Because Elder's are taking over my area and I'm being transferred..... sigh.... good thing this is the Lord's work and not mine otherwise I'd be freaking out right now. All of the sisters are being taken out of Durrës. I'm not going to lie, I was/am pretty devastated. Leaving all of our girls to Elders, they'll have no sister touch of love! Talk about rip your heart out, I'm crushed thinking about leaving these people... and it's only my first transfer! I'm going to die at the end of my mission... golly gee.
Oh, you want to know where I'm going? I guess I can tell you ;) ... any guesses? Nothing? Silence? Fine, I'll just tell you... Tirana! Woo! I'm gonna be a city girl! And I'm going to be with the fabulous Sis. White (an MTC buddy). In other words, it's gonna be a party in Tirana. But seriously, she's so fun, I'm stoked. I really.... really... hope her language skills are better than mine, this is going to be interesting haha I'm sure Tirana is going to be amazing, but I think my heart will always be in Durrës. Sigh....
BUT! ......This means there is no excuse to not send me mail... because I can get mail now :) he he he
Anyways... :)
This last week we had a day that I was having such a tough time focusing in lessons. It was a rough language day and it's always hard to focus when you're having a hard time understanding... After the lesson, I told Sis. Heathcote that I was having a hard time focusing and she said, "ya, me, too.... " ... long pause.... "you have so many gray hairs, I couldn't stop staring at them..." ..... *face in palm* Are you kidding me? hahaha My massive amount of gray hair was distracting my companion, oh boy. I'm gonna come home and have the head of 50 year old.
Story number two.
We were at an investigators house who didn't show up, bleh. And it started down pouring rain like crazy. So we decided to hang out on her porch and wait for the rain to let up. While we standing there, we see a cow run down the small mud road..... and then another cow came running.... and then another.... Looks like someone's cows got out... a few minutes later, here comes an old, hunched over grandma running down the road waving a stick in the air, "my cows! my cows!" I about died laughing, maybe you had to be there... but trust me, it was funny.
We had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention is was with the most fabulous girl in the entire world. Oh my golly, words cannot describe how much I love this girl. Truly. Leaving her is ripping my heart out. But wow was her baptism beautiful. I even got to speak at it! I felt so special. It really was a beautiful and special day. I can't even describe. This is definitely why missions are worth it. Days like that day. I have come to love people more than I ever thought I could.
I was reading the parable of the talents the other day in Matthew. If you don't recall, there are 3 servants. One is given 5 talents, one is given 2, and one is given only 1. The one with 5 and the one with 2 go off and gain more talents than they had originally but the one with only 1 talent buries it because of fear. What we usually learn is to not bury your talent, don't be afraid of the world to do good works of the Lord, etc... But what I found really interesting from this story is the response the Lord has to the two servants who gained more talents. He says the exact same thing to both of them. "... good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter into the joy of thy lord." It's the exact same response. And it made me think about how all of us are given different abilities, different circumstances, etc... and it doesn't matter if one of us does a million amazing things in our life and one of us does only 5 good things... as long as we do our very best and keep our covenants, we will receive the same reward.
So next time you compare yourself to someone who you believe to be greater than you... remember that it doesn't matter. If you are doing your best, you will be rewarded just the same. We are each children of God.
Much love,
Motra Russell
Just two photos today... one from our hike today, that's a shepherd looking over the cliff side. The other is our fabulous investigator :)
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