Stoked on the Plan

Hey fam bam,
Today has been a crazy pday! So this will be quick.
This week has been awesome! We had two activities the first one was on the book of mormon. I thought it would be a brilliant idea to make mexican food for about 60 people. The idea sounded great and then we realized that you cannot buy tortillas in Moldova so about 100 tortillas later I am writing you now to let you know that it was not a good idea. We did it though with the help of the other soras and sora cooley. We made a lot of tortillas a lot of salsa and a lot of meat. I also graded a ton of cheese and made the white sauce for the burritos. The members loved it! Watching the moldovans try and figure out how to eat the burritos was hilarious they did not want to do it with their hands so they all just kind of picked out the parts they liked but everyone was asking for more so I think it was all worth it. The activity went well. We had a speaker come from Bucharest one of the coolest things he said was that the Book of Mormon translated into romanian has mistakes because it was translated by men but the Book of Mormon in english because it was translated bu God through a man. SO COOL!! Every morning as I read from the Book of Mormon I just get more and more STOKED on the gospel. The other day we said our prayer for companionship study and Sora Black looks at me and goes what did you study and I looked at her and said I AM STOKED ON THE PLAN OF SALVATION!! She laughed for about 5 minutes. The gospel is incredible my friends, study it, use it, LOVE it!
Other fun things that happened this week. I translated yesterday in Sacrament meeting for fast and testimony meeting. I am always nervous translating for stuff like this because you never know what is going to be said. Sora Black and I were switching off. So the first guy that I start translating for, starts with "brother and sister" in english so I am like okay cool english I can chill then starts speaking in romanian about a ping pong tournament that happened at the church 10 years ago so I start translating again then he switches into russian and I was just like okay I have no idea what he is saying. So then it is Sora Black's turn she does an incredible job translating she gives the mic back to me the another stands up and starts going off in RUSSIAN and I was like okay we have an all russian branch people it starts at 11 not 9! Anyway that was fun.
Some awesome stuff has been happening here and we are working with the coolest people!
Yesterday we went and made soup with Dina and her mom. We met her dad and her younger brother also.Her family is great and her parents seem to like us. We also had an awesome lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dina is preparing to be baptized she feels like right now it is still far away but we were able to promise her that if she continues to come to church to study the book of mormon and to pray sincerely she will be ready. Getting to know her family was great because now we understand her situation a lot better and can really help her in all aspects of her life. She also informed me that I peel potatoes wrong. When I get home I am going to have a whole different style of cooking all these moldovans are always correcting me on my kitchen skills.
Okay then we had another miracle happen with Natalia Botnar. We have been working with her a lot and just have not been able to get her to church. We decided to really be bold with her and commit her to fasting with us. We fasted for her to be able to resolve the problems she is currently having with her son and husband. We called her and started our fast together and then she came to church on Sunday!!! She loved it and you could see how happy it made her. She was loving the lessons and when we called her to break the fast she was audibly doing so much better. She came to church and was rejuvenated by the spirit. And we could see it! So cool. AMAZING things are happening.

It really is incredible how the Lord is preparing these people for amazing things. I am so grateful that I have the chance to just get to know and interact with such amazing humans. Elder Ballard will be visiting us this month and he has challenged us missionaries to have 10 meaningful gospel conversations a day. So guess what my people? That is my challenge for you! The conversation does not have to include Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon but as you talk with your friends and neighbors with the people you interact with each day, try to make your conversations MEANINGFUL. As baptized members of this church we have the Holy Ghost with us we will be guided and can become tools in God's hands if we are praying and searching for opportunities, take the time to ask how people are, let them know you care, my favorite quote from president Ivory this week is "love people, celebrate people, lift people." There is my challenge for you all. If I can have 10 of these conversations in romanian, you can all do it in english for sure!
Cu drag,
Sora Armstrong