Mission Miracle from Elder Justin McBride

September 27, 2009

About two or three weeks ago we were walking our usual loop looking for the elect when we saw what looked like a wedding on wheels... so we decided, "Why not get closer?" So we did. As we got closer we could see that it was not a wedding, but rather a funeral progression. Kinda sad. There were three coffins in this big truck and about a hundred sad people following behind it on foot. It was moving really really slow! So we just kind of tried to see what was going on when a dude in an Audi A6 rolls down his window and asks us if we are with Jesus. He was following the progression in his car... I mean why wouldn't you ---it is an Audi! Who needs feet in a situation like that? ... So we of course tell him yes! And he motions for us to get into his car... I was reluctant at first but decided that I could use myself a good adventure story... I hadn't had one since I was hit in the face... So we climbed into this guy’s wicked nice car and began to talk to him. Well he asked the million dollar question, "Where is my friend? Really?" So we began to tell him the whole idea of a spirit world and so on and so forth. And then he asked about the man's sons. I guess what happened was this family was driving between Ploiesti and Bucuresti and got in a major head on collision and everybody died! Except for the mom... I'll get to her in a bit. So we told him that God gave us families as a gift and he is not one to take gifts away unless we mistreat them... and so on... and then he thanks us and we hook him up with a family proclamation... that took about 15 minutes.

Then about a week ago now we were knocking doors. Nothing was going for us. NOTHING! So we worked our way down the street a little further and there was some old lady out in front of her house and initially I just walked by... thinking nothing of it. Then about four steps past her the whole spirit thing kicked it and I was compelled to turn around. So I did and I asked her if she had ever seen us around and so on. The response she gave was so random, but without it we would have never had the experience we had. She said, "We just had a family tragedy where a father died in a car wreck..." I cut her off there, remembering the funeral progression, and said, "With his two sons huh?" She was amazed that I could tell... and just answered in awe, "Yeah" Then we began to tell her that we have the happiest message in the whole universe! That we know exactly every jot about our fate after this life! And we don't need to be sad! In missionary terms we call this a hook. She was in.

So we tried to sit with her then but she was all alone and didn't want to sit with us alone... understood... so we set up to go back last tuesday. AND WE DID! And it rocked! They were so down with knowing God loves them even in their trials! But while we were there her daughter told us that the mom from the accident is in a coma and still has no idea about the rest of her family! Yikes, we call that holy sad Batman! So we told them that we wanted to come back and tell them the whole plan, we had only talked about after life on Tuesday. So we set up for Sunday.

Sunday rolls around and we get into the lesson and it was going really really well. They were asking awesome questions and everything. But then, as we are teaching them in their courtyard some old man, they don't know, comes rolling in. uh oh. He began to tell us that he has studied the Bible for fifty years or so and knows everything about the gospel of Jesus Christ. So he killed what we had going for us... and after hearing his persistence on the Sabbath being Saturday we realized he was adventist! Oh goody. So we let him shpeal for a time until finally I'd had it with him. He was in the process of bragging about how he stumped an orthodox priest on some crazy subjects and so on... and he began to list them, the first being the sabbath.... until he got to miracles. Then he continued the story. So I stopped him. I asked him very politely about how great he knew the scriptures and he replied that he could respond to any question. So I put mine forth, "Prophets? They have been around since Adam, Jesus said they would come... where are they now?" He was stumped. He just looked at me, and I at him. I let the silence kick in for drama then turned to the family and said, "I know where prophets and apostles are!" Then the testifying began. I have never testified so much in my life on Joseph Smith! It rocked socks! The family was hooked, this was a message of happiness! Sorrow has no reign on truth! "O grave where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting?" We are going back next Sunday and we are going to give them a proper restoration lesson. This was a story I wasn't going to tell originally, but after yesterday I had to! I just thought it would turn out to be another bung story! But they are honestly earnest! I love it!

Mission Miracle from Sora Kelly Owen

September 21, 2009

This week on Friday we were going to an appointment and it fell through but the neighbor came out. We ended up teaching her instead. While we were teaching her, she said, “Hold on” and went to another part of the building and found a member who then asked us if we could go teach her mother-in-law. It was really cool because we were blessed with member presence at the lessons that day. We had set that goal and had not been able to find a member to go yet to our later appointment so it was a blessing. Now the mother- in- law has become a progressing investigator. It was really a miracle- especially since half the time I didn't know what was going on. We were really blessed.

Mission Miracle from Sora Kara Staley

September 14, 2009

After zone conference (which was wonderful by the way) we had about 1 hour to wait for our ride back to Iasi. Sora Richards and I decided to go out contacting. We recieved five numbers in 40 minutes. That's a miracle! I love seeing how the Lord blesses us when we use His time, doing His work.

Other miracles:
The other day we were running a little late, so we hurried down the sidewalk quickly to make it somewhere. An older woman Gabi was standing on the sidewalk. She stopped us with some small talk and questions. I prepared in my mind how I would turn the conversation but to my surprise, she went right to business and said that she'd read our pliant and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. She set up to meet us later that day, and we were able to provide her with a book. God literally set her right in our path.

After English class Saturday we had a lesson with Sora Padure. For weeks I've been wanting to ask her specifically for a referral but I was hesitant. Finally we asked her, "Sora Padure, do you have any friends that need to hear the gospel message?" She immediately responded that she has a friend Genina who has been asking her questions about the church, but admitted that she's afraid to push Genina too hard. We told her how the Lord has been bugging us to ask her specifically for a referral. That gave her courage to act and she's going to invite Genina to meet with the missionaries and come to church. Yay again!

On Sunday, we went over to some blocks right after church got out. In the last block, we both began feeling ill and ready to go home. We sat on the steps trying to decide if we should just quit. Well, using our brilliant method of decision making, I asked Sora Richards to choose between two random objects that represent something. She chose "tree" which meant that we must stay and finish. As we continued on, I remembered the words I'd spoken during our prayer. I'd asked Heavenly Father to help us have energy and desire to finish the block. I told Him we'd endure to the last door, if he'd bless us with His words. Well, it just so happens that behind the very last door in that block of 44 doors was a man named Mihai. He invited us in and we taught him (and kinda his daughter who was going in and out of the room) the restoration. He undertsood very well and promised to pray and read. Enduring to the end always pays off.

Mission Miracle from Elder Bryce Betteridge

September 6, 2009

Our miracle took place on Saturday night. Eze has been having problems with paying his rent because his girlfriend took his passport, and he cannot get any money from his account. Elder Moore and I went to translate for him, because he does not speak Romanian. Eze did not come in with us the first time, he wanted us to talk to her, so we said a prayer with him, and went up to his place. When we got there, she told us that she wanted him out and did not even want the money anymore. She was tired of not being able to communicate with him, and the fact that he hadn't paid her and it had been over a week since the money was due. We convinced her to let him stay the night and go to church and then he would leave. When we went and talked to Eze, he said he wanted us to talk to her again, and see if we could get him a few more days to find a new place to live. We did, and she said she would give him until Tuesday night. So we were happy with that, and talked with Eze in his room for a few minutes when the land lady came in again. She told Elder Moore and myself to come with her. We went and she told us that she would give him a second chance! We talked with her for a while and figured out the details with money and his passport. We told her that he would be able to pay her on Tuesday, and I know that her heart was softened. Sorry this miracle wasn't about someone we taught, but I still I think it is a miracle how this lady was able to have her heart softened because of Eze's faith that the Lord could do it

Mission Miracle from Elder Travis Harley

September 5, 2009

So, 2 weeks ago we were at a sandwich shop, and we were just about to leave. A dude walked past who worked at the crepe shop next door in the mall. He stopped us and he started talking to us, asking about the Book of Mormon and how we claim to have the authority of God and stuff. We were talking and we exchanged numbers. Peter, is his name... in English. Petre, is his name. ha ha. So we were going to stop by his crepe shop and have a lesson over there with him. He had said to just come by because he has all the time in the world at his shop. So on Tuesday, we went over to his shop, because it wasn't official, just a whenever type of deal. So we went and had lunch at his shop and we talked. PS, the food is soooooooooooooo dang good. Then he starts talking about the Book of Mormon. Where is it today if Joseph Smith translated it? Why can't I see it? Apparently, he studied all religions in Greece. He read the Book of Mormon in two days once, and read it again a second time. So I put the Book of Momon on the table and I said, “Its right here.” I flipped to Moroni's promise and said, “If you pray you can know if this book was translated through Joseph Smith. We testified, then moved on to faith. He agreed to meet again. The next day we went back to eat lunch there and we talked a little bit more. That day something clicked. I really liked him at that moment. It was like a love just exploded for this man. Then we set up to meet the next day.

So the next day we meet at the church and we have a lesson. We bounced all over the place from kingdoms of glory to the first vision. We couldn't stay straight on a path. Now this guy knows everything about the church. I mean he knows everything about the church. He has studied a lot about our church--from the first vision to the word of wisdom. He knows everything so we couldn't really teach him anything. We just have to get him a testimony, and that was what we were trying to do. So finally I asked, if the bible says that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, what church do you believe is the church that Christ established? He stopped for a moment, looked at the church then he looked at me and said, “Your church. I know that your church is the true church... in my opinion. Apparently this is how the story goes... 5 or 6 years ago he was contacted by the missionaries for English. He came to English, didn't like it, but he came to church. He refused lessons from the missionaries, but he attended church every Sunday. Then one day, he told the elders that he wanted to be baptized. They said they needed to find a date and get things worked out. So we will get back to you. But then he heard some member, who said something like "he doesn't deserve to be baptized." or something around those borders. Peter wasn't suppose to hear it, but he heard it. From that point on, he stopped going to church. He never went back. A year ago, he decided to try it again. But the members, as he said, were phonies. They were faking love for him, but didn't mean it. He hears them talking about him. So he said, I will never come back to this branch again. soooooooo he has secretly been going to the Brasov chapel once a month.

So he reads the Book of Mormon on a regular basis, prays daily, this man is legit! He is sooooooooooooo awesome. So at that lesson he said, I stopped you guys to see if you were the elders that I needed to talk to you. That first time we talked about the Book of Mormon, I was asking you questions to see if you were the ones, and you were... but he refuses to go to this branch. So we are going to work out a situation for him to go to the Bucuresti branch, which is like 45 minutes away. Friday night we gave him a baptismal date for the 12th. He wants it, but said i don't want it now. i don't have that desire that i once had. I don't think I want it now. so we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. Tesitfy. He said he would pray about it, talk to his wife, and give it anther shot. Saturday we went back to eat a crepe and he said I prayed about it, i'll i need to do is to get my wife saying yes. He has tried to talk to her, but she needs to say yes. So he is getting that desire! OH I LOVE THIS MAN!So, 2 weeks ago we were at a sandwich shop, and we were just about to leave. A dude walked past who worked at the crepe shop next door in the mall. He stopped us and he started talking to us, asking about the Book of Mormon and how we claim to have the authority of God and stuff. We were talking and we exchanged numbers. Peter, is his name... in English. Petre, is his name. ha ha. So we were going to stop by his crepe shop and have a lesson over there with him. He had said to just come by because he has all the time in the world at his shop. So on Tuesday, we went over to his shop, because it wasn't official, just a whenever type of deal. So we went and had lunch at his shop and we talked. PS, the food is soooooooooooooo dang good. Then he starts talking about the Book of Mormon. Where is it today if Joseph Smith translated it? Why can't I see it? Apparently, he studied all religions in Greece. He read the Book of Mormon in two days once, and read it again a second time. So I put the Book of Momon on the table and I said, “Its right here.” I flipped to Moroni's promise and said, “If you pray you can know if this book was translated through Joseph Smith. We testified, then moved on to faith. He agreed to meet again. The next day we went back to eat lunch there and we talked a little bit more. That day something clicked. I really liked him at that moment. It was like a love just exploded for this man. Then we set up to meet the next day.

So the next day we meet at the church and we have a lesson. We bounced all over the place from kingdoms of glory to the first vision. We couldn't stay straight on a path. Now this guy knows everything about the church. I mean he knows everything about the church. He has studied a lot about our church--from the first vision to the word of wisdom. He knows everything so we couldn't really teach him anything. We just have to get him a testimony, and that was what we were trying to do. So finally I asked, if the bible says that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, what church do you believe is the church that Christ established? He stopped for a moment, looked at the church then he looked at me and said, “Your church. I know that your church is the true church... in my opinion. Apparently this is how the story goes... 5 or 6 years ago he was contacted by the missionaries for English. He came to English, didn't like it, but he came to church. He refused lessons from the missionaries, but he attended church every Sunday. Then one day, he told the elders that he wanted to be baptized. They said they needed to find a date and get things worked out. So we will get back to you. But then he heard some member, who said something like "he doesn't deserve to be baptized." or something around those borders. Peter wasn't suppose to hear it, but he heard it. From that point on, he stopped going to church. He never went back. A year ago, he decided to try it again. But the members, as he said, were phonies. They were faking love for him, but didn't mean it. He hears them talking about him. So he said, I will never come back to this branch again. soooooooo he has secretly been going to the Brasov chapel once a month.

So he reads the Book of Mormon on a regular basis, prays daily, this man is legit! He is sooooooooooooo awesome. So at that lesson he said, I stopped you guys to see if you were the elders that I needed to talk to you. That first time we talked about the Book of Mormon, I was asking you questions to see if you were the ones, and you were... but he refuses to go to this branch. So we are going to work out a situation for him to go to the Bucuresti branch, which is like 45 minutes away. Friday night we gave him a baptismal date for the 12th. He wants it, but said i don't want it now. i don't have that desire that i once had. I don't think I want it now. so we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. Tesitfy. He said he would pray about it, talk to his wife, and give it anther shot. Saturday we went back to eat a crepe and he said I prayed about it, i'll i need to do is to get my wife saying yes. He has tried to talk to her, but she needs to say yes. So he is getting that desire! OH I LOVE THIS MAN!

Mission Miracle from Sora Danielle Jones

September 4, 2009

This week was definitely a week full of miracles. It started earlier in the week when we met with a man that we had contacted the week before. His name is Daniel. We took a member with us and the lesson went really well. The miracle part was that at first his mother was closed and a little hesitant with us and interrupted a lot to talk to the member. But after some discussion she started listening really intently and they both listened really well to the First Vision. At the end of the lesson Maria, the mom was asking us about church and said they would be there if nothing interferes and that they would bring her daughter as well. Then the member offered to give them a drive to church because he lived really close. Really great lesson and really great people to work with. Sad part is that some visitors came over so they couldn't come to church, but we will get them there next week!

The second miracle is my favorite. It happened Saturday night. The Assistants dropped us off in the area where we had planned block knocking the night before. We walked a little way down and Sora Slaeman decided on a block. We got in and no one responded in the first few doors. Then on the fourth door a lady answered and got really mad at us and told us to leave urgently. We just moved to the next door down the stairs but she didn't like that so she came out and pushed us down the stairs and out the door.

Well, we had more time so we just went to see if we could get into the next set of doors. The first door that we rang into the lady asked us who we were and we told her that we are the LDS missionaries. She said, "Ok. I'll let you in but just come up to my door don't knock on any other door." So we went up and she let us in. I was a little hesitant because I have had situations like this. They let you in and then realize you aren't who they thought you were and kick you out. But that is not what Florica did. She had us sit down and gave us some nice fruit tea and told us why she let us in.

She said that just over a year ago she and her son had gone on a three week tour of the USA. For a couple of days they stayed at an LDS family's home in Dallas. They really liked that family and promised that when they go back and the missionaries from the LDS church knock on her door she would let them in. And so just over a year later that is exactly what she did. We gave her a lesson on the Book of Mormon and gave her one. We are expecting good things coming from them.

Ok third miracle story of the week happened yesterday. Sora Crista brought a life long friend to church. She loved it and invited us over for lunch after church. She speaks amazing english so we talked the whole time in english. Then her son showed up and we had an amazing lesson with them. They are really open people ready to learn.

Mission Miracle from Elder Truedsan Sandberg

August 19, 2009

We had a neat experience this week with a new investigator. We had met a young man on the street early on in the week and had set up a meeting with him and his parents for later on in the week. When we arrived at his home no one answered. We were a little discouraged and turned to leave. As we were exiting the bloc a man stopped us, shook our hands, and introduced himself. In our shock, we said hello and kept walking. Once we were outside we looked at each other wondering who that guy was. We wondered if he was a member or something but decided against that. We were about 50 meters away from the block when Elder Zemp turned to me and said, "man, God is probably shaking his head at us right now and saying there goes another baptismal date." At which I said, "what do we have to lose--- let's go back." We went back, but to our dismay the door was locked. We turned around thinking well at least we did our part when the door opened and the man called us back. He asked if we wanted in and we told him we had actually come back to talk to him. At that point he was beaming and began to tell us about how he had been looking for a place to be baptized and how we had come at "timpul potrivit." He invited us in to his apartment and we had a great lesson and gave him and his sister a tentative baptismal date at the end. We're hoping to solidify this date at our next appointment with them. It was a reminder to me about how the promptings of the spirit work and the need for us to always be attentive to the still small voice.

Mission Miracle from Sora Danielle Jones

August 14, 2009

We are teaching right now two young girls and their grandma. They will be getting baptized this Saturday and they are excited. The miracle is watching the grandma, Iuliana, grow and change her life. She is one of the most humble people I have met. Just after the missionaries started teaching her and her granddaughters just over a week ago she heard that we don't drink coffee. Just because she heard that she stopped drinking coffee and hasn't touched it since. Then when we taught her tithing she pulled out her money slips so that we could show her how much she should pay. She kept saying over and over that she is going to pay it as soon as she gets it which means this Sunday when she gets confirmed. She is an example to me of obedience with out asking why.

I love this family so much. I overheard the girls' mom yesterday at church talking to another member. She was talking with another member about going to the temple. She said that in a year she will get to go and now that her daughters and mother are getting baptized she can go with them and be sealed with them.

It amazes me how important one person can be in this world. One person’s righteous actions blesses the lives of so many others.

Mission Miracle from Sora Kara Staley

August 2, 2009

I told you last week about Sonia--the young atheist girl (18 years) we met block-knocking. She's been keeping all her commitments and trying to pray. She agreed to come with us to church a few days ago, but then yesterday morning, she called and said she wasn't feeling well and that we'd have to try another time. We happened to be fasting for Sonia to get a response and this seemed like a terrible thing to happen in the mist of a fast! I was of course frustrated, knowing that Satan would try something like this. I left the room to be alone and knelt in prayer. I plead with my Heavenly Father, telling Him that we needed a miracle. I explained that I know all people have their agency, but that I was fully aware my faith could get Sonia to church. I acknowledged that though I do not fully comprehend His plan for Sonia, I know that her presence at church could not possibly be against His will. I told Him that if Alma could pray and get an angel sent to stop his rebellious son, I knew He could do a miracle for Sonia. I asked for guidance and promised to act promptly. When I stood and re-entered the room where I'd left my companion, I found her on her knees praying too. When she finished, I said, "Get up. I think we should go get her anyway." That's exactly what Sora Gibbons was thinking.

We left for Sonia's house. All the way up the cobblestone hill, I prayed to be guided in how to break the news to her that she WAS coming to church. We walked at a determined pace and spoke little. Doing something like this is really scary. The door to the block was magically open so we didn't have to ring doors to get in. We climbed the stairs to the top and catching our breath, knocked on the door. She ignored us. I called her and said, "Sonia, come to the door." She let us in and with all the courage I could muster I said, "I know you don't feel well, but we know God wants you at church. Can you get some clothes on please." My companion promised she'd feel better if she came. "How long do I have to get ready?" she asked. I told her ten minutes. With wide eyes, she hurried into her room to get ready.

We barely made it to church on time. Ashley (the BYU girl who passed out while giving her talk two weeks ago) was given another opportunity to share it in Sacrament meeting. Much of what she said really touched Sonia's heart. Crazy how the Lord works huh? During the next hour, the lesson centered on the Plan of Salvation and Atonement. All were in tears because of the spirit that filled the room. Towards the end, Sonia raised her hand and began by telling everyone to stop crying or she would cry. She then proceeded to explain how grateful she was to be at church. She said it was the first time ever in her life. She talked of her desire to have a better relationship with her parents. She mentioned Nefi in the Book of Mormon, and how she's begun to believe that like him, maybe she could put her trust in something larger and/or someone wiser than herself. She spoke of the desire to change and have faith.

After church was over, Sonia brought up her own commitment follow-up. She said she hasn't received an answer but that she got an interesting idea. The thought came to her that maybe God was slow to answer her prayers because she had been slow to call on Him. She said, "He's waited 18 years for me to talk to Him so how can I be mad when he doesn't answer me right away? I'm going to be patient now and wait for Him to answer back." We told her that IS an answer. She now continues praying, with the hope of a warm response like we promised her, but with the knowledge that the Lord will answer in His own way and in His own timing.

It's amazing how a girl who wondered a week ago if God existed, could have such faith in Him already!

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

August 2, 2009

A quick miracle story was the great evening we had Friday evening. We had been having a little bit of a new investigator drought for the past several weeks, but on Friday we decided to go more to the north area of the city to block knock. We entered our first block and the 3 door let us in. We had a lesson with an older lady with one of her daughters. They set up for a little later on Tuesday. Then about 4-5 doors later we had another lady let us in. The lesson went well, but unfortunately she will be gone for about a week, but we got her number to call her this Saturday. In the same scara we had one other lesson, and one in the next one as well. The peoples' hearts were just more open that night and they all seemed to be letting us into their homes.

Mission Miracle from Sora Nofa Slaeman

July 20, 2009

Miracle story: All week I prayed every night for a miracle to happen and our lessons kept falling through. No one would meet and I was starting to get a little discouraged. I did not like that we were weekly planning Sunday night instead of finding people. As we were planning, the phone rang and a lady said we needed to go visit her and she has met with missionaries before but we found no record of her. However we went to her house and her husband was there and another 2 of her friends. They were 2 amazing families who called us and they really needed the gospel. It brought tears to my eyes. I knew God had answered our prayers. IT was my miracle!

Mission Miracle from Sora Krista Gibbons

July 13, 2009

Miracles: We were having a hard Sunday afternoon, of street contacting so we went into the blocks, and then once again door after door of rejection. I could see my companion getting tired and down, so as we walked out I said, Hai staum pentru o min. So we found a banca and sat down. I asked why we do block knocking, and after several responses I said, Sora Staley remember the Bronze Silver and Gold, and how Elder Kapiska(?) said that we could be a part of turning Romania into a light? What if we are called to more plant then reap. As we thought about this and discussed how we could be the best at it. Three little children stopped and said, hey you were just in our block. We began to talk to them and it was cool. We then went into a near by block and the children followed us and helped with our block knocking. It was tons of fun. Then walking home we both felt very promoted to talk to this young women. We will see Marti what comes of that. It was a fun experience.

Mission Miracles from Sora Amy Smith

July 13, 2009

Here's how we got Five new investigators when we only expected maybe 3:
One of our investigators that we've been meeting with for a month invited her friend to our lesson during the week, and we gave her a Book of Mormon. We started teaching her, too. I don't know if it will go anywhere but for now we are teaching them both. Talk about a “two for one-er”-- this week was full of those actually. Then we had something really cool happen. Last Sunday we were contacting in the park and we contacted these two guys in there 20's and I asked if we could set up to talk another time. They were like yeah sure next week, same place. I was like ok Saturday at 2:30pm right here ok? And I wrote it down for them, but when we left we were like, yeah right they were just being dumb boys, they are probably not going to show, but I was like well if they do, we will have two new investigators! So we went on with the week, and about Wednesday I get a phone call from one of them. I will have you know that is probably the first time that someone has ever called us back! I was in shock. He said I was just making sure this is your number and seeing if we are still meeting Saturday. I was like, yep we will be there! So that was surprising, but I didn't expect his friend to be there because he wasn't interested at all I didn't think. So we showed up Saturday and they both were there and we got two new investigators. He also came to church on Sunday so that was really cool. Then the other cool thing that happened was that last week, we met this guy who was 22 and going to law school. How we met him was at the bus stop. I just felt prompted to talk to him, but I was like what to say... so I asked him if he would do a short survey (5 questions we'd written in a notebook) and he was like sure and we started talking and found out that he wants like proof God exists and stuff and we talked on the bus and he's like lets talk but not this week I have finals, so we took his number and told him we'd call him in a week.Well I decided to invite him to church Sunday and he couldn't come but we set up to meet later. He asked if his Girlfriend could come (YES!!) and so we had a lesson in the park with them Sunday night. 2 More new investigators. They are so cool too, I am excited to meet with them, but it is going to be hard. He is a smart kid that basically doesn't believe in Faith but we'll get him...we'll get him.... haha. Ok, so have you been counting, that my friend makes 5 new investigators for week one of this transfer. Talk about a miracle! It was really cool. The Lord will give you work to do if you are willing to do it!

Mission Miracle from Elder John Hardman

July 5, 2009

We went with the sisters to an investigator that lives in our area so that we could begin teaching her. As we were talking together a neighbor kid was outside working and shouted in for us to come and visit his family too. So we asked him his address and as soon as the lesson was over we went and visited with his mom and another woman. He is one of 4 children and they are living with an older woman with 8 children. They were very receptive and are very nice. They immediately accepted a return appointment and are excited to meet with us again. Unfortunately, they weren't able to come to church this week, but we are excited to be teaching some families. I know that they Lord puts things and people in your path when you are earnestly striving to do what is right. I am so grateful to serve as his servant and to see His hand in the marvelous work of the salvation of His children.

Mission Miracle from Elder Derrick Schwartz

June 22, 2009

We have been working with a gentleman named Adrian, and he started investigating the church after talking with the missionaries and us being harassed by a passing orthodox priest. He fought with Adrian a little about how we were disciples of the devil, and then said you can go and listen to what they say. After this, Adrian gladly gave the missionaries his phone number while he was still there, and to the missionaries’ surprise, he set up with them. Elder Holmes and O'Connell were working with him, and many times Elder O'Connell and I found ourselves on exchanges and going together to teach him lessons. After getting through the restoration, plan of salvation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, we talked a bit about the priesthood and the power that comes from it. He talked a lot about a disease that he has, and how it is really bad right now. It has kept him from working lots and he was not sure that God loved him. We reassured him and talked to him about that. He asked for a blessing, and being a 3rd and 4th transfer speaking missionaries, Elder O'Connell and I managed to get by with giving him a blessing. He knew English too, and so he said give it to me in English. So we did... He understood all of what we said, and we enjoyed the remainder of the time talking about family work, the church website and many other things. We left knowing that he would be in Russia for a month for work.
... Now he is back in Ploiesti and I had the opportunity of going and visiting him with Elder Smith on an exchange, and to see him doing well. He told us about his story of how he went to the doctor, and had a check up on his health condition. He was telling us of how his sickness was on this scale of health ration. Where mid 20's you are so healthy and athletic/exercising etc... And then in the mid 40's, it is a bad place to be health wise. His unfortunately was at 108.... NOT GOOD at all! He said that the nurse came in and checked his tests again to double check, but he IS NOW at 28. Meaning he is as healthy as a mountain hiker who goes out weekly.... CRAZY! He said that I was doubting having you boys do your interesting blessing thing, and all I could think about was that you were doing it and I was crazy for letting you. I know that I was healed by your faith. It had to have been a part of his faith that healed him too. Elder O'Connell and I fasted and prayed all would be well, and he is healthy and going and his life is not threatened by this disease currently. Adrian now has a strong testimony about the Priesthood and knows the power that it has. Both Elder O'Connell and I think that one day he will accept the gospel and will be a strong leader and missionary to the people here!

Mission Miracles from Sora Amanda Gibson

June 22, 2009

Ana Boci, is a referral from family Price. She's their elderly neighbor and despite her earlier excuses to them that her requests for information about our church were for 'the history', she's accepted us very well. The first time we met she said she'd heard the name before but didn't mention where. Then next time we took Sora Price with us. Doamna Boci was so surprised that we were connected. She was much more receptive. And as the lesson/discussion moved on we understood that she's been searching from religion to religion seeing what there is. So when I told her that in Joseph Smith's first vision Christ told him there wasn't any church that was truly Christ's her eyes got really wide. I could see how it took her back. She paid even more attention after that, and accepted an invitation to church and came. We're excited to meet with her again this week and in the future.
The second neat story is Mirela. She's a medical assistant that Sora Richards and I met on the street but lives in our neighborhood anyway. The first lesson we had with her was awkward but at the end of the second lesson with her she was a lot more open and friendly with us. She's excited to meet with us again.. even if it means her roommate will be upset at her.
And the third is Vali. She's a chemistry student from la tara. Sora Richards and I had a good discussion about many things the first time we met. She came to church that Sunday and really liked it. Then Sora Smith and I had an awesome lesson with our member friend Ana. We're all about 22 yrs old. She asked if she could take a Plan of Salvation pliant to show someone.. We gladly let her have one. We also showed her what she has to learn/accept/gain a testimony of before she can get baptized. It didn't phase her and she kept asking good questions about different topics. I'm so excited to meet her again and teach her some more!

Mission Miracle from Elder Zachary Bunting

June 21, 2009

On Sunday Marian set up a baptismal date for June 21, and I honestly had no idea if he could make it. He had only had one lesson, and leaves Monday morning 100km away to work for the week, coming home on Saturday night. Well, I think what happened next is evidence of "the Lord works in mysterious ways." On Wednesday night we were in the blocks and we got a phone call from Marian. He said that he was in Craiova and wanted to meet. So we went to the church and he told us that he had to return to Craiova to go to the hospital because his kidney stone became infected, and he couldn't work the rest of the week. We took advantage of this opportunity to meet every day, and he took advantage of the opportunity to read the entire Book of Mormon. He knows that it is true, and is so excited to be baptized. He said, "My entire family is against my decision. They say, 'We were born orthdox, and we must die orthodox,' but no one can keep me from doing this." He prays that over time they will change their opinion and open to the teachings he has learned. Now just the interview remains and he will be baptized on Sunday. I think the following two statements that he made will give you the best idea of who Marian is. One: "If we hadn't met in the park that day, I would never have learned these things or known about this church." The other, when we started to teach him about commandments, he said, "From the moment I started heading to this church for the first time I said to myself that I must keep God's commandments, and I intend to do that. If I hadn't made that decision, I wouldn't have come." He doesn't know when he's going to Italy (now France is in the picture too), but he is going to stay for three months at the most, and then return.

We also had a totally different type story. A young man we were teaching decided to hold off on baptism after having a discussion with his parents and a visit with the Orthodox Priest. Well, after I got off the phone with him right after church, I obviously was devastated and sad, to the point that I just wanted to mope around. But I knew that I needed to go out to work -- that I wouldn't get in a better mood by pitying myself or feeling sorry for us or for this young man, so we left. Being a Sunday, the streets are almost completely bare, but the first people we came across we contacted. This is what Elder Bednar talked about as a tender mercy of the Lord. When I was in dire need of a boost to realize that God has scores of prepared children here, he put in our path a couple. They were in their late 40's, and I said very briefly the message that we have, and I don't even remember the question I asked, except that it was about prophets. Ionel, the man, didn't answer the question I asked, but said, "We would like to know." Then his wife said, "We want to be on the Lord's side. When can you come to our home to tell us more? I have four children and I want you to teach them too; they are 23, 18, 15, and 1." Well, that single contact reminded me of the reason I am here; not for me, but for them.

Mission Miracle from Elder Alden Campbell

June 8, 2009

I just wanted to tell you of an experience I had on exchange with Elder Anderson.
It was amazing. We had a really good exchange. We planned out a decent day...covered all aspects of missionary work and got drenched in the rain storm! It was sweet. I want to relate an experience from this exchange though. He had asked me to teach him how to learn to be better at thrashing out the weefy people and concentrating on those who want to listen. I brought to his remembrance Alma 32:6-7 and then we talked about that for a bit. Near the end of the exchange it was starting to rain a lot harder and so Elder Anderson chose a block to knock. We went in to the block and no one was really interested. We got to this one lady who told us to go to her neighbor and that she would talk to us. We went to the next door and told the lady at the door that her neighbor told us to come talk to her. She said...are you Mormons...? Well yeah we said and then she invited us in and we sat down and started talking. She told us that she had been investigating the church for about 2 years off and on and had talked with the missionaries on numerous occasions. Before long it was apparent that she wasn't really interested as she would get up and complain about the lights or something else in the house. At about this time her daughter (about 40's..?) walks into the room and so we get her history too. She actually wants to listen to us and so while her mom was in the other room we talked to her. We discovered that she wants to know if the BOM is true but that she didn't get an answer and so stopped trying. We explained to her what was expected of her and what "her part" was so that she could do it. She accepted to read from the BOM and pray with real intent and keep coming to church (she had been coming for a while but had missed the last 2 weeks). Alma 32:6-7 was put into practice in to different ways. First of all, we left the door that said she didn't want it and went to the door that wanted it...then in a more "refined" way we stopped talking to the mom that "accepted" us and talked to her daughter...the one that wanted to receive us. It was a good lesson for both of us.

Mission Miracles from Elder Tyler Sorensen.

June 8, 2009

I decided that these last two weeks of this transfer I had in Sibiu were going to be the best two I have had here and so far it has been. First of all, when Elder Kopiscke from the Seventy visited our Zone Conference, he asked us to look for males in the range of 17-23 to be “our replacements.” At first I was skeptical because they have the highest bung rate for me. In fact, Elder Eyre and I had 17 bungs in one week alone from people in this age range, but our Zone Leaders challenged us to pray to be received by the people so that is what I did. I can't think of one teenager who I attempted to speak to that didn't stop to listen at least for a minute, even if they were in hurry. That never happens and several stopped us and told us they did not live in Sibiu and were only there that day but wanted a Book of Mormon. Next we had the most lessons in one week I have had in Sibiu, and two less actives back at church bringing the total to 20 people at Church--13 members. 4 children, and 1 investigator ( I will talk about him later), myself and Elder Martineau. Sora Dancu and Marius Ciuca are coming back strong! Back to the investigator we had at church---his name is Ioan and Elder Holmes and I met him while on exchange knocking in the Villas Friday night. He is a true miracle story we were out knocking villas before a lesson and weren’t having much success, until we hit on Ioan’s gate. At first a little three year old girl answered the gate. We asked if her parents were home and she went and got her mom who said she had talked to our missionaries before and was interested in receiving a Book of Mormon, but did not really have time right now. But, she said you can talk to my Dad--- he doesn't have anything to do! So we asked him if he was interested and he said sure but nothing too big, so we shared a quick restoration lesson with him. At about the 15 minute point he stood up and said “So when and where do you guys have church?” We told him and he said “Ok, I will be there.” His daughter said, “You can't with your bum leg,” but he said “There is a bus. I can make it if I want, and then he basically closed the lesson. I didn't think too much about it, since people say they will come all the time and previous to him I have only had 3 people who had baptismal dates at church in my entire mission: Arabela in Galati, Doina in Bucharest and Carl in Arad. But Sunday rolled around and he showed and our more promising (so I thought) investigator didn't. This man stayed for sacrament meeting and loved it-- especially the sacrament. He wanted to stay for Sunday School but his paralitic leg was bothering him so we set up for later that night. When we went out to his house, he came to the gate with a huge smile on his face and we began to give a more in depth restoration lesson. As we discussed things, he indicated that he had already began to read the Book of Mormon and underline it and he felt the way I described the spirit when he read from it. From that I knew he was serious. We discussed Moroni's promise and what it means if it is true from the intro and how to apply his faith from Alma 32. Then I said what does it mean to have “real intent” and we talked about how we have to be willing to act on our response and follow Christ's example when we receive it. We then read about Christ’s example in being baptized in 2nd Nephi 31. He said following Christ’s example was getting baptized in his church and I said, “ Ioan, if you really find out these things, will you follow Christ’s example and be baptized in his church?” He said “I already feel it is true. Yes!” So we set him up for July 12. He said he likes things visually drawn up so we presented him with a baptismal calendar with the things he needs to study and when we would like to meet. He is awesome and right on track. Those are just a few of the miracles from this week!

I decided that I would put God to the test and I put in as much faith and Spirit as I could and these are the results! I know God fulfills his promises as long as we do according to his will like it says in D&C “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise,” or in Mormon 9:7 “Ask whatever good thing believing that ye shall receive and it shall be done unto according to your faith!”

Mission Miracle from Sora Kara Staley

June 8, 2009

I have one exciting story for you. Aurelia (the two year investigator who said hi to you at the church) came to church this Sunday. She was sitting next to me and said, "Sora Staley, my heart is pounding. I feel so good. Can I bear my testimony?" I told her she could if she wanted so she went up and bore testimony of God's love and how she hopes the Book of Mormon is true. She began to cry and said, I feel so good here and I know that it is the Holy Ghost, just like the Sisters taught me. She pleaded with the members to support her and help her have courage to change. We made a baptismal calendar with her. She has come a LONG way from where she was. Yesterday she called us after church. I asked her what she'd been doing that afternoon and she said, "Reading the Book of Mormon." She then told me that she was out walking in centru and there were a lot of people there. She exclaimed, "If I had pamphlets I would give them to people. You should get over here quick. I want to do missionary work with you guys." So we went contacting with her yesterday evening. She gave away a Book of Mormon after helping me explain it to a woman. The Lord truly has a way of teaching people when they finally open their hearts! And that reminds me....On Saturday when we asked if we could meet before English she said, "I can't meet in the morning because I'm going to clean my house." She went on to explain how she was thinking and decided she needs a clean room if she wants to feel the spirit there. Who taught her that? I sure didn't.

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles
June 8, 2009

Do you remember Hogue? He is the boy from Bangladesh who we met and how we found him was a miracle! But we found out that he was a Muslim and the church has a policy that in order to teach Muslims they have to meet and be interviewed by our mission president. So we never thought that Hogue would be up for an interview but on Tuesday, he came up to the church and was interviewed by our president! Hogue loved the interview and we got to meet with him the next day and the lesson was incredible. He said that he had prayed about our church and that he had gotten a response from God but that he wanted to know more about our church and so that was amazing! And he is so excited to meet with us! This is just an example that Constant Contacting works, I meet him in the bus and he is an amazing person. This is truly a miracle!

This week I had another miracle while my companion went with another companion to meet Houge for the interview. I went with another companion to do a little street contacting and I really didn't know where to go. I needed the Lord’s help. So my companion and I sat on a bench in the middle of town and we decided to pray and ask god where we should go. So we said the prayer and no sooner had I raised my head up than my answer came. I knew exactly where we needed to go! The Lord was clear--- go straight down the street! So that is what we did and we started contacting and it was going alright but nothing really special, Then I saw someone that I recognized come toward us. It was a man that I had met street boarding about 4 weeks earlier but when I had met with him the first time I had written his number down wrong and I hadn't been able to get a hold of him! So I asked him if he was still interested in hearing our message and he said yes. I got his correct number and we were able to set up with him and it was an amazing lesson and this for me was an amazing miracle. God led us back to him! God guided our footsteps-- it was an amazing miracle.

Also, along the lines of following the spirit we were in the bus the other day and I love to bus contact. it has always been a successful way of finding for me and I got into a bus and I wanted to know who to talk to and once again I had the distinct impression to sit down next to this one boy and talk to him about our English classes. So I did just that and he was very nice and after that he asked me what I preach and he told me that he wanted to learn about our religion and we had a great discussion about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. At the end I got his number and he was very excited about hearing about the Book of Mormon. Once again the truth rings true “Let the holy spirit guide” !
June 8, 2009

Also this week, we were coming back from an exchange in Ploesti. As I got on the train I heard someone speaking english so I got up and went to see who was speaking and it was a man from India named Sandeed. I asked him if I could speak with him a little bit and he said sure. The best part about this miracle was that before leaving Ploesti this morning I had had the impression to bring two English Books of Mormon and so I did and sure enough the Lord knew that I would have need of them and I spent the entire 3 hour train ride talking to him about the Book of Mormon. Sandeed really loved it and the other part that is amazing is that he is from Cluj and in that same day the senior couple from Cluj was on the train and coming back from Bucharest. So I got him hooked up with them and am hoping to hear how it is going with him! Another miracle.

This is anther cool miracle I was on my way to church this week and I saw a man and I've been doing everything possible to constant contact and to keep working to the max--- it is my sprint to the finish! And so I saw this man and I didn't have a lot of Time and so I decided that I would just invite him to church! And so I did and he came. He came and stayed for the whole sacrament meeting! It was just a testimony to me that diligence is worth it!

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

June 2, 2009

This week we had an amazing time finding. One morning Elder Ott and I spent companionship time studying about how to contact better, because the night before we had had a rough night in the blocs just getting rejected by everyone! So we studied and Elder Ott mentioned that we hadn't been referring to the Restoration and so that day when we left our house we were heading for the center of town and we were passing past this middle age man and the thought came to my mind let try out that contacting we practiced. So I stopped the man and I was going through my approach when I got to the point to ask him when we could meet again and he said well can we do the lesson now and I said well sure! And we sat down and said a prayer right there in a park and we had a great discussion about the restoration. It went really well and he invited us to come over to his house and asked us if he could invite his family and relatives and we said YES PLEASE DO! The more the merrier! So we set up with him on Wednesday and so we went over there and there were no joke 10 people in that discussion--an entire family! So we taught them twice this week and it was amazing and the coolest member of the family is their 17 year old son named Emanuel. He does all his reading and he even came to church this Sunday so that was amazing. He told me that he believes the Book of Mormon is true and so that was amazing! But I was so thankful for that blessing because for my whole mission I have wanted to kneel with an entire family and pray. It was an amazing miracle.

Also this week we finally found some service and we headed out to this little village which is next to Brasov and we helped a member build a house. We spent 4 hours shoveling and moving dirt and it felt so good to be able to do some more physical work. The even better part was that we got an investigator of ours to come with us to help us out. His name is Silviu, he is from America, but was born here and he came back to go to school. It was really cool because he is Romanian but because he grew up in America he speaks perfect English. We also had our first lesson with him about the restoration and it went really well and so we are hoping that we can turn him into an investigator before he leaves, because he is leaving for America on the 9th!

But the bigger miracle this week is this one. On Thursday I was at an activity when I got a phone call from the sister in my district. They had had something urgent come up and they needed to get to another city and so they were calling me to ask me if I could go to the bus stop to find out the time for the buses leaving the city. I grabbed another missionary and we headed to the bus stop to see the times. We try to bus contact and talk to as many people as possible whenever we can. So we were contacting people on the bus when Elder Wyckoff ( the Elder I was with) started talking to this lady. We had a neat conversation with her but she wasn't really interested. Then these guys got on that looked like they were from India and so I was like “sweet!” I can talk to these guy in English and I actually felt very strongly that I should talk to them. I hopped over to where they were and I started talking to one and they told me that they were students and that they were from Bangladesh and then the one I was talking to introduced me to his friends and his friend was really excited to see me. He hopped over and started asking me about my church and about Christianity! They had to get off so they handed me their business card and the one who was excited told me to call him! So I set up with him for Saturday at the church and he came and we started the lesson with him. Elder Ott started off by asking him what his background was with religion because we were assuming that he was Hindu. So he started to tell us his story. He told us that he was from a Muslim background but that he was familiar with Christianity because two of his brothers had been converted to Christianity by a missionary from Norway about 7 years ago! He told us that the Lord had given him many opportunities to serve the people of his countries because he, along with his brothers, had secretly translated the bible and other Christian literature in to there native language so that the people could have access to it. Then he told us that for a long time now he has been praying to God to help him to know what he should do because he is not with the Muslims or the Christians and because he was in Romania he didn't have any one to talk to and he had been praying to God for him to lead him to someone who could help him. He told us that when he saw us get on the bus that he wanted to talk to us but didn't know how and that when I contacted his friend he was super happy! He told us that since 1997 he has been looking for something but he didn't know what. We taught him the message of the restoration and he said he would pray about it. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and I know that this is an example of god lead his elect to his servants! This was a miracle-- a person seeking the truth was lead to it!

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

June 2, 2009

My miracle story was on Saturday. Friday we were walking around and I saw a block that I felt like we should go into. Unfortunately I ignored the feeling and we just kept talking to people on the street. Saturday we made our way over to the block and decided to block knock it. We didn't have much success at all, but there was one door that opened with a young lady and her daughter. We talked to them a little bit and they told us that they were a little busy at the time but we could contact them later. I know that they were the people that we were suppose to find in that block, and we just hope that they will listen to the promptings of the Spirit and will accept us when we contact them later today.

Mission Miracle from Elder Jakob Grimmius

June 2, 2009

The best moment of this week was when we met with Mihaela (one of our newer investigators). She read all that we gave her and more. She read all of Moroni and loved it. Then she told us that in between the first time we met her at the door and when we came back for a lesson, her grandfather appeared to her in a dream and said two boys would bring her a book and that the book was true and she needed to read it. So she has a testimony that the Book is true. We asked her to be baptized and she said she would like to come to church first. She couldn't make it this week because she is a single mom and had to work. We had a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and focused a lot on the Spirit World. We will review it next time and also have a lesson on Sabbath Day worship. She is able to meet with us two times a week for the moment. She is very open and wants to learn all that she can.

Mission Miracle from Elder Cody Holmes

June 2, 2009

On Tuesday night, we got home and started planning and I got this really huge desire to teach these people that we have met while playing softball. Earlier I had given them some invitations to our English classes and I had just gotten the sudden desire to teach them the gospel. I started to get restless and wanted to just go find them at that moment at like 9:45 at night but we couldn’t leave the house so my companion and I decided to kneel down and pray so that we could find them in the city and have an opportunity to teach them the Gospel. Well, literally 10 minutes later, we got a text from one of them, and it was a sister of one of the guys we invited to English. We called her back and talked a little on the phone and set up a discussion with her and her brother for the next day. It was really cool to see the Lord's help in bringing them to us. And even better, we have seen at least 7 of them in the past week and now two are learning the gospel from my companion and me and another companionship is teaching another one of the boys from the softball thing. The Lord truly wants to bless us when we have a desire and are worthy of the blessings.

Mission Miracle from Elder Nathan Moore and Elder Jarrick Tilby

June 2, 2009

It was pouring rain, and we were pretty much done for the day. There was still a good hour and a half left of good proscelyting time and we decided that despite the fact that we were as wet as we would have been had we jumped into a swimming pool, we picked a block and started knocking. I sincerely believe that people are more compassionate on the dripping wet Americans talking about the Savior than the dry bored looking Americans talking about the Savior. A little sniffle here and there doesn't hurt either.

A nice middle-aged woman let us in that has been looking for a good church but has been discouraged with the orthodox church she was raised in, and was completely turned off from the Jehova’s Witnesses. She let us in and we had a great lesson with her. We're really excited for her progress and my companion is especially excited that we are building our investigator pool. Maybe we'll pray for rain more often.

Mission Miracle from Sora Krista Gibbons

May 31, 2009

After much talking and testifying, our investigator said he would not give up smoking and drinking. I went to work praying, studying and hoping to help him in some way. At our next lesson, almost a week later(he was very busy), he started out by saying he had done a lot of changing and has not smoked or had anything to drink in almost a week. We were so excited, and my heart was filled with gratitude of a Lord who hears the prayers and pleading of his servants.

Mission Miracle from Elder Bob & Sora Wendy Telford

May 31, 2009

The Sargsyan family are refugees from Armenia. They left Armenia due to religious persecution almost 7 years ago. They have been trying for the past 6 1/2 years to get legal residency here in Moldova. They have been to the courts on several occasions, they even appealed to the European Union Courts for help, all with out success. For the past few months they have been afraid to answer the door or telephone because the Moldovan Government was going to deport them. The daughter, Hasmic was not going to be able to graduate from High School, or attend University because they were illegal.

Three weeks ago we were discussing the upcoming YSA Conference in Prague and we were reminded that Hasmic would not be able to attend because she has no passport. I suggested that all of the Young Single Adults consider fasting and praying that the Lord would soften the hearts of the officials in the Government here that they would grant this wonderful family residency and allow Hasmic to attend the YSA Conference. We (the YSA's) decided to enlist the Elders and Sister missionaries in our fast and we reminded everyone a few times each week for the two weeks before the May Fast Sunday.

Last Friday, the family received a phone call to bring their paperwork to the immigration department and they will receive their residency permits this week. The Lord has answered our prayers. It has been a faith promoting experience for these wonderful YSA's and an opportunity to build upon this experience in teaching the doctrine's of fasting and tithing.

I have a testimony of the blessings that come from fasting and prayer, but this has made my testimony even stronger.

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

May 29, 2009

My miracle for the week is last Monday I was feeling awful. We went to an Internet place close to the church so that I could print off a prescription then my plan was to go home and just sleep. I went to the church after I got my prescription so I could get a drink of water and take the first pill. When leaving the church the Zone leaders were walking inside starting a tour with a lady from the street. We decided to stick around with all the tables outside and to try and talk to people even though neither of us were feeling that great. We ended up talking to several people including an older lady and her friend. We gave her a couple of pamphlets and invited her to english classes the next day. She promised to come as well as to read the pamphlets. She not only came to english the next day but also had read all the pamphlets, told me she knew they were true. She said she knew the message inside them was true. Got online and ordered a Book of Mormon, but wanted to read one real soon so she also asked me for one right then. She gave us her address and phone number, and promised to come to english on Saturday, the fireside Saturday night, and church on Sunday. The sad news is that she seemed to drop off the face of the earth after Tuesday, but the miracle is that the Lord showed me and Elder Lainhart that when we are willing to go the extra mile, not make excuses not to work, and diligently choose the right, the Lord blesses us and will put His elect in our path.

Mission Miracle from Elder Andrew Boynton

May 25, 2009

Elder Barclay and I have been street contacting and working to look for people who would make great leaders and help firmly establish the church in Romania. Well, on Saturday, a man passed us on the street, and Elder Barclay said, "Man, we should have stopped that guy, he looks like a leader!" So I suggested that we walk around the roundabout that the man was walking on in the opposite direction and meet him on the other side. We took off and quickly half-jogged and when he turned left, we turned right and things worked out that we met right into him. However this time Elder Barclay randomly threw out a question, which puzzled me a little, and said, "I have a question, where is the city hall?" The man pointed us in the direction, and we said we had another question, but he was in a hurry, so we said we would just walk with him. Anyway, while walking with him, EVERYONE on the street was saying hi to him, he was greeting and talking with everyone, and Elder Barclay and I were thinking, "This is a leader, sweet". Anyway, eventually we stop walking with him, tell him who we are as missionaries and talk to him about the church, and asked if we could meet with him sometime in the future. He said, "yeah sure, you can find me anytime at the city hall." and we said, "City hall? Why are you always over there?" and he responded, "I'm the mayor of Deva". So we just contacted the mayor of Deva, and will be able to go and visit him sometime soon! We have a goal of meeting up with him again within the next couple of weeks. It was amazing how we were lead right to him, and that Elder Barclay was able to follow that prompting of the spirit to just throw out the first question, "Where is the city hall?".

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

May 17, 2009

Earlier this week, we were able to find a great new area to villa knock in. We went and found a group of teenage kids. They all come to the church and played basketball with us, but left before we got a lesson in. Later that night I saw them again in the villas and they talked to us. They started by telling us all about how we shouldn't be missionaries, it is impossible to have a living Prophet today, the Book of Mormon can't be true, and stuff like that. The story ends with us placing a Book of Mormon and telling them to read the book and to ask God if it was true. The miracle is first, I had been wondering how my testifying first was really making a difference and I saw that my simple testimony when I explained my purpose here in Romania and why I am here stuck in their heads and they had obviously thought things over. Second, even though it wasn't an official lesson, the Lord provided us with a teaching opportunity to a group of kids that we missed having one with earlier that day.

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

May 17, 2009

First off, one that really had a huge affect on me and my faith. This Wednesday we had plans to go street boarding with our district in the center of the town. That morning when we got up, the sky was covered in grey clouds and rain was looking like a sure forecast for the day. But we decided to grab our street board and head into the center of town. We got there and it hadn't started to rain and we waited and the wind started to blow harder. So I started to pray right there in the middle of Brasov. I prayed to Heavenly Father to hold off the rain so that we could do what we had planned. And while I was praying, I started to feel drops of my arms and then I prayed even harder and just kept believing that this rain could be stopped. But I kept feeling the rain on my arms and I kept praying. And then all of the sudden the rain stopped, and the gray clouds started to move over the mountains. They just came and went for the next two hours--- gray cloud after gray cloud and not one drop of rain. There wasn't one drop of rain until we packed up our street board and ended our activity there. To wonderful lessons reviewed: God listens to our prayers, god Answers our prayers, and That to which we pray is a God of miracles. This is my testimony that with faith anything is possible.

Mission Miracle from Elder Robert Davis

May 17, 2009

April 13 we talked to a lady named Dma. Nadejda on the street walking her granddaughter. We testified about the Plan and she said that she wanted to know more. We took her address but she didn't have a phone number. We tried going over to her house the first time and she was busy with Easter preparations. The second time we tried and someone started in Romanian but then when we said we were the missionaries they began in Russian (I thought that she didn't want to know anymore). This past week we had put her on Friday as a backup plan since we were going to be in the area- we figured that she was sincere on the street and we should at least try one more time. Friday came around we found ourselves walking home next to her apartment. We were going to go plan for English class and if we had time to begin weekly planning, but I felt like it would be good to see if she was home since we were there. We entered the front yard area and there were two ladies outside with some kids. We went up to one and began talking and it was Doamna Nadejda. We were able to talk to her for a little bit, as well as some Jehovah's Witness neighbors, and set up to meet Sunday evening. We got there Sunday and her daughter answered the door and immediately let us in. She had read the pamphlet with her mom and they both really enjoyed it. The first question that Valentina (her daughter) had was what is the Book of Mormon. We began with a prayer and about 45 minutes later we had discussed the entire first discussion and they loved it all. We didn't discuss it how it is written out in PMG ( I love how the Spirit directs us and when we follow, miracles happen) but we went from one subject to something else, and it all was explained and to our knowledge they understood it (it just goes to show what will happen when they have a desire and keep commitments, in this case they read the pamphlet). Valentina even said the prayer at the end and it was pretty close (she addressed most of it to Jesus Christ, but we talked about it aferwards). Another part of this miracle is that Valentina lives in Germany with her husband and was here mainly so that she could give birth to her (now 7 mo. old) daughter, and said she will have to go back soon. Of all the times that we could have picked we were able to talk to Dma. Nadejda and also talk to her daughter. They have a return appointment set up for Thursday, and they have a copy of the Book of Mormon in Russian.

Mission Miracle from Sora Deborah Thompson

May 10, 2009

So now to tell you about “miracle day”. The night before miracle day was Tuesday night and we went to go teach Ani (investigator who we have helped to get ready for a wedding and a baptism). When we went there we found out that she just found out that there was one more thing that had to happen before the Primarie approved their wedding. Her soon to be husband, Lica, had been married before and was divorced forever ago, and she had to got to the archive record building and get the papers of divorcement and turn it in to the Primarie by 5 pm the next day. So she was worried about it, but we decided to set her baptismal date in faith that all would be well, and we set it for this Saturday the 9th of May. Ok. So the next day (Wednesday = miracle day) we were doing lessons and interviews at the church, and of course we forgot our phone, which annoyed us at first (because it was kind of an important day to have our phone with us) but we kept going and in the middle of our interview with the Assistants, Ani came into the church and said that she couldn't get the paper. They said it would take them about 1-2 weeks to find the paper of divorcement and so they wouldn't be able to get married on the 7th and so they would then have to get more money and re-take the analysis that had been the speed-bump before and it was crazy. She said that she was disappointed, but that if the Lord didn't want her to get married right now than it won't work out, but if He did than something would happen. My reaction was “Of course He wants you to get married.” And we need to do something if anything is going to happen!” We were determined that there HAD to be something that we could do. We finished up with our interviews and such, and then tried to put our thinking caps on. And the answer came. Call our most useful resource, Gabi.
Gabi is one of the most amazing men I think I have ever met in my life. He's pretty much an eternal investigator who wants to get baptized and acts like a member, but can't get baptized for reasons only known to him. All we know is that he will do anything for the missionaries, and has the most random yet important connections of anyone I've ever heard of. So we called up Gabi and he said he would do what he could, just go home and he would call us in a little bit. Ok. We started praying and were ready to leave the house as soon as Gabi said “GO!” He called and then we went to the Archives place where Gabi found the “head-honcho” lady who didn't think it was possible to find but she would try any ways. We gave her the information and she couldn't find it because all the info we had was wrong except for his name. We didn't even have the correct year that he had been divorced. (Sora Karina and I were praying sooo hard!) But through Gabi in his snazzy suit and his great connections and business mind, and of course with the help of the Lord, she kept looking. And in 45 minutes, not the week they said it would have taken, the paper was found. Yay! But there were still more stops to go to. We went to the Primarie to turn in the paper and to make sure that everything was in place and there was a little bump because she doesn't want to take his name, she wants him to take her name. So we got that figured out, and by the 3rd stop we didn't even know what we were doing, just that Gabi knew what we were doing and that the Lord was hearing our prayers and so we just kept following him. Finally Gabi walked out of a room and said “It's done, I'm done, we're done.” And in the time frame of 1 ½ hours, just one hour before the Primarie wouldn't have accepted anything else and canceled their approval on the wedding, everything was settled and final! After thanking Gabi profusely for his help and being completely relieved and saying many prayers of gratitude in our hearts, we called Ani. I talked to her and said “Ani, on the 7th of May 2009 you will be marrying Mircea Banici at 1:30 at the Primarie in Arad. Are you ready for this?” She said Yes! And after an excited scream started to bawl on the phone. It was amazing.

Now time for perspective (because the miracle isn't over). At the beginning of the transfer, Sora Karina and I wanted to have some things happen in the work, and so we decided that we would do all we could do to get these things happening. One thing we decided to do was to pray in every prayer for three things: 1. for Ani and Lica to be married before the end of the transfer. 2. for Lica to quit smoking and 3. for Bogdon to quit smoking. We also had a special fast for these three things the weekend before all of this happened. Since we had given Lica the commitment to quit smoking he started smoking double, but on Tuesday (night before miracle day) we asked him and he had only smoked 5 cigarettes! Apparently since our fast, it's been hurting his chest immensely each time he smokes, so he had been smoking less and less! And Bogdon had started out with smoking 3 packs a day and had got down to 1-3 cigarettes per day. He went on a picnic with his friends who were smoking, and put a cigarette in his mouth, but couldn't light it. He said his desire to smoke had completely left him and he hasn't smoked since! And now with Ani and Lica being married, it took work, but the Lord performed miracles. And the neat thing is that the Lord allows us to be tried so that we can increase in our faith. The Lord knew that we wanted these things to happen (not for our benefit, but because we love these people and know their lives will be blessed through them) and that we would do anything to help them to happen. Which is what happened on Wednesday, our day of miracles. Something got in the way of what needed to happen for these people's lives to be blessed, and we did all that we possibly could in faith, and trusted the Lord that He would do the rest, and it happened. Now we are for sure having a wedding on this Thursday, and Ani is going to get baptized on this Saturday. I love it! The Lord's hand is in our lives and it can be seen at any time when we are striving to keep His commandments and do what He asks us to do. The blessings that come from it are amazing.

Mission Miracle from Sora Kara Staley

May 10, 2009

We met a really cool girl named Lidia on Monday. The person we went there for, told us she didn't want to talk because she was never going to change. So we went straight to contacting in the park. Lidia was sitting in the park, doing Sudoku puzzles. We immediately testified of God’s love for her, and how He called a prophet on the earth again so that we could have direction in life. After an hour of talking with her, she got chocked up and told us that she really needed us right then. She's been thinking about her life and purpose here. She said we were angels sent at the right time. She has called us a few times to talk, and last night she finally called us to set up an appointment on Tuesday. We are really excited to teach her more. She's read a little from the Book of Mormon as she finds time. She works a lot, but sincerely wants to know more. It's really cool that the Lord works with our schedules. The appointment we'd set in the park fell through, but there was someone else there for us to teach. That's how He works with us. I love it!

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

May 10, 2009

The first miracle we had at the beginning of the week. We had just finished are church presentation and Elder Van Noy ( a senior missionary) asked us if we could come with him to a lesson with a less active. We did not know this less active at all but we were free so we said that we would go with him. We meet and this lady was really friendly. So we meet with her at her hotel which she runs and we started to have a present discussion about her son who was recently accepted to a prestigious university in the United States. So we gave her advice on how to help him register for classes and so on and so forth. Then Elder Van Noy started on the spiritual thought which we didn't even know what it was going to be. He started talking about scripture study and it was absolutely a miracle because the spirit came so strong in to the room. And we were all saying exactly what needed to be said. And you could tell because she just got happier and happier and at the end she just kept telling us how happy the visit had made her and that we would have to come back as soon as possible. It was a wonderful experience and I'm so thankful to the spirit because he brought all the teachers in harmony. Because of the spirit, we could teach. Because of the spirit, we could convince.

The next miracle is our investigator Radu. I think I have talked about him before. Well he's doing great.He meets with us 3 days a week and is keeping his commitments! We just got to help him to not pray to Jesus. But that shouldn't be too hard.

Another miracle is more personal We went to visit this less active family out in the country (which was a miracle in itself that we could meet with him.) but the miracle was a lesson I learned during the lesson. We were visiting this family and the wife was talking about why they don't come to church but she said that she knew what church meant for her. And when she said that I began to think what does going to church mean and then the Holy Ghost went to work and I started to have all of these wonderful thoughts and Ideas come to my mind about church. The following thought process came to mind. A question came into my head. Elder Miles if you lived in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, would you have gone to listen to His Sermon on the Mount or any of His sermons? The obvious answer is yes. Then the questions came: how is this like church. Well we get to learn about Jesus. Then I thought, “But I can do that in my home with my scriptures.” Then the thought came, “At church we learn from Jesus.” Then another question came to my mind. “Who was always with Jesus when he taught.” I responded, “people.” The spirit responded “his authorized servants.” Then I realized we go to church so we can be around authorized servants to receive ordinances that can only be performed by them. But it is more than just this. I can hear about and learn about Christ in many different ways but I can only know Christ if I will come to where he is. If I go to the mountain on which he preached, which mountain is our wonderful chapels, we can come to know the savior---not just know about him. It was really cool.

Next miracle. Vasile! We took this eternal investigator over from the sisters because he lives in our area and he has been an investigator for a long time. I wasn't sure what we were going to teach him but we studied and prayed and all the sudden we had the idea to talk about service. So we set up with him for 7 at night the next day and planned a lesson on service. We got there the next day at seven and Vasile had been waiting at the church since six. We started the lesson and he said, “Elder Miles, I want to to tell you a story and I said let's hear it. So he told us that as he was waiting for us, a lady came to him and asked him what church this was and so he gave her the first lesson about Joseph Smith and told her that this is the true church of God and Chirst. Then he told us that this experience had made him so happy and had given him a never ending joy! Then I felt the spirit tell me this is the blessing of service. And we went on to have a wonderful lesson about this is what is expected of members and that when he is baptized he will always have this feeling because he will always have opportunities to serve. The spirit was so strong and he is definitely starting to feel the answer that he has been looking for. We are going to commit him to be baptized next week.


Another miracle. Out of the blue, an investigator of ours came to church. Inouti, our investigator, called me while I was in front of the church trying to invite people to come in to the service. He called and asked what I was doing. I told him I was going to church and I invited him to come. He came. It was really amazing and we are looking forward to meeting with him this week!

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

May 10, 2009

My miracle story of the week is just a simple little story, but all the same it is a miracle to me. We left the house last night determined to go talk to some people in the Vilas. Once we got there we spent about 15 minutes actually knocking on doors when some typical teenage kids came over and started talking loudly. Usually I would have just left them alone and ignored them, but I felt I needed to talk to them and maybe invite them to English class. We actually ended up talking with them for a little while, and have an appointment with them on Tuesday. We are going to play a little basketball and then explain what our reason is here in Romania. The miracle was just a little simple prompting from the spirit.

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

April 30, 2009

We were in an area trying to vila knock, and it just didn't feel right. We left the area and started heading home. The only reasonable place for us to go was the blocks, but again that just didn't feel right. We decided to do it anyways and just started walking over there. On the way there, I felt like I needed to talk to everyone that I could. Elder Taylor and I then proceeded to talk to lots of people. We ended up talking to one man, who seemed interested. He didn't come to church this week, but was sincere in his apology and desire to come another week. The miracle is just that we followed the Spirit and found somebody who we probably wouldn't have found anyways if the Spirit hadn't prompted us to talk to as many people as possible.

Mission Miracle from Sora Rachel Cannon

April 30, 2009

We experience more and more miracles every day. For example, we had 3 "friends" show up to church yesterday - 1 was a former investigator (with no work of our own since we haven't called her all transfer), another the mother of one of our English students (next step her and her daughter coming and staying for Primary), and a woman we had bloc-knocked into who said, "Come back after Easter." We came back on Saturday night and left a message with her daughter that we had stopped by and now the mom wants to meet with us and keep coming to church!

We had a pretty miraculous lesson the other night in the blocks. Funnily enough, it was the same block as the woman who came to church, but it had been pretty much a block of rejection both times we had been there. Anyway, she let us in for a lesson which was completely guided by the spirit. We both had the feeling that we needed to move more quickly than usual and use fewer scriptures. We were guided in other parts as well, like what commitments to give her. I don't know where it will go, but it was a definite testimony of the Spirit working through us and fine tuning our abilities to listen to and follow the promptings of the Spirit.

Mission MIracle from Elder Nathan Anderson

April 23, 2009

We had a neat experience yesterday. We were contacting in the evening on the streets Sunday. Being a holiday, everyone was with their family and wasn't too interested in talking to us. We kept trying couple after couple and kept getting rejected and rejected. Elder Porter suggested that we go into a nearby park. We went and talked to a younger couple on a bench. As we asked them how they were doing and told them that we had a message about happiness for them from God. The man chuckled to himself and told us, “I was just thinking how nice it would be to talk to some guys like you both.” We found out in the ensuing conversation that the man (Andrei) is disillusioned with his religion and has some very serious questions about religion. He was more than happy to accept a Book of Mormon and give us his phone number. I hope that it goes somewhere. At the very least, it helped my testimony that even when it may appear that there aren't that many people prepared to receive the gospel, Heavenly Father is preparing people out there. I am thankful for His continued support.

Mission MIracle from Elder Tyler Sorensen

April 23, 2009

I got a call last Sunday from some Elders in Spain, informing me that they had baptized a Romanian in Spain (there are over 1 million of them in Madrid alone). They said the husband and wife had recently been baptized and the wife would soon be returning to live in a small village named Casolti about 17 km away from Sibiu. Then Tuesday night, I got a call from who I thought was the member, requesting very excitedly a visit. I received permission from President and went out to the village by Maxi Taxi the following morning. The Maxi Taxi dropped us off on the side of the highway and we hiked an additional 2 km into the town. When we arrived, we asked for Anca and 4 or 5 people herded us to her house. Upon arrival, the door opened to 16 people waiting for us-- 9 adults and 7 children, all staring straight at us. I quickly figured out none of them were members, but had been congregated by the daughter of the parents who were baptized in Spain. I turned to Anca and said, “So you want to hear more about our church,” and she replied excitedly, “Yes, please!
So I proceeded to explain to these people about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, which is kind of difficult being in a 6X6 room surrounded by people. People were in and out through the entire lesson with Anca and her niece listening intently the entire time. By the end we were discussing baptism and transportation into church, seeing that they are a poor Gypsy family, and can't afford to come in every week, but Anca and her niece said that they would do anything they could to come in and would be baptized upon receiving their answer about the Book of Mormon. Then she proceeded to tell her kids to go around town and invite anyone who would listen to come and be taught in her home. She finally got her Aunt who was Baptist to come and as we proceeded to teach her, Anca broke in and testified of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and how the book was written by who she called ancient Apostles and Joseph was a type of Paul or Peter-- an apostle in our days. That was truly a miracle and I am confident that Anca will be baptized, and she will come to church even if she has to hook up a horse to a cart and ride it into town!

Mission Miracle from Elder Brian Foote

April 23, 2009

My miracle story of the week is that we went vila knocking in our area earlier this week, and there was one lady who told us to come back the next day. It turns out that she wasn't home, but I was determined to knock more and have the faith to find. The first door we knocked on a man let us in and we talked with him for a while. He set up another appointment with us in about 2 weeks (because he is leaving town for a little while) and we hope things will work well. I have been working hard on expecting success and working diligently to find it, and this was just a "mile-stone" miracle showing me that the Lord will honor my faith.

Mission Miracle from Elder Thomas Porter

April 23, 2009

Elder Anderson and I were street contacting. We took 5 steps down this one street but then felt like we should go down the road that we just passed. So we go down that road
and there was only one old gypsy guy kicking a beer bottle down the road. We
stopped and talked to him and the first thing he said is that he has a question
for us. He went on to tell us that his son died two mouths ago and he
wanted to know where his son is.

We went to his house and had a plan of salvation lesson with him. It was
good and he told us to come back and talk to him the next day. So we went
back and finished the plan with him. He seems like a nice guy and his
daughter knows some of the sister missionaries that were here about 2 years
ago. I am really looking forward to the next lesson that we have with him.

Mission Miracle from Sora Kara Staley

April 23, 2009

This was a week of miracles! We could easily think of one for every day as Sora Richards and I reviewed our week. After an inspiring district meeting, followed by a fantastic zone conference, we identified things that we would work on to improve. We really want to call on the powers of heaven by doing EVERYTHING within our power.

This Saturday, we decided to spend our time doing missionary work, despite what others said about low chances of success and angry Romanians. In those hours, the Lord blessed us with great success. We set up for many appointments, received telephone numbers, and testified to others who weren't interested, but listened kindly. President, it was incredible. One girl I'm particularly excited to meet with was passing us with her brother on the side-walk when we stopped them. We took our turn testifying and promising blessings. They listened politely until Sora Richards held up a copy of the Book of Mormon. The girl's eyes got wide and she grabbed the book quickly with great enthusiasm. Before I knew what was happening she'd grabbed my companion and kissed her cheeks! She told us she'd been looking around for somewhere to buy that book and couldn't find it. When we offered it to her free she almost fell over. We set up to teach her more this week. Truly, the Lord knows us. He wanted his daughter to have a copy of that wonderful book and He knew we could give it to her. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to participate in sharing the "good gifts" of our Heavenly Father with his children. We were where we needed to be at the right time because we were being obedient.

Mission Miracle from Sora Kara Staley

April 19, 2009

We've been praying our hearts out for guidance--to be in the right place, in the right time. This week it happened!

As we pressed through the rejections of a busy sidewalk, I saw a woman up ahead with three small boys around her. Of course when it came her turn, we went straight to testifying. Roxana told us that when she saw us and our tags, she felt something good so she decided--even before we approached her--that she would listen to our message. If that's not cool enough, she was extremely anxious to set up with us and called us beforehand, just to make sure we were still coming.

Our lesson with her went well. She was humble and asked good questions. When Sora Richards pulled a Book from her bag, Roxana's eyes brightened and she exclaimed, "Oh! I saw this on the card you gave me! Tell me about this book." (We'd given her a card with a picture of the Book of Mormon on the street). The best is when we told her about Joseph Smith--how he was confused and searching. She responded, "He was just like me." She went on to explain how she was praying for more answers and begging the Lord to put someone in her path who could teach her more. "And then I met you two," she said.

Mission Miracle from Elder Nathan Moore

April 17, 2009

My miracle this week is my progress in the language. During our testifying first we have seen many blessings. We contacted a priest (we didn't know until after the fact), and he was sincerely interested in our message. In our initial approach we shook his hand, testified about the Savior, and asked him if he felt close to the Savior in his day to day life. That was the point where he pulled out his priest card. He concluded that anything that would bring him closer to God can only be good. He accepted the Book of Mormon and promised to see us again after his Easter program. I am not confident that we could have had the same response from him had we taken them time to introduce ourselves as missionaries, and asked him if he had a moment to speak with us.

Mission Miracle from Elder Landon Smith

April 17, 2009

Spiritual experience!!: So this week on Wednesday was the mission-wide fast. We started preparing ourselves a few days before as counseled. On Tuesday we had a kid stop us out of the blue and tell he is a member. He said he hadn't been active for two years and was ready to come back. He said that he knew he just did not have enough faith before and he wanted to try again because something was missing in his life. The next day on the fast we ran into two more members who said that they were ready to come back to church. One was a cute mom with a young daughter. So I'm pretty sure I really like fasting for miracles because they actually happen. We also had a couple other random people stop us because we "looked like good kids." I'm so excited to see the miracles that are to follow here in this city and in this country. Our zone now has four baptism dates and another kid that just has to figure out when he can get baptized. I really think our zone could start having baptisms every week next transfer, and hopefully starting this transfer.

Mission Miracle from Sora Tawnya Howard

April 17, 2009

We had a cool experience last night. We did 't get off the metro and close to home until about 8:25 and it was really chilly outside, but we had made a goal at the beginning of the transfer to not go home before 9 pm. So, we hit up the streets to do some contacting. We weren't having much luck with anyone, but at about 8:55, the last girl we contacted listened and took a Book of Mormon. It was a great faith builder!

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

April 12, 2009

Dan: This is the man from Bucharest that I was teaching before we left. I think I told you but about two weeks ago he told us he didn't want to listen any more and dropped us than on my last Saturday in Bucharest we invited him to church and he came a loved it and got answers to all of his questions! Then the next day why he was guarding the church we came and he asked us if we could start the lessons again and we said “ FOR SURE” and we had a wonderful lesson about how we can overcome weakness and trials and he loved it. In the same lesson Daniel shared a really cool experience with us he was telling us about how he wants to start to live his life like a member of the church and so he told us “ I really want to pay tithing!” and he told us how he has to work 12 hours a day so he can make 800 lei (about 250 dollars) a month. He told us that he has to send 200 of that (about 60 dollars) to his parents because his father got ripped off by the government and didn't get his retirement pay. So he told us that before he got his money that he made a budget and he put 100 hundred dollars aside for tithing. He told us in the day in which he put that hundred dollars away for tithing that his mom called him up and told him that his father had through a miracle found out that he was going to receive all of the retirement pay that he was supposed to be receiving and that Daniel would not have to send 200 dollars to them anymore. He looked at me and he finished telling the story and said, “ I believe in tithing. I haven't even paid it yet—I just thought about paying it and look what God has done. He has already opened the windows of heaven like he said he would.” This story strengthened my faith when I heard it.