Malta Week 25

Another successful YSA Activity, Hump Day and many heartwarming experiences are the highlights of this week!

A few weeks ago, we coached one of our English students in creating a video for her business. She works with Maltese people who speak only English, and she felt quite insecure about producing an informational video in English. We helped her practice and gave her guidance, and then we kind of forgot about it. This evening, she presented the completed video to us. It was exceptionally beautiful. Despite her pronounced accent, she articulated her words slowly and with clarity, making it easily understandable and visually appealing. Watching it moved us to tears. Moments like these affirm that we are making an impact on our students' lives. We are immensely grateful for the chance to teach and work with these wonderful individuals who are striving for a better life and diligently working towards their goals.

Monday night English Class

Carolina, in the yellow sweatshirt is the girl who made the video.  Her little boy sometimes comes to class with her and he is so well behaved.  She says he goes home and uses all the idioms we teach in class. It's good to know we are making an impact on him too!

A card came from Cal, our grandson!  I can't believe how fun it is to find mail in our box!

This is a picture of our District Council Meeting on Zoom.  I had to include it because the missionaries bought these atrocious Lidl Sweaters!  Lidl is like an oversized Aldi Grocery Store.  The missionaries love it because it has cheap prices.  It's such a crack-up that they bought these sweaters. Now Steve wants one!

Institute on Tuesday night was wonderful. Steve is an exceptional teacher who can even make the chapters of Isaiah seem enjoyable! We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and a social hour after the lesson. It's truly wonderful to spend time with these incredible young men and women!

Thursday was our HUMP DAY!!!  We have officially made it halfway through our mission!  It's hard to believe we are at the halfway point already!     To celebrate, we went back to the first restaurant we ate at when we arrived in Malta, Hungry Jakes in Mosta.  

Wednesday night English Class.  Our class has grown a little bigger this week!

I went shopping to find Malta Cross Necklaces for Cindy Morris, and started my search at a few jewelry stores in Ta' Qali Craft Village. At the second store, a kind young man greeted me, and his face brightened upon seeing my missionary badge. He asked if our church was the one in Mosta. I thought he might mean the huge Mosta Dome, so I clarified it was the small chapel above the Kebab Shop down the road from the Dome. He let me know that it was our chapel he was speaking about.  He said that he had attended our chapel a couple of years ago and remained Facebook friends with the two young Elders who taught him there. He expressed his fondness for the chapel, recalling that he had never felt so much peace as he did in our chapel. He also said he had never known such kind and loving people as those he met there.  His kind words really warmed my heart. I then invited him to return, and he said he was going to do some travel and hoped to visit upon his return. 

The next day, I went to another shop in Valletta, still in search of the necklaces.  This time I found the one Cindy was looking for.  Once again, I was greeted with warmth and friendliness from the store clerks.  They recognized my badge and they said that several missionaries been in their store and they were all such nice people.  They also expressed their appreciation for all the good things we do.

It's nice to know that the missionaries that have preceded us have been such good examples of disciples of Christ and the people here are Christians who appreciate all the things we do even though we are not members of their faith.

On Friday night, we hosted a highly successful YSA activity! We organized a game night with group games. Expecting a similar turnout to last week's 12 attendees, we chose the medium-sized room upstairs, confident it would plenty big enough. I baked cookies and brought several bags of M&M's and a few other bags of snacks, expecting them to be more than enough. However, we were pleasantly surprised when 35 people showed up! We had to make a big squeeze to fit everyone in the room.  Despite being short on snacks and space, the large turnout made for an enjoyable evening, with everyone having a great time.

It was a fantastic and very successful activity!

Sunday was Munch and Mingle after church!  It is always so fun to eat and visit with everyone after our meetings.  We had several friends join us in Sacrament Meeting.  I was excited to see one of our favorite English Students, Lina there.  She said she enjoys coming for English two nights a week, but she really wanted more so she thought she would try coming to church!  She is a beautiful person inside and out and I hope she enjoyed it.

At the Munch and Mingle, our friend Shunem offered Henna Tattoos to anyone interested. Her beautiful designs were in such demand that people were lined up to get one. She kept inviting me to get one and despite my initial hesitation and several refusals, I finally gave in to her requests. The result was an artful masterpiece on my hand, and the experience was enjoyable!

Ending this post with some snapshots from our evening walk. Malta is home to numerous stunning churches. We often pass by this particular one, and tonight, we decided to step inside and briefly explore its interior and capture some photos of the intricate decor.

Ciao!