Scatter Sunshine: Adriatic South: Krishtlindja të Bardha

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! GEZUAR KRISHTLINDJET! I don't know where to begin-other than sharing that this Christmas was a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! What that means is-WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! It truly was a Christmas miracle!! This week has just been a week of miracles as we have exercised a lot of faith in Christ to accomplish His work!

Culture Shocks of the Week:
1. An Albanian buffet!!! No that doesn't exist-but this week we had a big Christmas dinner with everyone and had everyone bring an Albanian dish so we could have a Christmas dinner together! They were so confused at first not realizing they could just put whatever they want on their plate-in this culture the people are usually served. We just told them-"Well this is the American way so dig in!" It was a blast :)
2. Traditionally all of the churches here give out gifts to children on Christmas day. So at church yesterday, we had a TON of kids show up to our church, we sadly did not have anything to give but it definitely was a crazy meeting!
3. This was the Pogradec's group's FIRST CHRISTMAS! Also-because Christmas is not really celebrated here-everybody's still open and on work and it's just like a normal day. It's so weird! We however were able to put out some cookies and milk and sit around our tree and open up packages this morning haha

So to share about the miracles from this week-At the beginning of the week we were feeling pretty sad because one of our investigator's wasn't able to be baptized due to her family being against it. However when we went to Family Home Evening on Monday, she came up to us and said that she's getting baptized on the 23rd of December! I bawled! What's the miracle about it was that it truly was because of HER faith! We previously had fasted together that she would get baptized on December 23rd and the closer and closer the date came, her family still was against it and was not letting her and I just thought, "How is this going to happen?" I definitely doubted a little bit until I was able to truly see the goodness of God and how He truly brings about miracles according to our faith-especially the faith of Nexhi! She shared with us that it was because of her 6 year old little boy-He said, "Let mama be baptized because then she'll be happy and we'll have a happy family and when I grow up and get married, I'm going to get baptized with my wife!" The power of a child's words! I'm telling you-we then had such a BEAUTIFUL baptism at Christmastime and when she got home the night from her baptism, her husband found work! The Lord truly blesses us after a trial of our faith! It is incredible!

So Nexhi is actually the daughter-in-law of the incredible woman who gave up smoking and drinking and was baptized about 4 weeks ago! They read the scriptures and pray together every night. They came up to me and told me, "You know, before we were just mother and daughter-in-law, but now we're sisters!" OH MY GOSH SO CUTE! This gospel changes lives. Really. It blesses our families! Why? Because its Christ's gospel! He does the healing! He heals our broken relationships. He heals our sorrows, our pride, our anger, and ANYTHING as long as we allow Him to and we come unto Him through FAITH! Faith is not that we just believe, but we ACT upon that which we believe. If we truly believe in Christ, then we FOLLOW Him. Like the wise men and shepherds, they didn't just hear about Christ, believe in Him, and continue about their business. They CAME unto Him! They followed the star to find Him. I love the Forgotten Carols (I listen to them all the time) and one of the songs shares this, "3 Kings they found the Lord, and so can we." We must find Him. He is the Way and the only Way! He is the Light and the only light in our lives! If we look back and feel that we have been experiencing dark times, lets think if we are letting the source of true light into our lives: Jesus Christ. I plead you to come unto Him. I have felt so much peace through Him and have seen so many lives touched, healed, and blessed because of Him. All we need to do is to "Let Him in". I testify of that and of this Christmas season. He is the Gift! He is the reason why we can have eternal families and is the Light, the Peace, and the JOY that is in this world. He is the Light of the World and I testify that this Christmas Season is all because of Him. I say that in the name of our Savior, the Light and Life of this world, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Gëzuar Krishtlindjet!! I love you all so so much I cannot express it enough! Have a very merry Christmas and we will chat next year! ;)