25th pday email from Albania

(As always, here are a few snippets from Motra Bezas's email home this week . . .)

The Lord blessed us with the opportunity to take an investigator to a baptism of two people this last Saturday. It was so great to see the two go into the water and come out clean with a fresh start. That is literally my favorite part about a baptism. It is the sound of the water when they come out. There is a certain spirit that comes. I know the power of the Atonement is really a gift that fits each of us. Like a tailor. Jesus Christ is the tailor to our lives. We all different and unique, and that in itself is a blessing. The next part of the blessing is that Christ knows us and knows how to help us. It is up to us to use our agency and come unto Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

All that we do is recognized by our Lord and Savior like the video our mission president's wife shared at the Sister Conference about "The Invisible Woman". The thing I learned from this is that as missionaries we have this magnificent privilege to see the world through the Lord's eyes and feel what he feels for each of His children as they make choices of good and choices that are bad. I have felt that Joy He feels and the sorrow He feels. I know it is not the FULL extent of what He feels of His love for us, but I and Sister C have felt His love for His other children we have taught this transfer.

A cool story that happened this week was with another investigator. She didn't really understand prayer, and so we changed our lesson plan as we were heading over because we had a strong a feeling we needed to. Well, we taught about prayer, and we then had her pray right then and said that when she finished her prayer, we would wait in silence for 20 seconds. Well, during the whole lesson before this moment the house was silent and the Spirit was there. Well, the moment she began to pray, all the phones rang and her husband was being loud on the phone and the Spirit was leaving as she prayed. I prayed with all my heart that the Spirit would stay.

Well, once the phones and her husband went silent, it was halfway through the 20 seconds of silence and once she finished and closed. First of all, I loved how she didn't close the prayer until after the 20 seconds. That really showed that she was willing to listen to His words He had for her. The second was the Spirit that poured into the room, and she said that she felt amazing.

I knew that Satan was trying to do all he could to have her not feel this.

We have an English student who IS SERIOUSLY ONE OF THE NOBLE AND WISE ONES! I swear up in heaven God was seriously so pleased with him. He has been coming to this course for about a year and a half now and has not taken interest in becoming part of the church, but he seriously has been an amazing missionary for a girl in class. He was teaching her how to pray. It was just a sweet witness to me that God knows and loves His children and that we all play a part and that this student was saved for this time. I feel that strongly every time we teach him in our big class.

Speaking of people that matter, we had a Sisters' Conference with all the sisters in the mission; there are 22 sisters. The Sister Training Leaders of Fier taught us about how we each have our own spiritual gifts and how we shouldn't compare. That we are all needed. They did a activity where we were split up into groups, and then we were to go around and list a spiritual gift each person had that we noticed and then said one about ourselves and then to write them down to remind us.

Our mission president's wife spoke as well and she showed this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YU0aNAHXP0) WATCH IT! I love this with all my heart. It just shows that we each matter. God notices all that we do. No sacrifice is never to small for him to not to notice. She also showed this: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUfnnFTJyJA). YOU ARE LOVED. YOU MATTER. AND YOU ARE NEEDED

President Weidmann spoke and said, "If we didn't matter to our Heavenly Father, He wouldn't have given His only begotten Son. SO WE MATTER TO HIM!"

I also loved something that one of the missionaries said (who is going home next week): "Before I came on my mission I thought I was sacrificing so much, but I was completely wrong. This was never a sacrifice." The other thing she said in her going home testimony: "I can't wait to go home, because I then get to take what I learned here and that I get to love my family and other more deeply like I have grown to do with the investigators I have taught."

I love this gospel. With its ups and downs, that is part of this life. To experience things to become like our Father in Heaven. I am so privileged that He has such great trust in me to teach His word. As I serve, I have learned that this work is something powerful and that it changes lives forever, but if only we are living it.

Know you matter and you are of great worth.

Motra Bezas

Motra Bezas's companion in front of a home
of a family they adore