There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

11 January 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your email, I really appreciate hearing about what is going on back at home. Woah, American Idol is still a thing? I didn't know that. That's cool that there's a lady from Kosovo on it. No, I haven't heard her story before. The weather here is pretty nice. It was "pretty cold" around New Year's, well it actually wasn't that cold. I think the coldest it's been here so far is -4C which really isn't that cold. I'm glad I'm serving up here in Prishtina to kinda' get me adjusted to colder weather before coming home. Missionaries in Tirana are still just wearing long-sleeve shirts so that kinda' tells about the weather down south. But up here in the north, it's actually warmed up again. It's in the single digits above zero and pleasant. It's actually been raining quite a bit, so all of the snow that we had a couple weeks ago is gone... :'( I'm really bummed. We had a Zone training this last week and everyone was complaining about all of the snow. (I don't know why because the vast majority of them are from Utah or Idaho so they're used to it.) I was bummed to hear all the negativity toward the snow. I think maybe the Lord melted the snow because we didn't value it's beauty, but that's just my opinion. I'm excited to come home to a bunch of snow and actually cold weather!

So this week was a really awesome week here in Prishtina. Let's be honest, every week is an awesome week in Prishtina. We've been out street contacting a ton! We've been trying to put an extra emphasis on finding new places to contact, because Prishtina is a pretty big city. We've been having a bunch of success. One day this last week, Elder Mero and I got about 15 phone numbers in one afternoon! It was an amazing success! It's so awesome to see promises from Priesthood leaders being fulfilled. The push to find new contacting places was a mission-wide push from President Weidmann. We were promised that if we would look for new contacting places, that we'd have even more success. That's right, it totally happened! It was a huge testimony builder for me! Also this last week we had a zone training with the Kosovo and Macedonia missionaries. While there we learned of a new mission challenge. We were asked to read the entire Book of Mormon in a month, from 7 January to 7 February. I was super excited about that! Right now I'm at 2 Nephi 25. I'm not reading it as fast as other missionaries, but I feel that I'm reading at a perfect pace for me. I'll be able to accomplish the goal but also be able to find renewed personal meaning from the words I'm reading. It's been a crazy couple of days of reading, but I found that I'm getting a TON out of it! Reading the Book of Mormon with that much intensity and drive has totally increased my desire to share this with other individuals! The Book of Mormon is such a wonderful gift from our Loving Heavenly Father!

It still feels a little weird because of my responsibilities that I've had as Branch President in Gjakova. Yesterday, I was released and the branch was reorganized. It was such a wonderful meeting. President and Sister Weidmann came up as well as Elder Hydrick. The talks that were given in Sacrament Meeting were wonderful! The Spirit was so strong! I have been blessed so much with the opportunity that I've had to serve as Branch President in Gjakova. I've learned and grown so much. I've been able to come to know my Savior better! I've seen the power of the Atonement work through me and through others. I have been blessed abundantly!! As we've started making the transition between Branch Presidencies, I've gotten to know Elder Hydrick quite well. We've had many long car trips to Gjakova from Prishtina. It's about an hour and a half one way, and I've come to learn of some of the things that he's done in his life and it's amazing! He is a remarkable man that has quite the story. I'm certain that he'll do well in Gjakova. So I guess the other piece of news from this week is that I've been called as the First Counselor in the Prishtina Branch. It was pretty much the first day that I was back here that the Branch President pulled me aside and asked me to serve as his counselor. I'm excited to help President Teli as he's a really awesome man that has a strong testimony. We're really good friends, and I hope that I'll be able to help him with whatever he needs. So I guess I'll be pretty busy right down to the wire. I'm glad about that! Not being super busy as a missionary is super boring. So I'm glad that the Lord has given me this opportunity to serve as much as possible!

Thank you for all of the love and support that you send to me! Ju dua shumë! Javë të mbarë. Kalofshi bukur. Ju përshëndes.

Me dashuri,

Elder Watson