What an amazing week once again! It amazes me how fast it flies by -
This week we have really been trying to push the Book of Mormon and involve our Less Actives as much as we can. We have a less active named Sora Ducea - who is about 60 and is quite the talker(: I once had a conversation with her for about 45 minutes - and I said a total of two words haha. Anyways - she never comes to church, and is having some Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom problems - but she knows the Book of Mormon inside and out. She has such a deep special love for that Book - us missionaries feel like it is the KEY to get her coming back to the gospel . So we invited her to our branch Book of Mormon activity - and SHE CAME! It was actually just her...and the other sisters investigator who came....the rest of our branch was no where to be found haha - BUT it actually turned out SO SO good!!!
Sora Ducea kept telling me how I much I look like Anna Kendrick (movie star from Pitch Perfect) - and proceeds to call me by the name of "Sora Kendrick." and so she asked for all of us missionaries to teach her the "cup song." (Also from Pitch Perfect). It was hilarious. She would try to get SO into it - but would end up throwing her cup up in the air and saying "Am Terminat" basically "I am SO done." But then she would try again haha. We then had an incredible time discussing the Book of Mormon with her - and invited her to church the next morning - and SHE CAME! and not only that...She BORE HER TESTIMONY!! ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON! She ended up talking for a good 15-20 minutes about it and the branch president finally had to tell her to sit down - haha but we are SO proud of her and we are hoping that she will continue to read and make the Book of Mormon a priority in her life(:
Our fast and testimony meeting this week was SO special; probably one of the most spiritual times on my mission. Liviu - our recent convert - shared his testimony about how this gospel has changed his life and Fratele Vitel - another less active - shared about how much he loves the principles about the gospel and how he has felt so much JOY from the Book of Mormon. SO COOL!! Our branch here in Constanta consists of about 28 people - including us 6 missionaries. They are SO committed to the change and joy this gospel can bring - they are basically a tight little family! And they are all so different which makes it even more special! We have people from Nigeria in our branch who are here for school, we have Moldovans, we have people from the Philippians, we have Americans from a US military base not to far away, and we have our Romanians! And everyone of them is so special and they each have their own hard things and their own ways of how they have come to develop that relationship that they have with their Heavenly Father.
Theres a scripture in Jacob 5 - the chapter about the Lord of the Vineyard - that is so special and I feel relates to this branch here in Constanta, but also relates to you and me. It talks about how sometimes the Lord cuts us down, moves us, molds and shapes us, until we produce good fruit. It talks about how we have the power to BECOME! The power to become all that He wants us to be and what joy that can bring! But what I love about that chapter more than anything else is that in verse 72 its says "And the Lord labored also with them."
He DOES NOT expect us to do it alone. If we want to change - if we want to grow and become better and produce good fruit and do our best - we can do it WITH him. and THROUGH him and His grace.
I have seen that here in every single one of these members - as well as in my own life. We don't have to do it alone. We don't have to become better all by ourselves. Instead we can choose to labor and do all we can - and the Lord will be there right beside us - laboring with us - to help us become better.
I love you guys! And I hope that you'll all have a great week!(:
Sora Armstrong
We got to go to the top of his "block" this week (Fratele Vitel)
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