Waterfalls, Witches and Watches

Hey Everyone!!

So I think I have died and gone to missionary heaven. Yep. I couldn't ask for anything better. The Lord is working so hard through the missionaries and it is shown through the members. Last week the first branch was organized in Macedonia and just last night the second branch in Kosovo was organized in Gjakova. It is amazing to see the growth. We were blessed with 12 new investigators, almost half of which have already accepted a baptismal invitation! Now comes the fun/hard part of teaching them how they need to change their lives.

This week we worked really hard to find and teach and had much success. I have so many good stories but not nearly enough time. My favorite comes from an awesome street contacting we had.

There was a man on the ground begging for money and playing his clarinet. Since I have always loved music I had the thought to go and talk to him. Ten minutes later he had told us his conversion story and agreed to come to church the next day. He used to do drugs a lot and lived in Albania. He actually talked to my companion once before when they were both in a city called Durres. He received a Libri i Mormonit, but lost his bag. When his life was in the lowest of lows, much like Valjean from Les Mis, he went to a Catholic church and was taken in by the loving priest there. He was accepted like one of his children and given a new life. Now his philosophy is that it is better to beg than to steal. He has such a strong belief in God and Christ and by just looking at him you would never guess. He came to church yesterday and had a great experience!! I am excited to see what more will happen.

The Lord is beginning to gather His lost sheep up here and I am so grateful to be a part of it!!

Motra Hawkins

P.S. Today we went to see some waterfalls. And yep I totally went behind the waterfall (and I found a magic faden!)

Here is the video with people from Kati's Stake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UBuFN0Ntys#t=61

And Pictures: