There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

1 December 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for everything!! Thank you for your emails each week, thank you Mom, Dad and Rachel for the birthday package, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers! Let me start off by reassuring you that my eye is fine. Don't worry about it. I haven't had any issues with it since that experience I shared last week. It's like nothing ever happened with it. There's only a tiny little mark that's only visible if you really look for it. Earlier in the week it was a little more noticeable, so a lot of members asked me what happened. It was kinda' difficult to explain because a lot of people don't understand the concept of frisbee here. There are a lot of games and things we do in America that don't get understood here. They only have soccer, so when you suggest doing something else, they don't understand it at all. It's a different mentality here.

This week was really good! This week was a special week with a ton of stuff in it! Monday was P-day, Wednesday I had an exchange with an elder in my district, Thursday was Thanksgiving/Mission Conference, Friday was Albanian Independence Day, and Saturday was Albanian Liberation Day/My Birthday/Baptisms!! It was a packed week! Okay, so the Albanian Holidays weren't as eventful as you would think. No one really celebrated them. I think I celebrated more than most Albanians. I wore a red tie with my black suit on Independence Day, and I wore my Albanian flag hoodie for soccer on Saturday morning. That's really all that happened. We talked with some people in the street and some members and asked what they were doing for the holiday. All of them said nothing, they'd go to work, go home, and eat. It's really different how they celebrate, or lack of it... Anyways, it was good because it didn't hurt missionary work. Everything continued on as normal.

It was really cool to have Thanksgiving here! We had Mission Conference in Tirana all day. We had a special training, and then we had an amazing Turkey dinner prepared by the senior couples and afterwards we had a talent show. The talent show was awesome! It was super funny! There are a ton of super funny missionaries in this mission. It was a great time! Unfortunately, my camera died about halfway through it, so I couldn't get all of it on video. Oh well, it was still really awesome! I made peanut butter bars for the dessert contest. However, I put a little too much graham cracker and they turned out a little crumbly. Oh well, I thought they were still good.

My birthday was really awesome as well. Here in Durrës, we play soccer with the young men and investigators on Saturday morning. It's a way to find other people to teach. It works out pretty well, because the investigators get to see that the missionaries are normal people too. So we started out the morning with soccer. Then on the way home, we got a call from the ward mission leader wanting to have our coordination meeting. So we hurried home, cleaned up, and had that meeting with him. Afterwards, the district threw me a surprise birthday party. It was a lot of fun. After that we went to the church to see the baptisms! It was an awesome experience!! It was awesome to see 5 people get baptized! It was a Lushnjë baptism, so I got to see the Elders from Lushnjë as well as some of the members. It was awesome! I was really pleased with my birthday! I loved it! Thank you so much for the birthday package! Especially thank you for that Duck Dynasty card! That's one of my favorite quotes, so I was super happy to get that! {Uncle Si talks about how he can make a chicken pot pie with a bunch of random items. . . and a woodpecker!} I also really enjoy the Despicable Me sheets! I'm making good use of them! Also, that scripture case really works well, and comes in handy! Thank you a ton!!! Also, I got a package with a bunch of letters from the Primary kids in the Princeton Ward. Can you please tell Sister Malinka {Priamry President} thank you for that? Can you also tell Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins thank you for their card? Thank you a ton for making my birthday amazing! I hope the Princeton Elders enjoyed my birthday as well. {Jacob's family held a birthday party in his absence with the local Elders as guests of honor.}

Awesome Princeton Ward Elders

So on Thanksgiving we had a training as well from President Weidmann. It was wonderful! We talked a lot about a missionary campaign that all the missionaries in the world will be using. It's called, "He is the Gift". It's a campaign to help people refocus on the true meaning of Christmas. It's a wonderfully, powerful short little film. It's only about 3 minutes, but every time I see it, I feel the Spirit very strong. I know that in today's age, a lot of people associate Christmas with presents, Santa Claus, black Friday, cyber Monday, small business Saturday, and tons of other worldly things. These are all nice traditions and all, but they are not the true meaning of Christmas. The true meaning of Christmas is to have a time when we can focus on Jesus Christ. It's a wonderful time filled with a wonderful spirit. I would encourage you to watch the film at <

christmas.mormon.org> It will bring a special spirit into your day and you will be filled more with the Spirit. I'm very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, that we can overcome everything. I know that God lives and that He loves us! In this short film it has three steps. (1) Discover the Gift, (2) Embrace the Gift, (3) Share the Gift. I would encourage you to watch the film, to learn more about the Savior and how He can help you. Afterward I would encourage you to accept Christ into your lives. Show your love for Him by taking hold of the Gift in your life. Take advantage of that love and happiness that comes to us. And finally, I'd encourage you to share this Gift with someone. It's super easy to share on Facebook, or on other social media sites, or on an email. It's becoming easier and easier to share the Gospel with more and more people in today's age with all the technology that we have. I know that this is true and that we have been blessed abundantly in our lives!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers! Ju dua shumë! Javë të mbarë! Kaloni mirë.

Me dashuri të madhe, Elder Watson