12-20-2010

"This week has flown by for me, well for the most part. I got sick on Wednesday after the baptism but just with a head cold, i didn't have a fever or anything. I am back to 100% though just because i made sure to hit it fast because i always seem to get sick around this time of year. Yesterday we went to church here in Tirana and then grabbed a but to Fier for a baptism. His name is Rejmond and we were able to go to his baptism because we were the first Elders to teach him and then he moved. It was about a 2 hour drive and the entire day was a blast. We went to a members house for lunch which she calls "Beans Party" with a hilarious Albanian accent and then we lost track of time and had to hurry and find a van that was heading back to Tirana that night. We though we were going to be stuck in Fier last night but luckily we stood on the side of the road and waved down a van,lol. It was a blast..."

12-13-2010

" Sorry i don't have to much to talk about this week compared to last week but things are still going well. We have a baptism this Wednesday and i'm really excited. His name is Dorian and we have been meeting with him for the past couple of months. At first he wasn't reading the Book of Mormon and so it was hard because we couldn't really go any further with him till he did his part to receive his own answer for himself. A week ago though he just came to us and said he has been reading and trying to pray and now he is being baptized by his brother who has been a member for about 2 years. It should be a really cool experience. Since it's the Christmas season we have been busy with preparing Christmas activities for the branch and visiting lots of families and trying to help them out with any need they might have. It has been extremely cold the last few days! There is snow on the peaks of the mountains around us but what makes it more cold is the wind and the humidity. It's a different type of cold than the cold back home. Luckily i have a good scarf and jacket to bundle up in =)

ish you were in Maui,lol. Hopefully one day we will all be able to do that again. That was the funnest vacation i have ever had.... You probably already told me but for how long will you be up in Colorado? Are the roads going to be fine? Drive safely!!.... This coming up week should be a lot more exciting than this past week. We are going to the Lami families house tonight and it will be a blast. We are bringing them photographs because they have been asking to see them forever now and we just always forget. Church was probably my funnest day of the week. I went to the primary class and they are practicing a song for the district activity and i helped all of them with it. Then after that we went to the upstairs classrooms and had a lesson about how the star, lights, tree, presents and tons of other stuff resemble the life of Christ or at least how they help us to remember him. It was really cool. Then after that they taught me a song that went along with a game which we played for the last 10 minutes of class. Sundays are always so refreshing and a great day to get me going for the rest of the week. I feel like i'm just rambling on... I am out of stuff to write about."

12-6-2010

"It has been raining a lot here. We had to evacuate the missionaries who were in Shkoder and they are now here in Tirana and there is no telling when they'll head back into Shkoder. It's not good for sure. Shkoder is already very poor and it's going to hurt a lot of people. Last year it flooded but i don't think it was this bad and we sent over 22 thousand dollars of food and clothes and other stuff to them so hopefully I will have the opportunity to help out with that again.

This week has been a good week. We have been asked to visit a lot more families and build our relationships with them and just continue to strengthen them inside the homes. Usually we only visited families who weren't active, meaning they don't come to church, and the families who are strong and come we visited about once every few months. Now though we are trying to visit 4 families a week and visit them 2 times in a month. My companion and i have been having a blast with it because we are really close with the members and not to brag but they love us. We get invited to a lot of homes for visits and it makes me happy that i'm welcome here.... Yesterday we went and at lunch at the Lika families house. It's the two boys that i baptized my second month in the country. Their parents are still not members but they are absolutely amazing. When i'm at the house i feel like i'm at home. A year ago i couldn't really talk that well so it was frustrating but yesterday we had a good hour and a half lunch at their house. It was so good to be in their home again. Every time the mom sees me she always comes and gives me a hug and it's a tradition or part of the culture i should say to kiss people on both cheeks ( like France i guess) she always kisses me cheeks as well and then she always somehow has food to give me. She told me to tell you that you don't have to worry about me because while i'm here they are watching over me and taking care of me. She also told me to tell you that i need to eat more,lol. Which is crazy because she feeds us so much that it's impossible to finish it all. So yeah it was an excellent week and even though i'm not home with all you this past week i felt the Christmas spirit strongly and it's good to have people here that i love and love me."