12 January 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your emails! Like I say every week, I really look forward to reading your emails on P-day! Things have been going well here this last week. In the past couple days, things have warmed up quite a bit. It's been a nice comfortable temperature, about the low 50's F. It's been very pleasant here. I'm sorry to hear that the weather has been so cold in Minnesota this last week! It sounds like I'm going to freeze to death when I get back home! That totally sounds like Cambridge-Isanti, never closing school, even when the temperature is hovering around the -30 F mark. I'm sorry that you had to deal with that cold! Wow, so many other things were cancelled, but school continued on. Ashtu është jetë. Ça me ba. I'm glad to hear that there is a warm up on the way! I hope that it'll stay around for a bit. Just remember that in a few months, you'll be complaining about how hot it is. Minnesota's like that. I hope that this upcoming week will be better with higher temperatures. Yeah, each one of the missionaries got one of those Christmas cards as well! {The mission sent out Christmas/New Year's cards that had photos of the missionaries in each district.} I hope you enjoy it! I actually got a Christmas card from the Junckers in the mail. It was really nice to get that. Also, some other missionaries have sent out some Christmas cards, so I have a collection of them on my wall. Rachel, I'm glad that you're enjoying reading the Hobbit. When I read it for the first time, I actually thought it was kinda' boring. But I've repented of that and now I can't wait to read it when I get back. I'm glad that there aren't any movie theaters here in Durrës, because I haven't seen anything about the Hobbit. If I was seeing that all around, that would make me pretty trunky. One of my friends from BYU is on his mission in Mexico and he said that right outside of the window of his apartment, there is a huge movie poster for the Hobbit. He says it's been tough. I hope you enjoyed the film. I'm excited to see it when I get back. Speaking of things like that, I actually found the first Lord of the Rings book today! I was super happy! I've been searching for about 2 months now! Now I just need the Hobbit, and my search will be complete.

Yeah, so the creation of the Durrës Zone is pretty exciting! Before, we were part of the South Zone (Durrës, Elbasan, Lushnjë, Fier, and Vlorë). The zone was getting too big, so they split off the Durrës Zone from the South Zone, and the Tirana Zone. So now there are four zones in the mission (Vlorë, Durrës, Tirana, and Prishtina). We have about 20 missionaries in our zone. With more missionary companionships being added to the different cities, and the opening of a new city to missionaries, they reorganized the layout of the zones. It's a really exciting thing! This week we actually had our first zone training. We talked about some different aspects of missionary work, and presented the goals for the zone and the mission. It was a very spiritually uplifting experience! The new mission goal for convert baptisms this year is super awesome! The goal is "four baptisms per companionship per transfer" (a three month period). It's a very large goal! But I'm very excited about it. I know that it's possible if we work with the Lord. Our goal for last year was 300 convert baptisms for the year. At the end of the year, we had 244 convert baptisms. When you hear that, you might think that we fell super short. However, President Weidmann was telling us about the experience he had speaking with the Area Presidency about this goal. They were super surprised and they said, "honestly, we didn't think that you'd break 200." So this just goes to show the miracles that are possible when we work hard with the Lord. Afterwards, President Weidmann shared a wonderful testimony of how he came to this number. The Spirit filled the room and he told us that he has received a confirmation from the Spirit that this goal is possible. He also talked about how the Spirit testified to him about us as missionaries, and how we are capable of much. After this meeting, he asked us to pray about these goals for ourselves as well. I prayed about it and I have received a confirmation of the Spirit that this is a possible goal. It has led to a lot of enthusiasm in our Zone. I'm very grateful for this so much! I know that as we continue to be obedient and work with the Lord in setting our goals, this goal will be reached. I'm very excited for what this year has in store!

I know that the Lord loves us very much. He has given us so many blessings. All we need to do is look around us and we see the blessings that He has given us. He's given us families, the earth, friends, scriptures, prophets, and His Son Jesus Christ. I'm so very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that blesses us in every little thing we do right. I know that we all gain blessings from our obedience to the Gospel. I really like Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21. It talks about the connection between blessings and obedience. I know that this is true. I've seen so many blessings come into my life from obedience to the Gospel!

Thank you for all the love and support you give me! Ju dua shumë! Kalofshi mirë. Javë të mbarë! U ngrofshit!

Me Dashuri,

Elder Watson