Life is a Gift!

Hey fam bam!

I hope everyone is doing well. Are you guys just stoked on life? You should be, life is a gift. Someone told me that on a bus this week. (the life is a gift part not the stoked part that word does not exist in Romanian unfortunately)

Life is a gift, especially when you are in Moldova! We have some awesome stuff heading our way. This country has so much potential. It is at a critical point in its history right now and I am so grateful I get to be here to be apart of it. 

So this week we flew down to Bucuresti (we had to leave our apartment at 4 in the MORNING) but it was worth it. I got to see all my peoples! We also had some awesome meetings with President and Sora Ivory. I love how fast paced mission life is. As soon as we as a mission get good at something, President Ivory introduces something else for us to practice and push ourselves. This week we were introduced to a new way of teaching the Restoration. We use these cards with picture of Christ and stuff like that on them. We used them a few times this week and our friends loved them. They would take the pictures out of our hands and hold them and then when we would start discussing something else they would go back to another picture and use it to answer our question. It was super cool. I love how well the Lord knows the people here. He knows what they need and He lets us know what we need to do to help them. 

We had an incredible lesson this week with Raisa. She has been reading EVERYTHING we have been giving her. Her thirst for knowledge is beautiful. And her heart is so sincere. She testified to us of the truthfulness of the restoration. It was so cool we would ask her a question and then she would teach us, we asked her if she believed all these things she was saying and she just stopped. Then she said "these things feel so close to my soul, they have to be true" It was seriously one of the top ten moments of my mission! She fasted with us on sunday too nad taught herself about tithing anad let us know that tithing is a very good thing and we should always pay our tithing. I was like "you are so right Raisa I am going to pay it tomorrow" (talking about fast offerings) I love her so much!

On Sunday President Ivory was here with his friend Walter Plum who will be doing some business here in Moldova. We had some awesome meetings with him. We talked a lot about the stability of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter what the gospel will never change. Its principles are constant. It is the only thing in this world that we can rely on. So many people here are looking for that stability. They are starved for security and purity. There are just so many cloudy things going on all around us but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is pure and so beautifully clear. I am so greatful for the rock that it is in my life. One of the coolest things about this rock is that we can continue to build it up. One of the members in the russian branch bore this beautiful testimony about how his little girl looked up at him and said "papa" for the first time (now you are all thinking I understand russian, I don't it was translated for us) He talked about how amazing it was to hear her say that for the first time, he even remembered the exact date. Then he related it to how our Father in Heaven must feel when we turn to him for the first time and we say "God, or Father" One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is hearing people say their first prayer. Hearing them talk to their Father in Heaven for the first time. This tender spirit of love fills room. We can have that experience everytime we pray. So I invite you guys this week to take some time and make your prayers conversations. Maybe you haven't prayed in awhile or maybe you prayer ten times a day. It does not matter your Father in Heaven is waiting for you to let Him know that you wnat his influence in your life. There is power in kneeling prayers! 

I love you guys, I hope I don't ever go too missionary on you all!

Sora Armstrong

 

 

O sa le bat

Hello my peoples!

This week was sick as usual. We kicked it off with some Hot Chocolate conacting where I am pretty sure I experienced a minor case of hypothermia . But it was super fun! We were just asking people if they had ever heard of the mormons and wow do people have some interesting ideas... so that is always fun.

Then we had some super fun lessons. I love Moldova because you never what to expect during a lesson. The people here are just so passionate about everything and they are also 100% themselves no matter what. They do not feel like they need to act a certain way in front of certain people they own who they are and it works for them. 

For example, we were having this incredible lesson with our mom friend Olga. She was quoting the conference talks we had given her to read and the Book of Mormon. She had super cool insightful questions and we were having an awesome conversation when her baby girl who is walking in out of the room trips and nails her head. Olga's husband then scoops up baby Carolina and leaves without saying a word, just walks out with a screaming 1 year old. olga just shrugs her shoulders and we keep talking. He then comes back a couple minutes later without Carolina. Olga looks at him and is like "where is our little girl" He smiles and says "I left her at the neighbors" we all laughed about that. Then we gave Olga an overview of the Plan of Salvation lesson and when we mentioned that we could be with our families forever, there was a physical change in her, she perked up. It was so cute and so we are STOKED to teach her the lesson this week!

Then we were over at our other cute families house another Olga and her husband and their 3 girls. The night started out with Sophia the 3 year old playing the piano for us and then her sister telling her it was ugly so then she went into hysterics. Then we started eating dinner and the girls finished so they went and started playing and we are in the middle of answering Olga's question about the Great and Abominable Chruch (that was fun in romanian) and we hear this yelliong coming from the other room. A couple seconds later Sophia marches in a grabs a broom and her dad is like "No put that down I know what you are thinking" And her mom is like "what are you going to do with that?" and Sophia yells " O sa le bat!" which means I am going to hit them! Both of her parents were like "uh uh you put that down" There then proceeded to be a power struggle for about 5 minutes which resulted in sophia dropping the broom and saying fine I will get them with my own hands! It was hilarious! Probably one of my favorite moments in Chisinau so far. I felt like I was at family dinner at Grandma's and Henry was going after wi-fi and Cameron with a broom but it was all in beautiful romanian! 

I just love this work. I love how God takes care of our people no matter what. This last transfer we have experienced quite a few speed bumps and I have just been struggling with not feeling like I am going my full speed. But last sunday I called up a few of our friends, a few of them told me they had been reading from the Book of Mormon, others set up to meet with us. It was just cool to see that the spirit is working in the hearts of these people. It reminded how little we actually do as missionaries. As long as we are giving it our all the spirit will testify into theiur hearts. Another thing I was reminded of this week was the powerful changing effect the atonement can have on a heart. My friends and family I challenge you guys this week to pick something that you feel like you need to be better at. Maybe it is scripture study, maybe it is saying more kind words, it can be whatever. Pick that thing and then pray to Heavenly Father and tell him you want to strengthen this thing in your life, tell him how you are going to strengthen it then ask for the atonement of Christ to enter into your heart and change it so that you can change, so that you can become. Open your hearts to him and He will change you, I promise.

Cu drag,

Sora Armstrong

 

 

 

 

 

COLD, Protests, Agents

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Guess what it is still cold!? Winter is a very big thing in Moldova. It is adorable though, all the parents pull their kids around on sleds. Which apparently sledding is a major part of everyone's childhood and I missed out big time on that one. Or at least that is what EVERY Moldovan we meet tells me.

This week was solid. I am STOKED on the Restoration. We had an INCREDIBLE lesson with my good friend Ekaterina and a member from Orhei that comes into the city to participate in a BYU-I course we teach. She had gotten to the church early so we invited her to sit in on a lesson. This girl met the church through a peace corps worker a few years back, she has one of the most beautiful understandings of the gospel I have seen. So we watched the Restoration video with them (if you ever want to feel the spirit watch the restoration video) before we started the video we asked them to think about how the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ has changed their lives. After the video I asked Alina, that same question. She proceeded to bear the MOST BEAUTIFUL testimony I have every heard! She connected the restoration to her coming to understand the gospel of the Jesus Christ. She said because Joseph Smith sincerely prayed to find his answer she now has been able to develop her faith in Christ. Through that faith she has been able to repent and can feel at peace with her life. She then bore her testimony about the sacrament and how through the priesthood, because that bread and water is blessed by a worthy man holding the authority of God, that bread and water become so much more. She said through taking of the sacrament each week she is able to endure to the end. It was one of those lessons where I was like "Yep I am here because I need to be taught not because I need to teach." It was awesome!!! Like literally I was in awe.

Also, fun fact there are protests happening here in Chisinau, the government has been doing some shady stuff and the people are fed up with it. The other day I was on an Exchange with Sora Kitchen and we ended up in Centru which is where they are happening. There were all these people standing outside the main government building, chanting and waving flags around. Honestly, that is all the do I kind of wanted to actually show them how to protest. No one even seemed very upset. Sora Kitchen and I decided that it probably was not a great spot to be so we tried to catch a bus and ended up right in the middle of a giant march that was happening. I was just thinking "wow Sora Kitchen is going to call President and tell him her Sister Training Leader took her into the very middle of a protest march" So I grabbed Sora Kitchen and we got out of there quick and then who calls me as soon as we get out of the march? PRESIDENT! I was like "uh, Hi President" Sora Kitchen was dying. Then a couple days of later we are at the church and the march comes right on by the church! So from the safety of our hiding spots behind the blinds we took pictures!

Well my people that's the week. I love you guys have an awesome one!

Sora Armstrong

The Winter Wonderland

Sup Familia mea? 

How is life? Life here is cold, icy, and LEGIT. Guess what? I love being a missionary. Bottom line it is literally the best thing ever. 

We had some super cool experiences this week. The first was with our cute friend Olga. Sora Black and I met her through english and we called her up this week and asked her if we could come over and talk to her more about our message. We headed over there in the winter wonderland that is know Chisinau due to the fact that it has snowed for a week straight and she comes to meet us at the front door of her bloc and in her arms she has this little girl all bundled up like a marshmallow. When we got into their arpartment she unbundled the marshmallow and we got to meet literally the cutest moldovan baby I have ever met in my entire life. She had red hair and pig tails and and giant blue eyes and I was just like that is it these people are getting botezed because we need this little ball of light in our branch! We start talking with her and she tells her that her protestant friends told her that mormons believe that Jesus came from the moon. Sora Smullin and I just busted up laughing. She was like yeah I did not believe them. We got to introduce the Book of Mormon to her and focus our entire message on how much this gospel will bless her family. Then when we asked if we could pray with her she was like "oh yes I love when you guys pray, I feel something." It was such a sick lesson. You can just see the love she has for her husband and little girl. It was beautiful watching her interact with her little girl. It was one of those lessons that you walk out of and just say a prayer of gratititude because the lesson was so good. 

Then this is kinda a funny story, we headed out to give some cookies to someone we have been having a hard time getting ahold of and I got us 100% lost. So I was like oh, well let's go bloc knocking. We head into this bloc and just got a wierd feeling but me being the stubborn human I am keep knocking. I decided to call it quits when I rang this doorbell and this bright white light started shining in my face. Moldovans have the strangest security systems.... Anyway we head out and we are like well the missionaries in all the stories always say prayers after experiences like this. So Sora Smullin starts praying and I just could not hold it in I just started laughing. It had been such a ridiculous day, I was pretty much at my wit's end. Sora Smullin then starts laughing too so we couldn't even finish the prayer! We headed out to the bus for some bus contacting. I was just standing there feeling like a lame missionary becuase I've been out here for like 14 months and I can't even keep my cool through a prayer and in my mind I am thinking wow have I even progressed? Then I see this girl waiting for the bus and I go over and start talking to her and we ended up having an awesome conversation. Getting off the bus together ( I accidently left my comp on the bus) exchanging numbers and now we are going to meet this week.

 The Lord has plans for each one of us my friends. He is in the details of our lives. He knows how we  are feeling, He is aware of how much we can take and sometimes He doesn't even get too upset with us when we start laughing during a prayer. I know that as long as we are striving to do all that we can and to align our will with his will things will work out. He will use us to bless others lives as well as He will send people into our lives to bless us. I have been so increidbly blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people these last 14ish months. I thought I was coming out here to help the Romanians and Moldovans but in turn my life has been changed by the examples of each of my amazing companions and the friends I have made here wether they are american, romanian, moldovan, or nigerian... or any other nationality. I have been missing my mission friends lately being stuck out here in Chisinau and I just want them to know how much I love them and how much they mean to me. Wow I have become a sentimental softie Ce sa fac, va iubesc cu toate sufletul meu si mi-a schimbat viata. 

Love you guys! Have an awesome week!

Sora Armstrong

A Romanian Blessing......

Hello my family and friends!

I hope everyone is well on their way to acommplishing their New Year's resolutions. President had us out attcking the New Year despite the 1 degree weather and it has been AWESOME!For New Year's Eve we headed over to a members home Sora Gorgos. We had made Sarmale earlier in the week with an investigator and so we took it over to her and had our own New Year's Eve bash. It was fun, Sora Gorgos is a sassy old moldovan lady. She told us all about her life, raising her son on her own in communist Moldova. I could have sat there for the hours listening to her but we had to be home by 9. She then spent 20 minutes warning us about all the dangers of being out on the streets after 8 so we got home a little later than normal but we were all good. Then on New Year's day Sora Smullin and I hear a knock on our day which is not normal. We decided we were not going to answer but then I realized I had not locked the door. So I go over there and look through the peep hole and it is a man. So I am like nope not answering it. I went to lock the door and our lock is so loud he could hear me locking it and then I felt bad so I opened the door and as I open it I get hit by water. I open the door more and realize it is a priest from the orthodox church that has come to bless our apartment. He then splashes me with more holy water and procedes to bless me in Romanian. I was just like thanks thanks you okay have a good day. I go to shut the door and he sticks his foot in the door and asks me "how much will you give for health and joy this year?" I was like Sorry we don't have money becuase I was not gonna give this priest money for disrupting my study and splashing me with water. he did not like my answer and he went from the friendly neighborhood priest to the grumpy priest. I closed the door and was like uhhh I just got blessed by a priest. Well, ce sa fac? We had an incredible lesson with Dina and her boyfriend is from Suceava this week at the Voglesbergs. We had the opportunity to share our purpose with him and then introduce him to the Book of Mormon. He was so excited about it. It was so cool to watch him as he learned that it was another testimony of Jesus Christ. He expressed to us that he has always felt there is so much more to the Bible that we are missing. When we gave him is own personalized copy, he hugged it! It was cool to have Dina who is not yet a member bear testimony of the changes that the Book of Mormon has made in her life and how is has strengthened her relationship with the Savior. We are planning on doing skype lessons with him and finding him the closest meeting house to Suceava.
Sorry this week is gonna be a short email but hey I love you all and challenge you all to go out and attack the New Year!
Sora Armstrong

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I am not even sure how to start this email my week has been so incredible and eye opening.

On Wednesday, we went with a couple in the branch who work for a non-governmental organization to a village a couple hours outside of Chisinau. There had been a bunch of presents delivered for the kids of town and it was our job to separate them out for age groups. We were working in the gym of the one school in the town, it reminded me of something out of the movie Hoosiers. Super old wood floor, small but just classic. Then later we went and visited the kindergarten. When we walked in about 60 little kids ran up to us. We started talking to them and they started reciting poems about Christmas that were learning for the school play it was adorable. Then the teachers at the school fed us the most delicious bors I have ever had. They were all just so grateful to us and I was just kinda like we didn't even do anything. 

After lunch we ended up in a van with the mayor of the town and a bunch of boxes full of food. We went with the mayor to homes if people that are not able to get to the gym in the middle of the town to collect their food. People always tell us that there are towns in Moldova that are poor but I could have never wrapped my mind around it had I not seen it. We walked into the home... side note when I say home I mean a tiny adobe square with a roof and no running water and no heating system and holes plugged up with old clothes and no electricity. Literally all of the basic utilities we have did not exist in this villiage. We walked in and gave the box to a woman that is about 70 years old and when we asked her to sign the sheet designating that she got her box she said, I didn't go to school I can't write my name. My heart hurt. It hit me that there are people living in this country, a country in Europe that never learned how to write their name. Maybe I have just been sheltered my entire life but wow that made an impact on me. These people wake up everyday and their entire goal for the day is to scrape some food together and keep warm. I thought about all my hopes and dreams about what I want in my life and about what I just expect to have. That night I just came home mind blown. I knelt that night and just thanked God for all of my blessings, for the potential I have in my life. I also had decide to put my trust in the atonement. To be honest at first I was kind of angry "how could I be so blessed, why did I get to be born into such an incredible family in a country where I have so many opportunitiies. If God loves us all why would he make things so unfair? As I was brewing over all this, a line from preach My Gospel came into my head " all that is unfair in this life can be made fair through the atonement of Jesus Christ." I had to decide then and there that that was true. I had to just put my trust in the Sacrifice of Christ and in God's plan. I still cannot comprehend it but I know that one day the people in that villiage will be encompassed in God's love. He will reward them for their hardships. They will feel the joy of progression that God had put into his plan. I am so grateful for all of the incredible experiences I am having here in Chisinau, even though some of them are pretty heavy, I am so grateful for the growth that they give me.

My friends and family I love this gospel. I love that I am allowed to ask questions and that my Father in Heaven answers me. I love this Christmas season and the beautiful spirit that it brings. Have an awesome week!

Sora Armstrong

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRACIUN!!!!

The other day someone was like Christmas is on Friday and I just about fell out of my chair. How did it get here so fast! We have a fun busy week ahead of us but let me tell you about this last week.

So it was kinda weird because we went to Bucuresti for some training and we had zone conference, I gave my companion to her parents and had to film a commercial for our english classes.

We also had some SICK lessons and 6 investigators at church! So miracles are happeing all around. Sora Black gave an increible last talk in sacrament all about hope. I love the idea of hope and Christmas together. Christ was born and died so we could have hope. Without him we would not be allowed to mess up. We would have to do everything perfectly and there would be 0 hope of ever living with God again. But because Christ died and now lives. Death is not the end. We will continue to progress. What an incredible gift our Father in Heaven gave us. The gift of being allowed to not be perfect. The gift of a new beginning and the gift of HOPE that we will return to live with Him again. 

On friday night Sora Black and flew back from Buc and her parents were waiting for us at the airport. She is headed home after and INCREDIBLE 18 months. She has become one of my best friends these past couple of months and boys she is single and ready to mingle! (jk she is gonna kill me for that)

 

On Saturday I had to be at our center for filming. Yeah I had to get filmed for an english video we are doing. It was kinda cool. It was a profesional film crew and everythimg. You all know how I walk like a linebacker right? The first shot we did thay had me walking towards the camera and the capera was on the wheely thing moving backwards. After I finished all the camera crew looked at me (a bunch of moldovan hipsters) and just started laughing. Then one of them sain in english "please try to walk  like a feminine" Elder Findlay the elder that was doing the filming just about died he thought it was so funny. So then I had to learn how to walk like a princess and it all worked out. 

Another quick funny story 

So yesterday we got invited to this ladyshome in the country side. We take this maxi taxi out of the city, it is the size of a big van and we fit about 45 random people into it. Then we get picked up by this guy we do not know in a creeper van. I kid you not Holly, I voluntarily climbed into a creeper van just praying that this guy was really our friends husband. Then we had an incredible dinner! She just kept on feeding us. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her and the Spirit was present. Then we got home by hitchiking in another creeper van. I LOVE the mission and I love the promise that God protects his people. Mom, I hope you do not freak out... it was all good. There were kids with the people we hitchiked with, so it was totally safe.

Alright fam bam and friends. I love you guys so much. To all my missionary friends have an incredible mission in the field, turn your heart to the people, we have every Christmas for the rest of our lives to be in America. We are where the Lord wants us and it is a great place to be.

To all my peeps at home turn your hearts to others look to serve and to give and I promise it will be an INCREDIBLE time of the year!

Craciun Ferecit!

Sora Armstrong