There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

2 February 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for sending emails every week! I really appreciate it and I look forward to them every week. That's crazy that Rachel will be starting the Young Women's Program later this year! Time is moving by so fast!

Something interesting happened a couple weeks ago here in Durrës. One man ended up giving a talk at a baptism Saturday night, then another talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and then he taught the Priesthood class as well. It was surprising, because he had been less-active for quite a while. He started coming back to church last transfer and then all of a sudden BOOM he's doing everything! Crazy! Things are going well with our baptismal goal. Elder Roemer and I believe that three of our investigators will get baptized in the month of February. It's such a great blessing! Yeah, Elder Roemer and I are still kinda' figuring out how to be zone leaders, but things are going well. As a zone leader, it's a really awesome opportunity when we can hear about how the other areas in the zone are doing. There is one city in our zone, Shkodër, and in the past it's had a reputation of being a very hard area. The church is VERY small there even though it's been open for quite a while. I believe there are about three active members in Shkodër. It's had this reputation for a long time. However, we've seen so many miracles happening in Shkodër this transfer! First off, the missionaries are super motivated and excited about our mission and zone goals. And that motivation has been setting Shkodër on fire! They passed out about 5,000 English course flyers and they had a turn-out of over 100 people! And from that they've been able to teach more and more lessons, as well as finding new individuals to teach. It's such a blessing to see how the Lord is blessing His missionaries everywhere!

This week has had it's ups and downs. This week has been really stormy, so not a whole lot of people have accepted meetings. A lot of people have cancelled on us, so that kinda' bummed us out. Even thought it's been stormy we're still missionaries, so we go out and work.This Friday night we were tracting during a storm with super strong winds. While we were tracting, the power went out. I had my flashlight on me because most of the time Albanian apartment buildings don't really have very great lighting. So we were using that and we continued tracting. A lot of people told us that the lights weren't on, so they couldn't open the door. We told them that we had a light, but they said that they couldn't open the door still. We thought the logic behind that was kinda' funny, but we kept going on. It was kinda' freaky because in Albanian apartment buildings, EVERYTHING echos. You'll hear people, but you won't know what floor they are on. Like I said, the storm had really strong winds, so inside of the apartment building you could hear the wind and it made some eerie sounds. We were knocking on one door and we heard some sounds inside the apartment. It was like a tapping noise. Then the door behind us whipped open. It was a door we had already tried and there was no answer, so it nearly scared me to death when it opened. There was an old man standing there and he asked us, "Are the lights back on yet?" We said, "No." And then he said, "Oh, Ok. Goodnight" and closed the door. It freaked me out a ton! But oh well. This week was also awesome because we had a zone conference. It was a little different because it was combined with the Durrës, Tirana, and Vlorë zones. It was super awesome because I got to see a ton of my friends on that day. It was super awesome because it was on my group's one year anniversary of entering the MTC. So it was super cool to see them! It was kinda' sad because I found out that two from my group were going home because of health problems. It was really sad to hear that. However, it was really awesome because Elder Waters, from my MTC group, is finally here in Albania!! He was the one that had some health issues, so he was sent home before he got to the country. It was so awesome to see him again! I was super happy to see him! The zone conference was a very spiritual meeting! It was very uplifting and wonderful. We also got the opportunity to see "Meet the Mormons." That's such an amazing movie!! Everyone loved it! We found out that we'll be getting that movie translated into Albanian in May so we'll be able to show that to individuals here. The plan is for us to use it kinda' like how we used He is the Gift (Ai Është Dhurata)! I'm really excited about that! I'm interested to see how it gets translated, and how Albanians react to it. It was weird seeing America just in that video. It looks so different than Albania!

This week I've been studying a talk that is called, "Be the Fourth Missionary". In this talk, a mission president is teaching his missionaries about four different types of missionaries. He's teaching about their characteristics and the outcomes of their missions. The missionaries range from disobedient to obedient, and the mindset of how they approach missionary work. Obviously the goal is for missionaries to become the fourth one described, as implied by the title. Reading that talk made me reflect on which missionary I am. It was really interesting to read it, because I found areas in which I could improve. The talk gives a message of hope. It says not to think that being the fourth missionary means that you need to be perfect. It says that being the fourth missionary is really all our choice. If we don't become the fourth missionary it's because we didn't choose to do it. Being the fourth missionary is something totally possible, and it's a goal that I have. It requires complete and willful surrender of your will to the Will of the Lord. When we give the Lord all that we have, He can work with us and He will work with us. Reading that talk has given me that renewed strength to recommit myself to the Lord's work and to become exactly what the Lord wants me to become. I know that the Lord lives and He loves us. I have felt His love for me in my life and I know that we all can feel of His love in our lives as well. I know that as we learn more of the Savior, we want to become more like Him. I'm very grateful for all that He has given me. I truly am blessed abundantly in my life!!

Thank you all for all of the comfort and support that you give to me! Ju dua shumë! Javë të mbarë! Kalofshi bukur. U nglifshi shnosh!

Me dashuri të madhe,

Elder Watson