4-11-2011

"It has been beautiful here in Fier. It's a little further south so it's a little hotter than Tirana. We are going to a small town called Lushnje today and hanging out with a group of Elders. A few times every transfer we're allowed to go outside our area and go on a district trip. I think we might go to Barat this transfer and one other historical site about an hour away or so. My comp. is pretty cool. His name is McCullam and it's funny because Albanians can't say it at all =). He is from Utah of course =), but he is really cool and i'm excited to work with him. I will be with him for at least 7 weeks and then i might get a new comp, but who knows. He likes sports but he's not a big runner but i'm hopping i can convince him to come because there i a member here that loves to run and wants to go with us every morning. We aren't the first missionaries here because there is another companionship but we are in a different house and different area that just go reopened so we don't have any work so we will be busy tracting and talking with people on the streets. That's what i've been doing my whole mission but we will be doing it even more since we don't have meeting with people. There are some awesome members here!! We are neighbors with a family called Mellaraj and they are amazing! We went over there last night and had a great time getting to know one another. I felt so bad for my new comp. because he was lost but every new missionary is like that. It's nice to be able to sit back and laugh a little because i know it's all part of the experience of learning a new language. I remember when i was like him and i don't know how i ever got to the point that i am at now. We also went to lunch at a different families house and she fed us so much! I couldn't eat anymore i was so full. We had chili, beans, stuffed peppers with rice and ground beef in them, a Greek salad and another traditional dish. Yeah i know i was very thankful. I guess she cooks like that every Sunday for us. It's the Gjika family and they are the strongest family here in Fier. To say the least i am very excited to serve here in Fier. There are also unfortunately many many inactive families but i am excited to work with them and build relationships with them and help them come back to church. It will be a fun and exciting last 3 months"

4-4-2011

"So i got a huge surprise this week for transfers. I got moved out of Tirana again!! lol. It was crazy. I will be going to Fier and i will be training again. This is my 3rd kid that i'll train. I guess Pres. thought i did good the first 2 times so i will be doing it again. I'm excited for it. I will open i new area in Fier so we have no investigators and i dont know anybody there,lol. I have met a family that lives there and they are amazing so at least i know one family. The branch has about 10-15 people at church every week and it's a pretty small place i believe. You could probably look and see exactly how many people live there and some photos. I don't know why but i am really excited to go and finish my last 3 months there."

3-28-2011

"On Saturday we played basketball, don't worry im ok and didnt get hurt =). This week we will be playing soccer on Thursday. We also have transfer calls on Saturday so i'll find out if i'm training again.

The work here in 3rd branch has been picking up a lot since i first got here. We were able to get 7 lessons this week and this week we have a few lesson with some contacts that we talked to on the road. I hope it goes well. I also got asked to start teaching second hour at church for the youth so that's kinda cool. All the kids are combined and most of them are the ones we take out to play sports once a week and they all like me so it should be fun to teach them. Other than that not to much is going on here. English class is going well and time just seems to be flying by. I have mixed emotions about leaving this place. I'm gonna miss a lot of people here and i just worry about them and hope that they will all be ok."

3-21-2011

"It has been really nice weather here for the most part. I haven't played soccer in a long time but i go running 3 or 4 times a week. There is a nice lake that we walk to and then it has a running trail around it and i run around it. I go with with Xhino who isn't a member but is one of my favorite people here in Albania. My comp. goes but usually walks around the lake and then me and Xhino catch up with him on the way around. It works out pretty good for all of us. Right now i'm living in an apartment and i really like it. It's not really big but it's just big enough.

We had a specialized training this week and Pres. took all of us bowling and to dinner! It was awesome!! We also had district conference so tons of members from all over Albania came to Tirana. There were about 400 members and it was such a blast. There were some good talks and it was good to see everyone gathered together. There were a few people that thought i was still in Shkoder so they were glad to here i'm back in Tirana. I'm going to go get a drink with one family today during lunch so i'm excited."

3-14-2011

"So today has already been a crazy day!! It's a huge holiday here in Albania called "Ditën e Verës" or the day of summer and we are in Elbasan for it. There are 12 of us Elders who decided to come here for our district trip because thousands of people come here from all over Albania to hang out and celebrate. It's about an hour from Tirana and we left early

My first week back in Tirana has been awesome. I saw a lot of old families and they are excited to have me back. The transfer of me moving out of Shkoder wasn't a huge surprise for a lot of people because i guess there was a small chance i could have moved in April but i just left a month early. I will end my mission here in 3rd branch and i'm happy for that."

3-7-2011

" This week has been really really hectic. A lot of unexpected stuff happened this week which made it a very entertaining week. The first big things that happened was that the other Elders left there house because it's in really bad condition but the big problem was that the owner flipped out completely,lol. It was dumb because we even payed for the month of March even though they wont be staying there and she is still very unhappy with us. The other Elders are staying at our house until they find a new house but while we were trying to move their stuff to our house the owner (who is a women) locked us for Elders in the house and wouldn't let us leave until we payed her a bunch more money that she said we owned,lol. I was shocked. Albanians love to just yell and speak over one another so our local missionary Morava and the owner were just yelling and screaming at each other saying not very nice things. Then finally Elder Vance came in with a paper that showed our contract owned over a year ago and she still wouldn't let us out. So then i got angry because she locked us in the house so we call our mission president and he told us to tell her she better find a good lawyer and we'll get our lawyer and do it the hard way. She finally let us go but only let us take one bag and leave the rest as collateral that we would come back to talk with her. Finally on Friday we went back over and talked to her and a huge argument started again about how we owe her hundreds of dollars. We told her to call the cops if she was serious but she just finally went back in her house and we moved everything out. I hope i never see her again. So ya there are now 4 Elders in the Shkoder house and it's been a blast.... Second big thing that happened is that i got transferred back to Tirana!! I was way excited when i got the call i would be going back. I am back in 3rd branch which has been pretty slow for missionary work but i am excited to be back working with the members and i'm with Elder Weaver who i trained 10 or 11 months ago. I will be with him until the beginning of April and then the new Elders come in and i'll be training again i believe."

2-28-2011

" I am excited for April to get a new comp. but it will be interesting to see who i train. Since Pres. stuck me up here i better get first pick on who i want,lol =). No i actually don't choose but Pres. knows and he'll give me someone who likes sports and likes to have fun while doing the work.... I was able to baptize Refik Saturday and it was really awesome. It might be one of my favorite baptisms since being in the country. He is just a stud! I think i already told you but the rest of his family and is relatives are pretty strong Muslims but he just has such great faith in Christ and the Book of Mormon that it's really motivational for me to be better and work hard. His son who is 15 was able to come to the baptism and he had a really good experience because all the youth from all over Albania met in Tirana that day for an activity and he was able to hang out with kids his age and play games and see that the people within the church are just normal people and laugh and like to have fun and enjoy life. His name is Remzi and he wasn't able to come to church on Sunday but he wants to hang out with us and play football with us and then from there maybe he will be interested in learning about the church. I'm glad i have the attitude of it's not about throwing people into the baptismal font always, it's just about getting to know them and building relationships and then taking it from there. I think that's the hardest thing about being up here is not being able to really build those strong relationships with the random people on the streets... Other than that not to much has been going on. Today we are meeting with the other Elders because Elder Morava has a b-day today and we're going to play games and chill at our house. It should be fun. There are no activities planned for this coming up week so I'm scared that it's going to go by slow,lol."