The Big Travel to the Adriatic South Mission!

The big day finally arrived! Tuesday, September 30, 2014! The day Motra Bezas leaves to serve the Lord until the end of January 2016 or the beginning of February 2016.

Here are a series of photos Motra Bezas sent back of her travel experience. She traveled with ten other missionaries. They got up at 2 a.m. Tuesday, September 30th in order to be ready to leave the MTC in the wee hours of the morning. 

Motra Bezas with her two missionary companions.

They arrived at the SLC airport and then took their flight for the first leg of the journey around 8 a.m. or so.

They had a layover in the Chicago, Illinois airport for a few hours from noon to 4 p.m. approximately (11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Chicago time). There they made phone calls to family members...the last time to speak with their families until Christmas day. It's the sacrifice they make to go teach others about the Savior and His gift of the Atonement. (Talking with her at the airport was a beautiful experience to hear her voice!)

Next they flew to Vienna, Austria, arriving there at 8 a.m. Vienna time on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 (midnight Utah time). There they had a four hour layover. I wonder how tough it was to try to stay awake. They had been awake for nearly 24 hours by this time!

One of her terrific companions, Motra D, probably saying something like, "We've made it to Vienna!"

 Another of her amazing companions, Motra K. The nearly matching clothes are truly a coincidence. :)

 From the Vienna, Austria airport - now traveling for about 26 hours - they get on yet another plane to fly to the capital of Albania - Tirana. They end up being awake for about 36 hours. Wooh!

Here Motra Bezas and Motra D are now on the tarmac at the Tirana, Albania airport! They made it!

(again, not sure why the photo will only upload sideways...:P)

Here Motra Bezas's travel group meets the group of missionaries who have served for 24 months (the elders) or 18 months (the sisters). It's amazing to think about that time will fly, and soon it will be time for Motra Bezas to meet the incoming as she becomes the outgoing!

 And so her travel saga ended with her safely arrived in Albania. Stay tuned to find out where she is assigned! While it is a tremendous sacrifice to have her away from us until the end of Jan/beginning of Feb 2016, it is so worth it to think of the personal service she will give a people far, far away from where she lives. It is a blessing indeed to teach others of the Savior of the world!

Pictures from her final day at the MTC

Here are some pictures from her finals days at the MTC and farewells with all the dear friends she's met and made . . . .

Her district with the Albanian flag

 Her district with the flag in front of the flying Albanian flag
(not sure why it's sideways, the picture is a vertical one)

 Her companions and one of her beloved teachers

 One of the many eternal friends she made at the MTC

 One of the final meals before leaving

 Another amazing missionary friend she made

Card from Motra Bezas - Titled "Thinking of You"

Below are some portions from a card Motra Bezas sent shortly before leaving the MTC.

Hello FAMILY!

I saw this card and thought of you all. :) I love you all so much! Your love and wisdom has carried me on the wonderful days but also the not so good days.

You all are my heroes. The song, "You Raise Me Up," is how high I think of you all and along with my Heavenly Father and my Savior.

Today was my last P-day here at the MTC. This time of my life has gone by faster than I can see. Next time next week I will be in Albania. That will be the next part of my adventure.

Today was also my last day of going to the temple. All of us tried our best to soak it all in. The temple has brought me great comfort while I have been here. I was telling K in her letter I wrote today that I've seen so many small miracles here. I just imagine God doing secret service and gets all happy and excited to serve us cause He loves us. Like how as families we do family service. I think of it the same way.

This gospel is so special to me, as are all of you! LOVE YOU ALL

Motra Bezas

Card from Motra Bezas to her younger brother - written Sep 18, 2014

Here are a few snippets from a card Motra Bezas sent to her younger brother...

Why HELLO My Dear Kind Brother,

I have to start off with an explanation for the card. (The card had a picture of a fisherman with a fish he'd caught...with a pencil line drawing around the fish to exaggerate the size.) I saw this and it reminded me of you. I know you love to fish and so I got it for the purpose. But over all, I got this because of what it says inside. (Inside the card it says, "Dream big.") I wish I was more like that!

Anyway, I also wanted to thank you for writing me. It is always SO good to hear from you!

Now to answer your questions. I am emotionally doing pretty good most days. Just sometimes it's discouraging with the language, but that will change one day.

The Spirit is SO strong here.

OH! Cool fact. Elder Richard G. Scott (an apostle) came to the MTC and spoke to us missionaries, and it was such a cool experience.

By the wy, I LOVED the scripture you sent me. It really made all the difference!

So tell me now, how are you doing? How's school going? How's basketball? Know that I'm here for you always. Even when I'm on the other side of the world. You can always talk to me about anything and everything. Ilove you with all my heart! And can't wait to hear from you soon!

<3 Motra Bezas

Letter from Motra Bezas - written Sep 18, 2014

Here are some excerpts from the family letter Motra Bezas sent home. It's always so fascinating to read of her experiences as she grows along this path of being a missionary and to work to serve people on the other side of the world.





Dear Family,

Wow, today has been one thing after another, and so I'm sorry if this is not as long as my letters home are.

My first thing I would like to express: how much I love you all. Every time I get a letter from any of you, I feel love envelope me. Your words and wisdom are always exactly what I need.

Today is my first day of Consecration Week. (This is when the missionaries opt to not speak English for an entire week - even though they are completely new to their assigned foreign language.) It is just so crazy how time has flown by. and now I'm heading off to the wonderful land of Albania or Kosovo, wherever the Lord wants to take me.

I am a little frightened that in three weeks I will be teaching lessons in Albanian....I guess in some ways I've been harder on myself than I should be. God has reminded me of things I've overcome, though, in my life, and how hard Satan was trying before and is trying now to put obstacles in my path, to get me stuck from where God and I discussed before this life where I'm going.

I love you all SO much! I am so blessed with the family I have.

Oh! Sister R got a pay-as-you-go-phone from her mother this week for the airport. She and the other Hungarians (sister missionaries assigned to the Hungarian mission) leave Monday.

I am planning on sending a package home of things I don't need. Me...always worried about luggage weight. :)

<3 Motra Bezas

Letter from Motra Bezas

Here are some excerpts from the week's letter from Motra Bezas . . . hopefully these give a flavor of the life of a missionary in the Missionary Training Center.

Hello FAMILY!

I can't believe it's already been six weeks since I've been here. Less than 3 weeks before I hit the ground running in the field.

So I haven't written my email for you all so hopefully I don't repeat things in both...

So K has been out in the field for a week or so and wrote me. She is doing so wonderful. Her comp is great! It has already been 119 degrees while she has been there. (I know. aren't I glad that I'm going where I am?) Actually, I am finding out that it is VERY hot there in the summer in Albania. Only Kosovo is REALLY cold.

Oh, before I forget, so we get a phone call when we go to the airport. They have phone cards we could buy here. But I am hearing some are having family send a pay-as-you-go-phone that they can chuck after they are done using it (in the airport). That gives the missionary more time to talk. I don't fully know the rules. I'll find out, but I just wanted to let you know.

It finally hit me this week I'm leaving soon. I grew really discouraged one day and began to cry. I don't feel prepared but I know that I'll never "feel" prepared until I'm there. I know a lot of vocab, but grammar...HA! That is a rough one. But I'm determined to change that. I do every night. Last night I worked on grammar by myself and my brain hurt. Motra K and D are now starting to be on the same page with the language, and now I sometimes feel dead weight in lessons. I know it really isn't that way, but it just feels that way.

A cool experience I've had recently: I was bearing my testimony in Albanian to our girl investigator, and I told her that Heavenly Father loves her. The Spirit was right there. I could not deny it. He loves us all so much! I know this!

I love you all! Thank you for being my family! :)

<3 Motra Bezas

Letter from Motra Bezas - written Sep 4, 2014

(Here are some snippets and pieces from this week's letter to help share the impact and experiences within a missionary's life in the MTC . . . not all is included here at the blog but hopefully enough to bless your life. It was a very touching letter and brought such a feeling of the Spirit of peace.)

Dear Family,

It is yet again another week here. Well, FIVE to be exact. It is honestly so crazy to think that we leave less than in four weeks. That is just blowing my mind.

So I also wanted to write you a letter because I wanted to tell you a unique experience. So, the last you heard from me, I was sick, but what happened next was I lost my voice due to the snot/mucous that attacked my vocal cords. (And yes, Dad, I blew my nose 24/7 :0)    In fact, I had my own tissue box and trashcan by my desk. Needless to say, no one cares about looks in our classroom, so I didn't mind how all this looked.)

By this point the two elders in the room were sick as well, but I was the one that lost my voice.

One day it got way bad, so bad that it was SUPER hard to wake up. Well, the night before, I had emailed my branch president like I do every week, but this time I mentioned I wanted a priesthood blessing from him of health. We had planned for Sunday, and I wrote that email Friday. Saturday morning was the worst, and I felt I couldn't wait anymore.

I asked my zone leaders, who are my district leaders, to give me a priesthood blessing that morning we got to class. They said they would love to. (I should probably mention that neither had given a blessing before. I wasn't fully aware of this until they told me afterward.) Anyway, so Elder G did the main part of the blessing. In it, it was sweet, simple, and short, but what was said, I will never forget. The Spirit was so strong, and earlier that week I had been facing trials. I now know that I am loved. I know I am. I had just felt down in the dumps. More than that, I realized that when he told me how much the Savior loves me. The Spirit enveloped me and I began to cry.

Once they had finished, they made sure I was okay before returning to sit in their seats. (We had been in our classroom with all of our district in there.) But that is not even the coolest part of this story. So, Sunday comes around, and I'm still without a voice but feeling better than I was before. President called me out of the room, and we went into another room. We talked for a bit, and he checked to see how I was doing all in all. So, eventually in all that he found out I'd received a blessing from the zone leaders. He asked me if I was still interested in another one. I said whatever he felt was best. He then asked who I would like to help in the priesthood blessing. I said that I didn't mind who, and so he brought in Elder G.

This became the great point in what I'm sharing. In this blessing, he didn't say a ton, but he said a few VERY important points. One, that my Savior loves me. Two, that sometimes we need to go through trials of different kinds. Finally . . . (at this point, some beautiful things not for a blog).

By this point, I was bawling. I had already been crying, but by this point I couldn't hold back the flow of tears. He told me that he was not expecting to say any of that stuff (referencing some very beautiful things not shared here) when he had placed his hands on my head. He told me to make sure I wrote down these things. I promised and did that night.

I have been spiritually blessed, that, or my eyes are being opened. Today we went to the temple. One lady I met sitting beside me began to cry while talking with me. She said the blessings we receive as missionaries for certain things are amazing (the lady had mentioned some specific things). She looked into my eyes, and I felt she felt this was very true for me.

(Motra Bezas goes on to share yet another special occurrence sacred to her and not mentioned here, but the Holy Spirit is amazing in helping these missionaries who are trying with all they have to sacrifice so they can serve God's children and teach of Jesus Christ. In fact, there is a scripture that reminds me of the responsibilities missionaries have, found in John 21:

 15 ¶So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 

(That brings me to the end of this week's posting of the letter. And it just occurred to me: if you would like to know more about the Savior and His Plan of Happiness for you, visit Mormon.org or you can call 1-888-537-6600 to speak with a missionary similar to Motra Bezas.)

Email from Motra Bezas - 9/4/14

Here are snippets and pieces of Motra Bezas's email from this week....

Dear Family,

Alright, this week is going to be interesting. I forget to mention that we print off our emails after we get out of the temple and so today when I came to print them off, none of the family had written me. (We've now learned as a family to write an email the night before her p-day, rather than the morning of!) So I just printed off ones that had. So I wasn't at all prepared to reply to any of the questions you all may have. I wrote you a good letter and am planning on sending that today so be on the look out for that. (We received that letter a few days later, and it will be posted above this one.)

Most of my stories I covered in my letter but I do have a good one that I saved just for email.

The Finish missionaries left us this past Monday. It was one of the saddest things I went through so far. I became so close to all of them. Last week though they did In-Field Orientation and found out that all of them got their visas but the solo sister. So she is still here. Let me remind you that this is the first time ever in history with the MTC that Finnish Consulate didn't get to a visa.

I know though that this was meant to happen. Whatever the reason I am not sure on that part, but I know that God wouldn't have had this happen to her unless it was for the growth of someone in someway. I told her that, and she agreed.

This is just background story for what happened. We got back from the temple, and she was requested right away at the Travel Office. They told her that she was to leave in two hours. So all us sisters helped her pack and had her bags weighted and were good. So then we headed over to the travel office to get a picture. Then she found out that she was not going to be leaving until - at the soonest Monday - due to her mission president being out of the country to welcome her. This was yet again another rejection.

I, even myself, wasn't sure what to think - besides that God knows best and that there is a reason she is being held back.

So now just 20 minutes ago, I was talking with her as we were doing laundry, when she told me they gave her NEW flight plans... scheduled for Monday... this is her fourth set of plans she has received. I try to imagine what I would do if I were in her shoes, and I honestly don't know how I would react to that! She says that it will be an adventure for her.

Things are going well here. The language is coming, and I'm learning more and more everyday. We have been the past few days starting to review. I can't believe it! We have now finished learning all the new concepts, and now we are putting them in real use.

It is honestly weird to think that in about two or so weeks we will getting our own flight plans. I've been here for 5 weeks. That is sooooo crazy to me. But I know that the Lord is here for me as I go throughout this big adventure I am on.

Something that I've really seen this week is how much God loves me completely and that He knows me and my name and knows my strengths and weaknesses. God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are his Spirit Children. I know this without a shadow of a doubt. :)

The purpose of why I am here is to have people gain their own personal connection with God and their Savior Jesus Christ. I can't wait for the day when I go and touch lives with Jesus Christ's great light and love to all those that I come in contact with. I love you all so much! Thank you again for all your words of wisdom and comfort. They mean the world!

Love, Motra Bezas!