Happy Monday

I just love Monday's. I love hearing from y'all and how good things are going!!  You all are so wonderful!

Paolo. She is leaving tomorrow for America, she got into BYU. She was the first person I taught a lesson to in Vlore! I  adore her.

So, this week has been really good! We just worked away and somehow the end of the week just came.. It was really nice. It's still really hot here and yesterday was SO humid. It's such a foreign thing to me.. I find so much joy in the fact that summer will end one of these days. Haha, I'm such a wimp. Whatever. 

Last night was so great, President Weidmann, his wife and the AP's came down to Vlore and visited us. Seriously you guys, I love the Weidmann's. They are incredible. Sister Weidmann is SO sweet.. She's so soft spoken and so sweet, and super classy too. I love it. It was so nice because you know that the Weidmann's have so much to do but President put it at the top of his priority list to get to know us and I'm just so grateful for his genuine love and concern for us. He is incredible and I consider it such a great blessing and opportunity to work as a missionary under his counsel. 

Ledi got a puppy, i am seriously OBSESSED with it

Cool story though.. So, in order to get to know us a little better they asked us to tell some information and then share a spiritual experience that we had. I couldn't decide what one I wanted to share but I chose to share the story of how I chose to come on a mission. I started telling the story and when I got to the part that I was in the temple and then opened to D&C 31, Sister Weidmann just kept on looking at President and then back and me and then back at him and I was like... what's happening.. Haha. After I had finished she told me that the EXACT same thing happened to her daughter. Her daughter too was like, "Well if you want me to go, I need something big." That was exactly my prayer and we both were guided to D&C 31:3. It was really cool and I think the Weidmann's and I really connected over that. I'm so excited about them! 

Look at that face

Another sweet thing that happened this week was in a lesson that we had with Alketa. So, Alketa is SO chatty. Teaching her lessons is kinda difficult because we make one point and then she's on another 6 minute tangent. Haha, but her ideas and feelings are seriously full of wisdom. Anyway, we were discussing prayer and how the Lord wants us to talk to Him about everything, not just the bad or not just the good. We told her about the love of Heavenly Father and after we said what we needed to say, she paused and looked at us and she said, "I don't know why this happens but when you talk.. It always makes me cry." And her eyes just started to fill with tears. We sat in silence for a moment, and I told her that it was the Spirit telling her heart that our words are true. It was really a powerful lesson. 

And! One of her coworkers asked if we could come meet with her too! When we talked to Alketa, she said that her friend is so excited for Wednesday when we get to meet and she thinks that we're just the cutest girls. Haha, I hope that she has genuine interest in the gospel. We'll see! 

My companions planner… seriously… our days are insane

I love this gospel so much. I look forward to my hour of personal study every single day. That one hour of the day gives me enough strength to make it through whatever comes my way that day. Honestly, there are days when so many things fall through.. There have been multiple times in the past week where Sister Wilding and I have had heavy hearts because of the hardness of peoples hearts. But despite all of the difficulties of this work, I am always lifted up by the hope of the gospel. Sometimes when I look forward, the road seems long and I'm like.. whoa, I have another year of doing this.. day after day. It is easy to wonder if you have the endurance to do that.. But, I found something that was said by Heber J Grant and it says, "I believe that when we determine within our hearts that by and within the power of God and with his blessings, our Heavenly Father will help us accomplish a certain labour. God gives us the ability to accomplish anything. But when we lay down, when we become discouraged and when we look at the top of the mountain and say that it is impossible to climb to the summit while we never make an effort it will never be accomplished." I loved this because it's so easy for us to look at a task and feel that it's insurmountable. But once you just put your head down and get to work, you'll find that it isn't that way at all and with the help of the Lord even the roughest times won't seem so hard. But it takes our work and our determination first. We can't just pray and ask the Lord to get us up the mountain without expecting to work for it ourselves. I love this work that I have the opportunity to be apart of, and I testify that it is the work of God. 

All my love,

Motra Vermunt

Look y'all… Max made this way all the way to Albania