18 Months in the Adriatic: Week 44

beautiful Durres <3

these are the traditional clothes I love, idk if you can see them well in the pic tho

baxhanak (if you can figure out this word, it's in honor of Isaac und Sandra!)

Hejj ckemi :)

Shyqyr my letters made it to Florida yay hope the ones coming this way make it too:)

Yet another awesome/longg/ crazy week here in Durres! Also hot.. Vapa ka kthyer. (Edhe ka me najt me duket! oops geg)

Here's the light quote I mentioned last week: "I am not the light or the source of light. But light- the light of truth, understanding, and knowledge- is there, and that light will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it...I can reflect light into the dark places of this world...and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life." (~Dr. Alexander Papaderos)

Moving backwards through the week, here are some highlights/ interesting things that have happened,,

*yesterday evening while doing some street contacting, saw a gypsy girl holding her baby (practically suffocating, wrapped up super tightly in blankets), shaking him vigorously, to get him to stop crying? not supporting his little neck at all, so I went over to talk to her (about the gospel as well as shaken baby syndrome..) and while chatting she thrust her little 3-month son in my arms (ah white handbook) while she rummaged in her pockets for a pen or something. Then she took him back to breastfeed him while walking around asking people for money. (Whether it's old men in speedos or women breastfeeding out in the open, these people have no shame..)

*prepared a lesson involving a hymn for a recent convert who we meet with before church, but yesterday when we walked into the chapel and our Bishop saw the violin case he asked if we'd do a musical number for sacrament mtg. so we threw something together.. me on piano and sis Dejves on violin, "nearer, my God to thee" (Josh's fave to play apa jo?), and to mix it up we played different parts/ octaves and improvised at the end haha sis. Davis w/ cool harmonies and me doing moving left-hand/ chord progressions or whatever haha and our awesomee (and huge!) ward liked it shyqyr so it was fun even though last-minute ha.

*that older guy in our ward (Vellai M) I have pics with from a couple weeks ago, brought us some awesome new potentials/ investigators, who we met at church yesterday. When we met with one of them, A, at her home yesterday she told us they met him because he was struggling to carry something on the road so she went and helped him and he invited her to church and she came, with her friend, B, and they both brought their cute 9-yo sons. And this lady, A is amaazing and so.. happy, and kind, and I'm so excited to keep meeting with her and teach her the gospel because she is so ready for it.

*One of our members is J, a renowned (travels throughout Europe to perform etc.) opera tenor, and he's singing for stake conf. and sis. Davis is accompanying him on piano, super cool to hear them practice.

*Futbol is fun here, our investigator Lo comes (but wasn't at church this week :( but she did come to the yw activity!) but other than her it's just little street boys, very competitive and very dramatic. It's a fun way to get people in contact with the church.

*Al is an amaazing, sweet and sincere older lady who I'd say is our best investigator right now, there's just one problem~she can't come to church because she nannies for a 4-yo autistic boy whose mom is pregnant.

*printed fliers for stake conference (I wish Kosovo was included!) and, being sister missionaries, baked about 6 batches of snickerdoodles to deliver little treat plates along w/ notes and the stake conf. invites to our ward members.. we wanted the cookie dough to go farther so we made tiny cookies which, once baked were basically 2-d hah but they were a hit even though they weren't much to look at haha. But whew finding some of those inactives, who lived way out in the foothills/ down dirt roads, all I can say is they better come to stake conference, or at least I hope they liked the cookies :)

I LOVE our ward and members here. They are amazingg. <3 Just livin' the dream here in Durres! ;) So fun to see pics and everything, JU DUA KLM fare mirutakofshim nepermjet email-it ;) flasim prape javen tjeter dhe Urime Mua e Shatori-it..

love you!!

Madi :) <3

I have a favor to ask you :) can you please send me a list of basic ukelele chords?? there is one left at our apt. and I want to play it (hymns in lessons!? etc.). and rachel, you know some uke right, can you send me any tips plz?? i'll learn your fave hymn, translate to shqip and play it for you hah to thank you for sending me this info. sorry.. i just can't use the internet remember :)

Isaac's lookin so European! do you have any more pics of them please send me!!! haha yes I love these (pics of Isaac and Sandra), aw she is so cute! does Isaac tell you any details?