Hello all!
I hope you all are well. I was so excited about the new Gmail features we have but the computer I am on won't read my pictures! Geez, better luck next week! Ah, well, you all are probably wondering what happened at transfers. Well, I am staying with Elder Thackeray here in Durres. I would be lying if i said we were not all surprised by this happening. That means I will be here for the next transfer also. That piece of knowledge is good to know. Also, sorry if it is someones B-day, I forgot to check so you'll hear from me next week if it is.
Well, I didn't mention this last week but I will now. For the last 3 weeks I've had some crazy pains coming out of my heel. There is some kind of hard orb forming underneath the skin. I got an xray and that showed nothing so it is not a bone spur. Some have said it could be a wart or a callus but the surface of the skin remains relatively unchanged. Some have said it might be a boil forming under the skin?? Anyway, It really started to cause problems a week and a half ago so I started to stay inside off of it because of the pain. Finally I got an old man cane which was really styling but killed my hand to use for an extended period of time. I also was put on a ridiculous dose of Ibuprofen. That seems have really helped with the swelling (because it was getting quite sizely). As it now stands, since we have no idea what it is, I am working half days, wearing tennis shoes and using a medical cane. Things seem to be improving but the going is slow. Inevitably I might have to go to the American hospital to get a more in depth check up if I continue to have difficulty. Needless to say, I am really quite irritated with this current condition, but am learning to live with it. So don't worry yourselves too much, but just keep that specifically in your prayers, that this strange growth will go away and that I'll be able to work like normal again soon.
Other than that things have been good. We found some new investigators this week (well, elder Thackeray and Elder Mugleston did while I sat inside with a sick Elder Loose) and we are hoping that something positive will come from them. We are about done tracting out the section of the city we had targeted for our primary efforts. We are about done with the second time through and will probably only go once over in the morning since we have talked to most of the households. Don't worry, we keep a record of every door so we don't re knock doors that rejected the message. This area has not been the greatest tracting area so we are looking forward to moving on to a different part of the city that may have some really prepared people. I've got to say, the more I do tracting, the more I love it. It really beats trying to talk to people in the road but that is just my opinion. We are going to reopen our English course this month too so it would be wonderful if some new investigators came from that! Ermal, Donald, Grei and Kein back in 2nd branch all came into the church because of English.
We went to Vlore on exchanges. Vlore is a pretty city nestled away in a valley on the coast. Nothing really amazing happened there though. Oh, I did go to the doc. That was an interesting experience. It was a private clinic suggested by Germany for us. When I arrived there were lots of people in the waiting room. I went up to the desk and said I had an apt. with Doc. Cela at 1 (it was 1230). In 2 minutes I was in a room talking to Dr. Cela. 3 min later I jumped to the front of a line of 10 people waiting for xrays. 4 min later my xray was getting looked at by Dr. Cela. 5 min later I had some kot (worthless) medicine in my hand. I do not know what got me the special treatment but I jumped tons of people. We talked about it and we figured it was because we weren't there on the governments bill but were paying right there with cash. Everyone else just tells them to get their money from the government. Anyway, it was much less ridiculous than I thought the experience was going to be, though my radiology technician, they guy taking my xray, told me he still had 1 yr of school left before he was fully certified. Now I don't know what that really means but it made me think he wasn't the most qualified individual to be using large machine that gives off radiation. LOLOLOLOL.
Well, the week has been somewhat uneventful. I must now go. I love you all and miss you all. I thank you all for your constant prayers and support. Keep the faith and may God be with you.
Love
Elder Skadi
Elder Scadden
Where's Gregory?
Gregory is now home.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (February 15 2010)
Hello all from Albania!
I hope you all are faring well, I am alright. I would like to congratulate my niece Kinsey on her baptism and my nephew Jordon on his receiving of the priesthood. I also would like to give a big TRASHGIME to Fred and congratulate him on the birth of his two twin girls. Lastly I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Lauren Bray and wish everyone a Happy Valentines day!
So, big news for this week: We are switching over to Gmail!!! Woohoo! The Church made some big deal with Gmail, and now the email system is going to be tons better! The new system is way better and it won’t take 5 minutes to send pictures anymore, so expect more pictures. Gëzohem!
The work was still slow this week, but what can you do? We’ve been doing a great deal of tracting, but didn’t get in once. Our phone numbers we are getting are all falling through too. However my spirits remain high and the less active work that we have been doing seems to be taking some root. This past Sunday every less active member I have visited here came to church. Some have come several weeks in a row. Sometimes I suppose people need reminders of where their priorities are. One weird thing happened while tracting. We came to a house and hanging directly across from the door way was a framed picture of John the Baptist conferring the Aaronic priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver C. We both were really taken aback but the women who answered the door didn’t seem to know anything about the church, the book of Mormon, or missionaries. We asked her about the picture. She said it had something to do with baptism. We asked her where she got it. She said she didn’t know and that they had lots of pictures hanging up of Christ. She legitimately seemed totally ignorant of the pictures real implications or that we were the only church it could be associated with (despite our efforts to convince her so) . We wonder that she might just have been a totally inactive member who was just faking it. She gave us her last name. It didn’t check out on the records. Though while we were talking to her a young man in his 20’s started to come around a corner, saw us and quickly retreated. She said it was her brother. We now maybe think that while she has nothing to do with the church, her brother might. She had children which = married which = different name than the brother. It remains a mystery to us. It was a huge surprise to see something so blatantly Mormon in a house that seemingly knew nothing about the church.
This is the last week of the transfer so next week you all will find out if I am staying here or going somewhere else. I am putting my money on going to 4th branch, which would be AWESOME because I would get to see all my boys again (Roni, Grei, Kein, and Donald) and I would be companions with Elder Hagen, from my group, who is an awesome missionary and probably the best at the language in the whole mission, minus our natives. We will see what happens.
Yesterday we ate lunch at president Pina's house. He is the president of Durres branch. Besides us, a women named Eriola Xheka was there. She is a member, but it is important to note for the story that President is 24 yrs old and seriously dating someone else and Eriola is 26, without anyone. She is the owner of a huge company and is extremely wealthy. It was valentines day so you can expect that the topic between Eriola and President got onto the subject of the Vday dance that had just happened and those sorts of intrigues. Well, one thing led to another and they all started trying to convince Elder Thackeray that he needs to move back here and marry and Albanian girl. Please keep in mind that Elder Thackeray is a really lock hearted missionary, so such joking does not worry me (some Elders you don’t want to joke about this with because it will cause them problems). Anyway, we have discussed it before and he is very seriously considering returning after he completes college to live here for good (which would mean getting married here) and I give him a hard time about it. Always his defense is “well, what work could I get? There would be no good work for me to do to support my family!” Well, as they joking continued, he pulled out that defense saying that there is no good place a mechanical engineer could work here. Eriola made the quick reply “I’ll give you a job, all my engineers are foreign and you speak Albanian. And you’d get paid so well you wouldn’t even feel your rent” LOLOLOLOLOL I died, Elder Thackeray was stuck. What's funnier is that is Motra Xheka is 100% serious. She has hired tons of members here and wouldn’t hesitate to hire an ex-missionary if he had needed skills and did OK in school. They tried to pull me into the target zone but fortunately a solid commitment to the US Army and the girl of my dreams made me totally immune. Perhaps none of you find that amusing since you do not know Elder Thackeray but for me it was hilarious.
So I got a Liahona a read about the new Gospel Principles book, it sounds really awesome. I love that they church has decided to go back and review the basics. It will be outstanding for the church here in Albania and for me personally. The fundamental doctrines and practices of the church are really what help us along the path to salvation. The reminder is well welcome.
Well, I’ve got to go. I love you all and miss each of you. Thank you for your prayers and support. Oh, can someone tell me when Luis’s birthday is? Anyway, take care, and may God be with you!
Love
Elder Skadi
I hope you all are faring well, I am alright. I would like to congratulate my niece Kinsey on her baptism and my nephew Jordon on his receiving of the priesthood. I also would like to give a big TRASHGIME to Fred and congratulate him on the birth of his two twin girls. Lastly I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Lauren Bray and wish everyone a Happy Valentines day!
So, big news for this week: We are switching over to Gmail!!! Woohoo! The Church made some big deal with Gmail, and now the email system is going to be tons better! The new system is way better and it won’t take 5 minutes to send pictures anymore, so expect more pictures. Gëzohem!
The work was still slow this week, but what can you do? We’ve been doing a great deal of tracting, but didn’t get in once. Our phone numbers we are getting are all falling through too. However my spirits remain high and the less active work that we have been doing seems to be taking some root. This past Sunday every less active member I have visited here came to church. Some have come several weeks in a row. Sometimes I suppose people need reminders of where their priorities are. One weird thing happened while tracting. We came to a house and hanging directly across from the door way was a framed picture of John the Baptist conferring the Aaronic priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver C. We both were really taken aback but the women who answered the door didn’t seem to know anything about the church, the book of Mormon, or missionaries. We asked her about the picture. She said it had something to do with baptism. We asked her where she got it. She said she didn’t know and that they had lots of pictures hanging up of Christ. She legitimately seemed totally ignorant of the pictures real implications or that we were the only church it could be associated with (despite our efforts to convince her so) . We wonder that she might just have been a totally inactive member who was just faking it. She gave us her last name. It didn’t check out on the records. Though while we were talking to her a young man in his 20’s started to come around a corner, saw us and quickly retreated. She said it was her brother. We now maybe think that while she has nothing to do with the church, her brother might. She had children which = married which = different name than the brother. It remains a mystery to us. It was a huge surprise to see something so blatantly Mormon in a house that seemingly knew nothing about the church.
This is the last week of the transfer so next week you all will find out if I am staying here or going somewhere else. I am putting my money on going to 4th branch, which would be AWESOME because I would get to see all my boys again (Roni, Grei, Kein, and Donald) and I would be companions with Elder Hagen, from my group, who is an awesome missionary and probably the best at the language in the whole mission, minus our natives. We will see what happens.
Yesterday we ate lunch at president Pina's house. He is the president of Durres branch. Besides us, a women named Eriola Xheka was there. She is a member, but it is important to note for the story that President is 24 yrs old and seriously dating someone else and Eriola is 26, without anyone. She is the owner of a huge company and is extremely wealthy. It was valentines day so you can expect that the topic between Eriola and President got onto the subject of the Vday dance that had just happened and those sorts of intrigues. Well, one thing led to another and they all started trying to convince Elder Thackeray that he needs to move back here and marry and Albanian girl. Please keep in mind that Elder Thackeray is a really lock hearted missionary, so such joking does not worry me (some Elders you don’t want to joke about this with because it will cause them problems). Anyway, we have discussed it before and he is very seriously considering returning after he completes college to live here for good (which would mean getting married here) and I give him a hard time about it. Always his defense is “well, what work could I get? There would be no good work for me to do to support my family!” Well, as they joking continued, he pulled out that defense saying that there is no good place a mechanical engineer could work here. Eriola made the quick reply “I’ll give you a job, all my engineers are foreign and you speak Albanian. And you’d get paid so well you wouldn’t even feel your rent” LOLOLOLOLOL I died, Elder Thackeray was stuck. What's funnier is that is Motra Xheka is 100% serious. She has hired tons of members here and wouldn’t hesitate to hire an ex-missionary if he had needed skills and did OK in school. They tried to pull me into the target zone but fortunately a solid commitment to the US Army and the girl of my dreams made me totally immune. Perhaps none of you find that amusing since you do not know Elder Thackeray but for me it was hilarious.
So I got a Liahona a read about the new Gospel Principles book, it sounds really awesome. I love that they church has decided to go back and review the basics. It will be outstanding for the church here in Albania and for me personally. The fundamental doctrines and practices of the church are really what help us along the path to salvation. The reminder is well welcome.
Well, I’ve got to go. I love you all and miss each of you. Thank you for your prayers and support. Oh, can someone tell me when Luis’s birthday is? Anyway, take care, and may God be with you!
Love
Elder Skadi
Monday, February 8, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (February 8 2010)
Hello all from Albania!
I hope you all are well. I am well. Just wanted to shout out to my Brother in Law John: Happy birthday! Going to probably be a little shorter of an email because we decided to go on our district trip today and it was awesome! We saw on a map a castle called the Castle of Turres. It looked like it was only 30 min away from Durres on the coast. We asked some people about it but they had never heard of it. We called up Landi the furgon driver, who has been used by the missionaries since the beginning of the mission, and asked him to take us in that direction. It was quiet an adventure. Fortunately, when we got into the neighborhood, people knew what it was. We had to trek on foot through back passes for about 30 minutes. On a hill, from a ways a way, we saw an old run down house and decided that that must be out castle, so despite the immediate disappointment, we continued on. Well, the house really wasn’t part of the castle and what we were looking for indeed was not a castle either but an old underground communist fortification. We explored the tunnels, and found many empty boxes of ammunition. The tunnels came out on the other side of the mountain and they connected a serious of old artillery positions. All in all, we were really surprised and it was extremely fun. We also saw an old tower down on the coast so we found our way down and got to the castle. On top of all this the scenery was beautiful. The trip was a number of hours long, lots of hiking, climbing, and running: all well worth it. So, it is now one of the two best P-days I have had on my mission (the other being the time Elder Flack, Smedley, Soule and I climbed the random mountain). And fear not, I took many pictures, just no time to load up today.
I have some sad news. This week Sister Charma died in the hospital. We helped with her funeral service at the church and then went to the graveyard for the burial. According to Albanian custom the body must be buried with in 24 hrs. It was a real surprise how fast they moved. About 80ish people came to the funeral and the speakers all talked excellently on the Plan of Salvation. It was really quite beautiful. I also heard my first grave dedication that I can remember. While we were sad, we all very much knew that she was in good hands on the other side.
I wanted to pose a random question to John and Ken. On your missions, how much did the missionaries speak the mission language to each other? Were all of the meetings (district mtg, zone conference, etc.) all in those languages? I know John was in a multi-lingual mission so how much would you Spanish elders speak to each other in Spanish? I am just curious to know.
Did the church just come out with a new Gospel Principles book? Mum mentioned it in the last email and on Sunday the Elders Q. president said that soon we would be getting new copies of GPs and that we would begin to use them in first hour.
Wow, that’s crazy that you all got snow. I am glad I wasn’t there! LOLOL! Last week, just after emails, elder Thackeray and I got stuck in a hailstorm…. More than getting stuck I just told him we were going to not be babies and just troop through it because it was time to eat. It was pretty intense. Other than that it has been raining almost everyday this week, with a very large thunderstorm a couple of nights ago. It was excellent tracting weather.
Speaking of tracting, we’ve been doing a lot of that. Last week was my lowest numerical week on my mission but that is ok. It didn’t down my spirits at all. We are trying our best and the Lord is blessing us. This week was actually a very good week. It was very spiritually refreshing, especially the way we ended it with a fast. I do not understand why, but every now and again I have a short period of time on my mission when I get into a really bad mood for a couple of weeks and finally, through much prayer, scripture study, and self examination, the Lord pulls me out of it. This week was the end of another one of those times and it felt like a very good refining period. Missions truly are our own Zion's camps.
Alright, I must go. I love you all and I miss all of you. I promise pictures next week. I know it has been awhile. This is the Lord's work and this is His true church. Thank you for all your prayers and your support. Take care, and may God be with you!
Love
Elder Skadi
I hope you all are well. I am well. Just wanted to shout out to my Brother in Law John: Happy birthday! Going to probably be a little shorter of an email because we decided to go on our district trip today and it was awesome! We saw on a map a castle called the Castle of Turres. It looked like it was only 30 min away from Durres on the coast. We asked some people about it but they had never heard of it. We called up Landi the furgon driver, who has been used by the missionaries since the beginning of the mission, and asked him to take us in that direction. It was quiet an adventure. Fortunately, when we got into the neighborhood, people knew what it was. We had to trek on foot through back passes for about 30 minutes. On a hill, from a ways a way, we saw an old run down house and decided that that must be out castle, so despite the immediate disappointment, we continued on. Well, the house really wasn’t part of the castle and what we were looking for indeed was not a castle either but an old underground communist fortification. We explored the tunnels, and found many empty boxes of ammunition. The tunnels came out on the other side of the mountain and they connected a serious of old artillery positions. All in all, we were really surprised and it was extremely fun. We also saw an old tower down on the coast so we found our way down and got to the castle. On top of all this the scenery was beautiful. The trip was a number of hours long, lots of hiking, climbing, and running: all well worth it. So, it is now one of the two best P-days I have had on my mission (the other being the time Elder Flack, Smedley, Soule and I climbed the random mountain). And fear not, I took many pictures, just no time to load up today.
I have some sad news. This week Sister Charma died in the hospital. We helped with her funeral service at the church and then went to the graveyard for the burial. According to Albanian custom the body must be buried with in 24 hrs. It was a real surprise how fast they moved. About 80ish people came to the funeral and the speakers all talked excellently on the Plan of Salvation. It was really quite beautiful. I also heard my first grave dedication that I can remember. While we were sad, we all very much knew that she was in good hands on the other side.
I wanted to pose a random question to John and Ken. On your missions, how much did the missionaries speak the mission language to each other? Were all of the meetings (district mtg, zone conference, etc.) all in those languages? I know John was in a multi-lingual mission so how much would you Spanish elders speak to each other in Spanish? I am just curious to know.
Did the church just come out with a new Gospel Principles book? Mum mentioned it in the last email and on Sunday the Elders Q. president said that soon we would be getting new copies of GPs and that we would begin to use them in first hour.
Wow, that’s crazy that you all got snow. I am glad I wasn’t there! LOLOL! Last week, just after emails, elder Thackeray and I got stuck in a hailstorm…. More than getting stuck I just told him we were going to not be babies and just troop through it because it was time to eat. It was pretty intense. Other than that it has been raining almost everyday this week, with a very large thunderstorm a couple of nights ago. It was excellent tracting weather.
Speaking of tracting, we’ve been doing a lot of that. Last week was my lowest numerical week on my mission but that is ok. It didn’t down my spirits at all. We are trying our best and the Lord is blessing us. This week was actually a very good week. It was very spiritually refreshing, especially the way we ended it with a fast. I do not understand why, but every now and again I have a short period of time on my mission when I get into a really bad mood for a couple of weeks and finally, through much prayer, scripture study, and self examination, the Lord pulls me out of it. This week was the end of another one of those times and it felt like a very good refining period. Missions truly are our own Zion's camps.
Alright, I must go. I love you all and I miss all of you. I promise pictures next week. I know it has been awhile. This is the Lord's work and this is His true church. Thank you for all your prayers and your support. Take care, and may God be with you!
Love
Elder Skadi
Monday, February 1, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (February 01, 2010)
Hello all from Albania!
I hope everyone is well. I miss you all! Last week I got a lot of really great emails. I feel quite informed about home this week which is not necessarily always the case (just because 2 or 3 people couldn’t possibly tell me everything that’s going on in everyone else's lives). This past week has been good. We had our first Zone Conference with me conducting. Let me say that I learned many things about conducting a zone conference. The Assistants gave Elder Thackeray a hard time for not really explaining to me at all the things I would need to know or be ready to announce during the meeting. Needless to say, having seen many meeting conducted, it really was not that rocky. I simply did not know the information that people expected me to know. As a whole, zone conference was Great! Very uplifting, with a focus on finding. President has said that the year of 2010 will be the year of finding.
Last night we went to go visit Sister Charma, the old women who reminded me of Sister Hodge. We she has been sick and last night was in a really terrible way. This morning we came with an ambulance, put her on a stretcher and carried her down 6 flights of stairs. Since it was planned (it was not an emergency) the EMS guys refused to come and carry her down and since all of the men in the church were working, we were asked to do it. It went well and we were glad to help. She decided to go to the Hospital because she has no one except friends to take care of her and she needed more constant care. I hope that she will get better. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had passed away in the night last night but this morning she seemed to actually be doing a little bit better. A good sign.
I would like to inform everyone that according to people, animals and things do not make all the same sounds all around the world. Where in America a dog goes Bark Bark, or Woof Woof, here in Albania a dog goes Hahm Hahm Hahm Hahm and a gun goes Tak tak tak tak. LOL. I guess it's not a surprise that such things wouldn’t be the same around the world but I just had never thought about it before until it came up (somehow) in church yesterday.
Dude, it has rained like no tomorrow this week. We went tracting a couple of days ago and it was raining pretty hard. While we tracted the rain got even harder. After the time came to leave, we left the neighborhood of apartment buildings we had been tracting and found that we were trapped, the main road had flooded about 5 inches LOL! Clearly passable but we decided to walk around a ways and finally found a place were we could get across mostly unsplashed. It could have been worse.
I would like to say that I really love the testimonies of others. I find them so very refreshing. Last week one of my sisters bore testimony to me about something and I really found it energizing. I had a similar feeling at church yesterday as the people were giving their talks. I rejoiced in their love for the gospel and faith in their savior. As I have been on my mission I feel like my love for the testimonies of others has greatly increased. Maybe part of it comes from always worrying about if a member will just suddenly apostatize for some totally random reason. Hearing their testimonies gives me assurance that they are trying to stand on good ground. I am reminded by Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference where we are encouraged to bear testimony far more often in our homes. We really can draw greater strength as we hear other's testimonies and especially as we bear testimony to others. I am truly blessed that daily I am given the opportunity to directly bear, to many people, my testimony of Christ and the prophets that he has called in our day. Its hard to believe that I have less time left to do that than I have behind me…
Well, I must go. Thank you all for your prayers, I feel your love and support even across these many waters. I miss you all, and I love all of you very much. I know that this is the Lords work. All of you take care and may God be with you!
With love
Elder Skadi
I hope everyone is well. I miss you all! Last week I got a lot of really great emails. I feel quite informed about home this week which is not necessarily always the case (just because 2 or 3 people couldn’t possibly tell me everything that’s going on in everyone else's lives). This past week has been good. We had our first Zone Conference with me conducting. Let me say that I learned many things about conducting a zone conference. The Assistants gave Elder Thackeray a hard time for not really explaining to me at all the things I would need to know or be ready to announce during the meeting. Needless to say, having seen many meeting conducted, it really was not that rocky. I simply did not know the information that people expected me to know. As a whole, zone conference was Great! Very uplifting, with a focus on finding. President has said that the year of 2010 will be the year of finding.
Last night we went to go visit Sister Charma, the old women who reminded me of Sister Hodge. We she has been sick and last night was in a really terrible way. This morning we came with an ambulance, put her on a stretcher and carried her down 6 flights of stairs. Since it was planned (it was not an emergency) the EMS guys refused to come and carry her down and since all of the men in the church were working, we were asked to do it. It went well and we were glad to help. She decided to go to the Hospital because she has no one except friends to take care of her and she needed more constant care. I hope that she will get better. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had passed away in the night last night but this morning she seemed to actually be doing a little bit better. A good sign.
I would like to inform everyone that according to people, animals and things do not make all the same sounds all around the world. Where in America a dog goes Bark Bark, or Woof Woof, here in Albania a dog goes Hahm Hahm Hahm Hahm and a gun goes Tak tak tak tak. LOL. I guess it's not a surprise that such things wouldn’t be the same around the world but I just had never thought about it before until it came up (somehow) in church yesterday.
Dude, it has rained like no tomorrow this week. We went tracting a couple of days ago and it was raining pretty hard. While we tracted the rain got even harder. After the time came to leave, we left the neighborhood of apartment buildings we had been tracting and found that we were trapped, the main road had flooded about 5 inches LOL! Clearly passable but we decided to walk around a ways and finally found a place were we could get across mostly unsplashed. It could have been worse.
I would like to say that I really love the testimonies of others. I find them so very refreshing. Last week one of my sisters bore testimony to me about something and I really found it energizing. I had a similar feeling at church yesterday as the people were giving their talks. I rejoiced in their love for the gospel and faith in their savior. As I have been on my mission I feel like my love for the testimonies of others has greatly increased. Maybe part of it comes from always worrying about if a member will just suddenly apostatize for some totally random reason. Hearing their testimonies gives me assurance that they are trying to stand on good ground. I am reminded by Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference where we are encouraged to bear testimony far more often in our homes. We really can draw greater strength as we hear other's testimonies and especially as we bear testimony to others. I am truly blessed that daily I am given the opportunity to directly bear, to many people, my testimony of Christ and the prophets that he has called in our day. Its hard to believe that I have less time left to do that than I have behind me…
Well, I must go. Thank you all for your prayers, I feel your love and support even across these many waters. I miss you all, and I love all of you very much. I know that this is the Lords work. All of you take care and may God be with you!
With love
Elder Skadi
Monday, January 25, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (January 25, 2009)
Hello to all from Albania!
Wow, it has been cold this week! Over all though, Albania seems to be less cold than NC. The other real issue is that I am outside for much longer hours than I would be in the states. It's also good to hear that Grandma is alive. I’d just like to shout out to Amanda and Stephanie Bray who have their birthdays this week, Happy Birthday! So the sickness was quite cumbersome. I was confined to quarters until Thursday. It was extremely refreshing to be out working again. I do not understand how I’ve managed it but I sure do seem to get sick a lot here. It is somewhat dishonoring. Maybe I need to be better about using that hand sanitizer that you all sent me for Christmas. I still find it difficult to use often. I sometimes wonder what kind of super bacteria I am helping to create when I use it. When the scriptures talk about the pestilences of the last days, I tend to think that they will come because we started relying too much on strong antibiotics that really are just making us weaker in the long run. Anyway, enough of my ridiculous medical opinions.
Last week I mentioned Elder Turley going home. He is home now and our retention, Zef, has been chosen to take his place. He has been in Elbasan for 4 days now as a missionary. He was super stoked about going. We talked to his comp yesterday and he seems to be doing great. This is an excellent opportunity for him to prepare for a full time mission. One year from now he will be getting ready to leave. That is pretty exciting. However, now our teaching pool has been reduced to zero. We’ve been doing tons of finding and have several new investigators but we will have to wait and see if they progress anywhere. None of them seemed out of this world prepared but at times the prepared can be hard to see. I am ever hopeful. Due to the sickness, and our lack of teaching pool, we got 4 lessons this week, my least yet on my mission! We had more new investigators than lessons though, which was somewhat entertaining to report, but I hope that this week will remain the weakest, number wise, on my mission. Though, I must say, while our numbers were low the days we were actually outside the house were really quite good days. I feel like the Lord is helping me to become a better, more effective finder.
During my time inside I remade my language study plan. My language study had been kind of weakening in effectiveness and consistency, but the new plan I’ve set out is good. It is surprising how much more we are able to accomplish when we just do a little planning. As for my language itself, it is doing OK. Elder Thackeray and I only speak in Albanian to each other outside of the house. I’m certainly improving but have a long way to go. Fortunately I have a year left to continue to improve, more time than I have had in the country. I feel like I’m in a good spot.
I’ve also been reading the New Testament. I have always found it intriguing how the devils and evil spirits always testify of Christ. At times, at least according to the record we have, they even run up to Him, declaring Him to be the son of God. However, Christ always quickly silences them. I do not recall if James E. Talmage address this in Jesus the Christ (I’ll find that out when I reread it here soon), but I wonder why Christ resisted the testimony of devils. There is one obvious possibility, even though they spoke the truth they were still evil and enemies to Christ and their testimony was viewed as something wicked. I don’t know really. It was just an interesting thought I had while reading. If any of you have any insight into that, I’d love to hear it.
So here in Durres there is a Sister named Motra (sister) Cherma. She is bedridden and we bring her the sacrament every week. She reminds me a great deal of Sister Hodge. She is kind, loving, full of stories and wisdom. Our visits with her make me miss Sister Hodge and I am sad that in this life I will not be able to meet with her again. One of the best things about current Albanian culture is how the old women act and treat others. They are all like a bunch of fairy godmothers, especially those that are members. Unfortunately, it is a culture that is dying with the rising generation. The majority of the youth are embracing most of the negative aspects of western European culture without taking any of the good. I am glad that the Church exists here because I have seen very strongly the way it is helping many youth avoid the destructive behavior and influence that is becoming so prominent in their country.
Mum and Dad, I do just want to say that I chuckled a little when Dad told me you all go to the empty nesters family home evening. But it is a good thing that it exists!
I have a complaint that I would like to share. It is that many of our Albanian young single adults leave Albania to go to school and then get hitched to Americans and never come back! I therefore have decided to always encourage my nephews, nieces, friends and children to never think about marrying someone who should be going back to their country, marrying someone there and building Zion in their place! I NEVER thought that something like this would bother me. I’ve always had the attitude that it's great if members from other countries are able to come together and get married but it is one of the most damaging qualities that exists in the church here in Albania. So many good members, male and female, have gone off to BYU I-do and never come back! Thus, even the oldest branches continue to struggle to find effective, young members who have more or less been raised in the church culture. Roflcopter. Really random, I know, but we missionaries mourn a great deal over the many that have been lost to American marriages.
Well that is all for today. Something that I realize about my emails is that I don’t share tons of spiritual experiences. Allow me to say that I have them but that I just do not often feel compelled to share. A lot of them are little, small, unexpected blessing from the Lord.l Others are really great events. When it is something that I really desire to share, I will share them, but I simply didn’t want any among you to wonder if I wasn’t really having any because I don’t write about tons of them. Fear not!
You all take care, I love you all and miss you all very much. I feel the power of your prayers daily and am ever grateful for your love and support. May God be with you!
Love
Elder Skadi
Wow, it has been cold this week! Over all though, Albania seems to be less cold than NC. The other real issue is that I am outside for much longer hours than I would be in the states. It's also good to hear that Grandma is alive. I’d just like to shout out to Amanda and Stephanie Bray who have their birthdays this week, Happy Birthday! So the sickness was quite cumbersome. I was confined to quarters until Thursday. It was extremely refreshing to be out working again. I do not understand how I’ve managed it but I sure do seem to get sick a lot here. It is somewhat dishonoring. Maybe I need to be better about using that hand sanitizer that you all sent me for Christmas. I still find it difficult to use often. I sometimes wonder what kind of super bacteria I am helping to create when I use it. When the scriptures talk about the pestilences of the last days, I tend to think that they will come because we started relying too much on strong antibiotics that really are just making us weaker in the long run. Anyway, enough of my ridiculous medical opinions.
Last week I mentioned Elder Turley going home. He is home now and our retention, Zef, has been chosen to take his place. He has been in Elbasan for 4 days now as a missionary. He was super stoked about going. We talked to his comp yesterday and he seems to be doing great. This is an excellent opportunity for him to prepare for a full time mission. One year from now he will be getting ready to leave. That is pretty exciting. However, now our teaching pool has been reduced to zero. We’ve been doing tons of finding and have several new investigators but we will have to wait and see if they progress anywhere. None of them seemed out of this world prepared but at times the prepared can be hard to see. I am ever hopeful. Due to the sickness, and our lack of teaching pool, we got 4 lessons this week, my least yet on my mission! We had more new investigators than lessons though, which was somewhat entertaining to report, but I hope that this week will remain the weakest, number wise, on my mission. Though, I must say, while our numbers were low the days we were actually outside the house were really quite good days. I feel like the Lord is helping me to become a better, more effective finder.
During my time inside I remade my language study plan. My language study had been kind of weakening in effectiveness and consistency, but the new plan I’ve set out is good. It is surprising how much more we are able to accomplish when we just do a little planning. As for my language itself, it is doing OK. Elder Thackeray and I only speak in Albanian to each other outside of the house. I’m certainly improving but have a long way to go. Fortunately I have a year left to continue to improve, more time than I have had in the country. I feel like I’m in a good spot.
I’ve also been reading the New Testament. I have always found it intriguing how the devils and evil spirits always testify of Christ. At times, at least according to the record we have, they even run up to Him, declaring Him to be the son of God. However, Christ always quickly silences them. I do not recall if James E. Talmage address this in Jesus the Christ (I’ll find that out when I reread it here soon), but I wonder why Christ resisted the testimony of devils. There is one obvious possibility, even though they spoke the truth they were still evil and enemies to Christ and their testimony was viewed as something wicked. I don’t know really. It was just an interesting thought I had while reading. If any of you have any insight into that, I’d love to hear it.
So here in Durres there is a Sister named Motra (sister) Cherma. She is bedridden and we bring her the sacrament every week. She reminds me a great deal of Sister Hodge. She is kind, loving, full of stories and wisdom. Our visits with her make me miss Sister Hodge and I am sad that in this life I will not be able to meet with her again. One of the best things about current Albanian culture is how the old women act and treat others. They are all like a bunch of fairy godmothers, especially those that are members. Unfortunately, it is a culture that is dying with the rising generation. The majority of the youth are embracing most of the negative aspects of western European culture without taking any of the good. I am glad that the Church exists here because I have seen very strongly the way it is helping many youth avoid the destructive behavior and influence that is becoming so prominent in their country.
Mum and Dad, I do just want to say that I chuckled a little when Dad told me you all go to the empty nesters family home evening. But it is a good thing that it exists!
I have a complaint that I would like to share. It is that many of our Albanian young single adults leave Albania to go to school and then get hitched to Americans and never come back! I therefore have decided to always encourage my nephews, nieces, friends and children to never think about marrying someone who should be going back to their country, marrying someone there and building Zion in their place! I NEVER thought that something like this would bother me. I’ve always had the attitude that it's great if members from other countries are able to come together and get married but it is one of the most damaging qualities that exists in the church here in Albania. So many good members, male and female, have gone off to BYU I-do and never come back! Thus, even the oldest branches continue to struggle to find effective, young members who have more or less been raised in the church culture. Roflcopter. Really random, I know, but we missionaries mourn a great deal over the many that have been lost to American marriages.
Well that is all for today. Something that I realize about my emails is that I don’t share tons of spiritual experiences. Allow me to say that I have them but that I just do not often feel compelled to share. A lot of them are little, small, unexpected blessing from the Lord.l Others are really great events. When it is something that I really desire to share, I will share them, but I simply didn’t want any among you to wonder if I wasn’t really having any because I don’t write about tons of them. Fear not!
You all take care, I love you all and miss you all very much. I feel the power of your prayers daily and am ever grateful for your love and support. May God be with you!
Love
Elder Skadi
Monday, January 18, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (January 18 2010)
Hello from Albania!
I just want to shout out to my nephew Jordon and wish him a Happy Birthday! Congratulations on being 12. So, guess what? I am sick again! This time it was just a sinus infection and today I seem to be doing better but we have to wait to see if my fever will come back in the afternoon. I figured it out, I have been sick EVERY transfer of my mission. I guess I am not as army strong as I would like to be.
So let me tell you a little more about Durres. It is right on the coast so we get a lot of wind here and a considerable amount of rain, but not as much as Tirana, since Tirana is at the foot of a mountain range. It is clearly the second biggest city in Albania, at least as far as I have seen. It's primary function is as a port city. It is probably also the best laid out city in Albania, it is extremely gridded. When the communists came to power they literally bulldozed the whole city and rebuilt it in a much more comprehensive lay out.
Elder Turley, an Elder who I served with in my last district, is going home for medical reasons. Towards the middle of last transfer he started to complain about weird heart pains. After a couple weeks he started to get tests run as the pain started to get worse. Finally, with an MRI, they were able to find that it is not actually his heart but that his back is super messed up with 3 different things (none of which are scoliosis) and they require surgery asap. He is past the point of no return on his mission, which means he has less than 6 months left so he will not be able to return. This is really disappointing news, I had become good friends with Elder Turley.
Ah, so a funny story. Do you remember the mud incident from last week? Well, this is mud incident part 2. Again, we had gone out to Zef's for a lesson (who might quickly become a mini missionary because of Elder Turley's emergency situation). As we went back, we reached a part where we could not find the stepping stone. Allow me to deviate and say that Elder Thackeray had just gotten his pants back from the dry cleaners from the time he fell in the mud and was wearing them. Well, Elder Thackeray decides to grab a rather large rock, now this thing was big. I have to admit that I only made mild protestations to the action he was about to execute. He took the rock and hurled it a few feet away. Well, as you can imagine, the rock sent soupy mud flying everywhere, particularly all over Elder Thackeray and half of myself (being somewhat blocked by Elder Thackeray). His pants, again, need a good dry cleaning. He just cannot win, LOL!
Currently the work moves along slowly. We did get a new investigator this week, a middle aged women. I hope that we will be able to get her whole family involved, but she shows a a great deal of interest in finding out more about the church. Numerically this has been the worst week of my mission, potentially because we had 2 meetings in Tirana and I got sick, but those are just excuses! We are doing a great deal of tracting. Our street contacting is starting to improve. We are focusing more on trying to stop people than waiting for them to kind of stop and talk to us. I hope that next week will be a stronger week.
At this time I do just want to leave a brief part of my testimony of the plan of Salvation. For years I misunderstood the plan and its purpose but through softening of the heart and study, my blindness has been taken away. Our Father in Heaven has prepared for us a plan where by we may all have the opportunity to return and live with Him again. It is a plan of goodness and mercy. With the knowledge of this plan also comes the understanding of the importance of the family history work we strive to do. We cannot be saved without our dead! By doing our family work, we give all of our ancestors the opportunity to accept the fullness of Christ's gospel.
Well, until next week, all of you take care. I miss you all, I love you. You all are in my prayers. I thank you for all your prayers and support. May God be with you all.
Love
Elder Skadi
I just want to shout out to my nephew Jordon and wish him a Happy Birthday! Congratulations on being 12. So, guess what? I am sick again! This time it was just a sinus infection and today I seem to be doing better but we have to wait to see if my fever will come back in the afternoon. I figured it out, I have been sick EVERY transfer of my mission. I guess I am not as army strong as I would like to be.
So let me tell you a little more about Durres. It is right on the coast so we get a lot of wind here and a considerable amount of rain, but not as much as Tirana, since Tirana is at the foot of a mountain range. It is clearly the second biggest city in Albania, at least as far as I have seen. It's primary function is as a port city. It is probably also the best laid out city in Albania, it is extremely gridded. When the communists came to power they literally bulldozed the whole city and rebuilt it in a much more comprehensive lay out.
Elder Turley, an Elder who I served with in my last district, is going home for medical reasons. Towards the middle of last transfer he started to complain about weird heart pains. After a couple weeks he started to get tests run as the pain started to get worse. Finally, with an MRI, they were able to find that it is not actually his heart but that his back is super messed up with 3 different things (none of which are scoliosis) and they require surgery asap. He is past the point of no return on his mission, which means he has less than 6 months left so he will not be able to return. This is really disappointing news, I had become good friends with Elder Turley.
Ah, so a funny story. Do you remember the mud incident from last week? Well, this is mud incident part 2. Again, we had gone out to Zef's for a lesson (who might quickly become a mini missionary because of Elder Turley's emergency situation). As we went back, we reached a part where we could not find the stepping stone. Allow me to deviate and say that Elder Thackeray had just gotten his pants back from the dry cleaners from the time he fell in the mud and was wearing them. Well, Elder Thackeray decides to grab a rather large rock, now this thing was big. I have to admit that I only made mild protestations to the action he was about to execute. He took the rock and hurled it a few feet away. Well, as you can imagine, the rock sent soupy mud flying everywhere, particularly all over Elder Thackeray and half of myself (being somewhat blocked by Elder Thackeray). His pants, again, need a good dry cleaning. He just cannot win, LOL!
Currently the work moves along slowly. We did get a new investigator this week, a middle aged women. I hope that we will be able to get her whole family involved, but she shows a a great deal of interest in finding out more about the church. Numerically this has been the worst week of my mission, potentially because we had 2 meetings in Tirana and I got sick, but those are just excuses! We are doing a great deal of tracting. Our street contacting is starting to improve. We are focusing more on trying to stop people than waiting for them to kind of stop and talk to us. I hope that next week will be a stronger week.
At this time I do just want to leave a brief part of my testimony of the plan of Salvation. For years I misunderstood the plan and its purpose but through softening of the heart and study, my blindness has been taken away. Our Father in Heaven has prepared for us a plan where by we may all have the opportunity to return and live with Him again. It is a plan of goodness and mercy. With the knowledge of this plan also comes the understanding of the importance of the family history work we strive to do. We cannot be saved without our dead! By doing our family work, we give all of our ancestors the opportunity to accept the fullness of Christ's gospel.
Well, until next week, all of you take care. I miss you all, I love you. You all are in my prayers. I thank you for all your prayers and support. May God be with you all.
Love
Elder Skadi
Monday, January 11, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (January 11, 2010)
Hello all from Albania!
Congratulations Sarah and Luis! I wish you a long, successful and happy marriage! I am disappointed I could not be there but the Lord’s work waits for no one. I am glad that Matt Bray took my place and wore my face for the pictures. That was very awesome of him so now I can pretend I was there LOLOLOLOL!
Just to clarify something for Dad. He asked me what an outside zone leader was. We only have 2 zones in our mission, the Inside and Outside zones. The Inside Zone includes all of Tirana and Shkoder. The Outside zone includes all the other cities in Albania. So I am an Outside zone leader because I am a leader over the outside zone.
So, a funny thing happened this week. I must preface it by saying that in the MTC we heard tons of stories about how horrible the mud is here in Albania. In Shkoder and Tirana I didn’t really encounter bad mud, so I wasn’t really sure what they were talking about. Now I know what they were talking about. We were going to a recently baptized member’s house to do a retention lesson. He lives right near the church in an area called Kanet. In Albanian Kanet means Swamp. It lives up to its name. The roads were like soup and were barely traversable. Elder Thackeray got both shoes completely covered with mud by missteps. One such misstep resulted in the loss of his shoe but we were able to get it back. After the lesson we asked if there was a better way and he indicated where it was. The road was much better but still a little muddy… and very slick. So as we walked along, Elder Thackeray took a mighty tumble and got mud ALL over his left side. On top of that a whole group of men were watching while it happened. I tried really hard not to laugh, after I made sure he was ok. Then we had to walk half way across the city, with him covered in mud, to the Couple’s house and they helped clean him up. It was hilarious.
Hey, so our Senior Couple here are named Ahburn. They said their son used to live in Raleigh. Did any of you know them? On top of that, Brother Ahburn has been working for CES for his whole life and he worked with Brother Lee in Idaho quite some time ago! It’s pretty cool to see how small the world can be sometimes as we meet people that have met people in the most random places.
Church in Durres was great! Not only is it in a real chapel but we did not have to do ANYTHING to make sure things ran smoothly. People fulfilled their callings, people had the things they needed and it was really great. More people here speak English than in Tirana but here they prefer to speak to the missionaries in Albanian. That is no real problem because I need to learn Albanian better. Right now here in Durres we don’t have any investigators. We had some, a woman, her daughters, her mom and her sister in-law but they didn’t answer their phones for a few days so we went over there to find out what was up. Apparently the woman’s brother came back from Italy for the holidays and was enraged that they had been investigating the church. He ripped up all their books. We could not understand everything the mom was saying because she was talking fast and hushed, but for some reason the Mom and the sister in-law are now hiding the sister in a different house that the brother doesn’t know about for her protection. It’s really jacked up if you have to be hidden from your brother for physical safety. They told us they still have a desire to be baptized but that right now it is too dangerous for them to even meet with us or talk to us on the phone. We had a special fast for them this Sunday, and have been praying much for them. I hope that things turn out ok for them.
Since we do not have any investigators, we have been doing a lot of tracting and street contacting. That has yet to yield much success but we have two potential investigators, college students. They are girls so we could not go in and meet with them at that time, but they were willing to meet with us later when we could bring a member along with us. We will continue to tract and street contact.
The weather here has been really crazy. We had a day where the temp was in the high 60s and now it is freezing again. We’ve been getting tons of rain too. I guess since Durres is on the coast it has this sort of wildness.
We also had a professor accuse us of enslaving people. Fortunately, after talking to him, he was accusing religion at large and not just our church. He had some pretty insane ideas about contextual verse universal knowledge. It was an interesting discussion but in the end we took his argument that he has to find proof for himself if something is true and turned it back on him, offering him a BoM and telling him that by it and prayer he can know for himself. He did not take it, proving the hypocrite in light of his claim as a man on a quest for personal knowledge. But he has his own choice.
The work continues to be great even though right now the fruits are slow in this area (I heard that Grej and Keins mom has a baptismal date, woohoo!). I know that this is the work of God and I am truly blessed to be a part of this work. I hope you all will take care, I love and miss you all, may God be with you all!
Love
Elder Skadi
The following was sent by Gregory’s mission president.
Dear Parents of Albania Tirana Missionaries,
You may have heard news reports of flooding in Albania, homes underwater, and forced evacuations of people. I want you to know that all of your missionary sons and daughters are safe! The entire country has been receiving a lot of rain over the last weeks, but the main problems have been in the north, in the areas surrounding the major city of Shkoder. In a number of small villages around Shkoder, homes have been inundated, and people have been evacuated to the city of Shkoder.
We have four missionaries in Shkoder, and I've been in frequent contact with them, as well as with the US Embassy, and locals who are aware of the situation. Our missionaries are in no danger, and are fine. They are continuing to work, and everyone in the city itself seem to be carrying on normally. It's reported that nearly 5000 persons have been evacuated from the outlying villages, and have been brought into Shkoder for care. The national highway connecting Tirana to Shkoder is underwater, and transport is only by military vehicle. The highway connecting Shkoder to the north is open, and there should be no problem with bringing water and supplies into the city as normal. Just in case, I asked the missionaries to get a 5 day supply of food and water.
The missionaries have checked on our members, and the members are doing ok. It doesn't seem that the weather forecast is going to help us out much. We will continue to monitor the situation with our missionaries, to ensure that all are safe.
Warm Regards,
President Neil
Congratulations Sarah and Luis! I wish you a long, successful and happy marriage! I am disappointed I could not be there but the Lord’s work waits for no one. I am glad that Matt Bray took my place and wore my face for the pictures. That was very awesome of him so now I can pretend I was there LOLOLOLOL!
Just to clarify something for Dad. He asked me what an outside zone leader was. We only have 2 zones in our mission, the Inside and Outside zones. The Inside Zone includes all of Tirana and Shkoder. The Outside zone includes all the other cities in Albania. So I am an Outside zone leader because I am a leader over the outside zone.
So, a funny thing happened this week. I must preface it by saying that in the MTC we heard tons of stories about how horrible the mud is here in Albania. In Shkoder and Tirana I didn’t really encounter bad mud, so I wasn’t really sure what they were talking about. Now I know what they were talking about. We were going to a recently baptized member’s house to do a retention lesson. He lives right near the church in an area called Kanet. In Albanian Kanet means Swamp. It lives up to its name. The roads were like soup and were barely traversable. Elder Thackeray got both shoes completely covered with mud by missteps. One such misstep resulted in the loss of his shoe but we were able to get it back. After the lesson we asked if there was a better way and he indicated where it was. The road was much better but still a little muddy… and very slick. So as we walked along, Elder Thackeray took a mighty tumble and got mud ALL over his left side. On top of that a whole group of men were watching while it happened. I tried really hard not to laugh, after I made sure he was ok. Then we had to walk half way across the city, with him covered in mud, to the Couple’s house and they helped clean him up. It was hilarious.
Hey, so our Senior Couple here are named Ahburn. They said their son used to live in Raleigh. Did any of you know them? On top of that, Brother Ahburn has been working for CES for his whole life and he worked with Brother Lee in Idaho quite some time ago! It’s pretty cool to see how small the world can be sometimes as we meet people that have met people in the most random places.
Church in Durres was great! Not only is it in a real chapel but we did not have to do ANYTHING to make sure things ran smoothly. People fulfilled their callings, people had the things they needed and it was really great. More people here speak English than in Tirana but here they prefer to speak to the missionaries in Albanian. That is no real problem because I need to learn Albanian better. Right now here in Durres we don’t have any investigators. We had some, a woman, her daughters, her mom and her sister in-law but they didn’t answer their phones for a few days so we went over there to find out what was up. Apparently the woman’s brother came back from Italy for the holidays and was enraged that they had been investigating the church. He ripped up all their books. We could not understand everything the mom was saying because she was talking fast and hushed, but for some reason the Mom and the sister in-law are now hiding the sister in a different house that the brother doesn’t know about for her protection. It’s really jacked up if you have to be hidden from your brother for physical safety. They told us they still have a desire to be baptized but that right now it is too dangerous for them to even meet with us or talk to us on the phone. We had a special fast for them this Sunday, and have been praying much for them. I hope that things turn out ok for them.
Since we do not have any investigators, we have been doing a lot of tracting and street contacting. That has yet to yield much success but we have two potential investigators, college students. They are girls so we could not go in and meet with them at that time, but they were willing to meet with us later when we could bring a member along with us. We will continue to tract and street contact.
The weather here has been really crazy. We had a day where the temp was in the high 60s and now it is freezing again. We’ve been getting tons of rain too. I guess since Durres is on the coast it has this sort of wildness.
We also had a professor accuse us of enslaving people. Fortunately, after talking to him, he was accusing religion at large and not just our church. He had some pretty insane ideas about contextual verse universal knowledge. It was an interesting discussion but in the end we took his argument that he has to find proof for himself if something is true and turned it back on him, offering him a BoM and telling him that by it and prayer he can know for himself. He did not take it, proving the hypocrite in light of his claim as a man on a quest for personal knowledge. But he has his own choice.
The work continues to be great even though right now the fruits are slow in this area (I heard that Grej and Keins mom has a baptismal date, woohoo!). I know that this is the work of God and I am truly blessed to be a part of this work. I hope you all will take care, I love and miss you all, may God be with you all!
Love
Elder Skadi
The following was sent by Gregory’s mission president.
Dear Parents of Albania Tirana Missionaries,
You may have heard news reports of flooding in Albania, homes underwater, and forced evacuations of people. I want you to know that all of your missionary sons and daughters are safe! The entire country has been receiving a lot of rain over the last weeks, but the main problems have been in the north, in the areas surrounding the major city of Shkoder. In a number of small villages around Shkoder, homes have been inundated, and people have been evacuated to the city of Shkoder.
We have four missionaries in Shkoder, and I've been in frequent contact with them, as well as with the US Embassy, and locals who are aware of the situation. Our missionaries are in no danger, and are fine. They are continuing to work, and everyone in the city itself seem to be carrying on normally. It's reported that nearly 5000 persons have been evacuated from the outlying villages, and have been brought into Shkoder for care. The national highway connecting Tirana to Shkoder is underwater, and transport is only by military vehicle. The highway connecting Shkoder to the north is open, and there should be no problem with bringing water and supplies into the city as normal. Just in case, I asked the missionaries to get a 5 day supply of food and water.
The missionaries have checked on our members, and the members are doing ok. It doesn't seem that the weather forecast is going to help us out much. We will continue to monitor the situation with our missionaries, to ensure that all are safe.
Warm Regards,
President Neil
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Once upon a time in Albania (January 05, 2010)
Happy New Year to all from Albania!
Wow, 2010! We continue to not be sending space ships to Jupiter, but what can you do? I hope you all have a really great new years, I will talk a little more about mine later. Ok, transfers have occurred. To my dismay I have been transferred out of 2nd branch. I will now be serving in Durres with Elder Thackery as outside Zone Leader. Out of all of our guesses, this is not one that we had predicted. Being a Zone leader is basically just more work without many perks and I hope I am able to fulfill all of my responsibilities but I am excited about being in Durres and I will get to see every city in Albania now! We also have our own car, though I may never drive it because my driver's license is expired. However this is Albania, so President may choose to wave the rule of having an up to date drivers license. That’s ok, driving in Albania is INSANE! I do not know much about Elder Thackery, he only has 3 months left on his mission and he sounds like he is an obedient missionary. Plus, he LOVES to cook, for this I am also excited. So the reason I was dismayed about the transfer was mainly leaving behind 2nd branch and our 4 boys. I never thought that I would have a difficult time saying goodbye to an area, but yesterday was a pretty depressing day. Fortunately I will have other opportunities to see those boys and the other members that I have become great friends with. Now it is time to give all I have in a new area!
One cool thing that occurred last week was that we went to the CIRCUS! Woohoo! It was basically awesome. It is not nearly as big as the circus that comes to NC but they still had some neat performances and we were only a foot away from the ring, so we were right up with them. Elder Allen, from my MTC group, got lathered with shaving cream and sprayed by an Elephant. That was quite a bit fun!
The mission continues to go flying by. My year mark is close to coming and I will be home less than a year from now. It is hard to believe that the year of 2009, with exception to 3 weeks, was dedicated to my mission. And now it is over. I still do not feel like I have been here that long but I am definitely growing still. The language is coming along but I am often surprised by how little I really know about it.
Man, I really did not take notes on things to talk about this week so I am having a hard time writing! Some updates on investigators from my old area: Grej and Kein's mom is getting close to baptism and I hope that it will happen within the next transfer. LOL on Sunday, after I shared my testimony because I was leaving, she said quite loudly from the audience (in Albanian) “can I please say something?” she wanted to protest my leaving. She wanted to talk to President Neil to try and convince him that both Elder Seevers and I must stay, because we were like her sons. Those around her explained to her that it really isn’t the mission presidents decision but is more God's decision. She finally grudgingly accepted it.
Well I suppose I can say a little about what I know of Durres. The branch here has one of the two church constructed buildings in Albania. The branch has slightly less sacrament attendance than 2nd branch (btw we had 88 in church on Sunday, woo!) but the branch functions more autonomously and people more effectively fulfill their callings. Of course, it still has its problems but I have also heard that it has already endured the great apostasy that every branch seems to have to suffer here in Albania. Hmmm I do not know much more about it than that…
Ok, I give up. Its one of those p-days when I cannot think of anything to write! That is ok, though, because by ending early we will have time to get some other things done since our p-day sounds like it's going to be extra short today because we must teach an English course at 3.
Anyway, I do wish to testify that this is the Lords work. His Angels are around us, bearing us up. Today there is a living prophet and he has authority from God to lead this church. I am blessed to be on a mission! I love you all, thank you all from you prayers and your love. I miss you all and I hope that all is well. May God be with you all!
Love
Elder Skadi
Wow, 2010! We continue to not be sending space ships to Jupiter, but what can you do? I hope you all have a really great new years, I will talk a little more about mine later. Ok, transfers have occurred. To my dismay I have been transferred out of 2nd branch. I will now be serving in Durres with Elder Thackery as outside Zone Leader. Out of all of our guesses, this is not one that we had predicted. Being a Zone leader is basically just more work without many perks and I hope I am able to fulfill all of my responsibilities but I am excited about being in Durres and I will get to see every city in Albania now! We also have our own car, though I may never drive it because my driver's license is expired. However this is Albania, so President may choose to wave the rule of having an up to date drivers license. That’s ok, driving in Albania is INSANE! I do not know much about Elder Thackery, he only has 3 months left on his mission and he sounds like he is an obedient missionary. Plus, he LOVES to cook, for this I am also excited. So the reason I was dismayed about the transfer was mainly leaving behind 2nd branch and our 4 boys. I never thought that I would have a difficult time saying goodbye to an area, but yesterday was a pretty depressing day. Fortunately I will have other opportunities to see those boys and the other members that I have become great friends with. Now it is time to give all I have in a new area!
One cool thing that occurred last week was that we went to the CIRCUS! Woohoo! It was basically awesome. It is not nearly as big as the circus that comes to NC but they still had some neat performances and we were only a foot away from the ring, so we were right up with them. Elder Allen, from my MTC group, got lathered with shaving cream and sprayed by an Elephant. That was quite a bit fun!
The mission continues to go flying by. My year mark is close to coming and I will be home less than a year from now. It is hard to believe that the year of 2009, with exception to 3 weeks, was dedicated to my mission. And now it is over. I still do not feel like I have been here that long but I am definitely growing still. The language is coming along but I am often surprised by how little I really know about it.
Man, I really did not take notes on things to talk about this week so I am having a hard time writing! Some updates on investigators from my old area: Grej and Kein's mom is getting close to baptism and I hope that it will happen within the next transfer. LOL on Sunday, after I shared my testimony because I was leaving, she said quite loudly from the audience (in Albanian) “can I please say something?” she wanted to protest my leaving. She wanted to talk to President Neil to try and convince him that both Elder Seevers and I must stay, because we were like her sons. Those around her explained to her that it really isn’t the mission presidents decision but is more God's decision. She finally grudgingly accepted it.
Well I suppose I can say a little about what I know of Durres. The branch here has one of the two church constructed buildings in Albania. The branch has slightly less sacrament attendance than 2nd branch (btw we had 88 in church on Sunday, woo!) but the branch functions more autonomously and people more effectively fulfill their callings. Of course, it still has its problems but I have also heard that it has already endured the great apostasy that every branch seems to have to suffer here in Albania. Hmmm I do not know much more about it than that…
Ok, I give up. Its one of those p-days when I cannot think of anything to write! That is ok, though, because by ending early we will have time to get some other things done since our p-day sounds like it's going to be extra short today because we must teach an English course at 3.
Anyway, I do wish to testify that this is the Lords work. His Angels are around us, bearing us up. Today there is a living prophet and he has authority from God to lead this church. I am blessed to be on a mission! I love you all, thank you all from you prayers and your love. I miss you all and I hope that all is well. May God be with you all!
Love
Elder Skadi
Monday, December 28, 2009
Once upon a time in Albania (December 28, 2009)
Hello all from Albania!!
Happy New Year (almost)! I hope you all are doing well and that your Christmas finished up well. I was so happy to talk to you all and see you all, it was great! It is really hard to believe that I have been on my mission for almost a year, and only have a year remaining. It is exciting to think that I still have more time left in Albania than I have yet been here. There are still many experiences to be had, trials to face and growing to do. I do think that the next time we talk to each other I will prepare one question to ask each individual, so that I can hear everyone speak at least once.
Oh, next P-day I will be writing emails on TUESDAY because it is a big transfer day. Saturday we find out where we will be going, if anywhere, and who will do what. I could be training again but we will see, these things are really impossible to call. When it comes down to it, it is between President Neil and the Lord.
Hilarious thing occurred yesterday. I have mentioned the Gjoligus before (we went over to their house for Christmas eve, also know as Christmas Adam). All their kids are American and at church on Sunday, Bekim, the oldest boy who is 8 yrs old, said something hilarious. Two Albanians came up to him at church and grabbed his cheek, it’s a big thing that people to here and I’ve had it happen to me about 40 times. Well, Bekim was somewhat unlearned with that, since it’s not a huge practice in America, though some do it. After it happened he started to cry and said to his mom “That is so messed up, why would they do that? What is wrong with these people?” We laughed pretty hard knowing that we’ve all asked ourselves those same questions in other situations. A different culture, a different place and it’s a lot different than America.
Hey, I ate my Zatarrans Red beans and rice (which was great) but I was wondering if anyone, like Mum, Lauren or the Brays, had a recipe for a good red beans and rice dish. I imagine it’s got to be pretty straight forward but I’m pretty sure there is more to it than some red beans and rice. The reason I ask is because I can get red beans in a can and rice here and if I know the extra stuff I need for it I bet I could easily mix it up myself. So if you could, I’d like to know what other people do to prepare it
2 good pieces of news this week. Our investigator, Julja, who is the girl friend of a member and who also dropped off of the face of the earth when that member broke up with her, showed up to the ward Christmas party with that same member. They appeared to have worked out their problems and she is excited to continue learning after the new year (This week is one of the slowest missionary work weeks of the year, apparently, because everyone wants to wait until the next year to meet). That was very exciting because she seems to be really ready for the gospel. Now, we had hoped she would have came and met with us even during this stuff with Harbi, but that’s alright, we have hope that she will begin progressing again soon. Also, the Kumria girls and their dad, the family that we recently started trying to work with to reactivate, came to the ward activity. They performed, which was great, and it was the first time they had been seen in the church for a number of months. Unfortunately they didn’t come to Church the following Sunday but we are ever hopeful that maybe their hearts are softening.
This week we had some problems with finances. It would seem that president Shima did not receive adequate training on the matter by the previous president and so after transfers we will be doing financial training. It’s pretty cool because I already know quite a bit about the financial ropes of a branch now and the skills learned from this further training may come in hand later on in the mission and in life. I hope that once we all get trained on the matter and also a new ward sec. is called, we missionaries can start phasing out of the financial process. I wonder what it must feel like to be a missionary in autonomous wards and branches. I did not expect that missionaries would be given so much responsibility and control within a branch. I will be happy when Albania is able to function entirely without missionaries but that is some years down the road.
Along those same lines, I was very pleased this past Sunday when the people passing the sacrament were all Aaronic priesthood holding youth. I have not seen that before I believe. If we can get 2 other boys to attend more regularly, I believe we might be able to have a completely Aaronic priesthood operated sacrament ordinance. I hope that I will get to see that before I leave 2nd branch.
As part of our helping President Shima learn the ropes of being a branch president, I recently saw a document that contained the full statistics of our branch. I was extremely surprised by what I saw. In our branch live 268 baptized males, 78 of which are Melchizedek priesthood holders. As I was just looking at it in passing, being pressed for time, I did not look up the total population of the branch, but even with just the men we have enough people for 2 full and functioning wards. Taking the potential population of women into account we probably have closer to 3 wards. I was really blown away by that. We average 70 people, including 6 missionaries in church a week. The church could be so extremely strong here! A Stake could really actually be here! But the turnover rate of new members to inactivity is so large that we really aren’t growing and haven’t really been growing, for the past 7 years. I wonder if this is the sort of thing seen all over the church, not just in new areas. I have heard that church activity is something like 30-40% of all baptized members. If that is true, Albania certainly follows that pattern. That makes me very sad, but I suppose it applies to the scripture that says many are called but few are chosen and on top of that in 2 Nephi it talks about how many members of the church will be far too complacent and will fall short of the mark. I wonder what the entire world would look like if we had 80-90% activity rate. Of course people would still have struggles and short comings, but if that missing 40-50% still tried their best imagine the huge contribution they would make to the Lords work and how much faster the work of the Lord would roll forward! (hmm I also just realized that I really over use !!!!! points in my emails. I fear I will never be able to write an effective essay again). Well, it is no use worrying about the numbers. If we do our best to do our part, we will truly be blessed and will rejoice in happiness with those we have helped and strengthened. Despite Albania’s struggles, I know that the work will roll forward here, and that one day Albania will have many strong members within the wards of her Stake. I look forward to that day.
Anyway, I am doing well. I miss you all even though I only just saw and talked to all of you (that actually probably made it a little worse temporarily, LOL). I love you all very much. I know that this is the Lords work, I am blessed to be a part of it. Jesus is the Christ, and if we will come unto him, forsaking our sins and taking up our cross, we shall be saved in the Kingdom of our God. Thank you all for your prayers and great support. May God be with you until next week!
Love
Elder Skadi
Happy New Year (almost)! I hope you all are doing well and that your Christmas finished up well. I was so happy to talk to you all and see you all, it was great! It is really hard to believe that I have been on my mission for almost a year, and only have a year remaining. It is exciting to think that I still have more time left in Albania than I have yet been here. There are still many experiences to be had, trials to face and growing to do. I do think that the next time we talk to each other I will prepare one question to ask each individual, so that I can hear everyone speak at least once.
Oh, next P-day I will be writing emails on TUESDAY because it is a big transfer day. Saturday we find out where we will be going, if anywhere, and who will do what. I could be training again but we will see, these things are really impossible to call. When it comes down to it, it is between President Neil and the Lord.
Hilarious thing occurred yesterday. I have mentioned the Gjoligus before (we went over to their house for Christmas eve, also know as Christmas Adam). All their kids are American and at church on Sunday, Bekim, the oldest boy who is 8 yrs old, said something hilarious. Two Albanians came up to him at church and grabbed his cheek, it’s a big thing that people to here and I’ve had it happen to me about 40 times. Well, Bekim was somewhat unlearned with that, since it’s not a huge practice in America, though some do it. After it happened he started to cry and said to his mom “That is so messed up, why would they do that? What is wrong with these people?” We laughed pretty hard knowing that we’ve all asked ourselves those same questions in other situations. A different culture, a different place and it’s a lot different than America.
Hey, I ate my Zatarrans Red beans and rice (which was great) but I was wondering if anyone, like Mum, Lauren or the Brays, had a recipe for a good red beans and rice dish. I imagine it’s got to be pretty straight forward but I’m pretty sure there is more to it than some red beans and rice. The reason I ask is because I can get red beans in a can and rice here and if I know the extra stuff I need for it I bet I could easily mix it up myself. So if you could, I’d like to know what other people do to prepare it
2 good pieces of news this week. Our investigator, Julja, who is the girl friend of a member and who also dropped off of the face of the earth when that member broke up with her, showed up to the ward Christmas party with that same member. They appeared to have worked out their problems and she is excited to continue learning after the new year (This week is one of the slowest missionary work weeks of the year, apparently, because everyone wants to wait until the next year to meet). That was very exciting because she seems to be really ready for the gospel. Now, we had hoped she would have came and met with us even during this stuff with Harbi, but that’s alright, we have hope that she will begin progressing again soon. Also, the Kumria girls and their dad, the family that we recently started trying to work with to reactivate, came to the ward activity. They performed, which was great, and it was the first time they had been seen in the church for a number of months. Unfortunately they didn’t come to Church the following Sunday but we are ever hopeful that maybe their hearts are softening.
This week we had some problems with finances. It would seem that president Shima did not receive adequate training on the matter by the previous president and so after transfers we will be doing financial training. It’s pretty cool because I already know quite a bit about the financial ropes of a branch now and the skills learned from this further training may come in hand later on in the mission and in life. I hope that once we all get trained on the matter and also a new ward sec. is called, we missionaries can start phasing out of the financial process. I wonder what it must feel like to be a missionary in autonomous wards and branches. I did not expect that missionaries would be given so much responsibility and control within a branch. I will be happy when Albania is able to function entirely without missionaries but that is some years down the road.
Along those same lines, I was very pleased this past Sunday when the people passing the sacrament were all Aaronic priesthood holding youth. I have not seen that before I believe. If we can get 2 other boys to attend more regularly, I believe we might be able to have a completely Aaronic priesthood operated sacrament ordinance. I hope that I will get to see that before I leave 2nd branch.
As part of our helping President Shima learn the ropes of being a branch president, I recently saw a document that contained the full statistics of our branch. I was extremely surprised by what I saw. In our branch live 268 baptized males, 78 of which are Melchizedek priesthood holders. As I was just looking at it in passing, being pressed for time, I did not look up the total population of the branch, but even with just the men we have enough people for 2 full and functioning wards. Taking the potential population of women into account we probably have closer to 3 wards. I was really blown away by that. We average 70 people, including 6 missionaries in church a week. The church could be so extremely strong here! A Stake could really actually be here! But the turnover rate of new members to inactivity is so large that we really aren’t growing and haven’t really been growing, for the past 7 years. I wonder if this is the sort of thing seen all over the church, not just in new areas. I have heard that church activity is something like 30-40% of all baptized members. If that is true, Albania certainly follows that pattern. That makes me very sad, but I suppose it applies to the scripture that says many are called but few are chosen and on top of that in 2 Nephi it talks about how many members of the church will be far too complacent and will fall short of the mark. I wonder what the entire world would look like if we had 80-90% activity rate. Of course people would still have struggles and short comings, but if that missing 40-50% still tried their best imagine the huge contribution they would make to the Lords work and how much faster the work of the Lord would roll forward! (hmm I also just realized that I really over use !!!!! points in my emails. I fear I will never be able to write an effective essay again). Well, it is no use worrying about the numbers. If we do our best to do our part, we will truly be blessed and will rejoice in happiness with those we have helped and strengthened. Despite Albania’s struggles, I know that the work will roll forward here, and that one day Albania will have many strong members within the wards of her Stake. I look forward to that day.
Anyway, I am doing well. I miss you all even though I only just saw and talked to all of you (that actually probably made it a little worse temporarily, LOL). I love you all very much. I know that this is the Lords work, I am blessed to be a part of it. Jesus is the Christ, and if we will come unto him, forsaking our sins and taking up our cross, we shall be saved in the Kingdom of our God. Thank you all for your prayers and great support. May God be with you until next week!
Love
Elder Skadi
Monday, December 21, 2009
Once upon a time in Albania (Decemeber 21st, 2009)
Merry Christmas to all from Albania!
I hope you all are well and excited for Christmas because I sure am! I first want to shout out a Happy Birthday to my sister Rachel. Oh man, I get to talk to you all on Friday, I am so extremely excited! It really doesn’t seem like it was so long ago but so much has happened and much time has indeed passed. I already feel time starting to speed up as I approach my year mark. I was commenting on how fast the time is flying and Sister Boyer, who is dying in two weeks, reminded me about how much it speeds up after a year. It is hard to believe that time could go faster but according to every missionary it does.
So Mum wanted to know how we will be celebrating Christmas. Well, on Saturday, the one that has passed, we sang at the Qender (the big square in the center of Tirana). That was a lot of fun. I actually didn’t sing at all but instead manned the table with Elder Flack and Elder Allen that had pamphlets and the like for people. We have been invited over to a member's house for a little Christmas party on the 23rd and on the 24th is our ward Christmas party (strange that it is on Christmas eve but if you ask most of the members here in T2 the idea of celebrating Christmas at home is foreign to them, they always do it at the church) and we will also be going around and caroling to many people that day. On Christmas day it is the same thing (except that there is a baptism at 11:30, again different). We also get a 3 hour lunch with our sisters and the Shupes (the couple missionaries that are in our district) are having us over to their house. And then we will talk to YOU ALL! and afterward we are going over to a member's house. It will be fun. I will also be opening my presents that are under the tree. I will really miss our big Christmas eve party that we have every year and opening presents with the family, but that is ok! I am on the Lords errand and am where I need to be. Oh, and I also wish to announce that Elder Seevers fixed the CD player so we are listening to that Christmas CD over and over again!
I forgot to thank you all last week for the conference issues! They are great! I am looking forward to opening the CDs up on Christmas (yes, guessed that one) and listening to them as well. The words of our living prophets are so powerful and moving. I especially enjoyed Elder Oaks Law and Love talk, it really expanded my understanding of the relationship between Justice and Love. I will enjoy reading the whole issue several times.
Ok, so last week I vented pretty badly about my cynicism and lack of charity. Well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot and decided that I really needed to change my attitude. One way I did this and now every morning I buy 4 mandarin oranges. If anyone asks me for money, I offer one of those. I know it really is nothing but it is infinitely better to me than snubbing them or giving them money. Doing this has also helped me to feel more compassionate towards them. I do wish that, like in the days of Alma, they poor were generally humbler and more open to the gospel because that really is the greatest gift we are trying to impart to people. Perhaps today that is still so but we do not see it here in Albania.
Elder Seevers continues to be an awesome companion. I love serving with him and I continue to learn things from him. The longer we are together, the better we get along. I am pretty sure that in two weeks we will be splitting up but it has been a pleasure serving with him. We have had an excellent time, and the Lord has blessed us with considerable success.
Grej, Kein and Donald continue to do great. On Sunday Grej received the Aaronic priesthood and will be passing next week. It would make me happy to hear about him and Donald going on missions in a a few years. Grej's mom continues to progress and come to church but I still feel like baptism is a little ways off into the future for her. We need to convince her to meet with us more than one time a week, she says she is too busy! We are happy that she does come to church and enjoys it.
Elder Seevers and I are also having a bit more time for finding, which is nice. Knocking on doors might not be the most effective form of missionary work but I like it because I find it makes me work hard. It would be very neat if on my mission the Lord allowed me to find an outstanding person who will get baptized by tracting. We still are having problems getting new investigators but the work is still progressing.
Well, I hope you all will have questions for me on Friday so that I’ll have things to talk about since I probably will be relatively blank minded by the joy of seeing and talking to all of you. I am REALLY excited! It is great that we’ve got the technology to talk to and see each other simultaneously without much cost. I again wish you all a very Marry Christmas! I love you all and I miss you all. I testify to you that Christ the Lord is our savior and through Him can all our sins be washed away. Think about me as you eat wonderful food. I will talk to you SOON!
Love
Elder Skadi
I hope you all are well and excited for Christmas because I sure am! I first want to shout out a Happy Birthday to my sister Rachel. Oh man, I get to talk to you all on Friday, I am so extremely excited! It really doesn’t seem like it was so long ago but so much has happened and much time has indeed passed. I already feel time starting to speed up as I approach my year mark. I was commenting on how fast the time is flying and Sister Boyer, who is dying in two weeks, reminded me about how much it speeds up after a year. It is hard to believe that time could go faster but according to every missionary it does.
So Mum wanted to know how we will be celebrating Christmas. Well, on Saturday, the one that has passed, we sang at the Qender (the big square in the center of Tirana). That was a lot of fun. I actually didn’t sing at all but instead manned the table with Elder Flack and Elder Allen that had pamphlets and the like for people. We have been invited over to a member's house for a little Christmas party on the 23rd and on the 24th is our ward Christmas party (strange that it is on Christmas eve but if you ask most of the members here in T2 the idea of celebrating Christmas at home is foreign to them, they always do it at the church) and we will also be going around and caroling to many people that day. On Christmas day it is the same thing (except that there is a baptism at 11:30, again different). We also get a 3 hour lunch with our sisters and the Shupes (the couple missionaries that are in our district) are having us over to their house. And then we will talk to YOU ALL! and afterward we are going over to a member's house. It will be fun. I will also be opening my presents that are under the tree. I will really miss our big Christmas eve party that we have every year and opening presents with the family, but that is ok! I am on the Lords errand and am where I need to be. Oh, and I also wish to announce that Elder Seevers fixed the CD player so we are listening to that Christmas CD over and over again!
I forgot to thank you all last week for the conference issues! They are great! I am looking forward to opening the CDs up on Christmas (yes, guessed that one) and listening to them as well. The words of our living prophets are so powerful and moving. I especially enjoyed Elder Oaks Law and Love talk, it really expanded my understanding of the relationship between Justice and Love. I will enjoy reading the whole issue several times.
Ok, so last week I vented pretty badly about my cynicism and lack of charity. Well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot and decided that I really needed to change my attitude. One way I did this and now every morning I buy 4 mandarin oranges. If anyone asks me for money, I offer one of those. I know it really is nothing but it is infinitely better to me than snubbing them or giving them money. Doing this has also helped me to feel more compassionate towards them. I do wish that, like in the days of Alma, they poor were generally humbler and more open to the gospel because that really is the greatest gift we are trying to impart to people. Perhaps today that is still so but we do not see it here in Albania.
Elder Seevers continues to be an awesome companion. I love serving with him and I continue to learn things from him. The longer we are together, the better we get along. I am pretty sure that in two weeks we will be splitting up but it has been a pleasure serving with him. We have had an excellent time, and the Lord has blessed us with considerable success.
Grej, Kein and Donald continue to do great. On Sunday Grej received the Aaronic priesthood and will be passing next week. It would make me happy to hear about him and Donald going on missions in a a few years. Grej's mom continues to progress and come to church but I still feel like baptism is a little ways off into the future for her. We need to convince her to meet with us more than one time a week, she says she is too busy! We are happy that she does come to church and enjoys it.
Elder Seevers and I are also having a bit more time for finding, which is nice. Knocking on doors might not be the most effective form of missionary work but I like it because I find it makes me work hard. It would be very neat if on my mission the Lord allowed me to find an outstanding person who will get baptized by tracting. We still are having problems getting new investigators but the work is still progressing.
Well, I hope you all will have questions for me on Friday so that I’ll have things to talk about since I probably will be relatively blank minded by the joy of seeing and talking to all of you. I am REALLY excited! It is great that we’ve got the technology to talk to and see each other simultaneously without much cost. I again wish you all a very Marry Christmas! I love you all and I miss you all. I testify to you that Christ the Lord is our savior and through Him can all our sins be washed away. Think about me as you eat wonderful food. I will talk to you SOON!
Love
Elder Skadi
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