Adriatic South Mission : DURRESS, YOU'VE BEEN GOOD TO ME. GOODBYE FOR NOW...

HEY FOLKS I GOT SOME BIG NEWS THIS WEEK!! Okay so it's been an awesome week here in Albania. We had sister's conference where I got to see tons of my cute friends from the MTC, General Conference which was stinkin awesome, and we got transfer calls!! I will be opening an area in the country of Kosovo with my awesome trainer Motra Adams! We will be serving in Prishtina, Kosovo which is right by Serbia. We will be the only sister's in Kosovo and the Sister Training Leaders so this week has got some adventures ahead of us for sure. Woot Woot I can't wait!!

Crazy Culture Shocks this week:

1. We are now entering into spring in Albania and it rains soooo much. It's actually beautiful and sounds amazing I love it. However, Albanian's are actually terrified of the rain because they think they're going to get sick lol so they hate it and are always really worried about us. The roads also flood a lot and everyone here wears so many layers to block the rain.

2. There is this traditional dance here that is super popular called Vale. It's often used at weddings (ALBANIA WEDDINGS ARE HUGE) but when we visit people they love to do a quick vale dance with us lol.

3. At the Muslim Mosques they do this call thing I think 5 times a day and it's so loud and so interesting to hear that so often.

4. Street contacting is so successful here because if you just hold out your hand Albanian's are like attracted to it and almost HAVE to shake it haha it's so hilarious. They're just culturally so nice holy cow.

5. Soo Albanian's don't exactly use plates. They just lay out all the food on the table and it's basically "hand salad" you just grab it and eat it and love it and be happy. It's so hilarious and awesome.

Knee Slappers:

1. Surprise surprise this week I slept talked again and got on my knees and just said a whole prayer in Albanian lol. The best part is that I didn't wake up until both my companions said "Amen" because I totally woke them up HAHA.

2. We had a big family home evening party because our friend Elder Jakaj is leaving and since Albanian's love to party there were about 20 people there and 15 of which weren't invited. To make matters worse, we accidentally bought coffee ice cream and brought it to the party and then afterwards all the new members were like, "Whoa this is the best ice cream ever what's it called so I can buy some?" and we were like oh no hahhaha our mistake.

3. Being blonde is super interesting here. Everyone thinks that if they take a picture with me that it will make them popular so all the member's keep taking pictures with me and it's cracking me up. I did take this picture with an investigator which was a bad idea because he posted it on social media that I'm his wife... glad that got deleted hahah.

4. This story is actually from last week but I forgot to share it and it was so funny. When we went on exchanges in Tirana we went to the bishops house. In their living room was TONS of these photos of this body builder guy just flexing haha it was so odd. There were pictures everywhere and my explanation is not doing it justice. Come to find out, the guy in the photos IS the BISHOP HAHA IT WAS SO FUNNY. He is very proud of himself, as he should be. If my muscles were that big I would probably do the same thing. ;)

Spiritual Stuff!:

1. General Conference was soooo awesome. If you didn't get the chance to watch it I highly encourage you to watch it because it was so powerful! I got so many answers to questions it was quite a miracle. I especially loved the talk about how the goodness of God is immediate. Woww it's so true. God loves us so much and wants to bless us so much. We are always within reach of his out reached hand.

2. Another miracle this week was that we met this woman named Myzejene (Moozay- enay) who wanted a Book of Mormon. We gave her a book and talked to her and she told us she could feel this warm excitement in her heart. That was the spirit!! Ahhh so exciting. We met with her a few more times and she came to family home evening, general conference, and all our other activities and she is just eating it up. The spirit is so strong and she is acting on those impressions and said she's finding peace in her life. What a miracle.

3. One of the people we're teaching, Sara, heard some false things about The Book of Mormon this week and said she didn't want to meet with us anymore. The conversation ended with us bearing strong testimony that if she read The Book of Mormon for herself and prayed sincerely to Heavenly Father that she would know for herself. It was super hard to have that conversation with her and my heart just broke. However, afterwards in conference President Nelson addressed EVERY "issue" she discovered. His talk was so divinely inspired it was so amazing. I know that if she diligently works with faith to read The Book of Mormon she'll receive the same witness I have received from the spirit, that The Book of Mormon is true. And the same thing will happen for you.

I love you all so much! Have a fantastic week and do something good today!!

Pics: half of Flutura's house, me at the beach with lots of rocks I collected, me and my bestie, beautiful Albania