tranferssss- im staying here with sora lowther and sora collins! and coming soon sora haji!!!

This week was really good and I really feel rededicated to the work and the people. Especially with Easter this week I have been thinking about how Jesus Christ's apostales fell asleep while in the Garden of Gethsemane and how this work (or really anything in this life) can't be done passively. I have been praying and asking Heavenly Father for ways that I can do more for Him. It makes me think of that talk from General Conference about not just keeping our covenants superfically. It's about who we are so much more than about what we are doing, although what we are doing will always influence who we become. Some things that I have been focusing on are prayers of gratitude and more specific questions. It's so cool because Heavenly Father oviously wants to answer our questions we just need to ask them! I have had some really cool experiences with personal revelation which I have them been able to share with the people I have met every day.

 Our amazing people have also been doing really well and have been finding answers for themselves!! Sora Meze and Ramona recieved the answer that this is the right path and that they, together with their families need to continue to follow it! Ramona even said that she wants to make a covenant with God at our church. And although we have talked about baptism we had never used that word or explained what it meant. It is so true that Heavenly Father speaks to His children. The Toth family is doing really well also! We have met up with them a few more times and every time the spirit is so strong. Fratele Toth has read a third of the Book of Mormon and has so many questions. He talks about the true path and says that he feels like everyone he knows is walking just to the side of the path but not quite on. He talks about the need for the Restoration! He and Izabela even read together. She has really been loving to read the Book of Mormon, she is underlining and understanding a lot more. We are so proud of her and all her progress! She came to church and loved it (her parents had work and weren't able to come with her). All of the members were sooo welcoming! As a part of weekly planning we have started choosing members who will call each of our friends to invite them to church. It has been making a difference for them. They are all so happy to have someone from the Church call them and invite them to come (even someone they have never met). Because of that Izabela had several friends already waiting for her at church. 

We have been continuing to work with our returning members and have really been trying to do everything to find them. We tried to find one member recently only to find that the address and number were both mistaken. We sent her an email telling her that Christ is inviting her back and is always calling out to her and after a few days she answered and we are going to meet up this week. I imagine her as a lost sheep and I know that Jesus Christ would go through any effort to find her. This work is amazing! 

This week we actually had a super spiritual experience at the Herghelegiu's house when we shared a message about missionary work. We watched Elder Uchtdorf's talk and talked about real life ways to apply what he taught us. The thought came to Sora Herghelegiu of a woman that she doesn't really know but she feels that she could share the gospel with. It was so cool to see how Heavenly Father spoke to her even while we were still there. The immediate goodness of God! 

So the moral of the story is: miracles are happening, Heavenly Father answers prayers, and this is going to be the best tranfers ever!

Love, Sora James

(these pics arent from this week but theyre cute and Im gonna miss this friend)

Pictures from conference

"Caci Eu Domnul n-am uitat poporul Meu"

(: happy days

This week we recieved so many blessings. I know that God is aware of us and is helping our people. The most amazing news from this week is that Alexandra finally answered us! We have been thinking of her a lot and praying for her and have called her every couple of days since we last saw her a month ago and yesterday we called her and she answered! We set up to meet on Wednesday! I know that Heavenly Father is so proud of her and that He has a plan for her. We have also been seeing lot's of miracles with the families that we are working with! There are two families (Meze and Sandu) that are reading and praying every night together! This week we also got to visit Izabela at her home and meet her parents who are both interested to know more about the Gospel and especially to read the Book of Mormon. They are so amazing! They told us that the first time we met with Izabela that she came home and said that she was so happy and that she would be coming more! She also prayed and talked about how she has been changing because of what she has been learning and doing. It was amazing for her parents to hear and even more important for her to be able to say those things! We are so proud of her and the progress she is making. We are still working with Ionela and helpiong her understand and recieve her answer. She is still not one hundred percent dedicated to her decision to be baptized and we want to help her understand what it means. This week we have both been studying a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I loved in General Conference how we were taught that faith in the His atoning power is what leads to action. Have a great week!

Love, Sora James

sorry no pictures /: loooove yoou

CE TARE!!

Wow this week was awesome! Other than the fact that we had General Conference which is always AWESOME (ESPECIALLY THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE TEMPLE IN HUGARY !!!! ) We also had Zone Conference which always pumps me up!! We also had some amazing lessons and some really great miracles. We have some people that are really prepared and very willing to keep commitments and are trying with all their hearts to come unto Christ. First of all we have really focused this week on meaningful follow-up every day with everyone we are meeting with and it has been so cool to give them a chance to testify of the experiences they have had. It really makes such a difference! We are working with a sweet girl named Izabela and daily contact has really encouraged her to pray and read everyday. She had never prayed before meeting us but now she is reading and praying every night and testified to us (over the phone !) that since she has been doing this that she has recieved joy and peace from God! Our focus on meaningful contact also made it possible for our friends to participate in General Conference. It was a blessing for so many of them! One of our really big miracles this week was with the sweet Sandu family. Sora Sandu works at the bus station in Sacele and has seen us coming and going for a while and she approached us and asked us when we could visit her! We got to go over on Saturday and had the most amazing lesson ever! The Spirit testified powerfully as we related the First Vision and testified of the power of the Book of Mormon. By the end of the lesson Sora Sandu had invited herself and her family to General Conference in that same evening and told us of several other families that she thought we should go to! She also said the closing prayer and asked to know if this was the true path of God. They are such a sweet family and we are so excited by their progress already! We are also super pumped about our sweet family from Tarlungeni. Sora Meze and her kids are so sweet and humble and really have been prepared for the Gospel. We went and visited them this week and were so happy. Sora Meze doesn't know how to read but her sister knows a little and together they read from the Book of Mormon. We taught about the Restoration of the Gospel in our visit and as we testified aboout Joseph Smith, she started to cry. Her phone isn't great and it is hard to stay in contact with her but she really wants to come to church with her family and to recieve those blessings.  Ionela and Adi are still waiting for a clear answer. They are separated for the time being and don't want to be married. Ionela is searching with her whole heart and really wants to be baptized still. She came to General Conference and even recognized an answer that she recieved while there. We will continue to pray for her and for Adi and his family. We have continued to work with Ramona and the Olea family also. Over all we have been so blessed and can't say enough prayers of gratitude for all the ways God is blessing us. He is really speeding His work here. Some things we have done that have helped us are: promising blessings, believing that God is guiding EVERY little thing, specific prayers, follow-up and encouragement. I know that God sees our little efforts and makes them great! Have a great week!

Sora James

 also i have a ton of pics because sora garrett got her camera to work lol 

Sora Sandu and her sweet girls

Izabela <3

Ionela 

classic missionary shot (SACELE IS BEAUTIFUL)

Sora Meze 

Turlungeni with Maria and Nicoleta

cutest EVA lesson with Cristina and Izabela

Sora Ciorba 

Unplanned Miracles

As you already know, this week was amazing! We are super pumped about our baptismal dates with Adi and Ionela! We were having a lesson with Adi's whole family and Ionela and Adi were sitting towards the back of the group. When we started to talk about baptism they started whispering to each other. As the lesson continued Ionela announced that they had something to say. She told us that they wanted to be married and then baptized. They Spirt was so powerful and confirmed that this is the right path. They are praying now to know for sure that this is what God wants for them. We were also super happy to have a lost sheep back with us! Sora Ciorba came to church on Sunday. After being  baptized all of her friends pressured her into returning to the church that she had previously been at, since then she hasn't been back to church. But this week we found her name on the member list and went to find her and invite her back and she came!

We have realized how guided we are and have been trying to find the unplanned opportunities in what look like failure and God has really blessed us to see some unplanned miracles! We missed our bus stop and had to get off at the next one and walk back. Sora Garrett told me that she felt like we must have missed it for a reason and that there was someone waiting for us on the way back. We talked to a few really cool people and then saw a beautiful family. We stopped them and asked if we could share a short message with them. We talked a little about the Restoration and then asked when we could meet and they said they could the next day! We met up on Sunday and taught them about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong and testified of the truth of what we were saying. We set to meet up again on Sunday! 

We had another amazing experience when we were going to find a returning member. She wasn't there because she had moved out of the block but we started talking to one of the ladies from the block and she was super sweet and invited us into her home. We went in and told her who we were and she was pretty emotional and told us how much she loves Jesus Christ and that she thinks He sent us to her. We then invited her to come to church and she got really excited and said that for the past three weeks she has been having a dream of Jesus Christ extending His hand to her and saying "haide, hai cu mine" (which means come with me) and she said that she would answer "unde sa ma duc?" (where should I go) her mom is super sick and she cant really go anywhere but she said that when we invited her that she knew that that was the invitation that Christ was extending. She said that Jesus Christ wants her to come to His church. She said we were angels sent from God. 

We are still working with going to all of the members on the list and finding the lost sheep and it has been going well. There are a lot of wrong addresses and missing information but we have seen how Heavenly Father has helped and guided us. Along with that we have been continuing to try with Alexandra and have met up with our other people. There is a lot going on in Brasov! Have an amazing week!

Sora James

pics: adi and ionela are the most beautiful people <3

we moved this week to a different apartment and here we are in the middle of the night (8 pm) taking the last of our stuff to the new place