CYCLOPS EYE

HELLO HELLO HELLO <3 

This week was wonderful!!! We saw a waterfall, had crazy exchanges, got lost in the woods, went to an art show, played volleyball, and hyped up all of our friends to do family history work!!!! We are preparing for major rainstorms coming our way this spring!!! How exciting!!!

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. Albanians never tip here! It isn't to say we shouldn't tip.... but tipping the waiter or waitress typically never happens!

2. Albanians generally have no sense of direction hahaha. I have mentioned before that addresses don't exist but their sense of direction is a different ballgame!! When asking for directions they usually say, "I am sorry I have no idea".... 

3. The people living in the fshats (little villages) are the KINDEST PEOPLE EVER. They will ALWAYS feed you and treat you like a queen if they find you in their village. 

FUNNIES: 

1. This week we were cleaning our apartment and we looked under the study desk and we found a secret compartment that had a bunch of Albanian treasures! Who knew what we would find there. #cool #shqiperia 

2. Today we went hiking to a place called Cyclops Eye! Our directions to find the waterfall were to "follow the dog" until we got there. After 15 min of dog watching we found the actual trail and started hiking the STEEPEST trail ever!!!! Hahaha we ended up finding the waterfall (a miracle to say the least) and had fun exploring the caves and fun sights!!! On our way out a man stopped us and brought us into his house with his wife who fed us fresh delicious blackberries and figs!!!! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and then we almost milked his cow before we had to go hahaha. Somehow all of our pdays end with LOTS of mud, sore legs, and beautiful photos. 

3. Hahahaha so we were able to attend this art show this week with some friends and members. While the people were speaking all the Albanians were talking and then they kept clapping at the wrong moments too. It was so funny!!!!! They also took like 1000 pictures and selfies during the whole thing it was so awesome hahaha. Gotta love em. 

SPIRITUAL GOODIES: 

We are so blessed. We receive so many blessings from the Lord daily. One gift we have received is the gift of repentance!! We can receive FULL forgiveness if we will but repent and remain free from sin!!!! Repentance is a process! It is a change!! It is miraculous. President Nelson said, "Thus, when Jesus said “repent,” He asked us to change—to change our mind, knowledge, and spirit—even our breath. A prophet explained that such a change in one’s breath is to breathe with grateful acknowledgment of Him who grants each breath."  We are so unbelievably lucky to be alive and to be given the gift of repentance! When we use our Savior's Atonement we show our gratitude. When we repent we show our conversion!!! President Nelson also said, "Repentance is conversion! A repentant soul is a converted soul, and a converted soul is a repentant soul." We can repent and be cleansed from our sins and enjoy the blessings that come from living righteously:) It is never too late and we are never outside the reach of our Lord and Savior's arms. He loves us!!! He loves you!!! Find peace in Him <3 I love you all and wish you the best "lovers week" ever!!!!!! 

Love, Motra Sëtën

Adriatic South Mission

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 

Qendra ALPAS

Shkalla NR. 5 Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana, Albania

Pics: mountain goats;), pretty waterfalls, Albanian sunrise, me & bff Uendi, OLIVE TREES 

Buried alive???

Wooo hoooo. Hello hello! It is Monday again! We have had a CRAZY but wonderful week this week! We had to give a training at our Zone Conference which was awesome, we had another earthquake that shook us up a little bit, and we got to meet lots of AMAZING people this week. One of my favorite things we did this week was helping to find the grave stones for one of our members' lost ancestors. We had the most AMAZING miracles happen and we were able to find lots of information about her ancestors so that she can take them to the temple:) We experienced both POURING RAIN and high 60s this week so the weather has definitely been keeping us on our toes!! Besides that we have been SLAMMED with lessons, miracles, and the GREATEST work on earth!!:) 

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. When earthquakes happen EVERYONE leaves their houses and they go to the nearest local coffee shop. Hahaa it is super interesting. 

2. Albanians don't let their visitors take their shoes off in their houses!! However, if you insist, then they MAKE you wear slippers!! 

3. Each city in Albania has an origin name... for example I am a Utahn...but if you are from Durres=Durresake, Korça= Korçare, or Tirana= Tironës etc etc. SO COOL. 

FUNNIES: 

1. This week we got to celebrate a birthday for one of our elders!!:)) Well, Sister Long decided to make a cake during our English class so that we could celebrate afterwards... well... it EXPLODED!!!!! Hahahaha that was a super fun birthday surprise let me tell ya... we had a fun celebration eating a glob of cake covered in frosting while playing many different instruments (including a kazoo, harmonica, drums, and whistles) to the tune we all know and love... shumë urime për ty:) 

2. During our fun grave finding adventure we asked a random worker man to help us find one of the grave stones!!! Well, Albanian graveyards are not your typical graveyards I will tell you that much. Most the time they just bury their relatives in their backyard but this time we found a HUGE graveyard full of graves but also full of a bunch of random holes for "soon to be graves". The grounds aren't very well taken care of... well as we were walking with one of the workers he was super upset that we couldn't find the person we were looking for! He suddenly took off running to go look at this one headstone and BOOM he just dropped out of sight! Hahah it was hilarious but kinda spooky in all honesty. There was a whole and he just fell right down into it!! Hahaha oh man, thankfully he got out and wasn't buried alive or anything. FREAKY!!! 

3. We had the most interesting interaction this week. We were talking to some people when suddenly we were interrupted by 5 Indian dressed men with long black hair and dream catchers and feathers everywhere! They were from Peru and were here to play their music for people in the streets! They knew very little English and no Albanian so I am very confused as to why they were here... however, we were able to teach them about The Book of Mormon and we told them we could give them books in Spanish because they were super interested!!! It was the weirdest mix of English/Spanish/Albanian and I still am laughing about that interaction. It was awesome. 

SPIRITUAL WONDERFULNESS: 

This week we had a POWERFUL zone conference talking about the POWER of our testimonies. The coolest thing about sharing testimonies is that we can share them at ANY TIME, in ANY PLACE, and with ANYONE. Our testimonies grow as we show willingness to serve in the church and to study, pray, and learn. It increases as we obey God’s commandments! Our testimonies also grow as they are shared. This is the time that we must prepare to meet God and we can do so by developing strong testimonies. Alma 32:27 says, "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even IF YE CAN NO MORE THAN DESIRE TO BELIEVE, LET THIS DESIRE WORK IN YOU, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." Our testimonies start with a desire to believe!!! Happiness in this life and in the life to come begins with a testimony of Jesus Christ. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love love love being a missionary. I love love love that we have the opportunity to grow, learn, and develop strong testimonies of God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ. HE LIVES. FIND HIM IN YOUR LIVES. HE LOVES YOU. AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAVE AN AMAZING 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: zone conf with my cutie companion, CLOUDS, FLOWERS, beaching, fun hike 

I got ran over👍🏻

Hello hello hello:) I hope you are all doin just fine and dandy and warm!!!! We had a good week this week:) The missionary life is SOOO GOOD. If you are thinking about going on a mission the pros COMPLETELY outweigh the cons. I am telling you, being a missionary has completely changed my life!! I am so blessed to be in the best mission surrounded by the best people!!! LIFE IS SO GOOD. This week we ate the best food, met the coolest people, and have been blessed to see the most amazing miracles! The Lord has miracles ready for us everyday if we will just look for them!!!:) 

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. Albanians ALWAYS cover their couches with blankets. I am honestly still confused why... but they never sit on the couch itself but on the blanket covering they place on them. It is also funny because the blanket that covers the couch ranges from gucci to 101 dalmatian blankets. 

2. Buke= bread and buke is the main course of every meal. If you don't have bread with your meal it is almost offensive. THEY LIVE OFF OF BREAD. 

3. Everything is small here. The people are small, the roads are small, the cars are small, the food is small, the houses are small. It is so cute and tiny I love it.

GIGGLES: 

1. We had a meeting to go to one night this week tonight and we just had the funniest experience! We tried to get on this bus to get there and it was hilarious because it took us on the complete other side of the city and it never stopped! They wouldn't let us get off! We ended up getting to our meeting  over 45 minutes late! Haha whoops. Also, to make things better, as we were walking/running to our meeting the weirdest thing happened! This guy was riding his bike and started aiming at me!! I tried to move out of the way but he was deliberately trying to hit me I was so confused. Well I thought I was out of range when all of the sudden HE JUST HIT ME WITH HIS BIKE. He hit me so hard actually!!! Like I was riding on the front tire of his bike for a good few seconds. It actually hurt HAHAH. I am still shocked about that whole experience but it made for a good story hehe:) 

2. I think I have already mentioned that we have a cat problem in our companionship. Sister Long is VERY allergic hahaha. Well we went to have a lesson at our friend's house and the entire time she was sneezing and coughing and dying because of their cats but she didn't want to leave! We thought it wouldn't be so bad and that maybe once we got outside it would get better! Haha well as we left she started coughing and then she just fell down a whole flight of those concrete stairs!!! It was one of those moments that was so bad and I was trying so hard not to laugh but I couldn't help it hahaha it was so funny. She started laughing pretty hard too and is completely fine but oh man that was so funny. Note to self: CATS ARE KILLER. 

3. So the past 3 nights we have had people over at our apartment so that they could fix our walls from the earthquake damage! Well every time we came home everything in our house was reorganized it was seriously hilarious. Our landlord remade our beds, reorganized everything in our bathrooms, moved the couches, took out the trash, reorganized the furniture, and everything!! Hahaha to make it even better each day it would be organized in a completely different way when we got home! Hahah it was so funny. I have no idea why he did that! It was also funny because we made our beds the exact same way he made them JUST so that he wouldn't touch our beds the next day but he still remade them AND remade them in a different way! HAHA IT WAS AWESOME. He also took down all of our Christmas decorations we had hanging everywhere and when he came to give us our key back his only piece of advice for our apartment was that we shouldn't use Christmas things when it isn't Christmas HAHAH thank you Enver. He is awesome. 

THE SPIRITUAL GOODS:  

As we finish our second week of the new year I want you to think about your priorities!! WHO ARE YOU?? What things do you love about you??? Think about the plan that our Heavenly Father has for you individually! There are lots of decisions we have to make but our Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves. He only wants the best for us and his plan is better than we could ever imagine. When we have our priorities set and grounded things always work out. This week we were contacting (walking around and talking to people in the road) and for some reason everybody was so rude!! Hahaha we got sad for a moment until we realized that God is in control. He knows how to help us! We decided to take a step back and say a prayer and ask for directions. We were inspired to remember that all things work together for them that love God. As we worked diligently, prayed, and stayed believing we found an answer to our prayers and were led where we needed to go. Sometimes while we are in the craziness of life we get confused, lost, and hurt. However, we know that if we will but trust God, we can find happiness in every moment. IT ALWAYS WORKS OUT. Like the scripture D&C 90:24 says, "Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another." I love my Savior, I love you all, I love my mission!! STAY HAPPY,.DO SOME COOL DANCE MOVES, and SAY YOUR PRAYERS. Have an amazing 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: Kombinat GROUP, my cute comp and I waiting for the bus, PRETTY RUN, yummy cotton candy, MY BEST FRIEND PAJA LEAVES ON HIS MISSION TO BRAZIL HE IS THE FIRST ALBANIAN TO GO THERE, cute soccer friends 

SHËNDET

Ç'KEMI, HALO, HELLO, TUNG, and PËRSHËNDETJE!!!!! This week was superrrrr. We had another transfer and the only thing that changed was the fact that now we are the Sister Training Leaders for our zone! We have been extremely busy with lessons and it has been really exciting. THE WORK IS HASTENING!! Also please keep Turkey in your prayers! They suffered from a major earthquake this week!!! 

Culture Shocks: 

1. The buildings here are painted all sorts of different colors!! They are painted bright random colors and there is lots of graffiti everywhere because during communism it wasn't allowed so when communism ended they went crazy with the paints!! 

2. There are lots of army bunkers here that we are able to explore from the war! They are super cool!! 

3. Albanians will ALWAYS say "shëndet" which literally means "health" and is equivalent to our "bless you". It is so cute though because they will all say "shëndet" after EVERYTHING even if you are speaking in sacrament meeting hehe. 

FUNNIES: 

1. We taught English course this week and I think I might have almost peed my pants it was so funny. So this week I decided to teach them about sarcasm. Albanians DO NOT use sarcasm so that was already a challenge to teach in itself. They were not understanding at all and thought it was weird that we use sarcasm in English! After I taught them about sarcasm I thought it would be fun to teach them about air quotes....hahaha. Now they air quote every single phrase they say HHAA and it is so awesome.There is a group of older men in our class that are all friends and now with every single phrase they say they use their air quotes even with the simplest phrases like, "how are you?". THEY ARE SO FUN. 

2. This week we went to this cool restaurant and we were required to wear cowboy hates. No hats, no service. I like that. Hahahah it was so fun!! 

3. We had a lesson this week with this sweet sweet woman who is an amazing artist! She has a bunch of paintings hung all around her house that she painted herself and they are wonderful! I asked if she could paint something for me and she was stoked! She told us that she hadn't sold any of her paintings in awhile because of the poor times. Then she told me that she would sell her painting to me for 3 million dollars. Hahah that was awesome. Sadly, I couldn't afford that haha. 

SPIRITUAL GOODIES: 

Lately, many people from Albania have had the opportunity to travel to the Rome Temple and attend different sessions. Many families have had the opportunity to be sealed for all time and eternity! What a miraculous gift!!! Although the Rome temple is a lot closer than the Switzerland temple it is still quite a far travel and it is hard for the Albanians to be able to save the money, travel the distance, and take time off from their lives. In addition to this, it has been extremely difficult for the Albanians to find their ancestors because most of their records were burned during the time of communism. However, these people are absolutely amazing and inspiring. They have been working so so so hard to find information about their families and save money to attend the temple. I was talking to my good friend this week who told me, "I have been doing the work to find information about my ancestors. As I have been digging and searching for information I can feel them around me. They are helping me find them and they are helping me find the means to be able to attend the temple. I will do whatever it takes to find them and take them to the temple." Our families on the other side need us just as badly as our families on this side of the veil need us! They are waiting, wishing, praying, and watching over you. Let us remember the promise and warning contained in D&C 128:15 "And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect." Our family history work is so important!!! Please please please find them!!! And go to the temple:) Go often!!! I miss the temple so much and we are so lucky to be surrounded by so many temples in Utah. The work of the Lord is hastening and we need your help!!!! I love you and miss you all so much!!!! Have the most amazing 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: fun hiking group, restaurant where you are required to wear a cowboy hat or they won't feed you, cute friends!!, me and my bestie at futbol, Albanian roads, pretty lake by our house 

Quick sand: 1 --- 8 missionaries :0

WHAT IS UP MY PEOPLE. I miss you all so much!!! Albania is doing better than ever. We are working hard and working miracles out here in the great Adriatic South. This week was FULL of adventures (as is everyday in the GREAT COUNTRY OF ALBANIA!!!!). Count your many blessings because we are so lucky to be alive! 

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. You cannot compliment Albanians on anything because they will give it to you!!!! And they will insist that you take it too hahaha. 

2. There are ALWAYS people willing to drive you on a bus no matter where you are. They are so kind and can whip out transportation for ya out of nothing 

3. Older Albanians always have candies on them to give to you:) especially to give to girls!!! 

FUNNIES: 

1. I HAD THE FUNNIEST CONVERSATION THIS WEEK HAHAHAHAHA. We have this cute friend who sells us all of our fruit and we love talking with her! Well we were buying some fruit when she looked at my companion, Sister Long, and then asked if she was Chinese (the word is "kineze" in Albanian and also my companion is not even remotely close to looking Chinese). However, I was terribly mistaken and I could have sworn that she said "kastravec" which means cucumber hahaha. I chimed in the conversation and while laughing a bit I told her, "I love those!". She gave me a super weird look and then to make matters worse I went on to explain how I love eating those. Somehow it got even WORSE because I went into detail talking about how I like to pick just the right one and that they were better in Albania because they are bigger! I proceeded to tell her that I sometimes don't even cut them I just bite them and oh my heck was that lady mortified. Then she was like, "Are there lots in America?"  And I was like "Oh yeah we have lots to choose from!" Finally, we made the connection and realized where I had gone wrong. It was so freaking funny my explanation did not do it justice. Our fruit lady was very thankful we do not eat chinese people in America. 

2. So when riding the bus I love standing on those round spinny things that turn inside when the bus turns (hopefully that made sense). I love standing on those because A) it feels like I'm surfing B) I always have balance competitions with the cute little kids on the bus. It is so awesome!!! Well this week I was standing on one of those things and I accidentally dropped ALL of my english course flyers that we were going to handout! I tried to pick them up but the bus was so wobbly that I just hit the ground every time I tried to pick up my papers! The other people on the bus were physically trying hard not to laugh but they couldn't help it. Sister Long and I were laughing so hard because we literally could not pick up the flyers and every time we tried the bus would move and we would miss them. No one else dared to help us pick them up so we were just scrambling all over the place flying from end to end of the bus. It was such a fun game that the bus created for us. Hahahahahhah we are lucky too because we had a fan club that cheered for us when we finally gathered all of our flyers:). 

3. This story is CRAZINESS. So, for our pday (break day) 8 missionaries and I decided to go on an adventure. We chose a random bus and got on to see where he would take us! After sitting on the bus for awhile we realized we were not going anywhere so we decided to get off and walk towards the mountains. When we reached the mountains a random bus came and we hitched a ride to the top of one of the mountains. THE RIDE WAS CRAZY. We were sitting on wooden boards bouncing around more than you do at airborne. Hahaha it was so crazy!! Once there we explored around a dried up river bed and collected lots of rocks. On our google maps we saw that there was a lake close by and we decided to hike there! When we got close to the lake we realized that we had gotten ourselves into a pickle because there was a lot of mud that kept attempting to steal our shoes. After hours of walking we finally made it to the lake and it was BEAUTIFUL. However, on the way back the worst thing happened HAHA. I went to go wash off my shoes in the river and I stepped in some mud and boom I just sunk to the bottom. I WAS SOAKING WET AND IT WAS SINKING SAND. Every time I moved I sunk lower and the mud just solidified around my legs. I felt like I was in indiana jones it was so scary. After about 20 minutes of attempting to get out of the mud I MADE IT (with the help of the other missionaries). HAHAH but there was a slight problem. I came out with only one shoe!!!!! My other shoe had sunk down into the sinking sand. It was horrible!!!! Somehow a miracle happened and we were able to find my shoe but everything on my person was DRENCHED. Good thing one of the elders had my phone:) We ended our adventure with one sock, lots of mud, and 1 million memories!!! My advice: watch out for quick sand. 

SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE: 

One of the most amazing lessons I have learned on my mission is the fact that we can receive answers to prayers through the scriptures. I have found this to be absolutely miraculous. We had many instances this week in which we faced many dilemmas. However, we prayed and prayed and prayed and searched for answers to our prayers and then right in the very moment we needed our answers came. We all seek for answers daily but just like 2 Nephi 32:3 says, "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do". We will know what to do!!! When we read the scriptures with intent and purpose and diligence we can truly take something from what we read. Our priorities define us and our sacrifices refine us so we must put God above everything! President Nelson said, "Time for scripture study requires a schedule that will be honored. Otherwise, blessings that matter most will be at the mercy of things that matter least." I am thankful for my knowledge of The Book of Mormon and for the opportunity I have each day to FEAST on Christ's words. HE TRULY LIVES AND LOVES US. I love you all so much!!!!!! Don't forget to read your scriptures and have a groovy week this 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: the lake, comp photo, the first time the mud took our shoes, cute fam I love, the best missionaries 

Fireworks, water WORKS, and the buses still don't work!!!

GËZUAR VITIN E RI!!!!! Happy New Year!!!!!! Everyone just walks throughout the streets saying gëzuar to everyone haha it is so funny. Happy new decade!!!!! This is so awesome!! This week has been a crazy and wonderful adventure for us and oh boy have we celebrated hard! Albanians truly know how to party;) For our New Year's shenanigans we actually had to be in our homes at 4:00 because of danger restrictions hahaha but we still got to watch fireworks so that was fun! We also got to eat a special lunch with our mission president and his wife! Whatta party! New Year's is definitely the biggest holiday here in Albania! THIS YEAR IS GOING TO BE AMAZING!!! 

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. Everything is shut down and closed New Year's Day and New Year's Eve! Absolutely no one was out on the streets or in the shops! It was just dead! 

2. A New Year's tradition is that they make lots of sweets and treats like Baklava and eat them together as a family! Cooking isn't so much talent as it is tradition. 

3. The fireworks we do on the 4th of July is like mediocre for the Albanians here! They go CRAZY with their fireworks! The whole sky was just full of smoke the next day and it sounded like a freaking war zone all night it was so awesome! 

FUNNY GOOFS: 

1. We went to this lesson with the Elders this week and the lady had this cute cat! Well, apparently Sister Long and one of the Elders are both deathly allergic to cats but they didn't say anything! Then about halfway through the prayer they started DYING and we literally couldn't get through it without them sneezing every other word! Hahaha it was so bad! We needed to get them home! So after the lesson we waited at the bus stop so we could go home and the bus never came!  For over 45 minutes we waited because people kept telling us the buses were coming but they never did. We just waited and waited. We ended up having to get a taxi and got home so late HAHA and it was SOO expensive. The buses don't run later in the night this week because of the holiday haha! Thankfully, my companion is alive and well:) 

2. So this week I was taking a shower and the shower head thing is broken so it is just held together with a rubber band!! Well suddenly it just snapped in the middle of my shower and the water was spraying everywhere!!! So the head thing actually broke off and the water wouldn't stop coming out and it went EVERYWHERE. I was stuck for quite some time trying to fix it and we ended up having to have our landlord help us out!  Hahahah that was an interesting thing to explain to Sister Long when all she had heard was super loud noise, lots of screaming and laughing, and then saw the bathroom DESTROYED with water lol. 

3. There was a MASSIVE windstorm this week and it was blowing everything everywhere. We were still on our missionary grind so we were out talking to people when a massive tree just blew over and fell into this building next to us! Then a tin roof came out of nowhere and it hit the building on our other side! Hahaha it was so scary but we enjoyed our time working our muscles and fighting the wind it was awesome. #windcantstopus

SPIRITUAL WONDERFULNESS: 

Communication is KEY to everything we do. In my email last week I talked about the importance of listening to the direction we receive from our Heavenly Father! This week I want to touch more on the subject of prayer! Prayer is our spiritual lifeline between us and our Heavenly Father. We NEED that communication with Him. However, we can only receive that help when we LOOK to Him and keep His commandments. Our priorities can be measured by the way we keep the Lord's commandments. The FIRST thing we ought to do in the morning is get on our knees and pray to our Heavenly Father! When we put Him first, everything else falls into place. President Nelson said, "Facing God first lets us decide firmly what we shall not do; then we are free to pursue what we ought to do." With his guidance and support we are happy! With his direction and love we are unstoppable! Remember this New Year as you make goals to align them with your Father in Heaven's plan and let him guide you! Don't forget to pray pray pray! I love you all and miss you so much!!!!! Have a wonderful new year!!!! I will see you soon <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: my cute comp!!!! , fun pday hike, and pretty view of Kruje, albanian bus rides, 

CHRISTMAS W/ JENNY

HELLO HELLO. It has been an AMAZING WEEK. We have seen CRAZY miracles and had the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER. This week we were able to participate in tons of different service opportunities. We helped orphans, people affected by the earthquake, disabled persons, and abused women and children. As we helped all of these different people in different situations the true spirit of Christmas FILLED our hearts and it was the most unforgettable day. We caroled to members, ate lots of food, and enjoyed a make-shift Albanian Christmas. Jenny Oaks Baker also came and performed at a few locations in our mission and we were able to attend her concert and bring our cute Albanian friends with us. WHAT A GOOD WEEK. However, the festivities have just begun. New Years is absolutely PSYCHO IN ALBANIA. We are excited to celebrate this coming week:) 

CULTURE SHOCKS: 

1. Christmas does not exist in Albania. Haha there are not many people that celebrate, and if they do, they celebrate very differently than us! They get ready for the day and then they walk outside for hours hehe 

2. If you knock on an Albanian's door they absolutely will not let you leave without food. They usually stuff mandarins or apples or cashews into my pockets hehe. 

3. Christmas trees are known as New Years trees here woot woot it is going to be a crazy week celebrating New Years! THEY GO CRAZY FOR NEW YEARS! 

KNEE SLAPPERS: 

1. So we got to help with the Jenny Oaks Baker concert in Tirana! We offered free tickets to everyone and it was a good experience for people to be introduced to our church! We were also instructed to set up a VIP room for people after the concert!  Well funny story- they told us to prepare a VIP room for people with food and stuff but we were unaware who was vip, how many people there would be, or where to put the room. The day of the concert we found out that around 50-70 people would come to the VIP room. So we went to the venue thing to give it a look and they told us we didn't have a room and had to pay for it and we were so confused. It was kind of hilarious though because we had already bought like 200 oranges, 70 things of baklava, a whole bunch of nuts, and a bunch of drinks and then they told us food wasn't allowed lol. We had also carried the HEAVIEST tables all the way there HAHA it was a mess. The missionaries that had brought the baklava spilled it ALL OVER THEMSELVES TOO HAHAH. That was a literal mess. It seriously looked like they took showers in sugar water. I cannot explain how funny this whole thing was. They looked destroyed HAHA. It ended up working out fine though and we found a room lol but it was all last minute. Then we asked some other missionaries to help us by bringing a tablecloth and they showed up with a freaking picnic blanket HAHHAHAHA. So it was this really nice and elegant room with people all dressed up drinking from a punch bowl  HAHA. IT WAS SO GHETTO. It looked like we were having a barbeque oh my gosh it was so bad. Right before the concert ended we went to go help set up the VIP room (keep in mind we had no idea who was even VIP) and we were waiting and waiting and still no one came. Well we came to find out that apparently the VIPs didn't even know they were VIP HAHAHA SO HALF OF THEM LEFT. So we ended up having like 2000 mandarins for maybe 20 people! Sister Anderson (the mission president's wife) and I had a good laugh especially because a bunch of random Albanians saw the room and just walked in and started eating the food hahahaa. Also another funny thing was that there is only about 600 seats at the place but we were told to give out tickets up until the concert started basically. So we ended up having over 800 people total sign up for 600 seats which was CRAZY. So everyone left at the end and we had to clean up everything but at this point it was already 10:15 pm and we were stuck with probably 150 oranges left, 30 liters of drinks, and a case and a half left of baklava and we live 45 min away. BUT WE MADE IT ALIVE AND WELL. 

2. We have been trying to make good impressions in our new ward/ group since the transfer! Well, I sure made an impression this week. We were talking to some people in the bishopric and I was sitting on the stairs and I put my feet on the railing thing and then this part just popped off! As I was trying to fix it I hit another one and that one popped off too hahahaha. After I had broken 4 of them they made me take a step back and now won't let me touch anything. Hahahah good reputation I have got goin on here. 

3.  I am not quite sure why.. but there is a major problem with the electricity in Albania. This week our electricity went out for 3 nights and we were left without light or heat! It didn't help that we were also making cookies at the same time during one of the outages... Sister Long and I became very creative and made makeshift lamps and other fun things using our flashlights. We felt like spies. It was awesome. 

SPIRITUAL GOODIES:

I absolutely love EVERY single day of my mission. I am learning so much from these amazing people and from these amazing experiences. One of the most important things we can do in this world is to LISTEN. It is really easy to go go go all of the time and to forget to LISTEN. There are so many situations in which we can listen, and learn. First, probably the most important, is listening to our Heavenly Father. He has so much direction for us that we can receive when we LISTEN after we pray! Second, we need to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. He wants to lead us and inspire us but we must LISTEN for him in everything we do. Third, we must listen to those around us. We must listen to our families, spouses, companions, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Without listening we cannot understand! I encourage you all this week to pray your guts out and listen afterwards for the direction that the Lord has for you in your lives. He loves you and wants you to talk with him. PRAY PRAY PRAY. I LOVE YOU ALL! Have a wonderful week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. 

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 and Elder Deda (he leaves to England next week), burnt cookies, VIP PARTY, christmas selfie, fun christmas eve tradition with pinecones:)