Week Seven

Çkemi!

We're down to the 10 DAY COUNTDOWN until we fly to Tirana! AH! We're pretty dang excited. I feel like I've been here at the MTC forever. But we're trying to keep it in perspective. President Uchtdorf counsels us to always work as if we're in the middle of our missions. Welp, I'm trying to work as if I'm in the middle of my MTC stay, or else this week is going to be really unproductive. Motra Lyng & I created a plan the other day called "The Best Two Weeks" and we're really trying to crack down with doctrinal & language studies so that our personal study time is effective. 

Anyway, last week was pretty much the same as any other week! I'll mention some of my highlights:

Friday morning we skyped with Albanians again! This time we spoke to a member named Mimoza. She's only been a member of the church for a couple years, but wow, I was so impressed by her strong testimony. I loved her. She said if Motra Lyng or I are ever sent to her area, she'll have us over for dinner :).

We watched Meet the Mormons yesterday. It is SUCH a good movie! Fam I don't think you've seen this. Buy it! It really clears up a lot of misunderstandings people have with our faith. It simply follows a few families around but it's an extremely inspiring, feel-good movie. I encourage everyone to watch!

Best part of the week: Yesterday I got to go to the Provo City Center Temple dedication! It was a really neat experience. I was excited to go since I won't be home for the Philly temple dedication (tear). Anyway, this building was an old, 110-year-old tabernacle that burnt down five years ago. Our prophet was inspired to rebuild the structure into a temple. Then yesterday there was a beautiful ceremony where our leaders cemented in the final cornerstone of the building and offered a dedicatory prayer; now it's an open & running temple. The whole event opened my eyes to how sacred the temple truly is. One of the speakers at the dedication said that he hears people say as they leave the temple, "Now back to the real world." He said that's not the right way to say it, rather they should be saying, "Now back to the temporary world" because this world is temporary. Inside the temple is the closest we have to experiencing the eternities, or the "real world." I can feel that when I go to the temple. The veil is the thinnest there. 

Have a good week! Te dua!

Motra Fulop

Week Six

Çkemi!

This has easily been THE busiest week here at the MTC. Time is flying and we only have two more weeks here!

First off, I got a second companion this week, Zuster Pond. I instantly became best friends with her in a matter of days and I selfishly didn't want her to leave, but her Visa arrived on Friday and now she's off to bigger and better things in the Netherlands!

Also, Motra Lyng had been having consistent, annoying headaches for the past seven weeks. On Tuesday we were at a devotional and within ten minutes of sitting she said she felt like she was going to pass out. So her, Zuster Pond, and I went outside to get some fresh air. Motra Lyng started crying and I felt so horrible like I couldn't do anything. Then I had the distinct impression to offer a prayer, so that's what I did. It was as if we were in our own little bubble. I prayed so hard and truly felt Heavenly Father's love for her. We were all a mess haha when others are emotional, I'm emotional. But I'm happy to report she's felt a lot better since!

On Wednesday we welcomed eleven new missionaries to our zone. They're training to go to the Belgium/Netherlands mission. Motra Lyng and I were pretty busy attending meetings, running interviews, and showing them around. They're awesome people!

Friday morning we had the opportunity to Skype call with Albanians (fellow Shqiptari's)! We talked with a girl named Reolda. It was so nice to get to know her (she goes to BYU-I woot woot) and learn more about Albanian culture. I was pretty surprised because I thought she'd talk really fast or have a strong accent I wouldn't understand but it was actually a confidence booster to talk with her and it made me SO excited to leave!

Yesterday in church, I was asked to give an impromptu talk. Our sacrament meetings are veery unique. Everyone in my branch prepares a talk and brings it to church. Then once we're sitting there the presidency calls 2-3 people up to share their talks. Well, yesterday they called me up first! So I gave a talk about faith in Jesus Christ... in Albanian! It was a really cool experience to testify and teach in my new language to the congregation. I couldn't imagine being able to do that seven weeks ago. I'm constantly in awe of what Heavenly Father can help us to accomplish.

Ju dua,

Motra Fulop

Week Five

We're halfway there! WOAH OH livin' on a prayer. I've been here at the MTC for 4 1/2 weeks, 4 1/2 to go. I could happily leave for Albania tomorrow, but I know I've got some more learning to do here first. It's crazy to see the amount of progression I've seen in myself and others in such a short amount of time.

Highlights from this week:

1. My district (the six of us going to Albania) decided to do a "No English" day Thursday. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I felt like a mute. Overall though... it was a good experience and I learned a lot that day.

2. The weather has been beautiful! We go on a temple walk every Sunday, and yesterday's was particularly nice. On the temple grounds there are mountains surrounding us and Utah Lake in the distance. The view makes my heart preetty happy :). 

Quick thought: I was reading in Moses this week. Enos is my hero! The Lord shows himself to him and says he needs to call the people to repentance. Enos says, "Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?" Enos felt inadequate for the task, but the Lord provided a way. Enos proceeded to teach, lead the people and move MOUNTAINS. I can really relate to Enos right now. I can barely understand my investigators. Sometimes I feel useless when I'm trying to teach my lessons. But the Lord gives us trials to mold us into the person we should be, as all trials should. The Lord has a plan for us individually and he can see our divine potential. We just need to trust Him and work our hardest!

Have a good week & happy leap day. All you ladies go to Ireland and propose. Watch Leap Year if you don't know what I'm talking about :).

Love,

Motra Fulop

Week Four

Welcome to another week in the life of Motra Fulop. This week flew by, faster than any other week in the Missionary Training Center so far. Three weeks down, six to go. I feel like an old-timer here only because every day is pretty repetitive. I've gotten into the groove of MTC life. Three valuable things I have learned from my first three weeks: 

1. Do not, do. not. drink the orange juice in the caf. I'll leave that to your imagination.

2. Don't underestimate a Norwegian's beat boxing skillz.

3. If you bring a Benedict Cumberbatch pillow here, girls WILL find you and WILL cry over it.

ha. Don't worry mom & dad, I'm learning other things as well.... A few other lessons that have stuck with me since being here:

1. You don't need to have self confidence, you need to have Christ's confidence.

2. Faith and doubt cannot coexist.

3. Don't let experience take the place of revelation.

I will probably elaborate more on these principles in further emails. Everyone in the MTC is on a spiritual high. It's a pretty cool place to be and I'm so inspired every day.

As for the language... you know that feeling you have after you take an ACT/SAT? Yeah I feel like that every day here. Albanian grammar is a beast but I'm getting the vocabulary down. I've made a ton of mistakes... like I kept cursing as I bore my testimony by accident and agreed to help an investigator's parents immigrate to America. But no worries it was all role play. I forget who said it (Bednar?) but it takes at least 30,000 mistakes before you can be fluent in a language. I want to get as many of those mistakes out of the way while I'm training!

Also, Elder Rasband spoke to us at our Tuesday devotional. When he walked in all 3,000 of us in the room went silent and stood up. The mood of the room changed to complete reverence in an instant. I could never deny that he is an apostle! He said, "The leaders of this church are no strangers to the Lord." I know that to be true. He was inspired by the Lord and his message was powerful. I'm so thankful for the apostles and our modern day prophet that lead our church today!

That's all I got for this week! I think about & pray for many of you daily. <3

Motra Fulop

Week Three

Happy Monday/ President's Day!

How was your week?! I hope it was a good one. I know it was for my family; they were in Orlando all week and judging from the pictures they had a blast. No more vacations while I'm gone, please :). So yeah I'm pretty jealous....but I know this is where I need to be right now!

Best part of the week: A cute senior couple sought me out on Thursday. (Senior couples are older missionaries that serve, usually after they retire.) Motra and Elder Collins are their names. They have been called to the Adriatic South mission as well. Motra Lyng and I had dinner with them a few times this week and taught them some basic Albanian because they were only assigned to be in the MTC for one week. Motra Collins gave us pink earrings for Valentine's day which was SO nice! They left for Albania today. I cannot wait to see them on the field. They said we are like their grandchildren <3.

Another highlight was that I got to go to Salt Lake City on Friday! All of the foreigners and their companions were invited, so Motra Lyng was my ticket to go haha. It felt pretty weird (and cool) to be out of the MTC bubble with my name tag on. We took a shuttle, train, and a trolley to get to temple square and everyone was really chatty with us. One couple asked for a picture with Motra Lyng and I which I thought was pretty funny. "They're REAL missionaries!" It kinda hit me right then that I'm a "real" missionary now, representing Christ all the time since his name is always over my heart. I have big shoes to fill. I will never fill the shoes, but I can try as hard as I can :).

This week I focused my scripture studies on Christ's teachings. This was one of my favorites - "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." - Matthew 16:25. Love this. So powerful!

Love you all,

Motra Fulop <333

Week Two

Alright, first off... thank you everyone for reaching out to me. I printed out all of the emails and read them over breakfast this morning. Unfortunately my emailing time is short so I won't have time to respond to everyone but just know that I LOVE YOU ALL. You are all so inspiring. I'll try to respond to everything I can!

This week was completely packed, but that's the MTC for ya. Motra Lyng and I have been teaching "investigators" (our teachers that are really good actors) everyday. It's been great practice and now we're teaching the lessons without a script! It's tough because I'll understand bits of what they speak to me, and I'll have the perfect response in English, but I have to water down my response to simple Elementary- level phrases in Albanian. It's pretty frustrating but I'll get there. I'm just so excited because this language is so beautiful. Fun fact: it's the oldest language in Europe! 

Yesterday was pretty awesome. President Dallin H. Oak's daughter, Jenny Baker Oaks, came to perform for us! She is a famous violinist, graduated from Julliard, performs at Carnegie Hall and now tours the country. It was really cool because her four kids were involved in the performance. They were playing piano, guitar, etc. (all age 5-12) while she blew the roof off the place. Afterwards, we watched a talk by Elder Bednar called Character of Christ. All missionaries are encouraged to watch this talk when they enter the MTC and before they leave. I can see why. It was one of, if not THE greatest talk I've ever heard. He talks about how the natural man turns inward, while Christ always turned outward and how we need to follow Christ's example by resisting the natural man. He talks so plainly and boldly, giving a lot of great examples from Christ's ministry in the Bible. I encourage you all to read or watch this talk! Just search "Character of Christ Elder Bednar." Extremely inspiring!

Sending all my love from good ol' Utah! 

Motra Fulop

Week One

Can I just start off by saying... the MTC is unlike anywhere else in the world and I'm LOVING IT. The people that I have met here are some of the strongest, most inspiring people that I have ever met. My companion, Motra Lyng is from Norway! Fun fact, she's from the northernmost branch in the world. Her hobbies include dog sledding, ice fishing, etc. Cool, right?! Anyway she's the best and we get along so well!  

We hit the ground running from the moment I walked into the MTC, on Wednesday the 27th. In my class the teacher only speaks Albanian to us, which is pretty tough because most of the time I have no clue what she's saying. On top of that, we had to prepare a lesson to teach on Friday with a guy who only speaks Albanian. I had no idea what the guy was saying, but I stuck to my little script I prepared, bore my testimony, and prayed in the language. 

Yesterday, Sister Lyng and I went to our first choir practice. I was kinda roped into it, because I'm NOT a good singer. But it's pretty cool because every Tuesday we get to sing to a General Authority! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I cannot WAIT. What a privilege! Anyway, I'm so glad that I went yesterday to the practice because I swear I've never heard (or been apart of) something so beautiful before. The choir consisted of about 700 people and it was SO uplifting. Music can be so powerful. When we sang "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus," I couldn't stop crying. It made me think of Abby and Emma and my primary kids at home. I miss everyone a lot but I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. Someone in class yesterday said, "We had an eternity to prepare for our mission, and we'll have an eternity to look back on our mission. But we only have 18 months to serve the mission." 

I'll be honest, every day here feels like it's a week long...  we wake up at 6, eat, class, eat, class, exercise, eat, class, lights out at 10:30. It's a lot of hard work and I've get really stressed sometimes. I've been given a lot of assignments and responsibilities that take me out of my comfort zone, such as public speaking, teaching, and speaking Albanian. These things are pretty hard for me, but all I can do is try my hardest! No matter how inadequate I feel for this calling, after all I can do, I get on my knees and ask for help. I've been praying more than I ever have before in my life. Faith and doubt cannot coexist! I encourage everyone to remember that!  

I hope you all have an awesome week!

Love, 

Motra Fulop