I'm in Albania!

April 6, 2015

Believe it or not everyone, I made it! So I'm currently inside a cafe off to the side of the street where we do a lot of street contacting and man is uploading pictures taking a lot of time! Like holy cow! Anyway I'm going to try to make sense because I haven't had an English conversation since I have been with my companion. So it all started off with waking up at 2:30 am Utah time to get out of the MTC - I am so glad that the Ukanians (Aden) left with us because they were a lot of fun to talk to. We rode the tracks down to the airport and I swear we almost lost someone like a million times like no common sense in some people I swear! But then I got to call you which was way cool! I don't know if you could tell but it was pretty weird for me idk I'll try to be more open on Mothers day! Then pretty much all day was either running around or something, honestly it was all a drunken haze. I tried to talk to a couple people while we were waiting in lines and stuff but didn't have a lot of time to really try to pass out a BoM, little did I know that it was so much easier than I could ever imagine! That ambien did me some serious good on the way over here I guess I didn't think it hit me that hard but I was sitting next to Sister Jackson and she said I was gone for most of the ride and that a couple times I jerked in my sleep and like tried to hold her hand or something which is pretty funny! But we finally got here and it was like oh crap this is real. Luckily all my luggage got here and it was all intact! So we got picked up by Pres. Wiedmann and his wife and the AP's and drove to the mission office. HOLY COW the driving here is crazy. There are pretty much no rules and people like to drive fast and accelerate quickly. Incredibly you never see any crashes but it's pretty nuts driving around here. We had some pizza and then BAM we are out street contacting I was with Elder Varushi who I would later find out was going to be my trainer. I really like the guy he is way cool but more on him later! So we got some numbers of people who would like to hear more about the gospel then I had a meeting with Pres. Wiedmann which was cool he is sooo spiritual and really likeable. He sends a text out to us every morning with a spiritual message! He really cares about this work! He also speaks next to no Albanian as expected! So then we all went to the mission home for dinner, the outside of the house looks like maybe a little nicer than standard Albanian home but the inside holy cow! Its basically an IKEA model home like everything is super modern! Dinner was good it was tacos and the AP's who've been here for a while said its the first time they have had tacos in Albania, they also said nothing is spicy here! So then all us noobie Elders (there are now 4 of us we picked up an Albanian on the way!) went to go sleep at the AP's which is pretty nice, actually all the missionary houses in Albania sound like they are pretty nice I mean there are somethings where you just gotta be like alright this is life now but for the most part good! They let us sleep till 8 since we were all so messed up but thanks to the blessings of being a missionary it only took me like 2 days to shake the jet lag which is such a blessing I know. Also the bathrooms have freaking badeys! Weirdest thing of my life!!!! Luckily we have tp in our house but not the AP's. Also pretty much everything every where is in disrepair like can't you just fix things! Just kidding but really, I know its just the American in me coming out though. Anyway we had an amazing breakfast of fresh fruit and cereal which was very refreshing from the MTC then we went up to the dedicatory spot which was a way cool experience! We read the dedicatory prayer and then they told us to go and say our own prayer dedicating our lives to the Lord for the next two years and to write impressions down on what to say and stuff and it was a really special experience for me. I'm all in on this mission thing let me tell you! The church is true people!! Then the big moment finally came we got our trainers! I got Elder Varushi who is a native Albania from Durres! I was so happy! I was hoping he would be my trainer because I knew I would learn the language really quickly and he is just a really cool guy! (more on him later). So I thought I was pretty good at this language but man it all changed now! The sucky part is that if I am focusing I recognize almost every word that people are saying but in a conversation they are speaking so fast and not clearly so I don't understand them very well and I can't put the meaning of the sentences together but I'm hoping maybe that will just come with being here and hearing it more and more! For lunch we went to this place with local food and man it was so good! The bread they threw in the oven right there and it was money and the salad was all stuff just right there and it was amazing. Then we went and taught English class which was really hard for me. It was just so much for my first day but such is life. I was teaching upper level people so the problem was that words they didn't know I didn't know how to explain in Albanian but it's all good I made it through! I also got one of them to go to church on Sunday so that was cool! Also I thought we said a pretty good amount of prayers in the MTC nooo nonono we pray all the time here and its awesome! I just never knew how much missionaries really pray!! I have allowed myself to say my morning prayer in English because I'm just too out of it at that point to use Albanian but that's pretty much it! We had Suflaqe for the first time a couple days ago holy cow I see what everyone is talking about sooo good! I forgot to take a picture but I will next time. All it is is literally a gyro with fries and ketchup and mustard added on. Money! They also put that greek yogurt stuff that they put on gyros on like everything! Also its pretty cold here right now and raining quite a bit! That giant coat from missionary mall is awesome the hood is so big its essentially an umbrella!! Also wearing that little vest under my suit is CLUTCH holy cow good idea dad! So there are dogs pretty much everywhere just hanging out especially by the lana and some times they get in fights at first I was a little freaked out by them but they are wayyy scared of people so if you wave at them or anything they just leave, there are also cows and horses that eat and hang out by the lana! This is in the middle of the biggest city in the country! Like cows just walk across the street and stuff!! There are also a ton of smart cars and mini coopers, I'm surprised at how many nice cars are here, there are a wide range of cars some are basically a motorcycle with two extra wheels but I saw a nice Porsche the other day! So I have had the chance to teach a few times now and it is pretty dang hard, I'm always worried I'm not getting my message across and I really struggle with questions because I just don't understand them so for now I am definitely doing the lesser part but I have been here for like 6 days so what are you going to do. One of the people we taught on Saturday was this guy that we just said hi to on the street and he said he could talk to us right then but he is a practicing muslim like pretty hard core and it was a hard lesson he asks a lot of questions and argues with some of our points but who knows Elder Varushi came out of nowhere and invited him to baptism and he said if our book was true he would be baptized so hopefully he actually gives it a read!! He prayed in a Muslim way no idea how to phrase that but it was really weird and I got really weird vibes when he did that.  I met the rest of my district and they all seem awesome, I love my district leader he is a great guy Elder Acheson and one of the girls from my district from the MTC is in the ward I'm serving in! I'm going on exchanges with him tomorrow! Sunday was kinda different is was hard to feel the Easter spirit because I just didn't understand anything that we talked about or anything but it was testimony meeting and I still really felt the spirit. I also bore my testimony and let me tell you the spirit is the same over here 8 hours ahead! The singing is so bad here though like one of my teachers said that it was a little different but man they are just awful at singing I dont get it! It's awesome though because they just go for it! For priesthood and stuff it pretty much just felt like a bunch of people yelling at each other it was pretty wild but that's just how they talk and they interrupt each other allll the time! It was kindof a sad Easter because I'm away from my family and its my first holiday like that over here but I got through it alright! The members are so nice and friendly everyone says 2nd ward (mine) is awesome! So final random thing is that the amount of money they say you owe is different than the actual amount! They add a 0 when they are talking and everyone does it! Its not to trick you or anything its just how they say it for no reason I swear!! if they say you owe 5000 LEK its actually only 500!! So confusing! Anyway my companion his name is Elder Varushi and he has been a member for 3 years, he wasn't really religious before. He is the only member in his family and has 6 months left! I am his 2nd trainee and he is an awesome guy! He is a super hard worker like I had quite a few phone calls those first few days because people were worried about me because he doesn't speak any English and because he just works so hard! Everyone is surprised I can communicate with him as well as I can because I guess his last trainee really struggled with it and believe me I do too but I guess not quite as bad! I love how dedicated he is though like he always talks about using this time well we have out here.  He is 25! He has alright English and he is trying to learn so we try to speak English in the house but its hard! 

Well I love you all!!

Elder Guymon

Here's my apartment in Tirana

View from our apartment

This statue is a guy on a horse called Skenderbeju and he is the most celebrated hero in Albania

This brown thing is called a river and yes it is always that color.  It runs straight through the town.

This is called a durek and it's basically made of croissant-like bread but in a pizza shape and as stuff inside...soooo good!
You can buy 8 of these plus 2 chocolate filled croissants for $5!!

Chocolate filled croissants are everywhere and are soooo good!

Albanian money - basically you take off 2 zeros and that is the equivalent of the american dollar amount.