Motra Hoover: Week fun to great things! --- Aug. 26th

Family!

This week really has been so great! I have done so many wonderful things, most important and rewarding however is that our investigators here are progressing and being prepared to make their first covenants with our Heavenly Father! There really is no great feeling than the spirit that comes to me and them as they grow closer to Him and learn of His greater love!

Two of our investigators that we have been working hard with passed their baptism interviews and are getting baptised this Saturday!!!! YES!!! Their names are Linda and Moza. I love them both very much! They are both older ladies 40's and 50's that aren't married, but the Gospel has been such a light. Moza is a little slow, but it has been incredible for me to love her and have an even greater understanding of how the spirit can work through us and how the spirit really is how these people learn. I'm really excited to make it all happen.

So I got a new memory card and am loving taking more pictures again!! Here are a few as of late:

1. Motra Iftiu (my MTC teacher from Albania) came here a few days ago with her husband for her brother in laws wedding. Last night we stopped at her mom's house to say hello for the evening and SUPRISE!! she was there! Of course we had to stay for dinner. It was so fun! She is definitely loving being home!

2. I had a way fun exchange with Motra Morgan in Fier this past week. I realized I haven't been out of my area since the end of April! Crazy! Just traveling to Fier made me remember the first half of my mission... always traveling! I'm guessing this life is coming back soon... we'll see. Here we are in the first ever MOTRA car! The first sisters to drive ever in this mission was this past transfer. It's crazy here, but I can't wait to try it out myself!!

3. In our home after the exchange! Motra Morgan and Molifua had the same Hungarian companion as me in the MTC and they are leaving in a week and a half. Ahh!!! I miss them already.

4. We had a Motra training this last week that I loved! and couldn't believe how big we are getting. We are 14 sisters right now, and 9 more are coming in January, just after I leave... From 6 to.... 22. Talk about crazy!

5. EVERYONE here says they are sick with "hypertension" ha. Then as we were sitting and talking to some of our favorite Nënë's that we pass often these people sitting next to us started taking each others blood pressures. It was so funny!

6. Here is a pic of us with all our favorite Nënë's. Just all widowed, so all wearing black, and love hanging out together every night. It's great! They always joke with us, pinch our cheeks, slap us, and say "të keq e nënë" a million times... meaning let me have all your bad and you take all the good! Basically they say this for everything! ha.

7. This is my FAVORITE crepe place. It is just a little store on the side of the sidewalk. We make very often trips for crepes. I love them!

8. Albanians, always water the sidewalks and roads to make the air cooler. It is so funny.

10. Today some of us from Tirana went back to Kruje for a fun P-day. It was fun! ha. This time we went all the way to the top of the mountain and saw some GREAT views!

11. Albanian have no problem becoming apart of a group. So our furgon (van) driver jumped right in and started taking pictures of all of us and with us! ha.

12. The furgon we got on was a little sketchy, we weren't sure it was going to make it up the mountain, but it did!!

13. At the top of the mountain. There was a little mosque (church) in the mountain basically and it had an animal sacrificial area. It was definitively not that long ago that they had done one, but it was really interesting to see. Especially being studying the Bible lately.

14. The little mosque in the mountain side.

15. Where they hang the animals.

16. The bloody stairs coming down. ahh.. ha.

17. self explanatory. :) quite interesting.

18. We also stopped on our drive back down the mountain to climb a little hill to get an even broader view. Oh it was beautiful and SO fun to hike up the rocky mountain.