Why hello there! This week was a really good week of work. It was hard. Very hard. Missions are hard. Period. ha
I will start with some questions! :)
1. In the Cleveland Ohio mission, they have several zones – but when they have a zone conference, we feed about 40 missionaries at a time. (Relief Society always serves the lunch) Since there are only 48 missionaries in your whole mission – are you one zone or are there a couple of zones?
We have two zones. "The Outside Zone" (everything outside of Tirana) and then the "Inside Zone" (Everything inside of Tirana).
2. How many zone conferences have you had since you have been there? Do you have any General Authorities that come to speak and teach you?
I have only had one zone conference but we have one next week. I think there have been general authorities in the past but I haven't had one come yet.
3. Tell us about something you have learned from your current companion?
Hm.. Let's see. I have learned a lot of little language tips. He has also taught me how to be a good cook! haha. Also, he is teaching me piano. I don't know exactly what you want me to say here? haha
4. Do you study from your English scriptures or your Albanian scriptures?
Both. I mainly study from my English scriptures but for language study and sometimes for part of personal study, I study from my Albanian scriptures. I can mostly understand most of the things in the Albanian scriptures. It's amazing.
5. When you are in your apartment – do you speak English or Albanian?
Englishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. We speak Albanian from 4pm to 9pm every dayyy. :)
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Okay, Just a few things before I forget. Can you ask Brother and Sister Lenahan to ask Brent if he has gotten the package I have sent him? I really hope he did ha. Thanks. Oh and the ink for my pen is running out. It is a medium ink refill.
Alrighty. So this week Elder Vans's fever finally went away haha. He still has a bad cough but he was okay enough to go out and work. We had some awesome working days. On Tuesday we found a family who was interested in the Gospel. Mondi is the husband, Dje is the Wife. They have two kids and they are the perfect family. We met with them and did a Zero Lesson. They loved it. We have already taught them again since then about the Restoration and they loved that too. We had a lesson planned for Saturday night but they ended up not being able to meet. We are going to try and meet with them tomorrow to talk about the plan of salvation. Mondi smokes and drinks but hopefully that won't be too hard of a problem. The main problem that we have seen so far is that coming to church is going to be hard for them. Not only do they live out in the middle of NOWHERE but the husband has a job that will be very hard for him to get out of on Sundays. It's going to be hard but I think they will be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to have Eternal Life.
There are 5 people getting baptized next Sunday after church. It is a family and they are awesome. Elbasan is growing so quickly. I love it here. It is pretty sad though. The fact of the matter is that the Church is still so small here that if there were no missionaries here, the church would be gone in less than a month. You might think that is crazy/wrong but I'm being serious. If there weren't missionaries here, within a month, the Church would be gone. I can't wait til Albania can run church all on it's own. It's still using training wheels. But it's okay. haha Someday.
So Gentiana and Biana are no longer getting baptized. They weren't ready and we had to make a decision on whether or not we should keep teaching them or if we should use our time elsewhere and we prayed about it and so now we are going to move on. Hopefully someday they will be ready.
We had a problem with Lori this week. It's not her. She is doing great. She has a testimony and wants to get baptized. It's her Dad. Her Dad has also turned her Mom against the church too now. I can't even tell you how many times the fathers of these families here screw everything up. It's no wonder that there are hardly an priesthood holders here in Albania. It's okay though. We are going to try and set up a meeting with Lori at her house this week and meet her Dad. Usually after we meet the Dad and he realizes we aren't here to do anything besides help people come to the Gospel, the Dad eases up a little.
On Wednesday we had an Exchange with the Zone Leaders. We did A TON of tracting. Elder Klein and I found some less active members and committed them to coming to church next week. It was pretty cool haha. I was doing the door approach and the girl stopped me and said, "I believe you! In fact, I am already a member of your church!" haha It was pretty funny. Elder Vance and Elder Roni found a girl and a mom who are now our new investigators! They came to church yesterday and LOVED it. We are going to teach them tomorrow I think. The girl even asked "What is Seminary? I want to come!" haha It was awesome. When the members are friendly to investigators it changes everything. PLEASE be really friendly anytime anyone new comes to church that you don't recognize. It makes their experience so much better.
This week was super hard. We walked more than I have ever walked since I have been here. It has been really crazy and tiring but I know that it's worth it. I actually had a day this week where I was just thinking to myself that it was too hard. I got really down on myself and it just wasn't good. But I said a prayer, and thought about what I was doing here in Albania and then read a quote that I got in a letter from Kendy that says: "A Missionary: Someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others can be with their families forever." I really needed that. I just have never been so physically, mentally, and spiritually tired before. It is hard when you are worrying about people's salvations. It is really hard. It's good though. I don't regret going on a mission AT ALL. Some days just get really hard and it's a good thing because it makes me humble myself and helps me realize I can't do ANYTHING without God's help.
No I haven't gotten any packages yet. Hopefully at the zone conference next week I will get mail and packages and stuff. Thanks for sending me stuff!
Well. I believe my time has come to an end today. I hope all is well with you. I pray for you every day! Please keep praying for me. I need it :) Sorry this email was so short. I can't wait to hear from you all next week :)
oh p.s. Kendy- I haven't gotten your Ensign yet but I'm sure it's in Tirana. Thanks a ton!
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