20 July 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

I saw a poster for the Minions movie when I was in Prishtina. I have a feeling that most people just watched Despicable Me for the minions, so I could imagine that it was pretty popular. That's crazy that you've been having so many storms in MN! It's been super hot here the past while. This last week it was in the mid-upper 90s all week. So it's fun dealing with all of that. We should be moving to our new apartment next Monday. It's a really nice apartment. It has a really nice huge balcony, so we're going to get/make (whatever is easier) a grill so we can grill out some days. I'm really excited about that.

So this last week was a little interesting because on Friday was the Islamic Holiday of Bajram. It's about the equivalent of Christmas. So there was absolutely no one out on the streets during the day. At night, about 7:30 PM there got to be quite a few people outside, but they didn't really want to listen to us. With the heat, mixed with Ramadan and Bajram, it was a pretty slow week. However, this week we were able to meet with a couple new people. It was really awesome because the few people that we met with this last week have a ton of potential. After each lesson with them, I felt really hopeful and optimistic about them. Nearly all of them expressed interest in wanting their families to learn about this too. I thought it was really awesome how when an individual finds something he likes, he naturally wants to share it with others that he loves. And it's the same with the Gospel! I think that's really awesome. This last week I actually had the opportunity to meet some English speakers. First off, there is a man living here in Gjakova from England who works with the YMCA association here in Kosovo. I've seen him around the city quite a bit and he stood out as not being Albanian, so this week I got the chance to talk with him and he's a really cool, respectful guy! It was nice just to have a pleasant conversation with him, and to start building a relationship with him. Also, this last Saturday night, we were contacting out on the road and I saw this guy coming up that didn't look Albanian. However I still said "hi" to him in Albanian. He looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I don't speak Albanian." So I said, "That's okay, because I speak English too!" It really startled him and he stopped and we talked for a while. He, also, was from England and he was travelling through the Balkans. We started talking just about his trip and how that was going. After a while he asked me why I was here in this little town in Kosovo. So we started talking about the Gospel. He told me that he was Atheist, but he liked the idea of a church coming together to help each other. Even though he didn't believe in God, he was still interested in talking to me on the matter of religion, and we ended up talking for about 20 minutes. It was awesome because I was able to help clear up all the misconceptions and false information he had heard about Mormons before. When he left he thanked me for my time, and he told me that there was a lot more to Mormonism than he had realized before and that he'd have to check it out some more. Even though I'll probably never see him again, I felt really happy about the conversation that we had.

This week I've started studying, more in depth, the Doctrine and Covenants, and it has really strengthened my testimony of prophets. It's just so comforting to know that God is still speaking to us in these days through His authorized servants, the prophets. I can't imagine how different life would be if the heavens were closed, if there weren't prophets, and if God didn't talk to us anymore. I really love how the Book of Mormon describes God as being the "same yesterday, today, and forever" and that His course is "one eternal round" and that "there is no shadow of changing" in Him. It's so wonderful to have the words of prophets in ancient times, like those that are recorded in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, but it's comforting to know that there are prophets on the earth today that give us specific counsel for the specific challenges that we face in these days. To me it's so comforting to know that God hasn't stopped sending prophets. It's comforting to know that He still loves us and He still wants to communicate with us. I'm so grateful that the Lord has restored His gospel to the earth again through the prophet Joseph Smith. And I'm so grateful that we are led by the living prophet Thomas S. Monson and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Isn't that comforting to know? I know that if we follow their words, that we will not go astray!

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

Me dashuri,

Elder Watson