3 Stories......

Hello.

What's up? How's life?

Life here in Constanta, Romania is pretty sick. Whenever I start these emails I have to think back to the week I have had and everytime I do, the amount of experiences we go through each week shocks me. In the last seven days, I have probably talked to over 60 different people, drawn the Plan of Salvation in three different parks, caught a ridiculous amount of buses, taxis etc., taught English twice, eaten a delicious pastry called Covrig, invited a group of 10 people to repent without using priests (that one was intense), been thanked for what I am doing here, I have also been told to leave the country because of what I am doing here. People I have done so much more than that I just can't put it all into words. I LOVE it. Missions are funny because we are constantly planning but our plans are also constantly unraveling so we are always on our feet, trying to figure out how to be the most effective. Especially this week. Last week we had three different people tell us they had the desire to be baptized then this week we met with one of them. But that is okay people have agency. Agency is insanely frustrating to plan with but I know that when people use their agency to close the door to the gospel Heavenly Father uses miracles to open new doors.

Some Stories:

It was one of our favorite english students birthday on saturday so we made him a cake and brought a happy birthday banner to english. Then after class we all played games and celebrated with him. When we brought out the banner he sat down and said "I will try not to cry." Considering that this guy is 24 years old 5'11" and probably 200 lbs of muscle it was a really cute tender moment. One of the coolest parts about serving in a country where not a lot of people know about the church is when they first meet us and start spending time with us they feel so good but they have no idea why, so we get to explain it. So yeah that was really fun, at the party we played the game "Big Booty" which requires repeating the words Big Booty a lot and hearing a bunch of Romanians repeat that over and over in their accent is hilarious.

Story Number 2

We took a book out of Sora tebas and Anderson's book and did some grateful list contacting. We would walk up to people and ask them to write down what they are most grateful for. Sora Mits has been doing awesome in the language and sp we are taking turns making contacts now. We walked to this older couple talking to a security guard in the park we just smiled and said Buna but as we walked past the lady looked at us and said "Staiti! (wait)" So we turned around and she grabbed sora Mits nose and said "scumpa mea" which translates to my expensive but actually means my cutie. So Sora Mits took that as the opportunity to contact them. They kind of missed the point of the activity and ended up writing us a note telling us that they were thankful for us and to always smile, then the security guard wrote us a poem, (he may have been a little tipsy so the poem is interesting) we talked with the couple a little about putting Christ at the center of our lives and it was a solid conversation. They wife just kept saying "bravo, bravo, frumos" It was super funny. They wished lots of health and good as we split ways the husband also told us to stay away from the guard so that was nice. I love contacting because we almost always get to bear testimony and we almost always come back with some hilarious stories.

Story Number 3

We met with Mercy twice this week, she is doing awesome! We ran through the baptism questions with her and she bore testimony to us of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It is amazing to see how much she had progressed from the time I met her. I have gotten to the point where I can just be 100% honest with her and it is awesome. We don't feel nervous about discussing baptism and she is 100% honest with us and it makes this whole inviting her unto Christ a lot easier. It is all about communication people!! Mercy has been reading from the Book of Mormon and it is changing her life! I take no credit for where Mercy is at right now. She is finding joy not through us but through the Book of Mormon and we are just along for the ride and I am so grateful to be here for it/

Branch Update

The Constanta branch is AWESOME!! We have three incredible families, that come to church every week! We have about 35 each week. The sacrament room is getting full, I can totally see Constanta having a real chapel very soon. Our branch president is a solid guy. He was baptized 5 years ago and now holds the keys to building the branch here in Constanta, that is pretty crazy huih? We were talking about it the other day and we realized that pretty much every member in Romania is a convert. Every single member has had incredible conversion stories and I am so grateful for their examples. I will a different member of this church when I get home I know that for sure!

Food for thought

Faith. What exactly is faith and how can we develop more? Faith to me is consistently being obedient to the commandments of Heavenly Father even if we don't see results immediately or even for months. Faith is a trust and confidence that if we are doing what God has asked us to do we are doing what is right. Even when what He has asked us to do is hard, really hard. Faith is stepping into the darkness, that darkness is different for all of us, for us right now that darkness is contacting everytime we walk up to someone we are putting everything on the line, our pride, our religion, all the things we care about most we just put them out there and we have faith that God will fill our mouths and lead us to those prepared people. In order to grow our faith we have to continually step into that darkness. For others that darkness could be beginning to read the Book of Mormon, or going to college, or getting baptized or married, or it could be as simple as getting down on our knees and praying to God.

Family, friends, homies I beg you to grow your faith, take a step into the darkness TRUST that God will be there and that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. It is those steps in the darkness that lead us to a greater joy than we can ever imagine I promise!

Va Iubesc!

Sora Armstrong