Noah and the Arc Nov 21, 2016

So the storm came and covered the Earth with the floods, but at the end God sent a rainbow. I think this is the theme of this week. It seems like every day where everything falls through and we feel completely kotë [pointless], we always seem to find a rainbow at the end of the day. And at the end of the day. I literally mean that. Could it have come earlier? Ya but then it wouldn't be that big of a present I guess.

We have spent a lot of hours trying to find less active members. So I think I've said stuff about addresses here before...like some say "near the stadium"...the stadium is surrounded by a good 40 apartment buildings. So yes changing our focus to finding less actives means that we probably don't need to run as hard during exercise because 5 hours a day of walking all around Durres because asking Shqiptarë's which have absolutely no idea but tell us where to go anyway turns it into a whole journey. 

So last Monday night nobody could meet with us so we could only try to find people at night when Albanians are like why are you outside so late...We finally got a hold of one of our investigators and she said she could meet at 8 so we went to her store and waited...and waited...and Randomly these two girls come by, we start introducing ourselves, and the older one says wow I am so happy to learn more about Christ. So yes after feeling like we hadn't done anything that day we found those girls. And it gets better because literally in lessons with them she just says "yes we need to read scriptures but not just read, we have to feast upon the scriptures and then act on them"...um...të lumtë të goja [mom comment: I don't know this translation?? Bravo mouth?]  Wow let me read you the scripture you just basically quoted. 2 Ne 32:3. They have the most umpf I've seen in any investigator (and probably a lot of our members) when she reads and when she prays.

 

Ok I wish you could meet some of the sweet old ladies here <3 oh ok so Motra Gj is a cute little lady in our ward, and after church she just came up to me and told me that she was ready to come to a lesson with us. Like wow usually we take the young ones with us to lessons, but it was so cool that she just came straight to me-ready to help. So when we had a lesson with some less active members, we called her to come with us-ended up being perfect because they were friends. After our lesson as we were walking with Motra Gj she's like "you won't believe what happened this morning-so I was walking out the door humming Në mëngjes kur dhomën ti le, lutjen a e the? ['Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?] and I dropped my bag and hurried to say my prayer because I had forgotten. Oh brother she's just the cutest sweetest little nëna.

 

Gave my first talk on Sunday and had a full hour and a half to write it. S'ka gjë [no matter], the Spirit covered for me I hope :) At least everyone was attentive-that's what happens when you have a theks Amerikan [American accent]. But one cool thing for the language this week-One of our senior missionary couples came to Durres and we were at the church doing a lesson with some of the young women. The Elder asked me to introduce them because he doesn't speak Albanian. So I told him their names and that they were sisters, and one cousin, two were members, one was not...only then did I realize that the whole time I had been speaking in Albanian haha oops so much of a help I am.

Look for the rainbows :) but don't forget to play in the rain. Yes the rain-bow is the bow on the box but the rain is the gift-am I right?

Motra Hagërd

Oh I forgot this cute little sms we got from a lady after we sent out our investigator nightly scripture text and yes it was in english exactly like this: 

what a lovely moment hearing your sounds of your fingers writing me such a moment, such words! happy dreams!

aw how nice...haha

All missionaries safe and accounted for. Nov 14, 2016

So on Tuesday we took Motra Uilli to Tirana for the transfer. The road from Durres to Tirana is an hour long drive, if that. 1 hour. So it had rained a lot the night before. The streets were flooded, but we started our trip to Tirana.

The adventure begins.

I guess there had been an accident so we were redirected off the freeway to a side street. We went along that side street for about an hour, until we saw lots of makinë's [cars] turning around so we did too and retracted that one hour the other way. Then when we got back it was still not open on the freeway...so we turned around again and started our trip over basically. At one point we had been stopped behind a truck for probably 30 minutes and of course there are those cars that pass on the made up lanes around us...until this nice man told us to pass the truck...because it had been parked, the driver not even inside...Anyway the adventure started when we saw a waterfall. Wow rushing water out of a store parking lot into the field below. And all of a sudden we were driving in water. Our poor little makinë was in it up to half of the tire. Finally after 6 hours we made it to the mission office in Tirana. Hopefully the video works so you can see what happened. Ha it was an adventure. And because we had no phone (we lost it on Monday), we had no contact with anyone. But because we lost the phone, we got the lovely opportunity to totally start fresh, no contacts, no trainer...

This was our main street in Durres. The pot hole in the center made like a little cute fountain thing-adorable.

My first day ever with only one companion:

I feel like we were definitely given comfort because we were kind of feeling like- ok I can't understand them that well, but we can do this. All we have to do is testify. Oh and of course take members with us to lessons.

What we learned:

Do not try to find one of the investigators houses on foot when you don't know where you are and there are no lights on the streets. We went back another day with the makinë. And when we got there the apartment building was locked and we of course didn't have her number...so did we turn around and go home? no of course not. Two crazy Americans just started shouting her name and trying to hit her door with corn cobs...Hey but it worked. She came out and she shouted down her number for us. Determination works haha

Po vjen dimur (winter is coming). Wow I had no idea that Albania was going to be so windy. The day we decided we were going to go walk to the fshat [village] to find less active members, Albania decided to pour and wow the wind. Wind was never such a big problem when I didn't have to wear a skirt. But after a couple hours of walking and fixing our umbrellas that kept breaking, we found two of the less active members houses. Goal accomplished. We have a goal to have 800 people in church by the end of the year (in the whole mission, so Albanian, Kosovo, and Macedonia) so we are really hoping that we can bring them back. Let them know that we miss them. One of the families came to church on Sunday :) I think a lot of people just need to know that they are needed.

I drove for the first time in Albania this week. Wow crazy people haha no worries though.

So I think the overall theme for this week was comfort. It is amazing that sometimes in uncomfortable or dangerous situations I feel safe. I know that we are in God's hands. Sometimes I don't understand what people are saying but I know that if I testify of Jesus Christ, it will be what they need to hear. Everyone needs to know that they are loved. Everyone needs to know that they have a Savior. We are in His hands :) 

Motra Hagërd

So they celebrate New Year more than Christmas, I think. Everyone makes baklava it sounds like. We have a recipe from this one pudding one of our members made. It was pretty good. Other than that I don't know. The main foods are: fasule, pilaf, spec te mbushura (stuffed peppers)!! so good mmm stuffed with pilaf and meat, pasticeri (noodle thing with egg).

Weddings are huge here. Like they wear their traditional clothes, popullore music is huge, dancing. Hoping to learn some dances.

This is spelled in Albanian pronounciation for a song so that the Albanians could pronounce it in English:  [This is in English, just spelled in Albanian.  Try to say it out loud.]

dhë Holli Gost iz ë speshëll frend. Ju kent si him bat ju ken hir him. If ju lisën hi ken help ju uen ju nid tu mejk e çojs tu nou uat tu du. Hi uill olluejs bi dher if ju ar skerd or nërvëz or hepi. Hi ken help ju uith enithing. Dhë onlli thing ju hev tu du iz lisën. Hi uill gajd ju olluejs.

Futbol again. Got to see Motra Suko again and Elder Benson. Now I've seen the whole district since being separated.

Elevators Nov. 7, 2016

The elevators here are probably the most fun out of everything else. So we got in one because we were going to knock on doors in a tall building where people live, and when it closed the lights went out. We couldn't see a thing...luckily Motra Uilli is always prepared with a flashlight so we could see the buttons so that we could press the open the door button. The little door tried...and then closed again...haha ok, ha ok, maybe not as funny now, kinda creepy, but don't worry, it opened a little bit later. But then we decided that we like stairs better...

So this week this cute little nëna gave us an Albanian dictionary from 1955. The first word we found was a Little baby bird kicked out of the nest (mom I can't remember what it is in Albanian, started with a ç something like çoçi). Anyway so that's the word of the week because...our trainer is leaving...Usually we get a full 12 weeks of training and people get transferred after that 3 months, but because of some sisters finishing their missions this week, Motra Uilli is transferring to Shkodër and leaving her two fringo fare's [newbies, greenies] here. So after 5 weeks of being in this country, Motra DeCoursey and I are going to be working together in Durres. Of course we already know this language perfectly so there's no worry there. And in case you don't know anything about the Albanian language, that's a lie. But actually I am excited for this experience. We had thoughts that this might happen and I remember thinking: na there's no way they would leave us two without an experienced companion...Well here we are. We watched the video for driving today and when we leave Motra Uilli in Tirana tomorrow, we will drive home to Durres, for the first time not in a tripanionship. 

I am ready to see what the Lord can do with us. There is no way that we could do this. We would not be able to understand a single person. We would totally stop the work here in Durres, if it were not for the promise we have as missionaries. I know that this will be hard, but I know that as we depend more than we ever have on the Lord, that He will be our strength. I think the theme for this upcoming week for me will be from DeB 6:34, 36 which says: 

Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail...Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

It's hard to let go of fears and trust in God, but Lead Kindly Light. When prayers get longer, when they become more sincere, when we lean wholly upon our Savior, this is when we can become closer to Him. I am so grateful for hard experiences that will bring us closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Always lean on them.

Motra Hagërd :)

The Shqiponia!! in the most hectic round about ever in Tirana! oh ya did i mention i actually will have to drive now? kicked out of the nest, into the traffic of Tirana...oh and these are the Collins with whom we went to dinner. they are up in shkoder...and they are stealing uilli...

Critters...

From the beach today when we had lunch with motra xheka at a restaurant on the beach and of course plan i shpetimit in the sand [plan of salvation]

This was for the family, but it's just cute... (you have to know that Theophilus Seval was one of the names considered for Ryan when he was a baby - say it aloud to hear why Ryan's dad thought that was a funny name).

So I started reading in Acts this week...

Acts 1:1

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all...

Hahahaha this totally made my day during personal study. So ya know I guess Ryan has his own scripture, but I wanted to find out if I had a Becca scripture...

DeB 38:26

26 A bekah for every man...

:) Ha ya sorry guys there's not enough for every man but I hope that you can all find your own Becca's out there... haha well anyway I hope parents are really proud to have children on missions really studying the scriptures huh? Love You!! :)

Love,

Motra Hagërd puç puç (how they verbalize kiss kiss)

Halloween Party Oct. 31, 2016

This is our halloween party doing the mummy wrap

with Rovi (she is a member in Durres and she went on a mission in England)

More photos Oct. 31, 2016

So we had a day this week that we had no lessons planned...so we planned a lot of finding activities...but wow we ended up with 3 lessons. This one lady was not at all interested and seemed like she was having a rough day and when she was saying goodbye, Motra Uilli said can we leave you with a prayer? And she said sure and then said come on in. So we ended up teaching a little lesson about prayer and looking for God in your life. It was a simple message and that's it, but I feel like she needed us that day just for a little smile and message of happiness :)

Oh I love how blunt these people are haha and talkative, then you put both together and ah albania. In church yesterday this one sister was commenting like everytime and after a couple she was like oh can i add something? and good old motra mema (not the teacher) was like nooo. haha ah I love em :)

Ok Happy Halloween for America who actually knows how to party for it haha wow what a weird party we had this past saturday...So basically we were in charge of it...Wow so thankful for all the leaders who somehow make parties happen in our wards and stakes back at home. Literally the old people just sat in chairs for 2 hours, and did not move. And they were totally content in just sitting. Let's just say if it were in America they would've left after 15 minutes but what surprised us was that I think they actually liked it. hmm...

K let's talk about the word Random because let's be honest it doesn't really exist here on a mission. So every time we say random I just smack my self and say nope Hand of the Lord. So "randomly" we saw some recent converts while we were trying to find a house of a girl that we were going to have a lesson with. Sindi and çeleste got baptized 2 months ago and they decided to come to the lesson with us to show us where the house was. Testimonies of recent converts are always strong. They were seriously like sister missionaries with us. I can't wait until they go on missions because wow they will be amazing.

Motra Hagërd

But Here We Are 10/24/2016

We had sisters conference so all the sisters in the whole mission some how fit in one room (well actually we only have like 20 sisters...) yes in the whole mission, which is actually really cool because the whole mission is really close because we know everyone. And I got to see my old companions and district :) 

So lately I have been wondering how to be a good missionary because sometimes it's really hard to feel like I am doing my best. I have been trying to figure out what I need to do to become the missionary I'm supposed to be. We got to hear the "dying" = leaving the mission soon, testimonies of the sisters and it really made me think hmm so someday I'm going to be there but how do I get there with no regrets. I also read this really good talk called the Riccardi letter about an amazing trainer. It basically was just telling me to stop having fear. I don't want to offend people and sometimes I'm also scared because I don't want to start a conversation that I won't be able to understand what they are saying, but we went on an exchange in Tirana (in Tirana there are a lot of crowded buses that we take) so I decided to stop having this fear so I decided if I put the faith in to talk to people that Heavenly Father will back me up so I will be able to understand them. So when three fringo fare's were together in Tirana none of us could hide behind our trainers who know a lot more than us. Well let me tell you, these people are the cutest, and obviously they know we are american but I totally was able to talk with cute old ladies on the bus and one asked if I don't like to sit down (because I was standing) and I just said no we stand so that you can sit down. Then she's like oh you cute little girl haha and then another lady took my bag so I didn't have to carry it because I guess I was carrying a lot. Anyway they just have a lot of love and they are so open. 

So whenever I think I can't, I already know I have to do it, I have to open my mouth because I have to prove to God that I have faith that He has me in His hands. 

One thing from the Riccardi letter was after they had been knocking on doors for hours. The trainer stays happy because he said that:

"God knows exactly where the people are who will want to hear this message. If He wanted He could just take us to those houses, but instead God sent us to this neighborhood where He knew everyone would shut the doors on us, and He expected us to leave 20 houses ago, but here we are."

This is how I want to be.

One of the stray dogs followed us for a solid 20 minutes one day so we made a little friend. Then he decided to stop because yes we were walking for too long and he had the sense to stop following missionaries because yes yes walking we love walking. We walked to a fshat (a little village out of Durrës) Turned out that less active family (who lived up a muddy hill in that far away fshat) did not want to hear us at all. That's okay at least we made a contact, and if all we could do was testify that we do believe in Jesus Christ, then it's ok because we at least let them know that some people in the ward miss them. 

Oh and remember the 3 girls we met and were basically golden? Ya well weird that for some reason we haven't been able to meet with them...and when we went to their house and knocked we heard the locks (assuming they were unlocking...) nope they locked the doors...hmm ok. We were so confused because they had seemed so sincere and interested...BUT we got a text from one that said we could meet! The cheese is still in the fridge! We said that by the time the food they gave us was gone we would find them. 

And today starts the no english. I am only speaking Albanian even if everybody else will speak english. There's an elder in the mission that everyone talks about because he speaks so well that he can be mistaken as an Albanian. But here's a shocker- he actually never speaks english. If I want to be able to flas ujë I need to actually put in the work.

Today we went to the Coliseum. pictures yes coming. [mom: nice translation from shqip Becca!]

oh and fringo literally translates to straight out of the factory. and when my companions say that they are from utah members are like ohh the factory haha

Motra Hagërd

so most were from the coliseum thing but the one field pic with all 3 of us is the fshat

the two elders dressed normal are the elders who serve in lushnja elder bowen and elder klayton. then we have elder schneider and elder xhonej in white shirts and ties

[mom comment: I must be missing some photos here.  I'll hopefully get them next week and put them in.]

motra ellajeson

motra uilli                                             motra grigg    motra miles    (she's an albanian awaiting her visa)

motra haggard-motra dikorsi-motra risk | motra bland

                                         motra suko

hope that's clean so you can understand but basically motra uilli is my mom and motra ellajeson is my grandma. and motra suckow is my niece haha

[wheelchairs arriving in Albania]

[Elders Draper and Harris crouching]

Pickled Eggplant Oct 17, 2016

Last monday

1. our member dinner cancelled

2. Antonetta at a local cafe was busy

3. we thought of going to another family's house by makinë [car] so we went to their building but they weren't home

4. so we started tracting in their building 

...and this cute little nëna [mom] comes to the door and I didn't understand much but come in and have a drink. And then we were going inside. There were two granddaughters there. We sat down and the nëna just started feeding us. And we started a simple lesson about the Book of Mormon, prayer (and then one more granddaughter and her mom came in), and then we talked about baptism. I don't know why but I was having trouble saying the baptismal invitation "will you..." and they literally were like "oh get baptized? ya"...I was like wait what did you just say?? It was super cool. And then of course they sent us home with like bags of food haha we basically had dinner there. When we think that everything is falling through and the day is going downhill, just wait. Wait for that light. It seemed like we were having an awful day but in reality all of those seemingly "bummer" things had to happen for us to be there at the right time to meet these people. Dora e Zotit [Hand of God].

Durres saying: Afër detit, afer qiellit (close to the sea, close to heaven)

Also another saying Elder Xhonej always says to us as a good night thing we found out literally means "stay up all night fat" idk...gdhifshit shëndosh. charming

Some kind of cultural dancing festival happened this week. I have a couple pictures but they aren't very good sorry. But it was really cool to see something that was really Albanian. And there was a cute little catchy song on like "një dy tre...something something...re" so if you can find it haha thats it.

Food of the week:

Man our mission is a rough one. This week two different shops gave us free stuff. We got free ice cream and free chocolates. I love these people haha.

Actually this one lady gave us k picture it: looks like a jar of pickles but its purple. It is eggplant...The consistency of an almost jelly thing soaked soaked in some really sugary thing...ya it was a little bigger than I would have liked it to be :) mmm...

Goal for my mission: bring so many people to church that they are forced to build a temple here. Me zi po pres. [I can't wait!]  We really take for granted that we have so many temples so close. Hmm which temple should we get married in? These people have to go to Switzerland. It is amazing that they go. Families are so important to us and it is so amazing that we can be together forever, and to see that these members sacrificed so much to go be sealed in the temple is so beautiful. They realize the importance.

Cultural Festival

Dogs and Pick Up Lines. Oct 10, 2016

Motra Dikorsi and I and Motra Holt were in Tirana contacting in the street cuz our companions were in a leadership meeting, and this one guy on the bike like stopped so i went up to him to talk.

so i thought this guy was super interested in our church cuz he was like flipping through the LiM and everything and i was like ya well we can give you our number so we can meet and talk about Jesus Christ some time. and then he was like "your number?" and im like ya our number..."your personal number?" oh bobo...and then he kept asking what my name was like my real name and i was confused and ya i panicked and accidentally told him my first name...i wont do it again i promise but wow i was so confused at what was going on...so if a random albanian person friends me on facebook....

oh and this weird dog like came up to me and started jumping on me ( theres tons of dogs but they have never even come up to me before) and then he bit me. creepy dog get off me. all the albanians around me were probably like oh stewpid american...

(ya idk usually they are like deadish so it was weird. we play a game called dead or sleeping haha there are so many and wow poor dogs

..i couldve got it off me but idk how to deal with dogs oh boy.)

and we had zone conference this week so i got to see Motra Miles, Motra Bland, and Elder Johnson! It was so good to see the old district. I didnt realize that i missed them aww

oh and something real cool here is that people will tell things straight up like it is...so literally in one of ours lessons...ya all three of us got called fat haha oh boi...its ok

And we had dinner at the bishops house. I love it cuz they were the first couple that actually looked like a cute couple. I didn't really realize that I hadn't seen that. Like they were so cute and laughing and he kissed her when he got home from work. :) they are a great family