21 July 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your email! It's always great to hear from you and to hear about how things are going at home! It's always a joy to read your letters on P-day.

Dad, I'm glad that you were able to use some of my words in your talk. I hope it went well! I actually don't know when I'll be able to go to Tirana again. When you are up in Kosovo, you are kinda' forgotten by the rest of the mission. The North Zone (Kosovo and Macedonia) don't really interact much with the rest of the mission. But oh well, one day I'll be back there. Rachel, I'm glad you started reading the Harry Potter books! They're a really good story. Actually, I've never read all the books. I read some and watched the movies for others, but the books I have read are really great! I hope you enjoy them. This last week, Elder Bangerter and I went to a book store here in Prishtina during lunch one day and we saw that they had the entire Harry Potter series translated in Albanian! So I started looking for "Zoti i Unazëve" and "Hobbitti" (the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit), but I couldn't find them at that book store. I found them in English, so I asked the lady if they had a translation of it in Albanian and she told me that she believes that she's seen it before, but she doesn't know for sure. I think having some books in Albanian would be a great way to keep up my language after my mission.

Yes, about the 10kg bucket of Nutella. Elder Clawson and I didn't put a huge dent in it as we thought we would, so there was quite a lot left. Elder Clawson and I didn't want to haul it around with us because we both had a long way to travel, so we left it at the Durrës house. The missionary group that is in that house now is actually my grandfather, Elder Foster, and his trainee, my uncle. Elder Clawson and I signed the bucket so all the missionaries afterward will know of its origin. I hope the other missionaries there are enjoying it.

As a missionary, lessons with members have been some of the greatest lessons of my mission! We love working with the members so much! We want to help strengthen them in any way possible. Just because we're active in the Church doesn't mean that we don't have need of spiritual enlightenment. Everyone needs spiritual enlightenment! We need to "treasure up in [our] minds continually the words of life" (Doctrine and Covenants 84:85). Also, having a lesson with an active family is really refreshing. Some days are really hard and we get really discouraged. We've been standing out in the sun all day, people haven't been talking to us, no one is answering their phone, lessons are being cancelled left and right, and we just want to teach someone. Having days go by without a lesson get really discouraging, but when a member lets us in and lest us share a message it's a great blessing for us! It's a blessing for the family as well, because everyone has a spiritual experience in those lessons. Some days missionaries are super busy and it's humbling to know they took time out of their schedule to stop by. And other days, they're just looking for a way to help others strengthen their faith in Christ. Lessons with members are a great blessing for us missionaries!

I wish I had time to write more, but we were in Peja, another city in Kosovo, today for P-day, and our bus got back kinda' late so I don't have time to write more. I hope that you have a great week and that you can see the blessings of the Lord in your lives every day! Look for those miracles, and you'll see them! Thank you so much for your love and support and everything you do for me!

Ju dua shumë! Zoti ju bekoftë!

Love,

Elder Uacën

Photos this week are courtesy of Elder Bangerter!

Elder Bangerter and Elder Watson sad and then happy!

Beautiful mountains of Peja.

After a hot day in Peja.