Hello everybody!!! And Hoppy Easter! This week was full of good things!!:) Instead of being outside for 1 hour we now can be outside for 1 hr 30 min! How exciting! #smallandsimplethings We have had such a wonderful and spirit filled week as we have met daily with our mission and mission president preparing for Easter! Each day we have learned so much and we are just thriving. We also were given a training on how to do family history work! What a perfect time to learn! We have cooked lots, studied lots, and we have had quite a few lessons! Quarantine got nothin on us! Or as my favorite Australian, Sister Tolhurst, would say, "quarantine can stuff it."
CULTURE SHOCKS:
1. Albanians have an Easter tradition where they paint their easter eggs red!! This came from a catholic tradition to symbolize the blood of Christ.
2. Another easter tradition that Albanians have is painting a red egg and then putting it in a safe hiding place in their house all year long 
they don't switch out the egg until the next easter!! Gross!
3. They also make this special traditional sweet bread that they decorate with the eggs hehe.
Goofs and giggles:
1. This week we decided we need to spice things up for district council and we could only be out until 1 pm so we decided to have a district breakfast and oh boy was that one of our best ideas ever. We ate pancakes, fresh fruit, and the most scrumptious breakfast burritos. The cooking competition goes on! When Motra Long and I started cooking that morning I looked over to see what she was doing and suddenly this pot started boiling over this orange gooey stuff! I was like, "What are you making Sister Long?" And she just gave me these hilarious eyes and said, "Ummm... pancakes...??" Hahaha don't worry I taught her how to make the best pancakes ever;)) However, we did get 2nd place but that is okay. Better luck next time;)
2. We have been learning how to use technology lately and we sure have had some interesting experiences. It is kind of difficult to find people using technology in Albania but we are making it work and we are LOVING IT UP. We have started following a bunch of groups and then posting things to grab different peoples' attention! Albanians are very attracted to the cheesy posts with Jesus in the sky and they will always comment "amin" on all of the posts. They often confuse their nationality with their religion so there are some extremely proud muslims and christians here that we find. We have the funniest conversations from questions like "Where should I hide my easter egg?", "Have you eaten today? I need to tell you how to cook because Americans don't know how", "Why are you contacting me I don't believe in Jesus.", "Can we talk later I am downloading illegal movies". WE HAVE BEEN HAVING FUN WITH THESE.
3. We had the cutest lesson this week with a family and we decided to do an easter craft with them and then do a lesson afterwards! As we were making crafts the connection got super bad and we were unable to see them! We could still hear them though so we continued in conversation. Their little daughter asked us if she looked like "pqolsbejx" (some word that got cut out). I decided to just answer the question based on the context of the sentence and I said, "Yeah of course you do!" Hahahah well right after I finished the sentence the screen started working again and we just saw her jaw dropped while holding up a picture she drew of the "poop emoji"!! I definitely had to do some explaining there hahahaha. THEY ARE SO CUTE AND FUN THOUGH!!
FOR THE SPIRIT:
One of the best things about this week was the opportunity to immerse myself into studying our Savior and the days leading up to his death and resurrection. As Jesus Christ was being betrayed the guards asked if he was Jesus of Nazareth to which he responded, "I am he". Then, as John 18:6 says, "As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground." I LOVED THIS PART. Even as Jesus was being betrayed he STILL held all power and had to FULLY submit himself to the will of the Father and allow himself to be betrayed. He had so much power that they were struck down! As we follow the Savior we can access this power. We cannot forget the power that our Savior holds! He overcame death so that we could live again! There are so many times in our lives that we feel betrayed, lost, dark, attacked, cast out, or all of the above. In those hard times we can access the Savior's power and use His Atonement to heal us and protect us. He defeats all evil! He has more than enough power to strike those evils down. His Atonement covers us all. Every pain, both large and small, was felt by our loving Savior and he truly does succor his people. I love my Savior. I am so incredibly thankful for his sacrifice and love he gives. Although I am still learning, I know enough, and I cannot stop until he shall say, "my work is done." For as it was said in conference, we did not come this far only to get this far! I know my Savior lives and I love him oh so dearly. Remember Him this week and every week! He loves you. AND I LOVE YOU. HAVE A MAGICAL WEEK THIS WEEK!! Don't forget to pray!!
Love, Motra Sëtën
Adriatic South Mission
P.O. Box 2984
Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta
Qendra ALPAS
Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14
Tirana, Albania
Pics: me & cute sis butters, the cute fam we video called, red eggs, albanian sweet bread, pictures from when some of the missionaries left, awesome photo shop one of our elders made hahaha
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