MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU HAH

Well howdy folks!!! HAPPY MAY. This week has been PACKED like a can of sardines with lots of interaction with the other missionaries and some of our friends! It has been a hoot! We had transfers, did some singing together for this project a member has going on, and we had mega zone conference with the whole mission! Mega zone conference wasn't anything too new because we have continued to skype each other daily for doctrinal studies with President Anderson! But it has been a wonderful week full of many many miracles. Not to mention that the SUN IS SHINING AND THINGS ARE LITTLE BY LITTLE OPENING UP IN THE CITY WOO HOO!! 

Culture Shocks: 

1. Albanians often take pride in the cleanliness of their houses because they mop like daily. This is interesting to me because they are definitely not the cleanest people... 

2. Mopeds are super popular here! I swear everyone drives one of those things. 

3. You know you are in Albania when you are in the middle of the city yet your neighbors roosters still wake you up at 5:30 AM ;) 

WONDERFUL & FUNNY LIFE THINGS: 

1. This week we saved a turtle!! It was "turtlly" awesome. Heheh. He was just crossing the road and almost got hit by a car but we saved him and he is doing better now. I love the random animals we see crossing the road here . I've seen goats, cows, chickens (we know what happens when they cross the road), turtles, dogs, cats, porcupines, and many more wonderful lil creatures. How fun!! 

2. We moved into our new house this week and I made a mistake. There were these tablets that looked like vitamins and since we don't have vitamins here I was stoked! I totally ate it and immediately my mouth began to start foaming uncontrollably and I couldn't stop hiccuping or sneezing for a solid 30 minutes HAHAHA. My belly was doing flip-flops and having a freaking hayday! It turns out that one of those tablets was actually one of those caffeinated fizzy things that go in your drink but let me tell ya, those things require like 2 liters of water but instead it just had my saliva and it tried to kill me!! Sister Long couldn't stop laughing at me hahaha not to mention that she decided that she will never ever be giving me caffeine after later experiences that night!!! 

3. Today we threw an Japanese fiesta in honor of quatro de mayo or "may the fourth be with you" otherwise known as "katër maj". It was such a good day!! We ordered over 60$ worth of sushi HAHAHA IT WAS SO MUCH AND SO GOOD. I hope you all do some festing today!! 

THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL: 

I LOVE THE GOSPEL. I LOVE MY HEAVENLY FATHER. I just want to testify of our Father in Heaven. He is real!!! He is OUR Father! And he loves us oh so dearly. It sunk deep in my heart this week that we all are truly sons and daughters of God. What a divine concept. We have unlimited and divine potential to become inheritors of His kingdom. We have divine spirits that were created in the premortal life. He knows us down to our very cores and loves us more than we can even fathom. We don't live aimlessly, not knowing where we have been or where we are headed! Likewise, Heavenly Father didn't create the earth and is now preoccupied unable to hear or answer our prayers. How devestated he must be when we don't trust Him enough to look unto Him in our moments of distress. He created us simply so that we could have joy and He, in turn, helps us find joy EVERYDAY. Some of the happiest times on my mission have come when I have noticed the change in those people who begin to understand that they truly are a beloved son or daughter of God. Understanding this eternal truth inspires, motivates, encourages, and changes our very human nature. Some of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon say, "12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" (Alma 5) I encourage you all to ask yourselves these questions and strive to seek out God in your everyday life. He speaks to us. He hears us! And we MUST hear him! What does your relationship with God look like? Or do you even have one? If you don't know where to start you can simply kneel down and thank Him for the many things you have been blessed with. A prayer of gratitude can lead to many miracles. I believe in a loving God of many miracles. Believe in Him as He believes in you!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. HAVE A FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, SUPER DUPER WEEK! 

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

Pics: 

1. Pretty sunsets <33

2.FRUIT

3. Shqiperia 4lyfe 

4.TURTLE 

5. Oldie pic with some good friends!! 

6. More fruit!!! 

Moving, miracles, and mothering!!!

What an AMAZING week. There are truly so many miracles surrounding us I couldn't be happier. We are currently working with 4 WONDERFUL individuals who all have expressed their desires to be baptized. 2 of them are from part-member families and 2 of them are new people we found:) WHAT A BLESSING. The work of the Lord continues! Hurrah! We also received transfer calls this week! Sister Long and I will be staying together. That is LEGENDARY. By the end of this transfer we will have been together 7 months! How exciting! However, we are moving to a NEW apartment so we are stoked. 

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. Albanian stoplights are on the wrong side of the road. If you are ever curious what color the light is we usually have to stick our heads out the car window:) 

2. Cars, motorcycles, and bikes like to park wherever they want! Especially in the middle of the sidewalks 

3. The weekends are for old people!! We are unallowed to leave our houses on the weekends so that all the older people can get out and walk around! 

FUNNY THINGS: 

1. Just to preface, Albania is fairly new to the whole church thing. Most of Albania and Kosovo consist of branches and groups but there are also a few wards. They have such strong testimonies but oh boy do they sure say hilarious things. We had a Sunday lesson with one of the groups (soon to become a branch woot woot) and they were cracking me up. They talked about how not being able to meet for the sacrament was extremely inconvinient so they suggested different ideas. The ideas included drive-thru sacrament, mailing the sacrament, and dropping off the sacrament at a central location as a free for all. Thankfully, they did not settle on these ideas hahahah. Oh man I love them so much. 

2. We are thrilled that we are moving houses this next transfer because suddenly lots of spiders and other creatures have been appearing EVERYWHERE. Either the Lord blessed my eyeballs so that I never saw them before, or it is a GREAT time to move. I think nature is also upset with me because I AM KILLING ALL OF OUR PLANTS. I honestly have no idea why I can't be a plant mother but it is not one of my talents. I will say that mothering books have helped me a lot though lol.

3. Since we are moving and no one is coming into our new apartment we decided to cook up a huge feast with all of our different food that we didn't want to transport. The idea was absolutely perfect. The presentation.... HAHA slightly less than perfect. We had all four of our stove burners on cooking completely different things. It was a circus and Sister Long and I couldn't stop laughing because literally everything went wrong. We thought we could multitask while cooking but hahah NO. On the stove we had rice that was bubbling water over and it was getting everywhere!! Not to mention that the bottom layer was completely burnt HAHA. While that catastrophe was happening we were attempting to "sauté" onions and some other things. Well, let's just say we have now learned what the term means to "sauté" *palm to face*. The mixture of weird ingredients plus my wacko shaking of the pan was quite the sight to see. Meanwhile, we had a tiny pot (we don't have many kitchen appliances hehe) that was simmering some chicken but it was hilarious because the chicken didn't fit in the pot and so it looked SOO BAD. Hahaha then on top of that we had another bowl that was heating up chickpeas so we could make hummus!! Well, the chickpeas started exploding and we were covered in remnants of attempted hawaiian haystacks and hummus. Just for kicks and giggles I have to add the fact that our fridge also began leaking which left water all over the place HAHA. I learned two things here. #1 We are disasters in the kitchen #2 WE MAKE THE BEST HAWAIIAN HAYSTACKS EVER HAHA. They were so good!!! 

SPIRITUAL TIME: 

My mind has wandered a lot to the topic of sacrifice this week. Some of the best lessons I have learned about sacrifice have come from my parents. They never cease to impress me with their sacrifices. They consistently sacrifice their time, talents, and energy for the Lord, our family, and others. I look up to them so much!! We are faced with choices everyday that determine our future, both in this life and the next. As we prioritize our lives and and live in harmony with God's instructions and direction we will be able to see his hand more clearly each day. From the Lectures on Faith it says, "Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never 

has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." Our Savior is the perfect exemplifier of sacrifice. However, our part is much easier than that compared to Jesus Christ. He simply asks us to come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits (3 Nephi 9:20) and be willing to love and serve him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength (D&C 59: 5-8). We are not perfect, but we can continually strive for perfection through our daily sacrifices. As you sacrifice your precious time to read your scriptures, pray, do family history work, pay tithing, serve, do missionary work, fast, encourage friends, study, and choose the things of the Lord you will be both temporally and eternally blessed. I am a witness to the miracles that come from sacrifice. I am so thankful for our Savior's great and infinite sacrifice. I love him! AND I LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEK <3 Big hugs to you all!!!! 

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

Pics: 

1. The strict 

2. Video calls!!

3. A celebration of birth 

4. An oldie but a goodie ft my pal Elder Mene