Week 40- HALFWAY WHAT

 This week I hit my halfway mark and I am kind of in shock because I got here like three days ago. Time moves by so fast and it is crazy because we just have to make the most of it. This week especially just flew by! We have been seeing God's hand working in our lives to bring those who are prepared for the gospel. We went to a members house this week and he wasn't home but we were able to meet with his sweet wife, Any, who is not a member. She talked about her experiences with God and other churches and told us that she doesn't actually know a lot about our religion. She said that she will read the Book of Mormon with her husband and that we could continue to meet up. We also saw God's hand working in the life of one of our English students, Dorina. We haven't talked about the church much with her besides our spiritual thoughts at the class but I guess she is prepared because she invited herself to church this week. It was an amazing experience and she ended up getting pretty emotional during a talk about the Restoration. We have also seen miracles in the lives of our sweet members here. This week the brother of Sora Constantin passed away and we were able to go to his funeral. She was very sad but there was a hope and a joy that she had knowing that although his life here is over God's plan for Him is eternal and that there is more work to do in the next life. The knowledge of Plan of Salvation is a beautiful blessing. I have also been thinking a lot recently of the power of personal revelation. Go read President Nelson's talk from this last confrence. I love you all! Have a great week and remember that God has a plan for you! 

me eating subway for my 9 month mark 

​BE HONEST

us (((:

​throw back to the beginning in honor of halfway 

​LOVE YOU

Week 39- yayayaya

Dear President,

This week was so busy! We had miracle after miracle as we were running from appointment to appointment. We met a girl named Virgi this week and were able to teach her the Restoration. She is 18 years old and has moved here from Moldova. She has leukemia and has been getting treatment here. She is amazing! She has been looking for the truth and is very open. She is so strong and has relied on God a lot throughout her life. We have also worked with our other people this week including Bogdana. We see her progress and also her girls'. They are going to start coming to church once school starts in a couple weeks and they have been reading together from the Book of Mormon for kids. We haven't been able to meet with Malina because she is busy in this time but we have been keeping contact and she has been telling us about her Book of Mormon reading. We have also met again with the friend of the member in Oradea, Adora. She doesn't believe in God and is having a hard time accepting our message but we see the Spirit working in her and softening her heart. We have been working on teaching more in equality and working on getting on studies to be more productive. I realize more and more every day the importance of this work and the impact it has on this country. Sora Broadbear has taught me so much about love and hard work and helping these people and giving our lives up. This branch is growing in faith and love and unity! They all came back from the temple this last week and the Spirit that they brought back was amazing. Salvatore and Aurelia were finally sealed! It is amazing to be here and to witness the miracles that the Lord is working in these lives! I am so grateful for your prayers and support and I know that these miracles are happening because of your prayers and faith. Thank you so so much! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love Sora James

Week 38

Hey i have no time! i love you all!! God loves you!!

Week 37- LOve and the power of God

This week has been great! We have seen many blessings with our investigators and members and especially with them working together! Our investigators ask about our members and our members always ask about our investigators! It has been such an amazing thing to see the relationships growing and the blessing that have come from this. This transfer has been filled with blessings and miracles! I knew that at the last zone conference that it would be a turning point in my mission and it really has been! I can't wait to receive more guidance and inspiration from God this Wednesday when we go to Timisoara for this transfers zone conference. This week we have worked with Erika and Sora Aurelia Pacurar who are less actives. They are doing pretty well and have been starting to come to church more often. We are praying and will continue to work with them. We have also been working with some new investigators this week as long as some older ones. We have worked with Vali, Samina, Hereclea, and Bogdana this week and have also stayed in contact with Malina (she is busy this week). We have been blessed with so many miracles I can't even count. I will never cease to be amazed at the way the Lord is able to work in our lives to bring about His amazing work. I have also felt my love and trust in the Savior grow in these past few weeks. I have been focusing my studies and testifying around Him and we have been trying harder to keep Him at the center of every lesson and it has made such a difference. I have felt His power in my life more and have seen the importance of His power in the lives of others! He loves you and knows what you feel. Turn to Him and He will heal you. Thanks for your support and love! Have an amazing week!

Love, Sora James

Picture 1- the most awkward elder and sister pic ever (a member made us split up because "it made a better picture" hahah)

picture 2- my comp getting her ears pierced oh dear....

Week 36- CLUJJJ

Yayy!! I am staying here in Cluj with my buddy Sora Broadbear for another transfer!!

This week was really amazing and full of miracles. We have been continuing to meet with Malina and started meeting with a few new investigators this week. Something I have been thinking about lately is the fact that God truly leads us to those who are prepared to hear our message. I know that if there was someone who needed the gospel we would be lead to each other, as long as we were doing our job and being the people that we needed to be. It has been amazing seeing the progress of our investigators and to look back at how God's hand guided us to each other. I know that He love these people in Cluj so much. One really cool way that He guided us this week was when we ran into Zam on the street (the girl that we found block knocking). We were contacting and not having much success when she came around the corner. She told us that she had been wanting to go a different path but then felt something tell her to turn around. We were then able to set up to meet again! We were so amazed at the way that she responded to that prompting and know that God must have an amazing plan for her. We have also continued to visit Bogdana and her girls. We know that God has a plan for this family and we are trying to work close with Him to put it in action. Malina is doing really well and is excited to know more. She has been praying and we can tell that her faith and trust in God is growing. We are working really well together and I am so grateful to be with Sora Broadbear for another transfer. She has taught me so much and I have grown so much being with her. We have also been trying to continue to work with some of our less active members. We met with Erika this week and talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. Aurelia Pacura has also come to church the past several weeks and we are meeting with her tomorrow. The branch is doing amazing and everyone is looking for opportunities to serve and help. It has been amazing to be here for this long and I can't tell you how happy I am to be here for another transfer! God is moving forward His work here! 

Much love, Sora James

Week 35- I love you poof - Raluca

This week was super great! The hightlight was this Sunday when Bogdana's girls all came to church with their grandma. They really loved it and I think that the grandma really felt the Spirit. Bogdana really understands that this church is different and really wants to find out more and especially for her girls to find out more. She feels the Spirit and wants to come unto Christ and has made progress. We are being patient and continually helping her to receive the blessings of the Gospel. We are also continuing to work closely with our members in the progress of all our investigators and that has made such a difference! We have had many members ask about Madalina and her progress and have told us how excited they are for her. We have not been able to meet with her at all this week because she is a volunteer at the festival that is going on here in Cluj but we have continued to fast and to pray for her. We have met a lot of wonderful people lately and have been calling a lot of old investigators as well and we have been seeing a lot of amazing things happen because of that. We had an amazing lesson this week with a girl named Malina. She is so prepared for this time in her life. She expressed the desire to have a personal relationship with God and how she wasn't sure that it was possible. We had a very spiritual lesson about faith. She told us that she wanted to know that God loved her and that she would pray. She also told us to mark all of the chapters in the Book of Mormon that were about faith so that she could read them all. We are still working on that! In every second of every day we see God directing us and guiding us and it is so amazing! One thing that I have been really focusing on lately is repentance and the power of the Atonement. I have been studying The Living Christ and it has been amazing. I am also studying in 3 Nephi right now of Christ's visit to the Americas. As I have been doing these things I feel my desire to repent grow and with it comes an even deeper desire to share the gospel. I am so grateful for this Gospel of progress and change and I am so blessed to be able to share it. Hope you have a great week!

Love, Sora James

pic 1: I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

pic 2: me and the cutest baba ever

pic 3: us and sora handabut (aka perfect human)

pic 4: our lovely home

Week 34- "Yee haw"

We have had the best week ever! First of all we set the baptismal date with Madalina! She is one of those people who has just been prepared by God. The transition was not as smooth as we were hoping with her moving home and she ended up not being able to meet with the Elders at all, but she came back to Cluj this last week and we met up. She said she has prayed and knows that this is the one true church and that she wants to be baptized! She has talked to her family and they support her. The lesson was beautiful and what made it even more amazing was our sweet members Aurelia and Salvatore. They testified and talked about their experiences and most of all they just loved her so much. We could not have done it without them! She then came to church on Sunday and was enthusiastically nodding at during all of the talks and singing all of the hymns. She tells us that she feels so blessed to already have a part in the true church of God. We are praying for her and trying to work with her as much as we can in the next few weeks before she goes home. This is a miracle! I can't even express how grateful I am to have met her and to be able to see God working in her life. Other than that we have been continuing to work with Bogdana and some other new investigators. We have been implementing members in our lessons and in all stages of our work and it has been making such a difference! We have seen God working through the members and strengthening them as the help us. We also had our exchanges this week with Arad. Basically our trip to Arad consisted of crazy Babas, awesome miracles, lots of story telling, and peach cobbler. This week has been full and wonderful. With every day I feel my love and desire to serve these people grow. I know that God is working and that He has miracles in store for all these people. I pray for more opportunities to serve and to teach and He gives them. We have a great work to do here! And the joy that comes from doing this work is deeper than any other. I am so incredibly grateful that I have been called here to work in the gathering of Israel in this beautiful country. I am grateful that despite my weaknesses and mistakes God still chooses to work through me. I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you guys so much!

Love, Sora James

picture 1: boganas little girls gave us lots of drawings (also romanian pants for the win)

picture 2: going to arad

 

week 33

This week was so amazing! We have had many blessings and so many miracles. We have been working so hard this week in all aspects. Every day we have been contacting and finding new people like crazy! I know that Heavenly Father has been guiding us. One of the most amazing miracles happened last night. We like contacting every Sunday night at the Central Park because there are lots of young families and they are all usually pretty open to talk. So we started heading to the park but before we even got there it started raining. We were disappointed but decided we would find someone block knocking instead. We ended up meeting the coolest person ever! Her name is Zam and she is so prepared for the gospel. She is in her 20s and looking for a church. She lives in a block close to Center and literally lives on the fourth floor, last door. It was so amazing to find her especially when it hadn't been in our plan. I have learned again and again in my mission that the Lord will do His work. He leads us to where we need to be. We also have been continuing to work hard with our members. Every Sunday we try to talk to as many as we can about their families and friends and people that we can share the gospel with. Every person that they mention we treat as a sacred assignment and always follow up. I know that it is making a difference in our relationships with them and that they see that we take the work seriously. Another blessing that we had this week was with our investigator Bogdana. She is amazing!! We went over this week and it happened to be a day that she was home alone. We were able to really hear her feelings and answer some questions. The amazing thing was that she said that she wants to know if the church is true and she told us that she would find out by going and praying. She said that she knew that it would change everything if it is true. She then told us that she knows that she has to believe that it is true first and then she would get her answer to know. It was amazing that she was able to arrive at the answers for herself. The Spirit definitely spoke to her.  All in all we have worked hard and have seen so many blessings from God. We come home every day tired but so happy. I am so grateful to be a part of this work.

Week 32- Best week ever!

This week has been truly an amazing week! We have been blessed with many opportunities to testify and find others and share the gospel. The highlight of the week for me was Zone Conference. I felt very inspired by what we talked about and I have felt the spirit of this work in ways that I have never felt before. We talked about moving the work forward by working with our members. We came home from Zone Conference and called every active member and asked them if they would be willing to help us. We told them we had investigators that needed their testimonies. The reactions were amazing! We had people that we have always looked over saying that they would love nothing more than to be a part of our work. We asked people to let us know their schedules and we now have a spread sheet so that we can be sure that we don't have a lesson without a member present. The next day at church I was blessed to give a talk on missionary work and the members were excited! We had several people come up to us and ask us when they could help us! I know that the Lord is hastening His work in Cluj-Napoca and that the hearts of the people are being prepared. We have also seen blessings and miracles with our investigators. We had the opportunity to meet with Teodora this week and it was amazing! She is an old investigator of the sisters here and we decided to contact her again. She is an amazing girl and has strong faith in Jesus Christ. We are excited to meet with her and we feel strong that she will be ready! All around we have been very blessed and I know without a doubt that God is taking care of us and has a plan for us here in Cluj. My gospel study has been helping me a lot. I have seen myself in the scriptures a lot recently and I love to see that I am not alone in the things that I am doing. It helps me to have courage and faith always! I am so grateful to be a missionary and especially to be here at this time.

Love you all! Domnul sa va binecuvanteze!

Picture 1: Training it through the Romanian countryside

Picture 2: We made some friends along the way

Picture 3: Studying the good word 

Picture 4: walking to a less actives house in the prettiest city ever

Week 31- Ziua Americii!! La multi ani!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!! This week was super awesome! My new companion is amazing and has a ton of faith! We have been working hard and teaching everyone we see! I know that God is blessing us and is here with us! This week were able to go to Bogdana's house again and teach the Plan of Salvation. She was really touched when we spoke about how we all have a mission here on earth and that we need to be ready so that we can find it and fulfill it. Her daughters were so cute and kept asking us if they could pray with us agian. Bogdana told us that she fills something different when we are there and asked us to keep coming. We were also able to work with our members a lot this week, including our sweet Ramona. She is such a light and an example. It is such a testimony to me of the truth of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She is a changed person! I am so grateful to be a part of this work in spreading the truth to all of God's children here! I know that He truly does have a plan for each of us and that if we have faith, He will allow miracles to work in our lives. Don't ever forget that God loves you and that He is there for you! Have a great week!

Picture 1 Ramona and us 

Picture 2 Me and Florina and Raluca (and Bogdana and Sara in the background)

Picture 3 Just cheesing

Picture 4 Happy 4th

Picture 5 Cluj

Week 30- Dar cine este Mormon?

My new comp is the CUTEST ever! We have just been working hard and having so much fun already. This week we were able to meet with that family that we had found a month or so ago and it was so cool! Bogdana had just had a baby and there was a really sweet spirit in the home. We gathered the family and taught them all how to pray. All of the little girls were so excited to learn. We also had some amazing lessons with Ana and Madalina. We taught Ana the Gospel of Christ and she really loved it. She told us that she wanted to be baptized but wanted to know for sure if the church was true first. We talked about how we can gain faith through action and she agreed and told us that she was going to start being more dedicated in reading the Book of Mormon. With Madalina we taught the Law of Chastity and it was also a wonderful lesson. She told us that she would live the law of chastity and even testified of why she knows that it is important! We are so happy for her! We are sad to see her go to Oradea for the summer but the missionaries there will continue the lessons with her. Other than that we had a few lessons with new investigators and have been continuing to work hard to find people! We have set a ton of goals and have an amazing vision for the people here in Cluj! The Lord is blessing us and guiding us!

I love you all have a beautiful week!

Picture 1: just studying away

Picture 2: lol 

Picture 3: mission conference from a while ago ​​