Back at it

Hey everyone, to switch things up, I am sending you my comps email, cause we are together 24/7,

sooo enjoy, love you all!!!

GOOD STUFF
Pogi is officially in the green zone which means we are allowed outside everyday until 9 now...so we are pretty much back to the normal missionary life here! Yay! President Anderson came this week for a priesthood training and told us we needed to fill up the font. That had us superrr stressed out especially because most of our interaction with people has only been through messaging. Later that day, we finally got to meet with the Mingo family!! When we got near their house they saw us outside of the window and screamed with excitement! They yelled, "Motrat" which means "the sisters". Then they ran out and gave us the BEST hugs it was so precious. They just ran into our arms and held us. AHHH I missed them! We went into the lesson assuming that they had forgotten everything we had taught them, but they remembered it all and were so excited to have a new baptisimal date. We invited them to keep praying and reading and to send us a message when they had completed them. To our surprise, we got the cutest videos of them reading and praying. Their muslim neighbors layed out their prayer rugs and sent a video of them praying as well. It was ADORABLE. Through this whole quarantine thing, I was really worried about all of the families that we hadn't been able to reach. As a companionship we would pray and pray for them to remember! I am grateful that Heavenly Father was watching out for the Mingos during this time and that He allowed them to remember what we had taught. He has a plan for them!

Before the quarantine we finally got a family to come to church 2 solid weeks in a row. It was a miracle!!! Anxhelina, the Mom, participated in one of our zoom calls on Sunday and then invited us to come to her house to do a lesson. Her mother in law, Xhuli, and her were home and he husband, Genti, was at work. We did a resoration lesson. Usually Anxhelina is super distracted and occupied with her two little girls and doesnt really participate in lessons. BUT THIS TIME she was so into it!! Xhuli was asking questions that clearly proved she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and they are SO excited to come to church on Sunday. IT FELT SO GOOD to be able to go out again and see everyone again!

RANDOM STUFF
We got invited to a surprise Birthday Party! We didnt know it was going to be a party, but when we got there we were shoved into a room with tons of little girls. We felt a little out of place, but it was cute! It's Albanian trafition that every five years you throw a party for someone's birthday. Geraldina was turning 15 so it was a big one. When she walked in she was soooo happy. Her teacher even came. It was cute.

There are two nënës named Dituria and Flutera that live outside of the senior couples old house. We have gotten really close with them since we pass by them multiple times a day. They sit down on the rock wall and knit little socks and hats. We started talking to them for a while and Flutera started showing us some bumps on her fingers that were hurting her so I told her I had an oil that could maybe help her out a little bit. I ran and grabbed the oil with some paper towels that she could use to wrap around her fingers and she was soooo happy. I came back about two hours later and she was still seated on the little rock wall. She motioned for me to come over and i could immediatly smell the oil so strongly. Coughing, she told me the oil was too strong. Half of it was gone from the container. Then she said she drank it. I kept my laughter in. I felt soooo bad. That poor nënë!!

SPIRITUAL STUFF
Now that this whole quarantine thing is almost over with here in Pogradec, I've been able to reflect on how grateful I am to be a missionary and to be doing the Lord's work. I am grateful for all the miracles that have taken place and for the opportunity I've had to see missionary work from a new perspective. I think when hard times come, or even just changes in life, our blindfolds are taken off and we begin to think about the things we wish we would have done better, or we begin adding up our regrets. The hard times sometimes allow us to see more clear what matters most. However, we should not need a natural disaster or other crisis to remind us of what matters most. The gospel and the Lord's Plan of Happiness and Salvation should be out reminders. What matters most is what lasts longest, and our families are worth eternity!! So, work on eternity!

Love you all,
Motra Mann 

good stuff!!

Hi, I hope all of you are doing amazing!

This week was really good, the restrictions are slowly getting more and more relaxed here in Albania, so we were able to have an in person lesson, which was awesome! It was with one of the members here, her daughter was also there, who isn't a member. The miracle of it, is we got to teach her daughter and if it wasn't for Corona virus she would've been at school in a different city. So there are a few positives to this virus, we just have to look a little harder to see them. 

This is with a lot of things in life, I found this scripture in d&c that I really liked, its D&C 78:19 " And he who receiveth ALL THINGS with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." It seems weird to be thankful for the trials and hard times in our life, but I think that as we receive everything with gratitude we can easily see the good in the bad, and we will be so blessed for it! I know that God loves us and his plan is perfect, so the trials are just for our benefit!

I love you all, have an amazing week! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! 

Love, sister Butters

ONE YEAR!

I am in a new city called Pogradec and we are in a trio!! One of my comps is SISTER MANN we were in the MTC together, I love her! The other is SISTER BEZZANT and she went to lone peak and graduated with me, but we didn't know each other, we had to come to Albania to meet. I love both of them so much and it has been an awesome week!

We got to go to a members house for lunch and they just had a little new born baby and she was the cutest thing ever! We have been able to go out a little more here, because there are no cases in this city, so we are a little less restricted. Which has been nice and hopefully it continues to get better.

There is a lake here too so that is so fun!! Makes me want to boat so bad the water is so smooth.

Nobody forget that God is in charge and he knows us better than we know ourselves and he will always do what is best for us, so even when it doesn't seem like that, just trust him. Have an amazing week and know you are incredible!

Love, sister Butters

God loves you!!

Hey everyone! I have an idea for you while you are in quarantine you can learn Albanian, probably not the most useful language you could know, but I mean you got time, so you might as well.

Yesterday, we got to go to a members house for sacrament and it was so amazing! With all this quarantine we haven't been able to partake of the sacrament every week, so it has really made me appreciate it so much more. Just a really good experience to be with their family and partake of the sacrament together.

After our little sacrament meeting we went outside and had an "Albanian BBQ" wasn't my nice hamburger, haha had some part of a pig and tons and tons of potatoes. It was fun though! Really such a blessing to get out of the house!

We have discussions over zoom with our mission president every night and we talked a lot about how God is love and it is so true he is the source of all love and loves each of us so much and so individually. Never forget God loves you!! I love you all!!

Love, sister Butters

EASTER

Hii!
Happy Easter! So grateful for Easter and that we know Christ lives and loves us and he died for us, so that we can all live again! So grateful for my savior and the time I have to grow closer to him and learn more about him! I hope you all had an amazing Easter!!

I got to go on a little road trip this week to Berat! The senior couple took us to teach a couple that I had met, when I was serving there, a few months ago, they had permission to drive and so we got to go and see this couple and teach there whole family, and it was really incredible. A bit of a different lesson, we all had masks and couldn't hug or get close to each other, but it was so fun to get out of the house and be able to share the gospel with this amazing family!

On the way home we stopped at a graveyard and took pictures for the family search basis! That was also fun, it was a really pretty graveyard.

I am really grateful to be here even if we have to be in our houses for most the day. Life is good and God is good and we have a savior who will never forsake us even in the hardest of times. I love you all! Be safe

Love,
Sister Butters

11 Months!

Soo how is everyone's quarantine life?

A few highlights of the week:

I turned 20, so a year older and hopefully wiser. It was a weird, weird, and very different birthday, but we made it a fun day! Also conference was on my b-day! We went over to a senior sister's house and watched it with her and then had to sleepover because it is illegal to go out on Sunday. So had a sleep over party and it made it that much more exciting and got to be quarantine inside a new house! So had some new views. Also conference was really good, filled with lots and lots of HOPE. I loved it so much.

I have been playing the piano so if you have any tips it would be much appreciated! Life is different, but I think we can all relate with that, we have to make the most of it and find the good! When we are focused on Christ it is very easy to see the good! It is so exciting that we get to celebrate Easter this week! I love Christ so much and am so grateful that he atoned for each one of us and he knows exactly how we are feeling! I love all of you and hope you find some new, fun things to do in your houses!

Love, sister Butters

Life changes

Hey everybody, 

Life is good, life's weird, but good! Quarantine life doesn't give me much to write about, but I am doing good! We can go outside to buy groceries, but Albanian government has put restrictions on which times we are allowed outside, we didn't know the restrictions the first day, because we don't see the news here. So, we were walking home and some cops pulled over to the side of the road and told us we were late and needed to go home immediately. Luckily they didn't fine us, because later we found out the fines are pretty pricey, if they catch you outside during curfew hours. So now we know the hours and we follow them.

Basically we cook a lot, which is good for me, because it is something I really need to learn. So if you have any recipes please send those!

These are some interesting times, but we just have to enjoy it and find the fun in it! It is not everyday something like this happens, so might as well make the best of it! It helps to know that God has a perfect plan, and this is just a part of it! It is comforting to know, that he is in charge. Never forget that he is aware of you and loves you, more than you can even imagine! Stay healthy and happy, love you guys!

Sister Butters

P.s What have you guys been up to? Please send ideas!!