Last week before emailing, we sat at a Byrek restaurant and waited for the internet cafe to open. While we waited, this little boy, probably 3 years old, ran into the restaurant, threw a coin up on the counter, and yelled out his order. He then danced around the place, and it was adorable! The lady had to come around the counter to give him his order because he was so little. He grabbed his food and took off running. It was so cute! Then a few days later, I saw that boy again, and it made sense of why he was so excited to get his byrek. He is a homeless boy around my apartment. This time, he was wearing pink pajama pants, with no shirt, and was dirty. It was so sad to see him not dancing around anymore. It is sad to see homeless kids running around, and I wish I could give them money for food, or buy them something. I thought about "dropping" some money by the boy, but I knew that wouldn't be very honest. Anyway, I have seen that boy a few times since then, and he is adorable.
One morning, we called Vera, a member in our ward, to see if she could come to a lesson with us. When she answered the phone, she was crying and asked if we could come over right away. We stopped our companion study and headed over there. We don't completely know what the problem was, but she said that us being there just helped a lot. That night, we finished our daily planning, and right after planning, I had the feeling that we needed to call her again and see if she was doing better. When we called, she was crying again. So we told her we would pray for her. The next morning, we brought her some cookies that we had at the house, and she was so grateful. She started crying when we showed up, but seemed to be doing a lot better.
We haven't had as many lessons as we planned this week. People have cancelled on us a lot, but we will keep trying! After one girl didn't show up for a lesson, we went over to a members house to have a short lesson with her. Last time we visited her, she gave us watermelon to eat, and it was fantastic! This week, she gave us Dhalle. Homemade Dhalle. It is so nasty, and I don't know how people drink it. Jona, a member who had come with us for the lesson, couldn't stop laughing at me when we left the members house, because I was so disgusted. I could feel it moving around in my stomach as I walked. But all the Albanians love it! It doesn't make sense. So basically, it is milk with a lot of salt and yogurt in it. The first sip, I didn't think it was too bad, until I tried to swallow it and had to stop myself from gagging. I drank as much as I could, but then looked into the bottom of my cup and saw the chunks in it. I couldn't do it. I would have thrown up if I took another drink. Seriously, it's awful.
A few days ago, we were street contacting. I usually just stick by my companion. I start the conversation with someone and then pass it on to her once I'm stuck. But this day, she was talking to someone, and this guy came up and was listening into the conversation. So I had to talk to him. Early into the conversation, he got the hint that I was learning Albanian. So he started helping me. He asked simple questions, and would ask it until I understood and would answer him. It was pretty fun to talk to him and we talked for at least 5 minutes! During the conversation, he said he was Catholic, and then asked me to say a prayer. I asked if he meant right now, and he said yes! So I did! In the center of Tirana, on the street, I'm praying with this Catholic dude. After I prayed, then he said he would say a prayer. So he said two Catholic prayers and said that he prayed for me! It was definitely a new, interesting experience...
Kylie asked me to talk about my apartment/send pictures! I will send pictures next week, I forgot to do it today! But our apartment is cute! It is pretty nice, but you have to go up into a sketchy looking building to get there. I walked up the stairs the first time, and was shocked to see our apartment. We have nice couches, a big tv (we use it for music), and beds that are comfier than the ones at the MTC! The showers are different, but not too different. All it is is a shower head on the wall of the bathroom, and a drain on the floor. So their isn't really a tub, just a shower. Like I said, I will send pictures of the apartment next week!
Also! I tried suflaqe today! It is super good. It is a pita bread thing, with thin sliced meat, veggies, yogurt sauce stuff (kind of like sour cream, but better), and french fries on the top. It was really good!
I think that's about it from my week, but I hope you all have a fantastic week, and have a good rest of your summer!