All my love!

Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please know how incredible you are.

Va iubesc pe voi.

cu drag,
Sora Cook


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




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

 

Holloween party. Elder Tayler won.