"I'd rather Live . . . " week 11

I hope everybody's week went well! First off: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!!!! We celebrated the 4th of July. We got a tre leche. I actually don't know how to spell that. It is a milk cake with divine caramel on top. So, we ate that. And someone set off a few fireworks so we got our own mini firework show. It was pretty legit. Plus a lot of people like to wear clothes with the American flag on it, so it was awesome. 

Gorgeous lake near Tirana

So, you know how Utah has deer? Well, Albania has dogs.....

I have learned how to perfectly boil eggs. We have boiled eggs every day. Just because they are so yummy!!! Let’s see... any other funny stories from this week. Our washer does not like me. I tried washing my clothes. I thought I had done it right, I went to pull out the clothes and I thought "wow, they already dried." Then I smelled my clothes, ha-ha. IT STINKEDED! So, I went back and actually washed them this time. Ha-ha. 

Suflaqe for lunch today, Motra Zollinger says it's heavenly

This week was super good though!! I absolutely love it here! One of the recent converts that we visit is so adorable. This past week she told us how she calls me and Motra "her girls" and how she prays for us every day because she knows how we are so far from our families and how it is hard to be far from our families. It was so sweet of her. I absolutely love her. Yes, it is hard to be away from our families. But, it is more than worth it, if it means that other families can be with their family for eternity.

Motra Russel knows Studio C. We have a little quoting session. It was awesome. 

This week during another one of our returning member lessons she said something that I thought was so profound. She said: "There is a difference between living and surviving." I have thought so much about that . . . A difference between living and surviving. What exactly is that difference? And what makes it such a big difference to go from living to only surviving? Both of them mean that you are existing, so that is good. But the difference can seem like such a simple thing, but it makes all the difference. And it is the gospel. 

Part of the city of Tirana

Like the show survivor, they are put in hard circumstances and they are trying to just make it to the end. They are trying and mustering all their power just so that they can survive another day. We are all put here on earth, where on worldly terms it is so hard to know exactly what to do, how to act, and what to rely on.  Life without the gospel is in survival mode. "Living the gospel isn't hard; it is not living the gospel that is hard." David A. Bednar said that, and how true it is!! When we have the gospel, we are living. With the gospel we have that steady and unbreakable foundation. We know who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. We know our reason behind existing. It is all because Heavenly Father loves us. We all lived with Him before this earthly life, and He came up with a plan so that we could all live with Him again. Because He loves us. He sent us to earth so that we could have the opportunity to choose to become like Him. Because He loves us. He sent Jesus Christ, His Son, to earth to atone for all of our sins so that through Him, our Brother we could return back to Heaven. Because Heavenly Father loves us so much, he has given us everything that we need to so that we can be safe here on earth and eventually return back to Heaven. We have the gospel because He loves us. The Book of Mormon is proof of the love that Heavenly Father has and that He hears and answers prayers, because He answered Joseph Smith's. We have everything that we need to be able to be living. I'd much rather live than survive. We are able to live with the gospel. We are NEVER alone. Christ is always there for us. Always. The distance between us and our Heavenly Father is and forever will be the length from our knees to the floor. 

This gospel is how we are able to live and not survive.  

I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week! :)

Love

Motra Zollinger