We checked the weather for Wednesday, because we were supposed to go to a meeting in Tirana Albania. The weather report said it was supposed to start snowing at 3 o’ clock in the morning, which meant we would have to leave at 4:00 am to get down the canyon before the roads got too slippery. So, we made arrangements to leave on Tuesday night at 5:00pm before the storm came in. It’s usually a 3 hour drive, but it was raining so we didn’t quite make it on time. We had to park “Big Blue” the mission makine (car) at the mission office. There is a bus that goes from the sister’s apartment to the mission office, but not a bus that goes the other way, from the mission office to the sister’s apartment. So we had to walk to catch a bus then walk some more. It was about 9:30pm when we got there, so we were late. I was really excited because we were staying with Sister Bezas and Sister Dunn. When I looked around the room, either I was companions with, or had been companions with everyone in the apartment. It was like a big sleepover party.
The next day we drove back with the Macedonian elders. Our two lessons that we had scheduled, cancelled on us, which was disappointing. Thursday morning we drove to Prishtina, which was pretty cool. It is huge! It is a really big city, just a little smaller than Tirana. I gave a training, but I didn’t think I did very well. Sister Chesire came up right after and said, “first training done, high five!” Afterwards, we went to get Thai food. I had heard so much about this restaurant from Sister Zollinger by trainer. She loved their Thai food soooo much! So I was really excited to go there and try it. She did not exaggerate, it was soooo good!
Friday we went to Peja (pronounced pay-ah). That city is so beautiful! It’s nestled into the mountains. It reminded me of standing on Coit tower in San Francisco. All of the buildings are very colorful, and they are built into the mountain and rise up the slopes. There are members there, because there used to be missionaries assigned to the city. It became too dangerous for missionaries to proselyte on a continuous basis, so now we go there once a week to visit the members that are there. There is an adorable American bakery there, that is run by Baptist missionaries. It is called Sweet Beans. They sell cake balls, peanut butter balls, and muffins... Sister Jackson was excited as she was telling me about it before we got there. It was soooo good. Then, we drove back to Gjakova. Saturday we met with President Weidman for transfer interviews and had some lessons. Gjakova is really, really small. We are running out of buildings to visit. We six missionaries have already tracted half the city in the time I have been here. I miss Tirana, where you have to take a bus 30 minutes to get somewhere in the city. The people in Kosovo still call themselves Albanians even though they are in Kosovo. They say “yeah, I am from Gjakova I’m Albanian.” Its super confusing to me because Gjakova is not in Albania. What they mean is that they are ethnic Albanian.
There are way more Albanian flags in Kosovo than there are in Albania! It’s ridiculous. Everything is the color red and black like the Albanian flag, not yellow and blue like the Kosovo flag. It is super weird. Pretty much, I feel like we’re in Albania, except that my phone doesn’t work to call anywhere in Albania. Everything is way nice here. You can get stuff here that you can’t get in Albania. There is a giant store in the center of the city where we do our shopping. It’s like a Super Walmart. It has 3 floors! I walked in the first time and my mind was blown. There is so much stuff in there. It has frozen foods like fish sticks and chicken nuggets and even Oreos. There is so much stuff there that I can’t even describe it, and they use Euros for currency.
On Tuesday we are going to do exchanges in Macedonia. There are 4 sisters there now. We will do exchanges with one companionship, and then we will do exchanges with the other companionship, so we will be there for 2 nights. We won’t get home until Thursday night.
It is really, really cold and wet here now. Sister Hydrik (the mission nurse) got mad at me for not wearing a hat. I told her, that I have a hat, but it’s in a package for me waiting to be picked up in Tirana.
This is going to be a really busy month. This week we will go to Macedonia. Next week is Central Broadcasting for missionaries in Prishtina. The next week is mission conference, then zone training in Macedonia, and then transfers. This was an interesting week. But, today my companion is sick so I am making an audio recording while she is sleeping.
I love you all to Gallifrey and back!!
Love,
Motra Xhohansën
The next day we drove back with the Macedonian elders. Our two lessons that we had scheduled, cancelled on us, which was disappointing. Thursday morning we drove to Prishtina, which was pretty cool. It is huge! It is a really big city, just a little smaller than Tirana. I gave a training, but I didn’t think I did very well. Sister Chesire came up right after and said, “first training done, high five!” Afterwards, we went to get Thai food. I had heard so much about this restaurant from Sister Zollinger by trainer. She loved their Thai food soooo much! So I was really excited to go there and try it. She did not exaggerate, it was soooo good!
Friday we went to Peja (pronounced pay-ah). That city is so beautiful! It’s nestled into the mountains. It reminded me of standing on Coit tower in San Francisco. All of the buildings are very colorful, and they are built into the mountain and rise up the slopes. There are members there, because there used to be missionaries assigned to the city. It became too dangerous for missionaries to proselyte on a continuous basis, so now we go there once a week to visit the members that are there. There is an adorable American bakery there, that is run by Baptist missionaries. It is called Sweet Beans. They sell cake balls, peanut butter balls, and muffins... Sister Jackson was excited as she was telling me about it before we got there. It was soooo good. Then, we drove back to Gjakova. Saturday we met with President Weidman for transfer interviews and had some lessons. Gjakova is really, really small. We are running out of buildings to visit. We six missionaries have already tracted half the city in the time I have been here. I miss Tirana, where you have to take a bus 30 minutes to get somewhere in the city. The people in Kosovo still call themselves Albanians even though they are in Kosovo. They say “yeah, I am from Gjakova I’m Albanian.” Its super confusing to me because Gjakova is not in Albania. What they mean is that they are ethnic Albanian.
There are way more Albanian flags in Kosovo than there are in Albania! It’s ridiculous. Everything is the color red and black like the Albanian flag, not yellow and blue like the Kosovo flag. It is super weird. Pretty much, I feel like we’re in Albania, except that my phone doesn’t work to call anywhere in Albania. Everything is way nice here. You can get stuff here that you can’t get in Albania. There is a giant store in the center of the city where we do our shopping. It’s like a Super Walmart. It has 3 floors! I walked in the first time and my mind was blown. There is so much stuff in there. It has frozen foods like fish sticks and chicken nuggets and even Oreos. There is so much stuff there that I can’t even describe it, and they use Euros for currency.
On Tuesday we are going to do exchanges in Macedonia. There are 4 sisters there now. We will do exchanges with one companionship, and then we will do exchanges with the other companionship, so we will be there for 2 nights. We won’t get home until Thursday night.
It is really, really cold and wet here now. Sister Hydrik (the mission nurse) got mad at me for not wearing a hat. I told her, that I have a hat, but it’s in a package for me waiting to be picked up in Tirana.
This is going to be a really busy month. This week we will go to Macedonia. Next week is Central Broadcasting for missionaries in Prishtina. The next week is mission conference, then zone training in Macedonia, and then transfers. This was an interesting week. But, today my companion is sick so I am making an audio recording while she is sleeping.
I love you all to Gallifrey and back!!
Love,
Motra Xhohansën