"Good Things Keep on Coming"

 Finding Direction and Strength in the Lord. 

Heavenly Father speaks to His children in different ways and this week he spoke to me through the testimonies of others.

The Gospel truly changes lives. Sometimes it takes a humbling experience to remind you where you're at and where you want to be. 

      In church these past couple of  weeks we changed up our regular routine  and decided to go into Young Womens instead of Relief Society. When we walked in last week there was only one Young Women there. She has been absent for quite a long time and so the Young Womens teacher was actually unprepared with the lesson because she didn't think she was going to be there. The young girl was quite and unresponsive when the teacher was desperately trying to get her to participate. Sister Bennett and I did our best to try to help and teach and keep the lesson going but its safe to say that the young girl didn't get much out of the lesson because she didn't really want to. The next week she had the opportunity of going to FSY (efy for Albania) She seemed a little excited about but you could still tell she wasn't sure about the whole thing. To our excitement this week she was in church again. We came to Young Womens again because we were excited to hear about her experience she had in FSY. We expected to hear that it was really good and there were lots of good talks and good people, but I didn't think what she would say would touch me as much as it did.  She went on to talk about the literally life changing experience she had there. The whole first 15 minutes of class This young girl told us her conversion story.  Not her conversion story of when she was baptized at eight into the church but her REAL conversion story that just started. She didn't go into detail about what she heard or learned but she told us the effect that it had on her. She told us she had been absent from the church for awhile with a little testimony and not a whole lot of desire to come to church but after her experience she came back and was able to take a whole other look at her life and where it was at and where she wanted to be which was not where she was. She told us she dropped a lot of friends, she changed her thinking, her actions, the music she listened to, everything. The girl that was talking in church this Sunday was not the same girl that was there last week. This girl now had the light of Christ. You could tell she was repenting and doing the best she could to change her life despite what was going around her. She lost her friends and her family didn't really understand why the sudden change and she told us she didn't really feel like she had anyone to talk to but she had Heavenly Father and it made all the difference. I guess her experience really touched me because I knew how she felt. I felt her happiness because I had been there. I was never able to see my change personally but seeing her change put things into perspective and I was able to see things more clearly and it strengthened my testimony even more.  You could tell it was still hard for her even though she was now on the right track. Things don't automatically get easier and all of our struggles don't disappear, but one thing I do know is that we are happier when were doing the right thing. Like Henry B. Eyring says "If you're on the right path, it will ALWAYS be uphill." 

     To start off our week we got a call from one of our faithful members telling us that she has someone that wants to have a lesson with us. We immediately went over to her house to meet with this lady and had an awesome lesson about the Restoration and Heavenly Fathers plan for us. She found a lot of comfort in our lesson and was excited to have us back again. The amazing part of this story though is about the member. This particular member started doing service for the people that live around her. She started to clean the neighborhood, without getting paid and without being told to. She did it faithfully because of her desire to serve others and her family so that they could have a nice environment to live in. The people around her started to notice and they thank her regularly every time they see her. She told us that she saw this as a way to share the Gospel. As people saw her service and invited her over for lunch she decided to talk about he Gospel with them. About why she does what she does and why shes as happy as she is. She gotten to know the people around her and through her service they were more open to Hearing about the Gospel. It doesn't end there though... This lady has started taking lessons, but the member hasn't stopped serving her. The Woman takes care of her Mother who is getting very old because she cant be left alone for very long and the member generously offered to help her out. It started with just a few hours of going over to help her out but has turned into staying the night some nights to help out her friend.  Her service didn't stop because she did her job in inviting her to learn, it continued and still continues. I learned a lot from her example or selfless service and I'm just so grateful to the fact that I have such amazing people and examples around me. 

     As a missionary people think that we know everything and we just teach people but really, its God who teaches us through other people and I really saw that this week.  There is not a week that has passed on my mission that I haven't learned something new. My testimony is strengthened every day and week by my experiences, the people I meet, and the things I go through. I guess all I really have left to say is that I love my Heavenly Father so much. I cant imagine my life without communication with Him. 

Finding Direction and Strength in the Lord. 

Heavenly Father speaks to His children in different ways and this week he spoke to me through the testimonies of others.

The Gospel truly changes lives. Sometimes it takes a humbling experience to remind you where you're at and where you want to be. 

      In church these past couple of  weeks we changed up our regular routine  and decided to go into Young Womens instead of Relief Society. When we walked in last week there was only one young women there. She has been absent for quite a long time and so the Young Womens teacher was actually unprepared with the lesson because she didn't think she was going to be there. The young girl was quite and unresponsive when the teacher was desperately trying to get her to participate. Sister Bennett and I did our best to try to help and teach and keep the lesson going but it's safe to say that the young girl didn't get much out of the lesson because she didn't really want to. The next week she had the opportunity of going to FSY (EFY for Albania).  She seemed a little excited about it but you could still tell she wasn't sure about the whole thing. To our excitement this week she was in church again. We came to Young Womens again because we were excited to hear about her experience she had in FSY. We expected to hear that it was really good and there were lots of good talks and good people, but I didn't think what she would say would touch me as much as it did.  She went on to talk about the literally life changing experience she had there. The whole first 15 minutes of class this young girl told us her conversion story.  Not her conversion story of when she was baptized at eight into the church but her REAL conversion story that just started. She didn't go into detail about what she heard or learned but she told us the effect that it had on her. She told us she had been absent from the church for awhile with a little testimony and not a whole lot of desire to come to church. After her experience she came back and was able to take a whole other look at her life and where it was at and where she wanted to be, which was not where she was. She told us she dropped a lot of friends, she changed her thinking, her actions, the music she listened to, everything. The girl that was talking in church this Sunday was not the same girl that was there last week. This girl now had the light of Christ. You could tell she was repenting and doing the best she could to change her life despite what was going around her. She lost her friends and her family didn't really understand why the sudden change and she told us she didn't really feel like she had anyone to talk to but she had Heavenly Father and it made all the difference. I guess her experience really touched me because I knew how she felt. I felt her happiness because I had been there. I was never able to see my change personally but seeing her change put things into perspective and I was able to see things more clearly.  It strengthened my testimony even more.  You could tell it was still hard for her even though she was now on the right track. Things don't automatically get easier and all of our struggles don't disappear, but one thing I do know is that we are happier when were doing the right thing. Like Henry B. Eyring says "If you're on the right path, it will ALWAYS be uphill." 

     To start off our week we got a call from one of our faithful members telling us that she has someone that wants to have a lesson with us. We immediately went over to her house to meet with this lady and had an awesome lesson about the Restoration and Heavenly Fathers plan for us. She found a lot of comfort in our lesson and was excited to have us back again. The amazing part of this story though is about the member. This particular member started doing service for the people that live around her. She started to clean the neighborhood, without getting paid and without being told to. She did it faithfully because of her desire to serve others and her family so that they could have a nice environment to live in. The people around her started to notice and they thanked her regularly, every time they would see her. She told us that she saw this as a way to share the Gospel. As people saw her service and invited her over for lunch she decided to talk about the Gospel with them. About why she does what she does and why she is as happy as she is. She had gotten to know the people around her and through her service they were more open to hearing about the Gospel. It doesn't end there though... This lady has started taking lessons, but the member hasn't stopped serving her. The woman takes care of her Mother who is getting very old and she cant be left alone for very long.  The member generously offered to help her out. It started with just a few hours of going over to help her out but has turned into staying the night some nights to help out her friend.  Her service didn't stop because she did her job in inviting her to learn, it continued and still continues. I learned a lot from her example of selfless service and I'm just so grateful to the fact that I have such amazing people and examples around me. 

     As a missionary people think that we know everything and we just teach people but really, its God who teaches us through other people and I really saw that this week.  There is not a week that has passed on my mission that I haven't learned something new. My testimony is strengthened every day and week by my experiences, the people I meet, and the things I go through. I guess all I really have left to say is that I love my Heavenly Father so much. I cant imagine my life without communication with Him. 

Hello from Albania ♥♥

I feel like so much has happened this week and I don't really know where to start! Sister
 tI feel like so much happened this week and I don't really know where to start! Sister Bennett has hit her halfway mark as a trainee so congratulations to her for making it this far with a crazy trainer like me :) Were both still alive! 

I'm so blessed in a million ways and I feel like every week i start my emails off the same way, but its so true. Heavenly Father is so aware of all of us and I will testify of that the rest of my life.

Ill talk about a few of the many blessings we saw this week.

There was one day that we were riding home on a bus and the bus started to break down and there was this teenage girl that we were by that was making some funny comments that I was laughing at. We ended up talking and Sister Bennett asked her where she was going because she seemed like she was in a hurry. We ended up talking for a little while and when we told her we were missionaries and what we do she said "How can I be a missionary? I want to be one" haha well... what an awesome question! haha let me tell you:)  we talked a little bit about baptism and how you have to be a member and learn more about the church and we invited her to meet again and she was super excited! We got her number and she said she is really looking forward to meeting this week. It was such an awesome experience. I never thought I would say this but I'm grateful that our bus broke down and broke the ice haha

Another awesome experience was when sister Bennett and I were looking for a Less Actives house we had never been to. I honestly had no idea where we were so we stopped to ask for help from this lady on the road who showed us exactly where we needed to go. She asked us where we were from because apparently we have really strong accents haha and we told her America which led into the "why on earth are you in Albania?" question which led to "BECAUSE WERE MISSIONARIES" which led to "can we come visit someday and talk a little about our church?" Which ended in a "yes, here's my address and number" It was definitely a blessing from Heavenly Father that we were completely lost. Its so funny how little things that seem like burdens or annoyances can turn into some of the biggest blessings. 

I'm amazed by the members in the First ward. Sister Bennett had pointed out the other week that she loves that in every prayer that you hear from members they ALWAYS ask a blessing on the missionaries because if it weren't for the missionaries they wouldn't be in the church today. I thought that that was an awesome point and I am amazed by a lot of the members and their willingness to help us out. We had a member come up to us at church this week after a lesson on missionary work and said "I'm going to come with you at least two times a week to help with missionary work" another member called us one night and said she had been talking to a few of her neighbors and one of them wants to come to church and the other wants us to come over for a lesson! While another lady took us to go see a recent convert that we have been trying to meet with for awhile and we were able to have an awesome lesson. I'm amazed by their willingness to help us and i think like Sister Bennett said, its because they know how much its blessed their life and they want to share it with others.  We have definitely been stressing the need of members help in missionary work in many lessons and talks in church and I'm grateful that the Spirit was able to touch their hearts enough to get them to act. 

So one of the many things i love about Albania are the shirts they wear. (this may sound a little random, but i promise I'm tying it in somehow:)) Sister Bennett and I are constantly smiling and laughing to ourselves when we see their shirts with misspelled English words/ sentences on them.  99.9% of the time they don't make sense or the grammar is wrong and you can tell it was NOT made in America haha but today as we were walking I actually saw a shirt with a saying on it that i really loved. It said "It always seems impossible until its done" It really got me thinking (yes a shirt with a silly saying got me pondering about my life:)) BUT ITS SO TRUE. There has been so many times in my life and on my mission where a situation seemed impossible. I didn't know how in the world it could be done but when I look back at those situations, i realize that I made it through. That it WASN'T impossible. I was able to overcome what seemed impossible at the moment. I know it wasn't by myself. It was all with the help of Heavenly Father and I can testify that what seems impossible is.... without his help, but as we rely on Him and take his hand a let him show us the way, we can overcome anything. 

I'm so thankful for the many blessings in my life. I know that small things in life, that seem like they wouldn't be important to Almighty God, are important to Him because he knows how important they are to us. He watches us carefully. He knows our thoughts, our desires, our feelings. He knows what makes us happy and what makes us sad. I know he loves me because he shows me in some way or another everyday. I'm so grateful for his love and all of the amazing blessings he has given me because he loves me. 

It was another amazing week here in Albania and i hope you all have an amazing week also! "Do more than what you think you can" my wise Dad once told me;) 

LOVE YOU!

"See this pyramid??...."

"We climbed it!...."

"Some P-day fun!"

"Shkoder missionaries came down for some pday fun ;)"

IM IN ALBANIA:)

I just get so happy and excited when I remember how awesome it is that I get to be a missionary!

I really love it so much.

This week we saw some awesome miracles.

A couple for example, were with the same family. I've talked a little about the Keqja family and how much I love them . Recently Skender (their dad) got a job so when we have been going over to their house it has just been the Mom and the kids which has been really nice for them because we have gotten to focus on them more and we've had a couple really good lessons with them. Their twelve year old daughter hadn't showed a whole lot of interest in our lessons and had absolutely no interest in being baptized but in one of our lessons, she said an awesome sincere prayer asking Heavenly Father if she needed to be baptized. It may just seem like a little thing that she prayed about it, but it was a miracle for us and for sure an answer to our prayers. A different day with the same family we read with the kids and the mom again out of Alma 7. They all loved it and showed more interest in the lesson than usual and when their dad came home they couldn't wait to share it with him. As soon as he walked in the kids said "Dad, you have to read these verses, they are so beautiful" When he walked in he didn't seem like he was in a friendly mood unlike usual, but he wanted to read. He read verses 10-13 which talk about the Savior. Afterwards, he usually has a big argument and we get into a discussion that doesn't really go anywhere, but this time was different. He was silent, and he took his glasses off and looked at us and told us that his friend that he grew up with passed away the other day... He said "when I think about resurrection and how you believe that we will all live again, it takes the pain away" It was a very special moment for us and for him especially because the resurrection has always been a hard thing for him to accept. He always said it was an "exaggeration" but after he was able to humble himself a little, he was able to see how beautiful Heavenly Fathers plan really is. I now have a stronger testimony of Ether 12:27 how Heavenly Father shows us our weaknesses so that we can become humble and as we humble ourselves he will make the weak things become strong. 

Humility has always been a hard Christ like attribute for me to develop. Sometimes I think that I can do things by myself and I try and I fail, because I'm not relying on my Heavenly Father. Other times, I get so frustrated with myself because I have weaknesses and they are hard for me to accept and rely on someone else to help me. I'm developing a stronger testimony though for how important it is to be humble. Like it says in Ether 12, Heavenly Father is totally willing to show us our weaknesses  if he knows it will help us grow and help us to rely more on him. We really are so helpless without Him, without his love, and without his Help. He is willing to bring us down, but he's even more willing to lift us up and help us grow. 

I have a quote book that my mom sent me in a package and my favorite quote is one that says "All you've got is all you can give, and that will always be enough" To me it doesn't necessarily mean that we can do it on our own, but it means that when we put forth all that we have and do as much as we can, he will help us with the rest and THAT will be enough. We can't do it without him and we can't expect him to do it all for us. 

I'm thankful for my weaknesses and I'm thankful for my mistakes because I've learned so much from them and I've grown in the experiences. 

I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. For example I pray every single night for each member in my family. I pray specifically for what I think they need at that moment and I've seen/ heard of so many blessings flow into their lives. Some blessings just as specific as my prayers for them were. 

Heavenly Father loves us all. He wants to help us SO bad. He knows we are not perfect and I'm glad were not so that we have room to grow. 

My love for my Heavenly Father grows every week. I love this Gospel. 

I also want to add this story that my Mission President's wife shared with us this week at Zone Conference. I love it a lot and I hope it gives you some motivation for the week:)
"P.U.S.H."
A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained, that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.
This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun ·up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might.
Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out feeling that his whole day has been spent in vain. Since the man was showing signs of discouragement the adversary decide to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.
"Why kill yourself over this?” he thought. I will just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be enough." And that is what he planned to do, until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord" he said, I've labored long and hard in Your service, putting all my strength to do that which You've asked. Yet, after all this time, I haven't even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What's wrong? Why am I failing?"
"MY friend, when I asked you to serve Me – you accepted.
I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength - which you've done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me - with your strength spent, thinking that you've failed. But is that really so?"
"Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscular. Your back sinew is mighty. Your hands a callused from the constant pressure; and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you've grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you’ve done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”
At times, when we hear from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants. What God ACTUALLY wants is just simple OBEDIENCE and FAITH IN HIM. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know, that it’s still God who moves the mountains.

P.U.S.H. = Pray Until Something Happens!

When everything seems to go wrong, just P.U.S.H. - When the job gets you down, P.U.S.H. - When people don’t react the way you think they should, P.U.S.H. - When the people just don’t understand you, just - P.U.S.H."




"P-DAY today!  It was Elder Chingas' birthday so we went to Cinnabon.  Ignore
my face in the first picture.  They were trying to feed me because I'm trying to stay away from the sweets haha"

"The beautiful ride to Kosovo :) ♥♥"



"More. Awesome sunset, a pipe broke so there was a flood if you can see it.  It was on the highway haha
And a picture of our mission van "Big Blue"!  You can't really see it but
Sister White is making an awesome face in the window :)"

"Sister Bennett and I on the long drive there...I don't know if you can tell by our smiles but
we woke up at 4:30 in the morning. #roadtrip"

"Oh and Motra Bennett and I enjoying some brownies during studies...I obviously didn't
stick to my "no sweets" this whole week.  oops! ;)"

"Pretty Kosovo sunset on our way home"

""Cool Catholic church in Kosovo"

"ROAD TRIPPPPP!!! Are we there yet?"

 “Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes, it is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there” - President Thomas S. Monson

I love this Quote and I love our Prophet. This week I was able to feel the love of my Heavenly Father very strongly for myself and for those around me like every week I am here in Albania. 

Sister Bennett and I had an experience at the beginning of the week which really struck us both pretty hard with the realization of the fact that God loves ALL of his children. We got a strange phone call from a number we didn't recognize, but the lady was very persistent in wanting to meet. A missionaries dream right?:) So we met with her. It wasn't long before meeting her and her companion when we realized we were with missionaries from another Faith. We didn't want confrontation, we didn't want to argue about who's church was better and who had the truth, but we could tell that that was their intention. Sister Bennett and I wanted to leave, but we knew we needed to be respectful in our actions. We listened respectfully and told them a little bit about what we believed but as the time went on I was starting to feel a very upset feeling, like nothing I had ever felt before.  I wanted to teach them about what we believed, and what I knew was true but it didn't feel right so I kept my mouth shut. We respectfully declined their invitation on learning more and left the situation. Sister Bennett and I were talking afterwards and she asked me if I felt as sick as she did. We decided to find a quiet place to say a prayer because we both were not feeling right. We knelt in prayer and as soon as I addressed my Heavenly Father the sick feeling went away. I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and love especially for the other missionaries. I wanted to help them, I wanted to pray for them and as I did I felt so much love for them. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Sister Bennett and I can both testify that it was the love of our Father in Heaven.

Our investigator Mar was baptized this Saturday a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!:) YAY!  The changes she has made in her life are testimony to me. She is so happy and she truly has the light of Christ in her eyes. After her baptism I never caught her not smiling. Then in the morning when she received the Holy Ghost there was a glow about her. This Gospel truly CHANGES lives. I testify that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. The only true church on the Earth.   I know that to do the Lords will is IMPOSSIBLE without his help.  I have a testimony of the importance of personal study and receiving personal revelation. There was a day when Sister Bennett and I had to leave early in the morning during our personal study to go to the church. After that we had a lesson and so we were not able to have personal study until later in our day and I felt SO OFF!  I knew exactly why, it was because I hadn't read my scriptures. I hadn't studied. I'm so lucky we have a specific time set aside to learn more about this Gospel. I'm so lucky to be apart of this Church. I'm so lucky that I get to share this Gospel with those around me. There really is no greater happiness. I don't know how to express the love I have for my Savior and my Father in Heaven. I'm so grateful that his love is always there for me no matter what. When I'm happy, discouraged, hopeful, when I don't feel like I deserve his love, its so relieving to know that it's still always there and always will be.

"Selfie time"

"Relief Society Activity"



"Mar's Baptism! ♥"

"Sister Bennett and I were a little excited :)"



"I LOVE this girl.  One of the sweetest, most humble people I have ever met♥"

"Here are some pictures of the inside of our church:)"

"Random.  Jona and I and a selfie in the baptismal mirror. WOOOO"



"I just love and enjoy all these girls!"

"Jona and I being cute and stuff and then Bishop comes up and makes
fun of us.  Good thing I got it on camera! :) haha I love this ward!"

"ATTACK OF THE LADYBUGSSSSSSSSS" Oh my... haha

"This bowl has my new favorite snack in it.  Peaches, bananas, yogurt and oats.  IM ADDICTED.
The second picture? I don't know..the HEAT here is getting to me"

"Comp pic"

"Funny story with this one. haha  President Weidmann came to our house to do cleaning checks.  He
walks in to our bathroom and goes "How convenient, you can pee and shower at the same time" hahaha"

"Oh ya and I woke up one morning and half of my face was swollen.  I looked Chinese on
one side of my face...I think I'm allergic to peanuts"