Last and BEST letter!!

December 12, 2016


 Alright so I seriously can't believe I'm writing this but I'm now at the end of my mission! These last 2 years have past like the blink of an eye, I still remember first arriving here in Albania and thinking about how foreign everything seemed to me. I remember not understanding a thing people said to me and sitting through church like a blank slate. I know this email can't possibly contain all the feelings I have for what my mission has been to me so I apologize if it's not all you expect but I'll give it a shot. 

   First of all I know that I was called to this specific mission not out of chance but with definite purpose. My president, President Weidmann, has been such a huge example for me. I know that he is called of God and I hope that I can follow his example to always be ready to answer when God calls me. He is such a huge example to me of a latter day saint and really has put so much into this work. I love him so much and am so grateful for the time that I have had to serve with him.

   I'm also grateful for the Albanian people and all that I have learned from them. The difference between them and Americans is so much more than just language. They have so much culture and tradition, I'm going to miss the crazy church blocks where I just sit on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what someone is going to say next!

  I've had amazing companions my entire mission that have each taught me so much! My trainer Elder Verushi was so great for me and really taught me to forget myself and go to work. I grew so much my first transfer and I know I really needed it. I gained a much more personal relationship with my Father up in heaven because I really needed someone to talk to during those first few months. Elder Holm taught me how to have fun in this work, my second transfer is when I really figured out who Elder Guymon was rather than just being another missionary. He was a huge example of working hard and playing hard and this mission would have been a long grind if I hadn't had the chance to learn from him. Elder Mero was definitely the most exciting companion I have had. Everything we did together was the most exciting thing we had ever done times 1000. It was a blast and I really learned to appreciate the little things and the small victories. With Elder Anderson we had a crazy interesting transfer but I'm so glad that he was my companion because he was so willing to just consecrate himself and put everything out on the street everyday I really learned so much about giving everything to the Lord and putting faith that he would work miracles if I did my part. Then I had a totally new experience serving with Elder Befus who taught me a ton about about loving the people we're serving and putting everything into helping them draw closer unto Christ. Elder Rogers and I had a great time together even though a lot of the time it just seemed like nothing was happening with the work and I learned a lot about what really mattered and what real success looked like in missionary work. He also taught me a ton about how to care about all the missionaries that I was serving and to be much more compassionate. Finally, this last month with Elder Clayton has been awesome and a lot of it has just been me doing a lot of pondering about these experiences that I have been having I'm grateful for his example to me of always being willing to answer to whatever the people we are serving need. Even if it's maybe not the thing that I necessarily desire to do!

  Every week we set goals for the coming week and I'm going to be honest, some of the goals I had at the beginning of my mission are still the same things that I'm wanting to work on here at the end. I know that this road never really ends, Ether 12:27 means something different to me now. I learned that as I came unto Christ I started seeing less and less imperfections in myself but I started seeing more and more!!!!! The difference is that I saw them as things that I can work on, future strengths as my president puts it. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can do ANYTHING. I think that God shakes his head at me all the time just in awe of how thick I can be but I know that he is always cheering for me and is never going to give up on me.

  The greatest thing that I have gained on my mission is hands down my testimony in my big brother and savior Jesus Christ. I love him so much. I don't totally understand how he was able to make that sacrifice for me and I know I still need to use his atonement so much more in my life but what I do know is that because of him I am changed. I have found new life in Jesus Christ. I have learned that if I just fully rely on him that nothing is ever going to go wrong. I think that is why my second area (Prishtina, Kosovo) is so sacred to me. I had never met people that had never even HEARD of Jesus Christ before then. I also frequently met people that mocked him and mocked me because of him. It was a time that I really had to figure out who Jesus Christ was for me because all of a sudden he wasn't the main stream belief. I have had spiritual experiences that I can never deny that allowed me to stand up tall to the man that just tore up my picture of Christ and spit on me and tell him that Jesus Christ is his Lord and that he is going to meet him at the last day. I had the very special experience of teaching someone who ended up becoming one of my best friends about Jesus Christ and there was a very real very literal light that appeared in his eyes as he learned about these eternal truths. He went from someone who said he had heard of Jesus Christ as a name but nothing more to testifying that he can't imagine his life without him! There was nothing more beautiful than that in my mission.

  I love our great God and I know that he has my life in his hands. I have learned that I don't really need to worry too much about what's going to happen in the future. If I put God first in my life he hasn't let me down up to this point and I know he won't let me down now. I wouldn't trade the experiences that I have had out here for anything in the world. I know that the things I have learned here will continue to support me for the rest of my life and loudly proclaim to all those considering on going on a mission to take this step! I can give a 100% guarantee that you won't regret it. 3 Nephi 13:33 is your promise.

  I hope that maybe reading this you can feel a small part of what the mission has meant to me. I have put my heart into this service and it's with great sadness that I part from it now. Yes I'm so excited to come home, to come back to all my comforts and to my family. But back there I don't get to have this special calling to be a special representative of Jesus Christ. But I know that because of this calling that I have receieved that I can't go back to "fishing" just as the apostles couldn't go back. I will continue to have Jesus' name with my written upon my heart at all times and hope that those who see me will know that I am Christian which is the greatest thing anyone could call me. A true Christian. There is no way we can learn to truly be christian if we aren't willing to do what Christ would do. SERVE! 

I love you all and am excited to see and talk to all of you! 

Second to last email!

December 5, 2016


 So I'm going to be honest I don't have a ton to write about this week because unfortunately towards the beginning of the week Elder Clayton was pretty sick and we were inside for a bit and then I got sick and so we were inside again for a bit! Really unfortunate timing considering it's my second to last week but we are both feeling better now, not 100% but good enough that we should be good to work all week! I guess this bug hit the whole mission. 

  Being stuck inside definitely did not help with the emotions of going home considering how much time it gave me to think!  I'm actually having a rough time sleeping thinking about what it's going to be like going home and it's freaking me out!! So insane!!!! 

We had fun today for our Pday.  We went to some super cool ancient ruins that supposedly Paul was at!

  Another thing that was fun that we were able to do this week is in the short time in between Clayton being sick and me being sick we were able to do some good service this week! We helped a member family in Fier move houses and then in Lushnje we helped a family out in a village with a big greenhouse do some work with the plastic stuff to keep the temperature up there! I wish I could have served in areas with villages like lushnje more just so I could have had more opportunities to do service in farms it's so fun and I genuinely like helping people!

  Another super awesome thing that I have gotten to do in Lushnje is we have been able to teach a few families! It's really cool to be able to teach families.  You can just see how much the gospel can help families and I can really testify of how much it has done for my family!

  One of the saddest things for me right now is all the branch drama here. It's kinda a stereotype here that all the branches in the south have a lot of problems and it's so hard cause I don't know what to do about it.  Even these super great members have problems with other people and I'm just going to try to be super blunt this last week and start telling people to stop talking behind each others backs!!! Its ridiculous!

  Anyway, final week now! Super crazy stuff! Hoping to just push it really hard and finish in a sprint! Next week will probably be a much more exciting email! 

Love you all thank you so much for all your prayers!! Make sure to check out mormon.org for the awesome initiative!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

November 28, 2016

So lots of exciting stuff this week! To start off at the beginning of the week we visited an awesome member family! They got baptized a little more than a year ago and are so fun to talk to! They feel like my mom and dad out here. We are going over again tonight so I'm super excited! 

  So the main thing that happened this week was Thanksgiving! Wednesday night Elder Clemans from my MTC trio came and stayed the night which was a lot of fun because we haven't been able to spend much time around each other on the mission, then thursday morning we went to Tirana. Man I was so anxious leading up to it because I was going to have to give my "departing" testimony. I was surprised about how nervous I was considering I had given so many trainings and stuff in front of people but this was different. Of course they made me go last so I had to sit there in agony watching Crandall and Clemans give theirs. I got up there and said "man it's so weird being up here" and after that the tears started! I was not expecting it but I totally just cried through the whole thing. Reminded me of my farewell. We'll see if I can make it through my homecoming!! Get ready for some water works! It's just something that means so much to me and has such a big spot in my heart it really touches me whenever I talk about this stuff!!!

  It was way fun being able to have a final day seeing everyone before I leave. Crazy to think I won't see some of those people ever again probably! Luckily a lot of them I will see again! I missed a lot of old faces there. There are just so many new missionaries I don't know that well!! The meal was awesome! Totally authentic thanksgiving! We had a bunch of skits which were pretty funny but the best part was that President showed up towards the end!!! He had been in Switzerland for a back operation and when he came in it was so amazing to see him. He is so awesome and it's great to know he is back! 

 Last week we went and visited a member who left the church and he lives in the middle of no where! Like crazy conditions.  All he does is care for 6 goats and read the scriptures so he knows the standard works like by heart! The problem is he misunderstands some things and thinks that he has some sort of higher calling. Just a lot of pride but he can't see it because his mind is just so clouded. It's tough I have no idea how to help him. There are a few members like that here. Just have let these strange things cloud their testimonies and now it just seems impossible to help them. I know that sounds pessimistic but it's so hard!!

  We got fed twice this week! It was awesome! The first time was with a member family who had a bunch of extended family over and it was a lot of fun. It was cool being a part of a family gathering like that. I haven't been in something like that for 2 years!! The food was awesome too! Super interesting... bread soaked for a super long time in duck juice so it's kinda like thin mashed potatoes with duck served on top of it! The second time was with an investigator family and it was pretty interesting! Most of it was really good except they had fish that their son had caught in the nasty canal by their house. I was like oh boy I'm probably going to die but I ate it all! It actually wasn't too bad. They are a super nice family and I really hope they progress!!

  Also the church's christmas initiative came out!! It's sooooo cool!! It's my favorite one so far! I definitely encourage everyone to go check it out at mormon.org I love how it's just an invitation to everyone to make this world a better place and be Christ's hands!! 

  Anyway, its super strange the end keeps getting closer and closer (crazy how time works like that) I'm so grateful for these last few months of my mission though. I feel like I have really learned a lot about myself and a whole lot about the gospel. I'm only going to send two more of these! Crazy stuff! 

Love you all! Ciao!

Thanksgiving dinner!

Skits!

Good work in Lushnje

November 21, 2016

This week was once again super awesome. We're just meeting with so many people it's awesome, we are really getting into the area and finally I have a progressing investigator again!!!! His name is A. and he is awesome, we have met with him every day and it's been cool over only a week to see how he has changed each lesson. He is a super relaxed guy which is really good for this branch because sometimes people get a bit high maintenance. We also have another investigator who has investigated the church before and the night before her baptism decided to back out because of some problems but she says she is ready to get baptized now! She is way cool and keeps in contact with all her old missionaries.

So in this branch there is a pretty big problem with members not getting along and gossip and finger pointing. Nearly every time that I have visited a member they have talked bad about another member. It's so sad a lot of them blame it on the branch president and it's like ya I totally recognize the guy isn't perfect but first of all they are hanging on to old grudges and he has improved a lot, second off your eternal salvation doesn't depend on who is leading the church it depends on if you GO! I just tell them just come sit in the back take the sacrament and leave at the very least. But to be honest the real reason they aren't coming is because they don't have a testimony. 

This week during weekly planning I realized that after this next week I will only have two weeks left and it was kinda like a holy cow moment I'm actually leaving this country at some point. It just seems like such a foreign concept to me, like Albania is my home now. This is my life! Its hard to believe this is coming to an end. Really wanting to end my mission in a full sprint though. I don't want to miss a single second of this madness! 

We went to this members house this week and they are probably the poorest people I have visited my whole mission. Like their entire house could easily fit in my old room. And the living conditions are REALLY not good. They really have it rough and living kinda far outside of Lushnje but they are at church EVERY week without fail. It's so awesome to see an example like them. There are people that live right next to the church that don't come because "they have been offended" whereas this family has every reason not to come and get judged all the time because of their situation but are there every week as a family it's so awesome. 

Church was pretty exciting this week too. There is a member who knows a lot of the scriptures and stuff but kinda gets sidetracked and during priesthood who was pretty off topic and then the elders quorum president made a passive aggressive comment that we should stay on topic with our comments and THEN the teacher got involved and was like you two just argue every sunday you need to quit taking things personally and figure things out! So perfect recipe for disaster. The guy who gets sidetracked after lots of arguing and practically yelling stormed out of the room yelling "GOD BLESS YOU" on his way out. Now as far as I remember that kinda stuff doesn't happen in America, man it must just be so boring back there!

Anyway the work is going forward in Lushnje. We are now setting baptismal dates for after I leave which is kinda sad but what do you do! Love you all! Hope you're doing well!

Lushnje

November 14, 2016

 Holy cow! I knew that it was going to be a big difference going from AP in Tirana to Senior Companion in Lushnje but I never could have predicted how different it feels! Pretty crazy week honestly but so far I'm just way happy, I think it's going to be an awesome last month! 

  So to start off last Monday I had my last FHE and man it was sad to say goodbye! Leaving T4 really felt like I was leaving the mission just because everyone was like we are going to miss you so much and all this stuff and I was just like jeez guys I'll still be around!!

  Transfer day was INSANE! There was a huge flash flood in Tirana and there was like a lake on the freeway and so tons of people were mega late! It was so interesting because normally all that stuff really stressed me out, like transfer stuff not going right and then there was just a bunch of chaos as always with people in the office and it would just make me super anxious but it was like all the stress was just gone, I no longer had the calling and I didn't have to worry anymore! I would have had to leave Tirana super fast and not say hi to a bunch of people but Lushnje actually got stuck and weren't able to come in to Tirana so I got to spend a bunch of time with all my homies going out to get lunch kinda a last hurrah it was a nice blessing! Then the APs drove me across the lake to meet up with my new comp, Clayton and we were off!

  We got to Lushnje and it didn't take me long to realize that we did not have much work that I was coming in to, like when I say not much I mean none. But hey I have done that twice now so I was like man this is exactly what I was made for! So we just hit the streets super hard for like 2 days I was just trying to be 110% positive and going hard and it really paid off! Those two days were kinda rough and I was like whew this might be a rough month of this but after them we had so many people to work with that we haven't contacted since then! It's awesome to see the Lord blessing us so fast!! Since getting here I just feel like an itch to work the heck out of this last month. Like I have always tried to work hard my whole mission of course but I don't know it's like I just want to make a big difference for this last area and put a nice little final stamp on my mission. I'm not going to lie after seeing such instant success coming into the area I definitely have been working on just staying super humble and always praying to thank God and reminding myself that it's all because of him it's not anything I do. It's still just so sad to me how hard it is to get rid of pride! It really hangs in there!

  After being in Lushnje for a few days (and a huge deep clean of the house) I realized that I just felt sooo at peace. Like nooo stress! No worrying about what calls were going to pop up during the day all I have to do is put my work in and I don't have to worry about anything else! Plus no traffic and constant horn honking. Needless to say the knots are working their way out of my shoulders. Also naps during the day are heavenly! I forgot how nice they are! I have gotten one almost every day since I've been here!

  As for the area it's awesome, it's like a really small city that's surrounded by villages and pretty much everyone here is a farmer! Lots of really humble people. We went and visited one of the members this week and their house was soo tiny like probably the poorest people I've ever visited it was crazy, but they pay for a ride to church every week! So much faith! The branch here is pretty awesome, we had 30 people at church on Sunday. We have four 16 year old young women that are super awesome members and no young men.

  We also had Zone Training this week and it was a lot of fun! I felt so old because there are no elders after my group so there is a big gap between me and the next group of elders. It was really good though, just a big spiritual pump up! It's weird though just because each zone training and mission conference I go to it seems like more and more of my friends are missing! AHH so many people I want to see when I get back.

Today we played soccer and went to an old mosque for pday!  My comp in Elder Clayton and he's from St. George.  Super fun kid!  We're going to work hard and have fun together!!

Anyway I'm doing awesome, hopefully we'll just be able to keep this good stuff going! Love you all!

Adam teaching a little girl in Lushnje

Pday soccer game!

Good-bye office life :)

November 7, 2016


 So the transfer calls came through and I'm going to Lushnje!!! I'm super excited it's a small city a little south of Tirana that is known for all the produce that comes out of it and is just surrounded by little villages! It's wayyy cool there! Actually kinda reminds me of Idaho! There are some super good people there so I'm really excited to be able to serve around them a little closer! It'll be a HUGE difference from being AP in Tirana so much crazy busyness all the time to just having the two of us in a quiet little town. There are things and people I will miss but I'm excited to do things like... have full studies, have full lunches, have full pdays, full sleep, and the list goes on. :) No I'm kidding I have loved being AP and it's been a super amazing experience but the sleep thing will be nice! I will also be with Elder Clayton, I'm excited to serve with him, we are going to have a blast!

  This last week in Tirana has been pretty awesome we went out to dinner with two really awesome families, it was fun being able to hang out with "mormon families" they are few and far between here but man they are awesome, walking into one of their houses was like walking into a typical LDS home, like pictures of the kids on missions on the walls, general authority quotes, and temple pictures! It felt so good being in there, just the spirit is so peaceful!

  The last Sunday in 4th ward was pretty sad. I was here for so long and made some pretty solid relationships and it was super sad saying goodbye to everyone. I got up to bear my testimony and almost started crying which surprised me!

  Anyway I apologize that these keep getting shorter and shorter I actually don't have a ton of time today but everything is awesome and I am super excited for my new area! 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Ultimate frisbee for pday today!

Elder DeBell & Rogers

My mission "grandsons"

Mission Office family

Happy Halloween

October 31, 2016

 So lots of traveling this week! It was a lot of fun, definitely exciting as one of my last weeks as AP! So to start off on Tuesday after District Meeting we took off to head up to Prishtina and that was a ton of fun! I have never been able to serve with Elder Thomas and so it was cool being able to be with him for a day. We had an awesome time together and got some good work done! It's so much fun to go up there every time. I just love the people up in Prishtina. It's fun being able to hear the language up there too as I can continue to grasp Albanian more and more it makes me appreciate the gheg accent more! It's way cool! We also got to hang out with B. which was awesome! It was my last time seeing him until he comes to America!! He's coming December 8th I think! like a week before me! 

  Then Thursday morning we drove back to Tirana stopped for like 2 hours and then took off again to go to a city in South Macedonia that is super beautiful called Ohrid! Elder DaBell, the office elder came with us and it was awesome! I've gotten super close to him being here and he is just so cool! It was really fun being able to just talk to him the whole car ride and get some awesome "fatherly" advice from him! I've definitely been missing it out here on the mission. Especially since I feel like I can finally maybe appreciate stuff like that!

  We got back and set up for a halloween party for the 2nd and 4th wards. It actually turned out super well! The party was a lot of fun and it kinda felt like a bit of a goodbye party for me with the 4th ward. I'm sure going to miss them! They have a lot of spirit in 4th ward. It was crazy every Albanian party that I have done just ends up turning into a traditional dance party, it's pretty fun though. You haven't lived until you have been to one of those, and like all of them know how to do it! I think its in the blood!

  Hummm other than that this week was kinda dissappointing with lessons, we just didn't have a ton of time, but over the weekend we planned 12 lessons with people where the person said yes I will come at that time and then only 1 of those 12 people we planned came. It's just so frustrating to plan because you almost expect them not to show! 

  Anyway apologies that I don't have much to say! Life's good! Excited to be going to a new area next week I'll let you all know where it is! Loves! Ciao!

Exchanges with Elder Thomas

Tirana 2 & 4 ward Halloween party!

Feet hurting/street contacting. :)

October 24, 2016

 So it was an interesting week this week for sure! We had a lot of street contacting time and I was like oh boy how did I survive all day street contacting everyday in Prishtina! I really don't know how that was my favorite time in the mission considering how tough the work was but I think it was definitely just how much the Lord helped us. Like there is no way I could have worked that hard without some extra strength! It was good though, there is a good feeling about getting to bed and your feet just hurt because you have been walking around so much talking to people! We have been planning so many lessons that just don't show up it's a little tough.

  Thursday was kinda crazy - I gave my last training as AP! I didn't even realize till after I finished too! It was a training for the district leaders and it was really great. They are an awesome group of missionaries. That's one thing I definitely feel I have improved on since being AP is giving training's and just public speaking in general.  It's still not something I really enjoy doing but I've done it enough that I don't feel like I'm going to throw up every time I stand up there! :) 

  Then Thursday night we started an exchange with the South Zone Leaders and I stayed here with Elder Farnsworth. It was super awesome! Its' been a super long time since I have been on exchange alone with him so it was sweet being able to talk to him. We got to meet with this one guy a second time who is way cool and really believes in Jesus and he says that if he feels that this is the direction that Jesus wants him to go then he is ready to follow it. So I really hope he keeps reading the Book of Mormon and praying because it'll definitely get him there! 

  We also have this investigator named E. who is super awesome. We met him street contacting and he was just a super friendly guy and we have met him twice since then! He talks a ton and tells a lot of pretty crazy stories! I really love meeting with him though because he is honestly such a happy positive guy. Like he prayed and his whole prayer was just thanking God for letting him be so happy and giving him so much! It's awesome because honestly there aren't too many people like that. He has not had an easy life but just works super hard and tries to help other people out and things have just worked out for him!

  Church was pretty great yesterday! This RM just got back from his mission this week from England and he is already called as our ward mission leader! He seems like an awesome guy and I'm super excited to have a ward mission leader again so hopefully we'll see some good stuff come out of that!  I have 2 Sundays left in 4th ward! It's going to be kinda rough to leave to be honest. I've really put down some roots here and grown pretty comfortable, feels like home!

Well, that's it for now.  Have a great week!  Love you all!!

Work

Së pari do ta permbaj emrin e Sonilas qe nuk do te me ngacmoje më. HA! Te thashe qe do beja!

October 17, 2016

 So this week was pretty awesome because we got way more time working in our area so I was super happy about that, we now actually have a few people we are working with that are solid! 

Also one of the best parts of this week, yesterday was the year mark for B's baptism! Pretty awesome, I'm way excited to be able to go to school with him when I get home!!

I don't know if I have talked about this before but missionaries seem to be magnets for crazy people, which makes for some really interesting experiences! It's especially fun because there are some that seem to turn up wherever you are and lots of missionaries know the same ones! There is this member from Shkodër who popped out of nowhere this week here in Tirana, it was really fun talking to him though, he is hilarious he was off to go visit a friend in jail so he hasn't changed much since last time I met him. I'm going to miss crazy people for sure, I remember when I first got here they used to make me super uncomfortable. I just love them because the spice things up!! 

We also did an exchange with the Tirana zone leaders which was a lot of fun I went with elder Anderson so it was like back in the days of lezhe, it was a lot of fun talking about all the hilarious stuff that happened. We had a super good time together and I never go to that side of Tirana so that was a lot of fun as well. It's almost like a different city.

Other than that just pretty excited that we are finally getting some work going. We found this new area in 4th ward that is this big boulevard like Pristina that was hidden back in this neighborhood that missionaries haven't really been to and we are having a ton of success there. It's awesome being somewhere that not everyone knows who you are! 

Anyway I'm doing awesome sorry this is a little shorter I'm writing it on the senior couples iPad so that's why! 

Love you all, have a great week! 

Inspiring week

October 10, 2016

Alright so big email for the week! We had a pretty awesome week. We had missionary trainings wednesday through friday and then saturday and sunday was conference so lots of inspiring messages this week!  

One thing I noticed that was kinda interesting for me is we have really been working on taking EVERY opportunity possible to share the gospel, like we always talk about talking to everyone and for the majority of my mission that has meant when you are street contacting always try to be stopping people but now I'm realizing it is literally talk to everyone like when you are in line at the grocery store or waiting for a cross walk light or stuff like that. And it's funny because I never have considered myself a shy contactor but in situations like that I feel so awkward! So even after 2 years of this I still have a comfort zone! I guess there is always improvement. Just when you think you have something down you try doing something new and it totally changes it! 

 

  Something super cool for me this week is just lately I have really been thinking about how important home teaching is. Like if you don't understand why we do home teaching come see the church in Albania. It would just help with so much and I really feel I have gained a testimony of the importance of that and then Elder Holland gave that awesome talk about it during the priesthood session and so it was just cool to have that added on to the feelings I have been having lately. Like what a genius way to help the church, having all the members just looking after each other! It's so great!

  Conference in general was awesome! I really liked how two of the major themes I saw were repentance and having joy during hard times. There were some great talks, I loved Elder Ballards talk about where else would we go. I read a talk kinda like that a while ago just things to think about before leaving the church and it's just so true. Like where else can you possibly go for such awesome things! If anything just hang in there for that and eventually your testimony will come back!

  Also super cool news of the week - B. is officially coming to BYU!!!! He'll be getting to America in December! It'll be so sweet! 

As for me I'm doing awesome life continues to be great, especially because it's getting colder! 

Love you all!

Put your phones away! :)

October 3, 2016


  Well this week was insane!!!!! We had no time in our area just because we were going around all over the place taking care of the transfers, the trainees, and the new cities. I am so tired it's crazy. The worst is when you wake up and you still feel like you need to go to bed!  haha  

 So obviously transfers were this week, I'm still with Elder Rogers as AP, it's kinda funny because in our district everyone is training except us so they are all helping their trainees and it just makes me feel even older in the mission.  

  So after Wednesday morning my group is now the oldest in the mission which is pretty strange. Elder Chingas had his family come and pick him up and he has a 17 year old brother too and I was like woooohhh this is weird.  Also I got to take Elder Befus who was my companion to the airport which was kinda funny because we had been together taking other people to the airport.

  Then the next day the big group of 20 new missionaries finally got here. It was all kinda crazy getting everything ready for them and I knew it was going to be a lot of missionaries to handle but when they all stepped out of the airport,  I was just like ohhh crap...there are so many of them!   It was so crazy trying to keep track of all them, Elder Rogers and I actually thought we lost one of them at one point so that was awkward. Anyway I was getting super stressed out trying to figure out where everyone needed to be and what needed to happen which I kinda feel bad about, I know I need to be better and just take some deep breaths and realize it'll all be ok. As it always does with the Lords work everything worked out actually surprisingly well. They are a great group of missionaries. It was interesting choosing who would be training them because I'm used to getting to know them a lot better before we have to decide! So we really had to rely on the Spirit and just how we felt about everything but I really think it went right.

  It's definitely something that I have learned a lot about on my mission is how God speaks to us and guides us. Like I never expected to see a vision or anything like that but I have found that a lot of the times a prompting for me is much more subtle than I could ever have imagined and I've been taking way too much credit for myself. I have found when something just really makes sense to me or it just seems like it would work or anything along those lines that really it's not me but it's the Spirit. God speaks to our hearts and our minds! It's brilliant! He can help us out without us really even noticing it. I think about when I chose what school I would go to. I really wasn't sure where I wanted to go and BYU wasn't exactly the top of my list but I thought about it a lot and probably should have prayed about it a lot more but one day I just thought you know I can see myself at BYU and I went for it and just felt relieved like I had made the right choice. I always just kinda assumed wow I'm so good at puzzling things out by myself. But how could you deny the hand of God in that? Especially seeing how great the decision turned out for me. I loved my first semester and I love that school. I felt like this was really where I needed to be.

  Another thing that I have really noticed this past little bit is the problem of having your phone out at church. It's starting to seem like a real problem to me. You see the solid RMs come to church and then they just sit in the back and play on their phone the whole time and think they have already learned it all!  Or recent converts texting the whole time and you know that they couldn't tell you anything about what happened at church or what was said! You might as well just not go! I really don't want to be that person! I just want to be more detached from my phone in general and I know it's easy to say out here but it's a goal I have. But really people, we need to have more respect for the sacred things. Could you imagine Christ coming and talking to everyone and you have a bunch of people looking down at their phones texting!! So that's my latest sermon! Don't use your phone at church except for scriptures!!!!!!! I'm a believer in electronic scriptures used properly, it's a great tool!

  Anyway Love yall living in the life, this week is looking to be another crazy/busy one but it will all work out as usual! 

See ya!

Road trips and picking olives

September 26, 2016


Alright super busy week with just a ton of work getting everything prepared for transfers! It's going to be insane next week so hopefully I'm still alive by the end of it! The biggest thing this week was transfers! So we are officially opening 3 cities this transfer! Pogradec, Korca, and Kumanavo! It's so exciting!! We took a road trip last week with President and Sister Weideman to go check them out and they are way cool cities I'm super jealous that I don't have more time in my mission to go to them!  It was an awesome time being with President and his wife and we had such a great time traveling and just spending time with them.  I am so blessed to have President Weideman as my mission president!  With all the new missionaries coming in and with practically everyone missionary training - the mission is going to be so interesting. I will actually be staying on as assistant which is exciting. I guess President wasn't ready to kick me out yet! It'll be really fun being assistant with all of these new missionaries! 

  Kinda crazy that I'm entering into my last transfer! I'm excited though. As time has gone on in my mission I've really come to view things a lot differently and I have a gained an appreciation for things I thought I would never enjoy. And just really understanding the reason why I'm doing the things I do. I was trained to just put my head down and work as hard as I can which was awesome for me and I definitely needed it but it's easy to do that and never really end up figuring out why you're doing it because you're just so busy going through the motions and it's kinda embarrassing how long it has taken me to figure out the reason that I'm doing all this. I love God. Honestly He is so great and it's almost embarrassing to me how easy He has made my life. He has given me so much. I haven't done anything to earn it. And to think that I had other friends before this life that weren't born in to the church and have been waiting for me really just pumps me full of desire to talk to everyone. I'm so glad that I was able to meet B. and God could show me that this is why I am here! For people like this. I know that I still owe so much to God and it's going to be a lifetime of trying to pay Him back but in the mean time I can enjoy street contacting and getting rejected and having people not show up to lessons because each step just brings me closer to Christ! It's amazing how it all works. He really is the Master Architect. We just are too caught up in ourselves all the time to really think about it. Like this week we had to do a lot of office work preparing for this big group of missionaries and we went out street contacting for a bit after not having done it for a while and it was just so much fun and so exciting talking to everyone about the gospel! Its so cool!!

  We had a service project this week and we went with the sisters out to a lady's house who was MEGA poor. Like there is a cow that lives in her house and it's just decrepit. Some of the worst living conditions I've seen. So we went out there and picked olives, I felt like I was back in the New Testament times. But she fed us an awesome lunch. It's definitely something I have gained an appreciate for is just how ridicululously spoiled I am. I definitely need to use better all the gifts I have been given just so much potential wasted. I really hope I can just keep that in mind and not fall into that Book of Mormon pride cycle!! 

  Anyway next week will definitely be interesting so I should have some good stories! 

Love y'all Çiao!

APs road trippin with President and Sister Weidemann

Selfie with Sister Weidemann

Service project picking olives