BUCHAREST, Romania — Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints isn’t something Mihaela Mustata does just on Sunday. “It is the foundation of our family,” she said.
Sitting with her two young children during a devotional on Sunday, Oct. 16, with Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Mustata felt the Spirit testify to her of truth. The things she felt and what she learned will help her raise her children and find ways to share her testimony with others.
The quiet chatter of children and a new baby crying in the chapel were the sounds of the next generation growing up in the gospel. Mustata’s parents chose to listen to the missionaries when she was younger, and she was baptized at age 10.
“They are not coming to the Church anymore, but I made my own choices and I chose to be here. They changed the way I grew and I live, and that will change the generation after — I am here and my family is here,” she said. Her husband joined the Church and is now the branch president of the Panduri Branch.
Speaking to friends and visitors who came to the meeting and are not members of the Church, Elder Bednar outlined how the doctrine, authority, and ordinances and covenants have been restored on earth again. As God spoke to His servants in the Old Testament and New Testament, He speaks now.
Elder Bednar invited them to learn more, and prepare to be changed in remarkable ways.
Speaking directly to the members of the Church, Elder Bednar said, “This is the greatest season in the history of the Church in Romania.”
The covenants the Romanian Saints have made connect them individually with the living, resurrected Christ and give them a strength beyond their own, he explained.
“This is Zion. You are Zion. Zion is not just a place, it’s the people — the pure in heart.” And building Zion will occur as the individuals and families in Romania stay true to the things they know are true.
Pioneers in Romania
The Church is still in its beginning in the country, explained Iasi Romania District President Radu Stoica. Most members are first-generation members. He joined the Church when he was 9 years old. Now he has two young daughters he is raising to be second-generation members.
When asked how he feels knowing he is a pioneer, he said, it is a heavy, responsible thing. But he feels privileged to be among the first people to receive the gospel in Romania.
Romania sits at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe, and borders Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The majority of residents identify as Christians, belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
“People were raised with faith, but sometimes that is difficult to make changes,” President Stoica explained. “The people do appreciate the gospel more because of that.”
After the 1989 revolution ended communism, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visited the country to offer humanitarian assistance, and Latter-day Saints around Europe participated in efforts to help. This drew Romanians to the gospel, and a branch was established in Bucharest in 1991.
Today Church statistics list 3,087 members organized in branches and districts.
“We are few, but that makes us stronger and it makes us appreciate all the blessings of the gospel,” President Stoica said.
He feels hopeful as he sees more young people making decisions to follow Jesus Christ.
“We and many others will stay in Romania and choose to follow Him and choose to live the faith. I think it will bless our families and our friends, our communities and those who will follow.”
The rising generation
Youth and their leaders attended a meeting with Elder Bednar to learn more about the principles in the new For the Strength of Youth guide and to discuss living in a higher, holier way.
A group of young men and young women from the Brasov Branch woke up early to ride the train from Transylvania for the meeting. Yasmina Briscaru, 17, said they got lost in Bucharest and couldn’t find the chapel.
“With the help of God, we managed to arrive here prior to the beginning of the meeting,” she said, and they sat in the front row.
Elder Bednar invited the youth to ask questions. Yasminia had some questions prepared in her mind, but while listening, her questions changed.
The Spirit confirmed to her the following: “I feel that I am important in this work, and this makes me think more about me and my relationship with God.”
Ciprian Stefu, 16, from the Brasov Branch, said he felt a question enter his mind and he knew he had to ask it. He wanted to know how to bring a friend to Church.
“[I learned] in order to bring someone to Church, you need to invite him to do something and not just to simply invite him,” he said after the meeting.
Elder Bednar told the youth they may feel their numbers are few, but that will not always be true.
“You are pioneers,” he said. “You may not be many, but you will have God’s help.”
“You are the future of the Church in this country. As you live the gospel and live the principles, your light will not only bless your family, it will bless this country,” he promised.
Meeting with Romania missionaries
Sister Julee Harris, a full-time missionary in the Hungary-Romania Mission from Ogden, Utah, said serving in Romania can be challenging because of people’s long-standing traditions.
“But the thing you always notice is their faith. You can talk to anyone on the street and ask if they believe in God and the Savior, and they say yes every time … but they don’t understand that they could have more. They could grow and feel that love in a different way,” she said.
She and other missionaries brought their hopes, fears and questions to a meeting with Elder Bednar the morning of Saturday, Oct. 15. Some wondered how they could do more to get members to help them find others to teach. Some asked how to get more people interested in the gospel. Some wondered if their efforts were acceptable to the Lord.
Elder Bednar quoted Doctrine and Covenants 64:33: “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for you are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.”
He spoke with them about perspective and patience, and listening to and teaching with the Spirit.
“Do your best. The Lord knows each one of these people. You have a role to play at every stage with each person you come in contact with,” he said.
Sister Harris said she learned that she cannot control what happens, but she can choose to turn to the Savior. “I feel His love the most when I have the Holy Ghost with me.”
Her companion, Sister Stella Carlson from Rock Springs, Wyoming, learned the importance of personal revelation.
“Every single person is so different and their needs are so different. That’s exactly how God intended it to be,” she said. “Something might be said that touches each person differently. That’s something we can carry into lessons when we teach people, and through the rest of our lives.”
Elder Bednar reminded the missionaries that the Lord works in small miracles — line upon line, precept upon precept.
“The big miracles are rare. You don’t need to have big miracles, because God expects you to see and remember the little miracles,” he said.
Meeting with Hungary missionaries
The other half of the mission is in Hungary. When Elder Bednar met with missionaries in Hungary on Friday, Oct. 14, they spoke together about trust, faith, inviting, helping, pressing forward, ordinances and covenants. They discussed patterns of teaching, revelation, councils and principles.
“Put the Savior first, feast upon His words,” Elder Bednar told them.
Some of the missionaries asked about how they know what they should do with their lives. One of the missionaries said as she had been studying Esther in the Old Testament, she wondered how she could know her role in the Restoration, too.
Esther was told she was sent “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Sister Bednar told the sister missionaries, “All of you women were sent to this mission for such a time as this.”
And as they move from their mission to the rest of their lives, she testified to them that the Lord needs women who minister and who stand for truth and righteousness.
“You can make the most difference by being a woman who loves God and who isn’t afraid to teach and testify,” she said.
Elder Bednar said as they press forward with faith, they will be where they need to be at the times they were supposed to be there. Don’t sit and wait for the answer to come; the answer comes in route, he explained.
Elder Artur Kriston, a full-time missionary who is from a town outside of Budapest, said he was nervous before the meeting, but afterward he felt calm and happy.
“I felt like he was talking about how we can feel the Spirit more,” he said. “I felt very good and I felt just a very strong faith.”
The future of the Church in Romania
Elder Helmut D. Wondra, an Area Seventy in the Europe Central Area, said members of the Church in Romania are a light to the people around them, even though they are not large in numbers.
He said as the members work with the full-time missionaries they will be able to invite others to join the Church.
“I can sense a real positive momentum of spiritual growth here,” he said. “The faithful Saints trust that as they put their faith and trust in the Savior and help gather Israel, He will help them to move the mountains in their lives.”
President Stoica said as members embrace the gospel and live faithfully with challenges, they can see the blessings in their lives — and the joys.
“I hope many people will come to make covenants with God and just be a light in their families and their communities,” he said.
Romania was the last country on a five-country ministry tour of Central Europe for Elder Bednar. He and Sister Bednar started in Switzerland last weekend, visited Albania, and met members in Austria and Hungary as well.
“We’ve come to tell them that we love them,” he said. “These are marvelous, devout, stalwart Latter-day Saints.”
They traveled with Elder Carl B. Cook of the Presidency of the Seventy and his wife, Sister Lynette Cook, and were joined in different countries by members of the Europe Central Area presidency.
Sitting on the stand and seeing the smiles on the faces of the people touched Elder Bednar’s heart.
“The joy of the gospel and the love of the Lord are evident on their faces,” he said.