'Z Mission Life: The Power of Music..... week 59

Elder Smith with the sister missionaries

Hello hello!!! :)

This past week was a super good week!! so much has happened as well! :)

happy pre-father's day!! :)

Holy cow. It is so ridiculously hot here. The humidity is killing me. haha, too bad it doesn't rain more, or too bad I couldn't be Olaf and get a special cloud of coldness (but in this case it would rain) that could follow me around everywhere because then I could say that it's not sweat, but special rain. :) haha. if only... haha.

An unhappy Motra Z having to eat BRAT diet

Brat Diet for Motra Z

Last monday i was sorta dumb during lunch. I drank a lot of tap water. Tap water aka not filtered water. I was super thirsty and so i drank a lot of the water as well while we were at lunch. Well, I forgot how I had a sensitive stomach already and boy at night I was super regretting what I had done. We have a mission nurse now, and she specifically told us at zone conference "Elders and Sisters. Don't be stupid." So, I called her monday night to ask her what to do, I was actually quite nervous to call her and so I started to the phone call like this: "Hi Sister Hydricks! I know you told us not to do stupid things. But I did something really stupid and drank lots of tap water" There was silence for a couple seconds on the other side and she said "ooh..." aahhh!! haha. i am still alive though. ;) i just had to go on the stupid BRAT diet for a day or so, which is hard because I just love food so much. but it went well. haha. I sure did learn my lesson though, I ain't never drinking non-filtered water again.

Last monday we also went to FHE. After FHE they play a ton of games, and so I thought I would include in a dice game called Farkle. haha, first off-who comes up with those kind of names? Farkle? haha, it is my favorite word now. Secondly, I hate that game. I kept on farkling and I lost to the senoir missionary Elder Smith. At the end of the game, he just turned to me and said "Sister Zollinger, do you know what my favorite game is? This one, because I won!!" Boy, did he rub it in. But tonight I will get my farkle revenge.... i am pretty sure I can find a way to cheat to win, I mean play with a Zollinger twist. ;)

The other night we were heading home from a lesson out in Kombinat. It was late at night and my contacts were having a fit in my eye. I was sick of them. It was just one of them too. So I just took it out and threw it on the ground. haha, that was an interesting walk home. I told my companion to not let me fall down or run into anything. It was fun though, because I would close one of my eyes (the one that had the contact) and see how different it was walking home with my non-contact eye. hehe, that was exciting. but I made it home all in one piece. :)

Elder Greener didn't have a planner, because all of his weeks were out in his and he needed an extra planner. We just so happened to have an extra one. But I couldn't give it to him just plain because that would be boring. So I decorated it for him. I showed mercy and was nice to him, because I only made the inside ridiculously girly with pink and ponies and everything. hehe. :) On the outside I just put about 10ish stickers of animals and such. hehe. :) he has only been made fun of it a couple times... hehe.

Motra Johansen and Motra Zollinger with some members

On the twelfth one of our recent converts had his birthday. He turned 11 years old. hehe. So we bought a couple balloons and those bazooka things (the things you blow into and they make an annoying noise. or are they called azookas? I don't remember. but those kind of instruments...) we got those. We went to his house without telling his family so that we could surprise them, but they weren't there. They were at a resteraunt. No worries. So we went to the resteraunt!! haha, so singing at resteraunts and such is a normal thing in America...but not here. But we still did it. We sang for him. It was really good because we added the music from the bazooka in it. We got so many weird looks though. haha, the people on the table next to them started to clap for us. haha. I could feel my face going super super red. But it made him super happy for his birthday! So it was a success. :) That was an adventure though!

Motra Z's distraction during english class

So, english grammar. That is difficult for me. Not only am I awful at it-even more because of Albanian but it bores me. Like a lot. We teach the middle english class and it bores me so bad when we teach grammar. Sister J likes english, so I let her teach the grammar. This week I got a little distracted as she taught about grammar. I tried to pay attention...but then 30 minutes later, I had drawn half of a person's face... so, yeah, that happened.

Elders right after they got their haircuts

Today for p-day we went to the city park. Aka an American mall. It was a lot of fun!! We first ate. I hadn't had breakfast so the rice and chicken soup that I got was my breakfast. As soon as I was done eating that I got up and ordered chicken nuggets and fries from the Albanian McDonald's place. hehe. It wasn't too bad either. Afterwards we went and played on the mechanical bull. No, it is not a hog. It is a bull... hehe. :) I didn't want to ride the bull, so I wore a skirt (but I did have shorts under my skirt, because I felt like it today). Boy, was that hilarious though. I was bent over because I was laughing so hard. Crying from laughing so hard is the best thing ever. Holy cow, that was just so hilarious today!! I took a lot of photos. I thought Poopers would like seeing the photos of the Elders trying to be cowboys. hehe. ;) Honestly though, today for p-day was so much fun!! It was a blast. I had the best ice cream as well. It was snickers. It was so so so good. :)

So there is a special missionary choir that is going to be traveling around Albania singing. They will be going with the Albanian-styled Motab choir. This past weekend we went down to Vlore!! The chapel was absolutely gorgeous and it was breathtaking. It had a Californian feel to it and it made me feel like I was at a resort because there was a lot of food, and Vlore is right on the coast. It was super cool. But it was such a neat experience being in Vlore. Singing with the members some of the hymns and doing some of the special Missionary Hymns in english. It was so cool to be over come with goosebumps as we sang. I am here in Albania. Teaching people about the gospel but especially about Jesus Christ. I was in the room with people that I have never really met before (because it was my first time in vlore) but my love for each and every one of them as I was singing was over powering. The most touching part for me, was that God knows every language. The song really is a prayer from the heart. Music, uplifting music, can touch the heart in ways that words cannot. It can heal a heart, it can soften a heart, and it can help a heart. I learned the power of Hymns this past weekend. We don't need to be hurting or aching to be able to feel the power that comes from singing Hymns. God is there in the good times as much as He is in the bad times. We can receive strength from singing Hymns in the good times as well as in the hard times. That is what keeps me going through the day. Sometimes it get tiring, but i finding the singing/humming hymns as I work is my energy and my fuel. I know that God hears our prayers and even the prayers that come through as we sing. He knows the words that we sing, he knows the notes that are in our hearts. He knows us. I know that we are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us. We have Christ because of His love, and how blessed we are because of their love.

Have a absolutely wonderful and glorious week!! Smile lots serve lots and treasure trials!! :)

I love you!!!

Love,

Motra Zollinger