Scatter Sunshine: Adriatic South: I am a Shqiptar!

Pershëndtje! Si Jeni? Si ke kaluar?

Hello from the beautiful Albania!! I don't even know where to begin other than that I LOVE it here! This is now my home for the next 17 months and I am happy to serve these Shqiptaret! First off, according to the Shqiptaret here, I don't even SOUND American!! What! So they call me Shqiptaret ;)

So after 27 hours of travel, I finally arrived in Tirana, Albania. To start off my adventure, while we were in the Austrian airport (Elder Harris, Motra Jones, and I) we were excited to talk with some Shqiptaret. Apparently our broken Shqip qualified us to become translators for this worker in the airport to this older couple so we tried to translate the sentence in Shqip and act out a wheelchair...

So a couple of things that I've have already learned about Albania:

1. Crosswalks don't exist. You just go for it.

2. The driving is crazy and I am the designated driver in my companionship so I've already had a week of experience...I'll be an Albanian driver in no time ;)

3. There are dogs EVERYWHERE. Along with chickens and random herds of goats along the highway.

4. When you say hi to people on streets, they are actually excited to talk to you.

5. The food is SO GOOD.

6. When you are greeted, it is traditional to kiss both cheeks.

So I am currently serving in the BEAUTIFUL city of Ko rce, Albania. It is in the south of Albania and I am an hour away from Greece. It is at the base of a mountain and it is COLD. But the people are far from being cold :) This area opened up just 3 months ago so we had just 4 members of our "branch" (more like "group". We don't have enough people to be a branch or a ward) One of the Elders, Elder Wilson, is represented as our "Branch President". I am the Branch pianist so I luckily will get a lot of practice with the piano :) Our church is in a rented out building in our apartment complex. We live right above it.

The people are so humble and so sweet! I want to share with you my Shqiptaret family here in Korce that we are teaching:

1. Joan along with his family are precious! Joan was just baptized this last Saturday making him the 5th member to our branch! We are currently teaching his mom, Zhaneta, and his sister, Aleksja. They are my family! Zhenta is my Shqip mom :) She told me that I am their "Dhurata për Krishtlindje" or their gift for Christmas this year! They are such a gift to me and just hearing their love for Jesus Christ and love for the Book of Mormon has been just the sweetest things I could ever experience!

2. Endri and Sonila are AMAZING! They are examples of people who rely on their faith and their belief in Christ to overcome all things! They are preparing to be baptized in these next couple of weeks and just seeing their desire to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized along with their love of the Book of Mormon has been so powerful!

3. Finally we are teaching sweet Rosela. She's just 10 years old and she has loved learning about Jesus Christ. She gets so excited to meet with us and she just laughs at my attempts to speak Shqip.

Speaking of the language...it has been going SO well! I don't know half of what people ask me, but when people are speaking, I am actually able to understand a lot along with communicating with them. I never know how many "how are yous" I need to say though to be considered a Shqiptar but I'm learning....and counting ;) I already was asked to give a talk in church and I'll probably have to prepare one every other week.

Finally, I want to talk about my companion, Motra Cajupi. She is the SWEETEST! She is a native Albanian from Vlorë, Albania so she helps me a LOT with the language. She is probably one of my favorite people; good thing because I spend 24/7 with her.

I have loved serving as a missionary and seeing the joy in the people's countenances as we teach of Christ and when they find Christ in their lives. I just want to share with you how much I have seen already the love that Christ has for us individually. I am here to serve first because I love the Lord. I then am here because the Lord loves you! I hope to share that with the Shqiptaret because it has been so powerful in my life! I cannot believe half of the things I do here in Shqiperia, but what I do know is that through Christ, I can do all things! I testify of the love that our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, has for you and you individually. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Romans 8: 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Until next week! Gëzuar Krishtlindje and I love you all SO MUCH!

P.S. I like letters ;) I can just wait 2 months until it gets to me hahaha