Besim :)

Hey everyone!! Happy Halloween this week!!! I have no idea how much Halloween is a thing here but I'll let you know next week! haha

Culture Shocks of the Week:

1. NO PICTURES!! I'm sorry haha I honestly don't even no what happened this week haha

2. You have no idea how many APPLES we are given. Every time we meet with someone or are even rejected in the street, we are given an apple. I don't even know what to do with them!

3. Whenever we meet with the older ladies here, we always sit down for tea. I feel like I'm in Europe or something :)

So this week, I am just in awe at how incredible the people are here and how miraculous their faith is. This week I wanted to share a lot of stories from the people:

There is an incredibly strong member here and we had a little Relief Society Activity watching 17 Miracles with the women about the Pioneers traveling across the plains. Lets just say that a lot of them didn't like it....there were a lot of tears HOWEVER I wanted to share some quotes from this member: "After seeing all those pioneers suffering through the winter, I'm embarrassed when I think 'Oh it's too cold to go to church'" She also was like, "Well, what's the prophet asking us to do today? What can we do?" We were able to let her know, no, we are not walking across the plains and all trekking like the pioneers. She'd be willing though if that were the case!

There is a miracle lady here who just this week went from drinking and smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day down to just 2 cigarettes! Do you want to know what's helped her? THE BOOK OF MORMON! That's honestly my favorite book. It has POWER! It truly is the Word of God!

We were meeting with a recently baptized member. He truly is such a humble man and he was like, "If you gave me a choice between a massive case of money and the Book of Mormon, I wouldn't take the money. The Book of Mormon is priceless. It means everything to me."

The faith of young children is incredible! We were in a lesson with this lady and her son and right in the middle of the lesson he was like, "Everyone be quiet! I need to say a prayer" He then proceeded to pray! What a stud!

A member got a job on the weekend and he got iron in his eye. He immediately was able to get it taken care and had a patch on his eye. When his wife asked him if they were going to church the next day, he then said, "I've got my other eye right?" WHAT A GUY! I then about cried as I saw him walking in the church with his sunglasses, his eye patch, and a smile on his face.

These people truly inspire me! They are INCREDIBLE! I just look at what they go through and it just pains me! HOWEVER their faith is strong! Their joy is full because of Jesus Christ and His gospel! How incredible is that! I just wanted to share of the exceeding joy I felt yesterday as EVERY SEAT in our Sacrament room was FILLED! We couldn't fit another person! We had 27 people there in church and it was truly a miracle! I love this gospel! I truly want to testify of the strength and goodness of the Lord.

Alma 26: 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

All of these miracles, all of these things are not my doing. Ever. I just see the strength and the goodness of God as the lives of these people change and are filled with pure joy. I will boast of my God. I truly am nothing, but the Lord has allowed me to partake in His joy of His sheep being brought again unto Him. I am just so thankful for Him. I don't really know what else to express. I just plead that we all come unto Him so He can heal us. His words are truly in the Book of Mormon and His warmth is found in our prayers to our Father in Heaven. He truly hears us and loves us. I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Hey-challenge for you this week: READ THE BOOK OF MORMON! Everyday! You won't regret it :) Also read this talk from President Nelson on the power of the Book of Mormon!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/the-book-of-mormon-what-would-your-life-be-like-without-it?lang=eng

THIS LOOKS LIKE POGRADEC! Hands down, it IS my favorite picture :)​

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Mirupafshim! Të dua!

Motra Olsen

Letters:

Adriatic South Mission

Sister Natalie Olsen

POB 2984

Bulevardi "Gjergj Fishta"

Qendra "Alpas", Shkalla #5, Apt #14

Tirana

Albania

(If you can't send it with the POB box number, you can just send it without it. I'll still get it)

Email: natalie.olsen@myldsmail.net

mormon.org

Një Vitë!! ONE YEAR!!

I officially have hit my YEAR MARK!! WHAT?! No I didn't burn any shirts or anything...but I managed to burn a pumpkin haha but this last week was a special one! We had one of the families we are teaching get BAPTIZED!!! We now have the first family baptized in Pogradec!! This city truly is a special place!

I'm going to spice some things up a bit haha

12 Things I've Learned This Past Year:

1. Kindness is service

2. You don't need measuring cups to cook. Just eye it, sample it, and all works out! I've learned from the best here-and that is EVERY Albanian!

3. Patience requires a lot more than just waiting...it requires faith that things will work out, hope, and a lot of love. 

4. It's a LOT easier to choose happiness. While I can go through the same things everyday-street contact, tract, study, eat, and repeat-It's a BLAST everyday when you choose it to be :)

5. If I never know what to do; If I'm placed with a lot of responsibility-or pretty much all of it because we basically need to run everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, here in Albania, I am NOT doing it alone. I have a Father in Heaven that I can turn to IMMEDIATELY in prayer!

6. The Scriptures are the GREATEST THINGS ON THE PLANET! Man they are so awesome! It's also fun to read the Book of Mormon in English and then the Pearl of Great Price in Albanian-ha! I'm trying to get any study in that I can it's like CAKE!

7. Speaking of cake-You can't have dessert here without it being drenched in sugar water. Don't get me wrong-it's good. Another note-don't plan on going on any healthy diet here you'll just get 5 plates of byrek and salad drenched in olive oil. Welcome to Albania :) Or more-the life of a missionary haha

8. I never understood how much I could love an ENTIRE people! I love the Albanian people! It's truly a love I can't express into words. Just that I can only imagine just slightly, the immense love that our Father in Heaven has for us!

9. Speaking of these people-they just GIVE! They have taught me so much! That includes not to compliment or they'll give you all that they have ;) haha and to truly give more of myself to others.

10. The importance of family. Oh my goodness-I cannot even begin to explain! These people are CENTERED on the family here and there is such a special Spirit in the air to see so many walking with their families and so many weddings blasting through the streets. Family is such a focus that every goodbye given to me is, "Hope you find a great husband!" or "May you have 10 kids" I'm just like-woah. I've got time haha but I have truly seen that the family IS ordained of God! The couple that was baptized this last weekend were united with their 2 children who have been baptized within this last year. They are now all preparing to go to the temple. When we end lessons with this family, we all kneel in family prayer and it is so precious! The family is SO IMPORTANT! It truly IS the plan of God! His plan is not just that WE return back to Him, but that our FAMILIES do! Anything Pro-Family is Pro-Christ. I can testify of that! Christ suffered so that we can be together with our families forever :)

11. God LOVES His children! He loves you! I cannot tell you how many times the Lord has placed someone in my path so that I can reach out to them or to send me an idea how to serve someone. I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to serve. He's the one sending the messages thinking of EVERY little detail to help each and every one of us.

12. To serve God, to find happiness, we just need to be WILLING to follow Him. THEN He will qualify us. I do not have the training, the background knowledge, or the skill to council families, to help people find jobs, to teach foreigners English, to teach the gospel in a foreign language and ALBANIAN at that too, to know the needs of these people, to be the source of resolving conflicts, to run meetings and activities, to be the chef in all of the refreshments required for activities, and so many other things. The good thing is-I don't have to! But someone does-and that is Christ. If I am just WILLING to serve Him. If I am willing to do all these things-if I have faith in Him then He will qualify me. He will make that happen. Faith truly is so powerful! I am some foreign, 20 year old girl trying to take care of so many here and what do I know about their struggles? What do I know about their sufferings? While I don't know, someone does. As long as I look to Christ, obey Him, and have faith in Him, He can, and has turned me into someone capable of doing so much I definitely have lacked the faith in myself doing. Luckily, I just need faith in Him, then miracles are brought about. Then through losing myself and trusting HIM-I find myself.

I just want to share with you how thankful I am to serve on this mission. Oh yeah is this the hardest thing I've ever done? You got that right. But I have seen so much change and my eyes have been OPENED in this last year than any other time in my life. My mission is changing my life for good and will continue to change my life. However, it's not the mission that's changing me, it's Christ. I love you all. I can testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

BONUS! Culture Shocks of the Week:

I knew I had to do it :)

1. CHESNUTS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FIRE! It's a thing here in Albania! I actually had it with a family for my birthday and wow are they good! haha now I can only think of Christmas. Who am I kidding-I've been thinking about Christmas since July :)

2. Canned pumpkin doesn't exist here-or really anything canned so do you know what that means? You got that right-I chopped, boiled, scooped, and mashed my OWN pumpkin! Now I got a hunk-a-ton of pumpkin so looks like it's going to be pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, and pumpkin byrek of course for a week!

3. I feel like all my culture shocks are turning into food. Obviously it's a problem for me haha BUT it's JAM season so I've had juices and jams I didn't know could be juices and jams. While the fresh fruits are all out in the summer, winter brings on jams and juices and people keep GIVING them to us! Ahh! I currently have cherry jam, apple jam, and quince jam (yes, a fruit here in ALbania) in my fridge.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Have a wonderful week!

I mashed this pumpkin!!!

I am proud of my pumpkin :)

My burnt pumpkin haha

I LOVE THEM!! They make me so happy!

The whole group at the baptism :)

Look at this eternal family! Aren't they so cute? Yes the son baptized his mom :)

Went to a little museum here in Pogradec :)

Crepes :) My favorite food on the planet!

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Mirupafshim! Të dua!

Motra Olsen

Letters:

Adriatic South Mission

Sister Natalie Olsen

POB 2984

Bulevardi "Gjergj Fishta"

Qendra "Alpas", Shkalla #5, Apt #14

Tirana

Albania

(If you can't send it with the POB box number, you can just send it without it. I'll still get it)

Email: natalie.olsen@myldsmail.net

mormon.org

Ne Jemi Pema!!!

Hello everyone!! It is finally FALL here!! I say that because we don't have much trees here in Pogradec, but I went to Korcë today again for a P-Day with my companion and WOW was it GORGEOUS! I finally felt like it was Fall :) And it's getting pretty cold so that's been fun! The trees now are just beautiful! This is actually perfect for the title-Ne Jemi Pema! That means "We are trees!" Yeah....I got a little too into a youth activity connected to Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon and referred to us as trees. We're making T-Shirts now about it so it's all good :)

Culture Shocks of the Week:

1. October 19th was Nëna Teresa Day! It's huge here because she's claimed to be Albanian. Basically everyone was out of school so that was fun.

2. Something else super special was seeing a parade of people in pink celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness! You don't see things like that a lot around here so it was awesome!

3. So I can now accompany a VIOLIN now?! This is a big deal-before my mission I'd be scared to death to accompany anything with the piano but I've been playing a lot here and for baptisms, me and another missionary have been playing the piano and the violin. No, I have not played the violin haha

So this last weekend Pogradec had yet another baptism!! It is such a blessing to watch Pogradec grow! We are praying to become a branch soon! These people here are so special! It was a man, his mother, and his son that was baptized this last weekend! Another major blessing was that we are now working with a member to work on her MISSION PAPERS!! I am so excited for her! We have been doing mission prep and trying to do all we can to translate the papers haha sometimes I just end up reading the word in English in a super weird accent hoping it will be something in Albanian or acting it out what the questions are haha that's just for the medical section. Speaking of acting out-I also managed to help out in primary acting out the Book of Mormon stories haha I love it!

Funny story, we were having a lesson with a lady in her cafe this week and I saw someone with a plate that had what looked like cottage cheese-I love cottage cheese-but I was so wrong. It still doesn't exist here. However-when I asked the lady what it was, she grabs a giant jar of this thick cheese and gets a massive spoon and shoves it in my mouth. No joke. It was awesome haha the cheese however was not. :)

Something that I came across reading in the Book of Mormon was in Alma 27:

16 And it came to pass that as Ammon was going forth into the land, that he and his brethren met Alma, over in the place of which has been spoken; and behold, this was a joyful meeting.

17 Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.

18 Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.

What stood out to me was the part that said, "The humble seeker of happiness". I was thinking about what that meant. Ammon literally was so happy to be reunited with his friend Alma after being out serving missions to the Lamanites to preach the word of God. Ammon was so happy that he PASSED OUT! I just want to note-he fell AGAIN to the earth. This was not a one time occurrence ;) But I loved how then Mormon gives the account of this story saying was this not exceeding joy? He then shared that Ammon truly was a humble seeker of happiness. This joy comes only to the humble seeker of happiness. It then occurred to me that a humble seeker of happiness are those that find joy in the little things. Those that count their blessings from the Lord. Let me tell you-when you count your blessings, it's A LOT. As we find joy in the little things, we are grateful for the little things, and we share our gratitude to the Lord through prayer, we can be this humble seeker of happiness that finds TRUE joy! EXCEEDING joy even! I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you!! COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS! I'll start: First off, you're a blessing to me! :)

​REUNITED with my girl Aleksia in Korcë! I LOVE HER! Literally she's my sister :) She's been with me from day one!​

With my Korcë family :)​

​I love this girl. Whenever we go over to this members' home, their cousin sees us coming and she BOOKS it up the stairs in order to come and see us!​

MISSION PAPERS WOOOOO!!!!​

Baptism at the lake!!

​Cobblestone streets of Korcë!​

Back home :) This place is so special to me! (Korcë)​

YEAH!!! My 2 homes :)​

​​I don't know what this tree us but it's pretty cool!​

My comp, Motra Saldana, and I found the filter part of my camera and had a little fun :) We got us some hot cocoa at the Beatles cafe!​

Our old film photo shoot.... :)​

FALL!!! In Korcë!​

—�—�—

Mirupafshim! Të dua!

Motra Olsen

Letters:

Adriatic South Mission

Sister Natalie Olsen

POB 2984

Bulevardi "Gjergj Fishta"

Qendra "Alpas", Shkalla #5, Apt #14

Tirana

Albania

(If you can't send it with the POB box number, you can just send it without it. I'll still get it)

Email: natalie.olsen@myldsmail.net

mormon.org

Edhe Një Qind!!!

WOOOOOO! EDHE NJE QIND!! (And 100 years. Every Albanian says it when it's your birthday) This last week was an awesome one and I actually got to spend my birthday at a zone conference so it was fun to see some of my old companions-especially Motra Jones from the MTC! I love her!! She and her comp made me a little cake and then sent me the Korcë Branch singing to me happy birthday :) It was awesome! And I'm 20 now-what the heck! Well, I will have to say, I've had the most happen and I've learned SO MUCH this last year than any other year in my life so it's been a good one!! (I'll let you know next week what I've learned in a year ;) Haven't hit my year mark yet!

Culture Shocks of the Week:

1. So the Albanians have this superstition where you can't wish somebody happy birthday before their birthday or it's bad luck. So didn't realize it was my birthday until they all shouted it out to me on my birthday ;)

2. They have a lottery here to go to America and it is HUGE! Everybody gets super into it!

3. I love how much the people here are huge into cooking! They get so excited to see what they'll cook for the next day. We were carving pumpkins on Monday for a Family home Evening Activity with our little group here and one of the mothers asked, "Can I take our pumpkin home and make it into a byrek?" It was awesome!! 

To be honest, I can't remember much of this lat week haha I swear time is SPEEDING UP! But what's crazy is that my companion GOES HOME on Wednesday and I am getting a new companion tomorrow: Motra Saldana! She is also in her last 6 weeks of her mission so I will be her companion until the end just like with Motra Risk! Crazy! Motra Saldana is from Mexico. It looks like I'm going to be in Pogradec for a while! I love this place and these people so I'm living it up!

Some activities and things we've had this last week have been that we went on a bike riding activity with the members and others to these BEAUTIFUL villages on water!! We also watched General Conference this last weekend with everyone and it was awesome! It's incredible to see how much more Albanian I understand after just 6 months from the last General Conference Session. We all gathered together, and had a potluck this last weekend. Let me tell you-Albanian and their cooking and everybody bringing their best dish was absolutely fantastic! They were all super excited too!! We also had a full out meal with that couple that was recently baptized and they made us the koran fish!! Found out why they're rare-their endangered. And I'm being fed them....

This last week we had some pretty powerful experiences I wanted to share with you. I just want to share with you the power of the Book of Mormon! This last week, this woman we are teaching as she's been reading the Book of Mormon, she said to us one day, "This book. It's not like it's forcing us to believe in Christ or to join some religion. It's as if it IS the way! This IS God's way!" We then had another family we are teaching-I LOVE THEM-and the father was talking about work on Sunday. I felt impressed to share 1 Nephi 3:7 from the Book of Mormon-one that we all know and love:

1 Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

After that moment, I saw him so determined to work and to find a way so he can keep the Sabbath Day because he knew that through the Lord, there will be a way to accomplish all that the Lord has commanded.

We have a Heavenly Father that cares about us and loves us-in every DETAIL of our lives! I have seen that not only through myself, but through others. I see the excitement of others to read the Book of Mormon. I actually actually printed off the Book of Mormon pages (the book font was too small) in English and the lady who received them was so excited to read and then she realized it was in English....dang it....haha I love the love that these people have to learn and to come unto Christ! It is powerful and especially after listening to conference, I am coming to learn more and more about how beautiful the Book of Mormon is! Please read it everyday. It is something so sweet above anything that is sweet and so pure above anything that is pure. It truly consists the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings us closer to Christ and closer to joy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pumpkin Carving for Family Home Evening!!

Bike Riding Activity!

One of the communist bunkers painted into a ladybug. I love it!

The village on water :)

Literally I love my life :)

My companion Motra Risk and me! I love her tons it's crazy she's going home!

MOTRA JONES!!! I LOVE THIS GIRL!! I was so happy to be with her on my birthday!

I LOVE THIS FAMILY! I spent my birthday with them and it was the best! Yes-we had roasted chestnuts just like from the Christmas song!

My birthday breakfast! Yeah-THAT'S MAPLE SYRUP THERE! You have no idea how happy that makes me to find a little bit of home here in Albania :) Shout out to my New Hampshire folks!! I miss you TONS actually! Hopefully I can visit you soon! ;) ;)

Officially 20!!!

We were over at this recent converts' home with the Elders and like every Albanian, they gave up slippers. The slippers were just a little too small for the Elders....hahaha then mine were massive!

The Koran fish!

Motra Risk and me at dinner!

​Albanian potluck!

​

We went out to bowl for our last P-Day​

​Spending time with the Tirana Sisters :)​

​All the Sisters in the mission! We had a Sisters Conference recently!​

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Mirupafshim! Të dua!

Motra Olsen