Week 21: Call Us Street Rats

Përshëndetjaaaa how is everyone?!

Sorry I don't have much time to email today! We had a lot of random stuff we needed to get done. 

It's bee rough recently because of Ramadan. We barely get any lessons. We'll plan for a couple each day but they always no-show. So Motra Henderson and I have been street contacting a lot. We used to always stay together as a pair, pull people aside, and talk to the people on the street together. But now that I'm almost finished my training transfer we split off, meaning we stand on opposite sides of the sidewalk so we can get double the work done (but no worries mom we're still within sight/hearing of each other). This is a big hurtle I'm trying to overcome. I'm not the most outgoing person ever and now I have to try to pull people aside on the road and carry out a meaningful, spiritual conversation with them. I had a really bad attitude about it the first two days this week. I just wanted to go back and stand with Motra Henderson again, where it was much easier. But then I read this scripture.... "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel with the voice of a trump,both day and night. And I will give him strength such as is not known among men." - D&C 24:12. This scripture inspired me. I felt like it was talking directly to me. I felt empowered after reading it and I've had more success on the street since.

This is my last week as a greenie! This weekend we'll get transfer calls and I'll see if I'm staying in Prishtina or heading somewhere else. 'Till next week. I'll keep you updated!

Dashuri nga Kosova,

Motra Fulop

 

Went to mission conference in Tirana and got to spend a night with MOTRA LYNGGGG

Traditional food. All this only cost me 4 Euro!

Our friend S moved back to Colorado last week :(

 

Week 20: Work Hard Play Hard

Mirë dita! Qysh jeni?

Another week here & gone in Prishtina. Where to start... we played volleyball on Saturday night at the park which is always one of the highlights of my week :). We tie the net between two trees so there are roots and branches all over the place but it still works. It has proven to be a great finding opportunity because people are always interested when they see a bunch of foreigners playing volleyball so we get a nice crowd of spectators, but more importantly, we've been finding people to teach from it! 

Something cultural: The soccer games have been insanity. Last night Albania beat Romania in the Euro Cup. It was 11pm (which is after the 10:30 mandatory missionary bedtime) and I couldn't sleep if I tried haha everyone was out partying on the streets going nuts. We got some pretty cool views of fireworks.

Something marvelous: Friday we had a really neat experience. We went to a company called HandiKos where we were greeted by some service missionaries that flew in from America. We helped them distribute about thirty wheelchairs to people that couldn't afford to buy them on their own. It was so cool to be apart of this. Many of the people were scooped out of their cars and put into one of the wheelchairs. Then Motra Henderson and I wrote down all of their information while they waited to be fitted for it. There was one girl I talked to named A and she was beaming the whole time. She was 26 and her whole life she'd had to use crutches because of severe scoliosis. So getting a wheelchair made her life so much easier. There was also a guy in his 30's that came who had to be carried piggy-back by his father his whole life. His father was getting too old to be able to do it anymore. Getting a wheelchair changed their lives.

This was a really eye opening experience for me. I've never first-hand seen people in need of something seemingly so basic. But what's neat to note is that the donated wheelchairs were provided by the our church's tithing money. When I pay my tithing I'll never think of it the same way!

Tribute to dad: Happy belated FATHER'S DAY! I watched this video in the MTC a couple months ago and I've been waiting to send it to you for a long time. I'm sharing it with all because it is worth watching!

 https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?category=topics/fathers&lang=eng

Ju dua!

Motra Fulop

 

​Orthodox church in the center of the city. It serves as a landmark for their history with the Serbs.

We got TACO BELL for Elder Farnworth's birthday

Motra Henderson & I found these cute shoes today - 1 Euro each. Mom they remind me of my jelly sandals when I was little. I'm pretty happy with this find.

This is the library of Prishtina. Fun fact it's ranked among the top 10 ugliest libraries in the world.

 

Week 19: Ramadan & Exchanges & A Baptism

Përshendetja!

Holy cow this has been the. craziest. week. Our friend S has been in the hospital because she had to get wrist surgery so Motra Henderson and I have been frequenting the hospital to keep her company. Then Wednesday I went on my first exchange which was a lot of fun. I went to Gjakova for the day and it was nice to get out of the city. We went knocking on doors and the first five doors no one answered... but then the sixth a lady answered and she was the nicest ever! We asked if she had time for a message and she quickly let us in. Her and her daughter were the sweetest and really receptive to the gospel! I saw true potential in them. I was pretty happy about that because we rarely are let into people's homes. 

Also we got new neighbors, the Larsons! They're a senior missionary couple and they moved in above our apartment so we've been helping them get settled in. I'm so excited to have them here. They came Friday evening after a 7 hour drive from southern Albania and Elder Larson hopped right into a volleyball game we were having with some investigators. Mind you he's in his 60's but he was killin it. They're going to be a huge help to the church here.

Kosovar things... Ramadan started last Sunday. Everyone fasts from around 2am to 8pm every day and they'll keep it up for the next month. The streets are a lot emptier now and It's pretty tough for us as missionaries because a lot of people aren't as receptive to the gospel now. Like Motra Henderson and I had a few pretty solid investigators but now they say they can't meet with us again until Ramadan is over. Also Albania is in the Euro Cup for the first time so everyone is freaking out about that. We have to avoid the streets because people go nuts over soccer. 

Highlight of the week/my life: B got baptized on Saturday!!! It was amazing. I feel so lucky to have been able to teach her and witness her conversion. Yesterday in sacrament meeting she kept teasing me to go up to bear my testimony. When I told her she should do it she hopped up without hesitation and bore hers. I'm just so proud of her and more importantly I know her Heavenly Father is proud of her. This whole experience has strengthened my testimony so much. If B is the only person I see baptized on my mission, I'll be leaving my mission a happy camper.

I'd like to bear my witness along with Nephi that "this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God." (2 Nephi 31:21) 

Dashuri nga Kosovë,

Motra Fulop <3333

 

My people <333

We have the cutest students in English course

View from the apartment in Gjakova

Baptism!!

 

Week 18: Patience & Healing & CASTLE.

Përshëndetja!

This one's going to be short! Today we went to Prizren and explored a cool, old castle that overlooked the city. But yeah since we did a lot of adventure-ing today I had to sacrifice some emailing time!

Something Kosovar: Motra Henderson were outside for a few hours, and it was pretty hot outside. Then we walked up 6 flights of stairs to our friend's apartment for a lesson. We were sweating pretty good but our friend S greeted us with fruit tea!  Apparently they drink tea year round here, even on the hottest day of the summer. I think it's pretty bizarre.

On Friday we got a call from one of our member friends, S, saying that she slipped and fell in her kitchen. She landed on her wrist pretty good. So we went over to her apartment and she was sitting on the sidewalk. Her wrist was super messed up and deformed looking. So we spent most of the day Friday in the ER with her. She'll need to get surgery for it and everything. We've been spending a good amount of time with her the past couple days as she sorts everything out for her surgery.

Last night we had a really good discussion with S about God's will. Many times we think, "Why me? Why would God let this happen to me?" But sometimes we need to be humbled in order to grow stronger. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." - Ether 12:27 

Ju dua!

Motra Fulop xoxo

<333

Just Do It. Nike.

THANK YOU Abby and Lizzy for sending me these! I'm never taking them off

Exploring the ruins

PRIZREN

Week 17: Walking on Water

Ç'bona! Si jeni?

This week has been craaazy! B's brother, D, got baptized on Saturday which was really special. Also our stake president, Pres. Memma, came for institute and taught us an amazing lesson. Funny note... he was the national ping-pong champion back in his day. We conveniently had our ping pong table set up and ready to go for him when he came to the church. So Motra Henderson played a game against him. He'd do this special, crazy swing where he'd jump up and snap his arm back really fast to slam the ping pong ball. Unfortunately though my face was in the way as he did it.. so he elbowed me in the nose pretty good. But hey now I can say I took a hit to the face by a national ping pong champ!!

Something Kosovar: I've been surprised with how much I've had to defend my belief in Christ. Here barely anyone believes in him. I think the statistic is that in Kosovo 90% of the population is Muslim. So as we've been knocking on doors and street contacting a few people have asked me: "Why are you here? You know, all of us here are Muslim..." I tell them I'm here because I know that our message is true. I've been testifying of the Savior so much. It's pretty great. I'd like to share with you all a message on faith:

This past week I've been reading in Matthew. One of my all-time favorite events in Christ's lifetime is when he and Peter walk on water. A little background: Jesus is walking on the water towards his disciples who are on a ship. Peter climbs off the boat and tells Jesus he's going to walk to him. Then in Matt. 14:30-31 it reads, "But when he (Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
Two things that I'd like to emphasize from these two verses: 1. Peter could literally see Jesus. He was standing right infront of him. 2. Peter was one of, if not THE strongest disciples Christ had. With these two things in mind, you would think Peter would have had enough faith to make it to Christ on the water. But he lacked still; the wind distracted him and he doubted he could do it. He began to sink. This brings me to the conclusion that yes, faith in Christ is extremely hard, it was for Peter and it will be for us. But luckily for us, Christ is always ready and willing to bring forth his hand to get us out of the water.

Just always remember.... faith and doubt cannot coexist! I have to remind myself of this constantly. When we do this, we will be able to press forward with more confidence in ourselves.

Shpresoj që ju do të keni një javë e mirë! Ju dua!

Motra Fulop <3

​Motra Henderson's BDAY so the elders made a cake and I made a crown for her <333

The district. I'm awkwardly in the E

Awesome member right here! B is going to be the first missionary from Kosovo!

Week 16: Prepare to SWERVE

Mirë dita! Si je?

This has easily been the busiest week yet! Motra Henderson and I had every day completely booked with lessons. GET THIS, one person we met up with... Peter Makoid's cousin!! (my high school friends will know who I'm talking about). Yeah what are the odds, she works right down the road from me. It's nice to have a little piece of home here.

A little Kosovar culture for ya... Every morning we study from 8-10 and we've been getting live music outside our window. The gypsies walk up and down our street in the morning playing their homemade instruments. They'll have a clarinet/tamborine/drum strapped infront of them and play everything at once. Sounds like it would be a potential mess but it actually sounds awesome.

Yesterday we watched some of the few Mormon messages that are translated into Albanian. There was one that really struck me. We shared it with our branch president and a few members last night. I can't stop thinking about it it's so good! Please watch (this one's in English). We're going to share with everyone this week.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

"He is the light and life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened..." - Mosiah 16:9

Ju dua,

Motra Fulop :)

 

Just Motra's doing Motra things

​Gramia Park

Peter's cuz, Kristen!!!

YAY biking for P-day today

You don't want to know how many times I've ordered this in the past 7 weeks here

 

Week 15: May showers bring June flowers...?

Ç'bonaaaa

How is everyone?? I swear it's rained every. day. here in Prishtina. Gloomy and wet but whatareyagonnado. The work continues. This week was full of last minute, unplanned things!

Tuesday we got a text that we needed to be in Tirana the next morning for a conference. It's a four hour drive for us so we scratched everything we had planned for the next day and headed down. President Weidmann held a meeting for all of us greenies and our trainers. I felt so empowered after the meeting that day! Ever since that day Motra Henderson and I have been a lot more bold. From the moment we leave our door we'll talk, or at least say hello, to everyone we pass. It felt like a funny social experiment when we first started doing this. People are so caught off guard and stare us down. At first it was really uncomfortable, but you know what they say... what's bold today won't be bold tomorrow. The mission is stretching me hardcore. 

Friday didn't go nearly as planned, either. One of our members Y, passed. Our second counselor told us that the night before he had a really vivid dream of his deceased mom saying to him, "your friend is with me now." He awoke to a phone call at 3am from our branch president that Y, a dear friend to him, just passed.

Y was 80 years old and a devout member of the church. What I think really distinguishes his character and faith is that he would walk about 5 miles through the mountains to catch the closest bus to Prishtina every week for church. The total commute for him to get to church was 4 hours. So I never knew Y personally; he started getting sick right before I got here. But he lives on as a strong example to me of perseverance and faith. He was the only member of the church in his family. He sacrificed so much time and energy for the Lord.

So Thursday night Y's struggle with lung cancer finally ended and Friday we drove to his little fshat (village) for the funeral. I was unprepared with my favorite Sunday flats - we got dropped of in the fshat and had to hike quite a ways to get ontop of a hill where he was buried. I'd honestly never been to a funeral before and I thought a Kosovar funeral might be especially different but it was beautiful. The sun came out for the day. We sang hymns. Barely anyone cried; they knew they'd see him again. 

"...Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." - 2 Nephi 31:20

Dashuri nga Kosovë,

Motra Fulop xoxo

 

MTC fam reunion in Tiranë!!!

MOTRA LYNG. My Norwegian bff. The Elsa to my Anna. 6 weeks was too long.

I think these are the funniest looking cars zipping around. 3 - wheelers!

Jamming out with Motra Henderson and taking in the views on our way to Tiranë. The Balkans are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l

View from the funeral. We were surrounded by vineyards and rolling hills, super nice to get out of the city