A Whole Year
Wow!! What a week I had! Tuesday feels like forever ago!
This week we had Zone Conferences! Buc Zone on Tuesday, West Zone on Wednesday, and East Zone on Thursday. We went back to Ploiesti for one day and then Saturday morning we got on a train to go to Brasov for District Conference (like Stake Conference). We didn't get home til Sunday night. It was a crazy week for sure but it was filled with amazing people, interactions, and experiences!
ZONE CONFERENCES
Because we present at Zone Conferences we get to attend every single one here in Romania! It is such a fun experience to attend all of them and see and feel similarities and differences between each one! The first half of each conference was filled with remarks from President and Sister Rucker! I love them both so much and am so grateful for their diligence and dedication to this mission. Their spiritual in tune-ness is always spot on to what our mission needs to hear. President Rucker shared three stories with us about the importance of missionary work and feeding, finding, and teaching His sheep!
The first story was about Jake Oldroyd, the kicker for the BYU football team, and a recent game he had where he missed two field goals. Those were two big mistakes that thousands and thousands of people witnessed in person and online. His team could have easily been very mad and upset with him but, at the end of the game, several players including the team captain went up to him and gave him a nice big hug! I loved many things about this story but two key takeaways I received were:
1. Strive to be that person that helps comfort and console those in life that have made many mistakes that are weighing them down.
2. No matter how many field goals we miss in life, we can still win in life! Through the people we surround ourselves with as well as through the help of Christ.
The other story was about a bus driver in New York who had a bus full of upset and irritable passengers, one night he got on the intercom and said, "Ladies and Gentleman, we are now nearing the Hudson River. I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. When you get off the bus, I'm going to hold out my hand. As you walk past me, I want you to drop your troubles into the palm of my hand. I'll take your troubles for you, and when I drive past the river, I'll throw them in. The reason I want to do this is because you all seem like you've had a bad day, and I don't want you taking all your worries and sorrows home to your friends and families now. Because they deserve better than that, don't they? So you just leave your troubles here with me to dispose of, and you all go have a wonderful night, OK?"
The story goes on to say: "The whole bus-the whole grumpy lot of us-broke into laughter. (Some of us, myself included, might have even shed a tear or two). And one by one, as we filed off the bus, we dropped our troubles into the palm of this good man's hand, and we stepped off the bus with smiles on our faces." We have the capability to be a light for others in our lives! We can choose to let the troubles of life eat us up and control us, or we can choose to let the light of Christ prevail in our lives and let it spread to all those that we come in contact with!
The third story was about Shrek the Sheep. (you can read the whole story here. ) Long story short, Shrek was a sheep that was lost for 6 years and accumulated 6 years of wool! That is a lot of excess weight (60 pounds of wool) that he would not have had to carry around if he had stayed with his Shepherd. But when he was found, they were able to sheer all his wool in 26 minutes! It is amazing how quick we can be healed, rid of years of pain and suffering, as we come unto Christ, lay everything at His feet, and are willing to change!
President Rucker did a great job of pulling all these stories together but I still wanted to share them with you all because I loved them! Ahhh, I could go on and on about what I loved about Zone Conferences and about District Conference but I am running out of time to write everything down right now!
The last thing I will share that I really liked that Elder Kopishke (area seventy) shared at our District Conference was advice on how we can follow the Nephite's example of having 200 years of peace after the Savior came and visited them. After reading through 3 Nephi 11, these are a few things that we found --->see, feel, know and have NO CONTENTION!! And then in 3 Nephi 18 we find invitations that Christ gave to the Nephites: Pray always in your families, meet together oft and don't turn anyone away, pray for your friends and those not of our faith, come unto Christ that you may feel and see, and then He says, "You are blessed when there are no disputations among you!" There were so many amazing things that he shared with us all but I loved that he emphasized on showing kindness and having not contention!
A COUPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS:
While I was at Zone Conferences, during one of our breaks I was challenged to eat an apple whole in 5 bites and I did it in 4. . . hahaha, my mouth definitely paid the price though, that apple cut up the inside of my mouth as I tried to chew the huge bites I took. . .haha but I did it!
The mornings lately have been absolutely beautiful! Sora Robinson and I got some really good runs in Wednesday and Thursday morning around Bucharest! I loved the clean, crisp air and the cute streets we found to run down!
The weather in Brasov was rainy the majority of the time we were there but not pouring rain, just sprinkling the whole time, and the air was so clean, the mountains were so green, and I was very very very happy!
Overall it was a great week! (despite me getting sick at the end!) There is so much more I could share but just don't have the time! Just know that I love Romania, I love all the missionaries that I serve with here! Their testimonies and examples continually strengthen me, and I love Heavenly Father and the great plan He has for each and every one of us! It is truly amazing to watch as the Gospel of Jesus Christ positively changes the lives of all those around me as well as my own!
I love you all and hope you have a great week! (also tomorrow, I hit my year mark here on a mission! Time flies!)
Love,
Sora Acton
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