There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

15 June 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are going really well here. Gjakova is pretty awesome! So here in Gjakova the missionaries work together a lot. We help each other with other lessons when they need the help and we do a lot of group finding and contacting. We're a pretty close district and we get along together really well. So those "Sweet Jacob" cookies were only for the missionaries. People here have a very different taste for sweets, and those "Sweet Jacob" cookies are waaaay too sweet for them. The Albanian elder in our district, Elder Lesi, liked them a bit, but he wasn't able to eat more than a couple. Haha. We actually convinced the rest of the district that we made those from a pre-made American cookie mix. Haha. They don't have all of the same ingredients here in Kosovo, so I had to make some changes to the recipe, but they still turned out really well. That's so crazy that Josh {Braman} is home from his mission! Tell him "HI" for me. Wait a second. Micheal Thomas graduated from High School? That's super crazy! That's awesome that he's already made so much progress on his mission papers! That's so awesome that Loren {Olinger} got his mission call!! Tell him congrats for me! Rachel, I'm glad to hear that you had a great time with that activity this last week! {Her last Activity Day Camp before heading to YW.} Don't worry, activities in the Church when you get older just get better, so you have a lot to look forward too! Woah, when and where did you plant a new pumpkin patch? Every Halloween are you going to wait out there for the Great Pumpkin? Be sure to say, "Hi" to Grandpa for Father's Day if you get the chance to see him on Sunday. Also be sure to give my regards to everyone!

This week was a pretty good week for Elder Baker and I. We had the opportunity to get to know some of our less-active members more. It was a really good experience just to be able to talk with them and to show interest in their lives. When we showed a sincere interest in their lives, we could feel a complete change in the meeting with them. When they see that we really love them and are interested in how they are doing, they open up more and they are more willing to listen to what you have to say. It's been really awesome to see the change in relationship that we've had with some of our less-active members this last week. Now we're a lot more like friends and we're a lot more open with one another. This week I also got to go on an exchange with Elder Rasband. It was super awesome! Elder Rasband is one of the Zone Leaders up here in the north zone, and it was really awesome to be able to serve around him again for a day. Honestly, when we were together, it felt a lot like we were back in Durrës. He's such an awesome missionary and I'm grateful that he's a zone leader up here. So here in Gjakova the branch is really small, so we as missionaries get to give talks frequently. Honestly giving a talk doesn't even freak me out anymore. I think by the time I leave Gjakova, I will have given more talks here than combined anywhere else in my entire life! It's a really nice opportunity to be able to teach the members frequently.

I've been studying a lot about prophets recently and their importance. I think I've talked about this in a recent email with you, but I really want to emphasize it again. My testimony is growing stronger in that the Church is led by true prophets and apostles of Christ in these last days. I know with all my heart that Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of the Lord today. I know that the Quorum of Twelve Apostles are prophets, seers, and revelators. I know that if we follow their words, we CANNOT go astray. God won't let His prophets misguide us in these last days!

Thank you so much for all of the love and support that you give to me! I couldn't do this without you! Zoti ju bekoftë! Ju dua shumë!

Me dashuri,

Elder Watson