20 April 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for the letters you send to me each P-day! I really enjoy reading them! Thanks a ton! That's cool that the {Princeton Ward} Primary had a missionary theme! Hopefully the kids got excited about missionary work! Wow, you're having some crazy weather differences. It's been pretty nice here. I've been wearing short sleeves for about two weeks now, and I'm thankful for that! Some days are pretty hot. And we haven't even got to summer yet... Rachel, I hope that you have fun with all of your tests this upcoming week. Make sure you get good rest and don't sweat it. I'm sure you'll do great! Mom, that's cool that you were able to go back to SFAS {local elementary school} and to give a presentation! Is there any teacher there from when I was going to school there? That's crazy that Sister Kenfield is moving! That'll be a strange change in the ward. Wow! That's crazy, there was a baby boom in Princeton this week! {Two babies born, both girls, two days apart!}

This week was pretty awesome for Elder Roemer and I. The weekend was the main highlight. So this last weekend, the stake had a missionary weekend. They had an activity similar to the MTC experience. However, it was only a few days instead of a few weeks (or months in my case). The members that took part really enjoyed it. There were about 40 young people there from all around Albania taking part in the activity. They had classes where they learned doctrine and teaching methods, and then they had a part where they went out and applied it. The missionaries took turns going out on splits with the members and taught lessons to people with them, or tracted, or street contacted. All in all, the activity was a huge success. All of the members loved it and it was an awesome experience for us missionaries, and members of the Durrës ward as well (the activity was held here in Durrës, so we helped out with it quite a bit). Also on Saturday, there was a baptism! We planned everything out with the Stake President so that the baptism was part of the activity. It was cool that they were able to take part in so many different aspects of missionary work! Hopefully, it increased their desires to prepare for and serve a mission! So back to the baptism, Luli and Gjeni got baptized on Saturday!! It was really awesome! It was a really nice and spiritual service. They were both really excited about baptism! They were really emotional during the service. It was really cool to see how pleased they were with it! Sunday was also another spiritual day for them, because they received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. They were really looking forward to that! That was one thing they were really looking forward to. They also got confirmed with one other new member. Her name is Ermira Zyko. She had been taught by missionaries in Tirana, but she was moving her residence here in Durrës. So President Weidmann told us to plan her baptism and that we would be doing her recent convert lessons. She was baptized one week before, but due to General Conference she wasn't confirmed that week. It was really awesome to get to know her as well. She's really awesome too! After church she was talking with the bishop about how she could pay her tithing. It was really cool to see how right away after baptism, she was applying those things that she had learned before. She's really awesome! And also Luli and Gjeni are super excited about temple work! They've been calling us a ton to talk about how they can prepare to go to the temple quickly. It's really awesome to see the desire they have to continue to learn and soak up anything else that they can learn. All three of them are really awesome!

This week I've been reading a lot in the book, Jesus the Christ. It's such an amazing book! Reading that book has helped me to understand the life and teachings of Jesus Christ that much more. It has also increased my desire to learn and study, even more in depth, about Christ. All of us have a wonderful opportunity in this life to decide who we will become. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father sent His Only Begotten Son to show us the way and to give us a perfect example. I'm grateful for the Holy Scriptures, and for the opportunity we have to study from them daily. I know that as we study from the scriptures daily, that we'll learn how to become more like Christ. We'll learn how to become better people. I know that when we put forth the effort to learn more about, and become more like, the Savior Jesus Christ, we will be blessed abundantly. We will develop a personal relationship with God and we'll feel our faith in Him grow!

Thank you for all of the love and support that you give to me! I couldn't do it without you! Ju dua shumë. Javë të mbarë. Kaloni mirë! U nglifshi shnosh!

Me dashuri,

Elder Watson

After Luli's and Gjenji's baptism.

P-day at the beach, building sandcastles.