Gëzuar Falënderimëve!

You Gëzuar Falënderimëve njerzit!!

So I just realized something, I've been sending a lot of you "Gëzuar Ditëlindje" not realizing I'm saying "Happy Birthday" hahaha wow. That's wrong. But Happy Thanksgiving!! How was your Thanksgiving?

Mine was absolutely wonderful! Unlike any other Thanksgiving, I wasn't with my family, but I did have my zone and the missionaries here as my family. Here's a little rundown of my Thanksgiving Day: I got to sing with the massive missionary choir "Come Thou Fount" to the Apostle (Church Leader) Elder Niel L. Andersen. His grandchildren put on a little presentation for us and handed out little Thanksgiving Cards they all put together. I then got to have my wonderful cafeteria thanksgiving meal. It was no steak and lobster like my previous thanksgivings...but I was thankful for the apple pie. My zone all ate together and went around saying what we're thankful for. We got to watch "Ephraim's Rescue" and do this incredible service project for the company, "Feeding Children Everywhere". We assembled dehydrated meals to donate and as an MTC we assembled 359,000 meals! It was incredible! Then that evening was yet another Thanksgiving program with a lot of musical performances....meaning I got to sing!! I sang with this double quartet throughout the program! We sang pieces like, "Prayer of Thanksgiving" and "All Creatures of Our God and King". It was beautiful and I was amazed looking out at the thousands of missionaries preparing to serve all over the world! It was beautiful! Then to top off the day, the MTC set up Christmas lights and officially turned them on so we all went out to see the lights and sing Christmas songs! I am very thankful for this Thanksgiving and for my family and all those who have supported me and continue to support me! I love you all!

Okay so reality check-I get my flight plans on FRIDAY and leave in 2 WEEKS to Albania! It hit me when I had the opportunity to SKYPE someone named Anxhela (Angela) who lives in Vlorë, Shqiperia (Albania). My companion and I got to skype her on Friday and although the connection was terrible and we only heard like every 4th word she said, we understood every 4th word she said and she was able to understand us! I am so excited to go out and serve the Albanian people! Speaking of the language, on Friday my Albanians and I tried to speak in Shqip for the entire day and I am amazed at how much I can speak. My excitement was boosted. Don't get me wrong, a have a LONG way to go, but I have hope, and with hope and faith, I will be able to speak the language and show my love for the people! In addition to skyping, we went around the MTC campus and went "street contacting" to other missionaries in Shqip talking about the Book of Mormon. 2 of us spoke in Shqip while the other translated. 

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting (first hour of church) I got to sing with my Albanians and then some of the Elders speaking Turkish. We sang, "Silent Night" or "Nat' e Qet'" in Albanian and Turkish. It was beautiful! I also got to teach with my companion, Motra Jones, a lesson on Faith in Jesus Christ. We talked about the importance of faith. 1. Faith in who He IS 2. Faith in what He DID and what He DOES 3. Faith in what WE can do THROUGH Him. I have faith in my Savior. He suffered for us and took upon Him our pain, our afflictions, our mistakes, and our sorrows so that we don't have to. While He has done that for us, I have faith in what He DOES and that is that He continues to comfort us in our afflictions if we turn to Him in prayer and in study. Then, because I have faith in who He is and what He does, I then have faith in what I can do through Christ!

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"

I cannot learn the language as quickly as I am without the help of my Savior and my effort to learn so that I may serve the Albanian people. I know that to be true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I now invite YOU to think about Jesus Christ this Christmas season and REMEMBER what Christmas is really about! I challenge you to #LIGHTtheWORLD. Check out this video to find out how (https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world?play=hero) Each day of December is a way to serve as Christ did until Christmas Day! Join me and we can serve together across the world! I love you so much! Your Savior loves you! And I am so blessed to represent Him this Christmas season through my service!

Have a wonderful week full of SNOW! Happy Winter! :)

Shqip Words of the Week

1. Sherbej (sher-bay) means to serve or "I serve"

2. Falënderimëve (fall-en-der-eem-e-vay) means thanksgiving

3. Të Dua (tuh do-ah) means I love you! (Or I love thou ;)

Thanks to my mom's decorations, I got to add some excitement to my room!

We decorated our room and even got a tree!

​I'm a nerd.

​These are the cute Thanksgiving Cards from Elder Andersen's grandchildren​.

​My Thanksgiving meal...​

​The double quartet I performed with!​

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​Looking good for the service project ;)​

​My favorite alto who performed with me in the double quartet!​

​I'm literally obsessed with these Christmas lights.​

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​Ran into Zack Holland at the MTC!​

​Happy Black Friday everyone!! ;)​

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Mirupafshim! Të dua!

Motra Olsen

Letters:

Sister Natalie Kay Olsen
DEC14  ADRTCS
2005 N 900 E Unit 125
Provo UT 84602

Email: natalie.olsen@myldsmail.net

mormon.org

Mirënjohje!

​​Mirëdita Secili!!!

Wow a lot happened this week and we have another fun upcoming week with Thanksgiving! I've been here at the MTC for 6 WEEKS now and I just have 3 MORE! I wanted to start off thanking you all for your examples and your support in my life! I truly am so grateful for every smile, kind word, advice, and support that you have given me. I love you truly!

So this week my zone and I had the opportunity to be hosts and welcome all the new missionaries coming into the MTC. We go to the entrance on the curb where families drop off their missionaries and help a missionary get to their residence and classes along with comforting them after leaving their family. I got to be a host to one of the international sisters from Canada and I just loved hearing about her excitement to serve and getting to know more about her home. In addition to hosting, we got new members to our zone. We welcomed 2 Dutch sisters.

So some fun new things about Shqip: First off the language is really coming along! We are now familiar with the grammar and sentence structure so we are just fine-tuning and really working toward progressing big time these final 3 weeks. One thing we learned this past week is that yes Shqip has the verb conjugations of simple past, imperfect past, present, future, and like 5 other tenses but in addition there is a "wishing tense" and a "wow tense". What that means is that if you're excited about something or shocked about something you use the "wow" tense. Wow, that must mean that I'd need to use it a lot ;) Then the wishing tense is when you desire or wish for something, then you completely conjugate the verb. Also in addition to many verb conjugations, there's about 7 different ways to say every noun (there are 5 cases). The language truly is beautiful and SO FUN.

Just some additional notes:

1. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Gary E. Stevenson this past week at a devotional!

2. I've been having a lot of rehearsals this last week and one day I was late to class. Due to my delay, our teachers have us "tract" (basically missionaries doing door approaches to strangers) if we are late. We arrived to class and saw a chair in front of the door with a Book of Mormon and a note saying, "You're late! Don't forget to pray..." it took us about "3 doors" to be let in haha

3. I had the opportunity to speak in a Sacrament meeting yesterday for the workers here at the MTC. I was told to pick my own topic.....I of course had to speak about gratitude. I just wanted to share with you a little message from my talk.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:19 

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

Something that I've really learned is the importance of gratitude. Especially learning a language, it is easy to get discouraged, but as I look back and see the things I know now compared to what I know yesterday, that is something to be grateful for! I can be grateful for the little things, the positive things throughout the day and just know that these are blessings from my Father in Heaven. I have even thanked my Heavenly Father for trials because it is through them that I have learned and grown closer to my Savior. I invite you to note your blessings each day. Whether that be the person that smiles to you in the street or a friendly note from a friend. I also invite you to read President Uchtdorf's talk "Grateful in Any Circumstance" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng). President Uchtdorf says, "We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?

Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our ​circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our​ ​present-​day challenges.This is not a gratitude of the lips but of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the​ ​heart and expands the mind.

​Gratitude heals. Be grateful in all things and through gratitude we can be comforted in our times of trial and recognize the Lord's hand in our lives. I love you all and I am so grateful for you! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week!

​Shqip Words of the Week:

1. Mirenjohje (meer-en-yo-hyay) means gratitude​

2. Darkë (dark) means dinner

3. Bekimet (beck-ee-met) means blessings

We of course had to welcome the new Dutch with tons of treats.

Hosting with some others missionaries!

Tracting....

The Sister I hosted from Canada!

Another sister I hosted.

My District! We have the Albanians and the Turkish speakers.

My beautiful companions!

All the sisters in our zone including the new Dutch! Shoutout to Zuster Barker from Kaysville in my zone! (She graduated with me)

My companions and I with President Bertosso (one of the MTC presidency) We've become really close to him as he's been comforting us in a lot of things. :)