8-30-2010

"This week has flown bye!! Transfers were on Tuesday and I'm now with my new companion. He is way funny and it's going to be an awesome transfer. I have already seen a lot of families that i haven't seen since i left my first area so it's good to see them and now be able to speak Albanian and have a conversation with them, lol. We are pretty busy handing out English fliers getting ready for our next English course to start up in October. We have a couple awesome investigators and a mom and her daughter who has a baptism date. There is also a kid that i was working with about 9 months ago that now has a baptism date so i couldn't be more happy. I don't know why but the area I'm in now the people just seem to be a lot nicer. It's a lot easier to talk to people and have a good conversation with them. Like i said I'm just glad i'm in 4th branch. Tonight we're going over to the branch presidents house and eating dinner with them and having FHE. It's pretty crazy that I've been in Tirana my entire mission so far. I'm the only elder within my group that hasn't been to the outside of Tirana. There are actually a lot of small outside cities where we have elders but it doesn't look like i will get to serve there until my last 4 months of my mission. I will be here for 6 months and then i think president will move me way down south to Vlore which i would love or he might send me back to my first area where i served here in Tirana which i would also love. It doesn't really matter though because everywhere i go there are people to talk to and doors to knock. This week while talking to people about English course two guys stopped and wanted to know more about the church. One said he knew we could help him stop smoking so we are meeting him tomorrow and we will start teaching him and talk to him about a stop smoking program we have. Another man just wanted a Book of Mormon and wanted to learn more about our church so he should be giving us a call the next few days and hopefully it will turn out. I'm not really sure what to write. Sorry my emails have been short lately."

8-29-2010

"I had such an awesome week this week. It went by super fast because of the 3 days i spent camping. The place we went to is called Pezë and it's a famous place because during world war 2 leaders met there to discuss treaties. It wasn't way up in the mountains but it was about an hour out of the city and it was beautiful. There were lots of trees and at night i could actually see the stars =). The first day we got up there i was in charge of setting up all the tents. We had about 8 tents that we set up and then we had tarps and we tied ropes from 3 different trees and mad a ghetto tent out of them. It had a ground part, a roof and then only two sides were closed in and the other two sides opened up. I ended up sleeping there the first night and it was freezing cold, lol. There was a lot of room in it and we were all spread out but by the end of the night we somehow all found our way to the middle and were just trying to stay warm. It was funny. It was a church camp so most of the kids were members but there were also a few who weren't members. It almost turned out to be more of a sports camp more than anything. We played tons of soccer, Frisbee, volleyball and there was a pretty nice area for half court basketball but i just watched. At night we played some huge games of capture the flag. I was one of the captains and instead of picking the older kids i just would pick to younger kids and the other captain would always just pick one older kid so the other team had a lot faster people but my team was a lot more younger kids and they were sneaky so we won all 3 games. Since we didn't have anybody fast on our team i stayed back to protect our flag and all the older kids got mad at me because they couldn't run faster than me. It was a lot of fun. I did get eaten alive by mosquitoes though. I have 15 bites on just one leg,lol. I also was put in charge of one of the groups at camp. The kids got split into four groups and i didn't know until i got there that i was in charge of one of them. It turned out to be a blast though. I probably had the best group as far as obedience goes. They all listened to me and didn't do any dumb things. My group was in one big tent together and at night i would play cards with them and we would have scripture study together. It was so much fun. The last night i ended up crashing in there tent because i figured it would be warmer and it was. During the day it was beautiful but as always when the sun goes down it cools down a lot. One day we went for a huge hike up a mountain and at the top of it all of the kids and other leaders gathered together and we had a big testimony meeting which was awesome. I wish i could have stayed longer but by the end of the 3rd day i was zonked... We got back late Thursday and i slept so well in my bed,lol. English class went really well this week too. I missed tuesday because of the camp so everyone was wondering where i went. We watched a few videos in english and worked on there understanding this week. After that we had a few lessons with some previous investigators that i haven't met with for awhile.... I received transfer calls on saturday night and found out that i'll be moving areas. I'm still in Tirana though, lol. I am moving over to 4th branch here in Tirana and i will be the Inside Zone Leader. Im pretty excited because 4th branch is connected to my first area i was in when i got to the country and we share the same building as 2nd branch so i will see a lot of the people that i use to teach and a lot of families that i haven't seen for awhile. I don't really have huge responsibilities as a zone leader but i will have more opportunities to train and help other missionaries that are in my zone. Im excited and it should be a blast. My companion is going to be Elder Shields who is from California and he is actually going home in October so i will have 6 weeks with him and then i will be the senior zone leader or whatever they call it. Basically i will just be more in control of training and helping out the zone. Usually zone leaders stay for about 6 months so i should be here until February and i'm really excited. I think i will love my new area...I move over to 4th branch tomorrow morning so i will tell you about my new house next week. I already know a little about it and it's not very good,lol. We usually only have water a few hours a day and the power goes out tons. I'm excited for the opportunity to experience this life style for the next 6 months."

8-9-2010

"As far as missionary work i don't have anything sadly. I do have good news about a camp out though. There is a camp out that the young men go on every year and only 4 elders get chosen to go help and i was chosen!! Im way excited. I get to go camp out for 3 nights out of the city and teach them how to make Smores, cook meals, and help create obstacle courses and other games. It will happen next tuesday so i can't wait. Other than that i have nothing to write about. Sorry. Im doing well and my rib feels almost 100% and i just keep working hard and trying to serve and teach the best i can..."

8-2-2010

"Things here are pretty much the same,lol, as always. Sorry i don't ever have anything exciting to talk about. I've been in the same area for about 6 months now and i don't have much to talk about. I always meet new people on the roads but i pass so many of the same people now i don't really have any new things going on. We did meet with an awesome guy this week who is from Chicago. He is Albanian but he's back here for a while and we sat down for a couple hours and got a bite to eat with him. His name is Ylli and his wife and kids are in America and hopefully soon he says he'll be going back there. I'm not sure how interested in the church he is but he says he just loves speaking English and doesn't want to forget it so we are going to meet him again this week. I think tomorrow he might come play soccer with us too. He looks like he would be pretty good so hopefully he can get up at 5:30 and get to the field. Odds are probably not... Agron's baptism went amazing. There were so many people there and at the end he gave a very powerful testimony. He is 45 and has been through and seen a lot in his life. He was in the army for 19 years and he is alone here in Albania. It's hard to express in words how i feel as i have seen this man take hold of the Gospel and completely change his life around. He was so sad and depressed when we first met and now there is a new light in his eyes. A light of hope, i think it's a light of hope for a greater future. Its not that the gospel gave him meaning in his life but it gave him a better understanding of why certain things have happened and now an understanding of where he's going. I believe it's a hope that only the gospel can bring to us. I couldn't be more happy for Agron and he will be an awesome member here... Today we don't have any big plans. Last Monday was a blast because we did play soccer on the big field and it was a blast. It started to rain like crazy on us and the Albanians got under some trees for cover but all the missionaries just kept playing. We played a good 30 minutes straight as the rain just drenched us. It was such a blast!! We played for 2 hours so the other hour and a half was just fine. Today we have nothing big planned out. Hopefully I'll get some letter written but odds are that I'll get sidetracked and end up playing cards or we will find some new adventure to go on. I don't think i have anything else to write about."