a time like no other

Dear family and everyone who is just so amazing, and I love all of you,

How are you doing? I'm doing great. This week was amazing and full of miracles. The Elders are teaching this boy named George and on Monday of last week he decided to get baptized - This Saturday, or rather He was baptized 2 days ago. He is amazing, and it was so neat to see the miracles all falling together. He's been looking for the truth since he was 14 years old, and said that the closest thing he'd found was in the Adventist Church, but he still knew it wasn't the whole truth. Then one day he walked into our English classes, came to church, and in the first lesson he prayed "God, I know that it will be hard for my family when I decide to get baptized in this church, so please bless them that they will be ok when that happens." Amazing right? And the Lord did perform a miracle and though his family didn't come or anything, they weren't against it and instead were blessed with indifference. But George said that he's sure that one day they will want to know why he did what they didn't care about, and he will share it with them so that they too can know the truth.

This is the most amazing thing - when you find something so precious, all you want to do is share it with those that you love. Sometimes you need to wait until they are ready to listen, but always you are ready and praying for the opportunity to come so that they can find the joy that you found. This is the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ - you find joy, and then you share it with everyone, and they find joy and they share it, and that is how the gospel works, it is built in a way so that we can all share in the joy.

One of our members did that - Even though we only have a few members that come, we do have a branch president (though no counselors) and his wife invited her sister to come to church. She came, and we are teaching her, and she wants to get baptized on the 10th of April, the weekend after Easter. When I asked her to pray to know specifically if these things were true that we were talking about, she said "well, of course they're true. I see how happy you are about it, and I see all the blessings that have come into my sister's life because of it, how could it not be true?" She's right, but I told her that she still needed to receive a confirming witness from the Holy Ghost about the truth, because God wants her to believe it herself, not just because I say so. So she said that she would and then said "But because I know it's true, God is just going to tell me, 'Lili, you're right, it's true'" and I said "good, then you already know what answer to look for, and you'll find it." It was neat.

But the Lord is blessing our entire mission - there were 3 other baptisms this past Saturday aside from George's and it is just so neat to see how people really can change their lives and find joy. The people of Romania have lost so much hope throughout the years, but Christ is our hope - our eternal hope, and He has made it possible for us to have a hope in a better world. We can all find that hope.

Well, it's starting to warm up here, but this past week it snowed again (grrr) I just want it to be spring. And today it practically is - really nice, little wind, and the sun is out. I hope it's not just a trend but that it catches on and continues cuz it's really nice. Oh, and I got the package that was sent forever ago from the Young Women - thanks, it was fun to read all the notes and such. And pixie stix - I haven't had those in forever and they are amazing, along with the other goodies that were in there, it was fun. And Jenna is 16 today!!!!! Happy birthday, or rather, LA MULTI ANI!!! That's crazy, but I hope it's just an amazing day. We'll celebrate out here by playing scatergories and monopoly, k? ok.

In other news, Sora Hardy and I are going to be teaching the temple preparation class to the 3 people from Galati who are going for the first time in April on the Temple trip. I'm excited for that.

And oh my goodness, the cockroaches attacked us. They used to be little, and now they all of a sudden turned fat and really big and ugly and black. We have this spray stuff and we sprayed our whole house and then left for the rest of the day so that we wouldn't inhale the cockroach poison. So now we're finding a lot of them dead on their backs. Eew. But it's ok, the attack of the cockroaches is over I hope. And for those of you who saw the picture of me on the beach, there wasn't anyone around to get mad at me for writing it on the beach, although the Elders made fun of me a little bit for doing it, but it is a family tradition and I thought it would be fun. After the picture was taken, I kicked it out of the sand so you couldn't tell, so it was fine.

And mommy, I am so proud of you for learning to play the organ. Isn't it fun? I had so much fun learning how to play it, but it is scary playing it in front of people because the organ isn't like the piano at all except the notes are called the same thing. But it sounds like you're doing great, and I'm excited to hear you play when I get home - we should do an organ duet cuz that would just be so much fun! And how is the lacrosse season going so far? I hope it's going great.
And now some questions. I was studying out of Preach My Gospel the other day and there is an activity that talks about looking forward to the end of your service to see what you want to be and such. And I have done that activity many times, and it never fails to make me think. But this time, when I was thinking of what I wanted, I wondered what you all are expecting. Ok, these are the questions: 1) What do you want to say I have done as a missionary? 2) What do you want me to have become? 3) What differences would you want to notice in me? So those are the questions edited so they make sense on your side, and I would appreciate it if you would answer them so that I can stop wondering your side of it. Anyone who wants to can answer, it's not just a family thing, But don't respond to the blog, cuz I don't have any part with that. Just send your response to karina.coy@myldsmail.net if you would like, and I would love to read it. Thanks.

Other than that, The funny Romanian language tip of the day isn't a saying, but still rather funny. When you are reading in fairy tales you read about "once upon a time", "treasure and gold coins" and "happily ever after." Well, in Romanian you have "A fost o data ca niciodata "(there was a time like no other time), "bijuterii si galbeni" (jewelry and yellow - they say galbeni which is the color yellow instead of saying gold coins) and "Ei au trait fericiti pana batranete" (and they lived happy until their old age). Ha! I love it! Well, I love you all too, more than Romanian fairy tales, and I hope that you are having a great day - I know that I am.

Keep having fun, keep finding those little reasons to smile. I know that God lives and that His one true desire is for us all to be happy, and it is just so great to be happy. Love you! Always, --Sora Karina