transfers

I staying here in Bucuresti! This week was really good. We have been continuing in our efforts to find members that don't come to church and have been blessed with many opportunities to find the lost sheep. We decided that since we don't know a ton of the members yet that we would go through the numbers in the phone just a few every day and set up to meet with the people that we didn't know. Doing this we found several ladies who haven't been to church in a really long time but who were happy to meet up. We have been focusing our studies in the morning and as a companionship on the baptismal covenants and remaining on the path and helping those who have lost their way and I have seen my testimony grow more than ever before that there are those who are lost and want to come back. I feel a stronger desire to find them and bring them in again. We have continued to work with the Dumitru family and have gone now to visit another son. We had a great lesson with them about the Prodigal Son. They spirit was so powerful and they felt the desire to come back. We are really excited to work with Remus to help him remember and Juli and the kids also learn. I am so excited to work with Sora Erickson again and I am so grateful for the time that I had with Sora Smith. She really is an amazing missionary and is going to do great things in Brasov!

Sora James

Week?

This week was really great! We have really caught the vision of finding the lost sheep and have been making it our go to activity. We have been using the baptismal records that President Doru made and it has been really cool to see the blessings that have come. We were planning on finding one member late in the evening a week or so ago and didn't feel right about it and so we went a different way and found someone else. We saw that night that God had had another plan for us but still wanted to find the original member. So this week we ended up going during the day to his house. When we went there he wasn't home but we got to meet his exwife and his grandkids. The wife gave us information on where her other children live (all of which are members) and told us they would all be glad to meet us. They were a really sweet family and wanted us to come back. We then went back on Sunday and got to meet one of the sons (the father of the little kids) and his cute wife. He talked about reading the Book of Mormon and all the blessings that he had received from God as he was coming to church. We set up a day to meet with Marian and Alexandra and their two little kids. I know that God lead us to them. We are so excited to teach Marian again and Alexandra and her kids for the first time and help them to come unto Christ. We also feel really good about the other members of the family all across the city and can't wait to visit them as well. Other than our work with the lost sheep we have continued to find wherever we are and we have been blessed to meet a lot of great people. We met a sweet lady named Daniela who has really been prepared for the Gospel. We got to meet with her this last week and she is already reading and really excited about the Book of Mormon. She has a lot of questions but also has a lot of faith and is willing to listen. It will really help her as she is searching for answers. Something else that was really amazing this week was that I got the chance to talk to Lorena from Cluj! I haven't had the chance to call her since I got here but she got my number and called me. She told me that she is reading the Book of Mormon every day and that it has been such a blessing to her. She said that God has given her a new life. I am so grateful for the blessing that this Gospel and what it means in these people's lives and that I am blessed to see it changing them. 

Love Sora James 

Week 58- heyy (((:

This week was really great! We have been spending a lot of time lately searching for returning members and contacting as we go. We had a really amazing experience as we were searching for a member the other day. We found the address and tried and no one was home so we asked one of the neighbors where the Fodea family lived and she pointed a couple of doors down. We went to the house that she showed us and rang the doorbell. We asked them if they were the Fodea family and they said yes so we started talking to them about why we were there and talked about their baptism in our church. They were super confused and asked if they could look at the certificate that we had. It turned out that their name was Fotea not Fodea and they were not the family that we were looking for. We then told them that we were there to share a message with them about Jesus Christ and they let us come in. We then we able to talk about the Restoration with one of the members of the family, Vali. She was really emotional as we spoke and told us several times that God sent us to her. It is always really amazing to me to see how Heavenly Father makes it possible for us to be where we need to be when we need to be there. Vali is just this one lady in all of Bucharest in a little house on a little street that we never would go to normally but He knew that she was in need and planned it perfectly for us to be there when we needed to be. We have seen a lot of experiences like that lately, of God leading us and guiding us even when we don't know it. One of the returning members we are working with is Mioara Fletcher. We were trying to find her one day and we couldn't get into her block. We realized that we needed God's help so we decided to pray. Right as we finished our prayer a little blind lady unlocked the door for us and let us in. We started talking to her and realized that she was Mioara! Since then we have had miracle after miracle with her and have seen how much Heavenly Father wants her back. She has been having some problems lately and it has been really hard to find a chance to sit and talk to her but she says that she wants to come back to church in a few months. We have continued trying to work with her and have started involving the active members. It will be really good for her in this hard time to know that she is still part of the branch and that the rest of the members want to be there for her. In general we have just been working as hard as we can and looking for those who are ready to come back or come for the first time to Jesus Christ. I think this might be a time that God wants us to work really hard and show Him that we recognize the little miracles and blessings. I know that He has great plans for these people.

Love Sora James

and the moment you have all been waiting for (especially you mom) .....

piiictuuures

running in the morning in the snoww

making calls and studying at the mall lol 

me and my cutie comp Sora SMITH 

the chuurch is huge here!!!

Week 57-

This week was great. We have seen the blessings of faith and patience. Now that the holidays are over we have been able to meet with some of the people that we met when we first got here. A couple weeks ago our branch president, President Doru, invited his friend's family to church and we got to know his daughter. Her name is Sara and she is thirteen and really open to know more. We met up with her this week and taught the Restoration. She was a little overwhelmed but felt the spirit and the truth of the message. Another awesome we had this week was with a girl named Ana. We met her our first day in Bucharest and were finally able to meet with her. It was an amazing discussion and the Spirit was so strong. When we first started talking she told us that she didn't really believe in anything but by the end of the lesson she was smiling and leaning forward. It was amazing to see how the message of the Restoration changed her whole perspective and gave her so much hope. it makes me think of the scripture in 2 Nephi 30 that talks about that the scales of darkness will begin to fall from their eyes. I have had so many amazing opportunities to see this promise in action. There is a physical change in people as they hear for the first time the truth that they are truly a child of God and that He has a perfect plan for them. At the end of the lesson she started asking so many questions about what will happen after this life and why we are here. We invited her to read and pray and that we could talk more about her other questions. There was such an amazing peace in the lesson and we all felt the Spirit confirm that it was true. We have continued to meet great people everyday and I can't wait to see how they will progress in the Gospel. This coming week I want to focus on having more organized and meaningful study and prayers. I know the power that comes as we pray with faith and feast on the words of Christ. I know that my testimony of the Atonement will grow and as it grows my desire and ability to share the Gospel will be strengthened. I have been thinking lately about the worth of souls. As I think about the love that God has for each of His children it helps my faith to grow. I know that He has a perfect plan for each one of his children here and I know that He will work through me if I let Him. Love you guys have a great week!!