Monday, August 25, 2014

Been Busy . . . But Believe We Be Baptizin'!!!

Hello all,

So this week we've been keeping ourselves busy. It's been so nice, I love working with Sora Cox.  And this week really was a week of miracles.  Having a new comp is so nice. We get so much work done and so many awesome things have been happening.

This week. We went again to Sora Lidia's and talked to her about going to the temple. She's moving to America for six months soon, to Florida, so we're hoping she gets the chance to go. She's the only member in her family, so she's worried she won't get the chance but we're helping her out.  We're also set up to meet with her neighbor who wants to quit smoking. So we'll start the no smoking program, our first time teaching it, so we'll see how it goes :)

The Smiths
We also went to see Cristina and we brought the Smiths with us (weird, I know, it catches me every time I say it). It was such a powerful lesson, we talked about hope and that we can change through the power of Christ, and I told her how much I believe in her. And she seemed different, like I think she's honestly sincerely changing. She loved getting to meet the (other) Smiths.

We also went to see Florita, the less active sister with cancer who had problems with tithing. We brought the Smiths, and we talked about feeling Christ's love and about the hope for the progression in the Arad branch, and the spirit was so strong.

We had a great district meeting where we all got our heads together how to improve the Branch. We're getting headway on the activities, and we're making a lot of changes that will be awesome. I feel so much positive energy and potential in this Branch, big things are happening and are going to happen throughout this whole transfer. I am so excited.

We took the Smiths with us to the Branch President's house, out in the countryside where we saw their very pregnant pig and many chickens.

Saturday we spent all morning and afternoon cleaning and re-organizing the entire church, all of us missionaries and Cristina. Yup, she came to a silly cleaning project at 10 in the morning. She's definitely changing. We reorganized the whole chapel area, and now it's so beautiful! I wish you could see the before and after, I think it exists but I don't have pictures with me, I'm sorry. The members were all pleasantly shocked when they saw it Sunday.

Changes have definitely started to take place.

We met with a less active, Anisoara who is too old to come anymore. We left her a much needed spiritual uplift, and committed her to asking her kids if they want to hear more about the church.

We had a few other lessons set up, too, but they didn't go through.

Sunday, Cristina came and stayed for all three meetings. And. SORA FLORITA CAME. And the very first thing she did, she picked up a tithing envelope. I actually didn't see it, but Elder Boydstun told me and I was floored. And so, so happy. And another sister came with her husband who, the night before, she said he would never be a member and that he wasn't going to let her go to church.

So many miracles happened! You can't say the work here isn't progressing!

That evening we went to see a member in the hospital who had a stroke. The medication she was on made her really emotional, but it  was nice to see her and I think she liked it. Her husband used to be a member but now is a Jehovah's Witness. I don't know what happened to make him switch. 
 
BUT . . . We were there with the Smiths and we talked with the two for awhile, and the husband mentioned the time they were at the temple. Awesome! And, the Arad church is super far away and we're looking for a new location. Well, the JW husband wants to help us find a better spot and he's gone out of his way to find us a new building. We have a potential spot we'll be checking out and hopefully we'll buy it and be located more centrally!

And already we have 10 lessons set up for this upcoming week. We're super busy!

Today is Ziua Aradului (Arad Day) and there are lots of festival booths set up. It's pretty exciting. There are a lot of traditional knick knacks and foods everywhere. This will last, like, a week.
 
Ziua Aradului Booths


 
And, remember Gabi? He's back now from... wherever in the world he was. He took all of us missionaries to a historical site in Arad, a water tower. It was pretty cool and filled with lots of art.

We were in the top part of the water tower circling around the tank in the rafters, and our guide was saying things like, "And over there you can see the theater, and here is the government building, and there is the piaza..."

and Gabi, who is right behind me says, "And there is a mouse..."

...and a mouse runs right up my leg.

Well, that's all for this week. I hope all goes well with the physical therapy, the surgery, the start of school and anything else that's going on! I will keep you in my prayers and know that I love you all!

Sora Smith

Random quotes of the week:

"If you start conditioning me, so help me..."

"We would get so much more work done if we didn't waste so much time on sleeping or eating."

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