Pretty awesome week! So Ariza made it through her surgery and is doing awesome! She is back in class and everything, it is such a blessing! Also the Finns have been settling into the schedule and they are becoming more comfortable here and fun to talk to so that's awesome! It definitely makes it easier to be here when you are thinking about other people which makes me even more excited for the field because that's what I will be doing!
On Thursday we taught TRC and it went really well and I felt the spirit in Albanian! It was way cool like I understood what the guy we were teaching was talking about well enough to get a central message out of it and the spirit was definitely there. Then Friday we were talking about our investigator that has a baptismal date and we were thinking about moving it forward and our teacher heard us and came and started asking us with questions and ended up talking to just our companionship for like an hour and a half in English and I honestly walked out of that lesson feeling like my mission was changed because of what she said. Basically she starting looking at our investigator record and asked if he truly had a testimony of those things and we were kinda just like umm idk and she talked to us about how even for English speaking missionaries this happens where they get too focused on getting through the lessons just to check them off and not focusing on what that investigator needs to experience lasting conversion. Apparently when she was there the activity rate in Albania was 40% because of this. She said that our testimonies are like a forest of trees sharing the same roots, some of our trees are redwoods and some of them are saplings (meaning specific gospel doctrines we have a stronger testimony in some than others). But that our investigators need to have at least a sapling for every doctrine or lesson that we teach. She talked about how one of the big problems is asking the wrong questions, we can't ask things like "do you understand?" or "do you have any questions?" because if they are completely not getting it they don't know if they don't understand or if they have questions and she gave us the example of how in class she will be talking in Albanian and she asks if we understand and we say yes even though sometimes we really don't. Honestly I know I'm butchering the message but I hope I'm getting some of what I learned across and I know it mostly applies just to missionary work but for real if that had been a devotional it was the best one I heard since I have been here like the message just really hit deep for me. The next day we went into the lesson with our investigator and it went amazing and I think a lot of what helped was that message! This last Sunday was the first where I had to start writing my talk in Albanian and it actually was much easier than I thought it would be especially because it only has to be 3 min! On Monday we got to go to the Police Station as a district because they just changed some things for the visas to Albania or something so they had to do background checks for us and it was kinda fun but kinda sad because we drove past B9 and all these different places I love. I did get sick this week with a head cold and still kinda have it which kinda stinks but its alright! Honestly I am so incredibly blessed to be with the Elders that I am with! They are all so cool and we are all friends and it just makes for an awesome time! On Tuesday we got to hear from Elder Cook of the 12! It was awesome, like you could just feel his spirit! I don't think that his whole talk was really meant for me but there were a couple things where I was like wohhhh just really felt the spirit. When he closed he was starting his testimony and I got hit with one of those listen ups the spirit has been giving me here and during his testimony he said, "because of experiences too sacred to share I know that Christ leads this church, I know his voice and I know that he lives." WOH it was like dang the church is true! Honestly he just slipped in that he knew the Saviors voice and the spirit totally testified of it to me! It was awesome! On Wednesday I hosted this elder and his older brother gets out of the car and has long hair and hipster classes and just looks like a pretty awesome guy and he asked where I was serving so I said Albania and he was like no way! I went to Hungary! All my best friends in the MTC were Albanians I still talk to those guys! And I was like hey me too! So that was kinda cool that he still stayed in contact with his friends from his zone in the MTC! Also I saw Sister Daly this week so that was pretty funny! Kyra sent me a letter this week and it was wayyy awesome like seriously made my week! She included a bunch of really powerful quotes in it and honestly it was just awesome! I also got some really awesome packages from Grandma and Grandpa Moss and the Fragas which was really nice!! In Grandma and Grandpas package they had some really awesome quotes in theirs that I loved too! I got emails from Kyra, Grant, Cameron, Trevor, Austin, Brittany Hallam, Emma, Taryn, and Mallory!
Also, I am sorry for my awesome friends who are turning into popsicles in all their missions while we are having record warm temperatures here in Utah - but honestly they are the biggest comfort for me out here, whenever I'm missing home or feeling down I just think about Cameron, Trevor, and Austin and how they are all out doing the same thing and they are just huge boosts for me! I am so lucky to have them!
I love you all and am so grateful for all the mail you send me it is such a moral boost I appreciate you all taking the time to do it!
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