Week 56- HAPPY NEW YEAR

This week was seriously amazing! I know I say that every week but it was just so great. We did a lot of finding and had several lessons as well. Heavenly Father really led us to who we needed to meet and where we needed to go. One lesson in particular was amazing. We are working with a lady here named Violeta and she is just so prepared! We had a great lesson with her and one of our members here. (By the way the members here are soo amazing and all of them are always asking about the work and how they can help and talking about all of the less active members. It makes me want to work harder and be better. They have high expectations and its amazing!) So this member (Alexandru) served a mission just recently in Moldova and he is super pumped about the Gospel. It made such a difference in this lesson. We talked about faith and baptism and were planning on inviting her to be baptized but she beat us to the punch after we had her read Mosiah 18 she asked us if it meant she should be baptized. She said that she wanted to and that she would pray about a day! We also had a great lesson with Ioana this week. She still has some doubts about the church and we are trying to help her understand that she doesn't need to know or understand everything. She seems really sincere and I know that she will receive the answer that this is the right path for her. We have seen a lot of miracles as we speak to every person that we see and have met several people that have been prepared. We met a girl that told us that the day before we stopped her she was thinking about the exact questions that we told her we have the answers to. She is super excited to meet up after the holidays. The last and probably most amazing miracle was when we got a call from a returning member wondering if we could meet up. We had a lesson with her and it turns out that she is going through a tough time in her life that has made her think about the happiness and joy that she felt when she was actively coming to church. She says that she wants to start the repentance process and that she wants to fully come unto Christ again. She was at church on Sunday and was able to feel His love and participate again for the first time in 8 years. We have been working on asking members, friends, and those we meet everyday for referrals and have been seeing the blessings come down upon us. God is definitely magnifying our efforts. Seriously it is amazing how many miracles He has given us this week. Love you all!! Numai bine! Sanatate! La multi ani!

Week 54- Ma Duc in Buc

(for those of you who dont speak Romanian the email title is a clever way of saying I am being transferred to Bucharest (; !!!!! ) 

I am so excited for this next transfer! I know we are going to see many miracles! I love this place and these people with my whole heart. This place is my home now and it is going to be hard to leave. I have seen miracles happen and lives change and I am so grateful. I know that I was sent here by God and that He is now sending me to Bucharest. I can't wait to see what he has in store there. This week we have been so busy with meeting with people! We have run (sometimes literally) from lesson to lesson and have seen miracles everywhere we go. We have continued talking to everyone that the Lord puts in our path and have continued to pray every time we travel. The Lord has been with us! I think the greatest way that I saw God's hand working in our life this week was as we visited families for the Family Home Evening lesson with Light the World. We had an amazing lesson with Aurelia and Salvatore at their home latara (in the countryside) and also a great lesson with Sora Bian. We have been working with her a lot and really encouraging her to do missionary work. She has told us over and over that she doesn't know anyone that is not already a member. We encouraged her to pray and told her that God would help her to find someone. When we set up for the Family Home Evening we reminded her of the blessings promised already as she would dedicate herself to inviting someone. When we went over she had a friend of hers that was of another faith. We had a great lesson and Sora Bian felt the spirit of missionary work in a way that I had never seen it touch her before. We were able to talk about Light the World and when we asked her friend if he had any referrals at the end of the lesson he said he and his family would love to meet with us again. He also suggested that we share the message with people on the streets (good idea haha). We have continued to work with our wonderful people Lorena, Horia, and Gabriel as well as others. Lorena and Horia are doing well and continue to progress. It is harder because they both live outside of Cluj and come to the city rarely. But they are both dedicated to reading and learning more and I have seen a change in them. This last week we were able to meet with Horia and he said he really wants to know if this is the Church of Christ. He really listened to the message and has been learning a lot on his own at home. Gabriel has been hesitant about learning more and really putting his trust in God but I know that he will find his answers. We also met with some new people this week and were able to see miracles with them as well. I am so grateful again that I was able to serve here in Cluj-Napoca and I can't wait to get started in Bucharest!

Sora James

Week 53 ((((:

This week has been really amazing! We have been really busy and have been seeing tons of miracles! We were able to meet with the family that we met on the street and had a beautiful lesson with them. They already have a lot of faith in Christ and they readily accepted the Book of Mormon and want to start coming to church every week! The wife is named Mihaela and the husband Florin and they have a little three year old named Denis. They have such love in their family and are anxious to learn more. We have continued working with Gabriel and he is progressing really well! He keeps talking about when he is baptized what kind of member he will be. He said that he will try to do missionary work and share what he believes with those around him. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and says that it is familiar, like something he has heard before and thinks that he is recognizing God's voice in it! We have also been working with Lorena over skype and had a great lesson with her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Sora Iepure as a member present. It was a really cool lesson and Sora Iepure was able to testify of all the ways the Holy Ghost has changed her life. We have also been working with a new person for our English class. His name is Liviu and he is so cool! He has started reading the Book of Mormon and is super pumped about it! He's read to chapter 16 and if you ask him a question about what he's reading he proceeds to give a play by play of the entire book up to that point. He has been coming to church and loves it! He is just genuinely so excited about the Gospel and loves being a part of it. He said "I know that I have only been coming here for a few weeks but it has already changed me". We have also been working with a cute girl named Ana. She is really religious in the orthodox faith but has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon and really likes it. We want to help her understand the importance of the authority and how important the priesthood power is. We have also been trying to fill up our schedule visiting members and helping them invite their friends to participate in the Light the World program. We have really been seeing God's hand working in the lives of the members here. We went and sang at a nursing home this week and it was the most amazing thing ever seeing all of the members united together in love and faith. In my time here I have seen these people grow in faith and love and desire to serve God. With transfers coming up next week I have just been so grateful that I have been able to serve here and (as you all know) I would gladly stay here for two more transfers! But I also know that God will take me where I am needed. Have a great week!

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Sora James

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pics of our branch president's sweet family (:

also heres us at mission leadership conference in Budapest (:

Week 52- ONE YEAR FOR ME, ONE HUNDRED FOR ROMANIA

This week was the anniversary of the Union of Romania 100 years ago and my one year mark is coming up this week! LA MULTI ANI! Also we have been crazy busy! We have some amazing people that we have been working with and have seen some great miracles. Something that I have been trying to do recently again is as I am talking to people to see them in their baptismal clothes. It has brought some really amazing miracles! I love the idea of seeing their potential and as I do this I immediately love them more! 

This week we had a really good comp study in which we counted the people that we are working with and categorized them by how we had found them. There were different ways including area book, english class, contacting sessions, and referrals, but the majority of our people that we are working with have been found as we travel from place to place and contact by the way.  Because of this we have set the goal to pray before we travel anywhere. It is a new goal and we have forgotten a lot. One day we were traveling and we realized that we forgot to pray before leaving so we stopped where we were on the street and prayed that God would guide us to those who needed to be found. As we finished our prayer a beautiful family came around the corner. We talked to them about forever family and asked them if they would like to know how they could stay together forever as a family unit. They answered that they definitely would! We changed numbers and gave us their address and told us they are always free. After the conversation was over Sora Peterson told me how amazing it was that God lead us right to the family that we had been praying to find. 

This wasn't the only miracle this week. We have been working a lot with Gabriel and had a couple of really great lessons this week. I have seen the Gospel change him already. His countenance has become brighter as he hears the message of his divine worth and God's love and plan for him. We had an amazing lesson in which we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was with both Darius and Vasile. It has been so amazing seeing them grow since their baptisms in the light and knowledge of the Gospel. Darius's testimony of baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost really left an impact on Gabriel. It was cool to see the sort of generations there haha. Vasile had been a member present for Darius and had really helped him in the process of becoming involved in the Church and here they both were helping Gabriel. It was sooo cool. Gabriel is going to be one of the miracle stories that you hear. 

We have also continued to work with Lorena through skype. She is doing great and has just finished 1 Nephi. She is recognizing the answers that she is getting from God and loves to read and pray. (this is especially amazing because when we first met her she didn't even believe in God) She has been having some really hard challenges that have helped her to realize her need of help from her Heavenly Father. 

We were super happy this week about another miracle at church. One of our less active members who turned away from the church came by herself yesterday. As we were planning a Relief Society activity she even took out her phone and scheduled it in. We plan on seeing her sometime in the next few days. 

We also had our exchanges this week and I was able to work with Sora Hansen. She is doing really great and is a bold, cheerful, hard worker. She is already an amazing missionary!  

Things are going well here in Cluj and the work is really leaping. This is the best place ever and the best time to be here. I am so blessed!

Love, Sora James