Joy in Every Moment

Me and Sora Gogu, my new companion

Monday, May 31, 2010

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I really hope that all is well. This week was a really great one.

On Tuesday the Boboci came in (bohboche) or the new missionaries. Boboc is Romanian for "duckling" which is a perfect description of how you feel when you arrive in the country. You don't know anything, you realize exactly how little you know, and all you do is follow whoever is leading at the moment, and that's pretty much how it goes. So we got to take them out for their first night. There are three new sisters (boboace - bohbwachay) And we got them a saorma (shahohrmah) to eat which is a really yummy romanian chicken wrap, to describe it simply, and then we parted ways.

Sora Hupp took one of the boboace with her and Sora Jay (a sister that was with us because her companion went home) to go teach a lesson to one of our recent converts. Sora Hupp was scared to death because Cornel, the person they were teaching, doesn't speak English at all, and Sora Hupp is in her 2nd transfer. Sora Jay is in her 1st transfer, and then they had a boboaca. But they did fine just like I knew that they would. Plus it's experiences like that, that help you realize how much you really know and that you are capable to do more than what you've been getting by with for the past little while.

I took the other 2 boboace with me to go and teach Adrian a lesson. I told Adrian that he needed to speak in Romanian the whole time (because usually we teach him in English) and he did a good job until I translated something back and forth between him and the boboace and he said in English "Sora Karina, if you're going to translate, then I'm not going to speak in Romanian anymore." Both of the boboace said "Awwww, not fair!" and my response was "Yes, he speaks perfectly but he's not allowed to speak in English!" And he called out something from the kitchen where he was at the time, and we went on from there. It was funny, but it went well. We did teach him in Romanian, and he was able to help the sisters with what they were trying to say. They weren't exactly confident with what they wanted to say - until I asked them to testify about the restoration of the church. That is when it seemed that they didn't care about the mistakes that they made... they just wanted so bad to express their feelings about the truth that they know. And that is when the Spirit of God carries what they say - correctly spoken or not - to the hearts of all present. We each three testified, and then I asked Adrian if he would express his testimony to them, too.

I loved the experience of being able to sit there, and to feast on the Spirit that was so tangible, that was so real, bearing testimony of the truths that we were saying, and being able to share in the joy that we have each found from this knowledge and living in accordance to that knowledge. I asked them how they felt about the lesson afterward and they said "Holy cow! We're actually in Romania, teaching in Romanian to a Romanian!" Yeah, that's how it goes. But it was way fun, and they did great.

Wednesday was transfers which is always tiring whether you are traveling or not, but all went well. I was sad to say goodbye to Sora Hupp, but I'm excited to serve with Sora Gogu. She is from the Republic of Moldova and her first language is Russian. She knows Romanian very well though (it's her 2nd or 3rd language, and one of the main languages in parts of her country) and she knows a little English. She can understand most of it if you speak slowly, and she can speak English a little. She is learning though. We speak Romanian together all the time (obviously) except for our one hour during lunch. We speak in English then to help her learn better how to speak. (Except I'm forgetting it a little as you can see! Ha, ha)

But I am enjoying serving with her. She doesn't walk as fast as I do so I'm needing to learn how to walk slower. (lol) Other than that things are going really well. Adrian was confirmed a member of the church yesterday and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was wonderful.

Church was really nice. As we were sitting in Sunday School, some things were said that really made me think. We were talking about the Atonement of Christ, what it is, how He sacrificed everything for us, why it is necessary for our salvation and so on. Then the question was asked, how do we apply the Atonement in our life? The answer was given that we have faith in Him, we repent daily, we are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost through His authority and then renew the covenants made through the sacrament each week and endure to the end. The teacher than said "Yes, and enduring to the end is one of the most important things, and it is hard work isn't it? We have a lot to do because we're not finished and we need to try to work as much as we can to stay on that path." Then I realized how boring that sounds. And not only boring but discouraging. yeah, come to the way of Christ which is the way of truth and light, and then get ready for a bunch of hard work that you need to endure. But it's not like that. I spoke up and said that enduring to the end is hard work, but really all it is, is being able to enjoy to the end the blessings that come from the Atonement and from being on the path of Christ.

I think that so many times we forget what the purpose of the commandments and of church and of all the things that we try so hard to do all the time really is. It is to have joy. The purpose of God giving us the choice to come to this earth - and the reason why we chose to come here - is so that one day we will be able to have the fullness of all that the Father has, a fullness of His joy. And yes, it is hard work, and yes there will still be trials and a bunch of not pleasant things that will happen in life, but with the knowledge and testimony of the gospel and the hope that we are able to have through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we truly can have that joy now, or at least a part of it which helps us to get to the end when we will truly be able to have that fullness.

The gospel is amazing that way. When we keep the commandments, we are happy. When we read the scriptures and strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father through prayer, we are happy. When we are doing all we can to be our very best and we are striving to improve our character and serve others we are happy. And it shows in our faces when we do this. Perfect example is Irina. I told you about her last week how she is homeless and how she came to church just to see if she could find a place that would accept her and give her peace. Well, we've been working with her throughout this week and the change that can be seen in her is beautiful.

At the beginning she was shy and slightly ashamed of herself and although she accepted her situation and said that she was happy because there are people who have it worse than her, you could tell that she wasn't happy with who she was, and she was still feeling the guilt of her life pushing down on her. But in just one week the change has been dramatic and wonderful. She is reading the Book of Mormon and is praying to God - knowing that He loves her and that He will help her. She is searching for answers in the scriptures and she gets so excited when she finds them. She knows that she is in a bad situation, but she has a hope for the future and knows that she can pick herself up and start again, and she is trying to do this. She told us that she wants to get baptized and I told her that I was really excited for her, and I wanted to know why she wants this so bad and her answer touched me. "Because through baptism I will make a covenant with God, and I will become His. When I am immersed in the water, the old Irina dies, and when I come up out of the water, I can be clean, and I can truly say that I am a daughter of God. I will be able to be proud to say that Jesus Christ suffered for me, because I will have began to do what He has shown me that I must do, and I will be doing all that I can to thank Him." She got that without us teaching her what baptism is. She knew that because she had read the Bible, still had some questions and while she was reading the Book of Mormon she felt the Spirit testify that those words were a true confirmation of what she wanted to know. She prayed, and her prayers are so precious and sincere, telling God how happy she is that she found the place where He wants her to be and how happy she is knowing that she will be following Him soon by being baptized.

She is getting baptized this next Sunday, and her countenance shows how happy she is with or without a smile on her face. The difference and fullness of the gospel can be seen just by looking at her eyes. This gospel is true, and if ever there is a problem in our lives that needs to be solved, the greatest foundation on which we can build is the love of God found here in the restored church of Jesus Christ. Yes, God loves all of His children no matter where they are and no matter what they are doing. But it is here that they will be able to receive the fullness of the blessings that He wants to give to us because of that love - and that foundation will give us the strength in the time of any problem or trial so that we can move forward and truly enjoy to the end of each day and each moment.

I'm sorry that I don't really have any funny stories to tell you about this week - it was a great week, and yes I did laugh a lot as usual, but if I explained my laughter it would confirm the fact that I'm slightly crazy, and it would just be better to laugh about those things together anyways.

But I hope that you are all having an amazing week and that everything is going well. It is the beginning of the summer - enjoy it! Take care, and smile lots. I love you all so so so very much. I know that I say that each week, but regardless how many "so"s I put in there it just never seems to be sufficient. But I love you lots! tehe. Have a great day.

Always. --Sora Karina