Live What You Believe . . . Week 31

Happy Monday!!! 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week and that everyone is getting ready for an amazing Thanksgiving week!!!! Full of yummy Turkey and yummy foods and such a great holiday season! I know, I am! 

This past week has been a great week! Here are some highlights from this past week:

There is still no snow. BUT it has gotten A LOT colder!!! It is amazing and I absolutely love it! It rained for about a couple days straight this past week. It was so nice! 

I had my first ever Park Bench Lesson this week. We had it at a park that is across from the Catholic Cathedral. It was a really good lesson. She is now a new investigator, and it was an amazing lesson. The spirit was present in the lesson. And it was so amazing to see the spirit working on her as we bore testimony to her of the truth. 

I scored two goals in futbol this week...and an own goal too... but ca me bo. haha. Futbol was really good this week. One of our investigators came! It was hilarious because anytime anyone tried to take the soccer ball from her she would just stay "stop stop stop" and keep running. She is such a cutie and hilarious. 

Elder Jorgenson almost took a bite of a snail this week during service. Good thing he didn't... 

Sister and I got attacked by a rain storm. We went out in the morning to street contact as we waiting for our investigator appointment. We got to the street and there was some sunshine shining through. Then ten minutes later, there was no sunshine shining through, and then BAM! It started pouring rain and winding (I don't know how to say that...it got really windy) and so we hurried and got in a store for shelter. 

Another day when we were on the Boulevard street contacting. We said hi to a lady walking by. She stopped, she looked at us and said "are you American?" we said yes. Then she just stared at us and said "I love you!" and she hugged us. And then she walked away. Haha, it was hilarious.

Oh, I almost got hit by an old grandpa on his jazzy. I swear he tried to hit me, it was hilarious. We were on the boulevard again. He had to swerve to not run into sister Favero. But then he turned his jazzy straight at me, and gave me a look and then proceeded. I had to move out of his way and then I just busted up laughing. It was hilarious. That sneaky grandpa. 

Someone played the most cruel joke on me yesterday. They have these really good cookies here! So, we had some left over from our institute activity on Wednesday. So yesterday before our ward council meeting I went in the kitchen to get the cookies because I saw the box in the cabinet. I was going to share, of course... but, I go to get the box AND SOMEONE PUT AN EMPTY BOX IN THE CABINET. Those sneaky people. The elders and my companion just laughed at me, but i was not too amused. Those sneaky sneaky people. 

This morning I had a really good personal study. I read a scripture that stood out to me, and that I think is so incredibly important and vital for all of us to do. It is in Mosiah 12:29, and it says "If ye teach the law of Moses why do ye not keep it?"  In this Abinadi is asking the judges or the minions of King Noah why they don't keep what they teach? In other words why don't they live what they preach? In other words Elder Holland's talk "Israel, Israel, God is calling." (I highly recommend that talk. it is amazing!) That really is the only way to live this gospel and to be really truly happy. We NEED to live what we believe. Doing this will help us and help others so much. There should not be any "Sunday Mormons" or anything like that. Being a Molly Mormon or a Peter Priesthood is the highest compliment that a member of the Church could ever be given, because that means that they are really truly living what they believe. That is how true happiness comes. I don't know why this scripture hit me so hard this morning, but I think part of it has to do with why I am so happy as a missionary. A mission is not easy, at all. It is hard work, but I am SO extremely happy as a missionary and it is because I am living what we teach. You don't have to be a missionary to be so happy. You can do start living what you believe today. It is just up to you. I testify that really applying the principles of the gospel in your life is the best way to live. It is the formula to true happiness, the self confidence, and to such a great life. Life doesn't get easier, but your testimony of Christ grows and of God and you start to truly learn and believe that anything is possible with two; as long as one is God and the other is you. So live the gospel. Live what you believe. Because it will change your life. 

Have an amazing week! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I love you all!! 

Love,

Motra Zollinger

It Is Almost December And We STILL Don't Have Snow . . . Weeks 29 and 30

Hello hello!! 

Sorry about not having one to send out last week. But I do this week. :) The past two weeks have been such great weeks! So many stories and so many things that have happened. Here are some of the highlights from the past couple weeks

First, we don't have snow here. It is almost December I don't know if I can handle not having snow. So we made snow flakes. haha, I started counting down to Christmas on November 1st. Just ask my district... haha. 

Happy Birthday Courtney!!! 

They have shrimp tasting cookies here. We went and bought some cookies at a bakery and they taste like shrimp. But I don't know if they are supposed to taste like shrimp...but they do. 

I bought a PEZ. They are awesome. I got a smurf one, that old dude one. I call him Xhoxhi Smurf. He is my mascot. haha. 

We played futbol. It felt so good to play futbol. It was so fun! One of the members we were playing with did get drilled right in the head with the soccer ball...but he is doing better now. 

The Soldiers from Bondsteel come to church on Sundays now. It is so funny because Major Jenson brings chocolates every Sunday and hands them out to everyone, it is like Christmas comes every Sunday. haha, it is the best thing ever. 

We had Mission Conference this past week. It was so fun being back in Tirana! The Mission Conference was absolutely amazing. I was in Heaven and I loved it so much. Elder Dyches and his wife came and talked to us and it went so well!! So well!! It was so fun to see all the other missionaries too, to see my district from the MTC and the missionaries from the district in Tirana. It was awesome. Those bus rides though are killer. Leaving really early in the morning to come to Tirana or back to Prishtina. It is killer. But so fun. :) 

okay. as a missionary you get use to awkward situations. especially when speaking a different language you get use to awkward silences. But, I think the other day the most awkward thing ever in my entire life has ever happened! Like ever! So, Sister Favero has been sick for the past 3 weeks. I finally got her to go to the doctor. So we googled American Clinic. We found the closest one and we made an appoinntment. We show up and on the outside it says "American Clinic. Women's clinic." Well, we are women so we proceded. We walk in and there are a bunch of pictures of pregnant people and babies and stuff. We go to the level where our appointment was, my companion just sticks her head in the room and shuts the door and is bright red. She said that this was a pregnant doctor place (I totally forgot that word and how to spell it...). So we call the office, and she says I'm not pregnant, I just have a cold. The receptionnist says that we can still help you. So we go in the room. Every single couple in the waiting room turned and just stared at us. It was so awkward. And on the wall behind us was those drawing of a baby in the womb and stuff, and my companion turns around and looks at them and I am going bright red and I just say "sister. stop it. turn around." it was so awkward. So yes. We thought we had made an appointment for a normal regular clinic. But nope. We went to a preggo place clinic. most awkward time of my life. 

We have these super cute little girl investigators, they are ten and eleven years old. The other day this week we had a lesson with them. We had talked about the Restoration and we were inviting them to baptism. After giving the invite, they said "yes! Can we get baptized right now?" haha. we laughed, it was adorable. We set up a date with them, but it is so amazing to be with these little girls. They LOVE  the Book of Mormon so much and it is so cool! They love reading it and yesterday after church they wanted to just read out of the Book of Mormon and then talk about every verse that they read. It was adorable. 

We had such an amazing lesson a couple weeks ago, and President Weidmann helped us with the lesson. The spirit taught that lesson. Not us. I was so priveleged to be in the same room as the spirit taught the member that we were teaching. It was a longer lesson, and I felt like I needed to testify. So I testified of Christ and the power that comes from His Atonement. It was amazing, because the words that I said were not my words. After I was done talking, I sat back in my chair in amazement because that wasn't me who was talking...and even more, I got an answer to a question that I have had for years. God answers prayers. Sometimes the hardest part is having the patience to wait for our answers from God. But, He will always answer our prayers. I know that He does. 

I love being a missionary! I can't believe that I am a missionary! This is the hardest thing that I have ever done, but the feeling that I get every day is the most satisfying and most exciting feeling! I know that Christ lives. I know that it is only because of Him that we are able to overcome our challenges our sadnesses our trials. Because He went through what we go through. He is our Advocate with the Father. He loves us. God loves us. I am so grateful that I have this wonderful oppurtunity to teach people and to help them to come to know their Savoir and their Redeemer. He lives. Go to Him. You will never regret it. 

Have a wonderful week! smile lots and serve lots! And enjoy the snow!! :) I love you all!! 

Love,

Motra Zollinger

a

I am Enlisted in the Army of Helamen . . . Week 28

Hello Hello!!! 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Halloween and a wonderful week! 

All of these pictures are from the potato farm

This past week was a wonderful week! So many highlights:

On Tuesday we went to Bondsteel (the Army base). I was in Heaven! It felt like Christmas morning for me, because I was so excited! I got to do something that I have wanted to do all my life and that was to eat dinner with the soldiers! I couldn't stop smiling all night, because I was in a room filled with soldiers. It was incredible!! Institute was really good too! And it was so cool too, because some of the soldiers came to church yesterday! It was so cool!! :) Oh, and I am still a clutz. We went to the food place after to buy some American food. I almost broke the glass on the refergerator by dropping a Ben and Jerry's pint of ice cream on it... and i almost knocked over a whole rack of clothes by accidentally running into it. My companion just turned and looked at me and said "you are embarrassing me..." haha, it wasn't my fault. the clothes rack jumped in front of me on purpose. 

Oh, I would just like to caution everyone to not try to eat an Airborne tablet. I don't like how they taste, and I didn't want to put it in water...so I tried just taking a bite out of the tablet. #badidea haha, never do that. just sayin'. hehe. 

It is pretty cheap entertainment when your companion falls asleep during language study in the morning and starts speaking albanian in her sleep. haha. I couldn't handle it, so I had to go into the bathroom to laugh so I didn't wake her up. haha, priceless it was. 

I made snickerdoodles for the first time, and I did math completely wrong and didn't add enough flour...but then we fixed the recipe. hehe. I also realized how you don't make homemade goods and try to give them to strangers. Because, 1)they are going to not take them and look at you like you are crazy b)it is sorta a creepy thing to do if you think about it. That is what I learned. We had made a lot of cookies and I was like, let's go give them to strangers so that they have a good day. Yep, didn't work. just trust me, don't try to do that. 

It is getting colder here. I usually wear tights... I just forgot one day to do it because I was wearing a long skirt. I got into our investigator's house, and she just pointed at my feet and stared at me. Long story short she made me wear some of her socks. when I say she made me do it, I am not exaggerating with that, she literally made me do it. Let's just say my outfit that day looked mighty fine. 

On Friday we went to a member's house to go work in his potato farm! It was so much fun!! mwaa! Some people here are sorta sexist... so we got down to the farm where the potatoes are laying to be dugged, and the member looks at me and my companion and says "you can just sit there and watch because you don't have strength." ha. my foot. My companion and I did not take that advice too well from him. We did everything that the Elders did while we were helping him. We dug up potatoes. We carried buckets of potatoes up the hill. We even pushed a wheelbarrow full of potatoes up the hill. ha, my foot we don't have strength. That was really fun though to be up at his farm on Halloween. 

We had a ward halloween party!! That was so fun!! We played the doughnut on the string game, hehe, that was priceless. We also did bobbin' for apples. Elder Clawson was the champion at that. I also realized how disgusting unsanitary bobbin' for apples are. It's worse than kissing. I was watching them play and in my mind I was screaming. People would bob and try to get the apple, and then try another apple, and it was like a public toilet. It was disgusting and I will never bob for apples before in my life. Unless I am the first to go, then I will. but that was nasty stuff man. but all in all, the Halloween party was so much fun!!! It went really well and it was a great success!! Oh, and in case anyone was wondering... toilets are NOT flushable. 

I decided to write a poem about my mission thus far. I absolutely love being a missionary and I have never been happier in my life. I know that this church is true and I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. I am so grateful that I get to teach people more about this gospel, because it DOES change lives! 

Elders Jorgenson, Clawson, Stuart and MkGrath

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

going about in word and in deeds

teaching people of Christ who is our Savoir

and helping them grow their faith like seeds

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

arming myself with the Word of God

protecting others from the whip of our enemy

by planting their lives in the Gospel Sod

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

fighting alongside the Priesthood of Youth

we both are protected, helped, and known

as aid is continually sent from the prayer booth

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

getting support and counsel from above

as I talk to my Commander by prayer each day

and He talks back to me through love

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

our weapon is stronger than the strongest rod

it is not something you can hold or touch but,

it is felt and known for it is the Spirit of God

what we had for lunch at the potatoe palace.
lots of bread, jam, and cheese. :) it was so good

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

wearing on my chest my Tag and my Shield

which is etched 3 things that I hold most dear

while I am serving in the mission field 

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

working alongside My Captain The Christ

doing my best to find the souls

whose lives will be changed and rescued by Jesus Christ

I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

yes, I know of the task that is at hand

but I do not fear or have any shame

because I know it is with Christ and His Angels that I stand

Because I am enlisted in the Army of Helamen

I feel a joy that can not be explained

I love what I do and who I am becoming

and my testimony will never be tamed. 

Have a wonderful week! Smile lots and serve lots!! 

Love,

Motra Zollinger

With His Stripes, I am Healed . . . Week 27

hello hello!! 

This past week was an amazing week!!! :)

Here are some highlights from this week:

olives still have pits. haha, i don't know if i will ever be able to get over that. 

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!! I woke up in the morning and i saw snow outside and i giggled. I just love the snow so much. *preparation coughing aka clearing voice* Do you Want to Build a Snowman? hehe :) The weather is quite cold here and it is amazing and I absolutely love it. haha, yesterday I wore my glasses.

We walked to our investigators house and inside her house it was warm. So my glasses had a seizure and fogged up like crazy. I couldn't see at all, so i had to take my glasses off for like five minutes for them to defog. haha, good times good times. 

I went in an old fashioned elevator. The ones where you just shut the door and then you see the levels change as you go up the level. I was freaking out. hehe, it was so cool. :) 

So, it is cold here. Motra Favero and I were walking back from an appointment and we started to play tag. It doesn't really work well or go for a long time when it is only the two of you. But, you sure do you get interesting looks as you do that. haha. :) but sometimes you've got to entertain yourself when you are on a long walk. 

 

I had Thai french fries. They are delicious.

Today for p-day we carved pumpkins, because it is Halloween soon. If I say so, mine was pretty awesome. Pumpkin seeds are edible... i have never had one before so I just ate one raw...not too bad...but i think we'll bake those tonight.  

This past week has been a great week! I wanted to share a scripture from Mosiah that really stuck out to me this week. It is in Mosiah chapter fourteen and is in verse five. This verse I think explains so well how much Christ loves us and how we can get through this life. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Christ was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities; the chastisement of my peace was upon Him; and with His stripes I am healed. That scripture I think is so powerful. Everything that I am going to face in this life, Christ put it upon Him. Every emotion, every trial, every sin, everything possible; He willingly and lovingly took upon Himself. Because Christ did that, I can find peace I can find strength and it is because of His atonement. I can be healed through Christ's help, through His Atonement. I know that my Savior lives! I am so humbled each and everyday when I put Christ's name on my chest.  It is one of the most humbling experiences in my life to be able to represent my Savior to the wonderful people of Albania and Kosovo; and I know that I do not do it alone. My Savior is with me and I represent Him, as I am a missionary here. I love being a missionary. I love teaching and serving people. I know that this church is true and that we don't need to ever go through anything alone. Ever. Just like it says in mosiah 24:15; we don't need to do anything alone, because He has already gone through everything that we will go through. I love my Savior Jesus Christ so much and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me a Savior. 

Have a wonderful week! smile lots and serve lots!! :) 

Love,

Motra Zollinger 

Defending My Savior... Weeks 24, 25 and 26

Hello Hello!!

Wow. It has been a crazy crazy past two weeks!! The past two p-days were a lot busier than I had anticipated so I wasn't able to send out the mass email, but I get to today! :) The past couple weeks have been so good. Here are some highlights:

Happy birthday to Madison!! Ya old fart. ;) 

Happy Birthday to Greyman too! :) 

Happy Birthday to my wonderful and sweet grandma! Plenty nine years old once again. :)

I am in Kosovo now. To get to Kosovo we literally drove THROUGH a mountain. It was so cool!! It is so pretty up here too!  It is so nice here! I absolutely love Kosovo!! Gheg sounds so cool too, I love the language difference here! haha, it is a work in progress speaking it too, but it works. :) 

Motra Z on the Boulevard in Pristina, Kosovo

I have been in 3 countries in the past 3 weeks. First, Albania. Then Kosovo. Then we went on exchanges to Macedonia. It was so cool to see more of the country of Kosovo and Macedonia as well. It is so pretty and I loved Macedonia! The missionaries in Macedonia are awesome and the Macedonian language sounds so amazing cool!! They also had a burger king up there!! It was super good to have some american food...but they didn't have mint ice cream. I'm a gonna find mint ice cream somewhere. It will ndodh. 

Elders Clawson, Jorgenson, McGrath and Stuart

There is an amazing delicious Thai resteraunt here! First time I have ever tried Thai food was in Kosovo. Anyways, it was our first time having lunch together as a district, and Elder Clawson has been serving in Kosovo for four months now, so I asked him what I should get at the Thai restaurant. I told him that I was a sissy with heat so I couldn't get anything spicy. He said to get the pineapple curry because it wasn't spicy. ha, in his defense he said when he had it it wasn't hot. but it was most definitely hot. My mouth was on fire! and since it was our first lunch together I couldn't start crying because something was so spicy so I started to dog pant to try and calm my tongue down. But it didn't help at first, so I started to pant harder...i got light headed. haha, i felt like I was going to pass out. Long story short, I will never eat pineapple curry again. and the good news is that I survived. :) haha. 

Olives have pits. Did you know that? The olives that I have always eaten have had that hole at the top where I stick my finger in them... so at dinner with some members and the branch president's wife I learned that olives have pits, that they don't come with the hole at the top. So, one of the members had olives on her pizza and she doesn't like them, well, I do. So I ate them for her. I took a bite into it and felt the "pit". So, I turned to the branch president's wife and said "be careful... i think they stuffed the olive with like a nut or something." she just looked at me and said "sister zollinger, that is the olive pit." My Mind was completley blown!!! I think I kept on bringing the fact up the rest of the night that olives have pits. Because I had no idea that they did. Really though, that is awesome!! 

For service we went and mowed the branch president's lawn and weeded! I weeded!! I was so happy!! and I may or may not have accidentally pulled out one of their flowers......... but anyways. There were a lot of slugs in the garden, and so we may or may not have started throwing the slugs at each other. I was innocent of course in this. I wasn't too good at throwing them, but my companion got Elder Clawson right in the back of the neck and then it fell into his hoody. haha, his face was priceless. That was a really fun service time!

We played soccer today for p-day. It felt so good!!! aaaahhh, it felt so good!

My district here is amazing! We had lunch together yesterday and it went so well! I just love the Elders in my district, they are amazing and such great Elders! and my companion. She is incredible and I am so blessed and lucky to be with her! 

I love it here in Kosovo so much! People have way different perspective on Christ here. I have been told so many times that Christ is an imaginary person and that He is not real. They say this to my face. They deny my Savior in front of my face every day, and it sorta stabs me in the heart when they say it. But, I had such a neat experience about that situation this week. I am not one to try and talk about things that someone doesn't like or agree with because I don't want to make them mad or uncomfortable. So often times I will try to bring up something of the restoration when I am talking to people. It was Wednesday morning and I had read Thomas S. Monson's talk "Be of Good courage." I really loved that talk! Well, that day I was on the street and I was talking to this man. I showed him a photo of the restoration and he saw Christ and God and he sorta went a little bitter. He was like "no. That's not right. Christ isn't real. He's not real at all." In my head I was like "ok..." but then I thought of the talk that I read that morning, about having courage. So, I testified of Christ right then. I told him that we are all free to believe what we want but then I said "I believe in Christ. I know that He is my Savior and that He has done so much for me. I am so grateful to Christ for all that He has done and I love Him. I know that He is real." The guy left and his mind wasn't changed, but I got to defend my Savior Jesus Christ. I felt so good Dad! I did everything that I possible could have in that situation, but I had the courage to testify of Christ to an anti-Christ instead of trying another approach for our Church. I don't know if I can adequately explain how good it felt, but it felt soo good!! That is my favorite part about being a missionary, being able to not only represent my Savior but to also defend my Savior and my Redeemer. I know that Christ does live. He knows me. He loves me. Christ knows all of us. Come to Christ. He suffered for my sins and my emotions, and your sins and your emotions. He knows us more than we know ourselves. He is the only one who can truly comfort us because He knows exactly what we are going through and exactly how we feel. I love my Savior so much and I am so grateful that I get to teach people about Him, and that I get to defend my Savior. I know that this church is true! I love being a missionary! I love this gospel!

And remember: anything is possible with two. As long as one is God and the other is you. 

Have a great and wonderful week! Smile lots and serve lots!! 

Love,

Motra Zollinger

The end of shator. . . Week 23

Wingapo my friends!! :) 

Wow what a week what a week! :)

I have been beyond blessed to serve with Sister Russell. She has been absolutely amazing and I have learned so much from her! I am going to miss working with her so much but I am so grateful for this past transfer! It has been such a great start for my mission and I cannot wait to see what lays in store! 

Highlights of the week: 

The weather is so much cooler here. I absolutely love it so much! The weather is nearly perfect here. So good. 

Yesterday I made the big mistake of drinking THREE waterbottles during lunch. I don't know why I drank so much, but it happened. But, the problem is that they don't have public restrooms here in Albania. And when you have a 4 fl. oz bladder capacity like me, well, let's just say last night was a REALLY interesting night. After lunch we went a member's house. After the lesson nature was calling my name. But, we had another lesson to go to. So, we took the bus partly there because that was less walking on a full bladder. We had the lesson with the family, which went really well by the way. After this lesson Nature was full on yelling my name!! But, our shtepi was soo far away. So we walked slowly. We stopped and talked to this person who was wanting to talk to us in English. So after that we bee lined it to the church. I would walk really slowly and then try to walk faster to get to the church. When we were closeish, Motra started laughing. which caused me to start laughing which made me start to run to the church. But, then traffic happened. So whilst we were waiting to cross the street there was  A LOT of traffic so I just walked around the pole. haha. okay, long story short last night was the longest 3 hours of my life during that time of not having a public restroom to use. and the Moral of the story is: DO NOT DRINK 3 WATER BOTTLES OF WATER DURING LUNCH WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE PUBLIC RESTROOMS TO USE. Yep, true 'dat son. 

We had sister's conference this week. That was so much fun! It was all the sisters in the mission and the Mission President and his wife. It was so amazing. We talked about the Atonement. It was amazing. That is one of the coolest things about the gospel, there is no maximum in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is always something that could be learned if you are wanting and willing to learn. 

I learned that you can't try to make up an apple pie filling for a pie. I tried using an applie crisp recipe thinking it would work. It didin't. I also learned that you can't let dough rise all day and then make rolls after. Because fermented rolls are not good. But I wanted food so I still ate a roll, I am very grateful that I didn't get sick...

We did Albanian dancing at a ward party. I would not dance, because I have two retarded left knees and I just can't dance. But then Motra Russell and Elder Ostergard ganged up on me and I danced. But, I actually am glad they did because I ended up loving it!! It was a lot of fun! Albanian dances are the bomb dot com!! :)

Yesterday, we had transfer calls! And when I am anxious and such I have to eat. So, we got in the house at 9 at night, and we didn't get the transfer call until 10:35. And I literally ate something (roll, piece of pie, orange, cookie, and lots of water) until the call. And guess what?! I am going to KOSOVO!!!!!!!!! I was so surprised! I didn't know what to say to respond. But, I am going to Kosovo! My companion will be Sister Favero! I am so excited to work with her, she seems like an amazing missionary! We are going to be white washing the area, and we also are going to be learning Gheg. It is going to be a lot of fun! I think the coolest part about getting the transfer calls last night was the peace that I felt. During the week I prayed that when I found out where I was going on my mission that I would get a confirmation that that really is the place that Heavenly Father needs me to go to. As soon as President Weidmann told me that I would be going to Kosovo I felt so much peace. President Weidmann before ending the phone call said "Sister Zollinger, I know that this is where the Lord wants and needs you." I responded "Me too President. Me too." I don't know what lays in store for me in Kosovo but I know that this is where I am supposed to be going and I am so excited for what lays in store for me. I know without a doubt that the message that we have, all missionaries all around the world, is true. We do have the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth again. God really is our Father in Heaven. Christ is my Savoir, and your Savoir. He has made it possible for us to return to live with God again; it is up to us, we need to accept the Gospel. Accept what is given to us. I know that it is true! 

Have a wonderful week! :) I am so excited for General Conference!! It is going to be so amazing!! :) If you have any questions for life or anything, pray and ask for an answer and I can promise you that you will get an answer during General Conference. 

I love you all! Smile lots and serve lots! :)

Love,

Motra Zollinger

The Language of the Spirit . . . Week 22

Hello hello!! :)

This past week was quite a week! It was a week full of lessons and it was so amazing! 

High lights from this past week: 

We had zone conference with our Mission President. That was amazing. The musical numbers that were given were absolutely amazing. Music is able to touch a soul in ways that words could not. 

They have these amazing things here call Lion Bars. They are amazing and frankly they are to die for in some instances. Well, I tried the white chocolate one this week. So stinkin' good!! Aah, so good. 

I like tomatoes now. I don't know if I have mentioned that before (jk I know I have) but it is so weird that I like tomatoes that I just have to keep mentioning it. Today I also had green olives...and I didn't want to vomit. They actually tasted good. 

I learned how to make rice this week. That was exciting. 

My companion also taught me how to take good photos. She is a professional photographer so I learned the rule of 3s to be able to take good pictures. :)

So, I don't know if ya'll heard but the Pope came yesterday! It was really cool all the decorations that Albania put up for the Pope. It was really nice too, because there were no makines in the street so we could just cross the street whenever yesterday without fearing of crossing the street. But, it was weird too, because the bus system shut down which was a little difficult because our lessons for yesterday we needed to take the bus to get there. So, those lessons didn't happen. We were pretty much grounded yesterday to our apartment. Our mission president told us to avoid big groups of people for safety measures, in case any of them were extremists and our safety could be in danger. So unless we had an appointment we had to stay in the apartment. What else are you supposed to do when you are in the apartment and you have a chocolate craving? You make a chocolate cake. That's what. So that's what I did, and then we got together as missionaries and watch the movie of Thomas S. Monson's life. It was a lot of fun! 

This past week I learned a really valuable lesson about the importance of the Spirit. After a lesson with one of our investigators I was worried, because I felt like I could speak Albanian fare during that lesson. And I was worrying about it afterwards and everything; and something that my companion said helped me and made me realize the importance of the spirit. She said that you can speak in the most elegant language and make complete sense but if you don't have the spirit with you, it doesn't mean anything. She also said that you can speak so grammatically incorrect, and it could be so choppy; but if you have the spirit with you then it means everything. I can testify of the importance of the Spirit. It is so important that we being missionaries teach by the Spirit of God. Because we could say everything that we know about what we are teaching, but if we do it without the spirit, it is a waste of words. I see it like this: God knows everything. He knows every language. But, he also knows every dialect of every person. It is our responsibility as missionaries to do our best to teach the message by the spirit, and the spirit in turn takes what we are saying and translates it into their dialect of language, so that they can understand and feel that familiar feeling of truth that they had in the pre-existence. Every person on the earth right now accepted Heavenly Father's plan to come to earth. They knew the truth, they fought alongside me before we came to Earth to have this plan. We are just reminding them of what they already knew; we are helping them remember what truth is and what it felt like. 

I know that God speaks to us through the Spirit, through the Holy Ghost. That is why it is so important for us to be living our lives in such a way that we will be able to recognize and understand the spirit. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus is the Christ, our Brother, and our Savoir. I love them and I know that they love us. 

Have a wonderful week! Smile lots and serve lots!