Scatter Sunshine: Adriatic South: Libri i Mormonit

Hey how've you been? Because I extended the invitation last week of sharing a funny story, now it's my turn. :) So this last week we were over at this lady's home for lunch. Her mom was there and she was just talking and conversing with us for like 20 minutes. Then after the 20 minutes, she asks, "Do you know Shqip? (Albanian) Then the daughter spoke to her mom "If they are responding to you in Shqip, it means that they know Shqip". It was the funniest thing.

Culture Shocks of the Week:

1. The cities here always have workers here with brooms made out of sticks and twigs sweeping up the streets! We actually have some friends now we pass by every day, and multiple times throughout our day at that as they are with their brooms calling out "Where are you headed to now?"

2. I've grown an appreciation for vacuums. Here, everyone has rugs- carpet doesn't exist. Nor vacuums, therefore with a lot of water and soap, and flooding the floor of peoples' walkways, we cleaned a lady's rugs this past week.

3. Here there's a 3 wheeled vehicle called a "dum dum" (doom doom) and they're everywhere! I always feel like they're on the edge of tipping over.

Oh my goodness. We saw so many miracles and blessings this past week to the point of where we had people running to US to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ! An awesome story of one friend of ours, we'll name her A, we were leaving English course and this girl ran up to us calling out, "Are you the girls with the Book of Mormons?" at that point we had an opportunity to teach our message and she shared with us her question of "There are so many churches! How can I know which of them are right?" If any of you have that question, ask the missionaries and they'll let you know :) It was so awesome and we are so excited to continue teaching her!

We had a precious moment this last week with a lady who has been going through a lot of difficult challenges in her life. She shared with us how she fell away from Christ and it was through a pray that she felt such a powerful love of Christ and then met us in the streets. She knew she wanted to turn back to Christ so she met with us. It was such a special moment testifying of the love of our Savior and testifying about how it is not what we did in the past that matters, but what we decide now to change. That is repentance. No matter what stage of life we are in, we will ALWAYS be forgiven as we turn to Christ and follow Him!

We met with another girl this week named G who has read a little bit of the Book of Mormon before. It was so special because she shared, "I love reading and I feel something different when I read this book. There's a peace and a happiness I feel when I read this." I can testify that that feeling is the Holy Ghost: The Spirit of God testifying of this truth of this book! Another lady that called out to us in the streets said, "Come to my house and bring me a Book of Mormon. I miss him." Something that stood out to me was that she said, "I miss him" in broken up English. While it could've been just a grammatical error translating from Shqip to English, I thought about that phrase "I miss him". I then thought about replacing "him" with Christ. The Book of Mormon truly are the words of Christ! It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ in addition to the Bible! I truly feel a longing when I do not read the Book of Mormon. I can testify of the truth of the Book of Mormon. It contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It truly brings peace into our lives because it is through it, that Christ speaks to us. In this recent General Conference, our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson testified, "We live in a time of great trouble and wickedness. What will protect us from the sin and evil so prevalent in the world today? I maintain that a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of His gospel will help see us through to safety. If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, please do so. If you will read it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, the Holy Ghost will manifest its truth to you." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/the-power-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng)

I can testify of that! It is Christ and His peace, His protection, and His love that we miss when we do not feast upon His words in the Book of Mormon daily. I have found the greatest peace and the greatest joy when I read His words. I invite you to read the Book of Mormon every day and be filled with His love! I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Wow I love you all a ton! Really! Have a wonderful week and a wonderful Easter!

All my previous companions in the mission :) I love them all!

Woooo suflaqe! (pita bread with salad, fries, chicken, tomatoes, and a bunch of other random stuff)

Dum dum! I want me one of these :)

We found one of our gospel books on the streets in a book sale hahaha we didn't expect that!

We found American Chinese food in Albania!

We had Sisters conference this week where all of the sisters from Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania gathered together. My companion and I got to give a training as Sister Training Leaders so that was fun!