Lezhe is open for business!

January 25, 2015

 Alright so yet another thing you should look up: Sideritis. It's this plant that is made into a super popular tea here that is soooo good! They call it mountain tea and it's supposed to be like super good for you. Also something interesting about the city of Shkoder is how many bikes are here! Like you wouldn't believe it! The thing is the roads are super weird here and it's kinda hard to navigate by car and you have to take these long round about ways to move just a small amount and so just everyone uses bikes it's crazy! 

  This week we got the contract signed for our teaching center in Lezhe and man that was the most stressful thing ever! Trying to make sure it was all filled out properly and that he was ok with everything I was freaking out! Then we went to Tirana and we watched this super awesome missionary broadcast which was a training for every missionary in the whole world. After the broadcast I went to President Weidmann and told him I needed to talk to him and he was like I need to talk to you too, I've been thinking about it and you need to start looking for a house in Lezhë!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I was so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means that we did it! We had enough success that Lezhë is now officially going to be a city that has missionaries in it and called to serve there!!! It was seriously like Christmas! Little did I know finding a proper house is not an easy task! We looked around the whole city and found all these numbers but nothing has been working out! We are still working on it. We have to be out of Shkoder by the 13th of Februrary because there is a senior couple coming and they will be in the Sisters house and the sisters will be in our house! So not a lot of time!

  There are so many people that I want you to meet in this mission - it's crazy! It's just like I'm out here for 2 years meeting all these people that are honestly changing my life and I want you to meet them so bad! There are just so many people who have known me for so little time and have treated me so well  -like I'm family! It's amazing, I definitely want to come back and visit here with you so you can meet all these people that I've been able to serve! I truly see how this place will have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life!

  We had this amazing sacrament talk this week from a member of the stake that came. He talked so amazing and it was so helpful to everyone in the branch and just for me! He talked about how being a member of this church requires sacrifice and if it didn't then it wouldn't be the church and just all this awesome stuff it was so cool!

  On our way back from Lezhe one of the nights, Elder Anderson and I were talking and we eneded up just getting on the subject of how awesome President Weidmann is! It seriously just blows me away how cool he is! I'm definitely super grateful to have him as my president. We honestly couldn't say a single bad thing about him if we tried. He is just awesome!

  Anyway I'm doing great hopefully I'll have some house stuff figured out this week and have some good stories from mission conference! Love you all!

Our official teaching center in Lezhe!

Lezhe!

January 18, 2016


Alright I honestly don't feel like I have a ton to write about but I'll try to put something together! Basically we have just been in Lezhe a lot this week putting in some good work!  So for now we are going out to Lezhe 4 days a week.

  We finally found our teaching center and we are finalizing the contract with the landlord tonight so that will be super nice to have! No more teaching people at bars!! Although we have been teaching people in bars we have been having some awesome success!

  I had possibly the best first lesson of my whole mission! It was honestly amazing! This guy came who was about our age and he was just honestly seeking for some answers, it was so cool! He asked us things like  why do bad things happen to good people and is Christ really going to come again! It was just super cool. It was really great because we have been teaching some people where they just really don't seem to understand our message, not because of the language but they just don't seem to understand the magnitude of what we are saying and with this lesson he just took everything in! It was soooo cool! He asked us at the end of the lesson if we had any sort of church or anything he could come to so that was awesome! 

  We also taught this family twice that are super awesome! The first time it was just the dad but the second time his wife was there too! We taught them about the plan of salvation and they were paying such close attention. We are so lucky to know the plan of salvation because everyone here says they kinda know about things like what is going to happen after they die but no one really does. Being able to teach it is so cool because everything is just so clear!

  Today for PDay our district plus Elder Muncy and his companion came to Lezhe and we went to Skënderbeu's tomb and to a castle here in Lezhe and it was really fun!  I took a ton of pictures so you all can get a feel of what Lezhe's like.

  Sorry that I didn't have much to write about this week! I'll try to do better next time! Have a great week love you all!

Our new teaching center in Lezhe

Lezhe Cathedral

Lezhe

The castle that overlooks the city

Main square

Skenderbejus tomb

View from the castle - that's the Adriatic Sea!

Lezhe Castle

Sweet blessings

January 11, 2016

I have another super random thing for you guys to look up, its called Salep. It's like this powder they put in warm milk and it's basically like you are drinking cinnamon french toast! (Thats how I describe it). It's super yummy though I don't know if they have it in America!

  We had a super successful week this week so it's been pretty awesome! So basically Lezhë is like the land of miracles! We had a million numbers for there so we planned our lessons for only 30 minute increments and we would just get up from one lesson and get to the next and just stayed at this hotel the whole day! It was super awesome, our numbers were super high this week which makes me so happy because I just wanted to hit the ground running there and show President it's ready to go and we sure did! We don't have anyone super promising right now but we are doing well.

Also we have been looking for a teaching center there and man that sucks. I don't know anything about buying a house or anything and all President said was 2 rooms and a bathroom so pretty vague! We seriously just call tons of numbers and have been looking at buildings! It's so lame because all of them are close but not quite! There is this perfect place right in the center of the city but the dang guy won't answer his phone! Ugh! The struggles I never thought I would have as a missionary!

  It's crazy just the random things that I have seen that I am learning as a by product of being a missionary. Dealing with landlords (and just house problems in general), learning to live off of less than I thought I needed, buying a lot, cooking, just countless things honestly! It really is not only an amazing spiritual and serving experience but just a boot camp for real life!

  I definitely have still been Prishtina trunky a few times this week but not so bad. I'm starting to actually know my way around Shkoder so that helps a lot! Also today we have been in Tirana for P-Day so I have hung out with Elder Muncy all day so that has helped. I'm not going to lie I really love that kid and look up to him a ton. He is a stud. He is also training a kid from England who is just hilarious so they are like perfect together.

  So we actually live in this house that has 3 levels and our landlords live on the middle level and they are members! They are way awesome! They are also are the members that have been active for the longest amount of time and they love missionaries! The wife Mimoza makes us food all the time and she is so nice!

  It's been raining here in Shkoder/lezhë a ton so that's been a joy.  Albanians pretty much just don't go outside if it's raining so it's really hard to actually get lessons but we have been having some good success still. I'm pretty sure in just these last 2 weeks I've tracted more than my whole mission though just because we tract a ton in Shkoder. Basically it rained non stop for 4 days straight and so from my knees down I was just permanently soaked! Our house is pretty cold so my shoes would never dry too so that was super lame!

  We got a challenge from President Weidmann to read The Book of Mormon in a month so that's pretty crazy! I have never really thought about trying anything like that but we are all doing it across the mission! Any of you out there ambitious enough I would definitely recommend that you try it. It's definitely not going to be something easy but I know if I can find the time to do it than you all could! I know that it would definitely help you! It's such an awesome book honestly I'm super excited to see what it's like to do this! So ya you have 30 days!

  Other than that just been seeing some sweet blessings in our work! Especially in Lezhë.  Elder Anderson and I just keep talking about how lucky we are to have the opportunity to work there! It's just something super awesome! Definitely trying to make the most of this opportunity!

  Love you all have a great week!

Cathedral in Lezhe

Home

selfie

talk I prepared

Shkoder

January 4, 2016


Wassup fam! Not much super new from the last 3 days but I figured I could fill yall in on some things...

  This week we were told by some previous missionaries that there was this American couple living in Lezha with the peace corps and that they have a son who is a member! So naturally we gave them a call and they invited us over to their house and it was way cool! They are living in Lezha for 3 months doing service there and their family was actually visiting them at the time so their son was there! We went and just had a good talk with them about Albania and the people and it was really nice! I don't know if there is much opportunity there in the way of them being interested in the gospel but she invited us back to have dinner with them some time which is cool!

  Also on transfer day when we pulled up to the mission office there were some members in Tirana waiting there, there always are. But with them was one of my old investigators who I really loved so I went over and talked to him and he had just gotten baptized!! I was so happy! He is a stud and like mega smart! He also said he is in Lezha occasionally and that we should call him!

 One of  my least favorite parts of being a missionary are running into people who just want to argue and be rude to us.  Man they can be soooo horrible! I just talked to this guy the other day and man they are just so rude! It's tough because I'm now at the point with my language where when I start getting frustrated my language can still keep up with me and I can argue with people pretty fluently. I was starting to get pretty smart alecky with this guy because he was just an idiot but then this clear thought went through my head that I was this guys first contact with missionaries ever and that I was the first missionary in Lezha and need to be a good example. Man it was sooo hard but it was a humbling moment for me realizing that I'm representing Christ and I might be the only missionary they ever meet and if they just remember me arguing with them and fighting back then I really haven't left a Christlike example. 

   I lost our phone this week on our way to Lezha - I forgot it on the bus! It was kinda a cool experience though. I normally feel horrible when I lose things like get sick to my stomach but for some reason I just wasn't even a little concerned. Sure, I was mad that I had forgotten it but I just knew we were getting it back! Elder Anderson didn't share my feelings! He was pretty worried about it all day and it was pretty annoying not having it so we couldn't call our lessons but we got back and we were talking about how the next day we were going to go to the bus station and look for it and we got to our house and there was a note on our door from the sisters saying they had our phone! They had called it and a guy answered and said he had found it and went and met up with them and gave it back! Pretty awesome little miracle that happened for us! 

  Also (sorry I'm starting all of these with also) the family who lives the floor below us and are our landlords are members! They have been gone for a little while in Greece for vacation but they just got back and seem awesome! We have been taking care of their two dogs and it's been interesting  -it feels like I'm a house owner taking care of my pets and stuff!

  Church was veerrrryyyy interesting here! So we all got there and 9:40 to set up because it's just a tiny little building and so at 9:55 and it was still just missionaries there and we were like alright I guess we all will just bear our testimonies to each other and call it good. But then at 10am  exactly this less active member came and so we had 2 hours of church with just all of us missionaries and him! It was a very cool experience for me though just seeing this church will go on no matter what. All it needs is 2 or 3 gathered together and the Lord will be there (we were 7 in church)! Elder Wright is acting as branch president so that's cool!

  Anyways have a great week! I love you all and I hope you are setting some good new years resolutions!!

Note from the sisters letting us know they had our phone.

Pictures of Shkoder

This is the house we're living in with some members.

view from our house.

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2016


Alright honestly it's been so long since writing one of these I don't even know where to start there is too much information! Sooo....

  I'll just start with Christmas, it was super awesome! We were given a list of movies that we were allowed to watch so we decided to make the most of it and woke up at 4am to start watching them. :)

 We watched Frozen and Chronicles of Narnia and then we went up to the Hydricks and we all opened up presents together which was super fun! Then we all went to Bondsteel the American military base and got to have an amazing lunch and then we got to go and look at all the blackhawk helicopters and stuff because one of the soldiers with us was a pilot! It was really awesome! Then we went back and skyped which was  so good! It was much less hard for me this time which was super nice. I definitely miss you guys but I am happy being here. After that Sister Hydrick made us an awesome Christmas dinner and we watched Tangled together! It was a super awesome day honestly! It's funny how little importance the gifts were in the day, like of course I loved them and thank you so much for sending my gifts and stuff they are awesome! Especially the thermals those were very needed! And the puzzles! but really why I loved my day is spending time with all my family there in Prishtina and just having a great time together. 

  Anyway after Christmas the next big news is that I got my transfer call! And I am in Shkodër but we are trying to open Lezhë!! I was so surprised but so excited when I heard that. I honestly wasn't expecting anything like that! No one knew that President was going to be opening up Lezhë. Honestly I have been wanting to try to open a city sooo bad I'm so grateful for this opportunity! I'm with Elder Anderson who is from Elder Mero's group so he just got trained! He is a stud though! He is from Salt Lake City and came right out of high school. I think we are going to be able to do a ton of work here together! In our district the sisters are Sister Fuller and Sister Olsen! I'm so excited to serve with Sister Fuller again! The elders are Elder Wright and he is training a new Elder who is from Germany which is way cool! He has a ton of fire so it's fun having him!

  Saying goodbye in Prishtina was tough but I was also excited for the new change so that helped! I'm leaving a big part of my life in that city. Like those 6 months there in Prishtina are something very cherished by me and I know I'll never forget them! Especially because my man B. is there. I'm so glad that I was able to meet him! We had a funny experience of skyping Elder Holm in America so he could be in a lesson with us so that was cool!

  So I made it to Shkodër and it's pretty awesome! I forgot a lot of those differences between Kosovo and Albania. Luckily in Shkodër they speak Gheg so I still get to use that! It's great here though, different from everywhere else I've been! It almost seems to be a cross between Prishtina and Tirana. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas of Albania which is sick! I've only been here for like 4 days so I don't really have a huge read on it yet! The branch here is super weak right now but I've heard  we have some great members. 

Our first day we decided that we should just go straight to Lezhë, President for the time being wants us to balance our work between Lezhë and Shkodër so we are working in two areas - but if things go well hopefully we will be getting a house down there and really just focusing on it. Lezhë is like 45ish minutes south of Shkodër and it's definitely a smaller city! The people there are so nice though! We got so many numbers from people by just asking them about the city and then telling them why we came! It was crazy. We definitely felt the spirit that the city was ready for us!

  It's crazy being in Shkodër and Lezhë after being in Prishtina for so long, because there are a ton of Catholics here! Like there are practically no Muslims in Lezhë!  So it's a totally different way of contacting and teaching!   But I'm excited for the challenge.

  New Years we had to be inside at 4pm because it gets pretty crazy in this mission so we had to stay inside and just hang out and mess around all night! The show was pretty crazy from the view of our house! The whole city seemed like it was exploding! Today we have just kinda been hanging out and having a good time together! 

  Anyway I'm having a great time!  Love you all hope you have a happy new year!!

Saying good bye to the Hydricks

Last day with Elder Mero

Shkoder

Cool old bridge in Shkoder.

Christmas in Kosovo!

December 25, 2015

We had a very special Skype visit with Adam.  We didn't hear from him for a couple weeks because of some protests going on.  He was able to email us and just let us know he was okay and we'd hear from him on Christmas Day.  He is the happiest he's ever been!  He is experiencing the pure love of Christ in a very real way.  I'm so grateful for his amazing mission president, President Weidmann, and for the sweetest couple missionaries, the Hydricks, for taking such good care of my boy on his first Christmas away from home.

Here are some photos of his Christmas day:

Pristina Missionaries- Christmas day

Camp Bondsteel for Christmas lunch

our apartment

Prishtina