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."