I LOST MY CHILDREN

WHAT A WEEK. This was one of the craziest weeks of my life. It was so wonderful. WE SAW SO MANY MIRACLES. My mission is the best experience of my life and I have been growing and changing and learning so much out here. I AM SOO HAPPY. Even when the persecution comes, we smile and laugh our way through the whole thing :) Nothing stops the work of the Lord!!!!!

Culture SHOCKS:

1. Everything is bread to these people. Seriously, they eat bread with everything. When they are about to eat food they always say "do hame buke" which is we will eat bread (even when they mean food). 

2. Smoking is one of the greatest challenges we face here. EVERYBODY SMOKES. Even little kids that are 7 years old are smoking around town and it is just a normal thing here. It breaks my heart!!!

3. IT IS WATERMELON SEASON. That means there are watermelons EVERYWHERE, people give you free watermelons, and the cars are FULL of watermelons. It is soooo awesome. 

FUNNY STUFF:

1. This week my dear friend taught me how to make byrek. Let me tell ya, I am not a cook. First of all, they spent about 20 minutes teaching me how to peel a zucchini the right way HAHHA. Then, they added like 5 pounds of sugar to the zucchini and a bunch of other ingredients and we made some scrumptious byrek. My favorite kind is the djath or cheese byrek. DANG IT IS SO GOOD. They told me they were going to make me into good wife material so #watchouteverybody

2. There was another Bajram celebration this week so the streets were just EMPTY and all the stores were closed and dang it was just crazy. The muslims here in Kosovo get really into their festivities. It was pretty funny though because our friends love showing us off to their families and friends showing them that we are from America and that we actually speak Albanian and teach us how to dance like them!! It is pretty awesome. 

3. So if you know me, you know my love for collecting rocks. I have found the coolest rocks here!!!!! I was pretty sad this week because I left some cool rocks in the car and one of our Elders threw my rocks out the window on accident and I was so sad!! It is so cute though because now all my cute Albanian/Kosovar friends are collecting rocks for me to have!!! 

Spiritual Thought:

One thing I have come to learn on my mission is that this work is beautiful, but it is hard. It is soooo hard. One of the hardest parts is watching people harden their hearts to the spirit and watching the persecution that goes on in this land. The majority of the population of Kosovo is Muslim which makes people very hard to the subject of Christianity. We have been pushed around, spit upon, laughed at, and made fun of for everything we do and it is hard.  However, nothing keeps me going as much as the members of this branch. They are the biggest examples to me. This week one of our best friends decided to follow the example of Paul and stick up for her faith. She is an investigator that has wanted to get baptized for quite some time now but hasn't been able to because of her parents. This week she stood up for her faith and told them that she is a Christian, she believes in Christ her Savior, and she is not ashamed. Since then she has faced the worst persecutions. People are taunting her on the streets, making fun of her, yelling at her, fighting, throwing things, and she doesn't give up. All of her persecution actually fuels her faith and NOW SHE IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I am so proud of her. Her faith has built my faith SOO much over our time together. She knows that it is only through our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we can be saved. It is only through our Redeemer that we can find lasting happiness. It is only through the Lamb of God that we can have exaltation. I love my mission. I love these members. I love these humble disciples of Christ that preach throughout their nation. If we could all remember the example of Paul and my friend. For why be ashamed of Christ, who is never ashamed of us? 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND HOPE YOU HAVE THE BEST WEEK EVER!!! Smile, smile, smile, smile this week and have sooooo much fun!!! LOVE YOU. 

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

MEXICAN SLIPNSLIDE

HEYYY ALL YALL. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR YOU JUST SO YOU KNOW. I am also just so happy and truly think Kosovo is the best place in the world #sorrynotsorry. I do have to apologize for my email today because my keyboard doesn't work very well so ignore all the mistakes hehe. But we have had an awesome week from slip n slides, ziplining through the mountains, summer picnics, and lots of miracles. Kosovo is the place to be! 

GOOD CULTURE STUFF:

1. They have all these doorknobs hete that don't turn. Almost like all of the door knobs are for decoration or something I don't even know. All I know is that it is super embarrassing tjat I still turn every single one.... 

2. One fun thing they do here is sell corn on the streets. It literally is just plain corn that they roast or something and it actually is not bad!! 

3. Because it is such a patriarchal society here the women will NOT ALLOW the men to cook or clean. It is soooo weird. Part of it is because they think that they suck at cleaning and cooking hahaha. 

GOOFY STORIES: 

1. Now is time to talk about the Mexican slip n slide. We have a member here who is from Mexico (he works on the army base) and he is so awesome. We went to his house and he made tons of AUTHENTIC Mexican food and it was awesome. After that he made a slip n slide and it was so hilarious because the Kosovars do not really know how slip n slides work so they just started running so fast onto the slide and just slipped and ate it so hard. That was so hilarious to watch oh my goodness. 

2. We helped a member here make specat e mbushur which is stuffed peppers and she is the only Albanian I have ever met who likes spicy food. So we were helping her fill these peppers and suddenly our hands started burning so badly. THEY WERE STINGING SO BAD I CANT EVEN EXPLAIN. We tried everything to wash them, clean our pores, run them under cold water, and literally everything. Holy cow we were in so much pain. Not to mention that any other part of our bodies that we touched burst into dragon fire on our hands oh my. For 2 days now my hands have felt like they are BURNING HAHAHA. Oh and also our friend wasn't even phased... like what the heck. But hey, they were dang good spicy peppers. 

3. For some reason at about 7:30 at night the birds here go NUTS. Yes, the birds. It's like every single bird in Prishtina decides to start flying all at once. It's like this massive swoosh of birds fly up in the air and fly in circles for like 15 minutes. They are plotting against us I am telling ya. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF BIRDS. 

SPIRITUAL GOODIES:

Okay so about 2 weeks ago we received this random phone call from a number we had never seen before. It was a woman who said she wanted to meet with us however she couldn't for 2 weeks because she was going to be out of town! We called the number again this week and her husband answered and basically said that they both had never called us but we were welcome to come over (they both don't work on Sundays by the way GEZOHEM). He gave us their address and we literally couldn't find their house anywhere (because they don't exactly have addresses here). After driving around for so long we prayed and just started turning down all these random streets!!! WE WERE LED RIGHT TO THEIR HOUSE. It was a miracle!!!! I still cannot believe we found it. They have the most beautiful family of 6 and are so prepared for us. They are wonderful. They were so confused how we had their phone number but I was like you guys called us? Hahahaha. We all agreed that it was a miracle and we were meant to be in their house that day. 

The Lord truly prepares his people. We were meant to come into contact with this family, find their house, and teach them a beautiful lesson. There are no coincidences. God has a plan for each and every one of his children. THAT INCLUDES YOU. 

1 Nephi 9: 6 says, "But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, HE PREPARETH A WAY TO ACCOMPLISH ALL HIS WORKS among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen." 

TRUST HIM! Have faith to work mighty miracles!! I love you all!!! Have a FAN FREAKING TASTIC WEEK!!! 

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

The one with the Naked Man...

 Okay ladies and gents this week was so great. I love being a missionary. THIS WORK IS SO FUN AND LIFE IS JUST SO GOOD. We had crazy thunderstorms and lots of lightning this week which made for some COOL pictures and lots of laughs. This little country of Kosovo is just lighting up and the work is HASTENING. Ahhh miracles miracles miracles. I couldn't be happier. 

Culture shocks 4 the week:

1. Albanian's love to interpret dreams. I had this crazy dream this week about doing missionary work with the ancient Egyptians and they interpreted my dream to mean that I was worried about my finances or something. I don't even know man. 

2. Everything here is so healthy and fresh. We eat so good here it is awesome. It is so fresh that we have to go to the markets quite often to get the goods. 

3. We get hit on so much here hahhaha. Let's just say this is only my 3rd time being proposed to this week.... all the men just want us to take them to America. Hard pass. 

GIGGLES:

1. So this week we went to go visit a member with the elders. He wasn't there, but his son answered the door and from my angle I could only see his hand on the door. I wanted to meet the son (who isn't baptized) and the tell him about our activities we were going to have. I poke my head around the door to look at the son and HE IS STANDING THERE BUTT NAKED. LIKE STRAIGHT UP NAKED HAHAHAHAH. I pulled back so fast and was trying so hard not to laugh and everyone else just starts laughing so hard and it was so uncomfortable but so hilarious. Hhaha Albanian's are very comfortable here lol. 

2. We went to visit one of our cute investigators this week and she works at a sewing place that fixes clothes and stuff!! When we were there she begged sister Mann to try on this dress she had made for a customer. Sister Mann started putting the dress on over her dress and as she bent over to pull the dress up our friend just SLAPS her butt so freaking hard and she just goes flying and oh man it was so freaking funny. I feel like I will be a lot more touchy by the time I get home lol. 

3. So this week we had to go to Albania again but on our way home it was pretty late so we decided we would just sleep in Gjakova in an empty apartment that the church had there. HAHAH BAD IDEA. There were spiders and ants everywhere and it was like 10000 degrees. It was quite the adventure though. 10/10 do not recommend. 

SPIRITUAL GOODIES:

I have been thinking a lot about persecution this week while reading in Alma 1:19-20 and 25. They faced some hard persecutions back then!! There is always persecution that follows after righteousness. IT IS HARD STUFF. But as seekers of truth and righteousness we all are faced with persecution. We are persecuted by friends, colleagues, family, culture, school, worldly views, and just life in general and it is so hard. In Kosovo it is such a hard thing to be a Christian and especially to be a member of our church. They are persecuted down to their very beings and it is so hard. However, THEY ARE SO STRONG. WE CAN BE SO STRONG. We know that after all the persecutions that we face we will be rewarded for our works. If we stand firm for righteousness we will be crowned with the blessedness of eternal joy. REMEMBER TO STAY STRONG DON'T QUIT. That is what Satan wants!!! Keep going!! Keep swimming!! And DO NOT let those hard trials in life stop you in your spiritual progression or deter your righteous zeal. We are a team that works together. And we have the Savior on our side. What have we to fear?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND AM SO THANKFUL FOR YOU. Have a groovy week and don't forget to smile smile smile and hug at least 8 times a day!!! Stay cool!!

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

Pics: kosovo is gorgeous, our church, me and Dafina, lightning, shopping spree!!!!!