Scatter Sunshine: Adriatic South: Pershendetje per MTC

Pershendetje everyone from the MTC (Missionary Training Center)

First off, I want to share how much I love being a missionary! Everyday, I get to put on my tag and be a representative of Jesus Christ, preparing to share His teaching, His love for everyone, and His gospel. I LOVE IT!

As a missionary, usually you have one companion to teach with you and be with you 24/7. I actually am in a trio so I have 2 other companions, Motra Escarate (the one from Alaska!!), and Motra Jones (from Bountiful! Who knew!) We get along really well! They are so nice and we are able to experience the struggle of learning Shqip (pronounced "sh-cheap", it's Albanian in Albanian) together. Speaking of, the minute I walked right into my classroom just seconds after grabbing all my things, my teacher has only been speaking Sqip to us and wow the language is difficult. It is so beautiful though so I'm pretty pumped (mezi po pres) to learn it!

In my "zone" (or group of missionaries) there are 4 languages! We refer to each other as the Turks, the Huns (the Hungarians), the Dutch, and the Albanians. It is so cool because on Sundays when we go to church, we all sing in our own adopted language at the same time! Also, we prepare a talk every Sunday just in case we're called up and we prepare it in our adopted language. There are literally only 4 Albanians in the MTC so half of Sacrament (the first hour of church meeting) I don't really know what's being said but you can still feel that spirit, that love, and that joy of the message being shared. My companions and I received THE BEST calling. We are Sacrament Meeting greeters! We take our calling seriously as we learned how to say hello in the 3 other languages and used it when welcoming the missionaries to church.

So after 3 days of learning Shqip, we taught our first lesson and it was great until our "investigator" started talking. Let's just say from now on, I can't teach a lesson any worse. (or even teach at all. I didn't understand what she was saying as it was all in Shqip!) But I love this language and am determined to learn it so that I can use it to spread the gospel of Christ! One thing that really stood out to me was that I'm not here at the MTC to learn Shqip. I am here to learn how to invite others to come unto Christ and Shqip is just the tool for me to reach out and love, serve, and teach the Albanian people. I've heard a lot about relying on the Lord as I am teaching and having faith to speak what I have prepared and bring to my remembrance the things I've studied. I went into the lesson relying on the spirit but then realized that really, I may not have prepared myself to even bring things to remembrance. We need to do our part, before relying on the Lord to do all things. Whether that be reading a scripture to find an answer to a prayer, getting up to serve to know how to reach out or reconnect with someone, or studying the language to have things brought to my remembrance through the spirit.

Finally, I had an experience where someone asked, "How do you know God is there? How do you know that you aren't just talking to yourself?" I just want to testify to you that I know that God is there and when you pray, you are speaking to Him. I thought a lot about faith and how it is a hope for things which are not seen, which are true. I challenge you to really kneel down in prayer. First address Heavenly Father, then pray from your heart. Not a recited prayer, but a real communication with your Father in Heaven. Ask if He is there with a HOPE that He is! You will feel the warmth, the peace, and the feeling that you are speaking to your Father in Heaven. Then close "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" because it is through Heavenly Father's son, Jesus Christ, that we can do all things. I now am able to pray in Shqip and it's a beautiful experience! God (our Heavenly Father) truly is listening to us when we pray. I know that to be true and I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior. It is through my Savior that I can do all things! Even if that means learning Shqip. I love you all and I love being a missionary! Until next week!

Motra Olsen