February 3, 2014

Servus!

 What a crazy, busy, awesome week we had! This week  we literally witnessed a miracle. On Thursday Sora Stapley and Sora DeRuvo came for exchanges.  Sora Stapley and I had a lesson with Elena, our investigator who had a baptismal date for February 8th.  We had a lesson plan all ready, but as Sora Stapley and Elena were getting to know each other, it came up that the man that Elena has been calling her husband, is not actually, legally her husband. Sora Bray and I had been planning on teaching Elena the law of Chastity this week, thinking it wouldn't be a problem seeing as we thought she was married and everything. SO.  Sora Stapley and I did the chastity lesson right then and there, seeing as it was kind of urgent.

At the end, we explained to Elena that she could not be baptized without either marrying the man, or moving out. She looked at us and said "I'll get married.” She explained that she wouldn't have the money to marry him until later in the month. Then we talked with her about it a little more, and she told us she didn't actually love the man she'd been living with. He said he wasn't good to her and that she only lived with him out of absolute necessity. I've never left a lesson feeling that awful.  It just seemed like there was no way out, and we did not want her to marry this guy.

We called President Hill explained  that all we can do is teach her the standards, and let her make her decisions. So we just waited.

On Sunday, Sora Bray and I headed out to Feldiora  a little early so we could meet Elena at her home and walk with her to church.

We got there, and she was all ready with her little granddaughter Mirella.

We were just walked out her fence when she looked at us and said "I actually don't live here anymore. I just have to come back and get my things sometimes".

I. was. Shocked.

She explained that thanks to Elena Pavel, our member we've been bringing to Elena's lessons with us,  she'd found a tiny home she could live in for a year.

Elena was so happy. She was so happy. I will always remember that look on her face when she told us that she no longer lived there.

I am so amazed. I AM SO AMAZED. Elena had been living unhappily with this abusive man for 9 years, and now finally she had gotten out.

I absolutely went on trying to tell Elena how happy I was for her for maybe 5  minutes without making any sense. Note to self:Excitment makes Romanian much harder. 

Elena is amazing. I wish all of you could meet her.

I am also so grateful for our member Elena Pavel. Without her this would have not even been possible. Just another testament to the importance of members being involved in missionary work! This miralce never could've happend if she weren't involved.

 So now we're planning a baptism for February 8th again! We are so thrilled, but Elena is even  more so.

 Other than this, we've had some other great lessons with the family who lives in our block, A few others here in Brasov, and  with a family we're teaching in Secele.  We've also  been doing a good amount of block knocking this week, and we've actually had a lot of sucess! Unfortunetly, all but one of our new potential investigators is a guy, so the elders should hopefully be getting some new investigators this week :)

Tomorrow President is coming for interviews!

I LOVE  YOU ALL SO MUCH! Thank you for your prayers! They're working!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sora Ralls

Elena's twin granddaughters :) 

 Oh and today we spent some time at Bran Caslte :)

Knowing how much I love cats, my district got me this for my halfway mark :)#creepycat

4/6ths of the best district in the world