Loaves and fishes

Draga mea familia,

My heart is quite full as I write this email. I love reading your testimonies and experiences through your emails. Thank you so much for taking the time to write them. They mean more than you know. You are all incredible. I love seeing your growth through your experiences and learing from your examples. I find myself asking far too often why I am so blessed.

Chisinau is lovely. I love this city. The architecture, the trees that will be blooming and beautiful within the next few weeks, the branch is wonderful, our investigators are amazing, the missionaries are great, and the people are so open. I'm still not used to the Russian, but the way they speak Romanian is quite adorable. They have a very different accent here than the western accent that I'm used to. Compare it to a person from California's accent to a person from New Jersey's accent. So different that it almost doesn't sound like the same language. But, thankfully, it is! I love that Romanian is becoming natural for me. It's always a relief when I hear someone speaking Romanian rather than Russian. I didn't realize how well I understood Romanian until I came here and started hearing Russian.

We were able to meet with Katia, one of our 14-year-old investigators, this last week. She is so wonderful. I wish I could somehow send a glimpse of her spirit and the light in her eyes as she is learning about the gospel. In the lesson previous to our lesson this week, we asked her to start the Book of Mormon and she didn't make time to do it, so we read 1Nephi 1 in our lesson with her. It was wonderful. Her understanding of the scriptures is incredible. She recapped the entire chapter perfectly. We asked her if she knew the Book of Mormon was true and if she had prayed about whether or not our message is true. She told us she hadn't but that she loved meeting with us and she feels as if all of her problems disappear as she walks into the church to meet with us. We invited her to kneel and pray with us and as she said the sweetest, most humble of prayers, I felt the spirit manifesting to me personally how much Heavenly Father loves Katia and that He is taking care of her. We asked her if she knew the church was true, if she would be baptized. She hesitated for a second. I know she knows it's true, so I looked her in the eyes and said "Katia, what is holding you back from being baptized?" She told us she wants to be baptized so badly because she knows it's all true, but that her parents will never allow her to be baptized, especially her dad. We read 1Nephi 3:7 with her and told her that Heavenly Father prepares a way for His commandments to be fullfilled. I promised to pray for her parents and that Heavenly Father is watching over her. I love her so dearly. I look forward to every chance I get to see her and feel her spirit.

We also got to meet with another 14 year old girl named Nastia, who happens to be agnostic. Adica, she believes that God probably exists, but that there is absolutely no way for anyone to know for sure whether or not He truly does exist. Our lesson with her was different than any other lesson I've ever had. I watched her as she sat on the couch, with her arms crossed, open up throughout the lesson as we talked to her about our purpose as missionaries is to share a message and invite others to come unto Christ and is never to "convince" anyone. We weren't really sure why we needed to talk to her about our purpose and our decisions to come on missions, but it was neat to watch her open up and get involved in the lesson as we told her our testimonies of the gospel. We invited her to pray at the end to ask God for herself whether or not he existed; that we could tell her all day that we know He exists, but that she needed to ask for herself. I was shocked when she agreed to pray with us. We all knelt down and she started her prayer. She started praying in Romanian but because Russian is her first language, she stopped half way through and asked if she could do it in Russian so that she could express herself more easily. I learned a few things in this prayer. 1. That Heavenly Father truly does listen to each of His children. Although I couldn't understand a word she said in her prayer, I know that Heavenly Father did. 2. That I have never really asked for myself whether or not God does exist. There has never been a doubt that He exists. I never felt it was something I needed to ask Him because I already knew the answer. But, we're told to ask for our testimonies to be strengthened, even in things we have already gained a testimony of. So that night and every night since, I have asked Heavenly Father to help me strengthen my testimony of His existance. As I've done so, it has been so neat to see the evidence all around me that we truly do have a loving Heavenly Father. Of course, this is something I already knew and never questioned, but as I have sought to deepen my understanding and testimony of this concept, my eyes have been opened to see so many wonderful evidences that God does exist and that He loves us and is our Father in Heaven. After our lesson with Nastia, we encouraged her to keep praying. After seeing her at english on Saturday, I asked if she had been praying. She told me she doesn't have time to pray and I told her that unless she makes that time for God, she'll never really know whether he exists. Whether or not her perspective ever changes, of course I hope it does, but if it doesn't, I will always be grateful for that lesson with her.

Some things I learned this week from studying the scriptures... First of all, D&C 67:3. I don't have time to go onto lds.org to paste the scripture so I will try to quote it as far as I remember it. Christ told them why they weren't receiving the answers they were looking for and told them "there were fears in your hearts, and this is the reason ye did not receive." I read that and stopped and thought about all the fears I have and how those fears are keeping me from receiving the answers that I so desprately desire. It made me analyze how I can better apply faith in my life and especially in missionary work. There are so many fears of not being the missionary I could be or not finding who Heavenly Father wants me to find or fears of my investigators not progressing the way they should. This is a work of faith and hope. There is no room for fear and as long as fear exists, the work won't progress and the answers will not be received. I'm doing my best to apply this in my life, but more importantly, in my misisonary work. Faith and hope, it's something I am striving for!

Oh my, time is passing. There's just not enough of it to share all the insights I have from this week! Oh gawl.

I love in 2 Nephi 4:35 (again, only quoting what I remember, sorry) but it says that "God will give liberally to him that asketh. My god will give me if I ask not amiss." I love this verse. I love, love, love it. The cross reference for this verse was Helaman 10:5 when God tells Nephi that all that he asks will be granted unto him because God knows that Nephi would never ask for anything contrary to God's will. I love the thought of completely handing my will over to the Lord and aligning my will with His. It's such a beautiful notion. Sometimes, so hard to apply and grasp, but a very beautiful notion. Along with faith and hope, I am truly, truly wanting to apply this in my life. I want more than anything to be the best instrament in God's hands but I can't do that unless my will is aligned with His. It's difficult, but not impossible.

I love the life of a missionary. I love waking up at 6:30, getting myself ready for the day while listening to a talk, studying the gospel, and then going out in a very unfamiliar place and talking to unfamiliar people about my Savior. I know that He is watching over all His missionaries. Is there really going to come a day when this won't be my life anymore? How come I only get a year and a half of this? It's not enough time! More often than not, I feel very inadequate to be sharing this perfect message. In those times, I say a quiet little prayer and can almost hear Heavenly Father telling me "Aly, breathe, you're doing okay. Just keep giving me everything you have and I will make it enough." I know that as we just give ourselves to the Lord, all of our hearts, holding nothing back He will make our efforts enough and He will make us enough. Without Him, we could never be enough. Ya know, like loaves and fishes. Without Christ, they were not enough to feed those thousands. We're like loaves and fishes.

Sora Heim and I are doing well. I find more ways to love her every single day. I'm grateful that I get to serve alongside her. She has a very strong testimony and I love the way she teaches the gospel and the way she teaches me.

I love you all so dearly. You are all in my prayers individually (it makes for a long prayer... there's lots of you!). I'm so grateful for you all. I hope you feel the sincerity in that last sentance. Unfortately, words don't describe it well, so I'm praying that Heavenly Fathre will allow you to feel my gratitude and love for you. Keep being amazing.

Va iubesc pe voi,
Sora Cook

parts of Chisinau. This first picture is just a glimpse of the architecture here. All the buildings are this beautiful.

Arcul de triumf

This is a "mortisor" (I might have just spelled that wrong, I'm not really even positive if that's the word for it.) but in March, they celebrate spring and women. March 8th is women's day! Everyone gives these pins to wear on your shirt. Usually the pins consist of red and white string tied together. It's fun and everyone is selling them everywhere, so of course, Sora Heim and I bought one for each other!