Buna! to all my friends and Family,
I can't believe that Elder Scott came to Stake conference. I am SUPER jealous. I love Elder Scott. He came to the MTC to speak to us; it wasn't too long after conference when he gave that wonderful talk about his wife, he spoke so gently about her. It really touched my life. So, a bit of an update...I haven't talked to Daniel in over a week now. He won't answer my calls. We will try to stop by this week. I keep praying that they will soften their hearts and understand that we meant well. Adam was again at church yesterday, he loved it. He is doing SO much better with his smoking. We fasted with him on Wednesday and the Fratele(Brother) Piper and Elder McFadden came and gave him a blessing. Angi and Petre unfortunately do not have any hope of getting married soon. I don't know what else to do. We will continue to pray for them; Meli, on the other hand, she can still get baptised so we are planning for this Saturday.
Our clementine give away went well this week and we are going to do even better. We gave them to taxi drivers and then when we talk to people on the street. Also, if we saw someone that is poor and on the street we gave them one too. I love it and it is a great conversation starter too. I am very excited to start my 12 days of Christmas count down this next week. I have slowly been opening up Kari and Ed's gifts too. (Thanks Ed, Kari, Preston, Shanda and your Families) I will be able to use skype on Christmas....what a great Christmas present for you. Early Sunday morning you get to wake up and talk to your cute baby daughter! ha ha I am not sure exactly yet the time. We need to coordinate with the elders. What time do you have church? We will use the McFadden's computer. I think that last time (mother's day) we talked at about 7 so probably about the same time. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!! Really I am so excited.
Well, where do I start...we really had a rough week; good things too, but just draining. SO, lets start Tuesday we had English. We had 22 students!! Super baller the elders had 0 in medium. So, Elder Schroedter helped us a bit. It was a great turn out and we had a great time.
Wednesday we went to visit with some less actives...that was probably the roughest or hardest lessons I have ever had on my mission. Unfortunately they were so mean to Sora and I. I left the lesson very shook up and worried. Not to fret though, we then did some contacting in the college dorms here and it was SUPER. We found some really great young people...one in particular Andrea, she is 19, super cute, speaks English really well and we had a great first lesson. Then her boyfriend from Timisoara showed up at the end. Oh, and did I tell you, he is studying to be an Orthodox priest? We had the Book of Mormon laying on her bed, he picked it up and starting reading it. He actually asked if he could keep it. We are heading back tonight to check up on her.
Thursday was a very busy, but a rewarding day. We had fasted with Adam to help him stop smoking. Then he was given a blessing. He is doing a lot better. When we called him on Friday he still hadn't smoked. Friday we also got to attend Edi's wedding. It was marvelous his wife's name is Timi. She is not a member, but she is super cute. We are hoping to be able to work more with her and get her interested. We also had a great lesson with Meli and Evei. Evei is Meli's cousin and she has been baptized for a year now. We watched part of the YW's session from the October Conference. Meli is doing ok. Evei is such a great influence for her. They are really strong girls and it is so amazing to see these two young girls at 13 years old have so much potential in the church.
Saturday we had English. Our students speak English really well. Unfortunately we only had 6 this time. Granted 3 went to the Medium class, but we were missing a lot. SO, we'll see what happens tomorrow. We also had a fireside, we watch Elder Perry's talk from this last Conference. It went well, we didn't have tons of people, but that's okay.
Sunday was a long day...a great day, but long. We were fasting again and church was great. Adam really liked Church...but during priesthood they were talking about some temple work and they got into baptisms for the dead! SO, we had an interesting time explaining how it works. I don't think that he understands yet. Then after church he saw one of our recently baptized members smoking...he was really hurt or discouraged because of this. I was to, I was shocked and mad. We were fasting again and it had been just about 24 hours. We had spent the day visiting less actives and meeting with members or recent converts. I came home last night a bit discouraged, frustrated, and felt so negative. I didn't want to, but I was so stressed to say the least. I don't think that I have felt this way ever before. I know that Christ said it wouldn't be easy but it would be worth it.
I know that Heavenly Father's hands are in this work. Even when we struggle, he is putting us through the refining fire. I love this gospel. I wish others would all except it...but they all have their agency too. I want to thank you all for your support, love, emails, letters and everything. I really have such a wonderful family and friends. Carson thank you for writing me every week. Your support and encouragement goes and long way for me, so thank you!
I love you all! Va iubesc
Sora Hickman
