Hello! Seriously, every week flies by! I have had a few dreams this week that it was the end of my mission, and I was heading home. I was so freaked out in my dreams, because I wasn't ready to go home! I definitely have a lot of time left, but it is going way to fast. I have already been in Albania for almost 2 months. Wow!
This was a good week though! On Tuesday, we had district meeting, and then went to Vera's house for lunch. She is a lady in our ward, and amazing! She made us soup, byrek, and hard boiled eggs. It was super good! We ate almost the entire pan of byrek, and she was so happy that we liked it. It truly was amazing!
Markeliana (Kela) has been out of town for about 2 weeks, but came back on Tuesday! She walked into English Course, and we attacked her. We were so excited to see her! Fjorela wasn't with her, because she was at FSY (Albanian EFY), so we didn't see her until later in the week.
On Wednesday, we went to shkoder! We got there in the morning, and went street contacting with the missionaries there. We split up and everyone took a certain area in Shkoder. We didn't understand everything they said (a combination of me not knowing the language perfectly, and the dialect in Shkoder), but it was still fun. Then we went to an orphanage for a service project. We were pulling out a bunch of bushes and trees and turning the area into a soccer field for them. It was a lot of work, but super fun! We were gone until about 8:30 that night.
Thursday, we had planned to have 3 investigator lessons and English course, and ended up with 1 member lesson, and 2 English course lessons. We got to English Course, and people started showing up, but the Elders never did. We pulled everyone into one room and started class, hoping they would show up soon. We tried to call them to see if they were close, but they didn't answer. Luckily, we had members in both classes, so I took the beginners (the elders class) into one room, and Sister Cheshire taught the other class (our class). So I taught beginners, and made up a lesson as I went. It didn't go as bad as I thought it would, and it was fun to teach them! In the front row of the class, I had 4 kids ages 6-11. They wrote down everything I said, and it was super cute! After class, The Elders texted us and said they were in Shkoder! Apparently, they forgot to tell us that they wouldn't be in English Course! But it still went well, so we weren't too upset about it:) After that, we met with Motra Xhaferi, an amazing member! We shared the Armor of God lesson (D&C 27 I think?), and she said it was exactly what she needed to hear. It was great!
On Friday, we didn't have a single lesson! We planned to go to a less active member's house, and an investigator, but none of them were there. So we did a lot of street contacting. While street contacting, we told these two brothers that we teach English Course. One of the brothers was dressed nicely and was more mature. The other, was wearing a black tank top and flip flops, and looked a little immature. He asked where we were from, so we said America. He then said (in english), "I LOVE AMERICA!" We asked if he had ever been, and he said, "No, but I want to go to Miami. I LOVE MIAMI!!" We were laughing so hard! This guy definitely looked like he would love Miami. His brother started asking me why we were in Albania, so I started talking to him, while Sister Cheshire talked to the "Miami" guy. Then the Miami brother said to sister Cheshire, "So, if we got married, then we could go to America, right??" We laughed and she said that that wasn't going to happen. He then started asking why he wasn't good enough, and if it was because he was Albanian. It was really funny!
On Saturday, we had a Relief Society Activity. It was by an artificial lake in Tirana. We sat in the grass to have a spiritual thought and eat pizza. Afterwards, we took a bunch of pictures, and it was really fun. Fjorela was there, and we were so happy to see her! Jona was there to, and we were just as happy to see her! She has been in Berat for about 2 weeks, so we missed her! It was like a big reunion, and we were glad to see so many people!
It was a really good week! We may not have any investigators, and only had 11 lessons this week, but it was still good! We worked our hardest, and that's what matters! Have a fantastic week! I love and miss you guys!
Love,
Motra Bennett