Week 80 - Last week as a missionary!

Note: this is the last update Madi emailed home as a missionary 2 weeks ago. She is 

now safely home and I will make an update about that adventure, soon!

Shpresa vdes e fundit

my comp sis Dow :) 

w Sis Bennett, she's awesome 

baked for each "last".. English, German, BOM kurs etc... mom's vegan choc. cake recipe was a huge crowd-pleaser ;)

creative contacting, goin strong ;)

sweet Le wanted to show us around her school today so we got to meet some teachers and friends (and give them each pass-along-cards ;))

F is rockin my BYU IDAHO t-shirt haha, had to return the favor with all their sweet gifts, and notes that say "thank-you for teaching me about God"  

this mom and son are regulars at German kurs because the other half of their family lives in Austria 

this nënë is adorable 

 

havin trouble gettin a good pic. ;) I love this girl, she's amazing and just straightup fun to be around, shoutout to my STL Motra çajupi haha 

sweet people <3 powercouple right here 

branch Pres. he's a cool guy

stylin nënë on the left is our YW president, she is such a blessing to this branch and the girls she watches over and teaches 

this family is so great <3 

some of our branch

&Të Rinjt të mrekullueshëm 

May 9, 2016

Hej <3333 

Before I mention some cool experiences from the past week, I just wanna mention that I am so grateful for the wonderful, life-changing, testimony-building experience I've had, serving as a set-apart servant of the Lord in the Adriatic South corner of His vineyard. It breaks my heart to think of leaving this place with these people I've grown to love, but I'm mostly just thankful I got to be here and try to do my part to serve and uplift and share the restored gospel. I've learned so much and I guess the true test will be how I apply the truths and valuable lessons once I'm no longer a full-time representative of the Savior. I know that missionary work- the Lord's work- is an eternal work, and I'm sure grateful for that. 

L (J's mom) wasn't able to be baptized this week since there was still no call from her husband in Italy (needs to discuss this big decision/ get permission) but she is progressing more and more each day, and I'm so happy to see her growth and hear her testimony. (And see her in church, in a dress, pretty rare for Albania lol. I guess they only like dressing up for dasëms and funerals). 

We had a powerful lesson out in the wild.. started off as an idea for a picnic; use a little lunch time, enjoy nature with our sweet friends and share testimonies etc. but we ended up hiking through the jungle and mud for a solid hour to find the "perfect spot" but I guess it was worth it because we had an incredible lesson with our young women (Lv and J, who were recently baptized, remember them? :)) and Le (it's confusing I know, all their names start with L but respecting their privacy so I'll refer to her as Le), who is absolutely golden and so sweet and faithful and should be getting baptized next week. Plus nënë rosa, L, as I called her, since we were like little ducklings following after her haha. We shared the 2nd half of Alma 30:44 ("all things denote there is a God...") then each of us shared our testimonies, the spirit was so strong, and these women are incredible, rock solid faith and sweet examples to me. It felt like a little mini Lushnjë girl's camp, and Le told us it was the best day of her life. 

It's been busier than ever around here, and miracles are occurring daily. Feeling so blessed to serve here. I know this gospel is true and I'm so happy to see that others are finding and accepting the precious truths because then they are filled with this peace and joy.

Alma chapter 29 sums up my feelings at this point. So happy and grateful. I love my mission, and even though I'll be leaving the wonderful land of Albania shortly, my calling as a missionary will always be engraved on my heart. :) 

Ju dua shumë, 

<3 Motra Rajlli 

oh I wanted to mention that our cute primary kids all memorized 3Nefi 5:13, so proud of them ;) 

 Lv!!!!! <3 

 and M! an amazing, sweet member <33

crazy storm the other day! April flowers bring May showers?

pink shirt is Lv, 

gocat e mia :)))) 

flower skirt is Le 

lol J took these posed pics of me.. 

nënë rosa <3 such a strong woman 

& Sis Dau heads back home to Skopje tmrw! 

Week 79 - çfarë ha goja, tregon boja

<33333 gra të mrekullueshme  

girl on the right is from Norway! maybe Chloe knows her? :) and that's my mission president in the background

Hejjj! Happy p-day. Gëzuar pashket ortodokse! We celebrate Christ's resurrection twice around here, veza të kuqe..

Another wonderful and miracle-filled week, but a slightly disappointing Sunday to top it all off.. it's just unfortunate when friends are so eager to commit and do what's right while discussing and testifying in lessons, but then they either don't come to church or cause problems or lack the drive when it matters most. But that's just kind of how missionary work- and life- is.. the harder you work or the more important something is to you, the more noticeable or devastating when the results aren't what you hoped for.. but you keep on trying and working with them because there are lots of smaller rewards/miracles/tender mercies along the way that are easy to overlook if you're just hung up on all the things that go wrong. Fortunately out here, on the mission it's not too hard to notice those "flecks of gold: since they're all over the place. 

I really feel so blessed to be serving in such a spiritually-rich and prepared place as this. Actually, it just gets better every day. Lushnjë is the promised land! One of the miracles from this past week is a new friend named L, actually a referral from our awesome recent convert, L. Came to German Kurs b/c she was born in Deutschland and we had a powerful lesson about the gospel afterwards and she is just golden. Her dad is very sick, so it is touching and a testimony-builder to me to testify of hope and comfort found through this restored gospel, as well as the joy of eternal families. <3

Also I gave my dying testimony at a zone conference (not dead, still got the greenie fire actually ;)) so that was a slap in the face that this life-changing and testimony-building mission won't always be my life.

Ju dua shumë. Ju puth, dhe mos harroni: Zoti dëgjon, shikon, por kurrë nuk harron. E di se na do dhe na jep gëzim. Thjeshtë duhet të besojmë (dhe veprojmë).

Me dashuri,

Motra Rajlli :)

në xhami!! tryna learn Arabic

 

didn't have money (end of the month lol and my comp lost her msf card) to make her a cake so we put candles (not fireworks!) in an orange haha gotta celebrate!