DURRËS!!! September 9, 2013

Hey Family!! 

Gratefully I am glad to say that I am back in Durres. When I got the call last week, I was really sad that I had to leave Lushnje and cried quite a bit. Okay, I was extremely sad to have to leave Lushnje but I am glad to be back here with all of my old friends/members/investigators in Durres. There are so many people here that I forgot about and am so grateful to be part of the work here again. It is so strange having a "ward" of about 90 members with a giant beautiful church building and the relief of not having to worry about everything  in regards to sacrament meeting. For instance before I would have to constantly remind all of the young men to wear white shirts and ties with pants instead of a t-shirt with shorts and flip-flops. I can hardly believe how different it is here- all of the youth were Sunday appropriate clothing and there are sooo many members that come. We also didn't have to worry about an inadequite number of priesthood holders attending. It was so great!  I am excited to get to really know all of the members again now that I can actually communicate with them. In comparison to last time, I think I did not understand as much as I did understand my first week here (which translates to that I almost understood everything when at first I understood nothing that was said).  

Oh and yes I am training again!! It is a bit difficult and I feel bad for the poor girl because she can't understand a lick of Albanian but she is really sweet. Her name is Motra Smith and is from Sandy. She is basically a much more shy version of me- loves to quote the Emperor's New Groove, is obsessed with rock climbing and loves Nutella. It's going to be a great transfer if I can just help her be able to speak Albanian. She is having a bit of a rough time adjusting with the time and especially the language, but I know once she gets over that she will be a great tool in the hands of the Lord. The best part is that she is not afraid to make mistakes and never gets embarrassed when she doesn't understand. She just tells them truthfully that she does not understand and then I translate for her. Also, she is not afraid to try new things so I things will go very well this transfer with the two of us-I feel like there are a lot more things I can do with her that I could not with Motra Wait. We spent some time making some great goals for the transfer in addition to our weekly goals so that we can have a vision for this transfer and mini-transfer. I am really excited to see how everything will go for the next four months.  

Well that is all for now. Love you all!! 

Motra Hawkins