Looking forward with faith

 Ceau family!

I'm really not even sure where to start this email. If it seems a little disorganized and scattered, that is a pretty good indication of how my brain has been the last few days. I apologize in advance.

I guess I'll start with my last few days in Arad. It was difficult to leave. We were able to meet with Tina on Tuesday morning. My last lesson with her was beautiful. We talked about families and temples and I was able to share with her my testimony on eternal families and share pictures with her of my beautiful family. She loved seeing pictures of my nieces and nephews and told me how angelic they are and often kissed their pictures. As we talked about our families and the blessings of temples, she asked us what would happen to her parents who never got to hear the gospel in their lives, which was the perfect segway of redeeming the dead. She cried as we told her that after she gets baptized and goes to the temple for herself, she can go back and do that same work for her family who never got to haer and accept the gospel. It was beautiful and such a testimony builder for me of the importance of temple work and the blessings we receive from temples. Heavenly Father is such a kind and loving God. He has prepared a way for every single one of His beloved children to return home to Him. This is something I already knew, it has just been reaffirmed to me throughout my time here and my testimony grows deeper and deeper.

As I sat in my lesson with Tina, I felt a lot of peace about leaving Arad. Earlier that week, as I was packing, I was having a few break downs about leaving. It wasn't that I didn't trust Arad in the hands of my beautiful companion or that I didn't trust it in the hands of my Heavenly Father, but I felt like it was my city and I want so badly for it to be taken care of. But as I sat in that lesson with Tina, Heavenly Father told me through the spirit and through that peace in my heart that all will be well and Arad will be fine and I had nothing to worry about. Since then, I've drawn a lot of strength from that peace I felt in that moment. There's times where that peace leaves, but I go back to how I felt in that moment and remember that all is well and all will always be well as I continue to trust in my Father in Heaven and His plan.

So, Wednesday afternoon we had lunch with one of my favorite of people from Arad, Paula, who I told a little bit about last week, and then we caught our train to Bucuresti! It was a long train ride, but we found ways to make it fun. Card games, talking, laughing, taking pictures. It was fun, but I was so very excited to get off that train that seemed so much smaller at the end of the trip than it did at the beginning. (We did get to see the Danub and the Serbian border on the train ride, that was neat!)

Thursday was the mission conference. For the first time in a long time (and probably the last) our entire mission gathered together for mission conference. Most of the time, they split up the mission and do one conference for half the mission on one day and a conference for the other half the next day, but because of transfers and all the weird changes going on with the length of transfers, they arranged it for us all to go at the same time. Kent F. Richards from the Presidency of the Area of Seventy came and spoke to us. I learned a lot and am grateful he and his wife took the time to come and speak to us. The spirit taught me more than anyone at that conference. I spent most of my time writing down thoughts and impressions that came from the spirit than actually writing what was being said. Maybe I should have been a little more attent, but I feel like I learned exactly what I needed to.

It was so wonderful to get to see my dear friends in my mission and so difficult to say goodbye to them at the end of those two days in Bucuresti. We were supposed to leave Thursday night for Chisinau, but our Zone Leaders forgot to tell us that we still needed to buy tickets, and by the time we found out, it was too late. Unfortunately, there's only one train a day that goes to Chisinau, so we had to wait until Friday night to leave Bucuresti. But we made it. The train ride from Bucuresti to Chisinau was long! Real long. The twelve of us didn't even kind of sleep that night. It was way too hot and with the border control in the middle of the night coming to wake you up to check all your bags, sleeping would have been pointless. So, instead of sleep, we got some really good conversations in. We talked a lot about goals (they knew exactly what to talk about to keep me awake) and I shared a lot of my vision for my mission and my life and I was able to express my passion for goals and learn from them from their vision and goals that they have. It was very inspiring.

My district is quite a bit larger than my district was in Arad. I went from a four missionary district to a 10 missionary district. All but one companionship are Russian speaking missionaries. (Not including our companionship.) There is an Elder Koch in my district... Funny. My companion is Sora Heim. She is from Washington and I love her. We are very different, but we get along great! I'm learing lots from her!

Okay, time is running out and I still have so much to say.

Things are so different here. Chisinau is absolutely beautiful!! I know I will love it here. It is very difficult being in such an unfamiliar place. I keep expecting to see familiar faces, familiar scenery, and hear a familiar language, but it's just not happening. I feel incredibly alone being in such an unfamiliar place, but I am positive it will soon become familiar. No comfort in the growth zone, right? I'm definitely growing. I love any opportunity to rely completely on my Heavenly Father. Times like this allow me to rely on Him completely because I'm really not left with another choice. It is difficult, but so rewarding in the end.

We have a lot of investigators right now. A lot. It's wonderufl. 4 of them are cute, adorable 14 year old girls. I've only met with a few of them so far, but I'm excited to get to know the rest. One of them, whom I already love, is Katia. She is 14 and has the sweetest spirit. She has such a desire to learn and grow in the gospel. I am so excited to get to know her even better and to watch her progress even more. Please keep her in your prayers. She has a rough home situation and needs all the prayers she can get.

Yesterday, Sora Heim and I didn't go to the branch here in Chisinau, we were able to go to Orhei, a close-by city, to see how the relief society is doing there and while we were there, the branch president, who is a missionary, asked us to speak in sacrament meeting. It was wonderful. The branch there is quite small (10 members in sacrament meeting, 3 priesthood holders-2 of them were missionaries), but the relief society is wonderful. I talked to President Hill and we will be going there about once a month to help the relief society.

While in Orhei, I was able to meet one of the missionaries who served her mission in Romania and was the missionary who found Paula Dronca from Arad. It was a tender mercy to be able to meet her and thank her for the work she did in finding Paula and be able to talk to her about the progress Paula has made the last few weeks. I love little tender mercies like this.

I got my birthday package. Thank you so dang much!! It was so perfect!! The clothes, the make up, the candy, the peanut butter, the letters, the pictures! It was all wonderful! You are all incredible. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

So much more to say, but not enough time to say it!!! I love you all so much. I'm so excited for all the changes that are happening, both in my life and in yours. Daddy, I'm so excited for your new calling! You will do amazing things in that singles ward!! And so neat you get to serve with Bishop London. :)

You are all in my prayers. I love you with all my heart.

1-4-3,
Sora Cook

Pictures:

Paula came to say goodbye to us at the gara (train station) before leaving for Bucuresti

Valeria, Me and Katia

Sora Modzelewska, Sora Ewell and I at mission coference I love them both so dearly!

As much change as possible, please!

 Hello my dear, beautiful family,

Remember that one time when I made a joke about getting transfered to Moldova, speaking Russian? ha... well, apparently Heavenly Father thought that was a good idea. So, I will be serving my next two transfers in Chisinou, Moldova! (pronounced kee-shee-no). And nope, no "glumesc" this time. Granted, I won't be speaking Russian, but I'll be hearing a whole lot of it. I think when I told President Hill that I had a hard time with change, he picked the city where I would experience the most change possible! How exciting for me. My companion will be Sora Heim who is in her fifth transfer. She served her first three transfers in Timisoara, a city close to me, and she and I did an exchange together. I'm really excited to serve with her and learn all I can from her!

I will share what little I know about Chisinou and then fill you in next week when I know a little bit more.  It's hard to explain the way they do transfers for the Romanian missionaries in Moldova. (They have russian missionaries who are called to serve only in Moldova for their whole mission). But basically with the way the visa's work for the Romanian missionaries, we can only stay for 90 days, so I will go in and be with Sora Heim, who got there last transfer, and she will stay this transfer with me and leave at the end of this transfer and then another sister will come in next transfer with me and then I'll leave at the end of next transfer. It always rotates like that. So every Romanian missionary who goes there knows they will only be there for two transfers and will have 2 different companions. This transfer is only a 3 week transfer. There is only one sister companionship in the 3 cities they have open in Moldova. Church will be in Russian and one of the Russian missionaries will translate it into English for me and Sora Heim. I've heard amazing things about the branch and that there are a lot of active youth! From what I've heard, the Moldovan mindset is a bit different than the Romanian mindset and they are a lot more open to learn about other religions and will almost always set up lessons but more difficult to get to commit. I'm just excited to experience something so different than what I'm used to. So nervous, of course, but so excited.

Yesterday was hard to say goodbye at church to all the members but knowing I would see them again in October when I travel around the country before going home made it a little easier. Only a little, though.

I made a simple scrapbook for the members of the last 8 months that I've been here. I feel like Romanians just LOVE looking at pictures, so they loved looking through the scrapbook. It was fun to make and reflect on the last 6 transfers. Crazy to think that I only have as much time left in the country as the time that I have been here. But we don't talk about those kind of things right now. There's way too much to do between now and October to not focus on the very moment I am in.

Sora Remsberg departed this week. I said goodbye to her via telephone call on Tuesday night. Wasn't easy. I love her so dearly and I am so grateful for the impact she has had on my mission. I'm grateful she'll be living in Utah by the time I get home. What is even crazier to think about is that I am at the exact point now that she was at when I came into the mission. Whaaaat? How have I already arrived to that point? She was so experienced and knew exactly what she was doing. I'm still trying to get it all figured out!! Time. It passes all too quickly.

This last week we weren't able to meet with Tina. She went to Bucuresti for the week to visit her brother. I am hoping and praying we get to meet with her before I leave on Wednesday. Although we weren't able to meet with her we have kept in contact with her and she is still devouring the Book of Mormon (for the second time) and still hasn't smoked and comes up with the most beautiful questions. What I love about her questions is all she has to do is get her thoughts out and she finds her way to the answer all by herself. It reminds me of a quote by Galileo that says "You can't teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself." We aren't teaching Tina anything she hasn't already heard before; we are only bringing it to her rememberance.

Although we weren't able to meet with Tina this week, we were able to meet with Ramona. She is still very open, and still very very busy. She won't set up another lesson with us, but she said she will call us in a few weeks when her schedule opens up. During the lesson, as she told us this, I almost got discouraged, but then I felt a very strong reminder that she is in the Heavenly Father's hands and He is watching over her so carefully, just like all of His children. The spirit testified to me that all is well and that Ramona is exactly where she needs to be. I don't know what is in Ramona's future -whether or not she'll accept the gospel in this life or the next- but I do know that we were led to her and that Heavenly Father will continue to bless her and guide her "according to [her] langauge" just like it promises us in 2 Nephi 31:3.

We were able to get in touch with a less active I have been trying to visit for the last 8 months I've been here. Her name is Paula and she is 19 years old. She was recently in a pretty bad accident and was in a coma for a few days. I called her last Saturday and set up a lesson with her right after church and told her to come to church and then stay for a little bit after so we could meet up with her. She came for the last two hours of church and then stayed after. I love her with all my heart. Over the last week, I have gotten attached to this girl. She grew up in an orphanage and is a little behind in her mental capacity. Her attention span is that of a child and her behavior isn't always the greatest, but I love everything about her. She is sassy, says it how it is and has such a big heart. I wish I had met her sooner, but I am so grateful I got to meet her before leaving. We read in her record that she has a hard time when missionaries leave so I tried to break the news to her gently that I was leaving but she didn't like that too much. She just kept saying "Nu vreau sa pleci!" (I don't want you to leave!) She called me last week and just said, "Cook, de ce pleci?" (Cook, why are you leaving?) I told her I didn't want to leave, but that Heavenly Father needed me somewhere else. She was quiet for a second and then just said "Asa, nu ma uiti." (Okay, don't forget me.) If only she knew how impossible it would be to forget the marks that she has left on my heart. She made the sweetest of cards for me and brought it to institute on Friday. She also came to our Valentine's activity on Saturday and to church on Sunday. I so hope she continues to be involved in the church and the activities. She can be such a good influence for the branch and, of course, the branch and the gospel will be such a great influence for her. She will be one of the members I make sure to visit when I come back. A week of knowing this girl has changed me life. I love her so dearly.

This week there will be a mission conference in Bucuresti for the entire mission. Elder Richards from the Area of the Seventy and his wife will be coming to speak to us. I love opportunities to learn from and draw strength from other missionaries. I also love any and all opportunities I have to see my dearest of friends, Sora Ewell and Sora Modzelewska. Those opportunities don't happen often enough.

I am doing really well. I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I love being a missionary. I've been carried away, enveloped, bathed in the joy of sharing the gospel. I love so much getting to study from the scriptures each morning and night and any chance in between. My testimony of God's words given to us through scripture grows every single day. There are times that I open my Book of Mormon and just feel an overwhelming sense of peace knowing that this book is Heavenly Father's way of communicating to us. Each word is in there for a reason and it's our job to apply those words to our lives and allow them to change us. And I get to testify of this several times a day. Who signed me up for this? :)

I love you all. I think about you and your examples often. You influence me and my choices every single day. Thank you for who you are and for who I am because of who you choose to be.

You are all so loved,
Sora Cook

Happy Birthday Ryan and Jacey!!! I love you both.

Making Cards at our valentines day party!

Paula and me

Me, Paula, Elder Benson and Sora Rivera

All my love

Family,

First, I need to apologize for any typo's that might be in this email. The keyboard I am at is a silly one and I don't have time to go through and correct any mistakes made. Sorrrrry! :)

Thank you dearly for your birthday wishes and emails. It was so great, as always, to hear from you all. Your words are always exactly what my heart needs to hear. Most times, my prayers are answered through you and your words. Thank you so much. I am so grateful and so blessed for my family.

My week was a hard one. Wonderful and beautiful, but hard. I think the fact that it was hard is what made it so wonderful. I love that hard times brings us so much growth and tender feelings of the spirit. I love the words to the song 'Savior, Redeemer of my Soul' when it says "chasten my soul till I can be in perfect harmony with thee". This is truly one of the greatest desires of my heart. This song changed my life in the MTC when Sora Ewell sang it in Relief Society. I stopped and realized that I never want my life to be "easy". I hope that Heavenly Father always trusts me with trials and continues to chasten my soul so that I can grow and become more like my Savior. Maybe it's a silly request, but if hard weeks mean I get to feel the spirit like I have this last week, then I'm okay with that.

When I say I had a "hard" week, I hope you don't think that means that I am not grateful for everything that has happened. Maybe even the reasons that it was hard will seem silly to most of you.

Interviews with President and Sora Hill were splendid. Meeting with them was one of the highlights of my week. I went through every spectrum of emotions as I met with them each of them. It was great. I started with Sora Hill and was able to sit and talk to her as I would talk to my own mom (almost) and pour out to her everything I was feeling. She is such an amazing woman. She listened to me, comforted me and encouraged me onward. Just as my own mother would do. It was just what I needed.

I'm grateful that my interview with Sora Hill was first so that I could get all my emotions out and be more composed for my interview with President Hill. He and I had a nice chat. He is such a wonderful man. I love how much love I feel from both him and Sora Hill. I truly feel like when I am in an interview with them, that I am the only missionary they have to take care of. I expressed my fear of leaving Arad to President Hill and he confirmed my fear by telling my I would most likely be leaving this beautiful city at the end of this transfer (next week!).

Which may or may not be a contributing factor to why this has been a bit of a difficult week. Arad is my home. It's been my home for the last 8 months. Everything outside of Arad is so foreign to me. It has become my new comfort zone. The branch has become my family. I love it here. The thought of leaving just makes my heart ache. That isn't to say that I am not excited and open to new experiences, just sad to leave a place that I have come to love so so dearly. I feel right now much like I did before leaving on my mission. I was excited to start my mission, but so sad to leave home, family, and my comfort zone. I'm grateful that I've only had to feel this feeling once in the last 8 months and that Heavenly Father saw it fit to allow me to be apart of the work here in Arad. It's a beautiful city with beautiful people. Arad will always have a piece of my heart.

Tina is progressing perfectly, just as she should be. Her husband is still not letting her get baptized, but little by little, he is opening his heart. Tina is bound and determined to be baptized by March 29th. She is praying adamantly and asking us to do the same that her husband will allow this to happen. She is so excited about the gospel. We were able to meet with her four times last week and she gave us two referrals. She invites all of her neighbors to hear about the gospel and how the Book of Mormon has changed her life. The Elders were able to come visit her with us last week so that she could receive a blessing to help her stop smoking. Since that morning she hasn't smoked one cigarette. If only you could hear her bear her testimony. It is beautiful. Thank you all for your prayers on her behalf.

For the last few weeks, I have been studying gratitude and what it means to be a grateful person. What attributes does a grateful person personify? How can you tell when someone you meet is a grateful person? In studying this topic, I read a talk by Ray L. Huntington gave a talk and said, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend... Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."

In Doctrine and Covenants 59:7and 21 it tells us "Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things... And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments." 

Those scriptures pierced my heart as I read them. Studies have been done that tell us grateful people are a happier people. I believe that we are commanded to thank God in all things because it brings our happiness and our joy is so important to Heavenly Father. As I continue to study this topic, I will be keeping a gratitude journal and carrying it with me everywhere I go. I am trying to be grateful in all things and have asked the people around me to catch me anytime I begin to complain and ask me what I am grateful for in that moment. I want those around me to be able to look at me and my actions and words and know that I am a grateful person. More importantly, I want my Heavenly Father to know how grateful I am for His hand in my life.

I talked to President Hill about gratitude in my email to him last week and this was his response. I quite like it.

"Gratitude--what an important attribute to have. President Eyring once spoke of getting ready to go out to visit a stake conference. Elder David B. Height, then a very senior apostle who was too feeble to travel, approached then Elder Eyring and begged the latter to take him along. "I just want to go serve." President Eyring realized that this great apostle was feeling great gratitude for what the Lord has done for him and just wanted to do his part in return. To me, gratitude implies a keen understanding of what God has given us or what another person has done for us. If we're not spiritually sensitive, we won't be able to comprehend what we should really be grateful for. As Elder Haight was approaching the end of his life of diligent service, he was becoming more and more aware of the magnitude of the Savior's gift to us and he wanted desperately to acknowledge the Savior's gift through service to others."

I hope it's okay that I continue to talk about this in future emails as I continue to study gratitude and it's importance in our lives.

Last week, I was laying in bed trying to figure out how I can improve in the language. I said a silent, little prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father what I can do and I had a strong impression that I needed to start saying all my personal prayers in Romanian. We say all our companionship prayers in Romanian and I've hesitated switching my personal prayers over because, well, I guess I'm pretty selfish of my time with my Heavenly Father and I so much cherish that open communication. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to express myself to my Father in Heaven but as I've started doing it, I have noticed how much more help I have received with the language and that I am actually able to express myself in my prayers and that as I do it, I realize words that I don't know and I write them down and expand my vocabulary. It's wonderful!

We find out transfers this week. I have no idea what Heavenly Father has in store for me for the next transfer, but whatever happens and wherever I go, I know that it is exactly where I am supposed to go. He has a plan. And I am so grateful to be apart of it.

I love you all dearly! Please be safe and take care of yourselves. You are in my prayers.

All my love,
Sora Cook

chickens on tramvai's

Ceau family!

As I write this, I am enjoying a very tasty Oreo Milka... which might not mean much to you all, but considering I only get chocolate once a week (one of my goals) and that this chocolate is amazing (no I'm not being dramatic) you can imagine how happy I currently am. And on top of all that, I got to read emails from some of my very favorite of people! :) Thank you for your emails!!!!

This email will probably be shorter. Not because I don't have a lot to say, but because I left my journal at home and my journal always helps me remember all that happened throughout the week and all that I studied. I will do my best to remember without my journal.

I will just start by saying how much I am obsessed with the Romanian language. It is so beautiful! I love that I can have entire conversations at times without even realizing I'm speaking and understanding a foreign language. Don't get me wrong, I still struggle and I'm no where near where I would like to be language-wise, but the fact that I love it so much makes all the struggling a bit entertaining and more bearable. I will be sad for the day when the world around me no longer speaks this beautiful language.

Tina is doing wonderful. Tina is our investigator with the baptismal date. We were able to meet with her three times last week. Each time, she expressed to us how much she wants to be baptized and shared her testimony with us of the Book of Mormon and that God has told her this is the true church. She wants so badly to be apart of it and to have the gift of the Holy Ghost in her life. She also wants so badly for her husband to accept the gospel as well as her entire world around her. It's beautiful to watch her go through the conversion process and seeing her desire to share the gospel after having received a witness of it's truth that came through study and prayer, all because she was humbled and invited to come unto Christ. The only thing holding her back from baptism is getting permission from her husband. He is against any religion, not just ours, and doesn't want Tina to be baptized. Of course, without consent from him, Tina cannot be baptized. Nor does she want to without approval from her husband. Her biggest dream and desire is to walk to church, hand in hand with her husband. Please, please pray for her and for her husband, that his heart will be opened to not only letting her join the church but that he, too, will accept the gospel in his life. I know they are both in Heavenly Father's hands and He will take care of them.

Ramona... Ramona is also doing wonderful. She is such a busy person, but still manages to make time for us every week and follow through on the commitments we extend to her. Last lesson we had with her we talked to her about the introduction of the Book of Mormon. She said it all seems a little strange and that it's all just new, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. We asked her to pray with us and she said she isn't quite that open yet. We tried very persistently to get her to pray with us, but she wouldn't. We plan on taking a member with us to our next lesson on Tuesday so that they can tell of their first experience of praying with the missionaries and hopefully she will be open enough to pray with us.

We went block knocking the other day (one of my favorite ways of contacting, we always meet the funniest of people). I'm just going to do a dialogue of the conversation we had in the hallway of a block with an old man in his underwear (not that uncommon). 

Us: Can we share a message with you of Jesus Christ?
Man: Nu.(No.)
Us: Do you not like talking about Jesus?
Man: Nu.(No.)
Us: Can we leave something with you to read?
Man: I can't read, I'm too old.
Us: We can read to you if you would like.
Man: You want to read to me like a baby?
Us: Da! (Yeah!)

Needless to say, he didn't let us read to him. But it was a funny conversation, nonetheless.

I have a few more funny stories, that's what happens when I leave my journal full of my spiritual experiences at home, sorry. So the other day, Sora Rivera and I were on the tramvai (kind of like trollies in San Fran) and we hear a strange noise that kind of sounded like a chicken but we weren't really sure. We look around and see a man sit up really straight and look around to see if anyone heard. (Sidenote: animals aren't aloud on the tramvai's). The driver turns around to see what the noise was and then turns back around. Five minute later, the same thing, a loud noise that sounds like a chicken... And in fact, is a chicken. A man has got a chicken in his bag. The tramvai conductor just laughed when the chicken poked his head out of the bag. Maybe this doesn't sound like a very funny story, but we laughed. I love the things we get to experience as missionaries in Romania.

I've said it before, but I have gained such a strong testimony of communication and this week, my testimony grew even more. I love with all my heart doing companionship inventory and growing closer and closer with my companion as we openly talk with each other and seek to understand each other even more. I am so grateful for Sora Rivera. She is beautiful in every way. I am so blessed to be her companion and bask in her light.

Tender mercy... last Monday after internet, we were wasting our time walking around the mall and finding Sora Rivera a new camera and decided to pop into the book store/tea shop to get some tea and as we're all walking in, I hear someone say, "Hey! It's the missionaries!!" I turn around and it's Natali!! She didn't see me at first but as soon as she saw me we both freaked out an embarrassing amount for a public setting and gave each other the long, tight hug! It was so great to see her. Truly, it made my week. She was with Kenton and had just arrived in Arad that day for a few days. She seemed so happy and is still doing everything she should be to strengthen her testimony. She will forever be one of my dearest of friends.

Okay, I'm really sorry that this email doesn't have much content to it, but just know that a lot of really neat, tender mercies happened this week and that Heavenly Father is still watching over us and guiding us so tenderly. I love with all my heart being one of His missionaries. What an amazing opportunity and blessing.

I am so proud of all of you. I love reading your emails as you share with me how you are growing and the things you are studying. It makes my heart so happy that I have a family who loves the gospel and lives their lives in alignment with it's principles. My family is amazing. :)

Interviews this week with President and Sora Hill. So excited to see them and get to spend a few hours with them.

All my love,
Sora Alyson Cook 

My wonderful companion. Isn't she beautiful?