I am a Shqiptar!

Pershëndtje! Si Jeni? Si ke kaluar?

Hello from the beautiful Albania!! I don't even know where to begin other than that I LOVE it here! This is now my home for the next 17 months and I am happy to serve these Shqiptaret! First off, according to the Shqiptaret here, I don't even SOUND American!! What! So they call me Shqiptaret ;)

So after 27 hours of travel, I finally arrived in Tirana, Albania. To start off my adventure, while we were in the Austrian airport (Elder Harris, Motra Jones, and I) we were excited to talk with some Shqiptaret. Apparently our broken Shqip qualified us to become translators for this worker in the airport to this older couple so we tried to translate the sentence in Shqip and act out a wheelchair...

So a couple of things that I've have already learned about Albania: 

1. Crosswalks don't exist. You just go for it.

2. The driving is crazy and I am the designated driver in my companionship so I've already had a week of experience...I'll be an Albanian driver in no time ;)

3. There are dogs EVERYWHERE. Along with chickens and random herds of goats along the highway.

4. When you say hi to people on streets, they are actually excited to talk to you.

5. The food is SO GOOD. 

6. When you are greeted, it is traditional to kiss both cheeks.

So I am currently serving in the BEAUTIFUL city of Ko rce, Albania. It is in the south of Albania and I am an hour away from Greece. It is at the base of a mountain and it is COLD. But the people are far from being cold :) This area opened up just 3 months ago so we had just 4 members of our "branch" (more like "group". We don't have enough people to be a branch or a ward) One of the Elders, Elder Wilson, is represented as our "Branch President". I am the Branch pianist so I luckily will get a lot of practice with the piano :) Our church is in a rented out building in our apartment complex. We live right above it. 

The people are so humble and so sweet! I want to share with you my Shqiptaret family here in Korce that we are teaching:

1. Joan along with his family are precious! Joan was just baptized this last Saturday making him the 5th member to our branch! We are currently teaching his mom, Zhaneta, and his sister, Aleksja. They are my family! Zhenta is my Shqip mom :) She told me that I am their "Dhurata për Krishtlindje" or their gift for Christmas this year! They are such a gift to me and just hearing their love for Jesus Christ and love for the Book of Mormon has been just the sweetest things I could ever experience!

2. Endri and Sonila are AMAZING! They are examples of people who rely on their faith and their belief in Christ to overcome all things! They are preparing to be baptized in these next couple of weeks and just seeing their desire to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized along with their love of the Book of Mormon has been so powerful!

3. Finally we are teaching sweet Rosela. She's just 10 years old and she has loved learning about Jesus Christ. She gets so excited to meet with us and she just laughs at my attempts to speak Shqip.

Speaking of the language...it has been going SO well! I don't know half of what people ask me, but when people are speaking, I am actually able to understand a lot along with communicating with them. I never know how many "how are yous" I need to say though to be considered a Shqiptar but I'm learning....and counting ;) I already was asked to give a talk in church and I'll probably have to prepare one every other week.

Finally, I want to talk about my companion, Motra Cajupi. She is the SWEETEST! She is a native Albanian from Vlorë, Albania so she helps me a LOT with the language. She is probably one of my favorite people; good thing because I spend 24/7 with her.

I have loved serving as a missionary and seeing the joy in the people's countenances as we teach of Christ and when they find Christ in their lives. I just want to share with you how much I have seen already the love that Christ has for us individually. I am here to serve first because I love the Lord. I then am here because the Lord loves you! I hope to share that with the Shqiptaret because it has been so powerful in my life! I cannot believe half of the things I do here in Shqiperia, but what I do know is that through Christ, I can do all things! I testify of the love that our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, has for you and you individually. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Romans 8:  38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Until next week! Gëzuar Krishtlindje and I love you all SO MUCH!

P.S. I like letters ;) I can just wait 2 months until it gets to me hahaha

Saying goodbye to my wonderful teachers at the MTC.

New comp

Tirana, Albania!

Part of the village of Libonik, Albania. It is close to Korce.

I went in to teach in the village of Libonik to a special sister named Shpressa

A Cathedral in Korce! The people here are either Muslim or Greek Orthodox. 

Joan and Simon.

My family!! Zhaneta, Joan, Aleksja along with Motra Cajupi and Elder Wilson.

My view from my apartment complex.

My apartment complex. The church is on the 2nd floor.

The streets of the city of Korce!!
​

Inside my apartment

-- 

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

ç'farë është jeten time?!

AHHH ç'farë është jeten time?! 

(What is my life?)

Pershëndetje everyone! Life is about to get crazy as I board my flight, or multiple flights, tomorrow! After 27 hours of travel...I'll be in Albania!!

So a couple of things: I wanted to share with you how much I love you. Like, you have no idea. I am so thankful for every letter, every care package assembled by my cousins, and Christmas card! As some of you know, missionaries are pretty pumped to get letters ;) Also, this last week in TRC I got to skype a Hungarian in Hungary who speaks Albanian so that was pretty cool!

So you know you're crazy when just after 9 weeks, you are called to give a talk in church and you give the ENTIRE talk in Albanian. I cannot believe the Shqip I know after 9 weeks! Even the amount of Shqip I'm even able to understand after 9 weeks! I have come to LOVE the language! I'm not perfect in the language whatsoever and I probably won't understand a single word anyone says once I get to Albania on Wednesday, but I know the language will come. The language helps me to prepare to serve the people. The language isn't my focus, the people are. I honestly cannot wait to step off the plane and probably start bawling once I finally see my Shqiptart: The people that I get to serve and teach the source of happiness to for 18 months! 

So today I got to go to the temple and it will be some time before I'm able to go to the temple. 17 months to be exact. I just wanted to share how much peace I feel when I am at the temple. I truly feel the love and the spirit of God while I am at the temple, in His home. I will miss that for a while but I know that I can feel of that spirit every time I serve, read the Book of Mormon, and pray to my Father in Heaven. How special is that! God loves us SO MUCH that He has given us so many ways to feel of His love and to find peace in our lives through Him! I have truly felt that when I am having difficulty with the language or facing any difficulty in life. If you ever think, "life is hard" I encourage you to drop to your knees and pray to our Father in Heaven. He is there. He listens. I have witnessed that myself as I instantly feel peace when I pray. That is one way that He shows me that He is there.

I leave with you my love and hope you have a wonderful week! My next email will be from ALBANIA! I just wanted to share how much I have loved the MTC, truly. I have learned so much here and I am forever thankful for that! I am now ready to hit the ground running in less than 24 hours! Until next week!!

Shqip Words of the Week:

1. Sa bukur! (saw boo-koor) means how beautiful! I say that all the time :)

2. Po means yes and jo (yo) means no

3. Po pra (po prah) it's basically their way of saying, "duh".

We met a senior couple going to Albania this week!

I love my cousins! They are the CUTEST!

My talk in church. :)

​She didn't know what I was doing...and neither did I.

It was so fun being able to see Elder Horne like everyday!

 He's now headed to South Korea! These 9 weeks have been awesome!

I ran into the real Indiana Jones! (Elder Jones) Don't mind him blinking.

​I love my companion: Motra Jones :)

Natalie speaking shqip (cut and copy link)

https://youtu.be/Bh3F4EYtw8I

-- 

Mirupafshim! Të dua!

Motra Olsen

Letters:

​I'll let you know next week. :)

Email: natalie.olsen@myldsmail.net

mormon.org

Një Javë Më Shumë!

Një Javë Më Shumë! One more week and then I'm headed to ALBANIA!

I hope you had a wonderful week! I got my flight plans this last week so I will be finally flying out to Tirana, Albania next Tuesday, December 13th. I start my traveling adventure at 3:50am and travel for about 24 hours total. I get to have 2 layovers: one in Chicago, IL and then one in Vienna, Austria! Then I finally fly to my Albania and hit the ground running! 

So this week was pretty exciting! We got to Skype Anxhela AGAIN on Friday! She's in Vlorë, Albania and she has such a beautiful light to her as she shared with us her belief in Jesus Christ and the great love that she has felt from Him. At the end of our lesson with her, it was so funny. She just told us, "Hey can you work on the "ti" form (you informal) instead of the "ju" form (you formal/plural) because then I don't feel like an old lady?" So now I know what to really work on before I head out to Albania :)

I got to do a lot of singing and caroling! First off, I finally got to perform my solo, "Abide With Me 'Tis Eventide", today at a welcoming of the older missionaries! Then last week, a ton of missionaries all came in and caroled at this dinner for our Branch Presidents and their Presidency. It was so beautiful singing, "Silent Night" and other songs in celebration of Christ's birth!

This last week I was reading in the Book of Mormon about Jesus Christ visiting the Americas after 

He was resurrected in 3 Nephi 17 5 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them.

6 And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. 

7 Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy. 

Then in the same chapter...

20 And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them:Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.

 21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

 22 And when he had done this he wept again;

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, wept for the children. He weeps for you, comforts you, and heals you because he "has compassion upon you". He loves you, immensely and individually. I feel of that love as I serve. I feel of that love as I read from the scriptures (The Bible and the Book of Mormon). How beautiful to know that we are LOVED! This Christmas season is truly a time to feel of that love! As we serve, give, and love, we are doing as the Savior did and in return, we feel of such joy and love! That joy and love is from the Savior. Remember this Christmas season to remember "Christ" in Christmas and to remember that you are loved with a pure and immense love from Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful week! I love you so much! Please send me Christmas Cards or letters! I'll soon have to change my address next week! 

Shqip Words of the Week:

1. Dashuri (dah-shor-ee) means love

2. Falëminderit (fall-uh-min-dare-eet) means thank you

3. Krishtlindje (kreesht-leend-yea) means Christmas! (literally it means "Christ Birth")

 ​Rocking the Christmas Sweaters at the MTC!

I got to take a little field trip into Provo to go to the dentist with one of the sisters.
It was nice after being at this MTC campus for about 8 weeks!

On December 1st, I celebrated Little Christmas (my family tradition) with my companion,
Motra Jones, and we made little gifts for each other to start off the Christmas season!
We sat around our Christmas tree, had hot cocoa, and gave each other our gifts :)

​

After Caroling.

There was a Nativity at the Provo Temple!

​The famous MTC map :)

-- 

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

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!​

​

​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.​

​

​Ran into Zack Holland at the MTC!​

​Happy Black Friday everyone!! ;)​

​​

 IMG_1149.JPG

​

-- 

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. :)