18 Months in the Adriatic: Week 2

Përshendetje, familje im! Kay whew, just spent half my email time sending 327893542 pics home (most of them mirror selfies with my comp wearing

Albania

t-shirts oops...in case you forgot what I look like these past two weeks haha) BUT still have some time for a little weekly update!

On Tuesday we had a great general authority devotional (Sunday also!) and I sang Praise to the Man with the choir, and enjoyed hearing church history stories about the origin of the song at practice. The devo was about patterns of righteousness but honestly even greater than the talk itself was our district discussion afterwards... each comment really resonated with me and was either something on my mind, or something that I realized should be on my mind. Our branch Pres. Hutchings emphasized focusing not so much on what was said but how we felt.

In our classes and discussions we‘ve been talking a lot about the importance of letting the Holy Ghost be the teacher (yes, we set the mood and of course present the message, but really, our investigators have to feel for themselves the importance of our message for it to have any meaning whatsoever) so it was even more special when we got to experience that with our new investigator, Bujar! (Just a sidenote, I love to practice the Albanian I'm studying/learning, and probably my favorite part of my MTC experience so far is having discussions with the investigators... sure, I make too many grammatical errors to count, but the fact that I can often get my point across is thrilling. And to see the understanding in their faces? It's a great feeling.)

Anyways, suffice it to say that I really enjoy these lessons/discussions, and just TALKING with our investigators. I just feel that the MTC is the place to learn from mistakes, rather than out in the field! It's easy to focus on how much we have yet to learn, rather than how far we've come. But anyways, in this lesson last night, we planned to teach Bujar about the restoration, but ended up completely ditching that and discussing the significance of Christ's life and example; the meaning of salvation; and the reason we consider the Book of Mormon to be a cure to most of life's ills. For some reason, even though I sure stumbled over words and had to use less-efficient explanations, really just relying on the (limited) vocab I have, I still felt afterwards that this was maybe our best lesson yet. (Another sidenote: these questions he had would be tricky for me to answer properly in ENGLISH haha. Talk about feeling drained after! But in a good way, as in feeling PURPOSE.) Maybe because when I was telling Bujar about the change I've noticed in myself since sincerely reading the Book of Mormon he teared up a little, or testifying of Christ's perfect example and my contrasting numerous IMperfections, was so REAL, or hearing myself testify of things that I know deep down but don't always say out loud, and re-iterating to myself what I really do believe, idk, it was just really. neat.

Yeah, it is frustrating to have so many things to say and still a limited language ability, but really, I was able to see for myself that it's not about the "enticing words of man", but the power of God, to help others see from this Christlike perspective! Speaking perfect Albanian wouldn't do a thing for me in one of these lessons if I didn't have the spirit. Well, as you know, email time is always extremely rushed so probz didn't explain that too well! But in case I did, I will just send it anyways so happy reading. :)

This week there were some downs as well as ups, as in less-enthusiastic and a little more negative missionaries getting frustrated with their own incapabilities and taking it out on those around them (aka, me) BUT ranted in my journal so I'm over it haha (obviously I'm over it if I mention it in my email home...lol) and really, our district gets along beautifully considering how every single one of our personalities is so drastically different. But I love them all, and glad it's a mutual feeling (until one of them gets jealous/competitive lol... these life lessons doe!)

Aw man I'm outta time so I guess I'll have to skip the funny Elder Medveczsky stories!

Lemme wrap up with my Dëshmi, në ShqipË

Unë e di se, kjo Ungjillin është shumë bukur dhë shumë çmuar she rendësishëm. Unë e di si, Jeyu Krishtit është vellaj, dhe SHELBUESI im. Ne emër të Jeyu Krishtit, amen.

yep outta time, like I said. Shkurtër Dëshmi!

Mirë U Pafshim!! Ju dua!!

Motra Rajlli

ps been playing b-ball at gym sometimes w Motra White (so fun and surprisingly suuch a workout) so basically gonna pull an Elder Riley and com home a baller! ;)

Ju dua!!!!! I love you all!!! Thanks for the mail mom and errbody :)

love y'all! Keep having dreams about getting kidnapped, don't be freaked out. prolly just subconscious...

Madi xoxox

also saw wade and dallin haha ask isaac!
Isaac's roommate from CA (Wade) and Isaac's friend from Texas (Dallin) met through Isaac. Both served missions in the Philippines and are now rooming together at BYU. They saw Madi on her Sunday temple walk and sent Isaac this photo!