8 September 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your emails! I always look forward to reading them on P-days! I'm glad to hear that you had a chance to get a lot of progress done with the patio! I just have one thing to say about it, "Oooooh. Aaaaaaah." Yeah, it looks really good! It turned out really nice! U gëzofshi!

Mom and Dad just finished
installing this patio.

Rachel, I hope that you had a great first week of school! That's cool to hear that you changed to percussion. I know that percussion is a very important point of the band, maybe not quite as important as the trombones, but I know that you'll be good at it if you stick with it and do your best! You'll be able to do a lot if you keep up with it through high school! Don't feel pressured because you have the same teachers I had. I know that you are really smart and you can do a lot when you focus and put your mind to it. I'm sure that Mrs. Nelles and Mrs. Karesh will be very pleased with how you work! Don't worry about it, just do your best. No one can ask any more of you. Wow! I forgot that this week was Labor Day. Things like that kinda' just gloss over as you're a missionary. It's crazy how fast time flies by! It's already September! Wow! Yeah, it's crazy how fast people are growing up. {His friend's brother started college this year!} I can't believe that Mikey will be going on his mission soon! {About 40 days!} Everyone is growing up so fast!

This is Gjon (equivalent of John) and it only LOOKS like he's doing one-handed push-ups. He was just doing that for the camera. Sorry.




Oh yeah! Bertha Jorkins! {Rachel is reading the Harry Potter series and asked about a character from the books.} I've met her. She's a member in Lushnjë. I didn't have much time to get to know her, because I was only there for a couple weeks. I'm just kidding. I've never me her. As the Harry Potter books say she was never heard of again, so no I haven't heard from her.

Once every transfer cycle, the Mission President will interview each one of the missionaries. This Saturday we had the opportunity to have our interviews with President Weidmann. It was such an awesome experience being able just to sit down and talk with him about the Gospel for a while. He's such a spiritually led man. He has a powerful testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I loved my interview with him. I learned a lot, and I got a lot of direction on how I can improve myself and then encourage the district to improve as well. With President Weidmann, the mission has gone to 6 week transfer cycles now, like every other mission in the world. Also, President Weidmann is encouraging us to meet the mission's goal for baptisms before the end of the calendar year. Our goal is 300 convert baptisms for the year of 2014. Right now we're at about 160. So broken down, it's about 1 baptism per month per companionship. We've been praying a lot that we can find those people who are prepared to accept the Gospel. We've met some really amazing people! This past week we met an amazing man named Ismet.

We met Ismet on the road while we were contacting one day. He was extremely interested in the Book of Mormon when we talked in the road. He gave us his contact information, and we felt like we should give him a Book of Mormon. Normally we don't just give out copies of the Book of Mormon to people, because everyone here would take one just to take one. But we decided to give it to him. When we met with him again after about four days we asked if he had the opportunity to read a little from the Book of Mormon. He said, "Yes, I read it. I read all of it." I was blown away! He is very interested in learning about the Gospel. He loves Jesus Christ (which is something really rare here). We invited him to come to Church that Sunday. He said he'd come, and he did. He came to church and he loved it. He's super friendly and he was able to make some good friendships with a lot of members. He's an amazing person! His only concern is about baptism. He doesn't want to commit to anything yet, which is understandable. He said that once he makes the commitment he'll keep it. In one of our lessons, a member told Ismet, "You'd be a great strength to the church here. You're more prepared now than I was when I was baptized". After he left one of the members told us that they really liked him and they thought that Ismet would totally get baptized one day soon. Ismet is such a great man! He can talk a lot, so that's a little difficult to keep under control during lessons. I'm super excited for him, and I feel like he could get baptized soon as well!

I'm super grateful for the opportunity that I have now to be a missionary here in Prishtina. I know that the Lord is working with people here already. We just need to go out and find them. We need to rely on the Spirit to direct us, and miracles will happen. Every time that I speak with people about the Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, I feel the Spirit very strong and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. We love watching the Restoration film with investigators. I have it nearly memorized in Albanian, but it always brings the Spirit with it. I know that if any of us have questions about Joseph Smith being a prophet is through the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has a promise recorded in Moroni 10:4-5 that we can receive an answer from God about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I know that this promise is true and it works, because I've done it several times. I've received the answer that the Book of Mormon is true. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, because it was translated by him. If Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God on the earth today. If the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God on the earth, then we have living prophets on the earth today which speak with God and direct His Church on earth today. So if we ever have questions, or doubts, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can find the answer through the Book of Mormon in some way. I know that if we will humble ourselves and ask, God will tell us if we are willing to listen. When you finish reading the Book of Mormon as a family, I would encourage you to pray about the truthfulness of its message as a family as well. I know that you will receive an answer!

Thank you for all of your love and support! Thank you for sending emails! I love hearing from home! Javë të mbarë. Ju dua shumë. U shpërblefshit me shëndet dhe lumturi!

Love, Elder Uacën

When we go tracting, normally apartments have horrible conditions in the hallways.
They may not have been cleaned in a number of years or they may not have any lighting.
This is what it is like tracting inside of an apartment building.

The branch had scheduled a talent show activity this week.
Only two members came, so it was rescheduled.
Elder Clawson and Elder Price practice their act.