18 Months in the Adriatic: Week 35 - End of Transfer 2 (of 5)

aw last comp pics ever with this one haha very posed.. waiting for our last district lunch @ the Hydrick's!

hejjj qysh jeni!?

As you heard, we had transfer calls and I will be going to Durres, Albania! Re- opening the area for sisters with Motra Davis (who's been in Gjakove) and STL which means I'll be working with the sisters all over Albania besides in Tirane, oh and also I'll be driving... ah! -_- Really gonna miss the people I love here in Prishtine (shoutout to Motrat Morina!! <3 <3) :( </3 but also very excited to experience missionary work in Albania, with a ward and church building, and the beach..:)

Oh before I mention this past week's happenings let me mention some noteworthy things from the previous week since I was a little pressed for email time:

*met with some people from the family federation for world peace (also referred to as "moonies") and had some really deep lessons. I'm not sure if they consider themselves missionaries, and they refer to their group as a movement not a religion. They believe that "true parents" aka a North Korean couple are messiah.. interesting, and they were all very nice and respectful, and diverse! They encourage interracial marriage etc.

*A couple days before V and Gj's baptisms, we were sharing verse 8 from Doctrine and Covenants 132, and Sister Ariza asked them to read the whole section before our meeting the next day (we usually plan our commitments beforehand, and you'll see why). If you're not familiar with this section, flip open to it real quick.. it's the one talking about plural marriage which was practiced in the early days of the church....luckily our simple but clear explanations resonated with them and all is well and just to clarify to anyone reading this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that marriage between one man and one woman is ordained of God (see the Proclamation). Speaking of which... I'm very disappointed in the Supreme court's most recent decision.. don't wanna get too into politics, but about that Constitution..? Founding Fathers where you att? In a world with deteriorating values I'm sure grateful to know that God's law is constant, regardless of social acceptance/ popular opinion.

*Oh also, Mom, I love the family history stories you've been sending me. Actually, Motra Ariza and I had just been discussing/ wondering how many generations have passed since the pioneers, and a couple days later I got a DearElder from you w/ ancestor stories and we now know that I'm the 8th generation since that particular great-great-etc. grandma, and we were comparing it to the 13 generations that are mentioned in the Book of Omni (in the Book of Mormon) which all happen within a few short verses.

*also, the awesome, cute Bodell family left to go back to the states. Their kids are so smart and well-behaved. <3 <3

Ok & now this past week:

*P-day in Valbona! Got plenty of pics of the Adriatic's Yellowstone comin' your way. :)

*FHE activity was a surprise bday for Motra Hydrick aka mission nurse and mother of the Prishtina branch! At the end the branch couple V and B did some popullore dancing for us, man I love this cool culture so much.

*MishConf in Elbasan!! Woo aka mtc group reunions. Pres. Weidmann did a Q&A which was great, and there were quite a few "dying" Elders who shared touching testimonies and seemed so sad to leave, shyqyr that won't be me for a while...

*But before and after Mission Conference we were in Tirana (such a bustling, awesome city, I love it there) with Motrat Zollinger (hi mom!), Johannsen, and White. I got to meet my college friend Alma Osmeni's mom, super nice, and also Algida, an incredible member who went on splits with me on her birthday night! She's preparing to serve a mission and she'll be an amazing missionary because she already is.

*Back in Prishtina, it was wonderful to visit with V and Gj more, I love these sisters, and their faith and testimonies and deep understanding of the scriptures really motivates me to keep studying and learning all I can about this beautiful gospel.

*Cool experience tracting the other day~knocking apt. doors in a new neighborhood and we stumbled across A Teli's mother-in-law! She is Muslim and was fasting along with more than half of this city's population (it's ramadan, remember?) but she still invited us in and gave us water and little snacks, man Shqiptare are some hospitable people. And while we were there we saw A (her daughter!) reporting the news on TV! Our members are so cool. :)

*Made me sad that one of our members, an impoverished, single mom with two precious kids, does not appreciate the huge blessing that she has of two beautiful babies.. Heavenly Father trusted her to take care of them and I think he's pretty disappointed. I felt like I was in The Help, telling the little boy, "je i mire, je i mencur, je i rendesishem" ("you is kind, you is smart, you is important..") and it broke my heart that he shook his head and said "no, no I'm not". It's hard feeling helpless while his mother's tearing him down, but it's always helpful to follow the Savior's example and just demonstrate genuine love. We never know just how much of an impact our seemingly insignificant actions have!

*I was asked to speak my last Sunday here! Yay, got to choose the topic. I didn't have much notice, which means I hadn't finished writing/ translating my talk by the time I got up, but these are the points I tried to make: We are all children of God with infinite worth and incomprehensible potential. We need to keep this in mind and treat each other like that. Also we need to keep in mind that everything we have is only made possible thanks to God (Mosia 4:19). By keeping these things in mind we can demonstrate charity to those around us while staying humble. If we consciously make the effort to stand strong against Satan, the Father of contention (3 Nefi 11:29) we are doing our part in this battle of good vs. evil. As Latter-Day Saints, we must get over ourselves and our pride, stop judging and condemning those around us, and just lose ourselves in Christlike service. (Those are kind of the points I tried to make.. it was actually pretty different haha but you get the idea I hope!)

I loved Mosiah 4:11 yesterday when I stumbled across it.. King Benjamin's addresses are just the best, right?

Ju dua!!! G2g because have like 3248971234 pics to send. This is your last email you'll get from me in Kosovo hahah.. for a few months, at least! Urime feste Ramazani ;)

Une e di se Perendia eshte Ati yne Qiellor, se Jezu Krishti eshte Shelbuesi i Botes; Shpetimtari yne... per shkak te Tij, secili prej nesh ka mundesi mu kthu ka Perendia nje dite. Sa bekim i madh, sa i mrekullueshem eshte ky Njohuri apo jo?

Have a wonderful week! <3

Love, Motra Rajlli :)