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 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:) |
No comments:
Post a Comment