one of the members (our last branch president) raises his hand and says it's okay to drink coffee when you're tired if you put milk in it... because the milk just cancels out the coffee! Good to know! ha. I love false doctrine moments. Unfortunately, they happen often and it's sometimes awkward to raise your hand and correct it. 

We were able to meet with a few potential investigators this week. One of them being a little girl of 10 years old, the neighbor of one of the families in the branch. Her name is Alexa and she is beautiful. I love her with all of my heart. We met with her last night and the Sofroni family (the members). A few weeks ago, Alexa showed up at the Sofroni's home on a Sunday morning all dressed in her sunday clothes to go to church with them. Unfortunately, Fratele Sofroni wasn't feeling well that week and they couldn't make it to church. However, she comes over to the Sofroni's often and they read the Book of Mormon with her and pray with her. Our goal is to get a lesson with her and her parents. She lives in difficult situations and her family could truly use the gospel. She cried to us last night in our lesson as she told her family situation and how hard it is for her and for her mom. I am so excited to get to work with this precious little girl and hopefully bring the comfort of the gospel into the life of her and her family. 

Our other new investigator is Andrea. She is very open and accepting. She is very strong in her orthodox religion. Which is a good thing. I think the people who are strong in their current religion are the people we are searching for. We want people who dedicate themselves to their Heavenly Father in the best way they know how. She could be such a great addition to the branch. She was very kind in inviting us over for sarmale and dessert and we had a lesson with her. She may or may not have blessed us and had us meditate with her at the end... it was interesting! I love all the things we get to experience as missionaries here in Romania! She does have a lot of potential. She has so much desire to do what Heavenly Father wants her to do; she just needs a little direction and help from the spirit in getting there.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful New Years. I can't believe this year is over. Where has the time gone? Has it really been a year since I sat at James's house with all of you and opened up my mission call? Life has been good these passed 12 months. I've changed a LOT. I have had hard times and I have had great times, and of course, made a lot of mistakes. But it wouldn't be life if I didn't. I have learned so much from the great times, but even more from the hard times. I am so grateful for all I have experienced this year. I'm sad it is over, but so excited for the future and what this new year will bring and for the opportunity to grow and better myself. 

mi-e dor de voi,

Sora Alyson Cook

ps...If you're interested, the branch here has a facebook page. It's called 'Ramora Arad' I think. Our branch mission leader, Edy, keeps it updated. You should check it out. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it's awesome. Or something.  

Craciun Ferecit

Merry Christmas family!

What a beautiful time of year it is and what a beautiful week it has been! I don't even know where to begin. The Lord continues to bless me far beyond what I deserve.

I am happy to say that the package you sent me made it to Arad in time for Christmas! The Assistants to the President made their way to the west for a special exchange just to deliver all the packages that arrived late. They were very sneaky about it. Thank you all for the package. I may or may not have opened most of it already. :) I just couldn't wait until Christmas. The Calendar!! SO impressed! It is beautiful. All of it was beautiful but I especially love the letters and pictures. Thank you all so much. Mari, did you make that scarf? Very well done. It's beautiful. I am so blessed; My family is wonderful.

Because it is Christmas, we have been doing an excessive amount of caroling. I love it. We ended each night sharing the Christmas spirit through song to all of Arad. (well, some of Arad.... and trying to share it... sometimes it's hard to share Christmas spirit with a door that won't open, that doesn't stop us from trying though.) It was beautiful nonetheless.

The highlight of my week and possibly of my mission was when we went caroling to a retirement home here in Arad. My testimony grew that night. Sometimes, our testimonies grow and we don't even know it and then we look back over a period of time and we see the growth that has taken place. And sometimes, in one event, our testimonies grow right before our eyes as we feel the Spirit strongly testify to our hearts. Singing to some of Heavenly Father's precious sons and daughters who live in that retirement home was one of those moments for me. I felt how dearly God loves them and has care over them. Tears filled their eyes as they sang along to the carols they recognized. As I sat next to many of them and held their hands as we sang together on their beds, my heart was overcome by the spirit. It bore powerful witness to me that Christ is the Savior of the world. He was born in the most humble of circumstances, lived a perfect life, suffered all the sins and pains of the world, and died on a hill for all to see. God loves us all so perfectly. It is beautiful how tenderly He takes care of us. I know I say this every week, but my testimony grows each week as I see the hand of the Lord in my life and in the lives of those around me.

One lady at the retirement home, who everyone told me not to talk to because she couldn't hear, sat and talked to me and told me of a dream she had had and in that dream, she saw our faces and she has kept our faces in her mind. I told her how much God loves her and how He is taking care of her. I know she heard me as she cried in my hands and nodded her head saying "I know He loves me." Despite her challenges of losing all seven of her children and being alone for most of her life, she still knows God loves her. I so admire her faith.

I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for that experience and that I got to celebrate the birth of my Savior through song with some of my very special brothers and sisters. 'O Ce Veste Minunata', a Romanian Carol, means so much more to me now as it reminds me of these beautiful people singing the words along with us with such love and gratitude for their Savior.

Saturday night, we had a branch Christmas Party. It was wonderful. Mos Craciun (Santa Clause) made an appearance and came with gifts. A tradition here, at least I think it's a tradition, is you have to sing a carol to Mos Craciun when you sit on his lap in order to get your presents. All the children in the branch went and sat on his lap, sang a song and received their gifts. And then Sora Decsy (coordinator of the Christmas party) announced that Mos had presents for the missionaries, so we had to go up and sing a carol for Mos and get our presents. Mos Craciun was terrifying. Definitely wasn't the real Santa. I'll send pictures.

I've already talked about this with some of you so please forgive me for repeating but something that I have come to understand even more this week from every study, every meeting, every lesson, is how much Heavenly Father wants to bless us with gifts and how much He wants for us to receive those gifts. It's okay to receive gifts. Sometimes, I have a hard time receiving gifts for a number of different reasons but mostly because I don't feel worthy of them. I realized how much that must hurt our Heavenly Father when He blesses us with gifts and we don't accept them because we don't feel worthy of them. My goal is to accept every gift He gives me, expressing my gratitude and love while striving to live in a way that helps me feel worthy of those gifts.

I've also learned how much Heavenly Father sincerely cares about our desires and how He wants to bless us according to our desires. I love in the scriptures when it says "What desirest thou?" Heavenly Father cares so much about what we want. God truly does want to bless us according to our desires. It's okay to express our desires to Heavenly Father. It's okay to ask for things. Of course, it is so important to remember that as we do, we must recognize that the answer is always "yes or something better". Sometimes, that "something better" doesn't really seem like something better, but of course it is. Heavenly Father cares so much for his children.

Anyone want to hear my extremely embarrassing story of the week? Oh gawl, it was awful. So, the other day, I was at the store with my companion and Elder Groberg and Elder Harrison (Assistants were doing exchanges with our Zone Leaders) and after about a half hour of us walking around shopping for secret Santa presents for a member in the branch, a nice, sweet lady comes up to me and tells me my skirt is tucked in to my tights in the back... and NO ONE TOLD ME!!! Everyone I was with claims they didn't notice but I don't know if I believe them. So embarrassing. Luckily, it's getting to the point where I have to wear a 2-3 pairs of tights because of how freezing it is so it's not like anything was seen, but still. We had a good laugh and I am now very conscious at all times about my skirt and making sure I have zero wardrobe malfunctions.

I feel like I had so much to write but now I just can't think of what it was. Maybe my brain is wanting to save it for tomorrow's conversation :) So excited to see all your beautiful faces and tell you face to face how much I love you. I hope you have a very wonderful, merry, happy Christmas. I hope it's snowing where ever you are. I hope you have all watched Elf and The Grinch at least three times each. I hope that you get absolutely no sleep on Christmas Eve (that's today!) because of your excitement for Christmas. I hope that you leave cookies and milk for Santa Clause. I hope that you get to feel that warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart as you spend these days with people who are closest to you. And most of all, I hope that you recognized how our lives are affected on a daily basis because of the birth of our Savior. And I also hope you know how dear you are to me and how much I love you.

Merry Christmas family. Sarbatori fericite.

Va pup,
Sora Cook

PS for Christmas, President Hill gave us voie (permission) to watch two movies, one of which can be in theaters as long as it is G-rated, animated, or The Hobbit. So, we will be seeing The Hobbit this week. I don't really care to see it, but my district is all dying to see it. Ce sa fac...

'Tis the Season

My dear family,

Is anyone else shocked at how fast the time is going? I am absolutely blown away every single week as I sit in this same internet cafe that I've been sitting at every Monday for the last 6 months. Whoa.

I'm sorry that last week's email was lacking in details of what has been happening. I'll try to include details from what has happened this week and what I learned from those experiences.

Last week, we met two of my favorite of people that I have yet to meet since being on my mission. Their name's are Florin and Cristina. I actually met them back in July from english classes when I was serving with Sora Remsberg, but unfortunately, we never got to meet with them because their work randomly called them out of the country. They said they were expected to return in November. Not thinking I would be here, I left a note in the Area Book (I capitalize "Area Book" because it is a very sacred book to me!), but I left a note in the Area Book to call this amazing couple in November when they returned and as I was flipping through it a few weeks ago, I found my note and decided to give them a call. Because we're not holding regular english classes over the holidays, I called and invited them to do a private english class and they were very eager. We met with them Monday evening of last week. At the end of our english classes, we always do a spiritual thought. We finished our english portion and began our spiritual thought with a prayer and began introducing the Book of Momon. I asked Cristina if she had ever heard of the Book of Momon and she said she had and that she has wanted one for a while but didn't know where to get one. She was thrilled to receive one and she clung onto that book the entire lesson. As we read the introduction together, they had some beautiful questions about Joseph Smith. Because the spiritual thought is usually only 5-10 minutes, I asked if they had time then to talk more about their questions. They were so excited at the thought of learning more. We explained who Joseph Smith was and the role he played in the restoration of Christ's church. It was one of the very neatest lessons I have had the privilege of being in. The spirit was so powerful and it was so neat to watch them openly accept everything the spirit was testifying to their hearts. Although we had brought up baptism, we knew we couldn't extend a baptismal invitation until authority was discussed more and understood better. We both wanted to extend the invitation that night, but knew it wasn't the right time. We invited them to read the Book of Momon and we set a return appointment for Wednesday night.

Although I would have loved a member to come with us for the lesson on Wednesday night, it just didn't work like I would have wanted. But the lesson was beautiful, nonetheless. They had read from the Book of Momon together from 1 Nephi 1 and 2. We went over the restoration in greater detail starting from the beginning. (Monday we just talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.) We talked a lot about authority and how it was lost and has been restored. Cristina mentioned that she knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God and didn't need to pray about it to know (I love her faith). We testified that even though we might already feel it is true, it is so important that we show humility by placing our faith in God and ask Him to testify of the truth to us through the Holy Ghost. We re-read the last few paragraphs of the introduction and pointed out what it means if she knows the Book of Mormon is true. She promised to pray about it before our next lesson on Saturday. Still not feeling quite right about extending the invitation of baptism, we invited them to keep reading together and to pray about our message.

At this point, I was a little annoyed that I hadn't felt right about extending the baptismal invitation. I so badly wanted to, but Sora Rivera and I both just didn't feel right about it.

Saturday, a member was able to come with us and it was beautiful. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and incorporated the five steps in with it. (Faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.) We knew that as we explained the five steps that we would gain a better understanding of how much they understood about priesthood and the need for proper authority in baptism. We came up with a graph to better explain the steps. I wish I could draw this graph for you. It's beautiful. Basically, faith leads to repentance which leads to baptism (or partaking of the sacrament if you've already been baptized) which leads to having the Holy Ghost with us and the repetition of this cycle is enduring to the end. All of this done with the love of God in the center; that being our motivation for our actions. "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Florin explained that when he is with us, he feels peace and sees the love of God that he feels is lacking in the world. We testified to him that that is the Holy Ghost testifying to him of the truth of our message. As we explained the role of the Holy Ghost and how it works in our lives and how we can feel of it's influence before baptism but it is only after baptism and confirmation that we have it with us as a constant companion, he was just smiling and nodding the entire time. (He actually does this throughout all of our lessons. I love it.)

They hadn't prayed about our message or the Book of Mormon specifically before our lesson on Saturday, so we invited them to have a kneeling prayer with us and invited one of them to say it. We knelt and Cristina said the prayer. It was beautiful.

They came to church and every single meeting was exactly what they needed and addressed every one of their concerns that they had brought up in lessons. It was perfect and beautiful. I love the way the Lord watches over his children so tenderly.

After church, they informed us that they received the call that morning in which told them that they would be leaving for Italy again for work this Thursday. Their job pulls them away with only a few days notice. We knew this the whole time teaching them and I had expressed to my Heavenly Father that I wanted to teach them and see them be baptized, but more than that, I wanted Heavenly Father's will. I prayed that I would be at peace with whatever happened and that I would be exactly what Heavenly Father needed me to be in their conversion process. As Cristina told us of their leaving, I knew that it was Heavenly Father's will and they are in His hands. I felt complete peace knowing that this is exactly what is supposed to happen.

She gave me their information in Italy and asked me to help her find the missionaries there. They will. Or they will come back in April and continue learning with the missionaries here. Who knows...maybe I'll still be here! :) ha

After church, a member visiting from Bucuresti came up to Florin and asked him if he was a member. Florin's response? "Inca, nu." Translation: "Not yet." They know it is true. Now it is just a matter of what they choose to do with that knowledge. I trust that the Lord will continue to take care of them.

I'm grateful for how much I got to see them grow in just one week and that Heavenly Father allowed me to meet two very prepared people. It gives me even more hope that there are people who are so ready for this gospel to bless their lives.

Plus, Florin would like us to start meeting with his sister (she used to come to our sports nights with her two sons, she's amazing.) So, we intend on meeting with her and her family this week. Her name is Claudia.

Stefan... I've talked about him, yes? He is the boyfriend of one of the members. Yep, I have talked about him. I remember now. Well, Stefan was passed over to the Elders for them to teach. It just felt right. Besides, it doesn't matter who teaches him, just as long as he gets taught. We all know it's the spirit that does all the teaching anyway. Well, yesterday the Elders met with him and the branch president and had a beautiful lesson (so I hear) and he will be getting baptized on January 12, 2013. I'm so proud of him for his decision and all that he is willing to sacrifice to be apart of our church. I knew he would get to this point. It didn't take long. He has so much desire and pure intent. I love his spirit.

We have a few potential families that we are hoping to meet with this week. I'm really excited and pray that Heavenly Father will lead us into the home of a prepared family who can be blessed by the beautiful knowledge of the gospel.

We had our Christmas Party last week. It was fun. Good to see all the missionaries around the zone and so good to see President and Sora Hill. I love President and Sora Hill so dearly. I know I say it in every email, but my love and appreciation for them grows every single week.

We have started caroling!!!! Our district goes around with the guitar and carol inside all of the blocs (big cement buildings... kind of like apartment buildings, but not really.) A lot of doors get slammed in our face right as we start singing, which actually just makes me giggle a little bit. For some reason it's always when we sing 'Joy to the World'. We usually just get out "E bucurie" and then SLAM!, the door closes... And then we go to the apartment across the hall. It's quite enjoyable. Although we get a lot of doors slammed on us (apparently it's too early to go caroling here), there are a lot of people who are very receptive and try to pay us money (a tradition here, you pay your carolers). Instead of taking the money, we invite them to our Branch Christmas Celebration that is this Saturday. However, if we did take the money, we would be filthy rich right now. Just saying.

I love our district. We get along so well and enjoy each others company. Maybe a little too much. We have to remind ourselves often to stay on task when we get together as a district. But don't worry, I promise we're all being obedient missionaries! I make sure of it. :)

Most of our caroling evenings end in a district snowball fight. An intense snowball fight, Elders against Sisters. We have no mercy. It's enjoyable... until you get a huge, ginormous pile of snow thrown into your face. Yes, that happened to me many a times, compliments of Elder Groberg. I love winter.

We got voie (permission) from President Hill to go to the Elders apartment and help decorate their tree. We did that this morning. No worries, pictures will be included. They have a massive 10 foot (and kind of skimpy) tree in their massive apartment. How they scored that apartment, I'm not sure. So big.

Romanian Christmas Traditions.... FOOD!! Good food, too. Sarmale... which is cabbage stuffed with questionable meat. And Stuffed Peppers. That's my favorite. Basically, Romania just likes to stuff their vegetables with questionable meat. Luckily, we don't eat at members homes too often. It's not the healthiest of food. Surprisingly, we've been able to dodge all the unhealthy eating this holiday season. Kind of a bonus.

Other traditions.... in the Orthodox church they have "saint's days" where there are certain days in the year that they celebrate different saints and if your name is the name of that saint it is called 'your name day'. Basically they get two birthdays, I think that's brilliant. December 6th is Saint Nicoli and as a tradition, all the children put out their boots at night and Saint Nicoli comes around and fills their boots with presents. I think it is adorable. I want to do something like this with my children. Who says you have to be orthodox to celebrate orthodox holidays? Too bad there isn't a Saint Aly. I would totally be celebrating that every single year.

Last week, Sora Smith and Sora Atkins (the traveling sisters until they leave tomorrow) came and did exchanges with Sora Rivera and I. It was beautiful. I hope and pray that our mission continues to do traveling sisters. That was one of the things that Sora Hill and I thought would be a good way to have some kind of sister leaders in the country. Each transfer, we have a companionship of responsible sisters who go around the country doing exchanges and leadership training with the sisters. So brilliant. This was a trial run with Sora Smith and Sora Atkins. I hope they continue to do it. I got to serve with Sora Atkins for a day. She is beautiful and so wonderful. I learned so much from her. I feel like these exchanges were so much more effective than the exchange system they've done in the past where you just pair up with a random sister in a nearby city. We'll see what happens in the future.

Sora Rivera is doing wonderful. I am learning so much from her every day. Training isn't easy, but it is very enlightening as Heavenly Father shows me how to be a better missionary every day by relying on Him for strength instead of just relying on myself.

I miss you all and I am more than excited to see all of your beautiful faces next week.

Have a merry Christmas season and know they I love you dearly.

Be safe. Have a snowball fight.

Love you,
Sora Aly Cook

A bit blury, but it was the only Chirstmas tree I got to decorate this year. It must be posted.

Exchanges with Sora Smith and Sora Atkins

The beautiful Primarie (City Hall) all decorated for Christmas

President and Sora Hill at our Christmas Party

A week of learning

Family,

Sadly, another week has gone by. Don't get me wrong... I miss you all dearly -especially as Christmas approaches, but the fact that the day that I will no longer be a full time missionary in Romania is coming closer and closer with each quickly passing day just make my heart a little sad. Is there any way I can combine the two worlds of being a missionary and having my family close? If so, please, sign me up.

Although I'm sad another week is over, it most certainly was one that I am grateful for. Quite the adventure, really. So much change from this monday to last monday. I could go into great detail of all that happened and I'm sure it would actually be pretty entertaining to do so, but rather, I think I will just write to all of you what I have learned from those experiences. After all, what we learn from our situations is much more valuble that the experiences themselves.

Is it okay if I do it bullet-point-style?

• President and Sora Hill are exactly who i am supposed to be serving under. I saw a different side of both of them as I spent the evening at their home with my district waiting for my train to leave Bucuresti. They are quite incredible -this I already knew. My love for both of them grows with every weekly email, every hug (or handshake), every bit of advice and counsel, and with every "va iubim!" they give us. Although there are many wonderful mission presidents and mission president's wives in the world, none are quite as wonderful. I'm sure of it.
• Heavenly Father continues to bless me far beyond what I am worthy. As I recognize this, I attempt to give even more to repay Him and in return, He blesses me even more. I will always be indebted to Him. As He blesses me with more, He expects more of me. My greatest desire is to give my whole heart to Christ, holding nothing back.
• I have so much to learn from the people around me. This isn't a new realization. It's something that I've always known. It just gets reaffirmed with every new companion.
• As we are called to do things that sometimes we feel like we can't do, Heavenly Father and our Savior are there supporting us and sustaining us and giving us strength to fulfill what they already know we can do. As we give ourselves to Him, He makes us enough. 
• I happen to love snow. It's cold. It's wet. It makes my nose read and my hair a mess. It is beautiful. There's something that is so serene and calming about watching the snow fall to the ground. Especially when you are doing it from inside your apartment, curled up in a blanket, with a hot chocolate in your hands. It's times like this that my heart is full of a feeling that can't be described in words. It's a feeling that gently reminds me where I came from and who I am. That I am not from this earthly existence.
• There are so many wonderful things we get to experience in this life. So many sensations and so many feelings that we wouldn't have the opportunity of enjoying were it not for the wondeful bodies that house our spirits. Including some sensations that may not be so exciting -freezing fingers and toes being one of them. However, I am grateful for it all. As I am walking down the street with the cold wind blowing in my face, I try to remind myself of how wonderful it is that I get to experience all the experiences of this mortal life. 
• The Holy Ghost speaks Romanian, who knew? I received many promptings in the Romanian language this week. So neat. Sometimes a word comes into my mind that I don't know, and as I look it up, I find that it was the spirit whispering to me that word as an answer to my prayers. 
• Train rides are fun. I love riding trains in Romania. I will be sad when I go back to America and have to take a car everywhere.

Christmas spirit is in the air. Although this is a Christmas unlike any other I have ever experience, and probably ever will, I can still feel the light of Christ and the rememberance of His birth and the feeling that Christmas always brings to my heart.

Although far away, I feel a deep and sincere connection to all of you. I pray that I will continue to feel that connection, especially as this week approaches and all the memories and reminders of eternal families that this weeks brings. I pray that you will all feel my love this Friday as you are all in my thoughts and as I express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for our eternal family. Jared is oh so close. So much closer than we could possibly realize. I'm so grateful I have my older brother watching over me. Not many missionaries get to say they serve their mission alongside their brother, but I know I am. I know he is alongside each one of us. Our family is so blessed. I love you all so much more than I could possibly describe in words. Who am I that I am this blessed? I am very humbled at the blessing of my family that God has given me. 

Thank you for your examples and your prayers. I have felt an overwhelming amount of peace from my Heavenly Father this week and I am convinced that is because of the prayers from my loved ones. Va multumesc pe voua.

Remember our promise,
Sora Alyson Cook

ps...I know I said I couldn't write until tomorrow, but they changed the schedule and our Christmas Party is actually tomorrow, so preperation day stayed the same.

pps... Happy Birthday yesterday Bekah. I love you and I hope you had a wonderful, cake-filled day!! Sa cresti mare!!!

Goodbye to Sora Smith was a hard one. I love her and all that she is. So grateful I had the opportunity of serving with her for those short twelve weeks.

My new, beautiful companion. She has so much desire to do missionary work. I am so grateful for her.

When will the time slow down?

Well family,

Another week has gone by. Can you believe it? Where is my time going?? Please, slow it down. Just a little bit. Okay... a lot.

This week was an exciting one in Romania. December 1st is not only Little Lancito's birthday, but also Romania's birthday. It's a big deal here. I love the way they celebrate their country. In centru (downtown) they have a bunch of little shops set up in front of the primarie (city hall) and they put up a big christmas tree and they have concerts there every night. One December 1st they had the band 'Smiley' play, which might not be a big deal to you guys, but Smiley is huge here. (sidenote: the drummer's dad is in our branch, pretty neat.) Anyway, we went and had our dinner break out in front of the primarie and enjoyed the cultural experience. It was packed. I felt like I was in Time Square on New Years eve all over again. Okay, not that packed, but there were a ton of people.

On top of all of that, some of our adorable English students invited us over to celebrate and fed us sarmale (a popular Romanian dish. Basically it is stuffed, pickled cabbage. It tastes a lot better than it sounds.) They fed us SO much. I'm so grateful that we don't get fed more often. I couldn't do that on a regular basis. It was wonderful to hear from them about the history of Romania and the way they view it. I asked as many questions as I could conjure. It was fascinating. I just love history and Romania is full of history. They live in a legit home. Not a block (apartment), not a vila (townhome) but a house. I haven't been in a house in... I don't remember the last time I was in a house (that wasn't a gypsy mansion). It was beautiful. It was a good time. I feel like these three women (they're all neighbors and best friends) have a lot of potential. I'm excited to work with them more.

Stefan is doing wonderful. He is progressing and keeping all his commitments and coming to church. It's beautiful. I love watching him and his testimony grow. It is such a neat opportunity to witness someone's growth in the gospel. Who signed me up for this?:)

Natali came back to Romania!! We got a text Wednesday morning from her saying that she wanted to meet with us. We cleared our schedule and met with her that afternoon. Where do I even start? She is getting married on December 22 in Utah. Sadly, that means she will be moving to Budapest with Kenton but she is so sincerely happy and I couldn't be more happy for her. After asking her if going to the temple in one year is something they are striving for, she very adamantly answered that it is most definitely going to happen. So happy for them.

As we met with her, she said that after her baptism she felt incredible, but that she knew something was missing and that was the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I'm so grateful she recognized this and was aware of the importance of the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Because she was leaving for Italy (to buy shoes for her wedding) that weekend, we set up her confirmation for the next day. It was beautiful. Her parents came as well as some family friends. They were all so open and receptive and very proud of Natali for the decisions she was making to follow what she believed to be right. I think both her parents have a lot of potential. We are keeping them in my prayers and hoping we can meet with both of them soon. However, we might refer the Elders to her father, seeing that they are divorced. I'm just so thrilled that Natali has the Holy Ghost and that she is on the path to go to the temple. I know how proud of her Heavenly Father is. I have felt his love for her and as I have, my love for her has grown. I love her dearly and I am so grateful I was able to play a very small role in this part of her journey.

Well, transfers are this week. Want to hear where President Hill has assigned me?? Arad:) How exciting, right? Want to hear the more nerve wrecking part? President Hill has asked that I train this transfer. We have one sister coming in this transfer. Her name Sora Rivera. She is from London and went to U of U... I only know as much as her mormon.org profile will tell me:) It's like facebook stalking for missionaries.

I am incredibly nervous but so very excited. I haven't slept hardly at all since President Hill called me last Thursday night. The first night I found out, I couldn't sleep at all so I rearranged our entire apartment. The bad news is I'm incredibly exhausted but the good news is our apartment looks great and is so much more organized now. It was actually quite a blessing that I couldn't sleep that night because I have been wanting to do that for months but unfortunately, "rearranging furniture" doesn't qualify as missionary work and I haven't had any time to do it.

President Hill has also asked that I come to Zone Leader Council again this transfer. Two in a row. How did I get so blessed? I am incredibly excited. Find a word that is stronger than "incredibly"...that's how excited I am. Elder Harrison has informed me that the entire meeting will be on goals and datorita (the positive form of "because of") my passion for goals is why they have asked that we come this transfer.

We are going down to Bucuresti tonight on the sleeper train and I will meet Sora Rivera tomorrow, go to Zone Leader Council on Wednesday and head home Wednesday night. We should be back in Arad by Thursday afternoon.

My heart hurts to say goodbye to Sora Smith. She has been such a delightful companion. I have come to love her with all my heart over these short twelve weeks together. President Hill has asked her to serve as a "traveling sister" for the last two weeks of her mission. She will travel around the country with another sister, who will also be leaving in a two weeks, doing exchanges with sisters in the surrounding cities of Bucuresti. What a neat way to end her mission. I am so grateful for the time I have had to serve with her. She is beautiful and a wonderful missionary. Goodbye will not be easy, but I am grateful that in these twelve weeks she has become more than a companion and has become one of my dearest of friends. It's a good thing Lindon and Sandy aren't too far from each other:)

Din pacat, Elder Taylor will also be leaving Arad to serve as Zone Leader in Bucuresti. Our new Zone Leader/District Leader in Arad will be Elder Groberg. I've only had few interractions with Elder Groberg, but from what I do know about him, he is a great missionary. Everyone loves Elder Groberg! Can't wait to serve with him.

Sorry this email isn't so spiritually enlightening. It has been a wonderful week. I'm excited for this next transfer and all that it will bring.

Just so you're aware, we will be having a mulit-zone Christmas Party next Monday so our preparation day will by on Tuesday and will be writing home then. :)

I love you all. You are in my prayers. Daddy, I hope you get feeling better.

cu drag,
Sora Alyson Cook

in case you want to missionary stalk as well:
http://mormon.org/me/2WBG/Jessi

At Natali's confirmation

Our district in front of the Primarie one December 1st (Romania's Independance Day).

I found Pixar movies in Romanian. They were too good of a deal not to buy. It was 2 for 6 american dollars. Don't worry, I'll be sending them home

so thankful...

Family,

Where do I even start to tell of the amazing-ness that was this last week? I will do my best to put into words just how incredible it was.

let me start by saying, I love with all my heart being a missionary. As Sora Ewell would say, "Who signed me up for this?". Who signed me up to experience more growth and more light than I could possibly imagine? I am so inexpressibly grateful and humbled. I am not worthy of the blessings of this mission.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Zone Conference (twice) and Zone Leader Council with all the leaders of this mission including Elder Kerr, of the seventy, and his beautiful, sweet wife. I am not going to lie, it was a hard week. Beautiful and so rewarding, but also very hard. My eyes were opened to things that need to be corrected, both within myself and within this mission. Although there was no time to do our presentation at Zone Leader Council, I was able to address my concerns for our mission and I'm so grateful I did. It was definitely something that needed to be addressed and is now something I am working with Sora Hill to help improve in our mission. We will see what comes from it. I am excited for the changes that will soon come to our mission as we implement all we discussed at Zone Leader Council.

Elder Kerr spoke to the Zone Leaders about goals - my most favorite of subjects of which I have a burning testimony. He opened up a whole new way of looking at goals -which is why it was discussed for 3 hours at Zone Leader Council. However, that 3 hours felt like 30 minutes. I was a little ball of energy throughout the entire meeting. I loved every second. What he taught us is a process of goal setting that will take a little while to fully implement in the entire mission. But it will come and when it does, it will be oh-so powerful. Basically, one of the biggest takeaways was that goals are so much more apart of God's plan than we could ever possibly grasp. That being said, I intend to spend the rest of my life attempting to grasp it and applying goals in my life. My testimony of goals was already very strong, but now, words cannot describe the testimony I have and the excitement I feel about goals.

My scripture for the week? One we all know and could probably recite, but probably have the hardest time actually applying. John 13:34-35.

"...Love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

It is if we love one another that we are his disciples. It's hard for me when i see people who are called to be representatives of the Lord not putting this scripture into practice, especially towards those of whom they have been called to serve alongside.

This mission will have sister leaders soon. Elder Kerr predicts that this mission will be 50% sisters in the next year. Heavenly Father is helping me figure out how we can have sister-leaders in our mission and what that would look like. In the MTC, we had coordinating sisters, which after mentioning to Sora Hill, she thinks would be a wonderful idea. We're drawing out an action plan together. Stay tuned.

Can I just tell you how much more respect I have for the Zone Leaders of our mission?? They are absolutely incredible. I came away from Zone Leader Council with so much respect and love for them. I'm so grateful for their dedicated service and for their examples of obedience. They are great.

Last week, being in a large city that neither Sora Smith nor I knew, we had the opportunity of spending an excessive amount of time with the Assistants to the President, Elder Newey and Elder Harrison. Just a little side note on Elder Newey, he is probably the most Christ-like of people. I've never met someone who reminds me so much of Jared. As you can imagine, I just love being around him for that reason. Anyway, as I was helping Elder Newey clean (he is always serving) I asked him at what points in his mission has he found that he is the happiest. He answered beautifully and asked me the same question. I responded that I just love watching things grow and witnessing how people exercise their faith in the gospel. I realized in that moment and even more so over the next few days just how much our branch here in Arad has grown and for that reason why they make my heart so happy. In my first transfer, we were sitting in Branch Council and it was a disaster. There was no unity within the branch, despite the leaders never ending efforts, there just was not a foundation of unity. I knew that it would be incredibly difficult to bring people into this branch when the foundation was so shaky. As I sat in our Thanksgiving activity on Saturday night, watching our branch sing, dance and laugh together, that question I asked Elder Newey flowed through my mind. This is when I am the happiest. Witnessing growth. (maybe this is why I love children so much, who knows...) It was in that moment on Saturday night, as I watched the faithful members of our branch befriend one another, that I realized this is what Heavenly Father has been working on in this branch. Now that there is a foundation of faith and love within the Arad branch, I know that the Lord will bless this branch with more members in the near future. It was such a neat realization and I'm so grateful I have been able to witness the growth of this branch and it's beautiful members.

Unfortunately, Mona could not meet last Monday night, but we are hoping to meet with her tonight. I have a really good feeling about her.

We are also working with the boyfriend of one of our members. He is older (early 50's) and is just loving the gospel. His name is Stefan and he comes to church even when Sora Chira (his girlfriend) doesn't. He comes to institute and all the activities. We plan to meet with him tomorrow and Wednesday. He is very open and is progressing. I love meeting with him. He has the most pure eyes. That sentence doesn't really make sense, but just looking into his eyes, you can see his pure soul. I don't know how else to describe it.

We have so many potentials that we are hoping to meet with this week. If our week goes the way we have planned, we could have a really successful week. Please please pray that our potentials will turn into investigators.

Natali still has not returned and it looks like she won't for a while. She will most likely need to be re-baptized when she returns. This is the most bizarre of situations and I'm really not sure what to do seeing that we don't really have communication with her. Maybe you could call Kenton's family and see what her plans are?? Please keep her in your prayers.

Overall, it was a wonderful week. I am amazed at the way the Lord works. And on top of all of this amazing-ness, I got to see Sora Ewell and Sora Modzelewska. Being around the two of them makes me feel closer to my Savior and is a little piece of heaven for me. It's the closest thing I've felt to being around family since leaving on my mission. I felt a hole in my heart as soon as they left. I miss them both dearly already. They are angels. Sora Ewell also sang at her Zone Conference, which I got to be at of because of our adventure of going a day early, and she sang beautifully. I love feeling her spirit as she sings and the light that shines from her as she bares her testimony through song. She is beautiful in every sense of the word.

It was so fun to see the pictures of ALL my beautiful nieces and nephews. So neat. Yes, I cried as I looked at each of their faces, wanting to kiss their little cheeks and give my love to them through biggest hug they could imagine. I love my nieces and nephews. All 16 of them.

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and felt my love for you. I prayed that you would.

atat de recunocatoare,
Sora Cook

I'm not in this picture, but this is some of the wonderful members in our branch. Don't you just love their unity?? Please note that 3 of these wonderful members were less active 5 months ago. Brings tears to my eyes. (the one with the thumbs up is the one we have to thank for this new-found branch unity. He is incredible and his name is Edi. He is our ward mission leader.)

Sora Ewell, don't kill me, but I attached the recording of you singing. It was too beautiful not to. Love you :) Ps, why did we not get any pictures together? We must be better at that. Next time.

Mother, in case your worried, I am no longer sick and 100% better. :)

Merry Thanksgiving

Ceau Family,

Well, this week, a lot of time was spent in my bed, unfortunately. I've been sick all week and sadly couldn't do as much as we would have liked. Poor Sora Smith has been so patient with me. Bless her heart.

Unfortunately, that means I don't have much to report on din cauza (the negative form of "because") my health... or lack thereof. Being sick is quite a frustrating thing... especially when the last thing I would like to do is "rest". The times last week when I decided not to rest and to just put aside my health and go to our lessons, all our lessons fell through... every time. So there we were... lesson-less and me not feeling the greatest (and without a voice -not sure how I thought I would give a lesson with no voice, didn't think that one through.) But I was determined to do missionary work despite my health. I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me know how i cand do missionary work that day and I felt I needed to ask for a blessing.

*Just a little sidenote of my gratitude for the priesthood and it's powers. I'm so grateful I grew up in a home where the priesthood resides. Now that I don't have the opportunity to be surrounded by the peace that comes from being around one who holds the authority of God on a consistant basis, like I did growing up, it makes me that much more grateful for any opportunity I have to be around the holders of the priesthood.*

Anyway, we had a lesson scheduled at the church, so the Elders came to the church to give me a blessing. I'm so grateful they were so willing to put aside what they were doing and come give me a blessing. I felt a lot of peace and Heavenly Father telling me to take care of my body and go rest so that I could recover quickly and sooner get back to dedicating all my time to missionary work.

And that day my prayers were answered and Heavenly Father gave me an opportunity to share the gospel with a sweet lady on the tramvai on the way home from the church. She was sincery intrigued and was excited to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon. We have a lesson set up with her tonight. Her name is Mona. Beautiful, no?

So, I took the advice I received during my blessing and I rested to get myself feeling better and I'm happy to say that I am feeling a lot better. Which makes me happy for more reasons than one.. I told Sora Hill if I wasn't better by Monday I would go to a doctor. I was praying and praying I would be better for that reason... but mostly so I can get back at doing missionary work again. :)

This week is Zone conference and this time it is in Bucaresti. Every six months a general authority comes and we do a multi-zone conference. Elder Stephen C. Kerr from the seventy will be coming to speak to us and I am so excited. I love any opportunity to learn, grow and improve myself and the way I do missionary work. I especially love learning from other missionaries and my leaders. It's always a little exhilerating and refreshing to be surrounded by so many others who are involved in the same work as you. I draw strength from being around them and whether it's intentional or unintentional, they teach me how I can better myself and improve. They teach me from their strengths and from their weaknesses; from their obedience and maybe their lack thereof. I guess this is something that happens every day with the people Heavenly Father surrounds us by. Every situation, every person you meet in as opportunity to grow and learn if you allow it to be. Asking ourselves "What can I learn from this situation or person?" can bring greater understanding and allow us to grow and learn even more about ourselves and who our Heavenly Father wants us to become. And then, after learning more about ourselves, it is an opportunity to apply what we learned and be an example to those around us. How exciting. So, in short, I'm excited for Zone Conference.. even if it is taking 4 days out of our schedule.

Yep, 4 days. Zone Conference is only one day but Sora Smith is taking part in a musical number (playing piano) so we are going a day in advance to allow her to practice with the sister who will be singing, then thursday is Zone Conference and the day after Zone Conference is Zone Leader Council with all the Zone Leaders and Sora Smith and I have been invited to present. President Hill has asked us to present on the importance of using members in missionary work. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. This is a subject I have just recently become pretty passionate about and I hope to properly express what Heavenly Father would have us express to the leaders of the mission in order to help the missionaries understand the importance of using members in our missionary work. All that plus 24 hours of travel in total takes out about 4 days of preselyting time in Arad. I'm trying to be okay with that.

Thanksgiving. It should be a universal holiday, yes? Why wouldn't giving thanks be something the whole world celebrates? Unfortunately, it's not. But that doesn't mean we can't have a branch activity celebrating Thanksgiving. :) On Saturday, we will be having a Thanksgiving Dinner/talent night giving thanks for al of the wonderful talents God has given us. I think it's an adorable idea, if I do say so myself. All the members have signed up to show off their many different and wonderful talents. Should be great.

And on top of that, today we got voie (permission) to do a zone preperation day and do a turkey bowl with all the missionaries in the zone. Sadly, I didn't play much. Flag football was not worth getting more sick and being out another week. No thanks. So.. I took lots of pictures. It was fun.

Natali still hasn't returned. She extended her trip and is staying there for Thanksgiving. I have mixed feelings about this. I am so glad she is having a good time, but it is so important that she comes back and receives the Holy Ghost and is confirmed a member of the church. Preach my Gospel teaches us that baptism of water without the baptism of fire is useless. I'm excited for her to return, whenever that will be.

Well, life is great. It is oh-so-great. It's hard, but that is what makes it great. The fact that we have the ability to stand tall during times of hardship is what makes life great. How beautiful is that? Satan will attempt to bring us down in every way possible, but by holding on to who we are and remembering to turn to our Father in Heaven during thos times is the greatest blessing of all. We just get to remember the greatness inside each of us - don't let Satan take away that rememberance - and remembering that everything has a purpose. Even though we may not see that purpose right away, the key is to just be patient. Eventually, we will see how everything falls into place perfectly. It always does. It works out just as it is supposed to. And I love that.

Heavenly Father is aware of us and desires to bless us. I've come to learn that my Father in Heaven is so intricately aware of me and my desires and my needs. He blesses me far beyond what I deserve. The least I could do is give Him my time serving Him. The wonderful thing about that is I dont ahve to be done giving my time to Him after these short 18 months are over. I can give Him a lifetime of service. Missionary or not. However, I'm grateful for the time I have not to give my full attention to that service. That is, of course, as soon as I am no longer bed-ridden. :)

I love you all family. Every single one of you. Your emails mean the world to me. I am terribly sorry that my lack of time does not allow me to respond individually like I would want to... but I hope you know how special your words are to me and how much I love hearing from you. As I read your emails I feel a sweet, peaceful feeling much like I feel when I am in your presense. It makes my heart happy.

You are all in my prayers by name and I trust Heavenly Father is blessing you in abundance!

1-4-3,
Sora Cook

ps, skyping will be happening on Christmas. Plan on it:)


*Sora Petrisor, I'm not sure if you read these emails, but if you do, I want you thank you for the love you have given me for the Romanian people. I see your face in so many of the people here and my love for them grows instantly. I am so honored to be here among "your people". Thank you for all you have taught me and continue to teach me through the memory of your example and love. Te iubesc :)

So grateful for weeks like this....

Family,

What an awesome experience it was to see those pictures of Natali's baptism and see you standing next to her. I teared up looking at them and it makes me tear up thinking about it. I'm grateful you got to go and be apart of that experience. What a tender mercy. She is a beautiful person with a beautiful soul. I'm excited for her to come back  so she can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is just as important as baptism, and I'm so excited for us to continue to teach her.

Another great week full of learning from tough situations and relying on my Heavenly Father for strength. Our search to teach a family is still underway. We contacted quite a lot this week in a lot of different ways. One day, we did block knocking (going into blocks -aka big cement apartment buildings- and knocking on every door. We knocked 172 doors that day.) The next day, contacting everyone on the streets. One day, contacting people in the park. It was difficult coming away from last week only having had a few lessons from all those days of contacting and talking to literally thousands of people. I'm so grateful for the strength that Heavenly Father gave me to talk to each person and invite them to come unto Christ despite the rejection and disappointment and I'm grateful for the few lessons we did have.

We have met with a family who was a referral from a member in our branch. The family is Catholic, born catholic and determined to die Catholic. However, they are willing to 'stam de vorba' (sit and talk) about the gospel and about what we believe, but they have declared that they refuse to change religions. We've told them we are not there to convince them or to change their religion, just to share what we believe. We are hoping that in doing so, that we won't change their religion or their beliefs, but that the spirit will soften their hearts and bear witness of the truth of the restored gospel. Please pray for this family. They have 3 daughters, 15, 12 and 1. They are all beautiful and, just like everyone else, need the comfort of the gospel in their lives.

Catarina, unfortunately, informed us this week she is moving to Austria. Breaks my heart, but I'm grateful we have missionaries in Austria that I'm hoping will find her or that she will search out. You can pray for her too.

We've all read Luke chapter 15 about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, but this week, as I studied this story, I read it a little differently than I have in the past. I found the differences and similarities in the stories.

Differences:
The sheep naively wandered off the path.
The coin was lost out of negligence.
And the son willingly rebelled and strayed.

This is the same with many of our less actives. Some have naively wandered off the path, others have been lost out of negligence on the ward member's part, and others have willingly rebelled.

The sheep and the coin were sought after.
The son "came to himself" and returned on his own free will. *note that the father didn't go hunting for him or try forcing him to come back. He patiently waited for him to "come to himself" and return home.

We must seek after those who have either naively wandered or been lost out of negligence and wait with patience for those who knowingly rebelled to "come to [themselves]." Of course we can encourage them to make the right choices and to return -we should always do this- but the important thing is that we show patience and love toward them recognizing they have their own free agency and how they choose to use it shouldn't influence our love for them.

Similarities:
They were all welcomed back and rejoiced after.

I love these stories and all the lessons within them. Less active work is so important. I'm so grateful we have willing branch members here in Arad to help us with our less active rescuing.

Christmas celebrations have already started here. They have shops up all around centru (downtown) and it's adorable. I'm so excited to experience Christmas here and all their traditions.

Family, I love you all very much. I hope all is well on the home front. Looks like you got a lot of snow. Can't say I'm jealous... I love snow, but it's too early for snow. Maybe in December I'll be okay with it.

Sending you all my love and praying you can feel it,
Sora Cook
 

Beautiful Natali with Sora Cook's and Sora Smith's parents at Natali's baptism in SLC.

Kenton, Natali and Kenton's father

ps... we went to a 'pyramid scheme' presentation this week (for an investigator, we didn't know it was a pyramid scheme trap) and the lady didn't speak english very well... actually, not at all. She kept trying to say "If you're not fast, you're dead." but instead she was saying "If you're not fat, you're dead." It was cute. And really funny.

All my love!

Family,

Thank you all so much for your emails and pictures. I've never longed to be home until I saw those pictures of baby Porter... What a precious little man he is. Tell him all about how his Matusa Aly loves him and cannot wait to hold him. (Matusa is 'aunt' in Romanian. Pronounced 'muh-too-shuh'). He's beautiful. Congratulations James and Jerrica. What a lucky baby boy to be born to such amazing parents.

This week was full of meetings, contacting and activities. It was another great week. We had Zone Training Meeting on tuesday and the Zone Leaders went over all that was discussed at Zone Leader Counsel. It was great to hear from them the direction in which President Hill wants to take the mission. They talked a lot about visiting less actives and, funny enough, comfort zones. I love how Heavenly Father teaches me. When I learn or study a new principle, it shows up in every meeting or lesson for the next few weeks. It's wonderful.

Something that President Hill has asked when we visit less active members is to always take a member with us. If we can't take a member with us, don't bother visiting them; spend your time finding people to teach. The more I think and pray about this council, the more I completely agree and realize how important it is that we take a member with us. Members play such an important role in missionary work. Something I didn't realize until coming on my mission and it is something I vow to be better at when I come home.

Last transfer I started reading the New Testament. (I love the New Testament. I've finished Matthew through Acts and am now reading the epistles in the order they were written. They're so beautiful.) I was reading in 2 Corinthians 4:13 and realized how important it is to share what we believe.

13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I ^abelieved, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore ^bspeak;

Often times, as we're visiting with members, they tell us how lucky we are to have been born into the gospel and to have been raised in the truth. After hearing this several times, I began to feel guilty about this incredible blessing that God has given me and began to ask myself who am I that I would be blessed with the knowledge of the truth and not so many others who need to gospel? I never found an answer to my questions, I know that we all are given exactly what we need and Heavenly Father has blessed us all in different ways, but these questions have given me a reason to work harder and a desire to share with as many people as I can in these short eighteen months. To talk to everyone placed in my path. I have been blessed greatly, therefore much is expected of me.

I've been studying chapter 13 a lot this week in Preach My Gospel. Will you all do me a favor and go read chapter 13 in Preach my Gospel? Even if you've read it before... please, go read it. We, as members of the church have such a responsibility to share what we believe. "We also believe, and therefore speak." Go to the missionaries, and give them a referral of someone who needs this gospel. Ask how you can help them. Go on visits with them. Do whatever you can to share what you know. Go bless some lives with this gospel. I know you are all way ahead of me and already doing your part. I'm so grateful for your examples.

We had a Halloween activity on Saturday.. It was a few days after Halloween but they don't celebrate Halloween here in Romania so it didn't really matter to them when the party was. It was put together last minute but it turned out pretty well. We carved pumpkins, had fake mustaches, bobbed for apples, and ate doughnuts hanging from a string. ( or cookies pretending to be doughnuts since doughnuts don't really exist here. Sad, I know.) We had like 8 members show up!! Success. (That's really good for activities. The last few activites only one person showed up...) We're working on our branch activities and trying to help them understand that an activity is supposed to be FUN and should start with a prayer and maybe have a spiritual thought, but they don't quite understand that the point of activities is to build relationships with those in the branch. We're working on it. Any fun ideas for activities would be appreciated!!

Catarina is doing well. She has been sick, but said we could come back and continue to teach her as soon as she's better. Please pray for a speedy recovery for her.

We have made it our goal this tranfer to find and teach a family. We are contacting every family we see at the hopes of meeting with them and teaching them the gospel. Please pray for us.

Hope. It's a beautiful word, no? I've been studying hope this week. It is something that has slowly faded from me, without me even realizing it. I'm so glad I followed the prompting to study this topic and for the peace it has brought me. Last transfer, we experienced a lot of heartache due to high hopes not being met by people we love so dearly and want to see being blessed by the gospel... So, without even realizing it -as if it iwas my heart's defense mechanism to the pain I felt- I lost a lot of my hope out of fear of being let down. This week, as I studied hope, I realized how my subconscious lack of hope has affected our work. Behind each contact, each lessing, each commitment was a lot of doubt. That doesn't seem like a good way to teach a gosepl of faith, love and hope.

In preach my gospel, it says that hope manifests itself in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm and patient perserverance. When I read the words "patient perserverance", my heart sank as I realized that I had allowed myself to lose some of that hope that I came into the country with. I had allowed myself to lose some of my hope in the work of God. I'm so grateful for the renewed sense of hope I now feel. There is no room for doubt and discouragement. The salvation of the souls of Romania are depending on my hope and patient perserverence.

Hebrews 6: 10-12 Go read it.
1 Thessalonians 1:3--  "Remembering without ceasing your work of ^afaith, and ^blabour of love, and ^cpatience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;"

Whether or not we have hope is completely up to us. We must daily and consistantly choose to have hope. There are too many things telling us not to in this crazy world we live in. "Trouble has no necessary connection with disappointment." -Elder Holland

Today, I choose to have hope in the work of God and in my Savior and his Atonement. :)

I love you all family. Thank you for your prayers. I feel them and I'm so grateful for them. Please know how much I love you. Please give my love to the Mears family. They are in my prayers. Times like this make you stop and realize how precious every second is. So grateful for the eternal spectrum of life.

Please know how incredible you are.

Va iubesc pe voi.

cu drag,
Sora Cook


Read this talk, I promise, it's a good one. Or better yet, listen to it.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/prophets-in-the-land-again?lang=eng&query=*+%28name%3a%22Jeffrey+R.+Holland%22%29




Our district in centru (downtown) contacting. The building behind us is the Primarie (city hall). It's beautiful. (ps, meet Elder Benson, he's wonderful, and so fashionable. He helped me pick out my coat. I quite like his love for shopping!)

 

Holloween party. Elder Tayler won.



"Esti cine esti, si te iubesc."

Family,

What an amazing week!! Are you waiting for an email that won't start that way? Not going to happen:) It's actually been a bit of a roller coaster week! I've learned even more so this week that with every break down comes a break THROUGH! Every hardship is an opportunity to learn and grow. It's beautiful. God truly is our loving Heavenly Father. Which is my new "theme" Book of Mormon study. I finished patience and am starting over marking ways in which we see evidence that God is our loving Heavenly Father and how He shows that love to us, His children and also marking how we respond to that love -both good and bad. This was inspired by a few different things; 1. tender mercy transfer and looking to see the hand of the Lord in my life 2. Preach my Gospel. (It's the first thing you teach when teaching the restoration). and 3. Elder Harrison who is doing the same theme study. I've already learned SO much and I'm only on 1 Nephi chapter 7!

I've learned a lot this week about "comfort zones" and the need to go outside of them in order to experience growth. Sometimes, it's really hard. Especially when your comfort zone is really warm and cozy. It's like getting out of bed in the morning. Why would you want to leave your warm, comfortable bed? And the first few minutes you do are dreadful and all you want is to go back to bed (and sometimes, we do) but once we wake up and acclimate to the temperature outside of our comforters, being awake isn't so bad. However, there probably isn't a second during the day that we wouldn't willingly go back to that "comfort zone", but if we want to grow, that's not an option. If we want to experience the joy of the day, we mustn't go back to bed! In 1 Nephi 2:4, Heavenly Father asks Lehi to leave the comfort zone of his home, land of inheritance, and all his possessions, to go into the wilderness of the unknown. It must have taken a lot of courage and trust in the Lord to do so. Acting in spite of fear is how we show faith. We can't wait for the fear to go away. It won't go away until we first show the faith to take the step. God loves us enough to give us the strength to go outside our comfort zone and experience joy and growth in the steps we take against the fear of going outside our comfort zone.

This reminded me of the experience I had in middle school. I was deathly afraid to talk to anyone outside my "circle of friends" (which wasn't very big, I might add). When they all got placed on a different lunch schedule than me, it was easier for me to walk around the halls during lunch or find an empty classroom to write in my journal than to find new friends to sit with. My mother, seeing how unhappy I was, challenged me to talk to 3 people I didn't know every single day and to come home and tell her about the people I met that day. Sounds pathetic, but this was a big challenge. It took a lot of courage and acting in spite of me fear. Which, looking back, I don't really know what I was afraid of.. I think that's how it works. Once we get over our fear and act in spite of it, we realize there wasn't really anything to be afraid of. But little by little, I went outside my comfort zone and it brought me so much joy and growth. And now... I'm quite the opposite of shy. According to my zone leaders "Sora Cook doesn't have a shell..." Little do they know the work it took to get rid of that shell.

God gives us comfort zones because he loves us, but he also gives us opportunities to leave our comfort zones because He loves us. We had to leave the comfort zone of the pre-earth life to come here and experience growth. Without it, there's no way we could become like Him. We experience joy, love, growth, happiness by going where we've never gone and that becomes our new comfort zone... and the cycle starts over. Eternal progression:) It's beautiful. In order to get something we've never had, we must do something we've never done and probably aren't comfortable doing. What does going outside my comfort zone consist of as a missionary? Contacting. Little by little, by acting in spite of my fear, I'm determined to make contacting apart of my new comfort zone.

This transfer, we will love contacting!! We're going to love it so much, we will want to do it 24/7! Our theme? "Remember the Grepfrut" (and no, I didn't spell "grapefruit" wrong, that's how Romanians spell it). Maybe I should explain our theme a little bit. I have NEVER liked grapefruit... Ever. I thought it was bitter and the after taste was nasty, but for some reason, I always WANTED to like it. So while I was in the MTC, I was determined to teach myself to like grapefruit. One morning for breakfast, I grabbed a grapefruit, I sat down, I looked at it, and I told Sora Ewell (and myself) that I was going to love this grapefruit. I would love it so much I would want to eat seven of them! After my pep talk, I ate the grapefruit and it was delicious! I didn't eat seven, mostly because we had to get to class, but I did eat one almost every morning after that. I'm determined to do the same with contacting. I told this story to Sora Smith and we decided our theme. "Remember the Grepfrut". :) haha

On a completely different note, something else I learned from 1 Nephi 2:4 is that sometimes, what we think we need and what we actually need are two different things. If I were leaving into the wilderness, the "necessities" I would take would me would probably be a long list including my iPhone (aka my gps, camera and entertainment), my family, toilet paper, a few pairs of shoes, definitely some jackets and scarves, my hairbrush, toothbrush, etc... All they took was their family, provisions (whatever that means... seeds?) and tents... and they made it! Sure, it wasn't easy.. and maybe they had to get creative and make bows from branches to get their food, but they made it. Heavenly Father knew exactly what they needed. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and will give it to us. If we're experiencing pain, sorrows, trials, etc it is because Heavenly Father knows we need it. That's why it's so important we bring our will in alignment with His. Heavenly Father will always give us exactly what He knows we need, not what we think we need. Align our will with His and we will never feel we are lacking.

In 1Nephi 2:20, God tells Nephi there has been a land prepared for him and his family. The Lord provided the way and prepared the land long before He told them the plan. He's doing the same thing for us right now. He's preparing the unknown land (to us at least) of our future and trusting that we will keep His commandments so we can be led to the land that he has prepared for us. He loves us that much and He trusts us to get to the places which He is has prepared for us.

Can I tell you some reasons I love the Romanian language??

• First of all, it's beautiful! Everything just sounds pretty and flows perfectly. If it doesn't flow, you probably didn't say something right. This has made learning a bit easier. (only a bit).
• When they say "welcome" they say "Bine ati venit!" Translation: It's good you came! And then the person being welcomed says "Bine am gasit!" Translation: It's good I found you! Adorable, no?
• Ya know how we have interjections between phrases? (Ummm... uhhh.... like.... so.....) Romanians have the same. I quite like it.
• They speak correctly and don't end their sentences with prepositions! Cu cine vorbesc? (with who am I speaking?) Despre ce vrei sa vorbesti? (about what do you want to talk?) How fancy are they??
• Dang it= din pacat! Translation: From sin! haha. I love it.
• I feel like I was born to speak this language. When I learn a new word, there's a part of my brain that says "Of course that's the word for that word." Hard to explain but it just makes complete sense that that would be the translation for that word. Like something inside of me already knew it.

I love this language. Although there are like 18 ways to say one word, it's so beautiful and so much fun to learn! (I'm being dramatic, there aren't 18 ways to say one word, but there are a lot!) And I love learning them all! Sora Smith and I have made a goal to talk in Romanian for 24 hours straight twice a week. It's so much fun! It's a little bit hard, but I've noticed when I do it, my thoughts are in Romanian without even trying. (This is something I usually have to force myself to do.) I've seen a lot of improvement in my language last transfer... even in the last few weeks! For which I am so grateful! :)
I found some Max Lucado books in Romanian and bought "You Are Mine". It was an answer to one of my prayers.. Last week, while looking at the transfer board, I noticed I"m the only sister (who isn't being trained) that is still Jr. companion. The rest are all co-sr companions. My first thought? "Well, what's wrong with me? I want to be Sr. comp. What am I doing wrong? Does President Hill not trust me?" (Petty, I know. I promise this story gets better.) But I struggled for a few days. I think mostly my pride was hurt. I bought this book and read it and there's a pert where the wimmick man is talking to Eli, his creator, and they're watching everyone in the town buy boxes and balls to prove that they have self worth and that they are good enough. Eli asks Pancinello "Do you think that's why I created those boxes and balls?" Of course not. And Heavenly Father didn't create callings to make us feel good enough or to prove our self worth. They are there to bless other's lives and to further His work. At the end, Eli tells Pancinello

"Esti pretios. No datorita lucrurile pe care le ai. Esti pretios fiidca esti cine esti. Esti al meu si te iubesc. Sa nu uiti asta, micul meu prieten."

Look up the translation on google. It's a lot prettier in Romanian. Suntem ai lui si ne iubeste. I'm working to get over my petty concert that I'm still jr. companion.

Natali has left for Utah. I have Kenton's family's contact information for the parents so you can get the info once it's set in detail and go to her baptism! I'm so excited for her. So excited for you to meet her. She has a beautiful soul. You will see that within seconds of meeting her. Give her my love. Take pictures on her baptism day and send them to me. And give her a hug for me.

I know one way or another, Natali would have found the gospel. But I'm so grateful God allowed me to be apart of her story and witness her growth.

I"M SORRY THIS IS A NOVEL!!!!

I got to hear recordings you all made at the BYU game!! So much fun to hear your voices!! Especially Livvy's!! She's so big! And to hear the fun of the BYU game! Totally sang along to the cougar fight song. Amy and mom, you were cracking me up. Thank you so much! I want more!!:)

Feel free to write letters. There's something about reading a letter in the handwriting of someone you love.

 I love you all. I haven't read your emails yet, I'll have to print them all out again! But thank you all for writing me!! I'm so excited to read them!! I got so many pictures this week! I love it!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!

Va iubesc pe voi,
Sora Cook

*Ian, I got your wedding invite. Sorry I couldn't make it :) haha. You and Mrs. Falkner look beautiful! So happy for you!
*Sora Ewell, happy birthday this week!!!! Don't worry, I already have voie to call you on your birthday.
*Jordan! Happy birthday this week!!!!

Sora Smith and I swinging. We had to take a break from contacting just for a few minutes to swing!! It was fun:)