ROAD TRIPS!

July 18, 2016

 Well once again a ridiculously crazy week! Tuesday we actually had a good time in our area and we finally got to get some good contacting in! It felt so good! It's just amazing to me how nice it is to contact after not doing it for a while! We also had a cool lesson - this lady invited us to teach her whole family and their future daughter in law who is studying computer sciences and was really cool! They were way muslim but we got into the lesson and the spirit was so strong when we were teaching and they were so quiet and we were testifying and then all of a sudden the mom just said,  "They convey this message so powerfully because they are passionate about it and are using beautiful words." and stuff like that and it was just like UGHHHH THAT IS THE SPIRIT!! But they were super nice and we are going to go back so hopefully something will come from them! 

  Then Tuesday night Elder Farnworth and Riepel (the North Zone Leaders) stayed at our house and it was so much fun! I love Elder Farnworth, he is super awesome! Him, Elder Rogers, and Elder Mero together are like the most ridiculous people you could ever meet. They are so much fun!

  Wednesday we had a super fun training with all the zone leaders in the mission! Elder Rogers and I did a skit of a really bad example of weekly planning and people thought it was hilarious! The funny thing was everyone had something from what we did that they had done before and it was basically just like don't do any of these things anymore! The zone leaders in the mission are a ton of fun right now so it was a great vibe!

  Then Thursday we got to do a road trip up to Kosovo with Sister Eliason and Sister Ariza and man that was like the funnest thing of my life! The drive is just soooo beautiful and it helps that I'm going back to the city that will forever have my heart! I love Prishtina so much. It was pretty funny Sister Eliason has heard me tell tons of stories about it and when we got there I was just so happy and she was like "dang you really do love this place don't you?". It just feels like going home honestly! Of course we stopped by and got Himalayan food so that was awesome too! Then we stayed the night at Farnworth's house which was way fun!

  The next morning we got back in the car with the Sisters and we drove to Macedonia for Zone Training and it was a really good time! 3 countries in 24 hours! It was fun for me playing tour guide since I was the oldest in the mission out of all of them and the only one that knew all of the areas and so the whole time I was just telling stories and showing sites! The North is definitely my home.

  We finally got home Friday night and it was really sad for the awesome road trip to end but we were pretty exhausted, I drove the whole time just because I really love the drive and didn't mind it. It was nice to get back into my bed that night!

  Other than that Sunday was pretty great, I was really kinda just hoping for a peaceful church block and I actually got it! It was very refreshing because it isn't always like that. That's one thing I'm excited for back home. Then just contacting in the evening till it was time to head in!

  Today we went to Durres, Kosovo for PDay and Elder Mero was there too so it was super fun being able to be with him for a bit! Durres has super good seafood so we got a huge bucket of mussels and seafood pasta and it was way good! They also have some of the best ice cream in the mission so we had to hit that up! I was pretty happy to say the least! 

  Anyway probably another crazy week this week! Hope yall are doing great! Love you!

Road tripin'

3 countries in 24 hours!

Grafiti in Macedonia

AP's with Prishtina elders. :)

Me and Elder Rogers in Durres

Dessert in Durres

Transfer craziness

July 11, 2016

Man I really don't know what to say for this week. So first of all last Monday was the greatest/most bittersweet end to a transfer ever! It was just such a fun transfer we all got along so well it was sad to see it go but we threw a big 4th of July party with the ward for that Monday night and it was sooo much fun, like American football, basketball, grill, fireworks, and playing proud to be an American! Needless to say I was sad for the night to end! 

Then the craziness began!! Poor Elder Rogers had the craziest transfer ever to deal with!! 

  We had the final dinner and stuff with my sisters and a bunch of elders I have served around and come to love and it was like a shot to the gut seeing them go! Just like a powerful group of people! Taking them to the airport was crazy and sad! Luckily pretty much everyone is in the Utah area so it's not like a goodbye forever or anything! Then we got to pick up the new missionaries which is always a blast! They were just so tired! They seem like a super good bunch of missionaries though! 

  Some Macedonia sisters were supposed to come in too but they got delayed in New York so rather than being done with all transfer stuff on Thursday it continued through to Saturday! It was crazy! Finally we made it all through and this next week hopefully we'll be able to get some good work in!

  I'm super excited to be with Elder Rogers he is hilarious! I swear since being with him my face and abs have been sore every night from laughing so much! He is from Kaysville, Utah! I'm super excited for this transfer because I think we are going to get along super well!

  I apologize this week has just been so crazy just dealing with transfers and stuff so hopefully I'll have more to say next week. 

 

Love you all have a great week!!!

Sleep deprived

July 4, 2016

This was debate-ably more tiring/busy than transfer week! So to start off with  - transfers weren't officially settled till literally the day of the transfer calls so that was crazy! Every day there was a little change made and it was super crazy! Everything worked out though and I think it's just about perfect!

   We actually had to leave Albania for 3 days so we didn't have any time to work in our area! First we went to Prishtina and did an exchange there and it was sooo much fun! I was with Elder Eddings and Farnworth who are like two of my favorite missionaries and it was a ton of fun contacting back in Prishtina! They are teaching this super awesome investigator named Islam and he is a ton like B.! Super awesome, speaks english perfect, successful, and super smart! He and B. are going to get along super well but they haven't met yet because B has been gone! I had a lesson with him and he was a little worried about getting baptized because of his family but I just shared B's conversion story and he accepted a baptismal date after all of it! I was so happy, he is awesome!

  Then we went to Skopje and stayed with the Macedonian elders which is always fun, we got dominos pizza which was amazing!! Then the next day we actually went to a new city in Macedonia to check it out and it was way fun! It's going to be a huge deal if that city opens because it'll be the 2nd city open in all of Macedonia!

  Finally after staying all those nights out of country we made it back to Albania and we were just exhausted but since it's the last week before transfers we had no time to breathe! We went to lunch with Elder Mero's family when we got back which was way fun! His dad got baptized on Saturday and Elder Mero got to baptize him in the ocean so that is super cool! They were really funny to talk to and super nice!

  Other than all that craziness it's just been a lot of getting prepared for next week/preparing for our 4th of july party we are having tonight with the ward! It's going to be a lot of fun! Saturday night we did transfer calls which was awesome! I love being able to call everyone and talk about where they are going! There was a lot that changed so everyone is pretty excited about that! Elder Crandall is going to be in my district so i'm super excited for that! Finally I get to be around one of my MTC comps!

  My new companion is Elder Rodgers! He is super awesome! When all of Elder Mero's group came in and met us trainers he is actually the one I sat by! So I'm super excited to serve with him! I'll probably have more to say about him next week! 

  Anyway I'm doing super awesome even though I'm sleep deprived! I'm excited for this new transfer so I'll let yall know how it's looking next week! Its going to be awesome! also hopefully the 4th of july party goes well tonight!

Lunch with Elder Mero's family

Mission Conference

June 27, 2016


Super tiring this week this week! I got to the end and was just like ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It's probably going to keep going for the next couple weeks too so that'll be great!! This is my last week with Elder Befus which is super crazy! The time has FLOWN by - its blowing my mind! I just realized that this week I hit my 6 months to going home mark so that was pretty crazy! Honestly the worst part of this week is that my sisters are going home! I have been in the same kinda area as Sister Jackson my whole mission so it's going to be a huge bummer to see her go! I definitely am starting to feel a little old! Not like I'm trunky but just kinda realizing that I'm not new anymore! 

   The craziest part of this week was definitely mission conference it was so crazy! I felt like super under prepared as always and of course there were some technical difficulties which made everything almost not work! and there was a bathroom flooding and so the whole time I was switching back and forth between giving trainings and mopping a bathroom so by the end of the whole thing I was soooo dead! It was a great mission conference though! I gave a training about having fun/being happy as a missionary which is a topic I love so that was fun to do. I just got to tell all of my goofy stories of getting people to talk to me after my many hours of street contacting! My sisters gave their final testimonies so that was super awesome to hear! We also took before and after pictures and they were super funny! 

  Also super crazy thing that happened this week is an Elder who went to Finland that was in my zone in the mtc baptized an albanian who got deported the day after his confirmation back to Tirana so I got to call my old mtc friend which was super fun! We are now on a quest to try to find him!

  

  Before church this week I got a super interesting phone call... it was Elder Mero's mom!!! She said they want to meet me before they leave!! Elder Mero baptized his dad on Saturday in the ocean so that is super awesome! I wish I could have been there! By the end of my mission I swear I'm going to meet like all of his family! The funny thing is I'm meeting all his family on my mission but when we come back he might still be here and he could meet you guys on his mission!

  We had some great lessons with two new people! They were both just super sincere open genuinely nice guys! One of them is actually from Greece and he is like the Eastern Europe Budah, he is just such a happy dude and his smile seriously looks like Budah! I want to baptize him soooo bad! He was talking about how people live their lives way too fast here and burn themselves out and how we should enjoy taking our time and living life to the fullest and stuff. He basically needs to write a book of proverbs!

  Anyway next week is transfers and I can tell you who I'll be with! It's going to be a pretty rough transition being senior AP I think but we'll see! 

Anyway have a great week, love you all!

E.'s Baptism

 June 20, 2016


 Super crazy week! So first of all on Tuesday we went over the G. family house (the dad is a member and we are teaching his two kids who are 20 and 24) and they had a bunch of extended family over and we taught a ton of people in a mega lesson and have now started teaching some of their cousins now too which is super awesome! They are such a fun family! They are super weird but way cool! I really think that they will get baptized as long as none of the parents are against it or anything!

  And G. also gave us a referral and this was like the most prepared guy of my entire life! Like from the time we started the lesson he was saying he knows this is the road he needs to follow and just soaked in everything we said! He also wants us to teach his family! At the end of the lesson we were explaining baptism and he actually asked us when he could be baptized! Soooo awesome! He has 4 kids and a wife so hopefully we will be able to teach all of them!

  We also went over to G. house and taught his wife and daughter in law and I had met his wife before and I thought I understood her the last time but I must have been lying to myself! She speaks the craziest Albanian ever! Like even after living in Kosovo it's just so much mumbling and stuff it's basically impossible for us to understand. G. has to translate some of the stuff she says because we just don't get it!!

  It's also been super hot this week! Like getting up to 95 degrees! We were street contacting in the shade and I was sweating just standing in the shade!! And considering it's only June I think I'm in for some rough days! Also I have never had to experience city heat in Albania and it's horrible! All that cement just kills you!

  The best part of this week was definitely the baptism though! Our homie E. got baptized!!!! He brought his sister to the baptism which was way awesome! Also our friend who was less active that we activated was the one that baptized him so even cooler! It was actually such an amazing day because there were three people that all got baptized during that service! I have never been to a multibaptism like that here and it was so spiritual!  E. was so happy after - it was amazing! 

  Sorry I feel like a ton happened this week but I don't really know how to put it all in an email I'm doing super awesome! Next week is mission conference so that'll be exciting! Also of course I have to wish all the fathers that helped me get out here a happy fathers day! Especially my dad who is the best in the world! Love you all have a great week!

Service

June 13, 2016

So it was quite a week this week! Lots of fun and exciting stuff, but the best part is this week we are starting transfer meetings!!!!!!! WOOO! I love them so much, I think they might be my favorite part of being AP, maybe. 

Anyway to start of we had 2 exchanges this week so that was pretty crazy! They were one right after another too so although I had a great time on them it was nice for things to get back to normal!

  First I was with Elder Wilson who is currently serving with Elder Mero! Elder Wilson was trained by an Albanian too so we both had a good time talking about that. It's similar to how people who have PTSD are able to relate to each other. Just kidding! But really though there are a lot of similar trials that we had! It was super fun being with him, he is a great kid from Rexburg!! We actually have a decent number of Idaho kids in our mission right now.

  Then we had another exchange and I was with our district leader Elder Holding! He is super awesome, we had a super good time together! We had a ton of stuff in common that we could talk about! We talked about skiing for like a good hour and a half! We had a super great lesson with our investigator E. who is going to get baptized this week! Edi our ward mission leader came and helped us and E. was a little nervous about how he wouldn't be able to be perfect and Edi just was so amazing and helped him really understand repentance and what we are promising to do when we get baptized. Edi is such an amazing teacher, it makes me realize I still have sooo much to learn!!

  Sadly this week we had set up to meet S.'s wife again in their house and to begin to teach her the lessons but S. called us and told us she didn't want the lessons and that he would explain when we met next! So we met up with him and he said she just came home and all of a sudden said she didn't want to take the lessons and S. tried to convince that it would be great and they would be together through the whole thing but she just said no and he didn't want to keep pushing her! So super awesome that S. was trying to help so much but sad that his wife is a no go for now!

   Then Friday was super awesome, we played soccer in the evening as of late the soccer activities haven't been going super well and just not a lot of people come so we decided to try to do it in the evening on friday and it was amazing!! We had to have 2 separate games because there were so many people and we got a ton of kids phone numbers who want to play again so hopefully we'll be able to get some new investigators out of it!

   Saturday was a pretty crazy day! In the morning all of Tirana loaded up into our vans and we drove to Durres where we did a service project that we did with the seminary students of Albania that was set up by one of the first 4 missionaries that came and opened Albania for missionary work! Pretty crazy! It was super weird talking to him about it because everything is just so different. It was so fun being able to be with Elder Clemans and all the other missionaries! It was so sunny out though my face got a little burnt! We painted benches and cleaned up the outside and built some cabnets and stuff inside a childrens hospital so it was great!

  Then after the service we had a baptism in the evening and it was a super amazing service!  There were  more people there than we normally get for sacrament meeting! She was the sister of a member and was just so amazing! Super sweet girl! After the service talking to the members just made me realize how much I love some of these kids! Although they can drive me up the wall sometimes they really are such good kids and I enjoy being around them!

  After church on Sunday our whole district went over to our Bishops house and we had a barbecue and it was so amazing and so much fun! I love our Bishop so much and just being out in his front yard cooking food and just hanging out as a family it seriously felt like home. It was one of the happiest times I've had out here. Just a good Sunday afternoon barbecue with family and friends! What more could a person ask for! 

Afterwards we went with President Weidmann to a bishops meeting in Durres! I was super nervous for it! All the church leaders of Albania were gathered in one room and we were supposed to train them! Luckily it went alright! They are such good men for all they are doing for the church! definitely could not be easy!

So ya I'm doing super great! Had a super crazy fun week and things will probably just get crazier knowing Albania!!! Hope you all are doing well! Loves!!

Service project in Durres

Sunday Barbecue!

Another crazy week!

June 6, 2016


Alright so very crazy week this week involving a lot of talking to Salt Lake! There was a stake conference with a broadcast from Salt Lake that was specifically for western europe which was pretty cool! Personally I think calling us western europe is a bit of a stretch but I'll take it! It was a cool broadcast!

  We had a great week of work! Specifically our Saturday was one of the craziest blessing days of my mission! So first of all we went and played soccer in the morning and we ended up joining with a bunch of cool 18 year olds and so hopefully we will be able to start teaching them. Then we were hustling over to a lesson when a lady stopped us in the road and told us she was a member from Italy and wanted us to teach a family here and gave us all their contact information! Then our lesson with the guy was so cool! He was a software developer and I was like man that is something that I would possibly like to do and he totally loved his job and also worked on solo projects with friends and I was like mannnnnnnn that sounds so awesome!! Then we had a lesson planned with a less active but it turned out he actually brought a friend and we taught his friend instead! Finally we went over to S.'s house and we were able to start teaching his wife and hopefully we will be able to teach his kids too! It was so crazy awesome!

  We think that Saturday was just to prepare us for Sunday which was pretty crazy trying to handle the broadcast and it was just kinda a sleepy day. There was no one outside to street contact but in the end we were able to teach another members family so it turned out great! I've never taught so many families it's so great! Tirana just has so much success it's insane! Hopefully we'll just be able to keep it up!

  Next week we will be having a baptism of a kid named E. that I street contacted a little more than a month ago, he is super awesome! He would have been baptized 2 weeks ago but of course right at the peak of his progression he passed out in class and has had to go back to his home town which is a 2 hour ride away from Tirana and get medical tests for that and stuff so he hasn't been able to come to church or be taught as much as we would like but he is still doing great! He kinda reminds me of B. in some ways just because they are both 20 year old kids from the north so some of their cultural stuff is similar! Hopefully our returning member M. who wants to serve a mission is going to baptize him!!

  Also yes I did get a root canal in Albania so that's a pretty cool story! Luckily I'm still alive! Doing great, having fun, and dunking people! Hope yall have a great week, loves!