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!