Scatter Sunshine: Adriatic South: Здраво-Hey from Macedonia!

Здраво!! (Zdravo) This week I had the opportunity to go on an exchange in Macedonia and to serve a day there with 2 of the sweet Macedonian sisters!! One of the sisters: Sister Wright, is from the SPRINGFIELD STAKE in Massechusetts!! We realized that we've literally met each other at stake dances a few years ago!! It was fun to have a fellow East Coaster to reminisce with :) Then the other sister is Sister Rice from Iowa. She is so cute!

Culture Shocks of the Week:

1. In Macedonia they speak Macedonian (obviously) and I don't haha so I was back to day 1! But they use the cyrillic alphabet so I learned how to read it! Also the Book of Mormon is only in Serbian so it was fun to also learn a little Serbian for the day.

2. We were driving and we passed by this restaurant called the "White House" I felt like being back home in the US haha except not at all :)

3. One of our recent converts is SO AWESOME! She's actually a very well known, talented singer here in Kosovo-look up Eda Gjergji on youTube and she will pop right up and you will hear what Albanian traditional music is like. I love her!!

So going to Macedonia was like going to a whole new world! First off, couldn't read the signs or understand what anyone was saying. We were doing a Book of Mormon study and I was running around yelling out "Do you know English?" or "E dini Shqip?" (Do you know Albanian) I surprisingly met a lot that knew Albanian and some people from England were there :) Then I handed them the survey and was like "Sorry, I can't help you with reading this one" It was a lot of fun meeting so many new people and doing all I could with what I knew. That was something that I learned-yeah we can be restricted, have a disadvantage in things (like the language, I've been through that plenty of times before), but that doesn't keep us from doing the Lord's work and serving Him. We just do what we know and He will be there!

The branch in Skopje, Macedonia has 6 Macedonian members. Crazy right? And it's been open for about 7 years now! They are so awesome! This week on March 8 was also Women's Day so people were buying flowers in the streets for each other! I got my companions flowers to celebrate! We also had a lot of people give us giant bars of chocolate to celebrate so that was so nice!! Happy Women's Day!!!

Also fun fact: Our church building got egged this week....welcome to Kosovo :) Not too much has happened here in Gjakova. We actually got to meet a lot of the members here and they are all so cute!! We were able to be led to this sweet family who's father recently passed away and were able to share a message with them on eternal families. It was a miracle! It was late and we saw a boy run out into the street and thought to go to the home he came from. The mom led us right in and we met the family. Usually when someone passes away, they have a notice on the door and we noted that. It was a special moment to go in and share with them of the peace we find in Christ. Even though it's not always accepted here, I definitely was able to feel of that peace in the lesson.

I just want to share how much I love this work and how much I know that we have a Father in Heaven that LOVES us. That has just been the recurring message in everything I do and teach here in Kosovo. Yeah, many do not accept or believe in Christ here in Kosovo. It definitely hurts when many just shoot down Christ as if He was just some teacher on the earth at one point in time. But I KNOW that He IS our Savior. There is no other and so many do not realize what He has done for them if they just allow Him into their lives. I feel so honored and blessed to be able to stand as a witness of Him at all times here in Kosovo. We have a Heavenly Father that loves us SO MUCH that He SENT HIS Only Begotten Son.

2 Nephi 26: 24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

I know this to be true. This is Christ's restored church and HE is the ONLY way back to our loving Father in Heaven. I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I LOVE YOU! Have a great week!