So Alma is actually a girls name here. It throws people off that he's a prophet, ie man, in the Book of Mormon. Last night we were visiting the girls, our recent converts and we were sharing a scripture about Alma the Younger. I used masculine adjectives with his name... and they looked at me confused... and then said, "Wait?! ..... Alma is a man?!" hahahahahahahaha the whole time they thought he was a woman hahahahaha oh golly, I was dying hahahaha
My fantastic companion made a pretty great language mistake :) She meant to ask someone when they would know if they would be able to meet with us at a certain time or not... unfortunately it came out as "when will you die...?" Hahahaha, a little aggressive, but that's alright! Language mistakes are the best :)
Had to give a surprise talk in sacrament this last week. I hope it went well, I'm not sure haha... I talked about using our agency to show the desires of our heart whether they be to live with God one day or not and how our actions need to match. Not quite a lay it down/call to repentance type talk that my sister "accidentally" gave hahaha but it had some thought provoking questions! haha
A couple weeks ago the mission president came to our apartment with his wife and the assistants and talked to us, got to know us better and left a really beautiful blessing on us and our home. It was a really special moment that I really appreciated.
So, a couple nights ago, we're getting ready for bed, I'm in the other room and I hear Sister Zollinger... "Motra.... I think this is a scorpion..."
What?!
So I go to check it out and you betcha, it's a little, inch and a half or so, nasty black scorpion. I remembered learning that baby rattle snakes were more dangerous than large ones because their venom was more concentrated and so I applied the same principle to this little guy and all of a sudden we had a death monster in our apartment. Yup, he needed to die. So in an attempt to not get stung and die in Albania (which would be a lame way to die), I geared up in jeans, boots, long sleeves and dish washing gloves. I don't think the dish washing gloves would have done much, but it's better than nothing? And then tried to catch the little guy. Well, unfortunately he had crawled up the wall behind the door frame in the bathroom. Hmmm... problem... the door frame was loose and I could pull it partially off the wall, but I couldn't reach the scorpion. A broom just made him crawl in deeper, too. I had visions of the movie Mouse Trap going through my head and was debating if destroying the door frame to kill the death monster was worth it or not haha.... we decided to call the district leader instead :) They decided it wouldn't hurt for them to come help us.... because I was NOT going to bed until that thing was taken care of!
Side story... on their way over, it's after 10 and they're running through the streets to our apartment... so naturally the police stop them. One of the elders had brought his flashlight because we didn't have one. Now this is a special flashlight that he bought in Kosovo... a flashlight with a taser on the end hahaha... well, the cop stops them and demands to look at his flash light... he's holding the flashlight with the spot where the taser comes out right on his hand and starts pressing buttons. The poor elders are freaking out by now thinking it would be better to just put the cuffs on right then... but thank goodness a miracle happened and the cop did NOT accidentally tase himself haha
(And no, they did not tase the scorpion... I thought it was a good idea though...)
Anyways, they get to our apartment and after some time, are very successfully able to kill the death monster :) It was quite the fiasco though. Wow.
That night while I was saying my prayer... I was thinking about how if Sister Zollinger hadn't seen it, it could have very well crawled into a shoe or I could have stepped on it when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of night... who knows what could have happened! And I also was thinking about the blessing of protection and safety that President Weidmann left with us. He told us that angels would be at our sides watching over us. As I was thinking about these things, I was praying to Heavenly Father thanking Him that we were okay, thanking Him that nothing bad happened from that scorpion being in our home. And I had the sweetest response... that yes, He had in fact been watching over us.
I think in all the areas that my testimony has grown the most, I have come to love the beautiful truth that we are all children of God and that He loves us so sweetly and so dearly. It's a truth I took advantage of. But as I teach it over and over and over again, I have come to appreciate it more than ever.
I know we have a Heavenly Father who is in fact our Father. He loves us more than we could ever comprehend or understand. Never forget who you are... it's a precious truth. Hold it close to your heart. He is watching over you and His hand is in your life because He loves you and you are His child.
I love you all,
Motra
We had a beautiful baptism! The sister of a member. He got to baptize her and it was so so special. She was beyond words happy :) Families coming together in the church, it's one of my favorite things and brings the most joy.
Some shots of Tirana and one of the many awesome painted buildings.
The elders and their kill. I have a close up shot, but I figured no one probably wanted to see it aka- my mother.
I don't remember what else I attached, I'm sure you can figure it out :)
No comments:
Post a Comment