Vlore round 2

Elder Holm & Sister Smith are both leaving me

Sup y'all, 

So.. We got transfer calls last night! As I had predicted, I'll be staying in Vlore for another transfer. Honestly, it's a bittersweet thing. Vlore is awesome and the people are great, but.. after being 3 months in one place you kinda wouldn't mind a change. But, it's good. A sister from Tirana is coming down to serve with me. Her name is Sister Wilding and this will be her last transfer. What's crazy though is that she's already served in Vlore for 6 months before! She was "born" and trained in Vlore, stayed here for 2 transfers and now is coming back. She's pretty different from me personality wise so things should get interesting ;) But I'm really hoping that the Lord has some specific work for us to do to build up the ward here in Vlore. 

Bye Bye Sister Smith

Otherwise, this past week went by really fast! Probably because on Wednesday we had mission conference. It was super good!!! It was sad because the Ford's are on their way out of the mission. I love Sister Ford so much. She just totally tells it how it is and I just love it so much. She gave us a talk on patience and about waiting for things to come to pass. It was really good. Especially because I'm terrible when it comes to looking forward to things. I'm always waiting for the next thing to come. But sometimes we need to just stop and realize how great things are for us in that moment. I know that I've recognized so many more blessings that way. 

Our Bishops Puppy, Oliver. Im obsessed with him.

I was so excited to see all of the Elders that I've missed from my MTC group. I walked into the meeting late because we had to go to the police station for some of my documents and stuff. But, I walked in and I saw Elder Myers and I was just like YES!! So, I went and sat down and stuff and then he turns around in the meeting and he points at this bag and he bought me these 2 things for my hair.. and get this.. he bought me a jar of peanut butter. Basically, it made my whole life so much better! I was so excited because the peanut butter here is different, but he bought me some extra crunchy jif and I was just so stoked. It's terribly sad to me that we're on COMPLETE opposite ends of the mission. He's truly like the brother that I never had. Haha, when we all get together I just laugh so hard. It's so fun. But, also.. I met one of the sisters that are serving in Macedonia and although it will never happen.. I wanna get sent there so bad now, she's SO rad!!! We're the exact same. As we were about to sit down for lunch she comes up behind me and she was like "can we sit together.. and can we please not sit next to the other sisters.. Sisters are annoying." I laughed so hard because I really feel like I should have been born a boy. They're just so much more chill and better to hang around with. But basically, she's the best. So.. maybe something crazy will happen and Heavenly Father will be merciful and send me to be with her.

Ledi's Baptism, I was so excited

Other than that I think towards the end of the transfer things get a little rough. We've got 3 investigators with baptismal dates, but it's kinda hard to get them coming to church. So.. That's slowing our work down a little. Also, probably similar to home.. It's summer now so everyone is off in different locations and doesn't have time to meet. So, I'm hoping that once Sister Wilding gets down here we can get back into a rhythm and get some good work going. 

Something that I really want to do in this next transfer is help strengthen the ward here. Bring some less active members back and try and develop a charitable environment. What's kind of difficult is that Albanian's don't trust each other very well. They're all absolutely certain that the Church would be better if an American was in charge. But that's not true at all. So.. we're gonna do some work and get people to stop complaining and talking badly about others. It's crazy!! Y'all should hear Relief Society, it's like being in the live audience when they tape the View. Just a bunch of women bickering. But, truly.. the Church has only been in Vlore for like 6 years. So, they're doing well.. considering. Like I said, we have some work to do. 

Our investigator  Redvina, she's a cutie

This past week I went and met some of Aleksander's family members. They are so kind! They invited us into their restaurant and gave us some icecream and just talked with us. I don't think they're all that interested in the gospel. I left a Book of Mormon with them, so we'll see. But Aleksander's brother made it clear taht if I need anything I can come to them or call them or something, so that was super nice :) 

Our new mission president comes in this next week and I'm interested to see how he will change things here in the Adriatic South mission.. He's from Switzerland, so.. He could be pretty intense.. Or he could be pretty chill. It could go either way. I guess we'll see!! 

Proof that Albania has changed me... Tomatoes and cucumbers… I love them!

Well, not too much else to report over here. But I hope everyone is enjoying some nice weather there. And yes.. It's still HOT here. I hate it so much. And it's only just begun.. Heaven help me. 

Much love, 

Motra Vermunt