Scatter Sunshine: Adriatic South: I'M OPENING A CITY!!!

Hello everyone!! I just received transfer calls this last weekend and found out that I am OPENING THE CITY OF POGRADEC FOR SISTERS!!! I have never been so excited in my life! Let me explain why: Pogradec was opened when Korcë was opened but has only had Elders all this time. It's right by Korcë and when I served in Korcë we worked with Pogradec all the time so I know a lot of the members and the city. Now I get to be one of the first sisters ever in the city and I cannot wait to see all the people again and work with everyone again! I get to see my Korcë family too!! Korcë now has 4 sisters! The work's really picking up in those areas and I am just so excited to do all I can to find and serve all the people there!! I will be headed down there this week.

Culture Shocks of the Week:

1. Byrek with fassule. Enough said. Motra Hysa with her Albanian cooking skills made it for us and it is incredible. It's basically bean pie but honestly, find me sometime when I get home and I'll make it for you.

Other Kosovo treats: FLI! It's honestly straight up a byrek with nothing in it. For those of you who don't know what byrek is, it's basically flour, water, oil, and butter. I would say really thin stuffed pie crust. Fli is basically just the thin pie crust with like 15 layers.

2. According to little Maria in the branch here, I am a lopë (a cow) hahaha She was matching us up with what animals we are.

3. We have a church by our house and then about 10 mosques around the city so I wake up to church bells and get woken up by mosque calls in the middle of the night. I love it.

4. BONUS! We were talking to this old man and he then turned around, ran to his car, and brought us a piece of gum as a welcoming us here to Kosovo. I love the people here.

I will say I am going to miss my Gjakova family here and this city. While I was only here for 6 weeks, I loved it. My last week here in Kosovo was filled with so many miracles. First off, the work up in Kosovo is a lot different than in Albania. Not as many people are as open or interested in learning about Christ. It's actually heartbreaking to even say His name and they turn and run away. However this week, we met a family who has a strong believe in Christ (a rare find) and when we arrived at their home, they were literally watching a movie about the life of Christ. We were just in awe. We then share with them our message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they were so impacted and the whole family accepted the invitation to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. I was FILLED with such joy and may have teared up right there...this gospel TRULY blesses families! Honestly I see that! It brings families together! They then came to church yesterday and loved it and are continued and excited to live this gospel: The gospel of Jesus Christ. This truly was a miracle here in Gjakova!

This week we started to do creative finding activities to get people's attention about Christ and families! We put up a whiteboard with questions about God and about the family! We asked the question, "Do you think you will be with your family in heaven?" People do not think a lot about what will happen after this life here and proposing that was powerful! We were able to testify that we can be with our families through faith in Jesus Christ. It is because of Christ that we can be cleansed, strengthened, and blessed with an eternal family. We also did another activity where we walked out with clipboards with a page of the Book of Mormon on it. We handed people a highlighter and asked them to highlight every time it says "God" or Lord" on that page. As people did it, we were able to show them that the Book of Mormon testifies of God! On EVERY page it teaches us about God and how He is in our lives! We then had people interested in learning more! Through that we found that miraculous family!

Finally this week was just filled with special moments. We got to hike up to see the top of Gjakova with our Gjakova branch. I also had a sweet opportunity to visit one of the families in the branch and help them to start reading the scriptures and praying together as a family. I have a strong testimony that through studying the scriptures and praying together as a family, the family truly is blessed and brought closer together! There are less fights, less heartaches, and greater love and greater happiness. I have seen that in my life and I love seeing that begin in the lives of the people here. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it has power! It brings our family together as we learn about Christ and pray together.

3 Nephi 18:21 Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.

I testify that the Book of Mormon is true! It is another testimony of Jesus Christ and it unites our family as we read it and apply it in our lives. I say that because I SEE that here in Kosovo, in Albania. I know that this church IS the Church of Jesus Christ and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else other than serving and loving these people here in the Adriatic South Mission. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all so much! I'm going to miss my companions and all of the people here but I am so excited to continue and serve the people in Pogradec!!