Well, in 2 days I'll only have 9 months left on my mission. Being half way
is the weirdest thing ever. I feel like I just got here yesterday! But because I
am halfway, I was really pondering this week all the things that have happened
since I've got here, and all the things I've learned, and they're not few, I can
tell you that much. You know, I don't really feel like I'm really that much of a
different person, just more refined, and probably a lot more happier. I made a
list of that things that I've learned so far (I had a goal to write down at
least one things I've learned every transfer, but I kind of failed at that, so I
decided to do this). I thought I might include some in my letter today:
1) Heavenly Father loves all of His missionaries and is grateful for all of
them. He's proud of every effort we put in and understands our weaknesses. He
doesn't expect us to be perfect, but does ask that we try our best and leave the
rest to Him.
I think I really learned this at the end of my third and begining of my
fourth transfer. I had spent a lot of my time beating myself up when I only saw
the things I had failed at doing that day. It was really hard for me to really
give myself credit for the things I was doing well, and therefore impossible for
me to think that Heavenly Father was glad with my efforts. Although I knew He
didn't expect me to be perfect, I wasn't exactly sure about what He really did
expect me to be. But then on an exchange with one of our Sister Training
Leaders, she reminded me of the truth that Heavenly Father loves all of His
children, and especially all of His missionaries. He is so proud of us when we
simply open our mouths. And Even on days that are hard, where we don't even want
to go outside, He is still proud of us when we do, when we put in the effort
that we can, and He blesses us significantly! And when He does bless us (which
is every day) we need to show gratitude, which leads perfectly into number
2...
2) If you look for the blessings, you will find them!
This is something that just continually amazes me. I have to thank Ashley
for helping me with this one. She got me started on really looking for blessings
in my life. But I think in my first transfer I really started looking for the
blessings Heavenly Father had blessed me with every day. Some days it was really
hard, all I wanted to do was go to sleep. But I would always try to think of at
least one good thing that had happened that day, and I always found one. Most of
the time, once I got started, I could think of a lot more. Doing this
strengthened my testimony so much that my Heavenly Father loves me, and He loves
His children! This is His work, why would He want to hinder it? Every day I
thought of just a couple of things, and it testified to me that Heavenly
Father is leading this work, that He isn't only blessing the lives of the people
here, but He is blessing my life, by using me as an instrument in His hands.
There are always blessings to be found! I think I even found the most joy in the
smaller blessings, because it showed me that Heavenly Father is in every aspect
of this work, even the small and simple things.
3) "Work will work when wishy washy wishing won't" --President
Hinckley
This may be my favorite quote of President Hinckley's. This is probably
something I believe in most. I love to work! Especially in this work! I love
coming home at the end of the day super tired, because I know that that means
I've been working hard. And I have a very strong testimony that that harder you
work, the more the Lord will bless you, because you show Him that He can trust
you with what He asks you to do. Although you may still have slower weeks, He
still is blessing you. Just keep going! (Also, see the above section). "Run hard
and to the tape," as Elder Holland said in that great talk that mom sent me,
probably my first or second transfer.
4) Have a Just Do It additude
Ok, so I'm not trying to quote Nike, this is definitely just something I
have had to put into practice as a missionary, and it works! It's actually
something I feel like I learned before my mission, but here it just works so
well! I just remember always having to do hard workouts in track and a lot of
people would just complain and grumble and really not put in their best effort,
and I have to admit, sometimes I was that person. But then I realized that if I
just did the workout without complaining and just started as soon as
possible, it would be over a lot sooner and I would feel really good after! The
same is in missionary work. So many times I would be so scared to talk to
someone on a bus, or call someone on the phone, because I was afraid I wouldn't
understand or wouldn't know what to say or it would just be awkward to talk to
the person next to me because no one does that here and they would just think
I'm weird. But everytime I would "Just Do It" everything would be better than if
I didn't, even if I didn't understand. Because I saw that even if my effort was
kind of whimpy, or I completely forgot how to speak Romanian when I tried to
talk to someone, Heavenly Father blessed that effort (again, see the above
sections). It's always just better to do it!
5) First love, then correct
This is something I've really seen while being on my mission. I've realized
that it's going to take a lifetime to really develop Christlike love for
everyone. But I know that Heavenly Father will give us that love if we ask, and
if we truly strive to have it. As a missionary, and just in general, no one is
going to change if they don't first feel love. Something I've really pondered
throughout my mission is how Heavenly Father speaks to me. Every time I feel a
prompting from the Spirit, or receive a confirmation that something is true from
the Spirit, it is always through my feelings, one of those feelings being
uncomprehensible love from my Heavenly Father. I've really come to understand
that people don't do anything, unless they feel that it's right, or good, or
that it will make their life better. yeah, Heavenly Father could just
make something make sense in our mind, but without feeling, it's very unlikely
that we're going to do anything about it. Chirst was the perfect example of how
to help people change, and He still is. He first gives us His love. His love is
always there. And because of His love for us, He corrects us. It cannot be done
in any other way. If you want anyone to change, you must first love them. I
could go on and on about how important love is! I could go in 20 different
directions from here! And I've learned that it's the same with the investigators
we have. They're not going to change unless we show them love and until they
really feel the love of their Savior for them, which comes as they pray, read
their scriptures, come to church, and repent! Seminary answers, they're great
folks. But It's so true, that is how we can feel the love of our Savior more
fully in our lives. And I know that's true from personal experience.
Well, I could keep going, but I guess I should also tell you a little bit
about our week! Because it was fantastic!
We had many many really wonderful lessons this week! Who should I start
with...
I'll start with Traian, because he's so cool! He's 87 years old and we
block knocked into him last week, I think. Anyways, we went over there again to
give him a Book of Mormon, because he wanted one, but we didn't have any...I
can't remember why. We went back over and taught him the Restauration and
actually talked a lot about authority and how the church is set up, because
he had a lot of questions about that. He thought it was really cool and just
really likes how we're so excited about this work. He saw that we really care
and that this means a lot to us. He agreed to come to church, but said that he
probably wouldn't be able to this week because he was getting back surgery, but
that he would come the next week. But then yesterday, guess who showed up! He
did! He said he saw in the Book of Mormon 'Duminica la ora 10' and was like,
"well, might as well go!" and He came! And he loved it! He still says he's
Orthadox and that he'll stay that way, but that he'll come every Sunday! He is
so cool, but he smells really bad of old man.
Next! Mirela. She is so cool. She's super shy, though, and it's really hard
for me to read people, so sometimes I have no idea how she's feeling about what
we're saying. But she told us in our last lesson that she knows it was just an
"intamplare" that we came to her door and she has so much real intent, it's
crazy! She is such a huge blessing! That was kind of a crazy lesson because she
had gone online and had read about tithing and our member that we brought with
us kind of went off on that and we were just sitting there like, "We haven't
even taught the Restauration!" It was scary, but all went well and turned out
great and she's still awesome.
Anca and Valentin! Anca's a member, but her husband/ boy friend (because
they're not actually married because they don't have enough money) isn't a
member. But this last week he expressed to us that he really wants to be
baptized, so we started teaching him. he can't read, but Anca reads with him and
their daughter every night! They are so adorable. Our last lesson we asked him
to pray, and he wouldn't because he said he wasn't ready, but him and Anca
prayed together and he said he felt so good and that he was so sorry he didn't
pray with us! They are just so cute. He already has a testimony of the Book of
Mormon and the Church. It's so cool.
Cristina! She's doing awesome. We did the stop smoking program with her,
and although she hasn't quit completely, she's doing a lot better. she's also
cut down on drinking coffee. She wasn't able to come to church yesterday because
she had a fever. Ugh! We are convinced that the adversary is trying so hard to
keep her from coming. But we're not giving up, and neither is she! She is just
so great. We love her so much!
We also found this former investigator when we were block knocking the
other day. She is so cool! She used to live next to the Elders 2 or 3 years ago,
but then they changed apartments. She absolutely loved them, though. She called
us one day after we had gone to lunch with Eugen and invited us over right then.
So we went over and found out she had made lunch for us (ciorba de salata). It
was good, just like any ciorba, but we were already full from eating with Eugen.
And then she's like, "I'm going to make you clatite, too!" and she did. And we
ate probably 7 clatite each because she just kept making them and giving them to
us and even though we said, "This is going to be my last one" she said, "No. You
can have one more!" She probably did that 3 times. We felt so fat afterwards. It
was kind of awful, but she was so cute! I love her so much! Her name is Maria, I
think I forgot to say that.
Yesterday at church we had a very interesting Sunday School lesson. It was
on how to improve your marriage (or in this case, prepare yourself for marriage,
since everyone in our branch is single except for like 2 people). It was so
hilarious! One guy, who has a crush on me and Sora Huffaker and makes it really
obvious, kept slipping our names into all of his comments. He also kind of tried
to turn the class into a dating advice discussion. Sora Huffaker and I just kind
of sat there, and I think both of us were just tuning him out. We kept looking
over at the Elders and they were trying so hard not to laugh. It was so
hilarious! But Sandu did a great job turning the class back to the real purpose
of the lesson. Oh man, it was just hilarious, and slightly awkward at the same
time, but it was great.
Oh yeah! And we called Ileana yesterday and she was so excited to hear from
us! She's been on vacation and we haven't been able to talk to her at all. I was
so excited to talk to her and she was so happy that we called. She kept doing
these cute little excited laughs while we talked to her. it was so cute. I love
her so much!
Yep, a whole lot more happened, but I really don't have much time left. I
love you all! I hope everything's going well!
Love,
Sora Merrill
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