"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:)

Transfers... yet again!

Well family, transfers are this week and here's the scoop. Moldova has a few areas, one Romanian speaking and the other two are Russian speaking. President Hill is opening up one of the Russian speaking areas to sisters and has asked that I go serve there. He said to just pick up as much Russian as possible and that all will be well. Wish me luck.

Ooooookay... glumesc. (I joke). I'm staying in Arad with Sora Smith!!! :) I'm funny.

I'm so excited to be staying here!!! I don't have to say goodbye to beautiful Arad yet. So happy. You know how I am with goodbyes. However, we did have to say goodbye to Elder Myers yesterday. He heads home tomorrow. Wish him all the best. I'm so grateful for his example and leadership my first three transfers.

It was a wondferful week. We had interviews with President and Sora Hill and yesterday, we had district conference with the four branches in the Transylvanian District in Oradea. It was so good to see the missionaries from those districts and so good to hear the wonderful talks. It was a powerful meeting. President Hill told a beautitful story of a member who lived outside of Brasov (central romania). The senior missionaries had a strong impression to go outside the city to visit an inactive that hadn't been seen or contacted in over ten years. So he got the Elders and drove about 30 km outside of Brasov to find this sister and when they got there, they found out there were eight members living in this town (all in the same family) and two were melchezedik priesthood holders. This family has been living the gospel as much as they could in their little town and had prayed that the missionaries would find them the week before. Two of the family members (a husband and a child) have been baptized and two more will be baptized soon. They will be starting a group in that town. (A group is smaller than a branch). So exciting. And on top of that, President Hill wrote home to his family about this story and the husband of a girl they raised, who also served in Romania, taught and baptized that lady in 1997 and never knew what had happened to her and assumed she had fallen away. And now look. Because of it, there are generations being effected and a group being started.

Another story he told was a story a few missionaries had a few weeks ago when a man stopped them on the street and explained he had learned about our church 10 or so years ago, but hadn't accepted it, moved out of the country and has always known he made a mistake in not accepting the gospel. He recently moved back into the country and has been praying to find the missionaries. Those missionaries ten years ago have no idea the impact they had on this man or the seeds they planted. For all they know, he was just one more person who didn't accept the message of the restoration. Such a testimony to me that we never know the seeds we are planting for people to accept the gospel in the future. It's beautiful.

We visited a member who lives in a sat (small town) outside of Arad. Her name is Sora Krnacs (pronounced cruh-nawtch -it's hungarian) and she is incredible. She is the most faithful of saints. She's going to the temple for the first time this week and I could not be happier for her. Although everyone deserves to go to the temple, no one deserves it more than she does in our Arad branch. She travels by bike, train and tramvai to get to church. She wakes up at 4am in order to get there at 9am for choir practice. That is, assuming she has sold enough of her craps that week to purchase a train ticket. And to her, it is a small sacrafice compared to the blessings she receives in return. She truly understands the law of sacrafice and that what we are asked to do is small in comparison to what the Savior did for us and what we are promised if we do all we can. Some of us complain about the three hours church takes from our day (a day to honor the Lord) and this remarkable woman sacrifices 13 hours each sunday to come and worship her Heavenly Father and renew her sacred baptismal covenants. What an example she is. I'm so grateful. Someday, I want to have as much faith as she has. She inspires me.

Family, Natali is getting baptized. Unfortunately for me and Sora Smith, it will be in Utah where her boyfriend's dad can do the baptism. However, she will be confirmed here in Arad. I'm so excited for her. She is truly remarkable. I hope the parents will be able to go to her baptism. She is so excited to meet you. She was so excited when I asked if I could invite them to her baptism. As of right now November 11th is the day. I'll let you know if it changes.

We've taught the plan of salvation a lot this week and it always surprises me when we ask people here if they have ever wondered where we lived before this life or where we will go after and seeing the surprised look on their face that tells me that these questions have never entered their mind until now. They are so concerned about getting through that day that they never stop to think about anything but the here and now. My heart breaks to see the circumstances of some of the lives being lived here. When I see a child no older than 11 smoking a cigarrette or a women in her 20's, who looks to be in her 30's, stammering down the street with a bag of paint in one hand and the hand of her child in the other. Or looking into the eyes of the people on the tramvai and seeing, for a second, into their souls and realizing all their hope is gone; seeing the big responsiblity of raising a family placed on the young shoulders of a 16 year old girl because her parents have either emotionally or physically abandon them. I know these people are so loved by their Heavenly Father. I have felt His love for them and I hope and pray that, someday, they too can feel it. Until then, I hope to be an extention of His love and do all I can to serve and love them and bring them to the knowledge of the eternal spectrum of life and where they came from and that one day, we will rest from all of our trials and challenges if we endure them well, with faith and hope in the Atonement of our Savior.

It's been a rewarding week. Thank you for your emails, pictures, love, support and prayers. You also are in my prayers. All of you. James, I hope all is well with your infection. Why that wasn't included in your email and I had to hear from the parents, I'm not sure. Please take care of yourself. However, thank you for your email.

I had to print out most of your emails. I never have time to read them. But I'm sure their beautiful and I'm so excited to read them. :)

Miss you all dearly.



Alexandra and Sebestian (my favorite children in all of Arad)



















Sora Krnasc thought I was leaving, so she embroidered this beautiful piece for me. I watched her do some of another one and she is incredible. She has such a talent. I also tried to embroider and it was difficult. The machine she sows on is quite antique... It was beautiful.

She is so talented.

Embroidering... not my forte.



**Ian Falkner, you're married!:) Congratulations!!!! (well, I think you're married... either that or you will be soon! Either way, congrats!!)

**Jenny, tell Morgan welcome home and to and write me! And be good:)

**ABBY!! Good luck in your mission!! I want your address. I love you.

**Everyone else, you're amazing. :)

Please Slow the Time Down!

The most wonderful family in the world,

I love coming to internet each week and reading emails from all of you (well, most of you..) It is so good to hear how you are doing and that all is well on the home front. Your emails truly do mean so much to me. Please keep them coming and feel free to attach pictures and whatnot. It's so good to see the familiar faces that I love so dearly.

This week has been a good one. It went by quick. Too quick. This is the last week of the transfer. Where did the last six weeks even go?? I'm not sure. I have learned so much this transfer from Sora Smith and the other missionaries here in Arad and I'm so grateful. Sora Smith is truly an angel. Every missionary deserves to have a compnanion like her at least once in their mission. She is the kindest, most humble, patient, intellegent and sweetest person. I hope I get to serve again with her next transfer, but if not, I'm so grateful for all I've learned from her the last six weeks. I hope I can be the kind of companion for at least one of my companions as she has been for me. I love Sora Smith.

Natali and Catarina (both working toward baptism) are progressing. Maybe not as quickly as we would like, but they are in the Lord's hands and they have baptism in mind, we can't ask for much more. Natali is eating up the gospel. She loves learning and our lessons usually go over an hour because of all her questions and enthusiasm she has to learn. (Natali is the girl with the LDS boyfriend who lives in Hungary). He is also encouraging her journey and helping her find truth. It's beautiful. She is so excited to learn how to raise a family with values and morals and at the thought of being sealed to them for eternity. She's beautiful. She's coming to Utah next week to meet Kenton's family. So excited for her, but unfortunately that means we won't get to meet with her for a few weeks. However, I think the trip to Utah will be good for her.

Catarina is also still progressing. She has been sick, so unfortunately, we haven't been able to come teach her as often as we would like and she just isn't quite prepared to be baptized this week. Once she gets better, we will establish a date and continue to help her progress and prepare. If you could please keep Catarina and Natali in your pa

Interviews are this week. I love any opportunity I have to visit with President and Sora Hill. They are such wonderful people. Our mission is so blessed to have them. Something I love about the orginization of our church is that no matter where you go in this church, there will be someone to stand by you and help you. Even aside from our Savior who is always with us. That is the beauty of the orginization of our church. It is truly beautiful. Whether it's a bishop, relief society president, home teacher, visiting teacher, sunday school teacher, we have a friend and we have somene to turn to for help and guidance. In the gospel, we have help. We have help on this side of the veil and on the other. If our eyes could be opened, we would find chariots of Heaven coming to our defense. In 2 Kings 6: 16-17 Elisha calms the fears of the king when he says

 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his ^aeyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and ^bchariots of fire round about Elisha.

I, personally, am so grateful not only for the help of my mission president, companion, zone leaders, district leaders and fellow missionaries, but also for the divine help on the other side of the veil. We all receive it. I hope and pray we can all feel it. 

I've learned a lot this week. I was able to sit down during personal study (actually during three personal studies). And write out my goals. It was so nice. I wrote out where I want to be at the end of my mission in the six different areas of life and then what I need to do daily, weekly, and each transfer in order to get to that point. It took a lot of thought and prayer, but I finally finished and it feels so great. As the end of the year comes, and consequently a lot of goal setting, I strongly strongly encourage you to do the same thing. To sit down and picture where you want your life to be at the end of the year next year and what needs to happen daily, weekly and monthly in order to get there. Be specific. I strongly believe their is so much power in goal setting.

I'm so excited for the changes that are currently taking place in missionary work. Why not send missionaries out earlier? They're ready and they're prepared... and the world needs them! I'm so excited. If only I could have gone at 19. :)

I realized today I'm almost at my 6 month mark. Oh my gosh. Make the time stop! The last three months have flown. Too fast.

I love you all so much. I have lots of birthday cards and letters to send today. Hopefully I have enough time to run to the post office! So be looking for those in the mail:) Hopefully they make it there safely.

James, I heard you did the Touugh Mudder the other day. How did I not get an email full of pictures from you?? Make that happen. With a description of how it went. I want to hear! You can also add in there how you are doing.. haven't heard from you in a while. All is well, yes?

I love you all. I wish you the best of the best of weeks. Fiti cuminte. (behave yourselves). Thank you for the update on the political race. The future of our country is continiously in my prayers. All will be well. I hope. :)

Va pup va pup,

Sora Cook

Me with the women of the relief society (at least the ones that came to church yesterday). These women are among some of the finest I have ever met in my entire life. Their faith and their love for the gospel is inspiring.

Alexandra and Sebestian, wearing the hats that Sora Wahlquist made them. Words cannot describe how much I love these children. They are the children of a less active. They have not yet been baptized but we are working with them to work toward baptism. They are beautiful and their spirits are tender but strong. If I'm asked to leave Arad next transfer, these children will be among the hardest to say goodbye to, along with their mother, Mihaela. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. I love them with all my heart. My heart aches for their humble and challenging circumstances and know that one day, they will receive a rest from all their trials and will live among the most vallient and faithful in the life to come.

*Jerr, I hope all is going well with the baby!!! You are both in my prayers! Anyone else expecting a baby that I should be praying for? Lizz? Amy? ...Marissa??? Mari.... you better not.

*Mom and dad, I'm so glad you got to go meet the Ewell's. I don't know them yet, but I feel like I do and I am ever so grateful for the way they raised Sora Ewell, so I already know that I love them!:) How fun it would be if you all came and picked us up together and we toured around Romania and then stopped in Italy on the way home! BUH! That would be incredible. Look into making that happen:) That is, of course, if the Ewell's are up for it:) 

*Sora Ewell, happy six months. I love you! Hopefully get to see you next week at transfers.

Sadly, the Wahlquist's left. We miss them! You should go read their blog. They're awesome. And they have some pretty cool pictures on there!! Go see:)

http://brentanddianasexcellentadventure.blogspot.ro/

"Ask the missionaries, they can help you!"

Hello my wonderful family:)

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!! What an amazing weekend! Thank you for your emails and thoughts on conference. So much to write, but I'll keep it brief considering that fact that I forgot my planner (aka, my list of things to write about) at home! :( sad. I guess next week:)

Lots happened this last week. We had exchanges, conference, the Wahlquists went home... and conference:)

Exchanges were great. I was here in Arad with Sora Heim (this is her first transfer). I was terrified to be with a missionary who knew the language less than I knew the language but it was such a neat experience to see that I knew more than I thought I knew and that I get to improve in a lot of areas that I didn't even realize I get to improve on! All and all, it was a great exchange. I learned lots, I got to know Sora Heim and... I had another dream in Romanian!! It was soo cool. I woke up the next morning so excited. Although the exchange was marvelous, I was excited to have my companion, Sora Smith back! I missed her and her sweet self. She is incredible. I realized this week, she reminds me sooo much of Mari. :) I love it.

Conference... where do I even start?? We were able to watch both Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning and then we will download and listen to priesthood session and Sunday afternoon this week. Every talk touched on at least one of my "conference questions". It was incredible and such a testimony to me that Heavenly Father answers prayers and speaks through His prophets. So neat. I feel like there were a few "overall themes"... missionary work and the home... I learned so much how to be a better missionary and how to prepare myself now to be the kind of mother Heavenly Father would have me be. I love how Elder Cook talked about "immersing" ourselves in the scriptures. Such a cool word to use. If only we feasted upon the gospel the way we feast on a meal on fast-Sunday. I'm pretty sure we would all be scriptorians. Elder Bowen's talk hit a little close to home as he talked about his experience that his family experienced with their son. The veil is very thin. I've definitely felt that since being a missionary. I've felt the help of very familiar spirits who I recognize, and some who are equally as familiar, but that I don't recognize. The veil is very thin. I loved what he said at the end of his talk when he said "Because He lives, they and we will also." So beautiful. Not to mention the wonderful talks given by President Eyring, Elder Holland, President Packer, Elder Whitting, Elder Ballards. Oh gawl, I could go on for far too long about all I learned and all that stood out to me. I'm so excited to learn more from the two sessions that we missed and to re-listen and read the talks that we already got to hear. Truly, we are so blessed to have such divine and great council given to us to guide us and direct us. (I probably just used the wrong "council". Is it council or counsel? I always get those mixed up.) You know what I mean:)

I love that President Monson advised us all to "take an inventory and name the blessings -large and small- that you have received." aka... tender mercy transfer!! :) I've gained such a testimony of this. It's such a simple, but oh so powerful, process. If you haven't done it already.... do it. I promise you won't be let down:)

Did anyone else catch President Monson's subtle reference to writing in our journals??? I loved it. I'm such a believer in journal writing. That is something I've talked about with my companion and district a little too much the last three transfers -I'm sure they're all sick of me talking aobut my testimony of journal writing. Wups.

Well, scripture study this week was quite inspiring and very humbling -as it always is. Something that really stuck out to me as I was reading in Hosea was when Israel has forgotten from whence their great blessings have come and forgotten their Savior and He says unto them

 9 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

I think sometimes, the Savior says this same thing to us, at least he does to me. Except it sounds more like "Oh Aly, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in my is thine help." And in chapter 14 he says, "return unto the Lord thy God; for thou has fallen by thine iniquity." He is always there calling for us, beckoning us to come unto Him and recieve his help. Something I learned from President Hill this week from his response to my somewhat disappointing week last week was this: "I wonder if the Savior's image 'I stand at the door and knock.' is a subtle message to missionaries. We certainly know what it means to stand at the door, knocking and having no one answer or having the person see who we are and slam the door. It does give us great insight into the love our Heavenly Father must feel for us (obviously even more keenly than we can possibly feel towards our investigators) and the hurt he must feel when we 'slam the door' or don't answer His 'calls' to us. That might be one of the prime lessons a missionary will carry away from a mission." I loved what he said. It's so true and has definitely given me something to think about this week. I love President Hill. Truly is a man of God and I can't wait for interviews next week when he comes to Arad with Sora Hill and we get to have one on one interviews with them both.

Well family, we have a baptismal date. Our amazing relief society president, Sora Mogos, invites the world to church and has since the day she got baptized and two weeks ago, her aunt finally accepted her invitation to come to church. Since, we've been working with her and she has commited to be baptized on October 20. I'm so happy both for her and for Sora Mogos. I've never seen someone get so giddy about the gospel as I've seen Sora Mogos. She basically taught our first lesson with Catarina (her aunt) about the plan of salvation. I felt like we were going on a visit with her rather than her coming on a visit with us. She is truly a divine lady and I have learned so much from her faith and her testimony. I am so glad that her aunt will have her as an example, teacher and friend after we leave the area. I'm not worried about Catarina at all. She's in great hands, not to mention the hands of her loving Heavenly Father.

I love you all. Thank you for your love and prayers. I appreciate them so much. You are all quite spectacular and I'm so blessed to learn from your examples!

Be good, have an amazing week and read and re-read those conference talks:)

Va pup,

Sora Cook

*Mari and Chris, have an amazing birthday!!! Both of you. I love you so much. So glad you were both born.

*Jayce, get feeling better. Make Alek your slave until you get better. I'm proud of you for taking the fall, being a hero, and saving the baby! Totally worth the broken foot and concusion for a cool story. "I pity the fool" :)

*Sora Ewell, I LOVE YOU!! I'm so impressed with your zone goal to make a 1000 contacts and for your's and Sora Komar's efforts to reach that goal. Seriously, that's incredible. I'm so impressed and SO proud. Can't wait to see you soon. Keep being amazing and being an incredible example and please know that I am sending you my love from all the way across the country!! And please thank your sweet mother for sending me your emails. You inspire me. Please teach me to be more like you. Miss you dearly. (ps, we're totally taking "te pup" back to the states. I'm glad you love it as much as I do.)

Some of my favorite quotes, that might not be word for word, but they are how I heard/wrote them...

"Service is the very definition of pure religion. ...It is an extention of His love to them, through us." -Elder Ballard

"We do not need to see Him to know He is watching over us." -President Eyring

Tender Mercies and General Conference:)

Family,

Well, I feel like I should warn you, I have a lot of thoughts going through my head right now and they might just all get dumped into this email. My apologies in advance...

First of all, go out and buy a september issue of National Geographic, the cover story is about some gypsie families in Romania. It's super interesting. I've ran into a few of gypsie families like this. It's insane, but super interesting. Read it. It's cool.

This week has been... well, I've learned a lot. A lot. Which is why this email might be a dumping ground for all my thoughts. Sorry. But something that hit me like a ton of bricks, was when the other day, a less active who I love dearly cancelled on us for the third time that week. It broke my heart. Maybe it wouldn't have hurt so much if every other appointment that week hadn't also cancelled, but regardless it hurt. But I think what hurt me the most is realizing how my Heavenly Father must feel when He gives us so much to grow and blesses us so much and we forget our covenants and we forget Him... how much that must hurt Him. The hurt I experienced isn't even a taste of what we put our Heavenly Father through. And I'm assuming this is a lot what being a mother sometimes feels like and if that's the case, Parents, I'm so sorry for ever making you feel this pain on behalf of my poor choices. It's hard on a lot of different levels, but mostly because I've realized the pain I've put others through, especially -and quite literally- my Savior, because of my forgetting my Heavenly Father and how much he has blessed me despite all the knowledge given and help at my dispense. I'm grateful though, for this recognition. It's hard, but I'm so eternally grateful.

Which brings me to my next point. I've made this transfer "tender mercy transfer" where I write down at the end of my day tender mercies that I experienced throughout the day. IT'S BEEN SO NEAT!!! Seriously. It has. I read this week in 3 Nephi 8 when the Nephites were doubting the coming of the Savior despite all the signs given and for me, this totally relates to me in the sense that sometimes I forget how much my Heavenly Father loves me despite all the signs given to me. (3nephi 8:4). But tender mercy transfer has helped me remember the little blessings that I receive throughout the day that remind me that I am oh so loved by a Father in Heaven. I'm so grateful for it. I might just extend "tender mercy transfer" into "tender mercy year" or "tender mercy life"... I invite everyone to do this. I think you'll be surprised to see how you are blessed throughout the days in the "little" ways. How can we expect to see His face if we cannot even recognize His hand?

General Conference is this week!! GUH! I can't wait. Truly. We are blessed enough to watch the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions live and in english at the senior couples apartment. The rest will be broadcasted in Romanian in a few weeks. But, I'm excited to watch and listen to as much as I can! I've been praying a lot the last few weeks to know how and what I can learn from general conference. So excited:)

So our old people outside of our apartment... I've told you about them. There's one guy, his name is Alexandru, and sometimes (most of the time) we are running out of our apartment to catch the tramvai... and he always says "Numai incet, nu va grabiti!" Which means, only slow, don't hurry!! And this got stuck in my head and I was saying it over and over in my head and it got kind of annoying, but then it reminded me of something Sora Ewell taught me in the MTC. She said that when you're in a hurry, you don't allow the spirit to speak to you. And I thought about this a bit and realized, when I'm in a hurry and someone asks me or tells me to do something, if I even hear them, I usually say "I can't, I'm in a hurry!" Or "I'll do that later!" or.. "Fine, I'll do it, whatever." (usually not in a happy or willing way). I think it's the same with the spirit. When we are in a hurry, we shut ourselves off from the spirit and it's promptings and we place ourselves in a "I'm in a hurry" mindset. If we even hear the promptings of the spirit, we push them off saying we'll do them later, or we grudgingly do it or hurriedly do it to get to the next thing. Probably not the best way to respond to revelation. So, something I'm going to work on... making sure there's time to get everything done I need to get done so that I'm not ever in a hurry and so the pathway to receive promptings is clear. We'll see how that works. Thank you Alexandru and Sora Ewell for being incredible.

Alma 39:11. It's been my theme scripture this week. One of my goals was to always- at all times- look and act like a representative of Jesus Christ (even in my apartment!) This being because of this scripture. 

11 Suffer not yourself to be led away by any vain or foolish thing; suffer not the devil to lead away your heart again after those wicked harlots. Behold, O my son, how great ainiquity ye brought upon the bZoramites; for when they saw your cconduct they would not believe in my words.

What do our actions say about who we are? About what our message is? About our gospel and about what we represent as members of the church? Something to think about. Our actions are the first thing people see and I hope my conduct allows them to believe the message of the restoration.

"Never allow your appearance or your behavior to draw attention away from your message or your calling." -White Handbook page 10

"Righteous conduct will influence your effectiveness as a missionary and your personal salvation." -White Handbook page 7

Pretty serious stuff. I love it!

Remember how I had prayed to gain a testimony of proselyting clothes on pday. Prayer answered!! I shared a little about this last week. But oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Elders had such a cool experience last week. They had just left internet and were on the way to the mall (don't worry, I was right behind them!) and someone yelled from a car, "Elders!!!" So the Elders, thinking it was a former investigator, waved and smiled. But then, the car pulled over to the side of the road and two people got out of the car and started running after the elders. Once they finally caught up to them, they found out it was a guy from United States who had served in Hungary and now lives there and works for NuSKIN but his girlfriend lives here in Arad and isn't a member  We got her contact information and she is wonderful. Truly. She came to church yesterday and asked if it would be okay if she met with us afterwards and talked about our church. This girl, whether it's now or in the future, will be baptized and will be a dynamite member. And all because the Elders chose to wear their white shirts, ties and nametags on a p-day, which made them easily recognizable to a member of our church from a distance. So neat. Testimony gained. I'm converted to wearing proselyting clothes on pdays:)

So something I've been thinking a lot about this week is something that a speaker in the MTC said. He said that we as members of the church are staking our lives on the restoration. I loved what he said, but I'm not sure I fully grasped it until I listened to a talk Elder Holland gave at a BYU devotional a few years ago. He quoted C.S. Lewis when he said

"You never know how much you really believe anything," he confesses, "until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to [tie] a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it? . . . Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief. [Lewis, p. 25]

This made what whoever said that in the MTC that we are staking our lives on the restoration so much clearer. It's so easy to say you know the church is true, but when push comes to shove, do we really? Would we hang on that rope ourselves? How do we even test that rope? How do we find out if that rope will hold us? I think that's one of the reasons God gives us challenges and trials, to show us that that rope is strong enough to hold us if we hold onto it. I know with all my heart that not only can we stake our lives on the restoration of the gospel and that Joseph Smith really did see what he said he saw, but that if we do, we will not be let down. I'm grateful that my mission has brought be to this knowledge even more. But it doesn't take going on a mission to get to this knowledge. (Unfortunately, it did for me). But that knowledge and that trust in the rope is available to everyone. Even before we experience trials, we can test the rope. We can pray, we can read the scriptures, we can ask a loving Heavenly Father who will readily respond, we can listen to General Conference. (which I'm so excited for by the way!) I don't know if this realization made much sense to any of you. But it was a little life changing for me:)

Whoa. This is long and I could go on for a lot longer. I didn't even get to talk about half the things on my list I wrote down. Dang it. Next week:)

Thank you all for your emails and pictures. I love love love them!!! I think I say that every week. I really do love them. :)

I'm doing really well. Truly, I am. I am loving being a missionary. My testimony grows like crazy every single day. Despite the heartache and the disappointments, there's a lot of joy in every single day. Even at the end of the hardest day, I lay in bed at night and would do it all over again if it meant I got to be a missionary for one more day. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. I promise they're not in vain and I promise I'm doing my best to send it back your way and hope you can feel my love for you.

miss you, love you,

Sora Cook

Few things, Ryan and Wassa- happy anniversary last week. Amy and Nick- happy anni this week!! Hope it's a great week for everyone!!!