4 days left!

Hello, hello!

 

I don't have too much time to e-mail today because we need to pack, clean and get ready for departure. We leave on Tuesday June 11, at 4 in the morning! That will be fun. Luckily from our move over to the West Campus, I have a better idea of how I should pack (and I'm still kinda packed). We are flying from Salt Lake to Washington D.C. That is where I will try to call. It should be sometime between 12:45pm and 4pm Missouri time. The calling card deducts 130 minutes for making the initial call so I will try to call with quarters first to make sure. I'll try Mom's phone first and then Dad's. Hopefully you'll be ready for it and we will be able to talk. I'm glad it’s the summer so everyone will be out of school.  

 

Life on the West Side: class doesn't really feel that different except that you can see the BYU stadium from our window. We are right on the edge so we can see the "outside world". It’s kinda fun. We'll be there soon, except in Albania!. We watch all the devotionals and such from the Wyview chapel. They will start having devotionals in the Marriott soon. That will be sweet. The food here is great! I'm pretty sure it’s from BYU catering. They are still getting things set up like the mail office and such. Raintree is a sweet campus. There is a creek that runs through the middle made of rocks with little bridges and stuff. Super cute. But there is no water in it right now. Still bukur.

 

Our teacher showed us pictures of Albanian the other day and it looks awesome! It actually reminds me a lot of China. (They don't have dryers there either.) I am seriously so excited. I'm excited for real people to teach. I'm excited to meet the members and the people. I'm excited to experience the culture. I'm excited to teach the gospel!

 

I'm sure you are all wondering how consecration week went. It was....fantastic. The amount that I have improved from last week to this week is truly amazing and I have to give the credit to the Lord. I was really nervous at the beginning. It would have been easy to just not talk when I didn't know the words, but I don't feel like that would have been consecrating myself. So I just tried and failed and every once in a while succeeded. But you know what? I learned so much. I learned more vocabulary from what others were saying. I learned grammar just by using it and being corrected when I was wrong. Best of all, I learned how to understand Albanian. That’s really what I'm most excited about. I feel that is where I was lacking the most and it was hard because I wouldn't understand instructions, jokes, and well communication in general. But as I listened to it all week, I got better. The difference after only a couple of days was awesome. Granted, this is the MTC and we are all limited in vocabulary and speak Shqip like Americans still and our teachers speak pretty slow. But if that is how much I improve from listening to it for a week in the MTC, I can only imagine what it will be like to be there. I am feeling so much more prepared now. I'm so grateful that our zone has consecration weeks. I really think everyone should do them. I have felt so blessed this week and am full of hope and peace for learning the language. This is the Lord's work and He is helping every step of the way. It is so important to trust and rely on Him and to involve Him. It would be so rude to leave Him out of His own work!

 

Quick funny story. Motra Heathcote and I were teaching Elders Lee and Davis during study one day and we were teaching about the Book of Mormon. We mentioned it was a record of people in America. Elder Davis (as an investigator) was being a little defensive (for lack of better word) and asked if there was a record of the Albanians. But the word for Albanians and Savior is pretty close and he accidently said Savior. Do you have a record of the Savior. I was suprised  that our investigator already knew it was a record of the Savior because he had said he didn't know about Christ. When I asked him how he knew about the Savior, he (thinking the word meant Albanina) said that both he and Elder Lee were saviors. At that point we realized the confusion and it was pretty funny. I'm sure this is only a small beginning for the many words we will confuse in Albania. Can't wait! I really am super excited!

 

Well I'm out of time. I'll try to send pictures really quick. I love you all!

 

Love,

Motra Curtis