16 February 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for emailing me every week. I really appreciate being able to read your emails every week. It sounds like you had a pretty good week. It's weird to hear that it's super cold back there in Minnesota. This week has been really nice and warm. It's been probably in the mid 50s. We had a couple "cold" days last week. I wondered why it was so cold... and then I remembered it was February... and that it should have been even colder. Valentine's Day was a little weird. I totally forgot that it was Valentine's Day until near the end of the day. I was wondering why there were so many activities going on that day. It totally didn't register until later on in the day. On Valentine's Day, Elder Roemer and I set up and moved a lot of chairs and tables. There was a stake activity for the YSA group here. And there was another activity for the Relief Society. From talking with people, it sounds like both were fun and exciting. A member from Lushnjë, Juxhin, came to the activity and he stayed with some family that lives here in Durrës so he could come to church and say hi. It was really awesome to see Juxhin! We talked a little bit and kenaqed about Lushnjë and my time there. Even though I was only there for a couple weeks, we became really great friends! It was awesome to see him and talk with him a bit! I hope that you all had a great Valentine's Day. Thanks for the card, I really appreciate it. It sounds like you had a pretty good Valentine's Day! Wow! Rachel, that's awesome that you finished Harry Potter 4! You know, I've actually never read book 1 or 4. I read the other ones, but not those (because the movie came out before I finished it). I hope you're liking them! It's kinda' nice not having a movie theater in Durrës at all because I don't see any posters or movie trailers that would make me trunky!

This week was pretty good. It had its ups and downs like usual, but for the most part it was good! This week we had an exchange with the district leader in Shkodër. So we spent a LOT of time in the makinë this week. The trip to Shkodër is about 2 hours one way. Elder Roemer stayed in Shkodër during the exchange, because he had served there before. So I drove up to Shkodër, then back to Durrës with the other missionary, then back up to Shkodër the next morning. On the way back from Shkodër we needed to get our makinë inspected to renew license stuff, and then go to Tirana after that. So there was a LOT of driving this week. That's why you have so many pictures of the road between Shkodër and Durrës. However, we were still able to meet with a lot of people this week. We have some really awesome investigators who are progressing toward baptism. We've been really blessed in the past couple weeks with amazing investigators. Esmeralda (who got baptized in October) has two younger sisters that should be getting baptized soon. The youngest, Alketa, is 10 years old and we asked her what she had read from the Book of Mormon. She told us that she read until chapter 5 in 1 Nephi. This confused me because in a lesson before, she told us that she was in Alma. I asked her to clarify and she told us that she had finished reading the Book of Mormon and had started again and was at 1 Nephi 5. I was blown away! She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "I read a lot." It's really awesome to work with people like this. It's amazing to see the change and the blessings that the Gospel brings into their lives. It's an awesome opportunity to be a missionary! I love missionary work so much. There are so many blessings that come from missionary work. Whenever we do missionary work we are blessed abundantly. I know that through missionary work we are all blessed. The people that learn are blessed with the Restored Gospel in their lives. The missionaries are blessed because they get to teach lessons to people. And the members that are involved in the teaching progress are blessed with increased testimony and knowledge of the Restored Gospel. There are so many blessings awaiting us for doing missionary work. So come and get some blessings! Invite the missionaries over. Invite someone to learn about the Gospel. Share a Gospel principle with them. Take part in missionary work and I know that you will be blessed abundantly!!

Thank you for the love and support you give to me! Ju dua shumë! Kalofshit bukur. Javë të mbarë. Zoti ju shpërblejftë!

Give my fala to everyone!

Me dashuri të madhe,

Elder Watson

Aldi's--Albanian style.

Many apartments in the mission have random pictures.

In cities, you see tall apartment buildings mixed in with
small private homes and ruined old buildings.

I loved being able to see snow in Northern Albania!

It was interesting to see the Christian fish symbol on the back
of this makinë.  You can also tell where this makinë is from
because of the license plate.  This one is from Shkodër ("SH").

The Shqiponja roundabout as you enter Tirana from Durrës.

The cultural center in the middle of Tirana.