Zone Training, Music...and a Romanian Grill!

Family and Friends!

Well to start off, we had a amazing zone training in Bucharest on Wednesday - and we were able to hear about how we can be better missionaries in regards to finding new people and contacting strategies and such. So as we were brainstorming for ideas - the idea of music, as well as the encouragement from many other sister missionaries and president - worked. I bought a guitar. hahaha sorry mom(;

It has actually been really awesome though - and I have really come to see how incredible the power of music is in missionary work and in bringing the Spirit quickly and powerfully. Sora Trebas also has one and so us four were able to go around to a lot of the members and less actives  homes this week, and sing and share a thought from the Book of Mormon to get them pumped about reading it before Christmas as a branch(: And it worked! We received a lot of commitments and promises that people would participate - and I know that it will truly make a difference not only in their individual lives, but also in the branch as a whole.

We also this week got to get together with a lot of the people from the US army base that is here in Constanta - and we had a "Romanian Grill;" Full of mici, arde and pults, mamaliga, goat cheese, covrig, chicken, and watermelon! Not only did I get to learn how to grill - that was quite an adventure - but we also got to have SALSA! haha it was such a treat! The people on the base have an american WalMart type thing, and so when they brought salsa for everyone to share - I think about half of us passed out haha we were so excited(: But what was so cool about meeting with all these people from the base, is that we got to do a different type of missionary work. 

We all went around and shared our experiences with the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed and changed all of our lives - and it was incredible to see the different stories and the different principles of doctrine or testimony that changed each of our lives! The church is so different in the states - but so similar as well. So personal and unique to each of us(: Its awesome(: 

Have an incredible week! and we will see next week if I am staying here in Constanta or if I am headed out somewhere else(: 

Love you guys!

Sora Armstrong

(Eating yummy Covrig in Bucharest)

(Old Bucharest)

(Me and my new guitar)

(Celebrating Sora Armstrong's and Sora Trebas's 'one year mark' with fun drinks)

Who Knew?? Constanta: The Bible Belt of Europe

My amazing family and friends!(:

This week has been quite the week of Learning! and so I guess I'll jump right into it(:

Monday we were able to meet with a new investigator named "Raraș" who is a good friend of one of the members in our branch. Apparently he had been meeting with the missionaries before - five years ago actually - but then started to go deep into drugs and started to hang around some not so good people - and ended up dropping out of the discussions. However, the past few weeks he has been coming to church all on his own and has been completely clean of drugs for years. We asked if he wanted to have the discussions again and he agreed - and we then had a powerful lesson with him on Tuesday. He is SO cool! We asked him what he remembered about the Book of Mormon - and he immediately brought up the Tree of Life. He just went on and on about how he wanted to get there - but how he wanted to know for a sure fact that this was true and it was what he needed to do at this time. You could really tell how important this gospel was for him - and that even though it would require a change - he was more than willing. We are meeting with him again this next week and are SO excited to see what is in store. 

I also had my first lesson of bible bashing this week haha. Not quite what we expected or had planned haha. We were in a lesson with Mercy - a Nigerian who had just gotten back from the Germany temple a few days earlier after doing baptisms for her mom who had passed away. She was BEAMING and GLOWING! I had never seen her so happy - it was so so cool to see that power and spirit and peace that comes from the blessing of this gospel and of temples(: We were in the middle of talking to her about it - and then her friend "Tubo" came in and was like "Let's talk about God" and....things started off great! We were all like YES God loves us and we all love his Son and his Atonement and the Bible! But heres the thing....these Nigerians know the Bible inside and out like you wouldn't believe. Constanta is like the Bible Belt of Europe because they can just throw out verses and principles and prophets like nobody's business. It's quite impressive actually but also insanely frustrating haha. Anyways - he proceeded to talk and question and interrogate us about the law of the tithe - but it was actually Mercy that started to bible bash him back and so Sora Armstrong and I just kinda sat there in a confused state haha. It was so curious to see that the Spirit that we had all had - was gone the minute there was contention. We ended up just bearing our testimonies and inviting him to pray - but I believe I walked away with a much bigger lesson that day.

This past week I have come to realize that desire is key. The desire to change, to grow, to progress, to learn, to become - it all comes from your heart and from YOU! No one can make you change who you are or who you want to be, we all have that free agency to decide. He will not force us. I've seen that especially this week. It could be so easy to go through life and get discouraged and lose that desire to stop doing the little things that help us draw closer to our Heavenly Father - to stop reading the Book of Mormon and stop praying. It to be honest - can be discouraging as a missionary - to have 10 lessons fall through, or sunflower seeds spit on you on the street. But I can testify that if we use that free agency that we have to grow and progress to become better - we will see God work mighty miracles through us and in our lives. I've seen it - and I can promise you that if you have that desire to grow and to continue to press forward with the little things - with that desire - Heavenly Father is going to bless and change and mold us to become the best people that we can become - and help us to reach our divine, eternal potential(: 

I love you all and I hope you have a week full of fun and miracles! 

Keep being Rockstars!!(:

Sora Armstrong

(Usually how our comp pics go haha)

(All the Soras in Constanta with 3 members from the US Army Base)

(This is an Orthodox church that we recieved permission to go into - people call it "Biserica de lemb" or Church of the Lamb.)

Sora Kendrick, Cups, and a ROCKSTAR Branch!

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)

Our Terrifying Elevator Experience!!!

Hello my amazing friends and family!!(: 

What a week!(: It seems like I say that in every weekly email...but I guess we are just always coming upon new opportunities and people!(: 

We made it a goal this transfer to really try and get the less actives to church - and so all of the missionaries have gone to visit the 8 less actives that we have here in our branch - all in the past two weeks. However - there is one man named "Fratele Vitel" and he is seriously one of the funniest people I have EVER met, but is also one of the most stubborn haha(: We decided that we were really going to try to get him to come to church this week, and so all 6 of us missionaries went to go and visit him on Friday. 

So we got into the "block" which is like an apartment building - and all 4 of us sisters got in the elevator. We closed the doors and hit the top floor (there were 10 floors...) and the elevator began to move. But then...literally 15 seconds later...it suddenly just started shaking and then just stopped. JUST STOPPED! 

To say that we panicked is an understatement. 

Elevators in Romania are SUPER small and super sketchy...and so literally all of our worst nightmares came true that day. However we all have different personalities - so it was a hilarious experience because Sora Green just was SO done with the whole situation, Sora Trebas was panicking and recounting to us all the tower of terror stories, Sora B Armstrong thought it was Hilarious and started to JUMP!!! (NEVER do that in a Elevator in Romania) and I was just dying of laughter the entire time because it was all just a mix of "Is this even really happening right now."

Anyway - we were stuck for a good 15 minutes - trying to call the Elders who decided to take the stairs, and we kept hitting the alarm button - which turned out to be just a horn noise. After about 35 minutes we finally opened up the elevator doors, and barrel-rolled out of the elevator to avoid the doors slamming on us. Needless to say it was quite the experience  - but the lesson with Fratele Vitsel ended up being amazing and he ended up coming to church on Sunday!(: So the elevator experience was totally worth it!

Also this week I have had the chance to basically become "the branch family history consultant." haha its been AWESOME!(: I've had to enter in over 100 Romanian, Moldovan, and Nigerian names this week because our branch gets to go to the temple this week! They only have the opportunity to go to the temple once in the entire year because it is so far away (They can go to Ukraine or Germany) and because it is so so expensive. However, it is amazing so see how much it means to all of these people here in our branch! They spend so much time finding their family members dates, places where they were born, and such - and it is usually immediate family members that they are doing the work for. It has been such an incredible blessing to help them - and such a tender mercy to see how close all of these members are with their families. 

I truly believe that the closer we strive to be with our family and the closer we strive to have the gospel in our lives and together as a family - we become United, blessed, and receive guidance and strength like nothing else. One of the very first principles that we teach as missionaries - Even before the restoration - is that 

A. God is our loving Heavenly Father 

and that:

B. The Gospel blesses families. 

I can testify to you that it does! If we are striving to go to the temple, to have family home evening, and to read the book of mormon together every night as a family - it makes all the difference! In school, in work, in relationships, in everything! It is truly such a blessing and I am eternally grateful for my family and for my Father in Heaven!

I love you all!(: 

Sora Armstrong

(The elevators are so, so small)

(This is Fratele Vitel) 

Pressing Forward to Find the Light!

Hello my family and friends! It has been quite the week and it hasn't really even been a whole week since I emailed last so that is sayin' somethin' haha(: 

Well to start off...our baptism fell through. Not the best way to start an email...but its been on our minds a lot since it happened and its been hard to think about anything else really. During sacrament meeting on Sunday - Sora B Armstrong and I received a phone call from our Investigator with a Baptismal date - named Alesea. We were hoping that she was coming to church and had just gotten lost or something, and so we quietly stepped out into the hall to give her a call back - but it wasn't what we were expecting at all. Alesea opened right up with the statement "I can't do the baptism on Thursday." and began to explain why. 

I can't explain how I felt in that moment - but to be honest - it was hard. And I was really confused and just really..let down I guess. We had been working so hard with her and we loved her SO much and we had both wanted this SO bad for her, but she wasn't ready. 

We went out to go see her yesterday and she immediately jumped into the why which was good. She feels like she isn't ready to renounce her old church, like she isn't ready to push away her family...but she did say that this church is true -just that now isn't her time. 

It was heartbreaking - but it was all okay. and I truly have an incredible amount of hope and faith that she will take that step towards baptism, it just might not be as soon as we thought. 

Things always seem to have a way of working out - even if we are in the dark for a while. I've seen this several times in my life, and while it is hard at first - if we push forward in that darkness and keep trying our best - God is going to provide a way. 

In 1 Nephi chapter 4 - it talks about how Laman and Lemuel and Nephi and Sam are given the big and hard task to go all the way across the wilderness, go into a kingdom and ask for a set of brass plates from a king who they know will not just hand them over. I often think that if it were me in that situation- I would be freakin out! And probably ask Heavenly Father or my father Lehi if there was any other way. But I love what Nephi says. "Yes," he says.  "I will go and do and follow God." But, he also says in verse 6 that he didn't know what he was going to do. I can just imagine that he would be feeling the same feelings as Alesea did as her baptism got closer, or similar to how we all feel as we go though any new trial or hard thing - we would feel lost, confused, afraid, and alone. 

YET! What does Nephi say in the next verse? "Nevertheless,  I went forth."

HOW COOL RIGHT? He is saying that if we go forward relying and trusting and having faith in our Heavenly Father and our Son Jesus Christ - there is absolutely NO WAY that they are going to leave us alone! They were there for me, they were there for Nephi and his brothers, and I know that they will be there for Alesea and for YOU! If we continuously press forward - regardless of all the pain, sorrow, and fear - there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. 

I love you all and I hope you are pressing forward with all the new challenges of school(: haha(: I love you!!!

Sora Armstrong

This is a DOG!!! Does it not look like a bear???????????? Seriously, I was terrified.... these wild dogs just basically freak me out hahaha. Mitch would have loved this dog though!

We had an INCREDIBLE lesson with Grace on Sunday! We found Tagalog Books of Mormon for her and for her friends - and we were able to share our stories as to why it is important to US!(: Grace has gone through some hard things - but she is such a ROCKSTAR and has been totally relying on God and prayer now and throughout her life! She is continuing to progress so much and it has been such a blessing to be teaching her(: 

SEEK the GOSPEL - a Baptism, Brasov, and the Book of Mormon

Hey hey there friends and family(: Buna Ziua!!(:

To start off....LIVIU IS BAPTIZED!!!!!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers for him - Oh my goodness we were SO pumped for him!!!(: Then the next day he received the Holy Ghost, the Aaronic Priesthood, and a calling to be a Sunday School Teacher! How cool is that? He was super happy and was just smiling all the while haha - what a ROCKSTAR!! 

Then on Monday at the glorious morning of 5:30AM - we headed out to Bucharest! From there we all piled onto buses - and took the 4 hour drive to Brasov. It is BEAUTIFUL there! I cannot express how happy I was to see mountains again! Everything was just so clean and it wasn't as humid and it was just glorious! 

Right when we got there we headed right out on a hike to go and see a beautiful waterfall, and from there we headed back to go and tour the Castle Cantacuzino. 

The next morning we had a mission conference in the chapel in Brasov - and President Ivory and Sora Ivory gave us a new challenge....to read the entire book of mormon in 84 days! President Ivory is SO adamant that we follow this challenge and that we push ourselves to draw Closer to Christ by reading this book. He said, "The Book of Mormon is not only TRUE...but it is CRUCIAL in these Latter-days. As families and individuals do this - they will be blessed both in school, work, and family situations." 

SO(: As school is starting back up, and as family life gets crazier and busier, and as work gets more and more intense - President Ivory, Sora Ivory, and MYSELF challenge YOU to read the Book of Mormon in 84 days. I know that there will seem like there is no time, or way to read all 5 chapters - but I promise that if you pray for the opportunity to do so - and if you act on it - you will be so so HAPPY and you are going to see So many incredible, amazing, and INCREDIBLE blessings(: The Book of Mormon is TRUE! I know it with all my heart! It is a compass that guides and converts us and our hearts to become better and closer to our Father in Heaven! I encourage all who have read it before to read it again! Or for those who have never read it all the way through - to Start!!!! It will change your life - for I have seen how it changes others and I have seen how it has changed mine!(: I believe in you - and I love each of you!

Have an amazing week(: 

Sora Armstrong

LIVIUS BAPTISM!!(:

Sora Pusy, Green and me. We were all in the same MTC group. I would love to serve with both of these girls at some point! We decided that since we were in a castle we needed to act like princesses and try out this whole "proper" thing haha

The "Armstrongs" at the top of the mountain!

Planul Salvarii

Buna Buna Ziua!!(: Afa-nou!!!!(:

How are you all??(: It is so good to hear from you and to see what incredible weeks ya'll have been having! 

This week has been quite the adventure! I discovered some more interesting culture things, President and Sora Ivory (the mission president) came over to Constanta for Sunday and got to meet our branch, we had some AMAZING lessons, and we just continued to see miracles!

As for some fun culture things, EVERY single tree here in Romania is painted white halfway down the tree. They believe it keeps away ghosts...at least thats what they've been telling me. I also got yelled at this week for carrying a pot on the street. They believe its a sign that you are going to be poor and have disease...so I'm pretty sure I'm going to leave my mission with around 50+ curses haha because I have been yelled at a number of times for carrying a pot, putting my bag on the ground, not having a fan, etc.. I also discovered this week some even crazier things about the AC. Its usually the older generation who HATES the AC and believes that it will make them sick - but there are different extremes. There are so many people from the older generation that walk around outside with cotton in their ears - because they believe that the wind will blow into their ears and make them sick. Kinda different, but also really fun to see the different culture(: Plus its just hilarious haha. This poor cute lady didn't sit down anywhere on the 20 minute bus ride because of the little AC things blowing out above the seats. 

Our investigators are really progressing and it has been SO cool to see them draw closer and closer to Christ - but it has also been awesome to see the missionaries progress. President Ivory has really been pushing this theme called "Mountains to Climb" or the "84 day challenge." He gave us a checklist that is 84 days (it started before I made it to Romania, but we've still been able to participate) where we evaluate at the end of the day if we were 100% obedient, if we did at LEAST 2 hours of contacting, if we were always positive, if we Spoke the language, etc. Then if we earn it - the entire mission gets to go to Brasov, Romania to go on a gorgeous hike, eat a banquet in a castle, stay the night, and then visit Dracula's castle! HOW COOL RIGHT?? So the entire mission has been working SUPER hard - so all 100 of us Missionaries have earned it and are going to Brasov next sunday night for this mission conference!! #SOpumped #DREAMcity #BucketList

This week Sora Armstrong and I have really been focusing on Liviu, and making sure that he is ready for his baptism that is THIS SATURDAY!!! Ah I'm so proud of him!! His birthday was on Saturday, so we made a cake for him to celebrate, and even though things are hard for him with his family - he has been such a trooper and has been really pushing forward with this gospel! The Lord has amazing things in store for him because his heart is SO prepared - its incredible! 

The language has been really rough and hard for me these past few days, because every time I feel like I've mastered a principle - I am quickly humbled and I get the chance to try try again. Its really hard because I feel like I can't participate in lessons as much as I could because I don't always understand what they're saying or how to respond - but I've really been trying to just focus on what the Spirit is directing me to say. I had an incredible experience with that in a lesson with Liviu this week when we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation. 

We had our little diagram and were teaching the doctrine of the Plan of Salvation, while also making sure that he understood. Its often hard to understand Liviu because he talks SO fast, but it seemed like he was grasping the concepts pretty well. We had just gotten done talking about the resurrection and judgement, and were about to move onto the different kingdoms of glory (such a COOL subject to teach by the way) when I had the feeling that we needed to stop and that I needed to share my personal experience and testimony of the resurrection. At first I was terrified, but I asked Sora Armstrong if I could share something - and in my broken Romanian, I began to tell and share my experience and my families experience about how amazing the knowledge we have about how we can have PERFECT bodies and how we will be able to become glorified and happy. I don't know if it effected Liviu in anyway -  but I know that it changed me and through that experience of opening up to him and trying to bring in the Spirit - it opened my eyes to the incredible power and LOVE that comes from testifying and involving the Spirit. 

I encourage you to share your testimony to someone or in someway this week - it will  open the doors for so many opportunities for you and the people who hear it. 

Have an INCREDIBLE week - know how much I love you all!!!

Te iubesc!

Sora Armstrong

(Us eating cake with Liviu for his b-day! #43)