Week 6: Gëzuar Krishtlindjet!

MERRY (late) CHRISTMAS everyone!!!! And Happy New Year really soon!!!

MTC Culture Shocks:

1. Skype is precious. I was able to talk to my family and hear their voices and see their faces and it was just the most amazing thing. Most definitely the highlight of my week. 

2. If you think you've seen a good nativity, you've never seen the one at the MTC. On Christmas Eve President Martino and his wife acted out the nativity with all their grandchildren and we sang Christmas songs including ones from the children's song book and it was so cute and brought the spirit so strong. 

3. Christmas presents don't stay wrapped too long here. Pretty much everyone opened their presents on Christmas Eve or before HAHA. Practicing self-restraint at its finest. 

This week's details: This week was so amazing. We taught our last in-person TRC lessons so now we'll be skyping people in Albania and teaching them! We are terrified but also ecstatic! The language is coming along well. It's so fun diving into grammar and being able to feel confident in teaching. We're working on increasing our vocabulary because that is the hardest part at this point. Christmas was amazing. We got to watch movies, eat a special Christmas lunch, hear from a General Authority (David A. Bednar), and had a musical devotional by David Archuleta! I GOT TO SHAKE DAVID ARCHULETA'S HAND TOO IT WAS SO AWESOME! Later that night we had a fun "family night" sharing with our district what we learned in the devotionals and sharing pictures we brought from home and fun stories. Christmas was beautiful. 

FUN STUFF:

1. We have to be extremely creative in the MTC because there's not a lot we can actually do here. We conducted a talent show with a bunch of our different friends hahah and it was so fun. The Malagasy, Germans, Romanians, Farsi, Italians, and us (the Albanians) all came and it was awesome. It was such a good turnout HAHA. Everyone brought their talents from singing, skits, chair flipping, stair racing, juggling, magic, pushups, origami, etc.etc. IT WAS SO FUN HAHA.

2. Foursquare is dead now because all the fun people left so now we play volleyball and it is so INTENSE. We play with the Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean speaking people and it's a blast. They all yell so much and it's like life or death in there. The Albanian sisters and I get super into it. It was so funny because one of the Thai Elders told one of the Albanian Elders that they were so excited for gym because "The Albanian sisters are coming". Our Albanian Elder just shook his head because he knows how competitive we are haha.

3. When David Archuleta came EVERYONE was fan-girling so hard. The Elders even more than the sisters surprisingly. Haha it was such a treat to hear from him!

Spiritual thoughts:

1. Sunday we had a special Christmas program and heard the most amazing songs. There are some talented people in our zone that's for sure. Then we had the opportunity to share our testimonies of the Savior and share our favorite Christmases with each other as a zone. Everyone's testimony is so strong it was wonderful. 

2. Elder Bednar and Sister Bednar spoke to us and we LOVED IT. His message touched my heart I really needed to hear his words. He talked about how to receive revelation. He said that often times we won't know we're receiving revelation but the important thing is to listen to all inspiration that is good. He said, "Be good, and go". I loved that. Everything he said was so powerful, I can't do it justice. He said one thing that sure put us on the edge of our seats. He was talking about the powerful revelation given to the prophet through these last changes made in the church. He then proceeded to say, " Buckle up, because we're not done." AHH so cool. 

3. This week I learned that the word 'relationship' in Albanian is marrëdhënien. This word translates to "take and give". I love that. When we have a relationship with someone we give and take in balance. It is so important that as we increase our relationship with the Savior that we don't only take from him, but that we give to him as well. What was your gift for Christ this Christmas? What will your gift to Christ be this next year?

Although it was hard being away from family this Christmas, I was really able to grow closer to my Savior. He was born of the most humble birth, lived the most amazing life, died simply because of his love for us, and rose from the dead. He is our Savior, Redeemer, Friend, Shepard, and Brother. He told his disciples, "Come, follow me". I know as we follow him we will be perfected in him. I love my Savior. SPREAD SO MUCH LOVE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. SMILE BIG!!

Hurrah for Israel!!!!!

Love, Motra Sëtën

 Hannah is the lil' Candy Cane!!

2 videos

Week 5: I almost died

Ç'kemi everyone!! (Hi) and MERRY CHRISTMAS THIS WEEK!!

MTC Culture Shocks:

1. We have only been here for 1 month and we are the "oldest" people at the MTC. Basically we're pretty cool because we're old timers. We know how this rodeo goes. 

2. If you leave the MTC campus you automatically become the bees knees. 

3. Every Sunday night we are able to watch films from past devotionals only available in the Missionary Training Center. They are pretty amazing. WE LOVE THEM. 

This week: Okay so this week was crazy to say the least. First of all, I woke up on Thursday not being able to see. I couldn't open my eyes and they were burning so badly. I thought the pain was maybe from some sort of allergy so I took some allergy medicine and got ready for the day. As the day went on I realized there was no way my eyes could be hurting that badly. My companions and I went to the doctors who told us we needed to go off campus to an actual doctor in the "real world". We left the MTC and went to the doctor where she told me that I had developed ulcers in both my eyes. They numbed my eyeballs and gave me medicine to help cure the ulcers. It was completely terrifying. They aren't completely sure how the ulcers formed all we know is that they're not good. Anyways, long story short, I took the medicine and visited the doctor a few times and I should be fully cured by Thursday. Wahoo I'm ulcer free!! 

On a happier note, Christmas is right around the corner! We went caroling around the MTC and sang Christmas songs in Albania it was sooo fun! We sang Ejani Besnik (Oh Come, All Ye Faithful) and Botës Gëzim (Joy to the World). It was quite fun. We were also able to do a temple walk around the temple on Sunday with our zone and it was so fun to walk around and talk with everyone. It was our last hurrah as a zone because now everyone has left except us and the Germans. The Germans will be here until right after Christmas and then we'll be the only ones in our zone until we leave January 15. Wow, we are here for forever. Good thing we love it ;) The language is going well. We're finally diving in to grammar and we're thriving. 

 

Funnies:

1. We all got on the Family Search App this week and found out how those in our district are related!! Elder Dixon and I found out that we are cousins!!! (Okay we're 5th cousins but we like to brag to people how close we are compared to the rest of our district). Sadly, I'm not related to my favorite Australian Motra T or New Zealander Elder Lawrence. 

2. The Hungarians left this week which made us super duper sad. They were our best friends!! However, the last gym day before they left EVERYONE wore Bombers shirts and we made up a cheer and the whole gym was cheering as we destroyed on the four square court. Haha they will be missed but we will catch them in 2020 at our four square reunion. 

3. At the MTC we have a mace (cat) that roams around and we have no idea where it came from. It's so hilarious because all the sisters think it's so cute to pick up and take pictures with but it's actually so gross. Motra Tolhurst says, "Ç'kemi mace" every time we walk by him and it seriously cracks me up. 

Spiritual thoughts:

1. Last Friday we taught two people named Sara and Sage. Our lesson was based around the Light the World Initiative. We shared one of the videos and talked about how we could light the world this Christmas season. The spirit was so incredibly strong during those lessons. We were able to talk and communicate with them almost perfectly. It was a miracle. We walked out of the lessons with tears of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for helping us. We learned that when we weren't focused on the language and more focused on feeling the spirit that we could understand them so much better. Ahh it was amazing. 

2. We tried a special activity this week as a district. We came up with 3 random questions we had and then we picked a random chapter from The Book of Mormon and were able to answer EVERY single question!! It was so amazing to see how powerful The Book of Mormon is and it's ability to answer ANY question at ANY time. You can have any and all your questions answered if you are willing to look for them in the scriptures. 

3. With my eyeballs being wack this week I really had to rely on my Savior. One story that touched my heart was when Christ healed the blind man. I kept thinking of all the miracles he performed and couldn't help thinking of the joy we will have one day when we are perfected in him. In the Christmas nativity story, the angel tells Mary, "Fear not". We have no reason to fear for the Lord is on our side. As we follow him we will be cleansed and have overwhelming joy. What a time to be alive!! 

Thanks for all the cute Christmas cards I LOVE THEM. KEEP LIGHTING YOUR FAMILIES THIS WEEK AND HAVE THE MOST MERRIEST OF CHRISTMASES!!

Sister Hannah Sutton

JAN15 ADRTCS

2005 N 900 E Unit 306

Provo, UT 84602

Hurrah for Israel!!

Love, Motra Sëtën

Light The World!!! December MTC

 #Lighttheworld

Merry Christmas from Hannah at the MTC!! She seems to be doing great! From a BYU student trying to #lighttheworld

LIGHTTHEWORLD

Week 4: Duart e mia janë patatae = my hands are potatoes.

HELLO EVERYONE!! 

MTC Culture Shocks:

1. Christmas time is SPECIAL... especially at the MTC. Imagine all your favorite Christmas songs sung everywhere you go. It is amazing. 

2. If you hold the door for one person, you hold it for 57 people. 

3. Saying goodbye to friends leaving to enter the mission field is one of the hardest things I've ever done. 

This week: First up, we got our Albanian name tags this week so now I'm officially Motra Sëtën (Sister Sutton). We took Christmas photos as a district and they are so stinking cute. I have the BEST district ever. That reminds me... send me your family Christmas cards they are so cute! We taught many lessons this week and they went so well. My teacher said, "If you stay close to the Spirit you will have unlimited success." I loved that. We've been lighting our community this week at the MTC. Motra Beals' mom sent us a bunch of candy canes to give out to people. What we're doing is not big, but miracles happen in simple ways. We had a musical devotional on Sunday by the BYU Men's Chorus and brought tears to our eyes it was so beautiful. We also had a devotional on Tuesday by Sister Craven (the second counselor in the Young Women's General Presidency) and she said some amazing things. Our language is BOOMING. We are finally able to start working on the crazy grammar of Shqip and it's sooo difficult but so fun. We said goodbye to the ASL district in our zone and it was so freaking sad. Who knew that anyone would be sad leaving the MTC but we've made friendships that will last forever.  

Good chuckles: 

1. Okay so I told you all last week about the secret elf. Well the secret elf did some funny things this week. On Friday the elf moved one of the Hungarians desk and chair and put it in the room next door. Then she sat in the spot his desk used to be with a note that said, " You've been elfed sok sekert" (A little backstory- we have learned the word good luck in 14 languages now at the MTC so as a little shaka (joke) we always tell our friends good luck in their language instead of hello. Sok sekert means goodluck in Hungarian) The elf has made for some good fun in our zone. 

2. One of our ASL friends told us the sign for unicorn and it actually means idiot so we told him that the phrase "I like four square" is "duart e mia janë patatae" but it actually means my hands are potatoes. It's not that funny but with our missionary humor we thought it was hilarious. 

3. One of my foursquare friends is from Washington and his high school mascot was the bombers. As a joke he always says, "Go bombers" at the most random times. I started cheering for the bombers helping to support his team every foursquare game and then this week he came in with a bombers shirt that his mom sent for me!!! Hahah I have to apologize to all my Miners. I think I may be a Bomber fan now. 

Spiritual thoughts:

1. We taught our REAL people lessons again this week and had the absolute best experience. Lately, we have been praying for the gift of tongues and it was SO evident in our lessons. We went completely off our lesson plan and were able to understand and speak to the Albanians!!! How cool is that!! It was our best lesson by far. To think that we are able to teach lessons, speak, and understand Albanian within 1 month is a miracle. The gift of tongues is real. 

2. I decided that my goal this Christmas is to draw closer to my Savior. I have started reading Jesus the Christ and studying my scriptures in a new way. Everyday I have grown closer to my Savior, more than I ever thought possible. He IS our brother, Savior, and Redeemer. He knows us, and loves us, and suffered for each of us individually. I've really been able to focus in on the true meaning of Christmas this year and I've never been happier. 

3. Our teacher decided to switch up companionships for an hour to practice teaching lessons. It was super fun because Elder Lawrence and I got to be companions!! Haha it was actually super weird but super fun. I learned 2 major things from this experience. 1. Since Elder Lawrence and I have never taught a lesson together we didn't know how to construct our lesson so we really had to rely on the spirit to be able to know what to say and what to teach. It was really hard. It taught me that when you are focused on having the spirit with you you can perform miracles ANYWHERE. 2. I realized how thankful I am for my companions. THEY ARE THE BEST. Teaching someone without the smooth groove of my companions was so difficult and I was really able to have a moment to reflect on how much I love them and how amazing they truly are. 

4. Quote of the week from Sister Craven, "People like to be around happy people and you have the ability to be contagiously happy. Don't underestimate the work you CAN do." 

Well, there's my novel email for this week. Don't forget to send me your Christmas cards and continue to light your community this week!!! 

Sister Hannah Sutton

JAN16 ADRTCS

2005 N 900 E Unit 306 

Provo Ut 84602

Hurrah for Israel!!!!! 

Love, Motra Sëtën

MTC Christmas Room

Hannah sees Rachel at the MTC

Hannah sees Rachel Feldman. Rachel and Hannah both went to Bingham High and became good friends.  They are temple buddies. They attended the temple together this summer and fall while preparing to leave on missions.  Hannah's Aunt Melissa is also good friends with Rachel.  They are in the same stake.  It has been fun watching these two girls prepare and get so excited to serve.  Rachel will be serving in Oregon.  Rachel is in the middle.  Hannah on the right.  I'm not sure of the girl on the left.
Rachel's first letter home she wrote- TENDER MERCY: One of my best friends from home, Sister Hannah Sutton is in my residence hall!! She is literally just 5 doors down from me and it has been the biggest blessing this week. She is so wonderful and has the biggest heart. I love being able to talk with her every day. 

MTC December

Week 3: Ndriçoni Botën!! (Light the World)

12/05/2018

Wassuppp!! This week has been killer!

MTC Culture Zingers:

1. Free cookies n cream chocolate milk from the BYU creamery is a straight blessing

2. The murals in the new buildings are THE BEST. I highly encourage you to take a tour if you haven't seen them. 

3. On Fast Sundays you actually don't get the choice to fast because they actually don't even serve food lol. However, although Fast Sundays may be slow, when you have thousands of missionaries all fasting, you can FEEL power. It's amazing. 

This weeks details: This week was amazing!! I forgot to mention that on Thanksgiving they turned on all of the Christmas lights here at the MTC! There is a beautiful nativity and lights on all the trees. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is a special time to be here at the MTC. We taught our first REAL people this week. One of them was from Albania and her Albanian is so beautiful. The more I learn the language the more I realize how soft and beautiful the Albanian language really is. Fun fact: Albanian's don't refer to their language as Albanian. They refer to their country as Shqiperia and their language as Shqip (pronouced shcheep). We had lots of snow this week and it was beautiful! The two Australian's in our district have never seen snow before so they absolutely LOVED IT. They were going crazy it was so fun. We even bowled in the snow with snowballs and snowball pins. I'm meeting so many amazing friends here and I hope to stay close to them forever! 

Good laughs:

1. My mom sent us this secret elf that we pass between districts in our zone! We hide it in people's pockets or in their classrooms and it's so funny to see how into it everyone gets. We're all terrified to be "elfed". 

2. Our best friends (the Hungarians) leave in 2 weeks so four square has become INTENSE. Our two districts are the best players by far. We are now making killer champion nicknames and we aren't holding anything back. My competitive spirit is flying with high colors out here. It's really the only time that we can actually be competitive so I leave it all on the court haha. 

3. Motra Tolhurst gave a lesson to an investigator and instead of saying, " I will say the prayer." she said, "Une jam lutje." which means I am the prayer. The investigator started giggling and we all thought it was hilarious. Albanian is so difficult but so fun at the same time. 

4. I'm also taking applications for what you think my spirit animal may be. Everyone here thinks I am a golden retriever. Let me know your thoughts. 

Spiritual thoughts:

1. Fast Sunday was amazing. We had fast and testimony meeting and everyone bore their testimonies in their mission languages. The spirit was unbelievably strong in that room. Even though we couldn't understand them, we could feel what they were saying was true and it was so powerful. The Elders speaking Farsi gave the sacrament prayers and bore their testimonies in Farsi and it was crazy. I never thought I would ever hear the sacrament prayers in the Farsi language but here I am. It was amazing. We also heard from the Hungarians, Germans, Albanians, Turkish people, and the ASL missionaries. It was such a powerful day. 

2. On Saturday we prepared a lesson for an investigator. We went into the lesson after much preparation and didn't even use our lesson plan. The spirit guided each person in our companionship to go off the lesson and give a different lesson and commitment. It was crazy how we all knew exactly what to say once we walked into that room. I can testify that the spirit will guide you when you're listening. It was so cool. 

3. Sunday night was the amazing Christmas devotional! If you haven't gotten the chance to watch it I encourage you to do so! President Nelson said, "True disciples of Christ will find unspeakable joy forever." I loved that. 

4. We had a heart to heart in our district and Elder Dixon quoted from someone else saying, "If you're not feeling inadequate you're not doing it right." This inspired us to work harder and more diligently and we have seen so many blessings because of that. 

5. Last but not least, we took a tour to a different building to look at the gorgeous murals at the MTC. Our teacher told us to look at every mural and ponder where the "light" comes from in each mural. After that she wanted us to think about what we could do to "light the world" this Christmas season. As we were walking to the murals an Elder in our district told me he had actually never felt the spirit before (or at least he thought he hadn't. I told him to try praying to our Heavenly Father for help to recognize the spirit when it was near. As we looked at one of the murals he sat down to pray. He said, "Heavenly Father... what would thou havest me do." he didn't get an answer so he asked again saying, "Heavenly Father... what would thou havest me do as THY servant". This time he got an answer as clear as day. The answer said, "Act like it". Since then our district has had many heart to hearts talking about acting like TRUE missionaries and disciples of Jesus Christ. We've decided to ACT more like true disciples. 

6. Motra Kelly (our teacher) told us something amazing this week. We started getting down on ourselves because of the stress of the language. We've learned so much but have so much more to go. She told us that what we have already done is  impossible. She said, "This work is impossible. However, with the Lord on your side anything is possible." We've taken that and ran with it all week and let me be the first to tell you, we are doing the impossible. 

I just want to leave you all with my testimony. I know this church is true. I have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of the Plan of Salvation. I know God knows me and each of you by name. I have a testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost that it will guide you through your trials and struggles. I love this gospel and am so thankful for this opportunity to serve. Continue to Light the World this Christmas season and remember the true meaning of Christmas! I love you all and am so thankful for all the wonderful support I've gotten. Thank you!!

There is this website where you can send me free letters online called DearElder.com! I'm District G. Getting letters and packages are the best so if you get the chance I would love to hear from you!! Also my address is:

Sister Hannah Sutton

JAN16 ADRTCS

2005 N 900 E Unit 306 

Provo Ut 84602

SOOO MUCH LOVE FOR YOU ALL!! 

Love, Motra Sëtën

Hannah sees Arie de Haan at the MTC.  Arie is Caden Cavin's brother. 💓❤️

Another FUN TEXT!!

Another fun text.  The TEXT READ... When dropping off my Senior Missionary Mom today... These are the cute kids that helped her!!   Stinkin' CUTE!! 

Tender Mercies

 2 pics sent to  me (Hannah's mom) when Hannah bumped into Friends at the MTC.   Bro & Sis Bybee Woot Woot!!!  (Bro Bybee not in pic)  and Nicki a friend from school.  Super Sweet!! Both Pics arrived when I (the momma) could use a Hannah Hug!! 

MTC WEEK 2 PICS-

 DISTRICT #G 

 MTC  THANKSGIVING FOOD

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 

SIS BEALS, SIS SUTTON, SIS WEBSTER

MOTRA SETEN 

 PROVO, UT TEMPLE 

TREASURE FOUND THAT ELDER COX BURIED PRIOR TO ARRIVAL TO THE MTC. OHHH YEAH!!! 

Week 2- The Sleep Talking Albanian

Përshendetje (Hello!!!)

MTC Culture Shocks:

1. The cafeteria smells like a farm 

2. We sing 14 opening hymns before devotionals 

3. If you wanna get good seats you gotta beat the system

This weeks details:

I love my companions! At first, being in a trio had its struggles but we've seen so many blessings from being together. Because of Thanksgiving we had 3 amazing devotionals and could feel the spirit so strong. One of them was a music devotional and left everyone in tears. My district is getting so close. We all love each other so much and get so sad whenever we think about splitting up. We had 2 other devotionals this week from the president of the MTC, President Martino, and his wife and also from Elder Clayton of the Seventy. They all gave amazing devotionals. I'm still wrecking it in four square and have quite the reputation. 

Good laughs:

1. Elder Van Dyke in our district was giving a lesson and was really excited to say hello to our fake investigator. As he approached him he yelled "C'fare!!!!" (which means WHAT instead of C'kemi which means Hi) with the biggest smile and jazz hands. It's not that funny now that I'm writing it but we've been quoting him and laughing about it all week. It was hilarious. 

2. I have officially started sleep talking (picture my companions cheering). I keep yelling Albanian words out in my sleep and then giggling. It makes my companions laugh really hard. They say once you start dreaming in the language that you are fluent however, I know like nothing I'm just weird. 

3. Shout out to Elder Cox in Virgina because he buried a time capsule for me to find here at the MTC. My companions and I were on this scavenger hunt digging in the dirt and everyone thought we looked so weird but it was so fun. 

4. There is this girl on our floor that collects acorns. Every time we pass her room we just see mounds of acorns in a pile and she's always counting them or arranging them in some way. HAHA LIKE WHAT THE HECK. SHE HAS SO MANY ACORNS!! IT'S SO FUNNY!

Spiritual thoughts:

Where do I even start? I'm surrounded by the spirit 24/7 I could talk about this for ages. 

1. We did a service project on Thanksgiving and prepared meals for over 350000 people. It was such an amazing experience to do a mass service project. It also helped me realize the real meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Which reminds me- everyone should get involved in The Light the World challenges! The videos are so amazing so make sure you share those and get involved! You'll see so many blessings. 

2. Our devotional Sunday night was amazing. The president of the MTC and his wife talked about their conversion stories and they were so inspiring. They talked about how many lives ONE missionary can change. Since they've been converted they have completed thousands of family names in the temple and gone on several missions blessing so many people. Each of us, even if you're not on a mission, can have an impact like this when you share the gospel. 

3. I've really tried focusing on improving my prayers this week. I've been working on listening for answers and communicating with him like I would with a real parent. I've seen so many answers to my prayers as I've sat and written down promptings I've received. I know that God loves us. He wants to communicate with us. I've been so blessed to feel is love every day of my mission so far. 

Keep the letters, emails, and packages coming they are the best!! I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to serve a mission and receive so much support. Love you all so much!!!

MTC- Week 1

District #11/ G