Wowww what a week it has been!!! It has been the craziest week EVER. Transfers were this week and I am officially in Korça woot woot!! My first day I actually spent in Pogradec (another city on a lake) because we had exchanges! I got to hangout with my cute bff trainee!!! Motra Mann!!!! That was soooo fun. We had the best day ever. The next day we had zone conference in a different city called Elbasan which is about 2 hours away. I got to see a bunch of my friends there so that was awesome! Everything is far away from Korça haha. I went from the furthest north to the furthest south!! Korça is beautiful! It is in the mountains and absolutely gorgeous. It is very very cold and old. The streets are cobblestone and the buildings are very old! The branch here is wonderful! There were about 60 people that came to church and it was amazing. It was a huge change from what I am used to! The people are predominantly Orthodox so that has also been an interesting transition from teaching Muslims before. There are so many miracles happening here it is unreal. Within my 5 days here we already found and taught 3 people here who will be getting baptized!!!! What a miracle!!!! My companion is Sister Wilson. She is so rad!!! She is American but she has lived in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and some other places and she went to school for a year at SUU! Everyone thinks we are sisters here because of our twinning blonde hair :)
CULTURE SHOCKS:
1. Soo there are a ton of culture shocks from my transition to Albania from Kosovo. One thing different is that they shake their heads no when they mean yes and they shake their heads yes when they mean to say no. Very very confusing.
2. Korça is a very poor area of Albania. Most of them make their clothes straight from their own sheep. Many of them also wash their dishes, laundry, and bodies in the same pot of water. This is a very humbling experience let me tell ya.
3. Grape season is coming to an end however, it has been fun watching the cute old women here make jam. They stomp on the grapes with their bare feet and then serve you their famous grape jam yummm.
GIGGLES AND LAUGHS:
1. HAHAH okay so Sister Mann and I had quite the adventure when I was on my exchange in Pogradec hahaha. We always have the most interesting experiences together. We drove to this members home up this random horrible dirt road in the mountains. As we were driving down the mountain the car suddenly dropped and we couldn't drive forward. SHE DROVE INTO A HOLE! IT WAS A MASSIVE HOLE TOO HAHAHA. It wasn't just a pothole though it was like a deep hole for construction. We tried lifting the car and pushing it out but I guess my p90x isn't helping too much because we couldn't do anything (keep in mind we didn't have reception on our phones lol). Finally, someone came to help us out and we made it out alive and well :) #goodmems
2. This week we went to a beautiful city by the lake called Lin. It was gorgeous! We went with our fellow Pogradec friends and had so much fun haha. Most of it contained them throwing onions at me (idk why), us teasing Motra Mann because she has lice LOL, and then us hitch hiking trying to find a bus for an hour #classic Then as we were walking home from the bus stop I got hit with a moped!!! I was walking and he totally saw me and boom he just smacked right into me. Awesome.
3. We taught a lesson to this family this week and they are so wonderful. They brought us some mystery meat with this flour pasta stuff. As I was about to take a bite one of their 5 cats just stepped into my bowl. Haha they have a dog, 2 birds, and 5 cats that were just running around their 1 bedroom house hahahaha yeah I didn't eat that stuff just fyi. There was a point that I had 2 cats crawling in my dress, one of my lap, and a dog rubbing up against my leg. It was so uncomfy!!!!!!! Hahahahha.
SPIRITUAL GOODIES:
I am in Moroni 7:40-42 this week. Boy do I love these scriptures!! They are all about hope! Hope and faith go hand in hand. Hope helps faith develop and true faith gives birth to hope! When we begin to lose hope, we also falter in our faith. I learn more and more from the people of Albania each day. Here in Korça they have so much faith. This faith has led them to find hope in Jesus Christ. This hope has led them to have true charity in their lives despite their circumstances. They give and give until they cannot give anymore. If we will all find and develop more faith in Jesus Christ we will find hope in his Atonement; which is easily the GREATEST gift we have ever been given. Have hope!!! Things will work out. There is a plan. He loves you more than you will ever comprehend. There is so much to live for and be happy for!!!! I love my Savior! I love you and miss you all so so so much!!!! Talk to you next week!!! <3
Love, Motra Sëtën
Adriatic South Mission
P.O. Box 2984
Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta
Qendra ALPAS
Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14
Tirana, Albania
Pics: some of my fav missionaries at zone conf, beautiful lake in Lin, BOYCE AND WEBSTER (MTC GROUP), pogradec sisters, korça streets, DINNER TIME!
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