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!
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!
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| Singing at the pic-nic (the one in the middle is the ward mission leader, Fratele Edi. He's awesome.) |
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| Sora Remsberg and I in our Baba Dresses. See Sora Remsberg's blog for more info amylenae.blogspot.com |
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| 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. |
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