There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

15 September 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your email this week! It's always awesome when I get to hear from you and see what's going on back at home. It sounds like you had a great week! No, I didn't do much for my 6 month mark. It's a little different here because you don't know if you're supposed to celebrate your 6 month mark from the MTC or your 6 month mark in the country. But for my 6 month mark in the country we went to Pizza Hutt as a district. Yes, I spelled that right. There was two "T"s. There's a lot of copyright infringement here in Kosovo, and a lot in Albania. Here's a picture of a sign I saw today. It's for a place called Fresh Burger. It totally ripped off the logo of Burger King. It's funny seeing a bunch of stuff like that. And no, the food there isn't anything like real All-American Burger King. Their motto is "You'll get it this way."

As long as I'm on the topic of food, we've been eating a lot at a traditional Albanian place here in Prishtina. It's called Tip-Top. They have tons of Albanian traditional dishes. A favorite dish is fasule and oriz (beans and rice) or musakë (ground meat, potatoes, and eggs). The food there is very good, it's very cheap, and it's very fast. Elder Roberts and I have been able to save a lot of money by eating there. As far as cooking for myself... I've mastered the art of cooking eggs! As long as you want them scrambled. Yeah, my cooking skills are pretty basic, but they're enough. I've been trying to make those rice krispie bars with chocolate on top, but I keep messing up.The bars never seem to hold together, so I think the oil might be too thick. Oh well, Edison learned by trail and error, and I'll do the same.

That's awesome that you were able to go serve with the rest of the stake! {Stake Service Day was Saturday, September 13th.} That's so crazy that Mikey {Gross from the Princeton Ward} will be leaving so soon for his mission! I know that he'll be a great missionary! Tell him not to be nervous, the Lord will help him along the way. That's so awesome that Clara {Kroska from the St. Cloud Ward} is going on a mission! If you get a chance to talk to her before she goes, tell her that people here love Messi! It's crazy that Sierra (Jensen from the St. Cloud Ward, coming home in less than three weeks} will be getting home that soon! Elder Roberts is in the same boat. He keeps telling me that it's crazy how fast the time flies by. Dad, I'm glad that you were able to go out with the missionaries. We love it when members are willing to help us out with lessons! I'm glad you get to experience that. It's amazing when members help us out in our work. I know that every time a member helps out a missionary, both the member and the missionary learns from the experience! I'm glad you were able to help them out. Rachel, I'm super glad that you are having a great time in school! Say "Përshëndetje" to Mrs. Nelles from me. I'm glad to hear that you've done so well on your test so far. That's amazing! Keep up the good work. Just do your best on the application for the student council. No one can ask any more of you. I'm glad that you love band! I know that you will have TONS of opportunities later on in life with music if you keep up with it. I've actually had to play piano here in Prishtina for church more often. I have to play pretty much every Sunday in Priesthood meeting. It's always funny because the Elders Quorum President always picks really interesting songs to sing. A couple weeks ago we sang Silent Night. Before I started I asked him if I had the page number right and he said yes, so we sang Silent Night. Haha. So Rachel, be sure to practice piano. You'll never know when you'll need it!

Mom, wow. That's a lot of peppers! Ju bëft mirë! {We had a frost predicted, so we picked all of our garden vegetables. Yes, it did freeze. This is way more than a peck, and they did eventually end up pickled!}

I hope that you'll have a good time teaching Doctrine and Covenants 4 to the seminary class. I really like how it talks about having "an eye single to the glory of God" in verse 5. In Moses 1:39, we learn that "this is my work and my glory- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Immortality and eternal life is made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So another way we could read Doctrine and Covenants 4:5 is that we need to have "an eye single to the Atonement of Jesus Christ." It's a really cool connection that I found a couple weeks ago.

This last week was a little rough for Elder Roberts and I. Our previous week had been an amazing week, so the contrast was huge for us! Our investigator pool seemed to dry up after last week, so this week we spent a lot of time finding. Sometimes standing out on the road talking to people can seem like it's not doing anything. Sometimes it gets frustrating when people don't talk to you. Now there's two ways that you can take it from here. The first way is to get frustrated and to only focus on the lack. After that you get discouraged and it's harder to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and you only make your situation less productive. On the other hand, you can choose to remain hopeful and continue to work. It's more difficult to do the second, but when you do the situation improves and the Lord blesses you immensely!

One blessing that we received because of our continued work was a man named Osman. When Elder Roberts was in Prishtina before (this is his third time serving in Prishtina!) he saw this shop that was called "Turkish Tailored Suits." He was intrigued and he went into the store. At this shop they make custom tailored suits. He put the order in and he had to go in a couple days later to get it fitted for final adjustments. When he came back the second time he met the owner of the shop, Osman. Elder Roberts only had time to get fitted and he needed to leave quickly; however, Osman asked him for five minutes. He said okay and sat down with him. Osman told him that he wanted to become a Christian. He wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ and get baptized. This stunned Elder Roberts, and Osman began meeting with the missionaries. Osman turned out to be very prepared by the Lord. He progressed very quickly. However, Osman is very busy with work, and he has to travel between Kosovo and Turkey very often. So every once in a while he would go to Turkey for several months and then he'd be back in Prishtina. So there's always a question of where he is. One day, Elder Roberts and I decided to stop by his shop to see if he was there. We found him there, but he was very depressed. He told us about all the problems he was having with work and with his family. It was really sad to see him like that. We told him that we loved him and gave him his space for a little bit. We went back last week on P-day, and talked with Osman. He told us that he wasn't doing much better with work or his family. However, last P-day the missionaries from Pejë and Gjakovë came up to Prishtina. We all went to Osman's shop and when he saw the other missionaries he lit up! He was super excited and he was really happy! Osman really loves the missionaries! We told him we love him and we invited him to church. So on Sunday we were sitting in sacrament meeting, and in walks Osman! Osman is loved by the members of the branch. They were so excited to see him again! I was talking with him and he told me "something was just pulling me here today". He is very in-tune with the Spirit! He's a very wonderful man, and we feel like he'll get baptized soon. Hopefully before Elder Roberts returns home. We were so very blessed to have Osman in church with us on Sunday. He's proof that the Lord works with people and he helps prepare them even before they meet missionaries. Osman coming back to church was by far the highlight of this week!

Thank you for your love and support that you give to me! Ju dua shumë (I love you a lot). Javë të mbarë (have a good week). Zoti ju bekoftë me shëndet dhe lumturi (May the Lord bless you with health and happiness)!

Love,

Elder Uacën