Hello from Albania!
Wow! It is September! Fall is about to begin! That means its just going to become cold and wet here, since all the rain comes in the winter time. I’m not too excited about that. My only consolation is that I will be able to be here for another beautiful summer but for really only 1 winter (since winter begins December 21st, and I’ll be home like a week later!) That is lucky! Even though I really like the summers here I am baffled by how much I sweat. Shkoder is about 10 degrees cooler than Tirana and I sure can tell. Its not less bearable, I just am in a constant state of sweating. It is somewhat amusing. I think Tirana is the only place and time in my life where I’ve been able to sleep consistently on top of the covers and get a good nights sleep. For some reason I usually like to be under something, but no more!
So it is only a month and then I train. Talk about daunting! That’s alright, it will be really exciting to train a new missionary. Besides all the things I’ll learn from him, I’ll be forced to develop my Albanian wether I like it or not. Maybe I will actually speak this language by the time I go home? Thank goodness I’ve still got quite a bit of time.
Ah, yesterday we had 2 baptisms! For those who are into counting baptisms, these 2 do not count as mine. I was here only for their last two weeks. They already had been taught everything and had a date. I suppose I will be the missionary of their retention, which is cool. They are the kids of a 6 month member and he was able to baptize them both! That was very exciting. Soni, his son, is 16 (and now the oldest kid in “young men's”) and his daughter, Angela, is 11. I meant to send some pictures home with these emails, but I forgot my camera. Oh well! Soon I am just going to stick all my pictures on a DVD and send those home. That way you all can see all the pictures I have been taking.
So mum asked some specific questions about what 2nd branch has. We have 3 hours of church, which is amazing. There is a young men and young women's group but there are only 2-3 mostly active young men. We have tons of young women but that also includes girls as old as 21 because they don’t like the relief society. The relief society is run by two opposing sects of crotchety old women (they could use some women like Mum!) and they just bicker about what should be done and then nothing happens. There are some younger women but I am not really sure what they do (usually about half the branch has gone home by 3rd hour). We have a Melchizedek priesthood class but there are at best only 10-12 active Melchizedek priesthood holders. However that is better than any other branch in Albania. There is also a primary, which has maybe 10-12 kids but 7 of those are American children.
On the note of children, I’d like to mention that it is stupidly hard for Albanians to get married. According to “Albanian” traditions they have to have 2 huge weddings and also have a house of their own before they are allowed to be married. There are several young couples who have been waiting several years to get married. It makes me mad, whats so hard about living at one set of parents house. Gunaf! (meaning shameful) so at this time I believe there is only one child in the whole of Albania who has been born into the convent. That needs to change.
Anyway, we also have institute and it is awesome. The outreach center brings so many young people to the gospel. Last institute class we had 49 people, it was amazing. These people are the future of Albania! Now if they would just get married faster…
Visiting teaching, I believe, does not happen (since only 1 of the 2 sects think its important, so the other half refuses to do it, so the half pro-visiting teaching doesn’t do it either because they don’t have the support of the other half).
A shadow of home teaching occurs, but its more like the missionaries going out with the branch president (who is awesome ) and the ward mission leader (who is another awesome guy, speaks perfect American English, just got his call to the London North mission, leaves in November) and we go around doing less active work. In the way of less actives there are tons. There are tons all over Albania. There are 400ish active members in the whole of the country but there are 1500 total members. However, compared to the statistics of the world at large, that’s an average percentage to have apparently. Once winter starts that number should climb somewhere in the 500s because there are a chunk of members who view summer as a time to take a break from the gospel, since they take a break from everything else (how does a country survive where its people are use to going on 2 or 3 month vacations, when they don’t even make the money to pay for all their expenses?).
Our branch presidency members are all very strong, and Sparti Kashari, he is the president, does way more than this call of duty. He is an excellent man. I think that’s all the questions mum asked about the branch and its structure.
Anyway, Elder Ably and I went to the young Sunday school class because the adult class filled its room and at the end they asked what would be needed for a stake to be here. Sparti told them that they would need 5 or so branches that had at least 30 active Melchizedek priesthood leaders, +a stake presidency, 12 high priests, and a patriarch. Albania will get there, but there is unfortunately quiet a ways to go. We do not have anything close to that yet.
I like to tell Albanians about NC and how it began with only 2 families and now has a temple. I tell them Albania will be that way one day too, if they hold fast and live faithfully.
This week Elder Cosseh (phonetically, I can’t spell French, usually a single word has 5 or 6 useless letters thrown in there, so I am easily confused by it.) of the 70 came and visited us. We had a mission conference that was excellent. He gave us a new format for teaching that lets people know right from the start that we intend to meet with them a number of times and gives a quick overview of what we plan on teaching. I was super excited because it was essentially our idea of an “our purpose” lesson put into a much better, less in your face way. He also attended 2nd and 4th branch and delivered and excellent talk to the members. How blessed we are to have inspired men that lead this Church! Wow, only 1 month till next general conference, that is TOTALLY whack, it just seems like we had this past conference. Is this how the rest of life is? When I get home, will my life never again slow down, but just go speeding towards its inevitable end at an exponential rate? If that’s the case that’s not big deal, the end of this life is merely a beginning!
We have an investigator named Ermal, I do not know if I have told you all about him. He comes to English and institute and we teach him after those too. He is just soaking the gospel up and he keeps all of his reading commitments we give him. He has been to church once, now we just need to convince him to come consistently! If we can. I feel certain that he will be baptized.
One Saturday we heard a presentation from a man who worked with NASA for 40 years. He was talking about the glorious universe that Christ has created, and continues to create. He showed us pictures from the Hubble telescope that are amazing! He explained that Stars are made from nebulae and when a star dies it explodes and creates a new nebula, which gives birth to more stars. It is a continues process!! Science used to think that stars that had planets would be an extremely rare occurrence. I don’t remember the ratio he gave us but it was extremely small. However, NASA now believes that EVERY star that has been created has planets surrounding it like our sun based on things they have found through the Hubble space telescope. Which means there are probably billions of planets that are similar to ours. Just a couple years ago, NASA launched a ship that would go out a ways to where it could better read the changes in light emanations from stars. Essentially this ship can tell when a planet passes in front of a star. On top of that it can calculate where in the star's orbit the planet is and can therefore determine what stars have planets that are orbiting in a distance away from their star (based on temperature) which would allow them to develop a livable atmosphere like our planet. Is that not just insane? Lastly, he told us about a zone in the sky where scientists could never find any light coming from. They pointed Hubble at it and they saw many lights. But the thing that surprised them is that they weren’t stars, they were Galaxies, 10,000 of them, in a zone of space that is as big as the hole made with your thumb and pointer figure held to the sky (hope that makes since). There is not end to the glorious creations of our God! We were not the first, nor will we be the last as His works continue to go forward in power and great glory. How marvelous and intriguing a thing it truly is! And despite all these many trillions of uncountable creations, He is still mindful of each and every one of us. In the vastness of space, God still listens to our prayers and daily sends his Angels to watch over us. What love!
Well, I love you all, I hope you all are well, I miss you all. Thank you all for your love and support, for all your wonderful messages. I know that Jesus is the Christ, this is His true church on the earth and today we are lead by a living prophet. It is only through Christ that we can receive the greatest reward that can be offered us: Eternal life. Let us all sacrifice our sins for something so much greater, for a happiness that never ends. Until next week, may God be with you!
With Love
Elder Scadden
Elder Scadden
Where's Gregory?
Gregory is now home.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Once upon a time in Albania (August 28th)
Hello from Albania!
I am exhausted! Fortunately the Lord helps me out with such things at all times. This week has been probably the longest week yet on my mission, which is funny because my toe week seemed pretty long. But that is probably because the freshest memories over come older memories. Besides, in about 3 days I won’t remember much about last week as a period of time, because everything is as one day here
Boy’s camp was a great deal of fun! Our obstacle course was a huge success and Elder Esplin and I had a great time together. I forgot what it was like to be with other people who came from the Army! I would not have minded serving with Elder Esplin. I will not get that chance. He goes home in January, and next transfer I have a 96.6% chance of training and I’ll probably stay with my trainee for 3 months. But no body knows for sure I suppose! Anyway, the best of the obstacles was a barbed wire course where the kids had to get down and dirty to get through. We also had a grenade course (that was funny, no one could throw them right, you throw a grenade like a shot-put), a wall and swinging rope, some critical thinking things like a spider web (hard to explain), and some other stuff. We threw some PT in there which was hilarious to watch. Between every few obstacles we had a spiritual thought which turned out really good. It was a success! Some kids were punks and decided they were too cool to participate. I do not like people that lack respect and discipline. At camp I got to work with Elder Flack again. As I mentioned last week, I miss him a great deal. I had a great time with him up in Shkoder.
So let me tell you about my new companion, Elder Ably. He definitely cares about people. That is already apparent. He pays a good deal of attention to the members and the investigators and how they are doing. He SYLs (that’s speak your language, talking to your comp in the mission language) quite well from the hours of 4 to 9. It is easy to hold a good conversation with him. He has a lot of good attributes and I think in the end I’ll have enjoyed serving with him. He comes from Lanchestor England I believe. He has 11 siblings. There are 6 brothers and 6 sisters. He is the 4th child. He lives in the Birmingam England mission.
Language update. Well, it is hard for me to tell how I am doing but my companions tell me I am improving and I believe it is true. I am getting better at Albanians though people here in Tirana are hard to understand because I am used to the thick, hick accent of the north, LOL. Lots of things are starting to come out of my mouth without me having to really think about what they are in Albanian. My reading comprehension is really quite good. I am only limited occasionally by lack of vocabulary. It is hard to believe I will be training next transfer, but that will HUGELY improve my language. It will be painful for awhile, but in the end it will result in tons of personal growth.
So we do have one promising investigator. His name is Ermal and he is awesome! We told him he could get an answer from God to know if something is true and he said that’s great, but shouldn’t I study it out first before I ask? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to get an answer from God if I had done everything I could to find out the truth of things with what I’ve been given? It was music to our ears because he understands that he needs to receive an answer from God but he also understands that the scriptures have the answers to tons of his questions. We are confident he will be baptized. We hope that is the case.
Anyway, I love you all! I miss you all. Thank you all for your love and support, and for your prayers. May God be with you!
Love
Elder Scadden
I am exhausted! Fortunately the Lord helps me out with such things at all times. This week has been probably the longest week yet on my mission, which is funny because my toe week seemed pretty long. But that is probably because the freshest memories over come older memories. Besides, in about 3 days I won’t remember much about last week as a period of time, because everything is as one day here
Boy’s camp was a great deal of fun! Our obstacle course was a huge success and Elder Esplin and I had a great time together. I forgot what it was like to be with other people who came from the Army! I would not have minded serving with Elder Esplin. I will not get that chance. He goes home in January, and next transfer I have a 96.6% chance of training and I’ll probably stay with my trainee for 3 months. But no body knows for sure I suppose! Anyway, the best of the obstacles was a barbed wire course where the kids had to get down and dirty to get through. We also had a grenade course (that was funny, no one could throw them right, you throw a grenade like a shot-put), a wall and swinging rope, some critical thinking things like a spider web (hard to explain), and some other stuff. We threw some PT in there which was hilarious to watch. Between every few obstacles we had a spiritual thought which turned out really good. It was a success! Some kids were punks and decided they were too cool to participate. I do not like people that lack respect and discipline. At camp I got to work with Elder Flack again. As I mentioned last week, I miss him a great deal. I had a great time with him up in Shkoder.
So let me tell you about my new companion, Elder Ably. He definitely cares about people. That is already apparent. He pays a good deal of attention to the members and the investigators and how they are doing. He SYLs (that’s speak your language, talking to your comp in the mission language) quite well from the hours of 4 to 9. It is easy to hold a good conversation with him. He has a lot of good attributes and I think in the end I’ll have enjoyed serving with him. He comes from Lanchestor England I believe. He has 11 siblings. There are 6 brothers and 6 sisters. He is the 4th child. He lives in the Birmingam England mission.
Language update. Well, it is hard for me to tell how I am doing but my companions tell me I am improving and I believe it is true. I am getting better at Albanians though people here in Tirana are hard to understand because I am used to the thick, hick accent of the north, LOL. Lots of things are starting to come out of my mouth without me having to really think about what they are in Albanian. My reading comprehension is really quite good. I am only limited occasionally by lack of vocabulary. It is hard to believe I will be training next transfer, but that will HUGELY improve my language. It will be painful for awhile, but in the end it will result in tons of personal growth.
So we do have one promising investigator. His name is Ermal and he is awesome! We told him he could get an answer from God to know if something is true and he said that’s great, but shouldn’t I study it out first before I ask? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to get an answer from God if I had done everything I could to find out the truth of things with what I’ve been given? It was music to our ears because he understands that he needs to receive an answer from God but he also understands that the scriptures have the answers to tons of his questions. We are confident he will be baptized. We hope that is the case.
Anyway, I love you all! I miss you all. Thank you all for your love and support, and for your prayers. May God be with you!
Love
Elder Scadden
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Once upon a time in Albania (August 16th, 2009)
Hello from Albania!
I imagine you are all going to be surprised to receive this email! Well if you remember that boys camp I mentioned last week, that is why I am emailing home today.
SO! Everyone probably wants to know what happened with Transfers! Well, I’ve left my birthplace, Shkoder. I admittedly am rather sad to leave despite the struggles of the branch. I really grew to love the people there. I am now going to Tirana, 2nd Branch! Supposedly the strongest or 2nd strongest branch in the mission. I will be companions with Elder Ably, he is from the UK. He will be dying this transfer, so I will very likely remain in 2nd branch for at the very least 2 transfers, but I‘ll probably stay there for awhile. Our area, known as Tirana e Rajë, was once an extremely great area, I hope to contribute to the revival of its previous success. It will be such a relief to be able to go to Church on Sunday, not having to worry about running the branch, giving talks every other week, and teaching Sunday school! I’ll get to focus more on getting our investigators to come and less on wondering if any members will come at all! It's pretty exciting. Also I’ll actually be able to look forward to eating lunch, since Tirana has way better food than Shkoder!
I came down from Shkoder Saturday, which is extra early, to start setting up boys camp. I am staying with the Assistants to the President, Elder Oki and Elder Flack, 2 of my favorite missionaries. It has been great being with Elder Flack again, we really became such good buds while we were together. It has been crazy trying to get boys camp set up, but it is all coming together. I’m quite certain these boys are going to have a blast with the camp.
Today I attended a normal functioning branch for the first time on my mission. I had forgotten what it was like! It is wonderful to be surrounded by strong members. There is one young man here in 1st branch that is extremely amazing. He is the Erik Wells of Albania. His name is Grisi. He is helping us organize boys camp and he is doing a great job. He has a strong testimony and powerful drive for missionary work. While he will be turning 19 very soon, he has 1 year left of high school but he is extremely ready for a mission and already preparing heavily for it. He does tons of less active work by himself and goes out with the missionaries often. These are the kind of young men that the church needs! I’m ashamed that I did not spend my teenage years better in a like fashion but at least I came around I suppose.
My last day in Shkoder, Adriana, one of our members, decided to cook for us (she has a Darkën e Fundit tradition, meaning last supper, for elders that are leaving) but we offered to help her pay for the meal. So we went shopping with her before district meeting. When we got back, she asked us if we could go to her moms house to move just a little wood because her mom is old. Well, her house was close and we called the other elders and had them meet up with us just to be sure we could finish quickly. Now, picture four elders, dressed in shirt and tie, coming around a corner to see not just a small pile of wood, but an entire oak tree cut up sitting in the road in front of this house. A man was cutting the wood, he asked Audriana if she had called any workers to come. She pointed to us and said “these are my workers!” The man laughed. Well, we de-tied and got to work. For 1.5 hours we moved big sections of tree. We all got filthy, but nothing got ruined. It felt good to do such hard, physical labor. I miss doing that kind of work! At the end, it was very satisfying. It reminded me of a quote Dad once sent me that talked about how we need to be ready and willing to render service, even when it is not convenient. Because of this service we completely lost our lunch time, could have ruined cloths, and got super dirty, all really inconvenient, but I was glad we did it.
Anyway, I realize this is a short email, but I’ve got to give Elder Flack some time on the computer (we are at the mission office.)
I know that the church is true, that God answers our prayers, and that Jesus is the Christ. I miss you all very much, I love you all. Please take care! And may God be with you!
Love
Elder Scadden
I imagine you are all going to be surprised to receive this email! Well if you remember that boys camp I mentioned last week, that is why I am emailing home today.
SO! Everyone probably wants to know what happened with Transfers! Well, I’ve left my birthplace, Shkoder. I admittedly am rather sad to leave despite the struggles of the branch. I really grew to love the people there. I am now going to Tirana, 2nd Branch! Supposedly the strongest or 2nd strongest branch in the mission. I will be companions with Elder Ably, he is from the UK. He will be dying this transfer, so I will very likely remain in 2nd branch for at the very least 2 transfers, but I‘ll probably stay there for awhile. Our area, known as Tirana e Rajë, was once an extremely great area, I hope to contribute to the revival of its previous success. It will be such a relief to be able to go to Church on Sunday, not having to worry about running the branch, giving talks every other week, and teaching Sunday school! I’ll get to focus more on getting our investigators to come and less on wondering if any members will come at all! It's pretty exciting. Also I’ll actually be able to look forward to eating lunch, since Tirana has way better food than Shkoder!
I came down from Shkoder Saturday, which is extra early, to start setting up boys camp. I am staying with the Assistants to the President, Elder Oki and Elder Flack, 2 of my favorite missionaries. It has been great being with Elder Flack again, we really became such good buds while we were together. It has been crazy trying to get boys camp set up, but it is all coming together. I’m quite certain these boys are going to have a blast with the camp.
Today I attended a normal functioning branch for the first time on my mission. I had forgotten what it was like! It is wonderful to be surrounded by strong members. There is one young man here in 1st branch that is extremely amazing. He is the Erik Wells of Albania. His name is Grisi. He is helping us organize boys camp and he is doing a great job. He has a strong testimony and powerful drive for missionary work. While he will be turning 19 very soon, he has 1 year left of high school but he is extremely ready for a mission and already preparing heavily for it. He does tons of less active work by himself and goes out with the missionaries often. These are the kind of young men that the church needs! I’m ashamed that I did not spend my teenage years better in a like fashion but at least I came around I suppose.
My last day in Shkoder, Adriana, one of our members, decided to cook for us (she has a Darkën e Fundit tradition, meaning last supper, for elders that are leaving) but we offered to help her pay for the meal. So we went shopping with her before district meeting. When we got back, she asked us if we could go to her moms house to move just a little wood because her mom is old. Well, her house was close and we called the other elders and had them meet up with us just to be sure we could finish quickly. Now, picture four elders, dressed in shirt and tie, coming around a corner to see not just a small pile of wood, but an entire oak tree cut up sitting in the road in front of this house. A man was cutting the wood, he asked Audriana if she had called any workers to come. She pointed to us and said “these are my workers!” The man laughed. Well, we de-tied and got to work. For 1.5 hours we moved big sections of tree. We all got filthy, but nothing got ruined. It felt good to do such hard, physical labor. I miss doing that kind of work! At the end, it was very satisfying. It reminded me of a quote Dad once sent me that talked about how we need to be ready and willing to render service, even when it is not convenient. Because of this service we completely lost our lunch time, could have ruined cloths, and got super dirty, all really inconvenient, but I was glad we did it.
Anyway, I realize this is a short email, but I’ve got to give Elder Flack some time on the computer (we are at the mission office.)
I know that the church is true, that God answers our prayers, and that Jesus is the Christ. I miss you all very much, I love you all. Please take care! And may God be with you!
Love
Elder Scadden
Monday, August 10, 2009
Once upon a time from Albania (August 10th, 2009)
Greetings from Albania!
Hello everyone! I hope y'all are doing well. I am alive, my toe has not rotted off. Actually I am doing much better, tomorrow will be my full normal day of work, I believe. I had to stay inside for 3 straight days! RIDICULOUS! It was really quite painful, not being able to go out and work. Then Saturday and Sunday I worked only some of the hours, but after working yesterday evening I believe I am in good shape. Thank goodness! And I didn’t have to get surgery, or take any life-threatening antibiotics (for those who don’t know, I have an irrational fear of antibiotics, and the likelihood that they could totally crush my immune system).
So in terms of overall time working this week, its been a pretty slow week, though we had 2 fantastic lessons with Toni, he is really coming quiet a ways! Now we really just need to get him to come to church! It sounds like I will be leaving Shkoder next week (next Monday is transfers, emails will still happen on that normal day, but might be late). Admittedly, I’m really quite sad about that. I’ve gotten close to some of the members (the active ones, essentially), and I am extremely excited about Toni. I think it still might take some time before he progresses to baptism, but I feel very strongly that he will arrive there. It will be sad to not teach him anymore. I do not know where I will be going, though everyone is betting on Lushnja for me, for this reason:
Next week is Boys Camp. The theme of boys camp is Stripling Warriors, therefore, I have been assigned to work with Elder Esplin at boys camp because we are the only 2 US Army people in the mission. He took the reserves path and still participated in ROTC for a semester. He's been to basic training and AIT for driving Bradlys, he is a Cav. Scout.). So we have been trying to plan something good for them, since we have 2 hours assigned to us. We also found out that we are supposed to be the highlight of the camp. Oh boy. Anyway, it's a lot of fun to talk to someone who more fully understands army things. The reason people think I’m headed to Lushnja is because that is where Elder Esplin is senior companion right now and if we weren’t together that would mean there would be some difficulties working out what would happen with our brand new companions. However, anything can happen at transfers, even though president said I probably would not be staying in Shkoder, there is still a chance. Guess you all will know next week!
Oh, I would like to Shout Out to Andrew Everett, and congratulate him on his mission call to a service mission in Wake Co. NC!! That is very awesome that he gets to focus all his time and efforts on service, what an excellent way to spread the gospel! I wish we got to do more service here. We’ve done a total of 3 service projects, none of which took much time. Its funny, but a lot of people here will straight up ask you for money but when you offer to help them in ANY other way, they refuse. So strange.
And I’d also like to wish Jenni Good Luck on her CNA test that I believe she will be taking today! I’m certain she will do outstanding, good luck!
Mum asked how the members get to know each other since we don’t have home teaching or visiting teaching. We have FHE every Friday and usually a good number of members come to that. Also, our members just visit each other, not out of assignment, nor, probably out of an intent to strengthen another spiritually, but they are just becoming friends.
So I’ve been listening to the wonderful classical music that got sent to me. One of the CD sets I got was a series of pieces from some of Mozart’s most well know works. When I first said I was putting Mozart on, my companion was not very excited, only to find out that song after song were classical pieces that he had heard before and loved and never realized that they were written by Mozart. I think he likes those CDs more than myself now!
So I thought that I’d just mention that one of the things I’m learning on my mission is more fully my relationship with my family members. I miss my family! When I left, I did not think I would miss all my sisters, brothers in law, nephews, nieces, and my parents this much. Sure I’d figured I’d miss them some, but now I am realizing just how much I enjoyed interacting with my family members, spending time with them, and doing things with them. It is funny how when you are used to having people around its easy to take them for granted, and I don’t mean to say that I didn’t realize how much I loved my family, but just not how much they were a part of me. Anyway, I thought I’d let everyone in my family know that I love you all very much! And I miss you all! But don’t worry about me, its not trunky missing, I am here and focused on the work. BTW for those of you who don’t know, trunky is a state of mind of a missionary who just wants to be home and is heavily impaired by homesickness and his lack of desire to be a missionary. Most missionaries have trunky moments, they can last from a minute to a day, and that’s not a terrible thing. Its when missionaries have that attitude and mind set day in and day out.
I’d also like to thank everyone that writes me letters or emails or dearelders. I also did not realize how awesome getting mail would be on my mission, in fact I thought I wouldn’t care at all. On the contrary, getting mail is such a wonderful thing. I do apologize that it often takes me a long time to respond to letters or dearelders, but I do try. I also would like to throw a light rebuke out to a couple of my friends *cough cough andyandjed cough* who have received return letters from me, but haven’t written me back! Fear not, you are still my friends, as are those who have not written me at all.
I would just like to testify of the power of prayer. How merciful is God that he not only allows us to openly communicate with him, but has great desires that we call upon his name often! Prayer has helped me on my mission more than anything else. Whenever something is difficult, or contrary to what is prime, or when something is sorely desired, I do not hesitate to lift my voice up to my Father in Heaven and I cannot recount to you all the many hundreds, literally hundreds of times that my prays have been answered almost as soon as they were uttered. I would like to point out, though, that we must be full of gratitude and thanksgiving to God. Some conferences ago Elder Bednar encouraged members to occasionally say only a prayer of thanks. To add to that, when Elder Christofferson was here, he told us that when he is having trouble feeling the spirit while praying, he pours out only thanks until he can fully feel the spirit. Taking both of those counsels, I have felt the powerful spirit that comes when we give thanks to our God and it is so very refreshing! There are also times when were are out, when for seemingly no great reason I feel prompted to pray. But usually at these times I can only say it to myself, in my mind, or under my breath, but I always try to harken to these promptings for “the devil teacheth a man not to pray” and I never want to give him the satisfaction of dissuading me from prayer, regardless of what is going on! (Hope that doesn’t sound holier than thou…. Not what I’m going for here!). I know with assurance that God does answer our prayers, and I would encourage all of you to pray more often, or, if you have never prayed, to try. A prayer is not a memorized, repeated thing, it comes from the heart, it is a conversation with God and He desires to have you speak openly with Him. You will find a great light in your life.
Anyway, that’s all for today. Thank you all for your love and support! Thank you for your prayers! I feel the effects of them. The Lord is blessing me every day here, His hand is ever present. I am grateful to be here, this is indeed the Lords work. Until next week, may God be with you!
With Love
Elder Scadden
Hello everyone! I hope y'all are doing well. I am alive, my toe has not rotted off. Actually I am doing much better, tomorrow will be my full normal day of work, I believe. I had to stay inside for 3 straight days! RIDICULOUS! It was really quite painful, not being able to go out and work. Then Saturday and Sunday I worked only some of the hours, but after working yesterday evening I believe I am in good shape. Thank goodness! And I didn’t have to get surgery, or take any life-threatening antibiotics (for those who don’t know, I have an irrational fear of antibiotics, and the likelihood that they could totally crush my immune system).
So in terms of overall time working this week, its been a pretty slow week, though we had 2 fantastic lessons with Toni, he is really coming quiet a ways! Now we really just need to get him to come to church! It sounds like I will be leaving Shkoder next week (next Monday is transfers, emails will still happen on that normal day, but might be late). Admittedly, I’m really quite sad about that. I’ve gotten close to some of the members (the active ones, essentially), and I am extremely excited about Toni. I think it still might take some time before he progresses to baptism, but I feel very strongly that he will arrive there. It will be sad to not teach him anymore. I do not know where I will be going, though everyone is betting on Lushnja for me, for this reason:
Next week is Boys Camp. The theme of boys camp is Stripling Warriors, therefore, I have been assigned to work with Elder Esplin at boys camp because we are the only 2 US Army people in the mission. He took the reserves path and still participated in ROTC for a semester. He's been to basic training and AIT for driving Bradlys, he is a Cav. Scout.). So we have been trying to plan something good for them, since we have 2 hours assigned to us. We also found out that we are supposed to be the highlight of the camp. Oh boy. Anyway, it's a lot of fun to talk to someone who more fully understands army things. The reason people think I’m headed to Lushnja is because that is where Elder Esplin is senior companion right now and if we weren’t together that would mean there would be some difficulties working out what would happen with our brand new companions. However, anything can happen at transfers, even though president said I probably would not be staying in Shkoder, there is still a chance. Guess you all will know next week!
Oh, I would like to Shout Out to Andrew Everett, and congratulate him on his mission call to a service mission in Wake Co. NC!! That is very awesome that he gets to focus all his time and efforts on service, what an excellent way to spread the gospel! I wish we got to do more service here. We’ve done a total of 3 service projects, none of which took much time. Its funny, but a lot of people here will straight up ask you for money but when you offer to help them in ANY other way, they refuse. So strange.
And I’d also like to wish Jenni Good Luck on her CNA test that I believe she will be taking today! I’m certain she will do outstanding, good luck!
Mum asked how the members get to know each other since we don’t have home teaching or visiting teaching. We have FHE every Friday and usually a good number of members come to that. Also, our members just visit each other, not out of assignment, nor, probably out of an intent to strengthen another spiritually, but they are just becoming friends.
So I’ve been listening to the wonderful classical music that got sent to me. One of the CD sets I got was a series of pieces from some of Mozart’s most well know works. When I first said I was putting Mozart on, my companion was not very excited, only to find out that song after song were classical pieces that he had heard before and loved and never realized that they were written by Mozart. I think he likes those CDs more than myself now!
So I thought that I’d just mention that one of the things I’m learning on my mission is more fully my relationship with my family members. I miss my family! When I left, I did not think I would miss all my sisters, brothers in law, nephews, nieces, and my parents this much. Sure I’d figured I’d miss them some, but now I am realizing just how much I enjoyed interacting with my family members, spending time with them, and doing things with them. It is funny how when you are used to having people around its easy to take them for granted, and I don’t mean to say that I didn’t realize how much I loved my family, but just not how much they were a part of me. Anyway, I thought I’d let everyone in my family know that I love you all very much! And I miss you all! But don’t worry about me, its not trunky missing, I am here and focused on the work. BTW for those of you who don’t know, trunky is a state of mind of a missionary who just wants to be home and is heavily impaired by homesickness and his lack of desire to be a missionary. Most missionaries have trunky moments, they can last from a minute to a day, and that’s not a terrible thing. Its when missionaries have that attitude and mind set day in and day out.
I’d also like to thank everyone that writes me letters or emails or dearelders. I also did not realize how awesome getting mail would be on my mission, in fact I thought I wouldn’t care at all. On the contrary, getting mail is such a wonderful thing. I do apologize that it often takes me a long time to respond to letters or dearelders, but I do try. I also would like to throw a light rebuke out to a couple of my friends *cough cough andyandjed cough* who have received return letters from me, but haven’t written me back! Fear not, you are still my friends, as are those who have not written me at all.
I would just like to testify of the power of prayer. How merciful is God that he not only allows us to openly communicate with him, but has great desires that we call upon his name often! Prayer has helped me on my mission more than anything else. Whenever something is difficult, or contrary to what is prime, or when something is sorely desired, I do not hesitate to lift my voice up to my Father in Heaven and I cannot recount to you all the many hundreds, literally hundreds of times that my prays have been answered almost as soon as they were uttered. I would like to point out, though, that we must be full of gratitude and thanksgiving to God. Some conferences ago Elder Bednar encouraged members to occasionally say only a prayer of thanks. To add to that, when Elder Christofferson was here, he told us that when he is having trouble feeling the spirit while praying, he pours out only thanks until he can fully feel the spirit. Taking both of those counsels, I have felt the powerful spirit that comes when we give thanks to our God and it is so very refreshing! There are also times when were are out, when for seemingly no great reason I feel prompted to pray. But usually at these times I can only say it to myself, in my mind, or under my breath, but I always try to harken to these promptings for “the devil teacheth a man not to pray” and I never want to give him the satisfaction of dissuading me from prayer, regardless of what is going on! (Hope that doesn’t sound holier than thou…. Not what I’m going for here!). I know with assurance that God does answer our prayers, and I would encourage all of you to pray more often, or, if you have never prayed, to try. A prayer is not a memorized, repeated thing, it comes from the heart, it is a conversation with God and He desires to have you speak openly with Him. You will find a great light in your life.
Anyway, that’s all for today. Thank you all for your love and support! Thank you for your prayers! I feel the effects of them. The Lord is blessing me every day here, His hand is ever present. I am grateful to be here, this is indeed the Lords work. Until next week, may God be with you!
With Love
Elder Scadden
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sore Toe
Just got a call from the wife of Gregory's mission president. First words out of my mouth were "OH NO" but she assured me it was not serious. He has an ingrown toenail that hurts and a little infection. They want him to have an antibiotic and he mentioned having a reaction to augmentin once. She wanted to check on that. He will be staying home for a couple of days and soaking his foot in salt water.
She will keep us updated by email and I will post as I get more info. I asked how he was doing otherwise and she said they love him! He is positive, hard working, obedient and doing a great job and she thanked us for sharing him.
She will keep us updated by email and I will post as I get more info. I asked how he was doing otherwise and she said they love him! He is positive, hard working, obedient and doing a great job and she thanked us for sharing him.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Once upon a time in Albania (August 3rd, 2009)
Hello all from Albania!
Anyway, this was a long week! I don’t know why, but it sure was. However, despite its length, it was a good week. Oh, my picture last week where I was wearing shorts! We are only allowed to wear shorts when we do something very active, like play soccer or something. I wasn’t even thinking when I threw my shorts on when we went to the castle, so you were right Dad, I was not supposed to be wearing shorts. Funny that no elders called me out on it, but I had to send a picture home for someone to remind me of that rule.
Alright, moving on, This week we were able to teach Toni again, but he is not progressing the way I would hope. I think he is realizing it is true, but I think he is also realizing that it means changing. Hopefully we can help him to understand that no matter how much change will be required, it will be worth it in both this life, and the next!
We found a young family to teach, however we have only taught them once, hopefully they will progress! This branch needs families! Ah, so speaking of the branch, we have two families that are related (the mothers are sisters). When I first arrived they were active, and had testimonies. Now they have fallen far away from the church, and I have not seen them in church for almost a month and a half. Well, we called them to invited them to Family Night, but when they answered they said they could never ever come again… We were really surprised by that because just 2 days before they promised us they would come to FHE and Church that weekend. Later that night we passed by, none of the members were home, only the grandma (who loves us) so we stood in the yard and talked to her for a few minutes. While we talked the 2 sisters and their kids arrived, immediately a strong spirit of contention rushed in. You could see the darkness in their countenances. They then started to argue with us why we weren’t buying them food, because they were so in need, and why we weren’t giving them money. I wanted to ask them why they were baptized but the spirit retrained me. Elder Hamilton wanted to ask them why they don’t use the money they use every Sunday to go to the beach (because that is what they do) to buy food, but he was restrained by the spirit. Essentially they attacked us, and we simply said to them that we don’t pay people to come to church. It was a sickening experience. They don’t want us to come by anymore. Its very strange to see people fall so very far. Well, that was a negative experience.
Outside of that the week was great. I actually feel like the family that tried to get the other members to not go to Durres to see Elder Christofferson are now some of our strongest members. I think the baptism of their daughter really helped them to desire change. So on the flip side of how crazy it is to watch people fall, it is amazing to watch people stumble and fall, only to find the atonement in their lives and walk towards the path of righteousness again. Audriana, the Mom in that family, bore her testimony on Sunday and I felt the spirit very strongly. She knows it is true.
So I had a thought this week, inspired by Elder Hamilton. I have always be slightly confused at the relation between the Plan of Salvation, and the calls to repentance that we find in both the book of Mormon and the Bible, and how they line up. For those of you who do not know, the Plan of Salvation is Gods plan for us to come to this earth, receive bodies, accept Christ's atonement and do all we can to return to live with our Father in Heaven. The point under main consideration here is where people will go after Judgement. In the restored gospel, we know that there exists not a heaven and a hell, but rather 3 kingdoms of Glory: The Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial kingdoms. The Celestial kingdom is the highest, most glorious, but only the righteous, who have received the proper ordinances and obeyed the commandments will go there. The Terrestrial kingdom is for all people who were excellent, or good people in this life, but who fell short of the greater glory either by not keeping all the commandments or by not accepting Christ. The final kingdom is reserved for the wicked of the world, who committed heinous crimes, the murderers and whore mongers of the earth. There is another place, called Outer Darkness, it is not a kingdom, it is where Satan dwells and VERY few individuals will go there, Cain for example. The qualifications for outer darkness are very intense, so don’t worry about it. All 3 of the kingdoms, even the lowest, are all a more glorified state then this earth. Is that not Merciful?? Even the wicked will be given something greater than this life, but it will PALE in comparison to the higher glories. There, though, lies my question of how the fears of the next life can be declared with such vivid and fiery imagery, and yet be so merciful. However (this is gospel according to Elder Scadden! If it is not doctrinal, don’t even bother posting it) I have come to a better understanding of the word Damnation. Part of the great plan that Heavenly Father has for us is Eternal Progression. In the Highest kingdom, we will be able to continue to grow and expand. Its hard for us to comprehend, but its sufficient to say that we will continue to progress. However! Damnation means to stop, to dam up, to prevent from progressing. In the other 2 kingdoms, there is not progression, or if there is, it is of a dramatically lower and less rewarding kind. Therefore, when the Prophets speak of damnation, and such things, they literally mean a stop of progression, and the sorrow of the know that those individuals will have that they could have achieved something greater. I hope that makes sense. If I am off, please correct me in an email.
Anyway, I hope that Ryan is over the swine flu, I’ve been praying for him. CONGRATZ to Fred and Yukoko Salatino! They will be having a babe in the coming months, I am very excited for them! Thanks Dad for the info on Charlie. I have also received the CDs that you all sent to me, and the pictures, they are all excellent, it has made me very happy to have that music and I am already displaying some of those pictures. We have also already eaten one of the red beans and rice, YUM! Thank you very much for those Mum and Dad! Anyway, I hope you all take care, I love you all very much and you are always in my prayers. Thank you for remembering me in yours, I definitely feel the merciful hand of the Lord here daily. Thanks for all your support, I love you all and miss you all very much!
Love
Elder Scadden
Anyway, this was a long week! I don’t know why, but it sure was. However, despite its length, it was a good week. Oh, my picture last week where I was wearing shorts! We are only allowed to wear shorts when we do something very active, like play soccer or something. I wasn’t even thinking when I threw my shorts on when we went to the castle, so you were right Dad, I was not supposed to be wearing shorts. Funny that no elders called me out on it, but I had to send a picture home for someone to remind me of that rule.
Alright, moving on, This week we were able to teach Toni again, but he is not progressing the way I would hope. I think he is realizing it is true, but I think he is also realizing that it means changing. Hopefully we can help him to understand that no matter how much change will be required, it will be worth it in both this life, and the next!
We found a young family to teach, however we have only taught them once, hopefully they will progress! This branch needs families! Ah, so speaking of the branch, we have two families that are related (the mothers are sisters). When I first arrived they were active, and had testimonies. Now they have fallen far away from the church, and I have not seen them in church for almost a month and a half. Well, we called them to invited them to Family Night, but when they answered they said they could never ever come again… We were really surprised by that because just 2 days before they promised us they would come to FHE and Church that weekend. Later that night we passed by, none of the members were home, only the grandma (who loves us) so we stood in the yard and talked to her for a few minutes. While we talked the 2 sisters and their kids arrived, immediately a strong spirit of contention rushed in. You could see the darkness in their countenances. They then started to argue with us why we weren’t buying them food, because they were so in need, and why we weren’t giving them money. I wanted to ask them why they were baptized but the spirit retrained me. Elder Hamilton wanted to ask them why they don’t use the money they use every Sunday to go to the beach (because that is what they do) to buy food, but he was restrained by the spirit. Essentially they attacked us, and we simply said to them that we don’t pay people to come to church. It was a sickening experience. They don’t want us to come by anymore. Its very strange to see people fall so very far. Well, that was a negative experience.
Outside of that the week was great. I actually feel like the family that tried to get the other members to not go to Durres to see Elder Christofferson are now some of our strongest members. I think the baptism of their daughter really helped them to desire change. So on the flip side of how crazy it is to watch people fall, it is amazing to watch people stumble and fall, only to find the atonement in their lives and walk towards the path of righteousness again. Audriana, the Mom in that family, bore her testimony on Sunday and I felt the spirit very strongly. She knows it is true.
So I had a thought this week, inspired by Elder Hamilton. I have always be slightly confused at the relation between the Plan of Salvation, and the calls to repentance that we find in both the book of Mormon and the Bible, and how they line up. For those of you who do not know, the Plan of Salvation is Gods plan for us to come to this earth, receive bodies, accept Christ's atonement and do all we can to return to live with our Father in Heaven. The point under main consideration here is where people will go after Judgement. In the restored gospel, we know that there exists not a heaven and a hell, but rather 3 kingdoms of Glory: The Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial kingdoms. The Celestial kingdom is the highest, most glorious, but only the righteous, who have received the proper ordinances and obeyed the commandments will go there. The Terrestrial kingdom is for all people who were excellent, or good people in this life, but who fell short of the greater glory either by not keeping all the commandments or by not accepting Christ. The final kingdom is reserved for the wicked of the world, who committed heinous crimes, the murderers and whore mongers of the earth. There is another place, called Outer Darkness, it is not a kingdom, it is where Satan dwells and VERY few individuals will go there, Cain for example. The qualifications for outer darkness are very intense, so don’t worry about it. All 3 of the kingdoms, even the lowest, are all a more glorified state then this earth. Is that not Merciful?? Even the wicked will be given something greater than this life, but it will PALE in comparison to the higher glories. There, though, lies my question of how the fears of the next life can be declared with such vivid and fiery imagery, and yet be so merciful. However (this is gospel according to Elder Scadden! If it is not doctrinal, don’t even bother posting it) I have come to a better understanding of the word Damnation. Part of the great plan that Heavenly Father has for us is Eternal Progression. In the Highest kingdom, we will be able to continue to grow and expand. Its hard for us to comprehend, but its sufficient to say that we will continue to progress. However! Damnation means to stop, to dam up, to prevent from progressing. In the other 2 kingdoms, there is not progression, or if there is, it is of a dramatically lower and less rewarding kind. Therefore, when the Prophets speak of damnation, and such things, they literally mean a stop of progression, and the sorrow of the know that those individuals will have that they could have achieved something greater. I hope that makes sense. If I am off, please correct me in an email.
Anyway, I hope that Ryan is over the swine flu, I’ve been praying for him. CONGRATZ to Fred and Yukoko Salatino! They will be having a babe in the coming months, I am very excited for them! Thanks Dad for the info on Charlie. I have also received the CDs that you all sent to me, and the pictures, they are all excellent, it has made me very happy to have that music and I am already displaying some of those pictures. We have also already eaten one of the red beans and rice, YUM! Thank you very much for those Mum and Dad! Anyway, I hope you all take care, I love you all very much and you are always in my prayers. Thank you for remembering me in yours, I definitely feel the merciful hand of the Lord here daily. Thanks for all your support, I love you all and miss you all very much!
Love
Elder Scadden
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