CASTLE DATE!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!

GOOD MORNING AMERICA!! (Most of you are in America I believe)

This week was poppin in Kosovo. The language is coming along and I am just making life long friends that I love SOOOO MUCH. We did a service project (check us out on lds.org I think we're featured on the lds charities page or something), played some futbol, went to the hospital twice, spent a lot of time at the park, had the best lessons, got chased by dogs, and took a hike to an AMAZING castle. 

Culture shocks!!!:

1. Okay so in Albania people shake their heads yes when they mean to say no and shake their heads no when they mean to say yes. Weird right? However, here in Kosovo they click their tongues when they say no! Everyone just clicks around here it is pretty funny wow. 

2. They have like a gazillion holidays here. There have been like 5 days the past two weeks where everything is closed and their is no school because they had to celebrate Catholic Easter, Orthodox Easter, some Muslim holiday, and some others that I can't remember. They use any excuse possible to get out of work and school it is pretty hilarious. 

3. They are very kind and helpful here. If you ask them for directions they will do everything in their power to get you where you need to go (even if it's dropping everything and taking you there themselves) they are so cute. Usually after they help us they always invite us to go get a coffee afterwards with them too it's so awesome :)

4. They put these yarn design thingies on the trees and decorate them all and they're actually really pretty!! I put a picture down below so you can check that out.

Funniessss:

1. This week we went to this cute ladies house and she ALWAYS feeds us tons of food whenever we go over there she is just the biggest sweetheart. Hahha however, when we went to her house week she just stripped down into her granny underwears to show us this rock that was in the side of her stomach or something. I wasn't going to touch it until she grabbed my hand and had me rub the rock inside her stomach that was fun. Good news though, she is going to Germany this week to get surgery so that is really awesome.  Also- her and her husband don't know English very well. In fact, the only phrase they really know is "big momma" so her husband definitely goes around calling her "big momma" HAHA. 

2. Our cute investigator Teuta had painted these eggs last week and she carried them around for like a week waiting to gift them to us and by the time she actually gave them to us they were well... not eggs anymore. It was so adorable and so so funny.

3.  Hahah this week there were some interesting sleep walking incidents this week. The first included me walking around the room touching all the walls and trying to move Motra Adams bed. Then I ended up curling up on the floor and tried to sleep their for the night. The second night I took ALL of the covers and put them in a ball and sat it on the end of the bed... no idea why. Ahhhh why am I so weird oh my word. 

SPIRITUAL STUFF:

1. This week we played futbol and then had quite the scare. So there was about 20 of us total and everyone was piled into this tiny bus headed home after our fun day. All the missionaries were in the car behind the bus when suddenly the bus stopped and everyone sprinted out carrying Elda, who had passed out. She wasn't breathing and it was one of the scariest things ever. We were in the middle of nowhere and there aren't really any ambulances so we put her in our car and drove her straight to the hospital. Ahh it was so scary. I was holding her while they were hooking her up to fluids and everything and despite all the commotion she turned to me and said, "Can you say a prayer?" Right after that she asked if I would sing to her so I sang "I know my Redeemer Lives" (it's her favorite). That was the most interesting moment. As we were praying and singing we both could just feel the spirit so strong and knew that she was going to be okay. It also blew my mind that despite all the pain and craziness going on all she wanted to do was pray and sing and think about Heavenly Father. It is such a miracle to know that we can find peace in Christ anytime and anywhere. He is there for us ALWAYS. 

2. This week we also helped do this service project for LDS charities. It was so touching to see how grateful these people were to receive these wheelchairs. Work is hard to find here, despite having a disability, so these people were so happy to have the opportunity to receive help. 

3. This week we had some really spiritual moments with Teuta. We walked with her to the park and talked about all of her life questions and she came to all of our activities this week it was so fun! She is soooo busy with school and work all of the time yet she STILL finds time to read her scriptures, text us questions, and share what she learns with us. Her effort is building her faith each and everyday that she puts in effort. 

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

(Pics are from the castle and one of the cool trees )