Wooooohoooo General Conference at the MTC is one gigantic party. We barely had a schedule, all we had to do was listen to men and women of God instruct and guide us and then we got to go walk around the Provo temple grounds and it was just a beautiful, beautiful weekend. I loved how the general authorities chose to speak in their native language, this church truly is a global church. We also got a sweet shout out to Romania which way cool. It felt like as soon as they said it everybody looked at us five little romanian missionaries and we just sat there beaming. Being in the MTC sometimes it feels I'm not actually on a mission, it feels like I am just at some version of EFY on steriods. Hearing so much about missionary work during general conference was a great reminder of what I am doing and why I am here.
This week was great. The language is coming, the theme of our class is pas cu pas (step by step) At times it feels like learning Romanian is impossible especially because we are getting into the nitty gritty grammar right now but I know that it is not impossible. Because God has called me to use the Romanian language to proclaim his gospel and just as he commanded Nephi to go and get the plates from a ruthless terrifying man He has commanded me to share his gospel. I know that the Lord provided a way for Nephi to obtain the plates and I know that if I work my hardest the Lord will prepare a way for me to obtain the language of Romanian. Without faith we are nothing. I would not be able to wake up everyday if I did not have faith that my Heavenly Father would provide me with strength to accomplish what he has asked of me.
Okay so funny story we walked up to the temple on saturday with part of our zone to stretch our legs in between sessions. As we are walking we are just talking about conference and life (totally normal for a bunch of 19 year old kids right) and one of the elders looks at me and goes "so Sora Armstrong what is the key to a girl's heart?" I just about died laughing. I was so taken aback I had no idea how to answer him or where that question came from. I love how here at the MTC we are all so focused on learning languages and strengthening our testimonies but at the same time we are just a bunch of kids and we can still have some great times. We have a lot of elders in our zone that our fresh out of high school and they are so goofy at meal times but then they get up and bear these beautiful testimonies.
That reminds me last night we had a devotional by Elder Nielson from the 70. He said that God called Joseph Smith because He had to show us that anyone can receive personal revelation. Think about all the prophets God has ever called they have all been so humble. If God had restored the gospel through a political figure we would have said "you have to be a prominent learned man to receive revelation" if he had done it through a minister we would have said "you have top be a minister" He revealed the gospel to a 14 year old boy to show us all that even the humblest of men can receive answers to their questions. Even you and me. That is why we are called as missionaries at 18 and 19 because we must be humble enough to obey the will of the Lord perfectly in order to do his work. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. This week my colega and I memorized the first vision in Romanian and wow was the spirit there when we recited it. There has been very few times when I have felt the spirit woosh into a lesson stronger than when the first vision is read or recited. It truly is a beautiful thing.
The gospel of Jesus Christ can bless everyone! This week during our lesson with George he told us he wasn't feeling anything when he prayed. I asked him if he expected answers when he prayed and what exactly did he expect. He thought for a long time and said he did not pray expecting answers be he wanted peace. I bore my testimony in broken Romanian of course of the fact that we must have faith and desire to feel the peace that this gospel can bring. The way the MTC is run is so inspired I learn so much each day. George is a very sad investigator but each time we meet with him I can see the spirit build him up a little but more. But only when he has a desire to be built up the spirit works that way for all us we must have a desire to be helped and comforted in order to receive comfort from Heavenly Father.
And with that my time is up one more thing that I learned this week. In Alma 7 it talks about how Christ will succor us in the Romanian scriptures there is no good way to translate succor so it just says help us. That makes me kind of sad because succor to me means that Christ will come down to our level and stand with us as we endure trials that we must endure. I feel like help just means he will fix our problems which is not what this life is about. We are to learn and grow (i have that phrase memorized in Romanian I use it a lot) Christ will hold us as we endure our growing pains but if He stopped the growing pains from happening we would never get any taller and we all know how important height is right? (that was me making fun of myself)
Alright my beloved humans I am out. Love you all, thank you for the prayers and keep being the incredible people you are!
Sora Armstrong
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