1-5-2010

"Alright so now I have to think about what happened during me week. First off the circus was amazing, lol =). Their was 8 of us who went and they had elephants and camels and tigers and all other types of animals. They also had a bunch of other acts and crazy stuff. We had front row seats. It was a Monday night so there weren’t tons of people there but it was still pretty packed and we had front row seats. I got called up on stage for one of the in-between act skits. It was so funny. I had to box a clown, lol =). Luckily I won but it was a close one. I had to stop clowning around with the clown and finally knock him out =). I have photos of the circus and my friend recorded me boxing so somehow I want to get a copy of it on my camera but its not looking too promising. Hopefully I can though.
Transfers were today and im staying in the same area!! Im actually really excited about it. My companion is leaving to a different area and I get anelder that was in my MTC group. It’s going to be insane!! We have both only been her 3 months but since there are so many people in my group we had to go co-senior already. It will be great for my language because I will be forced to speak during lessons and on the street. I am pretty confident when it comes to speaking but when it comes to understanding I have a little bit of trouble but I know as a work hard it will come. For now I just nod my head and just say “ashtu” which is pretty much like yep, really, in English conversation, lol. By the end of it I should improve tons… I say it every week, lol, but I will soon send your scarves. I made a cd with photos so hopefully that will work. Just incase it doesn’t I am saving my photos until you get the package. My new years was crazy. I got a little video of it but it doesn’t do justice with how crazy it was here. You need to get on utube and look at Tirana, Albania new years fireworks, or something like that. Because it was insane!! They have no firework laws here so everyone just hangs out their window and shoots them. We were in the 8th floor so we had a great view. Then when all the people are done shooting off theirs they do some actually professional ones which was like nothing I’ve ever seen. I missed that on my video. It reminded me of a world war 2 film where bombs would be going off everywhere at night.
I also have some missionary stories of some of the work we are doing. So I think you already know we have been teaching the mother of the two boys we baptized last week but this week I think we made huge steps with her and now her husband. This week me and my new companion, Elder Vance, are teaching her about baptism and are committing her to get baptized a month from Sunday. Her husband also said he had a desire to get baptized so we will commit him also and hopefully they will make the steps to gain a stronger testimony about the Book of Mormon and this church and they will be baptized. If not we will continue to teach and make small steps in helping them to get closer to Christ.
I also had a very cool experience with a testimony meeting. I was fortunate enough to listen to an American, German, Albanian, and Russian share their testimony at one meeting. It amazed me because they all bore truth of the exact same things. I don’t know where else in the world you can find people united in the same purpose. I see a lot of bad things here in Albania and I know the world in general is in a very bad state. There is no denying that. Even America is slowly falling. It seems like the nobody in the world is united as a people. There is always something in the way. A lot of the time it has to do with our own pride I think. But no matter the reason I don’t know how as a people America and every other country has been separated from itself. But listening to the testimonies on Sunday I felt like there is hope. I haven’t shared a lot in my emails how I feel about the work im doing so hopefully I will be able to more fully express my feelings. But as a listened to the testimonies I realized that within the church we are untied as a people. Whether we live in America, Germany, Albania, Russia, Spain, Africa or wherever we may live we as members of this church are united as a people. We are unified in the gospel and the truths that come from it. We are unified in Christ and trying to follow his example. And it doesn’t matter how inadequate we are or how short we fall from following his example we still strive to meet it. That’s why he is everything. We all make mistakes but we are set on a goal to become like our savior and in doing so we follow his example which includes lifting those around us and bringing them to Christ as well. I don’t think any laws of Government created by man will work. But if we follow the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and just serve a little more, love a little more, and sacrifice our time and efforts in perfecting ourselves and others a little more the world would be a better place.
Missionary is funny because so many people think baptisms are a good indication of a successful missionary but I have quickly learned that is false. I have seen some bad missionaries with tons of baptisms. A few weeks ago 5 people canceled lessons with us and we tracted for 5 hours that day. We didn’t get in one time! But when I came in the house that night I have never felt the spirit more. I never felt more tired but at the same time I never felt so happy. For a second I felt bad because I felt like my companion and I failed that day. But in reality I have never worked harder to share my testimony and teach the gospel. And that’s what it’s about. Just being willing to put in the work, through the good times and bad time, and the Lord will do the rest. It’s about how committed you are that really matters. If you don’t teach anybody then so be it but don’t let it be because of your lack of effort. I love being here in Albania and already it has become a piece of me. The people hold a special piece of my heart and I’m growing more and more in the scriptures every week. I don’t think I will ever have 500 scriptures memorized or be able to read the Book of Mormon 20 times while im on my mission but I do think I will be able to commit every second of everyday towards helping these people and teaching the gospel."