Mission Miracle from Sora Krista Gibbons

February 15, 2009

I knew the baptism in Piteşti was coming up so I put in longer or at least more dedication to my studies, especially language study. I prayed daily with the ability to understand if not feel the spirit. The answer came quicker then I had hoped. It was wonderful to see your wife's smiling face, and meet your daughter. To my great fear The Assistants were needed elsewhere and Sora Kiss-Maxim was needed in Primary which left me to translate for your daughter and wife. Fear hit me like a brick wall. I saw a member in our ward who speaks English, and asked her if she would do it, she said she did not want to. I heaved a fearful sigh. I said a prayer in my heart, asking the Lord to help me, a simple and powerful response, of course my daughter you have put forth the effort let me help you reach the top. I understood more out of that meeting and even though I feel for Sora Lundberg and your daughter who probably did not get much out of my translation, or the lesson, my worries drifted away. I thanked the lord for helping me, but also asked him never to do that to me again, I not ready to translate. I then moved to help with other things. The baptism came, and my mind fought to translate, fear once again came would I understand any of this. After the baptism ceremony, it was time for testimonies. Luci stood up to bare her testimony my mind got ready for the struggle of translation. TO my surprise I understood it all with only a few struggles, It was as if she were speaking to me in English. I felt so drained and tired from my spiritual experience but at the same time I wanted to go out and teach and work hard. We had a lesson later that night, and once again I was struggling to speak and keep up. But it was as if the Lord knew I needed that glimpse of heaven, that glimpse of what my hard work could produce. My birthday is this week, and I lied in bed wondering what it would be like. I have never not had a family member with me on my birthday, in fact last year was the first one without my mother. And I would like to share with you what my wonderful father in heaven shared with my in my prayers. "Am I not your father, Is Jesus not your brother, We have been there for every-up and down, for ever struggle, why would be dessert you now, why would we, your family, not lift you up when your heart is low. I have sent you to your brothers and sisters in Romania. The next morning we packed in so many appointments, that I don't think we have time to breath.

Mission Miracle from Elder John Wilde

February 15, 2009

My companion and I have just been working hard to do the best we can to find another family or anyone that is interested in the gospel. On Monday night we went over to the B. family (part member family- Mircea- non member father, Eli- member, Evei- non- member 10 year old daughter who wants to get baptized really badly but only by her dad) where both the grandparents and a cousin were there! We had a great lesson and then Eli's mom turned out to be very interested and so we set up again for later on this week with her. We returned and we had a GREAT first lesson where the Spirit was very strong. She told us that the night before we came over she had a dream where Jesus told her to come to Him and that all her hardships were coming to an end. Being surprised and happy we challenged her that once she knew that the Book of Mormon was true that she would be baptized, she obviously accepted. We then committed her to exercise her faith by coming to church (she has some health problems) knowing that God would support her. And so she did! I gave a talk on Charity and she said that she cried during it because she felt so "plin" (full). She also said that she had no problems whatsoever walking to church, or while she was there concerning her heart and lungs (which rarely/never happens)! It's just further testimony that our Heavenly Father rewards the faith of the honest heart and blesses His children who have a true desire to follow Him. I love this gospel. And now the whole family I'm sure is going to want to get baptized! I can't describe to you how grateful I am to be a missionary ---to be a part of the Lord's work of inviting others unto Him. It's a pleasure beyond any description!

Mission Miracle from Elder Alden Campbell

January 12, 2009

Sunday night was super amazing. So the cluster of streets that we were guided to through our "finding prayer" in the centru area (right by where the church is actually...and no, we had no idea because we were white-washed into our apt) is where we went to go contacting. We went out with the intent to block knock. Problem, there are no blocks there! So we went villa knocking again and did our best, but for the most part, to no avail. This was on Str. Episcopiei, the street that I felt super impressed about...where an investigator actually lives with whom we had a discussion planned in about 2 hours from then...again, we had no idea because we were whitewashed in here. So , we continued with this until we came to the street that Elder Wilde was impressed to write down. We were on the right side of the street and looked like the same old same old. So, we looked around and saw on the other side of the street a vila complex. One of the vila's had a bunch of lights on and so we decided to check it out. All the vila's but one looked super creepy and abandoned so we thought hey, let's try this one with the lights even though it seems like a party is going on. We ring the bell and a son comes to the door. He calls his father who didn't understand us at first and thought we coudn't speak romanian. The father races back into the house yelling for his daughter who knows some english and is racing all throughout the house all uptight that some english speakers are at his door. Meanwhile, the son had let us in....hahaha. So, we came into the front of the house in the hall. The father finally decided to let us into the living room because had no idea what to do with us. So, we come into the living room and sit down and start a conversation with his son and family friend and mother in law. We start explaining and answering their questions and then the father comes in and goes to the room across from us and turns on the tv with a smerk on his face. Meanwhile, my companion and I were teaching from the BOM, testifying about the Saviour and having a full on romanian conversation. This amazed the father and he turned off the tv, came into the room we were in and began to listen. Shortly thereafter his wife and brother came into the room. We taught, we testified and used the BOM. They asked questions but their concerns were answered and we had 8 people (6 of which were standing) looking intently at us as we taught. The Spirit had changed their countenances from ...hey what you got?...to hey...I like that, that sounds familiar. They took our books of Mormon and set up with us on Wednesday at 1900 wanting more copies of the BOM and to hear more. You see the thing is, we prayed to God for a family when we were planning where to contact with the maps just a day before. Let me tell you something. When I left that house I was more happy than I can ever remember being, to the point where I was jumping on the street, screaming and then singing "Glory to God in the highest!" God is a God of Miracles...I KNOW this. I think this was my first time ever in Romania teaching an entire family at once.

From there we went to the church, planned our next lesson with the familia S. for Wednesday and then went along to our next lesson with Dan's family. At first they told us that they didn't have time to read...didn't understand why there was a need for more than the 10 commandments, tithing specifically, and told us that they didn't believe in the prelife or the afterlife. We went forward after that to tell them that their real concern was actually that of if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the BOM is a true book. Again, the Spirit changed their countenances and they listened. By the time we left we had developed a relationship of trust with them (just like with the other one we had just met with) and they agreed that we could come back to keep talking, and to read 3 Nephi 11.

The Lord is with us, this I know. He never leaves us. He guides this work and we CANNOT do it without Him or the Spirit.

Mission Miracle from Elder Alden Campbell

January 19, 2009

Well, this week was nothing but amazing and almost perfect! On Tuesday we had ZL/DL and then went back to a street that we had prayed about the first week we were here in Arad. This is the street that was the same on both of our lists. We had already tracted it but we felt that we needed to go back there because first of all there were vila's that didn't answer the first time and second of all if it was the only street that was the same it means that God had someone there for us to find. So we went back...it was sweet. First of all, the first time we had gone there we were walking up to the first house and we talked to a lady that was walking to the house as well. She was the nanny and told us to go to the front door and she would send the mom of the family out to meet us. So, we go to the front door and the mom comes out and we give her BOM even though she kind of took it reluctantly. So, back to present...we knock the entire street again (all the doors that were unanswered last time) and to no avail. But here is the thing we knew that we needed to be there. So, we get to the one house again and we look at each other and I say that maybe it is the nanny that we need to meet with. My companion was like yes but it is kind of awkward to come back so soon ( a couple of doors). So, we prayed about it. After we prayed about it we looked at the house and both felt good and we both had in our minds "the nanny". So we go to the door and call the ringer. The nanny answers and tells us that the mom isn't home...and then we ask her if it would be alright if we could talk to her. She comes to the door and we talk for a couple of minutes and we related to her our experience about praying about to come back. She was grateful. Anyways, it turns out the mom had shown her the BOM and she had been reading from it when the kids were asleep! We got her number and she said that we could continue to talk. Later on in the week we called her and she said she couldn't meet but that she had read some more and she thinks it is interesting and cool. So...we will see.

On wednesday: We knew since Sunday that we would be meeting again with Familia S. tonight so we planned the best first lesson we knew how...and we had plans to bring them brownies and our family photos as well to get to know them better. So, we are pretty much contacting all day until then and yes have some "success". The time finally comes and we go to Familia S. When we first get there, there were only 3 people at home 2 of which we hadn't the time before! So now, the whole family gets home from being in town and there are 10 people! The 2 newbies are the daughters’ husband (super cool and open) and the Uncle's daughter. Ok, so we start teaching them our lesson. All is going well, they are asking questions and the dad and uncle are the most argumentative but the rest of the family tell them to shut-up and that we are right and that they want to listen more. So, half way through the lesson Simona (the mom) gets a call from her sister who lives in Florida and she wants to talk to me. So I take the call and answer all of her questions about Mormons and so on and then she tells me that for the past while she has been praying as hard as she knows how for God to send her family messengers to teach her family how to gain a real relationship with Christ! Meanwhile, they had asked my companion how in the world we chose to come to them out of all the homes and places in Arad. So he tells them that we had prayed to find out where God wanted us to go to find a family to teach. I hang up the phone and tell them what Simona's sister has just told me. Then, we testified that it wasn't a coincidence that we were here teaching them and trying to help them. The rest of the lesson went super well and we got to the Joseph Smith "story" and the spirit was amazingly strong. This is by far the best first lesson I have ever experienced (and my companion)...not only because of the Spirit being so strong but also just all the events that had lead up to that point and everything happening at once. It is absolutely amazing! They committed to read the reading assignment, pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the BOM is true and also to come to church on Sunday! Again, we left the house flabbergasted and giving praises to God for His goodness and the fact that He truly is a God of Miracles!

Saturday we tried everything in our power to set up lessons and appoinments but no one set up so we had an entire day of contacting! It was sweet. Plus...by this point we had done all we could to set up for Sunday having a family of 10 come. We co-ordinated with the branch leaders to have fellowshippers and so forth, we added a new row of chairs so they could sit...and all day saturday we fasted! We didn't know what else to do. We had called Familia S. to confirm if they were still coming. They didn't answer their phone on friday or saturday.
Anyways...it was sweet because contacting is sweet!
So...yeah, the S. family did not come. It turned out that they had called us like 3 times but our phone was on silent because of Church. But they had had guests from la tara come into town unexpectedly and so couldn't come. We didn't know this so we had gone to their house and they told us...and they also set up for tuesday at 7!

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin MilesFebruary 16, 2009
This was a week of miracles and I didn't even have enough time to write them all done but here they are! So the first miracle. We had had this miracle finding experience on the train and we found this girl named Anda. Well she has been reading the Book of Mormon and has been really enjoying it and so she set up with us on Saturday and we arranged to have a tour of the church with her. And because she was a girl we had to find a member to come with us and so luckily the entire YSA (all the youth from Romania) was at the chapel and so we asked Elena ( a member from Bucharest to participate in the lesson) We did the tour and from just seeing the outside of the church Anda started to love it! So we did the tour, and you know the spirit is there when the lesson just flows and Elena (the member) was doing an amazing job about talking about being a member. She made it so personal. So we took her through all the rooms and we ended in the sacrament room and Anda went in and she just sat down on one of the benches and started to smile. She said, “This room is different. I feel a warmth here. I feel a really special feeling in my heart that I can't describe.” We knew exactly what that feeling was and so we went on to talk about why we come to church and bore out testimonies about Jesus Christ and about his atonement. The spirit was so strong and it was just wonderful to see how happy it made her. But the best part was after the discussion! Elena and her sister Ioana talked to Anda for 2 hours after the discussion and they were talking about meeting up during the week and hanging out and it just made me so happy because that is the way missionary work should be! I teach and the members fellowship! Elena did a great job ---she invited Anda to church and to activities. It was a miracle. Next Miracle I think it was Monday that I got a call from some of the Elders in our District and one of their investigators had gotten ill and had gone to the hospital. So they called us and asked if were could do an exchange because they had set up a lesson with some less actives and they didn't have time to do both. So I went to the lesson with the inactives and Elder Cantlon went to the Hospital to help the investigator. The less actives we were going to have been less active for about a year and they are really upset with the church. They don't come because they don't feel that they are spiritually fed. So we went over to their house and right from the beginning we said we are going to talk about the Savior and humility. We started the discussion and the spirit just took over right from the beginning. The minute we got in the door a feeling of comfort came over us that the lesson was going to go well! Usually these people just talk about how bad everything is going and so I was really worried that it wasn't going to go well, so on the way over I was saying a prayer in my heart to my Heavenly Father saying „ Please help us to speak with the spirit and to know what I need to say to help these people.” Heavenly Father helped me and we spoke to these people. I saw that their hearts were softened and they we just amazed how well they felt!! After everything we said they replied, “That is exactly what I needed to hear.” At one point, the father said, “ I haven't felt the spirit in years, but tonight I have felt it so strong.” He said I usually talk a lot in lessons but when you speak you bring such a warmth into our hearts that we just want to listen. Then he said, “Look at my wife she is beaming and he looked at me and said you warm up the heart of others and then he said the most amazing thing of the night. He told us that he had planned that night to tell us never to come back because he had had it with the church and that he was never going back, but because of the spirit with witch we had taught and because of our testimonies that he wanted to start to learn how he could come back. He said that because of the way in which we taught that they had been spiritually fed and it was so true! I have never felt the spirit so strong. But the best part is...I don't know what we said, we left their house and my companion ( who is a brand new missionary) looked at me and asked what just happened there? And I replied I'm now sure the spirit just took over. I have no idea what I said because I didn't say it. But the best part is that lesson not only helped those people, but it really helped me more! I have always wanted to see a fulfillment of my patriarchal blessing and in that lesson it came true! It was truly a miracle. I prayed and God answered and the best part in that is our message as missionaries. We ask and our Heavenly Father responds, he still speaks and helps his children. I will never forget the tender mercy of the Lord that was shown unto me that night. It was a miracle. Oh and the man told me to thank my dad for teaching me the scriptures so well. He specifically told me to thank my dad because at some point in the lesson he asked me how I knew to apply the scriptures and I said my dad taught me and he said to thank him for me.
Next Miracle Wow there are just two many miracles to write! So this week I had an exchange in Pitesti and we went down there to help them with contacting. We had some lessons through out the day and we had about an hour left and I really wanted to show Elder Johnson that we can have success contacting, so we went to the Block. I told Elder Johnson to listen to the spirit and to choose a direction and then a block. So we went into the bloc and I said a prayer in my heart and ask God for a miracle because I wanted to show Elder Johnson that bloc knocking is a good thing and once again God blessed us. We knocked on the first door and President Lundberg had asked me to try a new form of contacting in which you start out with you testimony! So we knocked on the door and a man opens it up and I just bore a simple testimony about the purpose of life or something...and he let us in we had a wonderful discussion with 4 people. We gave out 2 books Of Mormon and also got a return appointment! Yet another Miracle. Next Miracle, So we having been doing everything we can to find investigators! We stop everyone that goes by us and we do everything we can to share the message! So this week I felt like we should call up an old investigator that we had contacted last transfer named Riad. He is from Syria and so we called him up and he set up with us and we met him a the Hilton hotel. We sat down and he just started talking and he told us that he wants us to meet as often as possible and that he wants to get baptized. We set a date set up for a return appointment and talked about the nature of the Godhead, the word of wisdom and why we don't use the cross. It went amazing and he is the greatest guy. He told us he just wants to to what god wants and so we are really excited and we are going to meet with him on Wednesday! Yet another Miracle! Next Miracle , This week I had the honor of doing a Baptismal Interview for a lady that lives in one of the cities in our zone! I'm going to keep this short i just wanted to say that I felt the love of God so much for that lady and it help me to know how much he loves me and his children. Next Miracle, This is another one with the spirit! This Friday I was on an exchange and we had kind of a rough morning and so we were on the subway and I really want to constant contact and so I was looking for someone to contact and I saw this nice looking man next to me! Then I thought well how can I start a conversation with him and I was going to do the usual and ask a question that I already knew the answer to, but I thought to be sincere and that revelation came. The Holy Ghost told me to ask him how old the subway system was and I thought to my self, what a weird question. But I asked him and he say „ Funny you ask me that because I designed the Metro. I can tell you exactly how old it is.” I couldn't believe it! I was on the subway with a thousand other Romanians and I'm inspired to ask someone about the metro and I happen to be standing next to the man who built it! Miracle! Next Miracle! This is probably the best one of the week! This one was a church miracle. So for the whole transfer we( the missionaries in Bucharest) have been looking for investigators and it had been hard. This week the work payed off!! We have 10 investigators come to church. Every companionship had people there!! There was close to 100 people at church and there were about 5 or 6 investigators that had come back for the first time in 16 years to church. They didn't even know that a chapel had been built! We also had people come who I had give a Book of Mormon to in passing and they loved church! It was a huge miracle!! And we have had all these miracles because we are obedient! Also we went to Craiova last night and as we were walking through the station we ran in to these two people speaking English and we saw that they were having trouble getting their tickets so we offered to translate! And I was so excited because I love translating! We helped them get their tickets and get to a hotel and after we helped them get to a hotel they just said thank you and said that they couldn't have done it without us and they were just amazed at our kindness! I know that down the road Rob and Jessica (those were their names) will run into missionaries and will have a respect for them and know that our meeting was not by chance. It was a miracle! One more and the others will have to wait till next week!! Our Zone is a miracle!! Every city this week doubled their numbers and it Bucharest we had 10 investigators at church and 100 people at church and through out the zone the numbers doubled!! And not only did we have all our investigators come we had 27 new investigators found this week! I really can't explain in words how much the lord has blessed us! Wow there are so many other miracles to write but I just don't have time! Just know that God is a god of miracles and all those who keep the rules are entitled to those blessings!

Mission Miracle from Elder Benjamin Miles

I love teaching the gospel and where ever I am I want to be able to teach the gospel and I’m always looking for people that I can teach whether it be on the Metro, Tram, Bus or street. So this week after Zone conference we had to go to Craiova, a city in our zone. We got on a train on Thursday and headed down to Craiova. On the way down I was trying to write some letters and there was this girl sitting a row behind us, and when I first saw here I had the thought to talk to her. However, I just kind of pushed it aside. I continued writing letters while my companion, tired from working so hard, slept. I was just sitting there writing a letter when the girl asked me for a pen and I said to myself, “Talk about the gospel.” But it didn’t seem like the right moment and so I gave her a pen and I continued on with my letter, when she asked me if I had another one because the one I had given her didn’t work. I told her that I didn’t have another one but then my companion woke up and asked if she needed one and was able to give her his. I went back to my letters and she started taking some pictures of the train and some men who where probably drunk started making rude comments about those among them. She was disgusted at their comments and moved her seat and sat a row in front of us. After she got settled, she turned around and introduced herself to me. She said her name was Anda and thanked me for the pen. We just got to know each other and then she asked my favorite question, “What are you doing here?” And so we started explaining to her what we do and it was a perfect lesson. She it totally an elect person, as we missionaries like to say. We talked about haw she is a child of god and that she has great potential. We talked about how this knowledge was lost during the apostasy and she really liked and readily accept the idea that there needs to be one true church. We also went into the Plan of Salvation and talked about Adam and Eve, and she even before we talked about it said that she thought that the Fall was necessary because otherwise we wouldn’t be here! My companion and I look at each other and I said to myself that was straight from the Book of Mormon. We were able to testify about the Restoration and we found out that she was an Architecture student. We talked about how if she designed a house and she only had the blueprints, what would have to happen to rebuild that house? She responded perfectly. She said that you would have to have the original architect come with the blueprints and show how it was down and then we compared this with God and Joseph Smith. Then we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and testify of its truthfulness. She readily accepted a copy and we gave her a commitment to read it. We called her a couple days later and she said the she really liked it and it still reading! It was a miracle!

Mission Miracle from Sora Deborah Thompson

My companion and I decided that we will do every little thing President tells us to do, so we started marking every single door we knocked. Well, because we were so preoccupied with figuring out the number system in a block and marking everything in the book, we didn’t realize that we were block knocking the same block we had just block knocked. Well, we realized this when this nice lady with two boys opened the door who we had talked to several days before. I thought they had given me a dud phone number, but it turns out that I had just written it wrong and they were waiting for my phone call. We had an amazing discussion with them, got the right number and they came to church with us on Sunday. It was super cool. The Lord definitely blesses you when you are obedient.