yay! I love good days!

Hey family! And everyone!

This past week was amazing! I don't remember if I told you last time or not, but we had a lesson with Amalia last week about the law of chastity because she's not living it, and she said she doesn't think it's a sin or that she's doing anything wrong. Um, not ok...breaking the law of chastity is a big deal and we were kinda at a loss of what to do. So we prayed about it a lot last week, and we had another lesson with her this week. We told her why it's such a big deal and why we need to repent of things like that, and she did admit at the end that it was a sin and that she needs to change it. She didn't quite know how, so we talked about that for a bit and found out that contrary to our beliefs, she doesn't live with her boyfriend, she just needs to break up with him. Or marry him, but when I suggested that she shook her head hard and said “No, he annoys me too much. I wouldn't be surprised if Sora Thompson prayed for my eyes to be opened about him, because it's been getting worse and worse.” Ha ha, I wouldn't be surprised either...I love Sora Thompson. So Sora Poulsen and I are now working with her to get baptized on June 20! I'm so excited for her.

We also have 2 new investigators that are really cool and one of them, Nicoletta, is already doing intensive topical studies in the Book of Mormon. Granted it's all about revelation and how to receive it, she's a bit pre-occupied with that, but I am positive that if it's her desire she will receive the answer to her prayers. God is merciful in that way, loves us very much and always answers our prayers when we truly desire it, in His way, for our benefit. So neat.

Anyways, Thursday was Zone Conference in Timisoara which is a city about 1 ½ hour train ride away from Arad and it's really pretty there. Elder Kopishka, a member of the quorum of the 70 is one of our area authorities, and he came and did a mission tour, so zone conference was 7 hours of listening to a general authority with a few things in between. It was really neat. A few things he talked about was how one of the things we constantly need to overcome in this life is fear. And one of the most assured ways of doing that is by realizing who you are. For us, we are called representatives of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. BAM! Fear gone. For you, you are members of the one and true church of Jesus Christ, and have covenanted with Him to take His name upon you and He promises that as you are obedient, He will always be with you. Yeah. And for everyone in the world, if they could realize that they are a choice child of God with divine potential and that God loves them, what could be better to distill the fears of the world than that? Jesus Christ has overcome the world, and we need not fear if we allow Him to be our Master. Keeping the commandments of God is a proactive way for us to show our faith and our love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Feeling the Spirit is a natural consequence of that obedience and love.

Now I want to talk about miracles. Miracles are a natural outcome of extreme faith and complete obedience. We are not responsible for the miracle, only for the work that is required. When we do what is needed, God will take care of the rest and we will witness the miracle, for “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise” and we can have faith that if we “ask [we] shall receive, for whosever seeketh findeth, and whosever asketh receiveth.” It is a beautiful promise and a true principle. Elder Kopishka told us a story about a man who had a messenger appear to him and told him that he needed to go and push against the big boulder that was in his front yard for his work every day. So the man woke up in the morning, went out and pushed hard until the night, and went to bed. The boulder hadn't budged, but he woke up the next morning and did the same thing. Over a season the boulder hadn't moved an inch but the man was faithful. One night he went to bed discouraged and frustrated. The messenger came to him again and asked why he was so discouraged. The man said that he had been doing all that had been asked of him, but there was no result and hadn't moved the rock. The messanger, whom the man now recognized as Jesus Christ told him, “I didn't ask you to move the boulder, just to push against it. And there are results. Your arms are stronger than they were, your back is stronger than it was, your legs are stronger than they were, and you have proven faithful and are now prepared for an even greater work that has been waiting for you.” Then there is the principle for how the Lord moves mountains. When we want a mountain to be moved, we need a pick axe and a shovel, and enough life to finish it. Our faith is that the Lord will help us have the strength to do what is required and give us the length of life we need to do it. Not as easy as “faith moves mountains” sounds, but I know that it is true. Faith requires action, and there is never a time when we exercise that faith that the Lord will leave us alone.

One last thing from that, We each need to go through what are called the years of endurance. Usually they are teen years, but it can be at any time of life. And it is the time needed to gain a testimony. It is during that time that we (those who have a developed testimony) help others to the door of conversion, we help them endure the hardships when they don't know and when we wish we could do more for them. But we can not push them there or just tell them where it is, we can only ask them to walk with us the path that goes where we know they need to go.
Ok, enough deep stuff for now.

The week ended with a baptism. Bogdan had planned for his baptism to be next week, but changed it last minute to this past Saturday on the 23, and it was a wonderful service. He asked me to speak – ah! So I gave a talk in Romanian on Baptism, and it went ok I guess. It was hard, and I hope that they understood what I said, but the Spririt was strong throughout the whole meeting. After I went to congratulate him, and he shook my hand hard and thanked me for everything. I wished that Sora Thompson could have been there, but the fact is I didn't do much – I just showed him the way and he did the rest. I wish I could have hugged him, but Elder Smith did it, so that will have to be good enough. He was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost yesterday, looking snazy in a suit and tie, and he just smiled through the whole thing. It was neat to experience.

Now we have another busy week ahead of us, and I'm excited to get to work some more! I miss you all and love you all so so so very much. I hope that all is going well at home and that your missionary work and school and lives and fun are all in place and rolling forward with great joy. Keep it up, rely on the Lord, and know that I love you so so so so so so so much!!!
Always and forever, --Sora Karina

ps. I hope that Brianne's wedding went great and that Cherisse got back to school safe. If you can, I want to see pics of Bri's wedding! Thanks and love you!

pps. din nou - Sora Thompson – Sora Poulsen is way different than you, but we're having fun. She's not quite as gung-ho as you are, still a hard worker but a bit more relaxed and not as energetic about it. So she thinks that I'm a control freak so I'm trying to work on being softer about everything – not to take away the energy, but to say things lighter with not as much definite “this is what should happen” type thing so as to not be so “controling.” But we're working hard, laughing, and doing the best we can with everything. I'm glad to hear that you're having fun on the phone with Eric – I hope that it continues to be fun, and have a stinkin' good cruise. Relax, and be ok with it lol! Love you and ttyl!