30 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for the emails you send every week. I really appreciate being able to hear about what's going on at home. Yes, as of right now, Elder Roemer and I are still companions. Yeah, it's been kinda' difficult to keep up with all of the changes going on around the mission. Yeah, transfers were this weekend, but I'll talk a little more about that later... (suspense) The weather here has been really nice. There have been a couple days this week that we were definitely looking forward to short-sleeve shirts again, and putting these suits away for the summer. This week we went on an exchange with the missionaries in Shkodër in northern Albania. I went up there with a missionary named Elder Wilcox. He is from Orem, Utah and he's an awesome missionary. The entire time I was there it rained, and was windy. I found out the hard way that one pair of my shoes aren't waterproof anymore. They're still a little wet on the inside. But I still have one pair that are still in really good condition. 

That is exciting that Mirtha {one of his sisters-in-law} is pregnant! That would be crazy if the baby was born on Phil's {one of his brothers} birthday! Thanks Dad, for eating some fish for me. {His family went to a local fish fry.} Man, I really miss American fish. Fish here is alright, but it doesn't come close to the big fillets that we eat in America. This week one of the members here was singing the song of the Lonely Mountain from the Hobbit. I asked him if he'd seen the Hobbit, he said that he's seen all of them and that they were awesome. I had to tell him to stop telling me about it, otherwise I would get pretty trunky. That's good that you have all of the Hobbits, but do you have the Extended Editions for them?

Yeah, it's super awesome that Easter falls on General Conference weekend this year! I'm excited to hear the special messages that will be given about Easter. I'm kinda' jealous, because General Conference will be one week later for us, due to translation stuff. However, next p-day I'm going to download the audio for the talks and then we'll listen to them in our house during the day. I'm super excited about General Conference! It's such a special time! We're so blessed that we have living prophets and apostles that teach us about the Savior. I'm super excited for it!!

So... Back to transfer news... Has there been enough suspense yet, or should I wait more? Okay, so President Weidmann is keeping us on our toes! With President Ford you could pretty much predict what was going to happen and you'd be right 95% of the time, however, with President Weidmann you can never predict what is going to happen. He threw us a huge curve ball by giving transfer calls on Saturday night in stead of Sunday. He also only called Elder Richards (because he is the district leader). When Elder Richards told us, I didn't believe him, I thought he was joking. Nothing is happening in Durrës. Elder Roemer and I are still together as Zone Leaders, Elder Holm and Elder Eddings are still together here, and Elder Richards and Elder Gosturani are still together. However, Elder Gosturani will be leaving for England in about a week and a half for his mission there, so Elder Simons (an awesome missionary from my group) will be coming here and will be in a tri-panionship (three missionary group) for a week until Elder Gosturani leaves. I thought for sure that I would've been leaving, but I guess the Lord has something more for me to do here in Durrës. If I stay here for another complete transfer, I'll be competing with another missionary for title of "King of Durrës" There was a missionary here a few years ago that spent a year of his mission here in Durrës. I have a shot to take the title from him, but with President Weidmann you never know. I feel that now I'm more susceptible to getting a random transfer call at some point during the middle of the transfer. Durrës was relatively untouched by the transfer, but the rest of the mission was changed drastically! A ton of areas were white-washed (where both missionaries are new in an area). So yeah, that's transfers for you.

This last week was really good. Like I said, I was in Shkodër for an exchange and it was a fun time. In Shkodër they speak differently than here in Durrës, and they don't quite speak like the Geg I was used to when I was in Kosovo. They speak their own kind of language. It's actually really weird. Their language is really different than the rest of Albania. In southern Albania, people mainly speak Tosk (the main dialect of Albanian), in northern Albania and Kosovo, they speak the Geg dialect, and in Shkodër they speak their own dialect. It was really weird being exposed to that language. Durrës is pretty much split half and half, it's considered as the bridge between Geg and Tosk. I also had an exchange here in Durrës with Elder Gosturani. It was a lot of fun serving with him! He's super awesome, and his English is amazing! He speaks so well. He's a super awesome missionary. This Sunday Esmeralda, Enkeleda, and Alketa all gave talks in sacrament meeting. They did such an awesome job. I was super proud of how well they did, I felt like yelling out, "Yeah, those are my recent converts!!" It's so awesome to see how much they have progressed in the Gospel and how willing they are to serve. After Church we were talking with them. Esmeralda had found out that it was transfer weekend and she asked me if I would be transferring. I told them that I would still be in Durrës for a while, and Alketa (the youngest) yelled out "YES!" ...in English. First off, it made me really happy to hear how excited she was that I would be staying for a little bit longer. And secondly, it blew my mind that her natural reaction was to respond in English. I've never heard her speak English at all, so it was a surprise to hear her say something in English! Then Sunday night, we had an activity at church. It was an activity for missionary work. All of the returned missionaries in the Durrës ward showed pictures and told stories from their missions. It was a really fun activity, and it was also very spiritual. It was really amazing to hear stories from their missions as well. And then afterwards, there was a TON of food. The Relief Society Sisters baked tons of food and first gave the missionaries huge full plates, then when we finished our plates they refilled them. I was so full afterwards. Good thing the church is a 20 minute walk from our house, I needed it to work off some of that food that we had!

The missionaries were also asked to share an experience or something they've learned from their missions with the others during the activity. We each shared something and then we showed the new video by the church. Do you remember "He is the Gift" (Ai Është Dhurata) from Christmas time? Well the church has released a new video like that, but for Easter. It is called "Because He Lives" (Sepse Ai Jeton). It is a very powerful film exactly like Ai Është Dhurata. It has a very special spirit about it. I love that film so much! Every time that I watch it, I am filled with the Spirit. The Spirit testifies to me that Jesus is the Christ and that He did, in fact, rise from the tomb on the third day. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior. I know that there is no other way under heaven that we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father except is be through Jesus Christ and His Atoning sacrifice. Let us all keep in mind the sacrifice of the Son of God this Easter season. I know that if we will keep His actions in our minds that we will have more reverence and gratitude for our Loving Father in Heaven and His perfect Plan of Happiness. I invite you to go to <helives.mormon.org> and watch the film, or <aijeton.mormon.org> in Albanian, or to watch both. Then I would encourage you to share it on Facebook, or in an email, or watch it with a friend. If you share it on social media use #becausehelives or #sepseaijeton. We each hold a responsibility to share the Gospel with others. We have received the blessings that come from the Gospel in our lives, so why should we hold it back from anyone? When we see a funny video on YouTube or if we hear a great song, we share it with our friends and loved ones, so why not with the Gospel? I know that we will be blessed if we do this! Again, I know that Christ lives, and Because He Lives we all will live again too!

Thank you for all of the love and support that you give to me! I couldn't do it without you! Javë të mbarë! Ju dua shumë. Kalofshi bukur. Zoti ju bekoftë!

Me dashuria më të madhe që është e mundur,

Elder Watson

Statue of a soldier in Shkodër.

We were in an apartment building and saw that someone
actually spread blood on their door for Passover.

23 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for the emails you send to me weekly. I really appreciate them and I really enjoy hearing about everything that is going on back home. It sounds like you had a great week. That's a funny story from Elder Clawson. Yeah, that Motra X has brought a ton of people to church. She's in our area, but she's always in Tirana and we can never meet with her. That's awesome that Newel {Hirst, Jacob's friend from the St. Cloud, MN, Stake} got his mission call! I'm excited for him! Serving a mission is probably the best decision I've made in my life! I've been blessed in so many ways! I've been blessed with a closer relationship with my Savior, and I've also been blessed with amazing friendships with other missionaries and members. When you choose to serve a mission, you're blessed abundantly!! Yeah, there are some American made cars here. The most common type of American car is a Land Rover, but there are quite a few Fords. Every once in a while you'll see a Chevy. When you're rich in Albania, you get an SUV. So everyone wants a Land Rover or a BMW X6 (but that's not American). However, there are a lot of other cars here that aren't that common in America. Smart cars are super popular here. You know how we joke about how someone driving a smart car could just park normally instead of parallel parking? They actually do that here. It's become a normal sight to see that. I laughed so hard when I saw it the first time. Oh by the way, I've gotten pretty decent at parallel parking. It's the ONLY time I've ever used that after my driver test. There's been a couple times when I've parallel parked on the left side of the road. It's so weird! You don't know how to do it. It messes with your head quite a bit. Wait, you already had the Easter Activity {Primary activity in the Princeton, MN, Ward}? Isn't Easter a few weeks away still? Wow, Rachel that's crazy how much you've been reading! What books have you been reading? I'm also glad to hear that you're doing well with piano! Keep up with it! Learn the hymns!!! I know that they can be kinda' boring, but one day you'll be on your mission and they'll ask you to play in sacrament meeting, you'll be glad you did. Learn from my mistakes. Oh, so for Day of Summer, I was in that meeting that I talked about last week, the Public Affairs Training Meeting. But the best thing about Day of Summer is Ballokume! It's a special cookie that they ONLY make for Day of Summer. It's kinda' like a cross between a sugar cookie and corn bread... and it's MASSIVE!! It's amazing! I ate two on Day of Summer. They're so good! 

Photo of Ballokume from www.gatuajmire.com

So this week was pretty good. We had an interesting week with transfers. So the actual transfer date isn't until next Tuesday. (So we'll be getting transfer calls next Sunday night). However, this last week we had some interesting emergency transfers. So Elder Smoot left Durrës and was moved to Tirana. Elder Davis came here from Vlorë. Elder Davis is really awesome! He was one of the APs with Elder Roberts shortly I came into the country. It was really awesome to get to know Elder Davis a little bit, before he got transferred. Yeah, he got transferred again this week. He got transferred back to Vlorë and Elder Holm got transferred here from Pejë, in Kosovë. And Elder Smoot got transferred to Elbasan. So it was an interesting little transfer for a couple days. It really surprised me. But it's awesome to have Elder Holm here. Elder Holm is from Elder Roemer's MTC group, so he was in the group right before me. Ever since I got here last April everyone has told me that I need to serve with Elder Holm. Can you imagine... Elder Holm and Elder Watson together in a proselyting area? We'd have to rename the area to "Baker Street". This week had it's ups and downs. We have one awesome investigator named Emanuela. Emanuela is Besa's cousin, yes, the Besa that got baptized two months ago. We had a lesson with Besa one day and Emanuela came and liked what she heard, so we continued meeting and teaching her about the Gospel. She's been reading from the Book of Mormon every day and she loves it. She has an awesome testimony of the Gospel. In fact, she passed her baptismal interview on Saturday! It's awesome to see her decision to get baptized. She's really excited about it! So we planned everything out for the baptismal service, and everything was great. So on Sunday, we were really surprised when she didn't come to church. Right after sacrament meeting I called her an asked where she was. She proceeded to tell me that her parents aren't in agreement with her getting baptized. She was really upset, and so she didn't have the opportunity to go. Emanuela is 24 years old and she lives with Besa during the week in Durrës, and every once in a while she goes to her parents who live in a village near Durrës. So apparently when she went home to invite her parents to her baptism, they didn't react very well. However, I've seen her desire to get baptized and I've heard her testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel. I know that it is the Will of the Lord for her to get baptized, so I know that the Lord will help soften the hearts of her parents so that she can get baptized. I know that some times the Lord gives us these challenges so that we have the opportunity to grow and show our faith in the Lord. I'm sure that the situation will be resolved and that Emanuela will be able to be baptized pretty soon. It reminds me of a scripture in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." I know that everything works out for good for those that love God. I've seen this blessing in my life and the lives of others as well! I know that if we have that love for God, everything will work out for our benefit.

Thank you so much for the love and the support that you give to me. I couldn't do it without your thoughts and prayers. Javë të mbarë. Ju dua shumë. Kalofshi bukur. Tung!

Me dashuri të madhe,

Elder Watson

16 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for the email that you sent me! I always look forward to reading your emails on P-day and to hear about what's going on at home. It sounds like you had a pretty nice week all around. That's awesome that you had some really nice weather! It was hot here a couple days ago and I was wishing for summer dress code again. We should be allowed to start wearing summer clothes soon. That's awesome that you had the missionaries over for dinner on Monday! I'm glad to hear that more and more people are signing up for the encampment! I'm glad that you all enjoyed the fish fry. Thanks for eating some fish for me! Yeah, so the Minnesotans in the mission are gradually shrinking. Right now there are three of us. Elder Lee is from Woodbury and Sister White is from Rochester. At the end of this month I'll be the only Minnesotan and Lushnjar (missionary born in Lushnjë) in the mission! Elder Lee and Sister White are finishing up our missions with this transfer, and the only other Lushnjar missionary in the mission is dying at the transfer as well. That's crazy that the Arlington burned down {a landmark in Cambridge, MN}! I bet that it looks really weird with that building missing. I know that it's still early on, but have they decided what they're going to do with that land?

This last week was pretty interesting. So every so often, we get to go on exchanges with the assistants to the President (APs). So this week we had an exchange with the APs. I got to go to Tirana with, bet you can't guess, Elder Bangerter! It was a ton of fun serving with him again for a day. We had an interesting exchange because there was a training meeting that day. President Weidmann asked that Elder Bangerter and I go to it, so we did. It was a Public Affairs Training meeting. There we learned, and were trained, on how to be an official spokesperson for the Church. It wasn't just a meeting for missionaries, but it was to train various stake leaders as well. Some people from the Church offices in Frankfurt, Germany came and presented the training to us. In the training we learned about how to conduct ourselves in an interview, how to answer difficult questions, how to get a precise message across quickly and efficiently, and some other things. They even had us do some "roleplay" interviews, which were taped and then critiqued. I learned a ton in that meeting. Not just about helpful tips for interviews, but those same principles also apply in teaching missionary lessons as well. I actually had a chance to use one of those principles in a lesson that we had and it worked great! Elder Bangerter and I had a great exchange and we were able to have a really nice lesson with a family that will get baptized soon. So all around, the exchange with Elder Bangerter was really awesome!

This week in Durrës we found a really awesome new investigator. We found her while we were contacting outside of the center one day. We talked to her and she told us of how she has gone around to tons of different churches looking for the truth. We had a really nice conversation and we set up a time when we could meet. We had an awesome meeting with her and taught her, and her daughter, about the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. She loves Joseph Smith! She found so many connections between him and her. She loved how he actively went around and sought the truth and how he received and answer. She has already read a substantial portion of the Book of Mormon and prayed about it and she has received and answer! She knows the the Book of Mormon is true and the role it plays in strengthening the Bible. She is super awesome, and she is really excited about her baptism! She's actually already doing missionary work. She brought a friend to church with her on Sunday. It's amazing to see how prepared she is to receive the Gospel. It's a testimony to me that the Lord really is preparing people to receive the message of the Restoration. It's amazing to see that! I know that the Lord is the Director of the Church in these days. I know that He is in control of everything, and that He has placed us in the lives of those that are prepared. We just need to seek those individuals out and show them where it is!

Thank you for the love and the support that you give to me! Thank you for your prayers! Ju dau shumë. Ja kalofshi mirë. Javë të mbarë! U nglifshi shëndosh!

Me dashuri të madhe,

Elder Watson

PS- The mission office is changing locations, so here is the new address for mail:

Adriatic South Mission

Attn: Jacob Andrew Watson

P.O. Box 2984

Bulevardi "Gjergj Fishta"

Qendra "ALPAS", Shkalla NR. 5,

Apartamenti NR.14

Tirana 00355, Albania

When we were out tracting, we found this mansion!

Albania is beautiful, but giant heaps of garbage (below) and
garbage fires are pretty common.

My favorite watch.

Missionary life:  fixing your suitcase with a lighter and
a sewing kit.

9 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your email! I always look forward to hearing about what's going on back home! Mom, that's awesome that you ran into some people from the Eau Claire Ward {the ward where she grew up} at the Temple. It is a small world! There are tons of connections like that that have happened on my mission. I might have told you, but Elder Price and I actually lived in the same dorm building at BYU our freshman year there. It's also been crazy meeting the missionaries from Minnesota, it's crazy to think that we had been going to the same activities and trips together, but we've never met each other. There was also a sister missionary in the MTC in our zone that I had talked to quite a bit at BYU. Also, Kennedy Dohm (from the Sauk Rapids, MN, Ward} got called to the Hungary, Budapest mission and she was in the same zone as the Albanian missionary group right after me, so there are quite a few missionaries here that know her. There have been a ton of other crazy connections that have happened with other missionaries too. To answer your question, Dad, Albanian toilet paper is kinda' different than American toilet paper. It's all scented and different colors. It's hard to find just normal, white, unscented toilet paper. But it's still pretty soft, it's not like sandpaper or anything like that. You'll have to eat some extra fish at the fish fry for me. Sometimes I miss Lent. I hope that more people will sign up for the encampment! I really loved the encampment when I went! I made some of my best friends from the stake on that camping trip. I hope more people choose to go. They'll be blessed in tons of ways if they do go! You can even quote me on it! 

This week was really awesome, but in different ways from last week. Last week we were blessed with being super busy teaching lessons and helping our investigators make covenants with our Heavenly Father. This week we were also really busy, but with meetings. We had a meeting or a lengthy planning session nearly every day. We had Missionary Leadership Council, Zone Training, an Exchange, and three sessions of Stake Conference. The zone leaders and district leaders were invited to the leadership meeting Saturday morning because there were a lot of talks of how missionaries and wards can work better together. It was really awesome! The Spirit was super strong there and there were some really awesome talks given. It's awesome to see how well the mission president and the stake president work together! It's really awesome seeing a stake that's in the starting stages still. It's a lot of hard work, but it's awesome to see the blessings that are being poured out. For the Sunday general session of Stake Conference, the meeting was held in Durrës. One of our investigators actually moved back to Lushnjë and he's meeting with the missionaries there. He came with the branch to the meeting and it was super awesome to see him. He has changed a ton! He's a lot happier now in his life than when we were meeting with him. Moving back to his home town of Lushnjë really helped him out a ton! It was really awesome to see the change that the Gospel has had in his life!

This week I also had the opportunity to have an exchange with Elder Anderson in Elbasan. Elder Anderson is from my MTC group, but he was in the other district so I never got the chance to know him very well. So it was really nice to serve with him for a day and get to know him. This month in Missionary Leadership Meeting (MLC), President Weidmann talked to us about something called "How to begin teaching." It's a principle taught in Preach My Gospel. It serves a very important role in the first lesson with investigators. So we had a training on that, and in our zone training, we taught the rest of the missionaries in the zone about that. So back to Elbasan. Elder Anderson and I had the opportunity to put that into practice. We tracted into a really awesome family. When we used the principles taught in "how to begin teaching" we were able to see and feel a change in our lesson. The Spirit was a lot stronger in the lesson, and at the end we talked about the Book of Mormon with them. When we talked and testified about the importance and the value of the Book of Mormon, the mom of the family said, "I'm going to read from this book every day" before we even invited them to read from it. It was awesome to see how when the Spirit was that strong in the lesson, the invitation we extended at the end of the lesson became something natural and something that the investigator truly wanted to do. I know that the Holy Ghost is the true teacher. He teaches and testifies of truth to the hearts of individuals. I've seen and experienced the power of the Spirit in my mission, in my own personal conversion, and in the conversion of others. I know that we have a Loving Heavenly Father who wants to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us so we can know "the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:5).

Thank you for all of the love and support that you send to me! I couldn't do it without you! Ju dua shumë. Kaloni mirë. Zoti ju bekoftë!

Me dashuri të madhe,

Elder Watson

View from the Institute Center in Elbasan.

Inside the Institute Center.

Another view of the Institute Center.

We had Stake Conference this week, which was SWEET!  I also got to see some
friends from the mission, as well as Juxhin from Lushnjë!  Juxhin is also cousins
with Esmeralda, Enkeleda, and Alketa.  We became super good friends when I
first came to Albania.  He's awesome!

We explored a ruined amphitheater in Durrës.  Fun fact, it was actually discovered by the
father of one of the first members of the church in Durrës, Vëllai Toçi (Brother Tochi).

Tunnels that run through the ruins.

There was a really cool mosaic that was found in the ruins.
It's unfortunate that about half of it wasn't able to be preserved.

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

I thought about what it would be like to be a gladiator
walking out into the arena.

This "amphitheater" sounds like it was actually a lot more like a coliseum
where gladiator and slave fights happened, so that makes it a bit cooler.

Enjoying the action from the best seat in the house.

2 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your email. I really look forward to hearing about what's going on at home. Wow! I'm sorry that you have that cold weather in Minnesota! That's crazy. The cold has left Durrës and probably won't return, that's what all the members have been telling me. Today we had some really good weather, so we went down to the beach and played football. It was pretty fun. Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy because we were wearing shorts and t-shirts. We were walking past a group of men on the way to the beach and all of them were looking at us with dropped jaws, one of them yelled at us, "Aren't you cold?!?" It was pretty funny. It was a nice spring day. It was probably about mid to high 50s today. The weather is really nice here and it hasn't been raining much, so that's a bonus. 

Wow, is Daylight Savings Time coming already? I haven't heard anything about that. I think we might have a different time that we change our clocks. I remember that last Fall, we switched our clocks on a different week than you did. This last week was mini-transfers. Because I have been in Durrës for so long, I was afraid that I would have to leave. Thankfully I didn't have to leave! However, two missionaries left from Durrës. Elder Dahl was transferred to Peja in Kosovo, and Elder Matson was transferred to Fier in Albania. They were really sad to leave Durrës. We were also sad when they left. We have two new elders in our district. We have Elder Eddings from Centerville, Utah, and Elder Gosturani from Tirana, Albania. Elder Gosturani actually received his mission call to the Birmingham, England mission, but he was offered the opportunity to start his mission one month early here in Albania. So it's really cool to have him in our district. He speaks English very well. I was blown away when I heard how well he spoke English!

This last week has been an amazing week! It has been filled with miracles! We were blessed with the opportunity to teach a ton this week. This has been the most successful week of my mission as far as teaching lessons goes. We were blessed with the wonderful blessing of being able to teach 24 lessons during the week. When I first came back to Durrës in the beginning of October, that was impossible. If we got 10 lessons a week we were blessed abundantly. We have been blessed with many wonderful investigators who want to learn about the Restored Gospel. On Saturday we did an activity with the Young Men about missionary work. We each paired up with them and did missionary work for a few hours. We had planned it so the finale of the activity would be the baptism on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun. I was paired with an awesome young man. His name is Rei. He has just turned 12 years old. (Don't worry, we got special permission from the mission president to go on splits with younger Aaronic Priesthood holders.) He was amazing! We taught one lesson together about temple work. In the lesson we were talking and I figured that he would be kinda' shy and maybe he'd give his testimony, but he found a really cool scripture and shared it with them and taught the principle really well. We also did some street contacting together, and he wanted to talk with EVERYONE! He invited every single person that walked by to listen to our message! It surprised me how outgoing and how excited he was about sharing the Gospel. He's going to be a great missionary when he gets older! It was a really awesome activity. The highlight of the week was Saturday night when Enkeleda and Alketa got baptized! It was such an awesome experience! A ton of family and friends came to the service, some of which have some interest in learning about the Gospel. The Spirit was really strong during the baptismal service. It was a really special night because Alketa asked me to baptize her. It was such an awesome experience to baptize her. She was so happy and excited about getting baptized! I was really honored that she asked me to baptize her. It reminded me about when I baptized Rachel. It's funny, in some respects Alketa is a lot like Rachel, so that was a really special experience for me. It was also really special because their older sister, Esmeralda, gave a talk at their baptism. When she was giving the talk I was just thinking about her baptism a few months ago. It's amazing to see how much she has grown and progressed in the Gospel in the past few months. If you were there you couldn't tell that she was baptized only four months ago. She's super awesome! It was also really cool because Saturday was also Esmeralda's birthday. So all-around Saturday was a super awesome day!! The Sunday that followed it was just as miraculous. The Spirit was very strong! The testimonies given in church were powerful! A member from Durrës returned from her mission as well and gave a wonderful testimony. A less active member came to church and was swarmed by loving ward members. The lessons were super good and very spiritual. Words can't even describe how amazing this weekend was!

I can't help but be grateful for all of these blessings that the Lord has given to me. This weekend my testimony of the blessings of the Restored Gospel was strengthened. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses the lives of everyone that partakes in it. I know that the Lord loves us so much. I know that He is willing to pour out blessings from Heaven when we obey His commandments. In Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 teaches us that every time we receive a blessing, it is due to obedience. King Benjamin also teaches about this principle in his speech in Mosiah chapter 2. He teaches that God has blessed us with everything that we have and that whenever we do anything good, He blesses us yet again. God wants to bless us. God loves us and wants us to obey His Word so we can gain even more blessings. I know that God loves us. We literally are His spirit children. Like fathers love their children, God loves us. Just like a father will do anything for the welfare of his children, our Heavenly Father desires our well-being as well. I know that if we obey His will, we will be blessed beyond measure. We'll be blessed to the point that we'll think about all the blessings we have received and we will think that God has blessed us too much. God loves us and wants to bless us to the point that we don't even have room enough to receive all of His blessings. I know that we have a Loving Heavenly Father who blesses us at every opportunity!

Thank you so much for the love and support that you give to me. I couldn't do it without you! Javë të mbarë. Zoti ju bekoftë. Kalofshit bukur! Kalofshit ngrohtë. Ju dua shumë! 

Me dashuri të madhe,

Elder Watson

Homemade crepes!  Yummy!!

Enkeleda's and Alketa's baptism day.
Elder Roemer, (photobomber Rei Paja), Enkeleda, Alketa, and Elder Watson.
Elder Watson and Rei went on splits earlier in the day.

P-day football on the beach.  Temperatures in the 50s!
Elder Smoot, Elder Eddings, Elder roemer