Pershenfrikindetje shoket e mia. Eshte nje kenaqesi tju shkruaj prap kjo jave. Ka qene nje jave shume e mire. The chromebook I'm writing this email on doesn't have an easily accessible umlaut option so there is possibility that google translate won't be able to help you guys out here. Sorry but I'm pak lazy sometimes. Actually, I have met a grand total of 1 Albanian that actually texts using the c tails and e umlauts so you guys are getting a little taste of what I see every day in my online interactions. Super qejf we love it.
This week was bomb. Elder Cannon and I actually have low-key been having a hard time. If you haven't read any of my past emails, just know that we are serving in a hard area with not a lot going on. It's hard to stay motivated at times when you can't even seem to make a single teaching appointment in a week. We are constantly trying to find new people to teach and doing our absolute best to help our 3 members out as well. Because of this, we try very, very hard to stay busy and to fill our schedule. One of the main things that has been hit hard here in the past is English Course. It is a great way of contacting and giving to the community (not to mention people think we're saints for doing it) AND it gives us something to do which is bomb. Well anyways, basically since I got here our English course has been dead in the water. So, this week we took a table out in front of the church, had a white board qe tha: "KURS ANGLISHT PRIVAT FALAS! HAJDE DHE REGJISTROHU - JEMI AMERIKAN NA NDIHMO ME GJUHEN SHQIPE", some good old Libra te Mormonit, pamphlets, flyers, and a course registry. We spent about an hour just sitting at this table talking to people as they walked by, and we got quite a few numbers! Not to mention we gave out a Book of Mormon and even more flyers for English course. Because of this sole event, English Course is back in business. We've got two ladies in their 50's that are now coming and we have a couple more people from the old registry that I called as well that may (or may not) come which is way more promising than before so we are hyped! We were able to teach 3 english lessons this last week which was so nice for the two of us. Super hype.
Miracle moment time if you're ready for it: Wednesday night we had a couple senior missionaries come down to Gjirokaster and we had dinner with them. On our way back down after dinner, we stopped at this restaurant and talked to this old guy who runs the restaurant because we're pals. He started talking to us a bunch about the usual (wow you know albanian so good you cuna are so great god bless you yay) which was super great. It was already a very enjoyable conversation because I love it when I can understand what is being said and actually respond well. Anyways, while we were talking to this guy, this girl walks out of the restaurant and starts observing our conversation. Eventually she interjects and asks where we're from, and once she found out we were American she started talking to us in perfect English. She was blown away that I (having 3 months in this country) and my companion (having 3 weeks in this country) could be speaking the language as well as we were. She began talking to us with this old guy about what we were doing there, where our church was, and some other really great encouraging stuff to be having in a conversation as a missionary with a stranger on the street. We had an awesome conversation, but, it was late and I was worried about getting back to our apartment because I was tired and it was pretty far, and to my great regret, I didn't grab this ladies contact info before we left. The next day, I couldn't stop thinking about how I neglected to get her info, and so we resolved to go back up to the pazar for some street finding later and to try and find her again. However, not too long after, we get a text from one of the senior missionaries that we had had dinner with the night before. She told us she met a young woman in the pazar who had talked with 2 American kids the night before who were *completely fluent*(?) in Albanian (gotta pat myself on the back there a little bit. Self love you know) and that she wanted us to contact her. She sent us this girls Facebook and we have since been in contact with her over messenger. She lives in Saranda and wants to meet us whenever we head back over there. Super hype! A good reminder to me that God's work is going to move forward even when a dumb teenager neglects to grab contact info. Grateful for that for sure.
Other than that things are great. The title unfortunately for all of you guys is kinda a let down. All I have to say for it is that I decided I wanted to try biting into a pomegranate like an apple (because lowkey they're just as common as apples out here if not more) so I've got a video you guys can all enjoy there if you'd like.
P-Day was also super sick. We went up to Zvernec again and checked out a sick monastery on an island. Very bukur and very fun. I also did yoga on a log post out on the water. Enjoy the pictures!
Jave te mbare my good men and women of the world. Hurrah for pasta and all things delicious in life!
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