Hey everyone!
I had a pretty amazing week...it was really fun. We had Zone Conference which is always a good thing, and I learned a lot about what I can do to do better than I'm doing right now. So Sora Jones and I are trying to learn how to do a few things different and it's been fun.
Some fun experiences from this week - we got 3 new investigators in one lesson, Elizabeta and Stefan and their son Catalin. Catalin has had a baptismal date 2 times, but both times he fell off the map during his school for his Ph.D. And Elizabeta has come to church many many times, so we finally got to talk to her and asked if she wanted to take the lessons again. Before this, her husband was against the church, but this time he sat in our first lesson with us and complimented the church up and down. "You teach out of what you believe in the Book of Mormon. You teach respect, you teach to not smoke or drink, you teach that families are important, and then you live it, too!" He thought that was the coolest thing, and it is (lol). But the funny thing is that he doesn't yet have a desire to come to church. He says he'll listen to us, but "I'll just send my ambassador (aka wife) over to your church, she'll tell me what you said to do there, and I'll do it!" Well, we'll work on that, but let me testify that when you teach someone true principles, if their heart is open, their desire to do the right thing will grow, and they'll start to want to do it. Anyways, that was fun.
Another fun thing was we went to a member's house, Sora Matei. And while we were there she needed help cleaning, and the way they clean here is so weird, but it works for them. And instead of using vacuums, they take their rug outside, hang it over a bar, and beat it. So Sora Jones and I got to take turns beating her rugs, and it was really fun! Oh, and I also got the package you sent - thanks! I love the pictures, and it will add color to our new apartment when we move there.
Oh and another thing...On Saturday we had a baptism! It was Violeta who had been taught by Elder Herrick and Elder Lyon, and it was really good. Her mom is a little crazy and wants to burn our church down because "you took my grandson away from me" who is Violeta's very cute son, but Violeta is 26 so I think it's ok, and we're not too worried about her mom. But the baptism was so good - we had 6 investigators and 5 less active members there, and the Spirit was sooooooo strong. And Violeta couldn't stop smiling, she was just so happy. It was awesome.
Other than that, not too much is going on other than the fact that I'm working, and it's really hot out here right now, and tomorrow is my 6th month mark! Crazy stuff - I can't believe that I've already been a missionary for 6 months!!! But it has been an amazing 6 months. I love it.
This gospel is true, and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else in the world right now...although going to the Temple with Cherisse this week is EXTREMELY tempting, but it will be ok. Her and Alley going to the Temple together is furthering the work of the Lord, and it is an example of what I have been teaching the people here in Romania about the gospel.
My companion and I have been working on getting the Young Women's program more organized here because it was just a social hour, and now it is a temple preparation learning area. We are taking each month and teaching the values of the YW and the last week of each month is us teaching how that value relates to the Temple and how it will help them prepare to go there eventually. It is really neat how everything in the gospel is centered on the Atonement and points to the Temple which is centered on the Atonement, and it truly is amazing. It is true.
I hope that all goes well this week - I am there in Spirit and love, and I am praying for all of you always. I love you so so very much. Good luck, have fun, do good, be happy, and may the blessings of God be upon you!
Love Always, --Sora Karina
ps.Sora Thompson - Ma bucur foarte mult pentru tine! Yay! Acea poza cu tine si Eric a fost foarte draguti si ma bucur ca sfaturile mele a mers pentru voi ;} Dar eu sunt foarte bine aici in Brasov si aceasta lucrare merge mai departe intotdeauna. Sora Jones a zis "buna si te iubesc!" Si zic eu de asemenea ca mie dor de tine, si astept acea zi cand pot sa fac cunostinta cu Eric si o sa fie foarte distractiv. Pana atunci, slujesc cu toata inima mea, si ma rog pentru voi. Sper ca totul mai este foarte bine si ca va distrati impreuna. Ai o zi frumoasa si mai vorbim! Cu drag intotdeauna, Sora Karina
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Bloc knocking and other fun stuff
Hello family!
First I'll tell you about how hard the work is right now, but we've had some neat experiences with it. We went bloc knocking and it was really hard. (Blocs are the apartment buildings people live in.) We got kicked out of one bloc (somewhat nicely) and no one wanted to look at us, let alone give us the 2 seconds needed to start testifying. But the last bloc we went to for the night, I rang into it and I was struggling with the language after the lady who answered started asking me questions like who I was and who I was trying to see. She recognized that I was saying things really wrong (which was giving Sora Jones cause to look at me funny while she tried to figure out what I had just tried to say) and she asked me what language I speak, so I answered in Romanian that I speak English but I'm trying to learn Romanian. She responded in close to perfect English saying, "Ok, I'll let you in, but only because you speak Romanian." And opened the door. Holy Cow.
She wasn't interested in our message, but she took a pliant (pamphlet), was really nice and said maybe she'll come to church to see how it is. I hope that she does some day. But after talking to her we prayed to thank Heavenly Father that we got into that bloc, that someone was nice to us, and to ask for the spirit back because with the past 2 blocs, and the most recent getting kicked out of, the spirit of contention was a lot stronger than the spirit of God. So we prayed for that, and from the top of the bloc to the bottom, still no one wanted to listen to our message, but the Spirit was burning stronger and stronger in our hearts with each door, and I know that the Lord blessed us with that. It's like it says in Alma 31:38 - If we go to work and do everything that we need to do, the Lord will not suffer us to have any afflictions save they be swallowed up in the Atonement of Christ. This doesn't mean that we won't have afflictions, or that it won't be hard, but that His Spirit will be with us and help us to not see the sorrow, but to focus on Christ in all that we do. It was a neat experience.
Another neat experience we had was one night we were bloc knocking again, and were at the last door (most of the people hadn't been home) and a lady came into the bloc and started unlocking her apartment next to us. Sora Jones started talking to her, and she invited us in and we were able to teach her the Restoration. The neat thing was that Sora Jones started the lesson by telling her about the Book of Mormon, that we believe that it's scripture, and that we were there to tell her about that book. So we started our lesson, and all through the lesson, she kept asking us "ok, but what about that book?" "Yes, I understand God works through a Prophet, so how does that relate to that book?" And then we got to the Joseph Smith story, and told her that she could know if it was true by reading the Book of Mormon, where she replied by saying that she didn't have one. We told her the one that was on the table was for her to have, and she lit up so bright. "Really!? Oh, thank you so much! I can't wait to read this!" and then went on talking about how she knew that it was going to bless her life and she was so excited. She was just so hungry for the Book of Mormon, and it was a great lesson. We have found that the most effective contacting we do is when we use the Book of Mormon in our contacting. We read them a verse, or introduce it to them as a part of the message that we want to share with them, and it's been hard, but really neat to see how people's hearts are softened (for the most part) when we open up the Book of Mormon to them. Even if they're not willing to accept our message or learn more, they are always willing to listen when we start talking about the Book of Mormon. It's because it's true, and because we as missionaries love it, and we go out to tell people about something we love. It's amazing.
Also, it's been raining almost non-stop, which makes it really hard to work some days, but it's making everything here so green, and we're having fun. On one particular night we were frustrated and going home after a long day without any success, it was raining really hard, and spontaneously Sora Jones and I both started puddle jumping. We were out waiting for our bus to come at 8:45pm, huddling the 2 of us underneath a small umbrella that was starting to break, while standing in the middle of a big puddle that we had just jumped in (after many other puddles on our way to the bus stop) and the umbrella was kind of keeping all of us dry. But the puddle jumping caused everything from my knees down to be soaked. But it was really fun, and we had a good laugh over how ridiculous we were being. It was fun.
On Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on how the Temple blesses our daily lives. It was fun to prepare, and I think that most of it made sense. I probably made some gramatical faux-pas, but oh well. The branch members understood what I was trying to say. But the 3 points that I gave were that the Temple helps us to focus on the Atonement of Christ, understanding that it is only through Him that we can return to the presence of Heavenly Father (and it's in the Temple that we begin to learn how to understand what it means to be in God's presence), the Temple gives us a pattern to help our homes become a heaven on earth, and when we strive to make the Temple a part of our lives (even if we can't go regularly but we are always worthy and keep it as our goal) we will be endowed with power, knowledge, protection, and love from our Heavenly Father.
It was really fun to study and prepare for that talk - and then translating my notes into Romanian for 4-5 hours was another blast. lol But it was good. Also, a lot of people in Romania don't really know how to be parents, so I love using examples of my mom and dad to help them understand that things always need to be done out of love even when a child does something bad, or even if it means to discipline the child instead of sitting and just telling them that they're not allowed to be doing what you are watching them do. It's interesting.
Sora Jones (who is amazing and I love her) and I taught Relief Society and in it I used an example of something that mom does to help us around the house. One of the members from thenceforth started describing mom as "draguta" (said dragutsah) which means "cute" in our sense. So now because my mom is a good mother, she is known to the women in Brasov as the "mother so cute". It made me smile.
The family reunion that you had sounds like so much fun! I'm glad that Jenna didn't get too lost when you went mountain biking, but got found again, and that everyone had fun.
I hope that everything keeps going amazingly for you all. I am doing great. I am loving the work regardless how hard it is sometimes, and every day I go home knowing that this is the truth, and everyone needs to know it. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have about the truth of the gospel. I am so so so thankful for you all, for my family, and I love you all so very much!
I love you always, and I'll write more next week! Always, --Sora Karina
Ps. Mom, can you please send me an email with the story about how Grandma and Grandpa Curtis met, and how Grandma and Grandpa Coy met and how they got married and such? We were talking about it as missionaries, and I realized I don't know those stories, and they would be fun to know. And I want to see pictures of Maudie's wedding if you can. Thanks! Love you!
psps- Sora Thompson - Ce faci? Fac eu foarte bine exact cum ai citit deja, dar, cred ca esti bine deasemenea. Este foarte distractiv ca Eric vine in curand, si familia ta este frumoasa. Familia mea a avut o petrecere impreuna septamana trecuta, si a fost bine sa ascult cum a mers pentru tine. Felicitari pentru scholarsipul tau (nu stiu ce este cuvantul, dar stii ce incerc sa zic). Va fi foarte bine. Si cand incepi scoala din nou? Stiu ca este prea repede, dar sper ca esti pregatita si entusiasmata. Te iubesc foarte mult, si ai o septamana plecuta. Distractia plecuta intotdeauna! Cu dragi, --Sora Karina
First I'll tell you about how hard the work is right now, but we've had some neat experiences with it. We went bloc knocking and it was really hard. (Blocs are the apartment buildings people live in.) We got kicked out of one bloc (somewhat nicely) and no one wanted to look at us, let alone give us the 2 seconds needed to start testifying. But the last bloc we went to for the night, I rang into it and I was struggling with the language after the lady who answered started asking me questions like who I was and who I was trying to see. She recognized that I was saying things really wrong (which was giving Sora Jones cause to look at me funny while she tried to figure out what I had just tried to say) and she asked me what language I speak, so I answered in Romanian that I speak English but I'm trying to learn Romanian. She responded in close to perfect English saying, "Ok, I'll let you in, but only because you speak Romanian." And opened the door. Holy Cow.
She wasn't interested in our message, but she took a pliant (pamphlet), was really nice and said maybe she'll come to church to see how it is. I hope that she does some day. But after talking to her we prayed to thank Heavenly Father that we got into that bloc, that someone was nice to us, and to ask for the spirit back because with the past 2 blocs, and the most recent getting kicked out of, the spirit of contention was a lot stronger than the spirit of God. So we prayed for that, and from the top of the bloc to the bottom, still no one wanted to listen to our message, but the Spirit was burning stronger and stronger in our hearts with each door, and I know that the Lord blessed us with that. It's like it says in Alma 31:38 - If we go to work and do everything that we need to do, the Lord will not suffer us to have any afflictions save they be swallowed up in the Atonement of Christ. This doesn't mean that we won't have afflictions, or that it won't be hard, but that His Spirit will be with us and help us to not see the sorrow, but to focus on Christ in all that we do. It was a neat experience.
Another neat experience we had was one night we were bloc knocking again, and were at the last door (most of the people hadn't been home) and a lady came into the bloc and started unlocking her apartment next to us. Sora Jones started talking to her, and she invited us in and we were able to teach her the Restoration. The neat thing was that Sora Jones started the lesson by telling her about the Book of Mormon, that we believe that it's scripture, and that we were there to tell her about that book. So we started our lesson, and all through the lesson, she kept asking us "ok, but what about that book?" "Yes, I understand God works through a Prophet, so how does that relate to that book?" And then we got to the Joseph Smith story, and told her that she could know if it was true by reading the Book of Mormon, where she replied by saying that she didn't have one. We told her the one that was on the table was for her to have, and she lit up so bright. "Really!? Oh, thank you so much! I can't wait to read this!" and then went on talking about how she knew that it was going to bless her life and she was so excited. She was just so hungry for the Book of Mormon, and it was a great lesson. We have found that the most effective contacting we do is when we use the Book of Mormon in our contacting. We read them a verse, or introduce it to them as a part of the message that we want to share with them, and it's been hard, but really neat to see how people's hearts are softened (for the most part) when we open up the Book of Mormon to them. Even if they're not willing to accept our message or learn more, they are always willing to listen when we start talking about the Book of Mormon. It's because it's true, and because we as missionaries love it, and we go out to tell people about something we love. It's amazing.
Also, it's been raining almost non-stop, which makes it really hard to work some days, but it's making everything here so green, and we're having fun. On one particular night we were frustrated and going home after a long day without any success, it was raining really hard, and spontaneously Sora Jones and I both started puddle jumping. We were out waiting for our bus to come at 8:45pm, huddling the 2 of us underneath a small umbrella that was starting to break, while standing in the middle of a big puddle that we had just jumped in (after many other puddles on our way to the bus stop) and the umbrella was kind of keeping all of us dry. But the puddle jumping caused everything from my knees down to be soaked. But it was really fun, and we had a good laugh over how ridiculous we were being. It was fun.
On Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on how the Temple blesses our daily lives. It was fun to prepare, and I think that most of it made sense. I probably made some gramatical faux-pas, but oh well. The branch members understood what I was trying to say. But the 3 points that I gave were that the Temple helps us to focus on the Atonement of Christ, understanding that it is only through Him that we can return to the presence of Heavenly Father (and it's in the Temple that we begin to learn how to understand what it means to be in God's presence), the Temple gives us a pattern to help our homes become a heaven on earth, and when we strive to make the Temple a part of our lives (even if we can't go regularly but we are always worthy and keep it as our goal) we will be endowed with power, knowledge, protection, and love from our Heavenly Father.
It was really fun to study and prepare for that talk - and then translating my notes into Romanian for 4-5 hours was another blast. lol But it was good. Also, a lot of people in Romania don't really know how to be parents, so I love using examples of my mom and dad to help them understand that things always need to be done out of love even when a child does something bad, or even if it means to discipline the child instead of sitting and just telling them that they're not allowed to be doing what you are watching them do. It's interesting.
Sora Jones (who is amazing and I love her) and I taught Relief Society and in it I used an example of something that mom does to help us around the house. One of the members from thenceforth started describing mom as "draguta" (said dragutsah) which means "cute" in our sense. So now because my mom is a good mother, she is known to the women in Brasov as the "mother so cute". It made me smile.
The family reunion that you had sounds like so much fun! I'm glad that Jenna didn't get too lost when you went mountain biking, but got found again, and that everyone had fun.
I hope that everything keeps going amazingly for you all. I am doing great. I am loving the work regardless how hard it is sometimes, and every day I go home knowing that this is the truth, and everyone needs to know it. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have about the truth of the gospel. I am so so so thankful for you all, for my family, and I love you all so very much!
I love you always, and I'll write more next week! Always, --Sora Karina
Ps. Mom, can you please send me an email with the story about how Grandma and Grandpa Curtis met, and how Grandma and Grandpa Coy met and how they got married and such? We were talking about it as missionaries, and I realized I don't know those stories, and they would be fun to know. And I want to see pictures of Maudie's wedding if you can. Thanks! Love you!
psps- Sora Thompson - Ce faci? Fac eu foarte bine exact cum ai citit deja, dar, cred ca esti bine deasemenea. Este foarte distractiv ca Eric vine in curand, si familia ta este frumoasa. Familia mea a avut o petrecere impreuna septamana trecuta, si a fost bine sa ascult cum a mers pentru tine. Felicitari pentru scholarsipul tau (nu stiu ce este cuvantul, dar stii ce incerc sa zic). Va fi foarte bine. Si cand incepi scoala din nou? Stiu ca este prea repede, dar sper ca esti pregatita si entusiasmata. Te iubesc foarte mult, si ai o septamana plecuta. Distractia plecuta intotdeauna! Cu dragi, --Sora Karina
Monday, July 6, 2009
Happy Birthday, America!!
Me and my companion, Sora Jones
This is our district, two other sets of missionaries.
This is me on one of the seven sets of stairs that we climbed to see the waterfalls.
My dearest family,
My dearest family,
First off – HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY!
We had a fun time celebrating that here in Romania. We got together and made some good American food – chili cheese hot dogs with a vegetable platter with Ranch dressing and home-made root beer. If you didn't know, Ranch doesn't exist in this country (we made it from Ranch packets that people's moms had sent from home) and neither does root beer (you make it from root beer extract, add it to mineral water and then add sugar and you're good to go) and they definitely don't make hot dogs the same way we do. But we invited the branch to celebrate with us and a bunch of people actually came up and we had 3-legged races, wheelbarrow races, water mellon eating contests and seed spitting contests, duck-duck goose, musical chairs, and twister. So much fun!
Earlier that day we had our English class, and before the spiritual thought that we invite everyone to join each time, this crazy lady that is a beginning student had everyone stand up and sang us “La Multi Ani” or their happy birthday song, to America, and then presented us (the missionaries) with refreshment and wine. Funny! I don't know what happened to the wine because we considered lighting it on fire for our fireworks, but that of course didn't happen, but it was a good laugh!
Second – Happy Wedding Aunt Maudie! I hope that it was beautiful weather and lots of fun and good times, I missed you all and thought of you and I know it was just great.
Third – Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I love you both and miss you lots, but hope that you were able to have a fun anniversary together, and that you actually got to do something since the past couple tries haven't really worked out too well lol! But I hope it was a great day.
Ok, now for me. The 7 stairs place that we went last week was really fun – it was quite a hike, and it was gorgeous right in the hearts of the greenest forests I've ever seen. It's so easy to see how the fairy tales were created when you look at these landscapes. But I'll try to send pictures of that if the computer here at internet is cooperative ;}
Today for fun we are going up to the ruins in Rasnov and to the castle in Bran. The castle is only open on Wednesdays so we won't be able to go inside, but this past week we ran into 2 Australian boys who were touring Eastern Europe for “holiday” and went up to Bran Castle (they were lost at the bus stop so we helped them to find their way) and we ran into them again after they came back and in their own words “It was nothing but a bunch of rooms filled with uninspiring wooden furniture” so apparently we're not missing much by just looking at it from the outside, but it will still be fun.
As for the work, it is going slow and steady and hard, but it is going, and I am enjoying so much my time with Sora Jones. We are learning a lot and working hard and I wouldn't have it any other way right now. Even when big things aren't happening, you can still see the hand of the Lord in your life and in this work, and we can know that He loves us so much, and that is what gives us the motivation to keep going: love. Love from God for us, for His children that we're talking to every day, our love for this people, and our love for the Lord. It truly is a blessing to see the relationship that you can have with God when you try to do all that you can in what He has asked of you. It is so wonderful.
But I love you all so so very much! I hope that you're having fun and taking care of yourselves. I pray for all of you always, and I'll talk to you next week! Love you!Always, --Sora Karina
P.S. Don't forget that this Wednesday is Zack's Birthday, and this Sunday is Elder Pardus' Birthday.
Psps – Sora Thompson: Stiu ca nu mai sunt in Arad, dar ma distrez foarte mult cu Sora Jones, si mie dor de tine. Sper ca vara merge foarte bine si ca esti fericita cu tot. Te iubesc! --Sora Karina
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
