Life in Albania - Week 35

Some crazy stuff happened this week. I don't know if you are ready for the big news!? haha okay fine. It's not that big of news. But I'll get to it during the questions part.

1. Are you still in a threesome or is it down to two? Will Elder Roni be ready to go home when the transfer is over?

Man, I am super impressed with Elder Roney. He has been working SUPER hard. A lot of the other missionaries in his group have "died" (they have kinda been slacking off since they are pretty much done). Elder Roney has been holding strong ha. But actually we are no longer in a threesome. We got a "mini" missionary from Vlore. He is 26 years old and is actually someone that my father (Warburton) baptized at the beginning of his mission. His name is Genti. He originally was supposed to go with Elder Platt and Elder Roney and I were supposed to end this transfer together but after President Neil set him apart he pulled me aside and told me that he thought it would be better for me to train Genti and to be his companion. So yeah ha this is my second Albanian companion so far. Except this one has only been a member for 7 months. It's pretty tough ha. Now, it's not so much the language that is hard. It's just the fact that he doesn't really fully understand and know the doctrine. And some other stuff too but it's all good haha.

2. I loved the pictures you sent. Were you surprised by my mad art skills?! that thing took me forever! The one with the electronic keyboard out on the streets was cool. Is it plugged into the big pole? It looks like a telephone pole. Is it common to have electric outlets like that outside?

I'm glad you liked the pictures. haha We don't know exactly why there was an outlet hanging from that light pole but there was. It is not common at all. When I walked past and saw it, I decided that we would have to bring the piano out for a spin haha.

3. Dad asked this question last time and you didn’t answer it. Are the days longer this time of year for you in Albania? Like right now here at home it is light until 9:30 p.m. Is it like that there?

The days are getting longer I suppose. I don't really notice it too much but I guess now that I think of it, It is lighter until 9 or 9:30

4. Who is the Branch President in your branch?

Elder Roney

5. How was church this past Sunday? How many came?

Church was good. I gave a talk on Charity. We had a total of 9 people (including us 4 missionaries). Rudolf came and the Binoshaj kids came. So we had 3 investigators there. It went pretty well.

6. How are your investigators doing?

They are doing good. This week we talked to Rudolf and asked him to take the step of faith and get baptized. He said he wanted to but we didn't really come to a exact date. I'm pretty sure he will be getting baptized in the near future though. The Binoshaj's (Noj and Kristiana) have a baptismal date for the 2nd of July. They are so awesome. I love that family. The older sister would get baptized too but she is going to Italy. We told her to get in contact with the missionaries in Italy.

7. Have you seen the man again that was going to kill himself?

No..

8. Have you gotten to talk to Rudolf or do you need to wait until he contacts you again?

We have been meeting with him again. He is doing great.

9. When will you baptize Klidi?

The 26th of June.

10. Have you done any more fun street contacting with music?

No haha. It was a huge pain to carry that thing down to the place where that pole was. I think that was a one time thing. Definitely fun though.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So yeah ha. I have a new companion! I'm not going to lie, I was extremely stoked to "kill" Elder Roney. But oh well. Elder Platt now has the honors of doing so. It has been a good week though. We went to Tirana on Thursday because I had a training on Friday morning and Shkoder is 3 hours from Tirana. Elder Platt and I stayed with Elder Warburton and Elder Carver. Elder Roney stayed with the Zone Leaders in Tirana. It was awesome! I was reunited with my Papa again! (Warburton) haha. So we just did a bunch of finding in Tirana and we also had one night where we went to the center of the park and sang church hymns while Warburton talked to people. It was so cool. Not that we had a ton of success receiving numbers or anything but TONS of little kids came and just sat down in front of us and just smiled. There were SO many of them. They all just sat down and listened. It made me think about how much the little children loved Jesus Christ. Hopefully we planted some seeds to those children and one day they will talk to the missionaries when they are older. Friday, I had the training from Elder Cosea of the 70. It was a really cool training. I was asked to give the spiritual thought and I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared out of my mind to give a spiritual thought in front of a General Authority haha. It was good though. After the training I went and worked more with Elder Warburton because Saturday, Elder Roney had a Branch President training in Tirana so we just stayed from Thursday to Saturday. It was a good time though. It was cool to be able to work with Elder Warburton now that I can actually speak Albanian rather than making him do all the work. Then I got my new companion and we came back!

I got a package from the Robbins! It was AWESOME! It had so much crazy cool stuff in it. It just kept coming out! I swear it was like a Mary Poppins bag. Thanks Donna and Brian! You guys are da bombbbbb! Hey Aunt Donna, remember when you passed out at my house that one time?! That was crazy ha.

I'm gonna send some pictures. I love all of you all back in the states. Especially all you in the Burg who I haven't talked to in forever. Have a great week. I love you Mom, Lex, Dad, Ash, and Blizz. oh and of course Evan Baker and Steve Sobanski!

PEACE!!!!!!!!