Week 17

May 25, 2015

So to begin I'd like to describe something that I believe is pretty unique to my mission, we have a whole lot of Muslims here but we also have a pretty good amount of Christians so street contacting is actually pretty tricky.  The best is when someone has a cross on or something because then you know and it's easy but usually you aren't totally sure, and the problem is that if you talk about Jesus Christ and it's a Muslim they are pretty much guaranteed to just walk straight away from you, but if you ask a Christian if they want to talk about Jesus Christ they will almost always stay! There is definitely a prayer for the gift of discernment that is said in your heart when you are talking to people! But you learn to ask questions like, do you believe in God and have you read the bible and usually based on their language from that you can get it because Muslims always use Zoti to talk about God.  You can even tell what religion members of the church used to be based on the words they use to talk about Christ and God because for Christians Zoti (the Lord) is Christ usually but for Muslims it's God! I have been asking people if they have noticed more success with one group or the other but it seems like no one really notices one group as more accepting than the other. 
Also, this week I talked to this Muslim who was a semi pro kickboxer in America and his brother was even better than him but his brother is a part of ISIS now (whoopsies). Apparently that's not too uncommon here.

Also, I don't know if I have talked about this but there are a ton of Gypsies here! Like a lot, I really don't understand how they stay sustained because it really just seems to me that they don't do anything idk.  Also one of the big things people do for work here is dig through trash for recycling! Like all over the city you see people with bikes and carts loaded up with bottles and stuff and they just spend all day digging through the trash! Very different here honestly! 

Something I'm learning as a missionary is how important a testimony of the Book of Mormon.   The thing is all you need to do to know whether it's true is to read and pray which it's kinda too bad that so many people don't do it. I definitely know that Satan pushes people pretty hard not to read it because we all have time but some how every time we meet with people they still haven't read! Like people that don't have a job "don't have time" to read the Book of Mormon! It's the best truth of their life staring at them in the face!!!

A cool experience I had this week is we were teaching an investigator (Kurt, the poet) and we were teaching the word of wisdom and he had a pretty bad problem with cigarettes and when we said that it's a commandment not to smoke them he just got up and threw them in the trash - just like that!! it was way awesome and super spiritual!

Also Faton passed his baptismal interview and is getting baptized on Saturday!!! The day before we were having a lesson with him just talking about how everything would go and we found out that he didn't believe in Christ as the "literal" son of God. Like he believed his father was Joseph and that Jesus like elevated to become the son of God, idk he just understands things differently and he was struggling with it for a bit and we were just like listen do you believe the BoM and he said ya and we were like ok well the doctrine is that Christ is the literal son of God that he doesn't have an earthy father and he was like alright I believe you! Wow that was a spiritual thing for me! This guy totally believed me on what I said about doctrine! Holy cow!!

We also had companionship inventory and I talked about how I should be talking more and we had been getting trained on how the trainers should talk less too - so Verushi has been doing a lot better at giving me opportunities to talk and holy cow I have felt the spirit so much more!! Previously there were some lessons where honestly I kinda brooded because he would only let me talk at the very end if that but now that I actually am getting to bear my testimony more to these people the lessons have been so much more spiritual for me and I have been enjoying the work much more which is awesome! Hopefully we can keep it up!!

I'm not going to lie though I still feel pretty homesick a lot which sucks! Definitely hoping that the longer I'm here that goes away because I still get it pretty bad every now and then and I know that it's probably always going to sort of be there but man I don't want two years of dealing with that crap!!! 

I did get my first package this week though which was awesome!! That thing was loaded holy cow!! Thank you so much family! Trust me it is not going to go to waste! I'm not going to lie though, the part that killed me was Grace's picture that she drew for me... holy cow, I can not hold it together thinking about her, it sucks!!

I love you all and I think about you all the time! Hope all is doing well and you stay awesome! 

Enjoy that beautiful Idaho weather!!

Faton - in the white t-shirt with his hand in the air.

Cigarettes Kurt threw away after we taught him about the Word of Wisdom

Package from home!!

Sick :(

May 18, 2015

So I forgot my notes but I'll try to get by without them... we will see! 
So to start off I thought I was a little sick last P day but man it really hit me Monday night through Sunday! I had a really bad stomach sickness that gave me really bad cramps so that was hard! I was on some medicine to help with digestion that I was told to take from the mission nurse and on a diet where I was only supposed to eat bread, rice, and bananas! Like how is that even possible?!? I tried to follow it but I wasn't perfect! I also was drinking a concoction of salt, sugar, and water for electolytes so that was fun! The medicine instructions were in Albanian so I pretty much did what I understood and assumed that God wouldn't leave me hanging out to dry with the gift of tongues on understanding medicine and it all turned out alright so that was good! We basically just walked as little as possible but it was still pretty rough, the nurse said to maybe just take a couple days in but I decided if we just didn't walk a bunch I'd be alright! So we planned lessons close together one after another and I definitely saw blessings from continuing to work even though I was sick! All of our lessons kept actually going through! That never happens and so we were able to just stay in our classroom and people came to us! It was a super obvious sign to me that He appreciated that we were still trying to work and He would make it a little easier for us! This was the first time I have ever had bad stomach cramps that I can remember and holy cow those things make you feel like you want to die! Another side effect of being sick is that I also got super home sick and wanted my mama! I mean if you don't get homesick while you aren't feeling well I don't know who you are! So I definitely haven't left that behind yet but its getting better I think, just comes and goes. 
Another awesome thing this week is Gini! He keeps becoming better and better! We have been able to meet with him a ton and he is really working with us! 
Something actually cool that happened was this guy Are came up to visit Elder Verushi from Elbason and he has been a member for 8 months and was taught by Verushi and he is soooo cool! This guy is like covered in tatts like has them all over and has been to jail a couple times and has done everything but he totally turned his life around and he is filling out his papers for a mission now!! That's so cool but also he is an awesome example for Gini! and so he was only supposed to be here one day but he missed his bus to go to Elbason and actually stayed with Gini for a night I swear that was from God because it was awesome and they got along really well! Also now that I am feeling better we are starting to work out every morning with Gini at 6 which is sweet! We figure the more time we spend with him the less time he is with cigarettes. 
I'll tell you what I am actually so grateful for 3 month transfers when it comes to missionary work because it gives us so much more time to actually form relationships with people and really put down roots which I love, like I can't imagine already being transferred it feels like we are just getting going! 
Also this week I gave a couple Priesthood blessings in straight Albanian and man I'll tell you what I was freaked out for that! I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't be able to say everything that I felt was needed to say for them but everything actually went amazingly well and I know I got some serious help on them! 
So this week I went on a split with the zone leaders and that was pretty good! It's really helpful for me right now to see the way that everyone works so I love the chances to do that! Their house is so nice!  We only had one lesson that day though so it was a whole lot of walking around street contacting but it was good and I learned some different ways to street contact! 
Something that wasn't so great this week was that Faton didn't pass his baptismal interview because he said he wasn't 100% sure about a living prophet today. When I heard that he didn't pass I felt awful. So we had a lesson with him the day before about prophets and I felt the impression that I should tell him to pray personally that night to know that Thomas S Monson was a living prophet but we kinda started talking about other stuff and I just decided the moment had passed and when I heard he didn't pass it was like the spirit totally brought that moment back to the front of my mind as if to show me hey this really was a prompting that I needed you to say to him and this is what happens when you don't listen. I know I suck trust me, but luckily he isn't getting too down about it and we are just going to do the interview next week and I'm sure it'll all be good! Definitely a testament to just have courage and say what I feel though holy cow I'm not going to be messing that one up again trust me! 
Verushi took him not passing pretty hard and that night he called the ZL's and the AP's to ask if they could do the interview instead because I guess he didn't think Acheson did it right idk but they both said no of course and he got super mad and ended up chucking our phone at the wall and cracking the screen a bit which really scared me. Idk he just is a little angry sometimes. Then he asked me to call the president to do it and I had to have the courage to say no to him which took some serious courage but he didn't push it. The whole night he was talking about how other missionaries just didn't understand our work and stuff idk I'm just really trying to learn all the good things I can from him but still struggling sometimes. 
I talked to Acheson the next day and he said he understood and that he has had problems before so Acheson is just looking out for me which is nice to know! He seems alright now though which is good! Anyway I think that was my week we had a ton of lessons which was awesome and I definitely keep seeing the spirit in my life which is just so mind blowing but awesome! 
Anyway I love you all and sorry this is late but happy birthday Grandma Moss! I don't have your email sorry! You are all awesome and I love you it's definitely good that I'm homesick because it means I have such a great home and family! 
Elder Guymon

Try figuring out these instructions for the medicine I had to take.

New pass along cards

View from our apartment

Life without a clothes dryer

Mini cooper Red Bull car

Park

Arabic Book of Mormon...cool!

My study area

Home cooked meal

This is the poetry book of our investigator

View from our classroom where we teach all the time.

Week 15

May 11, 2015

Ok so this week! Not sure I have a ton of stuff to say but we will see, anyway we have this new investigator named Kurt Koci and he is a poet like he has a published book! I'll take a picture of it for next week because he gave us a free copy! He is a little strange but wants to be baptized so whatevs we take them all! I'm not sure I want to teach another poet though because he really says some weird things sometimes like seriously! He was talking about how he has taken a breath from another planet before and that's how he knows about Christ...idk??

 We also had our first dinner with members which was cool! It was with the Osmani's.  I actually taught Denada Osmani over skype in the MTC  - she served her mission in England and currently has a brother serving in Australia! They are an awesome family! It was really good but about half way through dinner, the language portion of my brain was just done flexing and I just couldn't do it - like every talking over the dinner table - that is hard! It's always hard for me to be in a good mood when I lose the language but it's all good I know it's just going to keep happening. 

The members are so nice to me though it's crazy! Really though members and other missionaries are really keeping me going because they are all so nice to me! 

Something that I have been really working on is always having a happy countenance and it's been awesome people have actually asked me why I'm so happy all the time or tell me that they like talking to me because I'm always smiling! Sometimes it's hard but then I think "with a smile on face" (a family motto) and keep it up! It also makes you think you are happier even if you aren't which is a bonus! 

So I realized that sometimes my letters have a lot of complaining and I don't sound like I'm super happy and I apologize for that, here and my journal are the only two places that I can vent about stuff that frustrates me here so I'm going to keep doing it , but I hope you know that I'm not perma -depressed. :)  Honestly it is really hard for me right now because I'm just really struggling with my companion but I still find ways to have fun and enjoy my time here! One thing that is really hard especially while I'm trying to stay positive about everything is that my companion is literally always annoyed - like always. It's hard because being around him all the time is super depressing and he doesn't really talk that nicely like straight up I have yet to get a compliment from him.  For example, this week for companionship inventory his thing that he said I could improve on is speaking faster in Albanian!!  I seriously almost just left the room when he said that -like are you kidding me man everyone else here I'm freaking blowing away but I have to work on speaking faster for you!? That doesn't just happen I'm doing my best!!!!! Idk that really frustrated me, and I think Algida (a member we work with a lot) sees that he is hard because she is always mega nice to me and always asking Verushi if he is nice to me and stuff. So yeah to be honest that is really hard for me because he is so impatient but I promise it's not like I'm never happy.  There are some really great parts about being here! 

We had zone conference this week and every missionary in Albania came and it was awesome!!! I got to see almost all my homies from the MTC!! My companions weren't like my best friends in the MTC but man I loved seeing them, that was awesome!  I found out we are having some pretty different experiences. Elder Crandall up in Shkoder has a really hard area, pretty much all they do is tract and street contact which is way different from me where we pretty much only have lessons! Definitely grateful because I have now taught every lesson and he still hasn't taught past the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Like thats crazy! 

Also, I don't know what the deal is but everyone out here in the mission field loves to give hugs! Like maybe it's because we can't give our family hugs but everyone hugs each other, it was the same in the MTC and really I'm not a big huggy guy! Like I'm so uncomfortable hugging the president and stuff!! It was a great zone conference though and I learned a ton! 

I also got a haircut last P day and guess how much it was? $4!!! Like that is unbelievable! It was definitely time because it is sooooo hot here - I am honestly going to die in August because I'm just sweating bricks walking outside here!  We got new pass along cards at zone conference and they are so cool! I'll send pictures of all of them next week! The new ones are one the BoM and another is a picture of Abraham, Mormon, Joseph Smith and Monson all on one card to talk about prophets! Super cool! 

One thing awesome this week was we were chilling on a bus and suddenly someones phone went off and their ringtone was the futurama theme song!! Also this kid that always comes to church with his mom (he is 15 and not a member) plays league of legends! I was sitting next to him and he was on his phone looking up stats and I was like no way!!! So we had a good long chat about that and he's going to keep me updated on champs and the LCS which is awesome! He couldn't believe that I was only 4 years older than him because I'm like way taller than him! 

Also, this week on Saturday we did an exchange and I was with Elder Greener finally! It was truly like the best day I have had on my mission! I really get along with the guy and he is really honest just doing his best which I love! We had a lot of fun together and I got into my first door tracting with him finally!! 

We played soccer that day and man I thought I was going to die of heat stroke so we may be moving the time for a cooler hour! 

We taught Faton together and it was such a good lesson! He had also refereed to how he feels as good "energy" and we pretty much changed our whole lesson plan and devoted it to the holy ghost and how we receive answers.  At the beginning of the lesson he said he wasn't sure he had received an answer yet and at the end he said I know that the Book of Mormon was true and it was awesome!! 

I also watched Ephraims rescue for the first time! That was a pretty cool movie! Kinda sad! And definitely some parts that were a skosh hard to explain to investigators. 

Finally as you all know we got to skype with our families on Sunday! Man I was avoiding thinking about it all week and suddenly it was there! Unfortunately, it kinda caught me on a rough day  - I was a little under the weather and had a gnarly headache all day which just got augmented by not understanding anything at church still!  But it was so awesome to talk to them though and Grace was so cute!! I really wasn't feeling toooo homesick until the very end and when she sang and we said goodbye  -  man I lost it like that was rough. The rest of the day I was exhausted...that really took it out of me holy cow! I definitely love my family and they are easily the thing I miss most out here! 

I have 2 scriptures this week that were really awesome for me, the first is D&C 122 and it's pretty short it's when Joseph Smith is in Carthage Jail and man that scripture has some power, especially when you think about everything in context and then verse 7 just pounds you! The Lord is just throwing down - it's awesome! I also love Exodus 33:11 and it's when Moses is talking to the Lord and rather than saying it was talking to a man it uses the word friend and I just felt a spiritual witness that the word friend is used there for a reason... like when we talk to Christ it's going to not just be like talking to a man but like talking to an old friend because that's what He is for us! Pretty awesome! 

Anyway I love you all and hope you have a great week!! 

Shihemi!  Elder Guymon

This is delicious!

Ultimate Jenga tower!

Cool Catholic Church

Open suflaqe

Ice cream place we always go to

Savory snack

Soccer Field

The walkway is a musical staff

Benches that are shaped like musical notes

Week 14

May 4, 2015

Ok so my week.. I'm not going to lie it's getting harder and harder to remember what happens and stuff. District meeting was awesome this week! So basically our district is 5 companionships and the majority of the work done for the past few YEARS has centered on one street because it's super convenient and close to the church but it's really starting to be over worked. Like that's the only place that I had really done anything before this and our district leader decided to set specific areas where companionships need to be doing their finding and it was like the heavens had opened!  It sounds like it's so simple why didnt you do it before I know but man it was serious revelation and it's been awesome! 

Our investigator is coiming along pretty slow but I really feel like he is coming it's also awesome because he is super smart and I'm pretty sure he has been thinking I'm kinda an idiot because I just can't speak super well but last lesson I really wanted to share an experience and do it well so I did it in English and man he totally looks at me different now, like he used to not look at me in pauses and stuff to see what I would see and now he totally looks at me like looking for my opinion it feels really cool to have earned that trust! 

This has definitely been my best week with the language. I'm so close to being able to really talk to people freely it's still slow and a struggle but I can get things out now and understand almost everything! In fact, I had a lesson where we did an exchange and I was with Aaron (the intern who doesn't speak Albanian) and I actually did pretty well! It was with Faton (our star investigator) and I taught the whole thing and then just asked him to bear his testimony at the end (Faton understands a little English). I seriously love Aaron though he is so cool! He served his mission in Argentina and has some great stories but it's kinda sad because he has a roommate who is just a loser and sleeps all day so he likes hanging out and doing activities with us missionaries! 

I also am having more interesting experiences with members because of my language. I had one sister that I was talking to tell me that she couldn't stand to look at my eyes because they were so beautiful and like kept giving me side glances all through institute so I had some red flags go up on that one but don't worry I'm clear! I also had one super nice grandma member call me her heart but I think that one is pretty safe! The people here are so nice though its awesome! 

We also got to have a lesson with Angjello, so he is the younger cousin of a member, Anisa, who came to church and loved it! Anisa hasn't been to church in 6 years and is a little weird - she calls us like 5 times a day but we are trying to push her over to the sisters, it's so funny because she is Albanian but only talks in English to us and Verushi thinks it's because she's into me which I think is funny but who knows! Anyway, Angjello is 12 and is pretty much a sure baptism as long as his parents let him! 

Also I had a miracle this week and I want to share it with you all. This might seem like a silly dumb thing but for me this was a huge spiritual witness! This week I really wanted to work on setting goals and actually following through with them and keeping track of them because I just never have been able to do it so I prayed a lot and asked for help and one of them was to be up, out of bed by 6:30 on the dot. But then literally the night after I set the goal I didn't set my alarm to wake up!! (I'm 19 what are you going to do?) So then the next morning I suddenly woke up to like a voice in my head that just said open your eyes and I looked and my alarm clock said exactly 6:30 (my alarm would have been set for 6:25) and I got out of bed and was like woh that was the real deal!  I know it's so small and dumb but it was something God saw was important to me and I'm sure that he looked at me and thought "you dork not setting your alarm" but I know that I would not have coincidentally woken up at exactly 6:30. So if you ever think that God doesn't answer your prayers or doesn't care about your dumb worries I don't want to hear it because He is real and He is listening! 

 Elder Greener is still awesome and is my favorite part of this district I also realized he kinda looks like Tanner! but I was talking about if he had gotten any packages and how long it takes and he said it depends he had one package that took 3 months to get here! (he got his birthday package on christmas!) but he got a package recently and all it had was mac and cheese and oatmeal packets!!! Like what the heck man you can make oatmeal and mac and cheese! but he just said that nothing is like packaged quaker oatmeal! I also might be able to do an exchange with him this week! 

So I have 3 talks that I listened to this week that were suuppper good the first is pretty long (45 min) but it's a devo by Bruce R McConkie and I haven't really heard talks by him before and he sounds like his talks are like Hollands like he was dropping bombs!!! Its called 7 deadly heresies, the next is actually by Holland called The Grandeur of God, and the last is a classic awesome talk Joy in the Journey by Monson! I know you might not have time for all of them but give it a try! 

So one thing I thought about this week is how glad I am that I went to college for a semester at BYU, I truly think that I did it almost perfect for me. The mission is hard out here and if you don't have at least a little experience with not always living with your family honestly it's going to be even harder just how it is. Also I will for the rest of my life look back at my first semester of college and remember a truly AWESOME time I really had sooo much fun! But it's also good that I just went for one semester because I had a truly awesome time but I wasn't ready to put the studying in that I needed to and didn't get the perfect grades I wanted. If I could change one thing I would have gone to a summer semester but only taken some dumb generals or something during that semester to just party and not have too much to worry about but ya that's my two cents... I really feel I'm better off for going to college so thank you family for that advice! It's a personal thing though for sure! And I'm definitely grateful for friends in college that didn't let me go toooo wild because I know that does happen too! 

Another miracle this week was our investigator Gini! He is really awesome and actually desires to be baptized and learn about the gospel but at the same time he is soooo weak like he just has nooo self discipline and so meetings are hard to get with him and getting him to church at 9 is hard but this Sunday I was fasting for him to be able to meet with him more regularly and we went to bring him to church and he wasn't there and it was kind of a dang it moment but then after about 10 min of the church starting he came on his own out of nowhere!!! It was so awesome!!! 

This week Aaron told me a story that kinda scared me and I'm not looking forward to! I don't know if this is all missionaries or just ones that go to sketchy places but apparently at the end of our mission we have to take this pill called "the bomb" and it's big and black and apparently it just kills everything inside of you and flushes you out, so that should be a good experience. 

One thing that is kinda cool about serving here that a member made a comment on today is that everyone is a first generation member here... like let that sink in  -every single member that's like over 10 has made their own decision to join this church and has their own conversion story! It's so cool to think about - they are quite literally pioneers here! That is what gives them such a special spirit and why things are sometimes rough! They are all so new! Idk for me it's just something cool to think about! 

Also family search got an archive up of Albanian names!!! Everyone is going NUTS like it's the greatest thing ever, everyone wants to do family history work honestly I know I suck but I've never done indexing before but I have been asked to teach people how to do it and so it's pretty easy to figure out but it's so cool to see the spirit of excitement they have! It actually really is way cool too!! 

Anyway, sorry I think this letter is like mega long but I had a lot to say! I love you all thank you so much for the mail it really makes me have an awesome week! 

Be happy and know that we literally have a Father who is in Heaven and is perfect!

These donuts are amazing!

My culinary skills are coming in handy and the members loved them!

Stairs for days!!

Lil Jon is coming to Albania!! :)

These are the flyers we put all over for people to come play soccer on Saturdays!

Futboll with Angjello