Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Attention!
Make sure to check out the new mailing information! ALSO, Austin can't RECEIVE emails from anyone other than family. We just found that information out.
Life in Albania - Week 1
Hello Family and friends!
How is life going?
1. How was your first experience street contacting? Did you do it right after you got off the plane?
We got to Albania and had dinner at the presidents house. Then we went in the streets and started street contacting. I was paired off with sister leit who was from my MTC group. (we were both fringo fare) so we started stopping people and talking to them. the second person we stopped was a girl probably about age 20 to 25. She stopped and talked to us for quite a while. Turns out, we talked to her for about an hour. We gave her the first two lessons right there on the streets. It was crazy. I didnt even know half the words i was saying. The spirit was helping a ton. She commited to reading some chapters in the book of mormon and to pray about it. Unfortunately, we left the next day and I have no idea how she is doing. We gave her number to the people serving in Tirane. I hope she is doing well. Her name is Jodina (yo deena) please pray for her.
2. How is your new companion?
My new comp. is the bombbbbb. He is seriously so awesome. He is way helpful with the language. He has only been here for 6 months. His name is Elder Warburton. He is super good at the language for only being here 6 months. I have already learned so much from him. He is a great misisonary. My language skills have already increased dramatically. I can pretty much say what ever i want to say. (usually not the exact way i want to say it, but with the words i know, i can get across what i want to). The only problem is that I still have trouble understanding everything that people say.
3. Tell us a little bit about Vlore.
Vlorè is so so so so sweet. It is on the beach. It is very very dusty. Did I mention it is dusty? Oh and it rains a lot too. So dust + rain = MUD!!!! haha. It's all good though. I love it here. I love the people here too. The people here are so incredible. They have nothing to give, but they give everything they have. There are mountains everywhere in Albania. It is beautiful here in Vlorè.
4. How often will you meet with your Mission President. Did he seem pretty nice?
We will meet with our mission pres every 3 months until we are done with our trainings from the new version of preach my gospel, and then we will meet with him every 6 weeks. He is a very nice guy.
5. Is the food normal – or different?
The food is different, but they have a lot of food that is similar. I like it all. I have become not so picky of an eater of the past few years, so if it's in front of me, i will eat it. Oh, also, sorry about how bad my typing is. The keyboard is different here and so it's hard to type correctly while typing fast.
6. What is the monthly allowance you get?
we get 20,000 lek which is about 200 dollars. It is only to be spent on food and neccessary things for the apartment though.
7. Are you walking everyday or are you driving?
We walk...... A lot haha. It is great. I guess EVERY missionary here loses at least 10 pounds from what I hear. So yeah. We walk quite a bit. Oh and we don't eat dinner ever. we only eat breakfast and lunch. Pretty wild.
8. Do you have any investigators you are teaching?
We currently have no Investigators. We are planting lot's of seeds though. Not a lot of people want to listen to us though. A lot of people think we are J dubs (jehovas wittnesses) and they don't like them for various reasons. I will tell the story a different time. We are doing everything we can. We know there are people looking for the Gospel, so we will continue to look. We have been trying to get member referrals. Hopefully we will get some soon. We had a lot of lessons this past week with members doing the referral lesson which was way good. Please pray for the Albanians hearts to be softened so that they can hear the Gospel.
9. How is the language going?
The language is going well. I am getting better every day. I don't let myself get stressed out about it because that won't help at all. I stay positive and my companion helps me a ton. I love the language though. It is great.
10. What is your apartment like?
Our apartment is soooo nice. We have a view of the Adriatic Sea from our balcony. We have one of the only apartments in Albania with 2 bathrooms. And we keep it way clean. It's great. I will send pictures eventually.
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Okay, so here is the dealio. I love ALBANIA!!!! it is so awesome.
After I found out who my trainer was (thursday), We got on a Frugon (a van) that went from Tiranè to Vlorè. It was hilarious. I cant even explain why. It just was. People here.... they drive... unlike anything i've ever seen in my life. I cant believe how there are no car accidents here. When people honk, its not a mean thing at all. It is just a warning that they are coming. There are hardly any such things as lanes here. People just drive as they please. It is so funny. hahhaa I cant even explain it. When we got into vlorè the driver dropped us off about 20 minutes walking distance from our apartment. We had all of our bags plus motra leit is in vlorè too so her and her companion were with us and they had bags. So we helped the girls get their stuff to their apartment which was about 5 mintutes away from where the van dropped us off. My companion suggested that we take a van to our apartment but I said nah lets just walk. its not that far and i don’t want to waste money haha. Bad idea. It was WAYYY longer than I thought. And my bags were WAY heavier than I thought. Oh well haha. MY companion just laughed at me the whole way. I kept apologizing to him ha and he just smiled and said that it was all good.
Oh, before I forget. I was kissed by an old man today hahahah. It was so funny. Every one kisses when they greet each other and an old man came up to me today and started rattling off a bunch of mumbled albanian words, took my hands, called me a small but strong boy and then kissed me. HAHA it was the funniest thing ever. My companion said Looks like you got your first kiss from a gja gji (old man). I was a little scared by that haha. He said my first one. I am hoping that there arent too many more of that.
So we went tracting the other day. It was my first time tracting. My companion said he would take the first turn to talk. He did it and the people kindly shewed us away. Then It was my turn. We walked up to a door. There sounded like there was activity going on in the house. It was looking promising. I knocked. No one came. I knocked again. finally an old man wearing super short shorts and a wife beater and he started yelling at me and telling me to never come back. I didn’t know that was what he said so i continued to proceed to tell him that i was a missionary and that i had a message about a living prophet. I guess he didn’t like that idea either and he made a motion with hands that to me looked like he wanted to hit me. hahaha. we left. i asked my companion what he had said to me. my companion just smiled and shrugged. I knew that he knew what he said haha. But they probably weren’t good words.
Sundays in Vlorè are much different than Sundays in America. First of all, church is only 2 hours instead of 3. And there are a million other differences too. For example. There is a closet at the church with white shirts and ties of all sizes for the kids and adults to have white shirts and ties. They don't have their own. Also, sacrament meeting is crazy haha. I cant even really explain why. But its just a little different. So I was asked to bless the sacrament. I obviously was more nervous than ever. I was more nervous this time than I was the first time i ever blessed the sacrament. Then i gave my testimony to the congregation in the meeting. There is an elder that has been here for 3 months and people were telling me that my albanian was way way good for only being here for 4 days and that it was better than that other elders. So i hope that they werent just trying to be nice and that i am picking it up pretty quickly. During the other new missionaries testimonies the congregation would vocally correct their mistakes in Albanian hahaahaha it was so funny. They didnt correct anything in mine though! pretty cool huh? The Lord has helped me out so so so much with this language. I know that as long as I try my hardest with the language, The Lord will help me out big time. The kids lined up to have me tie their ties for them haha. I guess they liked how i tie my knots. They all kept saying I want to learn how i want to learn how! haha. Speaking of ties. Ties here are so so so sweet. Today our district went tie shopping. Ties are however much you can talk them into them being. I bought my first 3 ties for a total of 15 bucks. They started out at 20 a piece. I am getting good at bartering for ties haha. Yes! in fact. The workers of the store asked me if I was from Cosavo ( a country north of Albania that speaks Albanian) because those people where american clothes. They basically were telling us we speak good albanian. When we told them we were american they were stunned. It was pretty funny. Don't worry. I only bought 5 ties haha. I had to get some sweet Albanian ties.
So far here in Albania, I have annointed a blessing, helped ordain 2 people into the priesthood, taught a few lessons, played soccer on the beach, ate lots of crazy food, and have walked a million miles. Oh and i was kissed by a gja gji. There are probably many more stories to come. I am pretty stoked to be here. I wish I had more time to email but I dont. Dont worry though. I have everything in my journal so when I get home I can tell all sorts of crazy stories to you. I know, that will be a while from now but hey. Its the best I can do. Please keep praying for me. I love you all so much. Thanks for you emails. I dont have much time to touch on them. Mom, you are in my prayers. Hopefully you arent too sore from the car accident.
At most places we can print emails out but this one I cant. So normally, i will be able to print things out. Oh also, I am just not allowed to email people back from this email besides you. Sweet! I love you all! Keep on Keepin on.
Love, Elder Ekèll
How is life going?
1. How was your first experience street contacting? Did you do it right after you got off the plane?
We got to Albania and had dinner at the presidents house. Then we went in the streets and started street contacting. I was paired off with sister leit who was from my MTC group. (we were both fringo fare) so we started stopping people and talking to them. the second person we stopped was a girl probably about age 20 to 25. She stopped and talked to us for quite a while. Turns out, we talked to her for about an hour. We gave her the first two lessons right there on the streets. It was crazy. I didnt even know half the words i was saying. The spirit was helping a ton. She commited to reading some chapters in the book of mormon and to pray about it. Unfortunately, we left the next day and I have no idea how she is doing. We gave her number to the people serving in Tirane. I hope she is doing well. Her name is Jodina (yo deena) please pray for her.
2. How is your new companion?
My new comp. is the bombbbbb. He is seriously so awesome. He is way helpful with the language. He has only been here for 6 months. His name is Elder Warburton. He is super good at the language for only being here 6 months. I have already learned so much from him. He is a great misisonary. My language skills have already increased dramatically. I can pretty much say what ever i want to say. (usually not the exact way i want to say it, but with the words i know, i can get across what i want to). The only problem is that I still have trouble understanding everything that people say.
3. Tell us a little bit about Vlore.
Vlorè is so so so so sweet. It is on the beach. It is very very dusty. Did I mention it is dusty? Oh and it rains a lot too. So dust + rain = MUD!!!! haha. It's all good though. I love it here. I love the people here too. The people here are so incredible. They have nothing to give, but they give everything they have. There are mountains everywhere in Albania. It is beautiful here in Vlorè.
4. How often will you meet with your Mission President. Did he seem pretty nice?
We will meet with our mission pres every 3 months until we are done with our trainings from the new version of preach my gospel, and then we will meet with him every 6 weeks. He is a very nice guy.
5. Is the food normal – or different?
The food is different, but they have a lot of food that is similar. I like it all. I have become not so picky of an eater of the past few years, so if it's in front of me, i will eat it. Oh, also, sorry about how bad my typing is. The keyboard is different here and so it's hard to type correctly while typing fast.
6. What is the monthly allowance you get?
we get 20,000 lek which is about 200 dollars. It is only to be spent on food and neccessary things for the apartment though.
7. Are you walking everyday or are you driving?
We walk...... A lot haha. It is great. I guess EVERY missionary here loses at least 10 pounds from what I hear. So yeah. We walk quite a bit. Oh and we don't eat dinner ever. we only eat breakfast and lunch. Pretty wild.
8. Do you have any investigators you are teaching?
We currently have no Investigators. We are planting lot's of seeds though. Not a lot of people want to listen to us though. A lot of people think we are J dubs (jehovas wittnesses) and they don't like them for various reasons. I will tell the story a different time. We are doing everything we can. We know there are people looking for the Gospel, so we will continue to look. We have been trying to get member referrals. Hopefully we will get some soon. We had a lot of lessons this past week with members doing the referral lesson which was way good. Please pray for the Albanians hearts to be softened so that they can hear the Gospel.
9. How is the language going?
The language is going well. I am getting better every day. I don't let myself get stressed out about it because that won't help at all. I stay positive and my companion helps me a ton. I love the language though. It is great.
10. What is your apartment like?
Our apartment is soooo nice. We have a view of the Adriatic Sea from our balcony. We have one of the only apartments in Albania with 2 bathrooms. And we keep it way clean. It's great. I will send pictures eventually.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, so here is the dealio. I love ALBANIA!!!! it is so awesome.
After I found out who my trainer was (thursday), We got on a Frugon (a van) that went from Tiranè to Vlorè. It was hilarious. I cant even explain why. It just was. People here.... they drive... unlike anything i've ever seen in my life. I cant believe how there are no car accidents here. When people honk, its not a mean thing at all. It is just a warning that they are coming. There are hardly any such things as lanes here. People just drive as they please. It is so funny. hahhaa I cant even explain it. When we got into vlorè the driver dropped us off about 20 minutes walking distance from our apartment. We had all of our bags plus motra leit is in vlorè too so her and her companion were with us and they had bags. So we helped the girls get their stuff to their apartment which was about 5 mintutes away from where the van dropped us off. My companion suggested that we take a van to our apartment but I said nah lets just walk. its not that far and i don’t want to waste money haha. Bad idea. It was WAYYY longer than I thought. And my bags were WAY heavier than I thought. Oh well haha. MY companion just laughed at me the whole way. I kept apologizing to him ha and he just smiled and said that it was all good.
Oh, before I forget. I was kissed by an old man today hahahah. It was so funny. Every one kisses when they greet each other and an old man came up to me today and started rattling off a bunch of mumbled albanian words, took my hands, called me a small but strong boy and then kissed me. HAHA it was the funniest thing ever. My companion said Looks like you got your first kiss from a gja gji (old man). I was a little scared by that haha. He said my first one. I am hoping that there arent too many more of that.
So we went tracting the other day. It was my first time tracting. My companion said he would take the first turn to talk. He did it and the people kindly shewed us away. Then It was my turn. We walked up to a door. There sounded like there was activity going on in the house. It was looking promising. I knocked. No one came. I knocked again. finally an old man wearing super short shorts and a wife beater and he started yelling at me and telling me to never come back. I didn’t know that was what he said so i continued to proceed to tell him that i was a missionary and that i had a message about a living prophet. I guess he didn’t like that idea either and he made a motion with hands that to me looked like he wanted to hit me. hahaha. we left. i asked my companion what he had said to me. my companion just smiled and shrugged. I knew that he knew what he said haha. But they probably weren’t good words.
Sundays in Vlorè are much different than Sundays in America. First of all, church is only 2 hours instead of 3. And there are a million other differences too. For example. There is a closet at the church with white shirts and ties of all sizes for the kids and adults to have white shirts and ties. They don't have their own. Also, sacrament meeting is crazy haha. I cant even really explain why. But its just a little different. So I was asked to bless the sacrament. I obviously was more nervous than ever. I was more nervous this time than I was the first time i ever blessed the sacrament. Then i gave my testimony to the congregation in the meeting. There is an elder that has been here for 3 months and people were telling me that my albanian was way way good for only being here for 4 days and that it was better than that other elders. So i hope that they werent just trying to be nice and that i am picking it up pretty quickly. During the other new missionaries testimonies the congregation would vocally correct their mistakes in Albanian hahaahaha it was so funny. They didnt correct anything in mine though! pretty cool huh? The Lord has helped me out so so so much with this language. I know that as long as I try my hardest with the language, The Lord will help me out big time. The kids lined up to have me tie their ties for them haha. I guess they liked how i tie my knots. They all kept saying I want to learn how i want to learn how! haha. Speaking of ties. Ties here are so so so sweet. Today our district went tie shopping. Ties are however much you can talk them into them being. I bought my first 3 ties for a total of 15 bucks. They started out at 20 a piece. I am getting good at bartering for ties haha. Yes! in fact. The workers of the store asked me if I was from Cosavo ( a country north of Albania that speaks Albanian) because those people where american clothes. They basically were telling us we speak good albanian. When we told them we were american they were stunned. It was pretty funny. Don't worry. I only bought 5 ties haha. I had to get some sweet Albanian ties.
So far here in Albania, I have annointed a blessing, helped ordain 2 people into the priesthood, taught a few lessons, played soccer on the beach, ate lots of crazy food, and have walked a million miles. Oh and i was kissed by a gja gji. There are probably many more stories to come. I am pretty stoked to be here. I wish I had more time to email but I dont. Dont worry though. I have everything in my journal so when I get home I can tell all sorts of crazy stories to you. I know, that will be a while from now but hey. Its the best I can do. Please keep praying for me. I love you all so much. Thanks for you emails. I dont have much time to touch on them. Mom, you are in my prayers. Hopefully you arent too sore from the car accident.
At most places we can print emails out but this one I cant. So normally, i will be able to print things out. Oh also, I am just not allowed to email people back from this email besides you. Sweet! I love you all! Keep on Keepin on.
Love, Elder Ekèll
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Holler! Elder Eckel has landed!
Hello everyone,
Elder Eckel has arrived!! We did not get to talk to him like we thought on his layover in New York City – but he did call at 2:00 a.m. this morning from Vienna, Austria. He sounded great and his flight to Albania was only going to be another hour. He has already done street contacting and seemed to have some success. Enjoy the picture and the letter from his Mission President!
Dear Brother and Sister Eckel,
As you can see from the attached photograph, Elder Eckel arrived safely here in Tirana. In this photo, he’s with Sister Neil and me in front of our bookcase in the mission home. He is a bit tired, wrinkled and overwhelmed by the cultural shock of landing here. But other than that he is excited to get to work and to be assigned to his new companion. He has already been out meeting and contacting people (with great success!). We will assign him tomorrow afternoon to his trainer, a special dedicated missionary called to that important position. But rather than wait until then to let you know he arrived safely, we thought you might be anxious to know that he didn’t get lost in transit and that he did arrive and that all is well. Earlier today, I had a wonderful interview with him and we got him registered with the American Embassy. We just had dinner, and he and his companions are off to get some rest. We will send you another short note tomorrow with contact information, the name of his companion and his first assignment, and any other information that will hopefully make you comfortable about his status.
Please also know that we already love your son and are concerned for his well being. We will do all in our power to make sure that he is safe and that he has a wonderful experience serving as a missionary. We can say without question that he has come to one of the finest missions in the world. The people are kind, the members are so loving of the missionaries, and the other missionaries are the finest young men and women in the church.
Thank you for sharing your son with the people of this country. We know that your family will be blessed as you share in his experiences.
Warmest Regards,
President & Sister Neil
Albania Tirana Mission
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Missionary Sightings 2
You may have noticed from Austin's emails that he sang in the Priesthood session of General Conference. My dad and husband couldn't find him during the actual conference. We were all bummed, but then my family went back and watched it online to see if we could spot him. Sure enough, there he was! So I decided to check it out for myself and take some screen shots and then edit the photos so you could see exactly where he was. I was totally eating this up. I LOVED seeing him sing! It rocked! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
MTC Week Ten
Question Time: (I probably don't have all of them but I didn't have a ton of time to go through all my dear elders this week. Sorry)
1. Am I writing in my journal regularly?
-Every day. I think I have missed maybe one day.
2. Have these 11 weeks gone fast or slow?
- ha. I don't know exactly how to explain it. Every day is the longest day of my life, but the weeks fly by. And when I say the days are the longest days of my life, It's not a bad thing. I am just always doing so much work.
3. Would a Conference call work?
- Yes. I think that would be an awesome Idea. The only rules on the calling thing is that I shouldn't call my girlfriend haha. So it would be all good if Evan was able to talk. I would enjoy that.
4. Am I still interested in Med. School?
-It is still an option for me. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do and I have a few ideas. I'm not going to tell you though (mom) haha because you will get all worried or something haha
5. What songs are we singing at general Conf.?
- Hark All Ye Nations
-Go Ye Messengers of Heaven
-Called to Serve
6. What part am I singing in the choir?
- I am singing Baritone and the baritones sit right behind the conductor in the middle so I should be on camera a lot haha
7. How was Concecration week?
- It was very hard haha. I got a lot better at Albanian though. A lot of things clicked this past week. I am still far from fluent but I can teach the Lessons and talk about gospel things very well which is the only important thing. I will pick up the rest of the random misc. words when I get there. I will still have an hour of language study every day in Albania.
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Alrighty. It has been a good week here in the MTC. Today we finished the names (guy names) for sister Miller. I will be sending those back as soon as I can. This week was pretty hard as far as speaking all Albanian. It was very stressful at times but I was able to see that The Lord would answer my prayers when I asked for a little extra help. It is incredible to see how willing God is to bless us with things when we are doing everything we can to learn and to be good. I foudn out that unless I am in Tirana, I will only be getting physical mail once every 3-4 weeks. If I'm in Tirana, I will be getting my mail once a week. So Email will probably be best. I think that it will work out good. I Can't believe that I am going to be in Albania a week from today. I'm a little freaked out haha. Oh well. I think I decided that thursdays are my favorite for mail because I feel like we are communicating directly. I write to you all, and then I get dear elders on thursday with a responce from what I wrote. Pretty cool stuff. I get my shot tomorrow afternoon. I messed up my knee pretty bad this past week and it hurts way bad but I refuse to go the doctors for it because I am not staying at the MTC any longer than needful. I will just suck it up. I am going to Albania haha. So I just want to take some time to tell you (Mom and Dad) how awesome you are. I have been thinking a lot about family lately and how we get to be together for Eternity since we have been sealed together as a family. I have been so blessed to have parents like you. You both have been so supportive with everything I have ever done. I have heard stories from people in my District about their familes and stuff and how they can distinctly remember times their parents said that they were bad at something or were put down by them. It's so true. When we are put down by someone we love, we always remember it. Even if the person who said it didn't mean it that way. I have been so blessed to have parents like you. I can honestly say that I can't think of a single time that you have ever put me down or wasn't supportive of something I wanted to do. You always came to my sporting events, involved with my schooling, allowed me to have fun with friends throughout highschool, opened our house to any/all of my friends and treated them like family, and so many more. This summer, you put up with blasting loud music in the basement while our band practiced and then would treat us all to pizza. Then you came to both concerts we had even though they weren't cheap. You are such good examples to me. If i can turn out half as good as a parent as either of you, I will be an awesome parent. You led by example all the time. You were always doing things that God was pleased with. Having scripture study with us every night, saying prayers as a family, and so many other things that allowed us to grow and love eachother more as a family. I couldn't ask for better parents. I definitely wouldn't be where I am today without you.
Alrighty, Ashley. I talked to Alison again last night. I think she said she was going to call you? I don't know if she did but I want the Red Blue and Black band gold's gym thing. I guess you can get it at Target. Sorry for such late notice. You will have to ship it quickly because I leave tuesday at 5 in the morning. Thanks Motra. (sister) Also, can you send me your address again? I might need to send all of my extra stuff to you that I can't take to Albania. You can either send it home or throw it out, or keep it, or give it to kendy or something haha. Thanks again. You rock
Alexis, You best be being awesome. THat's awesome that you are on Homecoming court again! That's way lucky that you got to be on it 2 years in a row!? Nice! I guess I just didn't have what it took to be as awesome as the girls in the Eckel Family. I never even made it to the first round haha. Probably cause all of my friends were in your grade instead of mine. Oh well haha. Well good luck on your college essays and stuff. Don't worry about getting into BYU. I will give you my spot if you don't get in cause you deserve it more than I do haha
Aunt Donna- You are hilarious! haha I got your dear elder. It was so funny with the whole p90x thing at the end! You are a hoot!
McMurdie Family- THanks for the package! I loved it. The fudge covered pretzels were delicious! Thanks for thinking of me!
Evan Baker/Baker Family- Thanks for sending me the constant updates on the family! Mrs. Baker, you can continue to email me while I'm in ALbania if that is easier for you than sending letters. I love them. Evan, I just sent you a 5 page letter like 30 minutes ago! You will probably get it friday or saturday. Don't worry about writing me back via letter. I will be in Albania. Write an email!
Steve Sobanski- I love you man. You are one of my best friends after this summer. I am so glad I got to know you better. I loved the letter you sent me and wish yuo the best at Miami this year. I will try to write you a letter soon. Keep on Keepin On.
Peace out everyone! I love you all! Keep praying for me!
From Ashley:
You can continue to write to Austin with the Dear Elder until Monday 2:00 eastern standard time. That will be the last delivery he will receive there in Utah. After that – you may email him at the following email address:
Paul.Eckel@myldsmail.net
Austin will be able to access these emails once a week on his p-day (his day off.) We will not know what day that is until he gets to Albania and we hear from him!
If you wanted to send a package, it would need to be sent to the following address:
Elder Paul Austin Eckel
Albania Tirana Mission
PO Box 2984
Rr. Qemal Stafa, Vila 1
Perballe Postes Nr. 22
Tirana
Phone: 355-68-201-6570
You must include the phone number of the mission office (the address and phone number above is the Mission Office info), when you send a package. When the Mission office receives his package – they forward it to him. His address will be changing about every 12 weeks – so it is easier to send packages directly to the Mission office.
1. Am I writing in my journal regularly?
-Every day. I think I have missed maybe one day.
2. Have these 11 weeks gone fast or slow?
- ha. I don't know exactly how to explain it. Every day is the longest day of my life, but the weeks fly by. And when I say the days are the longest days of my life, It's not a bad thing. I am just always doing so much work.
3. Would a Conference call work?
- Yes. I think that would be an awesome Idea. The only rules on the calling thing is that I shouldn't call my girlfriend haha. So it would be all good if Evan was able to talk. I would enjoy that.
4. Am I still interested in Med. School?
-It is still an option for me. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do and I have a few ideas. I'm not going to tell you though (mom) haha because you will get all worried or something haha
5. What songs are we singing at general Conf.?
- Hark All Ye Nations
-Go Ye Messengers of Heaven
-Called to Serve
6. What part am I singing in the choir?
- I am singing Baritone and the baritones sit right behind the conductor in the middle so I should be on camera a lot haha
7. How was Concecration week?
- It was very hard haha. I got a lot better at Albanian though. A lot of things clicked this past week. I am still far from fluent but I can teach the Lessons and talk about gospel things very well which is the only important thing. I will pick up the rest of the random misc. words when I get there. I will still have an hour of language study every day in Albania.
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Alrighty. It has been a good week here in the MTC. Today we finished the names (guy names) for sister Miller. I will be sending those back as soon as I can. This week was pretty hard as far as speaking all Albanian. It was very stressful at times but I was able to see that The Lord would answer my prayers when I asked for a little extra help. It is incredible to see how willing God is to bless us with things when we are doing everything we can to learn and to be good. I foudn out that unless I am in Tirana, I will only be getting physical mail once every 3-4 weeks. If I'm in Tirana, I will be getting my mail once a week. So Email will probably be best. I think that it will work out good. I Can't believe that I am going to be in Albania a week from today. I'm a little freaked out haha. Oh well. I think I decided that thursdays are my favorite for mail because I feel like we are communicating directly. I write to you all, and then I get dear elders on thursday with a responce from what I wrote. Pretty cool stuff. I get my shot tomorrow afternoon. I messed up my knee pretty bad this past week and it hurts way bad but I refuse to go the doctors for it because I am not staying at the MTC any longer than needful. I will just suck it up. I am going to Albania haha. So I just want to take some time to tell you (Mom and Dad) how awesome you are. I have been thinking a lot about family lately and how we get to be together for Eternity since we have been sealed together as a family. I have been so blessed to have parents like you. You both have been so supportive with everything I have ever done. I have heard stories from people in my District about their familes and stuff and how they can distinctly remember times their parents said that they were bad at something or were put down by them. It's so true. When we are put down by someone we love, we always remember it. Even if the person who said it didn't mean it that way. I have been so blessed to have parents like you. I can honestly say that I can't think of a single time that you have ever put me down or wasn't supportive of something I wanted to do. You always came to my sporting events, involved with my schooling, allowed me to have fun with friends throughout highschool, opened our house to any/all of my friends and treated them like family, and so many more. This summer, you put up with blasting loud music in the basement while our band practiced and then would treat us all to pizza. Then you came to both concerts we had even though they weren't cheap. You are such good examples to me. If i can turn out half as good as a parent as either of you, I will be an awesome parent. You led by example all the time. You were always doing things that God was pleased with. Having scripture study with us every night, saying prayers as a family, and so many other things that allowed us to grow and love eachother more as a family. I couldn't ask for better parents. I definitely wouldn't be where I am today without you.
Alrighty, Ashley. I talked to Alison again last night. I think she said she was going to call you? I don't know if she did but I want the Red Blue and Black band gold's gym thing. I guess you can get it at Target. Sorry for such late notice. You will have to ship it quickly because I leave tuesday at 5 in the morning. Thanks Motra. (sister) Also, can you send me your address again? I might need to send all of my extra stuff to you that I can't take to Albania. You can either send it home or throw it out, or keep it, or give it to kendy or something haha. Thanks again. You rock
Alexis, You best be being awesome. THat's awesome that you are on Homecoming court again! That's way lucky that you got to be on it 2 years in a row!? Nice! I guess I just didn't have what it took to be as awesome as the girls in the Eckel Family. I never even made it to the first round haha. Probably cause all of my friends were in your grade instead of mine. Oh well haha. Well good luck on your college essays and stuff. Don't worry about getting into BYU. I will give you my spot if you don't get in cause you deserve it more than I do haha
Aunt Donna- You are hilarious! haha I got your dear elder. It was so funny with the whole p90x thing at the end! You are a hoot!
McMurdie Family- THanks for the package! I loved it. The fudge covered pretzels were delicious! Thanks for thinking of me!
Evan Baker/Baker Family- Thanks for sending me the constant updates on the family! Mrs. Baker, you can continue to email me while I'm in ALbania if that is easier for you than sending letters. I love them. Evan, I just sent you a 5 page letter like 30 minutes ago! You will probably get it friday or saturday. Don't worry about writing me back via letter. I will be in Albania. Write an email!
Steve Sobanski- I love you man. You are one of my best friends after this summer. I am so glad I got to know you better. I loved the letter you sent me and wish yuo the best at Miami this year. I will try to write you a letter soon. Keep on Keepin On.
Peace out everyone! I love you all! Keep praying for me!
From Ashley:
You can continue to write to Austin with the Dear Elder until Monday 2:00 eastern standard time. That will be the last delivery he will receive there in Utah. After that – you may email him at the following email address:
Paul.Eckel@myldsmail.net
Austin will be able to access these emails once a week on his p-day (his day off.) We will not know what day that is until he gets to Albania and we hear from him!
If you wanted to send a package, it would need to be sent to the following address:
Elder Paul Austin Eckel
Albania Tirana Mission
PO Box 2984
Rr. Qemal Stafa, Vila 1
Perballe Postes Nr. 22
Tirana
Phone: 355-68-201-6570
You must include the phone number of the mission office (the address and phone number above is the Mission Office info), when you send a package. When the Mission office receives his package – they forward it to him. His address will be changing about every 12 weeks – so it is easier to send packages directly to the Mission office.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
MTC Week Nine
Hello everyone! I'm just living it up here in provo!
Alright. Let's begin with some questions?!
1. Do we have a new sister in our district?
- Nope ha. I don't know how that rumor got started? We have always had Motra Leit in our district. We don't have anyone new in our district. We are the only 5 albanian speakers here at the MTC. The new albanian missionaries won't be here until 2 weeks after we leave.
2. "Unt Dua"?
- So close! Dad, it is Unë të dua. So close though! Valiant effort haha
3. Am I tired by the time I go to bed?
- It's funny how this works. During the day, I'm so so so tired. But as soon as I lay in bed, I can't sleep for like an hour. For the first 6 weeks I was doing good and I could fall asleep pretty quickly but now, it takes me about an hour to fall asleep. Not cool haha
4. Do I remember reqading Preach My Gospel with the family?
- Of course! haha There are things that I read in it and just laugh because of how Alexis would read it or just remember you (mom) asking us "what do you think the commitment questions would be?" haha.
5. How was the pumpkin bread?
- haha I actually don't know. I gave it to this Elder named Elder Bunn. He was an english elder who had some medical problems and had to stay an extra 2 weeks. I felt really bad for him so I wrote his name on the box and gave it to him haha. He said it was WAY good though. I'll be honest. I don't need food here haha. I have far more food than I can possibly eat before I leave. So please, Don't send anymore food haha. Sour candy is always allowed. But I really don't have any use for more food.
6. Was it weird seeing Ashley and JD?
- Umm. I wouldn't say it was weird. It was fun though haha. I came running up from behind them and then JD saw me. It was great. It's kinda funny though cause we really didn't talk about ANYTHING. I think I might have said like a few sentences to them and then just said bye. I think my district talked to them more than I did. It was good to see them though. I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the night.
7. Did elder Holmes get Alexis's letter?
- Yes haha He liked it.
8. Have i gotten my shot yet?
- Nope. I am going to the doctor tomorrow to check up with that. They said they were going to mail me a thing telling me to come to the doctor but I haven't gotten anything yet. I think i remember them saying I would be getting one telling me to come the 27th of September. I might be making that up though. I will go check tomorrow. Don't worry about me! haha
9. Have I played Piano?
- Yeah. I get to play piano once ever day or two. It's pretty fun. I have given piano up for consecration week though. I would normally only play for 10 minutes anyways but I figure I can use that time to study and stuff.
10. How is school for Kendra Lou?
- It is going good. She is loving Cross Country and has classes with a lot of her friends. She has had some awesome spiritual experiences and is pretty much loving life now that we aren't hanging out anymore haha. Just kidding. But seriously, she is doing great.
11. Have I heard from Brian?
- Sure have! He is LOVING BYU. I am so happy for him. I know exactly how that was hah. It's weird to think it was a year ago that I was in his place.
12. What do our teachers think of how we speak the language?
- Vellai (brother) Ellingson tells us we are doing great and stuff but Vellai Herd basically told us that we need to be way better haha. We are doing good though. I love both of our teachers. They help us out so much and have great spiritual lessons with us too.
13. Will I get scabies?
- Hahaha. I have as good of a chance of getting scabies as you do. So will you get scabies? ha It's not a concern.
14. Can I ask my teachers questions about the emailing in Albania and stuff?
- Both of my teachers did serve their missions in Albania but they served 4 years ago. The rules change with every mission president so they don't really know how things work there anymore. So, not really. But they do give us a lot of helpful information. They say that Albania basically sells their electricity to greece so sometimes the electricity will randomly go out for hours at a time because the country decided to make money from greece hahah. Classy? Totally Albania for you.
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Where do I start... Well I am for sure singing in the priesthood session choir at Priesthood session of General Conf. I am so excited. We had our first practice this morning. IT was awesome! The spirit is so strong when we sing! You should definitely get Evan to come and see me on TV! haha. But yeah maybe invite the Philibaums? I bet she would love that.. Even though the meeting is for men ha. But anyways, Consecration week started today so It is a week starting from today. It's weird sending this email english because I have only been thinking in Albanian all day. Crazy stuff. It is going well though. THank you for you prayers. I need them! I have had so many oppertunities to see my prayers being answered since I have been here. Sometimes it is something as small as "I am tired and I need to focus" and as soon as I say Amen, I find myself with 200% more focus and some sort of sugar high haha. It's incredible. I love it here. I am so excited to get to Albania and start teaching people but at the same time, I am going to miss the MTC. There is a very special spirit here.
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Mom/Dad- Thank you so much for being awesome. I love reading your letters to me. They always make my days so much more awesome. Thank you for the Plan of Salvation things in Albanian. I actually had to use my inheritated trait from dad the other day haha. When I got the things, there was only 1 in the bag. The reciept was in there and i saw that you had purchased 5 of them. I basically pulled a Cory Eckel and after much persuasion, I got the lady in the mail room to call Missionary Mall and fix the problem. They were not making it easy haha. But yes, thank you so much. The district was so so happy when they saw that you bought them some. Everyone in the our district has some hard home life things. Most of them aren't the most financially stable families. I know that our family has been so so so blessed and I'm so glad that you were able to use what we have been blessed with to help us teach the Gospel. Thank you so much. I love you both.
Ashley- Ash, Thanks for being the best big sister ever. I know that you probably don't take that as a compliment since you are my only big sister but my relationship with you and Alexis are far more different. I always looked up to you and had that good example to follow. You gave our family a good last name and I tried not to ruin it too bad for Alexis haha. You really did help me so much throughout childhood and I appreciate it more than you can imagine. I looked up to you so much and still do. You are an incredible example and so many people look up to you. I can't tell you how many girls in my grade in high school envied you. You are such a good example to Alexis and I and you definitely set the bar high for the Eckel kids. Thank you so so so much for everything. My thoughts turn to my first efy. You gave me a letter which I still have and brought with me on my mission. You bore you testimony in it and told me how much you loved and cared about me. You told me that I would get out of EFY whatever I put into it. That has been true with everything in my life. I love you so much Ash.
Alexis- Don't think I have forgotten about you. I love you so so so much too. The relationship I had with you was far different than ashleys but so awesome. You were always my best friend. From when we were little kids to now. I always wanted to be with you. You would always hate how I wanted to hang out with you and your friends but I just loved being around you. I loved playing all of those little games we would play together when we were growing up and all of the fun times we have had throughout highschool and basically all of life. We have been so blessed to have the relationship we have. You will always be one of my best friends ever. Thanks for being so nice to me and always caring so much about me. I love you little sister. Don't you dare change or I will smack you in the face with a Chicken Wang!
Evan Baker- You are the man. I'm sorry I couldn't write to you lately. I love you though. So much. I have actually been thinking about you a lot. Good luck with school and everything else. I will try to write you soon. Tell you family I love them. Mrs. Baker. I love your letters so so much. You are my second Family in the burg!
Alright. Let's begin with some questions?!
1. Do we have a new sister in our district?
- Nope ha. I don't know how that rumor got started? We have always had Motra Leit in our district. We don't have anyone new in our district. We are the only 5 albanian speakers here at the MTC. The new albanian missionaries won't be here until 2 weeks after we leave.
2. "Unt Dua"?
- So close! Dad, it is Unë të dua. So close though! Valiant effort haha
3. Am I tired by the time I go to bed?
- It's funny how this works. During the day, I'm so so so tired. But as soon as I lay in bed, I can't sleep for like an hour. For the first 6 weeks I was doing good and I could fall asleep pretty quickly but now, it takes me about an hour to fall asleep. Not cool haha
4. Do I remember reqading Preach My Gospel with the family?
- Of course! haha There are things that I read in it and just laugh because of how Alexis would read it or just remember you (mom) asking us "what do you think the commitment questions would be?" haha.
5. How was the pumpkin bread?
- haha I actually don't know. I gave it to this Elder named Elder Bunn. He was an english elder who had some medical problems and had to stay an extra 2 weeks. I felt really bad for him so I wrote his name on the box and gave it to him haha. He said it was WAY good though. I'll be honest. I don't need food here haha. I have far more food than I can possibly eat before I leave. So please, Don't send anymore food haha. Sour candy is always allowed. But I really don't have any use for more food.
6. Was it weird seeing Ashley and JD?
- Umm. I wouldn't say it was weird. It was fun though haha. I came running up from behind them and then JD saw me. It was great. It's kinda funny though cause we really didn't talk about ANYTHING. I think I might have said like a few sentences to them and then just said bye. I think my district talked to them more than I did. It was good to see them though. I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the night.
7. Did elder Holmes get Alexis's letter?
- Yes haha He liked it.
8. Have i gotten my shot yet?
- Nope. I am going to the doctor tomorrow to check up with that. They said they were going to mail me a thing telling me to come to the doctor but I haven't gotten anything yet. I think i remember them saying I would be getting one telling me to come the 27th of September. I might be making that up though. I will go check tomorrow. Don't worry about me! haha
9. Have I played Piano?
- Yeah. I get to play piano once ever day or two. It's pretty fun. I have given piano up for consecration week though. I would normally only play for 10 minutes anyways but I figure I can use that time to study and stuff.
10. How is school for Kendra Lou?
- It is going good. She is loving Cross Country and has classes with a lot of her friends. She has had some awesome spiritual experiences and is pretty much loving life now that we aren't hanging out anymore haha. Just kidding. But seriously, she is doing great.
11. Have I heard from Brian?
- Sure have! He is LOVING BYU. I am so happy for him. I know exactly how that was hah. It's weird to think it was a year ago that I was in his place.
12. What do our teachers think of how we speak the language?
- Vellai (brother) Ellingson tells us we are doing great and stuff but Vellai Herd basically told us that we need to be way better haha. We are doing good though. I love both of our teachers. They help us out so much and have great spiritual lessons with us too.
13. Will I get scabies?
- Hahaha. I have as good of a chance of getting scabies as you do. So will you get scabies? ha It's not a concern.
14. Can I ask my teachers questions about the emailing in Albania and stuff?
- Both of my teachers did serve their missions in Albania but they served 4 years ago. The rules change with every mission president so they don't really know how things work there anymore. So, not really. But they do give us a lot of helpful information. They say that Albania basically sells their electricity to greece so sometimes the electricity will randomly go out for hours at a time because the country decided to make money from greece hahah. Classy? Totally Albania for you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where do I start... Well I am for sure singing in the priesthood session choir at Priesthood session of General Conf. I am so excited. We had our first practice this morning. IT was awesome! The spirit is so strong when we sing! You should definitely get Evan to come and see me on TV! haha. But yeah maybe invite the Philibaums? I bet she would love that.. Even though the meeting is for men ha. But anyways, Consecration week started today so It is a week starting from today. It's weird sending this email english because I have only been thinking in Albanian all day. Crazy stuff. It is going well though. THank you for you prayers. I need them! I have had so many oppertunities to see my prayers being answered since I have been here. Sometimes it is something as small as "I am tired and I need to focus" and as soon as I say Amen, I find myself with 200% more focus and some sort of sugar high haha. It's incredible. I love it here. I am so excited to get to Albania and start teaching people but at the same time, I am going to miss the MTC. There is a very special spirit here.
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Mom/Dad- Thank you so much for being awesome. I love reading your letters to me. They always make my days so much more awesome. Thank you for the Plan of Salvation things in Albanian. I actually had to use my inheritated trait from dad the other day haha. When I got the things, there was only 1 in the bag. The reciept was in there and i saw that you had purchased 5 of them. I basically pulled a Cory Eckel and after much persuasion, I got the lady in the mail room to call Missionary Mall and fix the problem. They were not making it easy haha. But yes, thank you so much. The district was so so happy when they saw that you bought them some. Everyone in the our district has some hard home life things. Most of them aren't the most financially stable families. I know that our family has been so so so blessed and I'm so glad that you were able to use what we have been blessed with to help us teach the Gospel. Thank you so much. I love you both.
Ashley- Ash, Thanks for being the best big sister ever. I know that you probably don't take that as a compliment since you are my only big sister but my relationship with you and Alexis are far more different. I always looked up to you and had that good example to follow. You gave our family a good last name and I tried not to ruin it too bad for Alexis haha. You really did help me so much throughout childhood and I appreciate it more than you can imagine. I looked up to you so much and still do. You are an incredible example and so many people look up to you. I can't tell you how many girls in my grade in high school envied you. You are such a good example to Alexis and I and you definitely set the bar high for the Eckel kids. Thank you so so so much for everything. My thoughts turn to my first efy. You gave me a letter which I still have and brought with me on my mission. You bore you testimony in it and told me how much you loved and cared about me. You told me that I would get out of EFY whatever I put into it. That has been true with everything in my life. I love you so much Ash.
Alexis- Don't think I have forgotten about you. I love you so so so much too. The relationship I had with you was far different than ashleys but so awesome. You were always my best friend. From when we were little kids to now. I always wanted to be with you. You would always hate how I wanted to hang out with you and your friends but I just loved being around you. I loved playing all of those little games we would play together when we were growing up and all of the fun times we have had throughout highschool and basically all of life. We have been so blessed to have the relationship we have. You will always be one of my best friends ever. Thanks for being so nice to me and always caring so much about me. I love you little sister. Don't you dare change or I will smack you in the face with a Chicken Wang!
Evan Baker- You are the man. I'm sorry I couldn't write to you lately. I love you though. So much. I have actually been thinking about you a lot. Good luck with school and everything else. I will try to write you soon. Tell you family I love them. Mrs. Baker. I love your letters so so much. You are my second Family in the burg!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Missionary Sightings!
JD and I volunteer at the TRC for our FHE on Monday nights. WELLLL, tonight when we were leaving we heard someone running up behind us. Guess who it was!? Our very own Elder Eckel! Helloooo! I was so excited! We got to walk with him to the parking lot (he was on his way to the soccer field). It was so fun to see him! He was so happy and smiley (and so was I!). Anyway, we snagged a couple quick pictures and here they are!
As I was walking away, I shouted..."Welp! See ya in 2 years!!!" Haha...funniest goodbye ever!
As I was walking away, I shouted..."Welp! See ya in 2 years!!!" Haha...funniest goodbye ever!
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