Five Months, What!?

November 30, 2020

Hellooo!

I have been in Tirana for nearly two weeks now and I LOVE IT. Big city energy is so fun. Sister Bezzant is from Utah, has been on Provo's Most Eligible and dabs a lot. She is awesome and it has been a party. I totally fan girl over her.

We did splits with some of the Macedonian sisters last week and I was really put on the spot with my Albanian haha. I found myself in a lesson with 3 Albanians and 2 Macedonian speaking sisters. Gift of tongues came in clutch and the lesson went well! It was fun and scary. The best combo right?

I loved President Nelsons video and his challenge to be more grateful. Seeing friends and family posting things they are grateful for has made me feel so connected to them! Even science can prove that gratitude is SO GOOD for you!

Moments this week:

Restaurant owner gave us all free non-alcoholic beers because we said his restaurant was the best in Albania. Thanks?

We found red velvet cake on my birthday!! Then later that night we got sushi with the district and Macedonian sisters!! We found little caterpillars in some of the sushi afterwards but it was still yummy in the moment.

Sister Bezzant and I gave our first training for zone conference over zoom! We thought there was nooo way we could talk for 35 mins but we somehow managed to go over. Sorry ZLs haha.

By miracle 2 packages came the moment we were at the mission office on my birthday!!

We ate 2 Albanian/American Thanksgiving dinners, both were interesting ;) but very fun.

Today we went to the coast for p-day and it was insanely windy. So I used a jacket to try and make a parachute and it made me miss my brothers so much!!

Although Tirana is very fun and different, it has been quite an adjustment. The dialect here is pretty different from what I have been hearing. We are more restricted here and have heard a lot of rumors that we will be going into mandatory lockdown within the next two weeks. It is much harder to find people to teach, and find members to meet with us!! But we have a lot of motivation and faith that our work will pay off, even if we don't see the rewards!

I am so grateful to be a missionary right now. There is truly nothing else I would rather be doing, even though it is not easy!! One thing I have been working to be better on is looking for God in everything. One of the times I saw God's hand and His love this week was on my birthday! The night before I was feeling homesick. At 6 AM on my birthday I woke up, without my alarm (you all know I am NOT a morning person so that is a sign), and when I opened my eyes I was looking right out the window by my bed and saw the most amazing sunrise. I know that God is constantly reaching out to us, and when we look for his hand we WILL see it every time!

I am so grateful for all of you and the influence you have had in my life. I thank my Father in Heaven that I have crossed paths which each and every one of you!!

Ju dua kaq shumë

xo Motra Mënz

(I finally got my tag spelling my name correctly in Albanian...MËNZ!)