SO... TRANSFER WEEK.
On Saturday Sister Bennett and I waited anxiously to find out our next adventure. President called us and told me that I am leaving Tirana, but not only leaving Tirana, I'm leaving Albania! Yes... I'm headed to Kosovo for this next transfer. I will be with another one of the Sisters that I was in the MTC with, Sister Fuller. I am beyond excited and cant wait to get out there. I hear it's a different world up there, but all will be well. It's where Heavenly Father needs me right now so I'm ready to go.
It was sad saying goodbye to first ward though. I didn't think there was any more room in my heart to love the people there after fourth ward, but boy was I wrong. Church was bitter sweet and I am going to miss the people in First ward A LOT. I was worried that I hadn't really made a huge dent in the work there for only being there for three months, but before we left church on Sunday the Bishop pulled me and Sister Bennett into his room to thank me for the work I did there and for the example I was setting for his daughter and his family as a missionary. Sister Bennett and I were both almost in tears. It was just a sweet moment.
Speaking of the work here though, this week was really awesome. On Tuesday we had a district meeting and one of the Elders was talking about how he was talking to Elder Charles (of the 70) last week about how he could have more success in his area and in the work. Elder Charles had told him that one thing that would bless him would be to talk in Albanian ALWAYS. When you are outside of the house and to only talk about Church related things so Sister Bennett and I both wanted to try it. So that's how we started this week. and we immediately saw blessings from it...
Per shembull: We were doing some street contacting this week. Sister Bennett and I had an hour and a half planned out to do street contacting outside of our center so that we could pull people in for lessons again. We said a prayer before and were feeling very confident that we would be able to find someone. 45 minutes into talking to every person that passed, a 17 year old girl walked by me. Her name is Sil. We started talking and I invited her to have a lesson right then and she accepted. She then told us that she had been having a rough couple of weeks and that people at school had been giving her a rough time. She also said that right when she was feeling the most sad, I stopped her and talked to her. "It was perfect!" she said. We had an awesome first lesson and invited her to be baptized. She accepted and is on a baptismal date right now for next month! After our lesson she told us that she felt so much happier and excited to meet again!
That same day we had a lesson planned with a referral from other missionaries with a 61 year old woman named Lej. She had received a flyer the other week inviting her to our Stake Conference and SHE WENT! She said she didn't really know what it was for, but that it looked interesting and she loves Jesus Christ so why not haha She ended up loving it and afterwards someone got her number and later found out she was in our area and sent her to us. This woman is AMAZING. The spirit was so strong as we were teaching her and we could tell she has real intent and really loved the church. She even ended up coming to church this Sunday and loved it. I love hearing stories of how such amazing people came in contact with the church because it's just proof that God prepares his children and leads them to where they need to be. Somehow everyone will find their way:)
We also had an awesome experience at the hospital this week. We went to go visit a member there who was having some health problems. The whole family was talking a lot about the Plan of Salvation, Temples and the Gospel. One of the family members turned to another lady in the same room that was a patient there waiting to get surgery the next day and explained who we were because I guess the lady gave her a funny look when she heard American accents. haha We ended up saying a prayer all together and then afterwards we encouraged her that Heavenly Father would take care of everything. She told us she felt a lot better and we left her with our number and told her to call us so that we could receive news as to how her surgery went. She told us thank you a billion times with tears in her eyes and I could tell that she really felt the Spirit, because we did also. It was really an awesome experience and a tender mercy for all of us.
There's been a lot of experiences this week that have strengthened my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. While helping members prepare for the temple and do work for their family members that have passed away, I have felt the Spirit testify to me so strongly that their loved ones are waiting so patiently and excitedly to have their work done. Tears filled my eyes when I heard a member talk about how she was going to baptize her father and her brother because I know that they were so happy and I could feel it.
Heavenly Fathers plan is so perfect and really is the plan of happiness. I'm thankful for the knowledge I have that I will be able to live with my family forever and that we will all be able to see our loved ones again. I know that there is life after death and I know that Heavenly Father loves all of us.
I love you and hope you have a fantastic week.
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