25 August 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your email and your support! It's always great getting emails from you!

Yeah, it sounds like you've had a really busy week! That's awesome that Jameson and Kayla are staying over. {Jacob's nephew and niece who are staying with the family for a week.} I hope that you'll have a great time while they're there. I'm glad that Grandma is doing better! I hope that you've been having a good time playing piano in church. {Mom has had to fill in for Sacrament Meeting.} I've had to play piano every once in a while since I've been here. It's been rough a couple times, but I've made it through.

This past week was a little interesting. It's interesting because Elder Roberts and I are working super hard, but it seems like the work is stalling here. We've been having low numbers of lesson and investigators in the past couple weeks. I wrote to President Weidmann about it and he told me that he doesn't believe that the work is stalling. He said that we just can't see the great work that we're doing right now. He promised us that we will begin to see improved numbers of investigators and lessons, so I'm really excited to see that happen! We've been doing a lot of finding this week. We had a really funny experience with finding just yesterday.

We were standing in the city center talking to people in the road. One guy stopped and talked to the sister missionaries. They were talking for a bit and then they motioned for us to come over to them. They introduced us and they told the guy that we could teach him some more. We suggested that we go to our Church which isn't very far from the city center. He was VERY hesitant, but at length he said, "Ok, shkojmë." So we started walking towards the Church. He seemed kinda' startled that the sisters weren't walking with us. We could tell that he wasn't interested in religion at all, but we decided to give him a chance. This man did not want to go inside a church. Here, some people believe that it's against Islam to go to inside a church, which isn't true. He was suggesting that we go to a cafe and sit and talk. We told him that the Church is more peaceful and has less distractions. He kept trying to persuade us to go to a cafe, but we continued walking toward the Church. He kept walking with us and we were asking him questions to get to know him. He was so focused on getting out of the situation that we wasn't answering our questions. It was pretty awkward. We get to a point where we have to cross a large road to get to the church. Elder Roberts and I start crossing, and when we get to the median, we notice that he didn't cross with us. We just stood and waited there, kinda' laughing about the situation. The guy pulls out his phone and tells us that someone is calling him. He says he needs to take the call, but just around the corner. So we decide that enough's enough and we'd let him just walk away. So he starts walking away, and we cross back over the road to go back to the center. We decide not to go the way we came because the guy was walking back that way. As we walk past the road that he walked down, we look and we see him SPRINTING away. It was hilarious! The whole situation was really awkward and in the end Elder Roberts and I got a huge laugh out of it.

Everything is going great here in Prishtina. I'm very grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. It's honestly the best choice of my life. I can't imagine doing anything else with my life at this time. I know that some people look at it and they only see it as an inconvenience. But really, everything else in life can wait. Money will still exist when I get back. The way you get it will still be the same, so work will still be there. Universities and degrees will still be there. Material possessions will be there, so really it's not that large of a sacrifice. The Lord has given me everything that I have, so I can give all that I have for two years. It's really not that large of a sacrifice. Plus, you have a blast doing it! I've developed so many strong friendships with people, and I've even gotten some more clarification about what I want to do for the rest of my life. A mission is just a great idea, I can't even express it fully! I just wish that so many more people chose to serve missions. It may seem like a huge sacrifice in the beginning, but after a couple months, it's not a burden at all! It's such a growing experience! It's such a wonderful time! It's such a blessing! Choosing to serve a mission is one of the best decisions of my life! I hope that everyone can have an experience like this!

Thank you so much for the love and support that you give me to be a missionary. Thank you so much for everything that you do!

U bekofshit dhe shëndet paçi! Zoti ju qoftë!

Love, Elder Uacën