ceau ceau

 Buna ziua:)

I'm glad that summer is winding down over there, but here, it's still blazing hot! The other day it got up to 45 degrees celcius. Pretty sure that's really hot. Anyway, I'm just glad that it is supposed to start cooling down soon!

This week was a busy week. Lots of lessons with less actives and a lot more lessons dropped. But that's okay. I know we did everything we possibly could and as discouraging as it is to have dropped lessons and investigators not want to meet with us anymore, I know that it will all be fine as long as we continue to do everything we can and make a conscious effort to be exactly obedient.

Madalina is still progressing and meeting with us 2 times a week. We are taking the lessons slow with her because she is a little bit younger and we want to be sure she understands everything before moving on. She is a doll though. We love her so much. She is pretty much a dream investigator. Just so willing and open and keeping her commitments and asking amazing questions.

We have been going former investigator hunting a lot lately and making an effort to reach out to find those who have just fallen through the cracks somehow. We have had a bit of success. It's hard work, but it paid off last night as we started teaching a former named Angie. She has her beliefs but is so open to learning more. She invited us in and allowed us to teach a lesson and invited us back this week.

We went sing contacting a few times this week. Elder Myers pulls out the guitar and we go to the park and sing some songs and talk to the people walking by or who stop and listen. Elder Myers and Harrison are incredible singers/guitar players. I'm jealous of their talent but so glad I get to benefit from it:) Last night as we were at the park I started talking to a girl who is from Uraguay and came here to do volunteer work and met her husband. They got married a month ago and they are now living here. She was so so willing to let us come over and teach her this week. I love that south american blood, from what I've heard, they just eat up the gospel. We got a tiny taste what it's like to serve in a non-european mission last night:) Kidding, but I'm excited to meet with her this week.

This week, my testimony of prayer has grown more than I could have imagined. I've been praying and asking Heavenly Father to help my testimony of prayer to grow and I can truly say that this week, my prayers have been so much more than what they normally are. I feel my Heavenly Father listening to me and I know that as I ask in faith and in the name of Jesus Christ, my prayers will be answered. I read in the bible dictionary about prayer today. If you haven't done that, you should. If you have, you should do it again. It's beautiful what it says about prayer. It says that once we recognize our relationship with our Heavenly Father, prayer becomes almost instinctive.  one of the reasons we pray in the name of Christ is because we want to be at one with Him when we are praying and our desires to be his desires or to have one mind and that many of our prayers aren't answered because they aren't done in Christ's name at all. Maybe in words, we say it in the name of Christ, but they in no way represent his mind but out of our own desires. (I didn't quote that exactly... more reason why you should just go read it.) So neat. I've learned even more so while being on my mission that God never answers "no" to my prayers. He simply answers "yes" or "something better". Because he always knows what is best for us and whether or not we realize that, I know with all my heart that Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan for each of us!

I am loving my adventures and experiences as a missionary. I learn more and more every single day that what my path looks like and what your path looks like will be completely different. I will have flowers where you may not and you will hear birds where I cannot. Both are equally beautiful and tailored to exactly what we need to see and hear when we need to see and hear them. God is with us and directing both paths. He has blessed us each with our own path. Who are we to look upon another's with envy? What we need is on our own path. We might deviate and got lost, but we always know where to go if we want to find our way back. Enjoy the scenery of your path. Look for the flowers and listen to the birds and appreciate the rocky parts that make you stronger and give you experience so that you might one day help another through their rocky points. God is wonderful. He is always there waiting for us to come unto Him. I am so grateful for his mercy and goodness. My life would have no purpose without the blessing of this gospel and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share it with others. It's nothing like what I thought it would be and it is a whole lot harder than I expected, but it's wonderful and I get to learn so much.

Thank you for your wonderful examples. I owe a big part of who I am to of every single one of you. Keep being the amazing examples for everyone else that you've been for me:)

Much love and gratitude,
Sora Cook

Primarie aka City Hall

picture of us guitar contacting. Elder Teft is the one standing in the back. He was here on exchanges while Elder Harrison was in Oradea.

Buna Ziua

Ceau!

As always, thank you all so much for your emails. I wish I could explain how much they lift and inspire me to be better. You are all amazing and I am so blessed to have such wise and supportive examples in my life. Thank you thank you thank you!

Where in the world did my week go?! Seems like just yesterday I was at the internet cafe writing you! Crazy. Time is going a little bit faster than I would like. I just realized the other day that I have officially been in the country for 2 months. I am praying that time begins to slow a little bit. Before I know it I will be home wishing I could come back. It hurts my heart to think about. Can I just be a missionary for the rest of my life please? I'm striving to make it a constant effort to take in every moment and second and make it worth my time being here so in 14 months I can look back and have zero regrets.

I've had a few interesting experiences this last week. Wednesday the branch had a branch pic-nic in the forest! This was a big deal. The branch here doesn't really understand the point or meaning behind branch activities and the need to bond and be united as a branch. We were a little worried that no one would come but it was an amazing turn out!! It was Sfanta Maria (almost as big as Christmas) so everyone had work off. We had way more people than expected and the members even invited neighbors and family members. It was wonderful. We cooked meat (a lot of meat! Romanians love love love their meat) played minute to win it games and Elder Myers and Elder Harrison played the guitar and we sang some songs. It was so much fun.

So as I said earlier, Wednesday was Sfanta Maria and ALL the orthodox peeps were out and about, going to church and whatnot. I was curious what exactly they do on Sfanta Maria so Sora Remsberg and I decided to just pop into an Orthodox church on our way home and see how they celebrate and what they do. It broke my heart to sit in the church nametagless (we take off our nametags when going into a church of a different religion, just out of respect) and watch these people who I don't know, but I love, worship these idols and desire so badly to be righteous and to worship but not knowing and some not being open to the way the Lord has established.

My heart literally ached to be in there so after a few minutes I couldn't take it so we peaced and decided to head home. On our way home we were sitting at the tram stop and a lady who obviously isn't a fan of missionaries came up and grabbed my nametag and ripped it off of me and said some not so nice things (which for some reason, this is when the gift of tongues decides to pop in and allow me to understand every single word but when I'm contacting...nothin. haha) and she started walking away, my nametag in her hand and still yelling at us. Well... my nametag is way too important to me not to go get it from her, so I just started walking behind her and as I did, she threw it across the tram tracks. After grabbing it and walking back to where Sora Remsberg was standing I may or may not have had a breakdown. Everything that had just happened affected me way more than I would have expected. It was so hard not only that I just got attacked for doing nothing, but that my nametag, one of my most precious possessions right now, that has the Savior's name on it was just treated with such disrespect. I have taken to heart the fact that I get to where my Savior's name on my chest and have recognized how great of an opportunity it is to be a representative of Him and so it hurt that much more that I had just been attacked for doing so. It made me appreciate so much more all the persecution that others have and do suffer on a much much greater scale than what I had just experienced, not to mention the persecution of which the Savior experienced during His mortal ministry and that of which He still experiences from people who know not the grandeur of His name. Since then, I've been very aware of the persecution that I was so blind to before. People talking about us, calling us names and such. It is so hard that these people that I love so much and want so badly to serve don't want even want me here. I called  Sora Hill and talked to her about it and her words were such a comfort for me. I am so grateful for her and I am so grateful for all that I've experienced this last week and I'm sure will continue to experience over the next 14 months. My testimony and desire to serve is stronger because of it.

On a lighter note, I had an awesome insight this week from the scriptures (with the help of Elder Harrison) and I will try my hardest to explain it in a way that makes sense. If it doesn't, just go study the difference between receiving a remission of sins and retaining a remission of sins. Every time in the scripture that it talks about retaining a remission of sins, either right before or right after it talks about service. I love it. I have never even realized that these two words have two completely different meanings. Receiving a remission of your sins happens once after you repent, but then retaining it is something that you continually strive for your entire life. And the best way to retain that remission of your sins, or that forgiveness, is to serve. The best examples are in Mosia 4:26 and Alma 4:13-14. It says to "impart of your substances" and give to the needy or the hungry. So often we think of needy and hungry and we instantly think temporal things, but I feel like it means something so much greater than that. Yes, we need to share all the Lord has blessed us with just like it says in Mosiah 4. But part of what the Lord has blessed us with is this wonderful knowledge of the gospel and with a testimony and in order to retain a remission of our sins, we need to share it with the spiritually needy and the spiritually hungry. I loved loved loved this realization. Because even if your the poorest of the poor, you can still share your testimony and I would venture to say that your testimony is the best thing you have to share.

We are working with some amazing people that we met last week and I know that this week will be telling for what will happen with them. We ran into a former investigator on saturday walking back from a less active visit and as we started talking to him I recognized some of the things he had said from what was written on his progress record and we were able to set up a time to meet with him this week. His name is Adam and he previously had a baptismal date and knows the church and the book of mormon are true, but his wife is penacostal and he doesn't want to bring that contention into his marriage. We are praying to know how to handle the situation and how we can best help him and his wife. I know it wasn't by accident that we ran into him.

We have a super busy, packed week! Lots of lessons with potential investigators. One of them being a 15 year old girl who is the sweetest thing in the world. We were at the piata (market) buying vegtables and I noticed that she was watching us with a little curiousity so we decided to go talk to her about our english classes and she has been coming and we had our first lesson with her on saturday. We talked about the restoration and prophets and she loved the fact that we have a prophet on the earth today so we committed her to pray about Joseph Smith and whether or not he was a prophet and if Thomas S. Monson is the current prophet in our lives today. We have another lesson set up for tomorrow. I'm really excited about her and how the gospel could potentially change her life. Her name is Madalina. I love her:)

Radu is still progressing. We threw a birthday party for him last week and all he wanted for his birthday was to have a lesson with the four of us missionaries. So we had a lesson about the book of mormon which he says he already knows is true and doesn't see why he needs to pray about it if he already knows. We explained to him the process of gaining a testimony and he promised to pray about the book of mormon. He's doing wonderfully and I pray that we can continue to help him progress.

All in all, I'm doing fantastic. I am loving every second here, even the hard ones, and my testimony is growing from every experience, especially the hard ones. I'm so grateful for my family and loved ones back home who are supporting me and praying for me. I can definitely feel your prayers. Thank you.

One favor... do everything you can to be the best member missionary you can be. I failed at this before my mission. However, I realize now how important it is for the members (you guys) to be missionaries and how you can have way more of an impact that we can.

Sper ca stiti cat de mult va iubesc!!!

ceau,
Sora Cook

ps... Happy birthday Jayce and Alek!! Can't believe your 14. Ugh. That means I'm old. and Happy Anniversary mom and pop!:) 40 years. Whoa. Way to be.

Good luck with school starting and what not to all those who that applies to.. :)

and to all my family in san diego and Washington DC... HAVE FUN! Take pics and send them. LOVE YOU!

Singing at the pic-nic (the one in the middle is the ward mission leader, Fratele Edi. He's awesome.)

Sora Remsberg and I in our Baba Dresses. See Sora Remsberg's blog for more info amylenae.blogspot.com

Elder Harrison with one of the kids that was not happy about losing the minute to win it games. His name is Cristi and he is one of my favorites:) I thought this picture was hilarious.

Ceau:)

HEY-O! (there's no Romanian way to say that)

We have a had a busy week! It's been great. I don't even know where to start. We had a mini zone conference in Timisoara last Tuesday and it was fabulous! Our zone leaders (which are the Elders in Arad) are wonderful. They both teach in such different ways but it was so good to have both. I love when people are brash and tell me exactly what needs to be changed and how to do it, but I also love when people point out what I'm doing right and that I'm still a good missionary despite the fact that I have things to work on. Anyway, all in all, zone conference was great and I learned so much and it motivated me to work even harder and to do everything I could to be a better missionary and to really focus on the work.

Thank you all for your emails. Seriously, the advice you give me is exactly what I need to hear every week. Your emails are often answers to my prayers. So thank you. I appreciate it more than you know.

Remember the guy Radu that I told you about who stopped us and asked if we were mormons and that he had never seen one in real life?? Well, Radu has a baptismal date:) September 29. We are so excited for the stops he's taking. He is such an awesome guy. We had a lesson with him and the elders this week and then handed him over to the elders. We figured that would be more appropriate for the Elders to teach him and as hard as it was, I totally trust the Elders to teach him and strengthen his relationship with Christ. In our last lesson with him he bore his testimony to us about the way he feels when he reads the Book of Mormon and the way he feels when he meets with us and how he has never felt that peace before. It was so cool to see the light in his eyes as we told him that that was the holy ghost testifying to him of the truth of what he is learning. He nodded his head and said "I figured that's what it was." It was so neat.

Marcel is also progressing each week. We taught him about the restoration last week because although he's been to church a number of times and is reading the book of mormon, he hasn't ever had any official lessons with the missionaries. I love watching the faces of our investigators as the comprehend the magnitude of our message and what happened to Joseph Smith. Marcel loved the story of the first vision. Although he didn't come to church yesterday for some reason or another, we feel really good about his progress. Our goal this week is to get a member present lesson with him because one day, we will leave and he needs a friend in the gospel to help him continue to grow. So we are praying to know who that should be and who we should invite to come with him to his lesson.

We have some big goals this week as far as numbers go... I go back and forth in my battle with key indicators, but I know that the goals we've set are possible and that Heavenly Father can help us to make it happen. I'm excited to see what comes from this week. Whether it shows up in the numbers or not, I'm excited to work my hardest and show Heavenly Father that I trust in Him.

In my Book of Mormon reading right now I'm in the "war chapters" in Alma and as I have strived to find a way in which they apply to me and my life, I've realized that although I'm not in a physical war, we are always spiritually fighting satan and his temptations and I love what I've learned from these chapters and how we can protect ourselves from those temptations. Two verses, though simple, have stuck out to me. First one is Alma 52:6 when Captain Moroni is preparing the cities for battle and it says at the end of the verse that he prepared to defend himself by "casting up walls round about and preparing places of resort." I love this. It helped me realize that I can prepare for times of temptation before they come by casting up walls round about me and building my testimony and allowing the spirit to be with me through my actions, words and thoughts. And then I can prepare a place of resort, recognizing that what I'm battling is very real and although I've made preparation for it, it might not be enough and I will need to have a plan b just in case. Whether it's going to my Heavenly Father in prayer, turning to the scriptures for strength or calling up a friend (or a companion) to help me fight my battles. The second scripture that stuck out to me is Alma 56:22 when Helaman is writing to Moroni about the how they've taken precautions to protect themselves from the Lamanites and it says that they kept spies round about day and night and this was an example to me that I need to recognize my times of vulnerability and take extra precaution during those times. For them, night time was their time of vulnerability when it would have been easiest for the Lamanites to attack, but they recognized this and prepared themselves. I hope that makes sense. I'm typing kind of fast so my thoughts might not be making much sense. If it doesn't make sense, just go read the scriptures and figure out how they can apply to you. You'll probably get something way more profound out of them than I did. :) that's what I love about the scriptures. Everyone gets from them exactly what they need and we all find different things to apply to our lives. It's like a little magic book...but cooler.

Yesterday, Sora Remsberg and I did SYL from 8am-9pm. It was hard, but actually kind of fun and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It helped me a ton in my language skills and helped me see what I need to work on. We have a goal to do an all day SYL 2 times a week. I'm excited.

We took a less active member's children to church yesterday. Her name is Mihaela and her children are beautiful. Alexandra (10) and Mihai (8). They were so excited to come to church and Mihaela was so excited for them to go. They loved it and were so good. They even sang all the hymns during choir practice before church started. I wish Mihaela's husband would allow her to come to church, but I know she got so much joy out of seeing her children go and seeing how much they loved it. We will most likely be picking them up for the branch activity on wednesday. I love being around children. Their spirits are just so strong and it's so easy to feel the love of the Savior and the Holy Ghost when they are around. It makes me miss being around my nieces and nephews and feeling their sweet spirits. I'm so blessed to be an aunt. Whenever I talk to other missionaries and find out they don't have any nieces and nephews, I feel a little bad for them. haha:) Alexandra taught me so much about the language. Kids are the best to learn from because they are so patient. I seriously learned more about Romanian language from her in those few hours we were with them than I have from anyone up to this point of my mission.

Sorry this is a little long. I'll let you get back to your exciting lives!! I love you all and I hope you are all doing well. You all make it into my prayers every single night. I'm grateful for your examples and love. Thank you for everything.

va pup,
Sora Cook

Mihai and Sora Cook

Alexandra and Sora Remsberg

August...already?

I cannot even kind of believe that August is here and that summer is almost over. However, it feels like I've been here way longer than just half of a summer. This blasted time warp that I'm in.

Thank you for the emails and pictures!! Seriously, how amazing is my family?? I'm so blessed.

First week of my second transfer went well. I feel like I'm improving little by little with the language. Not much, but it's getting there, I'm sure. Sora Remsberg and I have made it more of a constant effort to only speak in Romanian to each other, especially outside of the apartment. When I first got into the country, I was super motivated to SYL all the time but then I realized how much I didn't know and it was discouraging so I made it less of a constant effort, but I'm determined not to let my weaknesses dictate my actions... so despite my lack of ability to speak the language... I'm going to try to speak the language as much as possible. It's hard. However, I have noticed that as we've done so, and as we've removed that language barrier between us and the Romanians, the work has picked up. Which makes sense... when Paul was teaching the jews it said that he became like a jew. He removed all barriers between them to be able to teach them. I think of before my mission, if I were sitting somewhere and I heard people speaking a different language, my first thought is "Learn english. You're in my country, learn our language." (I know, I'm a brat.) But I guarantee a lot of the Romanians think the same thing when they hear us speaking in English to each other. They just simply aren't as open when we aren't even trying to speak their language in front of them. I wouldn't be either if I were them. So, one of my goals this transfer is to remove that barrier and speak in Romanian as much as possible. And if there is something I can't say (which, let's be honest, there's a lot of things i can't say) I'll say it in English and then at least they will see that I'm trying and hopefully have a little more compassion and be more open...

We have 2 new progressing investigators that seem hopeful. One came to church the other day and the other has been coming to church for years and reading the book of mormon for years, but has never met with the missionaries. Not quite sure how that happened. So, we told the Elders we were going to meet with him if they weren't and so we did! And he is wonderful! We love him. His name is Marcel and he is late 50's maybe. His understanding of the need of the book of mormon is stronger than a lot of members. It's so neat. When we met with him, he told us, if you asked me to be baptized tomorrow, I couldn't. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't want to get baptized for you or anyone else, I want to for me and for Jesus Christ. He told us that he didn't understand why he couldn't smoke or drink occasionally and I felt prompted to tell him that the reason God has commanded us not to do these things is so that in times of need, we don't turn to any outside source to make us feel better, and that we rely on Him for strength instead. Pretty sure I had never even though about this concept before it came out of my mouth. It was a cool experience as I felt the spirit tell me exactly what to say. He speaks perfect english and even studies and reads in english so he prefers that we have lessons in english, so I was able to express myself exactly how I wanted to. It was so nice.

Radu, our other progressing investigator, who came to church yesterday, also speaks fluent english and prefers to do lessons in english for the same reasons. Radu is awesome. He is 33, he was in the French Legion or something like that. (The French army for non-french peeps.) But he's now living in Arad again. We were at internet last week and he saw our book of mormon and said "are you mormons? I've never seen one in real life." :) adorable. He explained his version of mormons and we explained ours and he said he likes our version a lot better. haha. He told us he feels there is something missing in his life and that he feels this dark cloud of guilt for choices that he's made and he just wants it to be gone and that he wants to rely on God during the good times in life, not just when things are hard. Our first lesson with us, he said everything we said just made sense. I completely agree with him. The gospel just makes sense. We told him about Alma the Younger and read Alma 36:18-21 with him and how alma felt joy to match his pain. He was so funny...he said "Well, I guess if he can become prophet, I can probably be forgiven too, huh?" Yesterday at church in the middle of sunday school he leaned over to me and asked what the prophet who felt the joy to match his pain's name was. I told him where he could read about it. He loved church and he loved sunday school. In sunday school we talked about the Atonement and how we can overcome physical death and spiritual death. Pretty sure that lesson was for him. He loved it. He came to church in shirt and tie and was so nervous to come in. We watched him come up to the door and turn around and walk away, so we ran outside and caught him before he could leave. He just needed a little encouragement to get in the door. After that, he was fine.

We'll see what happens with Radu and Marcel and hopefully get some new investigators this week. We start teaching english again in 2 weeks so we get to do a lot of english contacting this week. I love english contacting.

Another one of my goals this transfer: BE A CONFIDENT CONTACTER! My lack of language makes me so nervous to approach people. But I am determined to just get over that this transfer and go outside my comfort zone. That's the only way to grow! Wish me luck.

So, I may or may not have cut all my hair off. It was a rash decision. But it is so much cooler and so much healthier now! I don't love it, but I don't hate it. I figured now was the perfect time to do it so that it could grow out while I'm on the mission and be longer by the time I get home.

Mini-Zone conference tomorrow. (it's a new thing every mission is now doing every transfer.) I'm excited! I love opportunities to socialize with other missionaries and get their ideas and thoughts of missionary work. It makes me feel more motivated to be a better missionary when I talk to other missionaries. I'm supposed to give a thought tomorrow. I've got it mostly planned out. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I love you all very much!! I don't remember the questions you asked me in your emails or if I addressed them, I'm horrible at that. Sorry:)

Have an amazing, wonderful, incredible week!!!

I love you,
Sora Cook

Lingo:

SYL -Speak Your Language. In the white handbook it says to speak your mission language as much as you can outside the apartment. aka SYL-ing.

Sora R. and I with one of the members. He name is Sora Krista and she is absolutely hilarious. However, she forced me to eat way too much food the other night. I told her I didn't feel well (which I didn't) and she said she didn't care and that I needed to eat. I was slightly cursing her in my head. She is so funny. I love her! She was converted to the church through the Mormon Tab Choir. She heard them singing 20 or so years ago and felt the spirit so strongly and saught out the church because of it. She's awesome.

Sora Remsberg and I on a tramvai. We love the tramvai!