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