Sora Armstrong's Gift of the Magi

Hey there,

I hope that you guys have had a wonderful week - and that everything is going well(:

This week was great - we have been kickin things back into full gear and we are seeing so many miracles because of it(:

We are working with two wonderful women named Margareta, and Ioana. Margareta is around her 60s, and just has a heart of gold! She came to English class about a month ago, and invited us over for sarmale and things (literally so amazing) and we have been teaching her the missionary lessons. She is SO prepared and receptive to the gospel! We have thus far taught her the first three lessons, and this Friday we are going to invite her to set a baptismal date for July 8th. I am hoping and praying that she will feel the Spirit confirm those truths to her, and that she will accept(:

Then Ioana is her cute cute 13 year old grandaughter(: She has been meeting with us when we have met with her grandmother, and she is SO happy all the time, and is so mature. She just gets it ya know?(: We invited her to be baptized yesterday, but that kinda stressed her out because of her families Orthodox background, so we are hoping that her Grandma will kinda set the example and pave the way for her(:

We also didn't have the chance to meet with Sebi last week, so we are going to be challenging him to baptism this upcoming Tuesday, and we are challenging Angel again tonight! Be sure to keep them in your prayers!!(:

Also, Zone Conference is this coming wednesday here in Cluj - and we are SO excited! (Plus how cool would that be to have an interview with President Ivory and be like "SEBI AGREED LAST NIGHT TO BE BAPTIZED!!!" haha pretty sure we would both freak out(: We know that Sebi knows that this gospel is true, its just acting on that feeling that we are working on - so we will keep you posted(:

I sure love you guys!(:

(NOTE FROM ALYSSA'S MOM - She has been trying so hard for so long to grow out her hair. I cannot even begin to tell you what this act of service might have meant to her). Also! haha..so I cut my hair this week. AH. Felicia my Recent Convert has been looking for a job for months now, and has been in and out of little bakerys here that haven't been been the best. She used to cut hair in Italy, and she finally recieved a job interview at a little hair place here in Cluj, but she had to cut someones hair to prove that she knew how..... so she asked me. Honestly like, such a trial of faith hahahaha. But i love Felicia so darn much that I told her yes, although I was literally praying the entire time hahaha. And guess what, SHE GOT THE JOB!!!!(: Finally a job that she likes and pays her well - which is such a huge tender mercy!(: Sure love her(:

Have a great week you guys!(:

Sora Armstrong

Japanese Gardens In Romania???

Hey there family and friends!!(:

I apologize in advance for the super short email - but there isn't too much to say other than my COMP IS FEELIN BETTER!! After so many doctors trips and medicines tried for 2 months - SHE IS BETTER!(: Such a cool amazing miracle - thank you so much for all of your prayers and love and support!(: 

This week we are going to try and invite Sebi to be baptized...so be sure to keep him in your prayers!(:

Thanks for all your love and support! I sure love you guys!

Sora Armstrong(:

Elders and I at the Botanical Gardens

Japanese Garden!

The Botanical garden with the district(:

Me and my mission copii(: 

ROMANIA!

Inside the Keyie Turzii(:

I literally see my old car EVERYWHERE. Cannot WAIT to drive again!!!

Chocolate Cake and the Restoration

Hey there Family and Friends!

This week was super super fast! Things are going well - and people are progressing(:It was transfer boards on Saturday and we are all staying the same, except Elder Bateman is going home, and we are getting Elder Newlin(: 

We got to go to Oradea this past week on an exchange - and I got to spend 24 hours with the incredible Sora Falkenberg! I missed her - and I truly truly LOVE her. It was hilarious because it just totally felt like we were back together again in Cluj haha, we kept joking that next transfer we'll serve together again haha(: I love that girl - truly one of my great friends out here on the mission. 

Also this week we saw a giant miracle from our English classes. I remembered when I taught Gospel Doctrine at BYU, and how I did an object lesson with a giant Costco chocolate cake - about how our message is so good to share that we want everyone to have a piece of that cake or gospel. So this week (with the help of Sora Nelson's amazing cooking(: ) we made some delicious cake, and related it to how we LOVE teaching English, and we LOVE the people here, and we want to share this amazing chocolate cinnamon cake with them - but we left behind our families and friends for the chance to come to Romania to share the message of the Restored Gospel that will bring positive change and growth into these peoples lives. We invited them to write down their phone number on a piece of paper if they would be interested in our message, and we received 9 numbers out of our 11 total english students! We are going to follow up with them all this week and I truly cannot wait to see what amazing impact the power of the Restoration will have in their lives. 

You are all amazing - 

Have a great week(:

Sora Armstrong

Beauties! 

These Final Six Months Are Going to Fly By....

Hey there family and friends!(:

First thing.....DID I TOTALLY HIT MY YEAR MARK???? AH, I honestly was like freaking out haha - so crazy. Time just flies by ya know? Each day seems so long usually - but then you look back at your week and month and it is just all one long blur. I know that these next 6 months are going to FLY by - but it is just a huge testimony that you just gotta use all of the Lord's time that you have ya know?(: 

We were able to meet with Sebi this week which was amazing. We had a powerful lesson with him and with Elder K Nelson. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and he completely understood. He brought up some of his own personal struggles - the main one being coffee. He said he smokes once in a while, but that its more of a fitting- in kind of thing. We talked about all the blessings that will come from being obedient - not only for him, but how also he will set a huge example to his family as well. He loved the conference in Oradea - and really felt the power of President Ivory's message, Sora Ivory's, and Elder Obando's. It was incredible to see him testify how he has truly felt like something was missing from his life and heart because he hasn't been at church these past 2 weeks. He wants to get baptized, but said that he is getting a little bit of resistance from his ex-wife in Timisoara. But I know that he will be able to overcome that and set a date for baptism soon(:

Thank you so much for all you do - I sure love you guys!

Have a great week!

Sora Armstrong

Some pics from last week in Oradea(: haha

We taught our English class what a "bucket list" is haha(:

My family got to visit with Sora Wyatt at her mission homecoming. 

Hitting My Year Mark!

Hey there family and friends!(:

It is SUPER good to hear from you all - thank you SO much for all of your emails of love and support from these past few weeks, it is made my day more than you know(:

These past few weeks have been kinda rough, Sora Andrus my companion has been super super sick with some bad stomach and digestive pain. We aren't really sure what it is exactly, but we are hoping that she will be getting better soon(: 

We got to go to Oradea this past weekend though for a magnificent zone conference, and then on Sunday we had District Conference(which is just like stake conference) where all the members from Cluj, Sibiu, Timisoara, Oradea, and Arad came together(: There was a general authority who came to speak to us, his name is  Elder Adonay Obando and he was So cool!(: Such a great conference!

Also...I am hitting my year mark this week and I am LITERALLY freakin out hahaha(: But I just want to say thank you again for all of your continual love and support - I love you guys!(: 

Have a great week!

Sora Armstrong 

Life After Mother's Day

Hey y'all! I'm not going to write a ton because I just talked to my fambam which was super awesome! Everything is going well here! Honestly, we went to a lot of fun places this week and found a lot of new investigators. We also saw a lot of less actives, and met with some fantastic members! It was a great week with a lot of miracles. 

This week we are going to try and invite Angel to be baptized again...so be sure to keep him in your prayers!(:

Thanks for all your love and support! I sure love you guys!

Sister Armstrong(:

Us at dinner with Sora Constantin(: A rockstar member!(:

On the way to the salt mines(: (love the awkward guy in the back)

Our District!

The cute city of Turda!!(: Can you spot me in the pic(; hehe

My boboaca with other boboci hehehehe(:

I'm Not Only Staying in Cluj....I'm Going to Train!!!

Hey there family and friends!!!(:

What. A week!!!!(:

This was honestly one of the best weeks that I have EVER had in my entire life - so many amazing miracles and tender mercies!

Oh my goodness where to even begin...#allthethings... okay. So April 22nd, we were all in a lesson with Angel, one of our most progressing investigators from Mexico who is a guitar student here. We had a spectacular dinner at the Nelsons home, and right when we were about to begin our lesson, Elder K Nelson receives a call from President Ivory...AH! (keep in mind this is the day before transfer boards so like Sora Falkenberg and I are freakin out) And then all the sudden, Elder Nelson tells me that president Ivory wants to talk to me.......AHHH (freakin out even more.) So I get on the phone with President, and he tells me that I am going to stay in Cluj, and that I AM GOING TO TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!! I like FREAKED out, immediately all the tears and the excitement and nervousness and like ahhhh. And then Sora Falkenberg was told that she was going to go be an STL in the beautiful city of Oradea! Ah she is going to ROCK it there! haha but like it was so crazy, just all the emotions and things and all RIGHT before we were about to teach a lesson hahaha - #hanice (but it went SO well so thats way good) (: I GET TO STAY IN CLUJ!!!!!(: I'll get to be here for 9 months of my mission!!!!(: 

So then on Monday I was headed to Bucharest for 3 days of Trainer meetings! They were so SO inspired and we just got so pumped up to get our new bobocs(: (its what we all call the new missionaries here, it means "baby duck" in Romanian(: ) 

So after some rockin days of training - and just getting super geared and ready to go - we got paired with our amazing new missionaries, and I received the amazing and wonderful SORA ANDRUS! FROM MY HOME TOWN OF HIGHLAND UTAH!!!(: How cool huh?(: She went to Lone Peak, is the oldest of kids and is a PRO at tennis AND Romanian!!(: I seriously love her so much and I am looking forward to serving with her these next 3 months SO much!!(:

We started off our week by taking a sleeper train back (#yesss) and then getting ready for Felicia's Baptism! It was SO SO GOOD!!!! She was so happy and just like so prepared and ready to go. She was 2 hours early, brought a TON of food, and then stayed a 1 and a half after to help clean up. She was just GLOWING, and like when she bore her testimony afterwards, she said how she just felt so easy and light - how she had been searching for this for years and how she found the perfect love and light of Christ in this church!!(: I sure love her!

I also just like LOVE YOU GUYS like SO much!! Thank you so much for all of your support and all that you do!

Have a great week!!(:

Sora Armstrong 

Reunited at Chismaju(: Right before Sora Wyatt went home!

Sora Brinkman was my comp for a few days in Buc - she is a contacting/Easter video showing PRO!

Us and the boboacas!(: When they first came into the country!

Sora Falkenberg came up for Felicia's Baptism!(: It was SO fun to all be together again - and to see Felicia so happy immediately as she came out of the water(: