Ceau!
Happy October. This week was really good. I have truly fallen in love with Sibiu. I was sitting in church yesterday and realized how lucky I am to be here. Even though there were only 8 members there and one visitor, I was seriously so happy. The spirit was so strong. This branch may be small, but they are rebuilding. They are healing wounds and have such a desire to become stronger.
First of all, we found an apartment! What a blessing. We were able to move in on Friday. It is only about a 7 minute walk to church and a 20 minute walk to centru (downtown). The elders were so nice and helped us up the 4 flights of stairs with all of our luggage. We have accumulated quite a bit. Life seems more normal now. We will definitely miss our friends that we made at the hotel. I have really learned that we get to make our homes filled with the spirit. Homes are just a sanctuary from the rest of life. For third hour yesterday we talked about how to make our homes and branches filled with the spirit. We must continually be aware of the things we do at home and at church, praying, scripture study, honesty, respect, creating a peaceful atmosphere to make sure that the spirit is there.
I received my first calling this last sunday. I have been called to be the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. Alexandra, one of our strongest youth and the first counselor in the Relief Society, has the opportunity to serve a mini mission and will be leaving in a week. We will really miss her, but we are so excited for her and the things she will learn as she serves in Bucaresti. Sora Sam has also been called as the secretary. We are excited to work with Sora Brooklyn, the president, and to see the branch from a different side than from the missionary side. I love our church. I love that we have opportunities to serve. How blessed we are to help each other build the kingdom of God. There are many times I feel like I don't know enough or that there is someone better that could probably do what I am doing, but then I remember I am called of God to be here and it is exactly what I am supposed to be doing. I know that is true not only for me, but for ever member here in Romania and in the rest of the world. God knows us so well. He knows what we need in order to return to him, we just need to trust him and follow him.
We have started meeting with a 24 year old sister named Mihaela from the branch. She is less-active and has been a member for about 8 years. She spoke this Sunday and we had the opportunity to help her prepare her talk. It was so fun teaching her how to give a talk and then discussing how she could write her talk. She knows so much. We just provided the outline and she did the rest. How blessed we are to be in a church that allows us to study, learn and grow. She was super nervous on Sunday, but she did wonderfully. We are excited to meet with her more often to help her strengthen her testimony of the gospel.
The branch has also been great with providing referrals for us. They are so willing to refer their friends and family to hear the missionary discussions. Seriously, I just love the members and people here.
I hope you have a fabulous week.
Va Iubesc
Sora Remsberg
