LAST WEEK IN THE MTC

WOOOOHOOOOO Romania here I come!!!!! Do I know how to say where's the bathroom? or ask for directions or talk about anything not related to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Nope but I am so excited YES!!!!

I am also excited to not eat spinach and peanut butter for every meal. But I have loved the MTC. I have had some incredible opportunities and I have gotten to meet some incredible people. It is so interesting hearing everybody's stories of how or why they are on missions but the basic theme is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE and because of that knowledge our lives have been so blessed and we want everyone in the world to feel the JOY that this gospel has brought. I love being surrounded by missionaries, I feel like a little college basketball player getting to practice with the dream team. So many powerful testimonies.

So this week was great as always. On thursday Sora K and I got to talk to a real Romanian over skype! It was nuts she was so sweet as soon as she started talking I felt this insane overwhelming love for her. It was not a love I could have felt on my own. She was the sweetest lady and invited me and Sora K over to dinner when we get to her area! We shared a message from President Monson's talk about how our Savior has walked all the paths that we might walk. She bore her testimony to us over skype and wow the spirit pretty much nailed me in the face. I was so nervous before we answered the call just because I did not think she would be able to understand my Romanian and as soon as we answered this feeling of peace entered my heart. This is not my message that I am sharing it is the Lord's and he can do all things even help people feel the spirit through skype, SO COOL! I did totally get my numbers mixed up when we went to read a scripture and I asked her to read a verse that did not exist, I also tried to use a word that did not exist but hey we all have to learn to somewhere. The Lord just likes to have me learn through trial and error and embarrassing experiences but now I really know my numbers! This woman was a woman of incredible spiritual strength and I cannot wait to meet her.

We also had a devotional with Chad Lewis. I love that guy! He shared a story about how his old NFL coach Andy Reid had just baptized one of his assitant coaches and when Brother Lewis was hanging with them in his Andy Reid's personal locker room after the cheifs had just beat the patriots Brother Lewis could see that something was different about this coach, there was a light in this guy's eyes that was unmistakable and Coach Reid noticed Brother Lewis trying to figure out what it was. He said "Chad, this guy (I can't remember his name) just got baptized can you tell?" Brother Lewis could tell. That is I am here because this message can help all people, in all places, at all times! I am sharing a message of joy. We are God's children, He loves us. Because He loves us He sent his son to walk among us. Jesus Christ worked miracles then and now He works miracles in our lives. Our Heavenly Father is a God of miracles. The atonement in itself is a miracle. We all sin we all mess up no one is perfect and no one is better than their bother. Through Christ's atonement we can conquer sin, we can be clean, our guilt can be washed away EVERY SINGLE Sunday. Like wow! All that because our Heavenly Father loves us. This gospel applies to each person on this earth individually because Christ knows us individually. He knows that my struggles are different from your struggles but He will succor us both. That is my message. I am so excited to get to Romania.

My goal for the next 18 months is to become a Romanian I want to be immersed completely in the culture, I want to learn everything about these people. Why they do what they do, what they eat, what they are passionate about EVERYTHING! I am so blessed to have this opportunity, I promise each one of you that I will seize it and learn everything I can. 

I love you all remember: no matter who you are, no matter what you have you done, you have a Savior Jesus Christ, whose arms are open wide. Learn of him. 

I love you all, talk to you from Romania next time!!!!!

Sora Armstrong

 

 

 

 

Week #4 in the MTC

Hello Friends and Family,

I hope everyone is doing well, getting ready for Halloween and eating lots of pumpkin flavored things. The food here has not improved with the onset of Fall but that is okay I just eat a lot of Spinach and peanut butter. Life as a missionary is foarte bine (very good). This week has been the strangest week so far. 

On friday Sora Koth and I taught a lesson in english in front of a bunch of MTC teachers. I compared God to a soccer coach and the Book of Mormon to a playbook because our investigator was pretending to be a pro soccer player so that was fun. But during the lesosn I had this weird sense of longing for something like the lesson was lacking something. Then I realized it was lacking Romanian! It was at that point in time that I realized I love the Language of Romanian. Such a cool experience. I have fallen in love with it and I cannot imagine learning anything else. That love makes the days when the grammar goes right over my head and I have no clue what is going on during our lessons with our investigators worth it because I know through the gifts of Heavenly Father and through hard work I can learn this gorgeous, fascinating language. So that was cool.

On saturday we had six hours of lessons and everybody was way loopy so we did a lot of review. At one point Sora Koth had tears running down her face from laughing so hard, I'm not even sure what she was laughing at. We also had a lesson with Florina about repentance, we wrote the five steps and just planned really well for it and it went awesome! Sora Koth still talks way more than I do but I do my best when I am prompted and that's all I can do. George our other investigator is still a work in progress, he still has a hard time praying with faith that he will recieve an answer and we kind of had to crack down and explain that if he does not expect God to help him he will never recognize how God is helping him. But I haven't really had to chastise him again so things are good and we are still friends :). 

Okay then on Sunday Sora Trebas who I just love to death sang Come Thou Fount in sacrament meeting it took me back to sitting on the stand for my farewell and man that feels like FOREVER ago. Wow. Sora Trebas did INCREDIBLE it was one of the prettiest versions I have ever heard. It was truly a tender mercy to hear that song again it brings so much comfort and peace. Heavenly Father knew I needed to hear it.

Okay so get this, Monday our teachers made everyone go to the doctor during class because they could tell they weren't feeling well. Every single Romanian was sick EXCEPT for me. The last three days have been so strange because Sora Trebas and Sora Koth have been sleeping all day long same with Elder Soelberg. On Monday, Sora Routson wasn't feeling good either so I had class alone. SO STRANGE. It was just me and Fraitele Frandsen who is incredible. We talked about how missionaries are the doctors and our investigators are our patients. They come to us becasuse they have symptoms that the Gospel can heal. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has something in it for EVERY single one of God's children. We all suffer from different afflictions but the love of God can heal each of us. I have the opportunity to share that message SO COOL. 

So then Sora Routson was feeling better on Tuesday and she came to gym with me where I broke the dips record! Woot woot, it was 11 and I got 15 my name will now be on the records board twice. I'm pretty proud of myself I also ran a 6:38 mile still terrible but at least I am improving. A sister from our zone came up to me the other day in the cafetaria and said "Sora Armstrong will help me make a salad" haha it was really funny but we made our salads together and I have now converted her to cholua sauce. 

So my district looks like the walking dead because they are all so drugged up on cough syrup and advil and then there is me just hopping along in front of them so they don't get me sick it is a pretty funny picture. 

Okay so spiritual thought of the week: I have been studying the life of Christ in the gospel of Matthew. I really want to get to know my Savior bettter. We watched the movie 'The Testaments' on Sunday night and it showed Christ descending to the Nephites. I know there will come a day when Christ looks at me and He will know everything about me because He died for me and has felt my pains and sufferings. I want to be able to look back at him and know him as much as my mortal state will allow. I loved how when Christ calls Peter and the other apostles they immediately follow him, that is the type of disciple I must strive to be. I have so much I need to change about myself and so much I need to learn but I can change through the atonement we can all change through the atonement. Jesus Christ walked among men and preformed miracles. Miracles take faith, me learning this language will be a miracle but just as Christ can heal someone just by them touching his robe He can help me learn this language. I love my Savior and I know He knows me personally and knows each of you personally.

This was proved to me yet again when our teachers started talking about how in Romania the culture respects boldness. Our teacher said that when people ask questions about why they need to be baptized again or why the Priesthood matters, we need to boldly bear our testimonies and they will respect that. I have never had a problem with the whole boldness thing. When our teacher said that it pumped me up. The way he described that part of the Romanian culture it felt like I was Romanian haha. He said the people do not hide their feelings, if you ask how someone is doing they will give you a straight complete answer I love that. It is right up my ally! Don't worry I will still be careful (maybe) but I know that the Lord knows me and my personality and it was so comforting to have it proven yet again that God has a plan for me and has a plan for all of you.

Family and Friends, I love you, I pray for you, I know that God loves you, find joy in your lives everyday. I promise it is there, choose to be happy! 

Mult Dragoste,

Sora Armstrong

Week # 3 MTC

FAMILY and FRIENDS!!!!

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

Week #2 MTC

Wow wow wow.........another week come and gone. I learn more here in a day than I learned in a semester of college. First off, I am changing as a person. We were in line at the cafeteria when this one worker started giving this guy wearing a University of Utah sweater a super hard time and was just so rude to him. I guess Utah lost pretty bad last weekend. I saw the guy later and APOLOGIZED for how rude the BYU fan had been. Who the heck am I? I was just so embarrassed at how horrible that worker had been. So family and friends, you may not even recognize me by the time I get home. 

Okay, now for some real cool stuff. My testimony of Joseph Smith has grown so much this week. I know that he was a prophet of God and that by humble people are great things brought to pass. Yesterday, my companion and I were doing weekly planning and right now we have two "fake investigators" but we are to treat them as real ones. Florina is one of the investigators. She is a very humble single mom. When we asked her to read a scripture in the lesson, she was very hesitant because she could not read very well. During planning it hit me how important it was that she understand how humble of a person Joseph Smith was and how the Lord used him to do incredible things. Then I saw how incredible Florina could be as a member. She would be just the sweetest member of Relief Society. It was the coolest experience to get see someone's potential.  It was such a testimony to me of what the Lord sees in each of us. Whether we belong to the Mormon Church or not, our Father in Heaven has a plan for each of us and has somebody He needs us to become. As I learn more and more about our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, I get overwhelmed by just how much they love us. Everything that God and Christ have done for us is out of love. Our trials that we must go through? They have been given to us out of love. Just like Dad makes his basketball boys run up that hill every monday so they can be stronger, our Heavenly Father gives us hills to strengthen us and to teach us. Without hills we could return to live with him after this life. Here's the difference between Dad and Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father gives us Christ to run up the hill with. We are NEVER alone. (I don't think dad is running up that hill with his boys.) 

This week, we also learned about the power of prayer. In Romania, everybody knows what prayer is but they use memorized prayers that don't really mean anything to them. Our other investigator is a college student. At the beginning of the lesson, he was being way rude and kept on pulling out his phone and stuff. I told him (in Romanian) that the only way he was going to get something out of this lesson was if he was focusing on what we were discussing and how he felt about it. So I guess I haven't changed that much, I'm still pretty fiesty. My companion loved it though. As soon as we got out, she told our whole zone about it. So now everyone knows the real me not the sweet sora I was pretending to be... opps.

Back to prayer though. I had the opportunity to testify of the power of prayer. As I did, the spirit testified to me of how strong prayer really is. Prayer is a conversation with God, can it get any better than that seriously? Heavenly Father hears our prayers, every single one of them no matter how humble or disjointed they are. Most of my prayers are half Romanian half english but he does not care. We are his children and prayer is our opportunity to communicate with him. Prayer can change hearts I know it can. I pray everyday for each of you. Thank you so much for your prayers. I beg of you to take your worries and pains and questions to the Lord through prayer and you will feel peace. Whenever we invite an investigator to pray, they always look so worried. But after they do, we can see the feeling of peace that comes over them. When our hearts are in the right place, prayer will bring us peace and strength in our darkest times. I bear testimony of that. Okay, that's my high horse of the week. But seriously PRAY!

Romanian is going well, mine is still very broken but I am working on verbs and we are starting to learn a lot about grammar which is hard. But it is still good. I have memorized a couple of scriptures in Romanian and I am working on the First Vision. When I bore my testimony in Romanian to Parker he said I sounded really "white" so I should probably work on my accent also. The main thing is I just have to keep working though. It is crazy how much cross country has prepared me for this mission. I know from cross country that I cannot think negative thoughts if I am going to accomplish what I need to accomplish. I also know from cross country that we must edify those around us in order to succeed. Did you know that word edify comes from the word edifice which is building so to edify someone is to build them up? We learned that in devotional last night. I also have a testimony of hard work from cross country, so I know that through the Lord (and hard work0 I can do hard things.

Life is good here. My name is on the board in the gym for the pull up record so that is way cool. I can also break the dips record. I found that out yesterday when I tried it just for fun. Also I ran a mile and got a 6:41 which I know is not great, but I was kind of proud of myself for it. And I have not passed out once so there you go! I also balled it up with this girl that played basketball at Snow College last year and that was so much fun. The MTC truly is an incredible place. During the morning, I'm defending this 5'10" girl on the bastketball court and in the afternoon I'm giving a lesson about Joseph Smith in Romanian. I really do love it! 

Okay family friends, I'm signing off. I love each of you and your prayers are truly blessing my life. Know that your Father in Heaven loves you no matter what and He wants you to come unto Him! I have experienced a joy here that I have never felt before. At the same time, I am so humbled by this call.

Mult Dragoste!

Sora Armstrong

Sora Armstrong & Sora Koth

Parker Yocum had a chance encounter with B last week....He works at BYU Mail Services, which is right next to the MTC