I gave 3 blessings this week which is always awesome! I still get super nervous to give them in Albanian but the people always seem to be super grateful so I think I do alright with them! And I know that Heavenly Father isn't going to withhold blessings from them because of my language which is comforting.
On Thursday I did an exchange with Elder Acheson which was awesome! I learned a lot from him and we talked a lot. We had a lesson with Suleman and it was awesome!! Like super spiritual and ya just super great! We also went and visited this huge orthodox church! I have never been to an orthodox church before and it was pretty cool! The roof was a huuuggeeee dome and the entire thing was this giant painting of Jesus! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me but I think I will be going again!
This week I read two amazing talks! They are very much written for missionaries but if you're interested to see what I'm trying to be like you should read the Ricciardi Letter and the fourth missionary, holy cow they were super powerful talks and it's just like I'm never going to be good enough! I really want to be the best missionary I possibly can but it seems like it's so much easier to say than to do!
I also watched 17 miracles for an institute activity and man that thing is sad! I have now seen that and Ephraim's rescue here and both of them are so sad - holy cow!
Also want to know one of the main things I miss? Being able to instantly get the answer to any question I could ever have through google! Man that is such a blessing I hope you all appreciate being able to google things all the time because it's hard not being able to do that!!
Friday I had the interesting experience of being on the phone for an hour and a half with the mission nurse! Elder Verushi has been having some leg pain for the past 8 months and his tooth pain started up again so he had me talk to her and holy cow that turned into quite the conversation! She asked a million questions and I was translating from Albanian to English and back the whole time and my head hurt so bad afterward like I had a legit headache from using my brain so much!
Then Saturday after Futbol we went out to lunch with Aaron (the intern to our stake president) and that was way fun! He told us a bunch of stories from his mission in Argentina and man he had some crazy experiences! He had 1 transfer (6 weeks) where he baptized 23 people! Like are you kidding me! Thats just insane!!
He also had some amazing spiritual experiences which were awesome to hear about! Also, he had a girlfriend wait for him the whole 2 years while she was at BYU-I (i know, apparently that actually happens!) And then she pretty much instantly wanted to get married when he got home and he wanted time so they broke up! Like that's 2 years down the drain for that poor girl!
Also Saturday was the big day for our baptism!!! Elder Crandall had a baptism a couple hours before ours and they had a married couple so he did one too! It took him twice to do it! From the looks of it it's going to take some practice!! A baptism feels a lot like planning a party, like when you go to a party it's just a lot of fun but the host is running around everywhere making sure everything is perfect and it felt kinda like that! Luckily everything went perfect except the bishop didn't show up. We had a ton of people there though which was awesome! He gave his testimony after and it was a little interesting to be honest but it was really good too! Just super innocent! I really think that this guy is going to be an awesome member!
Sadly Sunday he was 40 minutes late!!! So he didn't get confirmed...talk about Satan fighting against the work of the Lord! He said he had some work turn up at home!! Luckily it won't be a problem with him and he'll just have to get it next week - but what the heck!!
Suleman came to church and I just spent a lot of time talking to him in english and man this guy is pretty stinking smart! He reads Psychology books for fun! He said there is no point in reading a book if you aren't going to learn something from it! He also asked me if he could come to the church during the week to pray! I was like why? And he said - I just feel clearer here...I don't know it's just a good atmosphere! and I was like DUDE THAT'S THE HOLY GHOST AND YOU KNOW IT! and he laughed and was just like ya maybe, do you use like special paint for the walls or something though?? Oh my gosh!! This guy - if he will just quit over thinking it he knows that all of this is true!!
A funny experience I had this week with language is Elder Greener was all proud because he had been working on the wishing tense in Albanian, ya we have a different tense for wishing... like if you want to say "good luck" that's wishing something for them and you have to use a different tense so ya also a lot of their phrases that they use have wishing tense like good-bye (Mirepafshim) is actually "may we be met well again". So he was using that on me thinking I didn't know what he was saying and then I basically used the "shut up" version in Albanian on him which is wishing tense and literally means "may your mouth be dried to you" (te thofte goja) and he was blown away! He was like what the heck you aren't allowed to know that yet I'm just starting to learn wishing tense!!! :)
Another thing with language that is really cool is I have noticed that when I start talking and really get going I say things that are correct that I haven't even really learned well yet. Like I'll be going and then be - wait was that right and I'll think about it and it totally is! It's two things, 1 my ears are getting used to what Albanian should sound like so it just naturally wants to say it like that, and 2 the spirit is totally pushing for me! It's crazy though - some things if I had thought about them I wouldn't have said them right but they just came out and turned out to be right!
I also met a really cool couple this Saturday who are living in the Bay Area! They are from Tirana but moved to California and now just come back here on trips for 3 months at a time! The wife is a super active member and both of their kids but the husband isn't. They invited us over and said they could feed us every week if we want - so that will be awesome and maybe we can get that guy converted finally! It's crazy though the elevator up to their place is literally an inch wider than my shoulder width! its super old and sketchy!!!
I downloaded a bunch of talks about the Book of Mormon this week and holy cow they are freaking awesome!!! You all have to listen to the talk by Holland called Safety for the Soul!!! WOW that thing is a knockout talk!!
I love being a missionary and feel blessings all the time. Definitely not easy though! I had an awesome experience this week. I was struggling with Elder Verushi and just feeling pretty rough and I was saying a prayer by myself and there was a moment where I just was talking to Heavenly Father saying I needed help and I felt the spirit so strong like it was all around me and literally the thought that came to my head was that Heavenly Father was just giving me a big hug! I could never deny that this church is true!
Love,
Elder Guymon
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| Faton's baptism |
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| Baptism program |
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| Cool castle the whole district went to on our Pday |
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