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
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