There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

Monday, May 12, 2014

12 May 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

So today, I'm in Tirana. It's really weird being in other cities. I have no idea where anything is in Tirana, which is a HUGE city, so I'm relying heavily on the other missionaries today. I'm staying with Elder Squire and Elder Baker in Tirana for today and tomorrow. Elder Squire is from my MTC group. He's from Magna, Utah and he is insanely good at basketball. Before his mission, a bunch of schools were looking at him to come and play college ball. At the MTC when we played basketball, he always played left handed, so he wouldn't just destroy us. He destroyed us anyways. He's really good at basketball!

Our P-day in Tirana was pretty good. Since we had an appointment at the embassy, it kinda' ate up a chunk of our day. But it's all good. We found this really awesome store! It's a US Military Store where they sell TONS of awesome stuff! They have tons of cool gadgets and gizmos. I bought a watch there, but it's a watch that can take pictures in 14 Megapixels and HD Video in 1080p! Isn't that awesome! The watch itself actually looks pretty cool too! Elder Squire bought one too, so we've been playing around with them today. That store also sold a ton of other cool stuff. We couldn't stay there much longer, otherwise we would've spent more money. It was really weird to speak to other Americans again, on American soil (because it was the US Embassy, it's technically considered American soil). I saw a bunch of other missionaries from my MTC group, so it was really nice to see them again. I'll be seeing the rest of my MTC group tomorrow, because we have our halfway training. All of us will be in Tirana to have some meetings, because we've made it halfway through the training program! That's six weeks. I've been in Albania for six weeks already! Wow!! Time is really flying by!

I want to talk a little about a person we met this week. One day this last week we were doing some finding with another set of elders, Elder Gray (Morgan, Utah) and Elder Stewart (Canada), and we had been street contacting together for several hours. We were all really tired and we needed a little break. There is this really nice place to buy crepes in Durrës that we love, we give them a LOT of business. They always smile when we walk in the door. We were sitting outside just about to start eating our crepes, and this man walked up to us. He said, "Hey Elders, how are you doing?" (In Albanian, of course). We started talking and he told us about talking with missionaries like us about fifteen years ago. Then he pulled a picture out of his briefcase of him and four other elders. He was talking about how impressed he was with them and how much respect he had for them. We talked a little bit more, and he gave us his phone number. He said that he would be willing to meet with us and that his name was Beni. We called him later that night and we set up an appointment to meet with him the next day. We met him near the crepe place and he showed us his office that was near-by. He works in a shipping company and he works some days in his office and he works other days down at the Port of Durrës. He then took us back to his house where we met his wife Linda. They are a very kind and sweet couple. We shared a spiritual message with them, and they were very willing to listen and to learn more. We wondered why they hadn't been more interested in the Church with the other elders. We found out that they were the landlords for the other missionaries, and missionaries don't really want to share the Gospel with their landlords, because they're afraid of offending them and then not having a place to live anymore. But these people were very kind and sweet, and they wanted to learn more. They were telling us how much they loved us and how much they wanted us to come back. They made us promise that we'd come back soon.

This was a real testimony to me of how the Lord is working with people and preparing them to receive the Gospel. These people had contact with missionaries before and through the example of previous missionaries they had been prepared to hear the Gospel. I truly believe that Beni and Linda have been prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's amazing to see how much the Lord is working with other people. We don't always see His workings, but every once in a while we have an experience like with Beni and Linda, and we know that the Lord is always working, and He's working overtime! It's so amazing to know that the Lord is helping us in doing this missionary work. I'm very grateful to be here and to serve these wonderful people. I know that God lives and He loves all of us. He loves us more than we can comprehend! I know that EVERYONE can learn of God's personal love for them through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Thank you so much for your love and support! It's really nice to have support from many people at home!

Zoti ju bekoftë dhe javë të mbarë!

Love,

Elder Uacën

5 May 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your email and your support. Being a missionary is a lot of tough work, and it really helps to know that others are thinking about and praying for you.

Darn, I can't believe that Psych ended. That's so weird to think that, but yeah I agree that some of the plots were getting weird. It's so weird to think of all the things that will happen in the next two years that I'll miss. At times it can be hard because we'll be walking down the street and we'll hear a song playing and then we think of all the music we've missed in the past few months. But that stuff can wait for a while. It'll still be there when I get home. Speaking of months, I've been in Albania for a whole month already! çne!?! ("çne" = "What the heck?") Time is going by so fast! I've been on my mission for three months already, that's a quarter of a year! Time is flying! Wow.

Elder Clawson and I don't have an entire house. Here in Albania, no one really has a private house in the city. They only have small private houses in the villages. There are three floors to our building: The first floor is a pastry shop and a machine shop; the second floor is where we live; and the third floor is where our landlord lives. The first floor of every building is usually a shop of some kind and then the rest of the building above it is apartments. There are tons of large apartment buildings that are built, but the insides aren't finished. That's one thing that was really difficult for Elder Clawson and I when we were looking for a place in Lushnjë. The building where we live is entirely furnished, so moving in was really easy. It's a really nice place, I can't complain. On our windows, we have something called shields. They're very similar to storm shutters, but they block out EVERYTHING. We compare them to blast doors from Star Wars frequently. We can make our place pitch black in the middle of the afternoon. One other crazy thing about Albania is that everything shuts down in the middle of the day for a couple hours. In the summer, it is very hot and very humid so people will go home and sleep during that time of day, so the entire city shuts down. School lets out for a couple hours and then starts again later in the afternoon. Businesses close and reopen the same way. So we get a two hour break for lunch and an hour of study time after that in the middle of the day when everyone is at home sleeping, and then we work from then until the end of the day.

I haven't taken a picture with the John Lennon statue, yet, but it's right here in Durrës near the Vulga. The Vulga is right along the sea coast and it's essentially a constant fair. There are thrill rides and games, and it's a very beautiful part of the city. There are TONS of people on the Vulga in the evening, so we have contacted there quite a bit. Speaking of people who are popular in Albania, did you know that Mother Theresa was Albanian? I didn't know that until this week! Crazy! Also, Jim Belushi is Albanian as well! His parents are from a city called Korçë. I found that out a couple weeks ago, but it slipped my mind. People here absolutely LOVE Jim Belushi! Elder Clawson told me this one story of an investigator he had and one time in his prayer he prayed for the safety of Jim Belushi. People here have a lot of pride in Jim Belushi.

I don't have my new name tag yet. The name tags are here in Albania, but they're in Tiranë and you have to get them in person. I'll be going to Tiranë the Monday and Tuesday after Mother's Day for an appointment at the US Embassy and for our half-way training. Wow, I'm already at the half-way point of my training! That's kinda' scary to think that I'll be done with the training program in six weeks. Elder Clawson said that after the training program you usually serve with someone from your MTC group. That's a scary thought! I've been talking with a lot of the missionaries from my group and most of us feel like we don't understand anything that's going on. But if we trust in the Lord, He will help us grow and improve.

Wow, it's weird to think that there's still ice on Mille Lacs Lake. The temperature here has been about 20 C, which is a really comfortable temperature. It's rained a lot here this last week too! There was one day that it down poured nearly all day, and the roads were starting to flood over! Some of the side roads turned to streams. This last week I was really grateful for waterproof shoes and an umbrella! It sounds like things are going on like normal at home. It's nice to hear that things are getting done little by little. I feel the same way right now, I'm growing little by little and one day I hope to be finished and happy with the results! Just remember these profound words, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't slow down and look around once in a while, you just might miss it". -Ferris Beuller

This past week has been really interesting. It started off really great! Elder Clawson and I set a goal to speak Albanian with each other more often to help improve our language. We just left our house one morning and we were walking down the road and I said to him, "Ai ka një ari. çne??" He looked at me really weird because I said, "He has a bear. What the heck??" He thought that I was just being weird and random, but then he looked over and he saw a man walking a bear down the street on a leash. We both got really excited and we asked the guy if we could take a picture with the bear. He said yes and he handed the leash to us. We got pictures with a bear!! We were so excited that we forgot about our goal to speak Albanian with each other more. We can all improve in something. But, anyways, we got pictures taken with a bear! A pretty decent sized bear too! That was so awesome! Also, Elder Clawson has been giving me more opportunities where I have to rely more on my own abilities. He's made me speak on the phone with Albanians a lot this week. It's really difficult because I don't really understand them when I'm speaking to them face-to-face, so when you add in the static and the background noise of a phone call, it gets even harder! But some of the other elders in my district listened to me during my first phone call and they said that they were really impressed, so maybe my language is a little better than I give myself credit for. The elders here in Durrës are very kind and they help me to improve! The week started off on a really high because we contacted some people who seemed really interested in learning more, so we set up lessons with them. However, when the time for the lessons came, they didn't show up and they wouldn't answer our phone calls. So right now we don't have any investigators. It's been really tough on us. At times it's been really discouraging because we've been seeing the other elders have tons of success and we're just contacting all of the time with pretty much no results.

However, I know that if we are patient when things aren't going the way we want, then we will find success. Trusting in the Lord is key whenever we are going through hard times, whether it's not having success finding investigators, or if it's a time when nothing seems to be going right for you even when you are doing everything right. Trusting in the Lord is essential when we go through trials. Even when we aren't going through trials, we must continue to put our trust in the Lord. When we think that we can do this on our own, the Lord will let us. Imagine this, the Being that created the Universe, that has all power and all knowledge, that is perfect in the very definition of the word, can and will help us with anything if we let Him. It's our choice. Either we can trust that He will help us with our problems, or we can rely only on ourselves. He loves us and he wants us to be happy right now, but each one of us has to make that decision for himself or herself. I don't know about you, but I'd want to have help from God in everything that I do. I want that help in my life, so what will I do? I'll trust in Him. When things go bad, I still want that help so I'll continue to trust in God. If I ever stop trusting in God, then it'll be like I'm saying, "I don't want anymore help". As long as I trust in the Lord, the Lord will help me. I know that the Lord will help EVERYONE that puts their trust in Him. Do you want help from God in everything that you do? If you do, then what should you do? Trust. I challenge each of you to trust more in the Lord this next week and see the blessings that come from it.

Say hello to Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins, the guys at work, and the Princeton Ward! Send them my love! Thank you for all of the love and support you give to me, I couldn't do this without you!

Love,

Elder Jakob Andru Uacën

Jacob and the Bear

Essentially churros soaked in high fructose corn syrup! They are amazing!!

20 lb. bucket of Nutella-like product.

Wow! It smells so good!!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

28 April 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your emails, thoughts, and prayers! I always look forward to hearing from you on P-days! Well the move from Lushnjë to Durrës wasn't too crazy. We had the zone leaders drive all of our stuff to the place where all the buses and frigons are. (Frigons are large passenger vans without seat belts and hurtle down the high way at about 90 mph.) We found a bus going to Tirana and they said that they were going through Durrës, so they would drop us off there. We loaded all of our stuff down under the bus and we traveled to Durrës. For some reason the bus was driving really slow for the entire trip, so we got there a little later than we were planning, but it all worked out in the end. As soon as we got there we had a meeting with the rest of the missionaries in Durrës and they welcomed us warmly. Right after our meeting, we moved all of our stuff into our new house and we went to lunch. We had quite a few meetings that day so we could organize ourselves and get on the same page. That night we did some tracting and we didn't get a whole lot of success from that, but we knocked on the door of a nënë and she gave us some Easter Candy. In Albania, all of the older women are called "nënë" or grandmother. So that was the highlight of our day.

Elder Clawson and I are opening a new area in Durrës, so we don't have any investigators at the moment. We've been trying to work with some inactive members, but they haven't been too willing to meet, which is a real bummer. So the majority of the time we street contact. My entire mission up to this point has been street contacting. The people here aren't as nice as the people in Lushnjë. Durrës is the second largest city in Albania, and the people have more of that big city feel. Not a whole lot of them are willing to stop and talk. Also, I've been sworn at more here than in Lushnjë. All of the boys who learn English can say "Hello, my friends. How are you? I'm fine thanks." and then a bunch of swear words. At times it's hard to just brush it off when someone swears at you in English, but most of the time we let it go. However, we have confronted a couple kids who have sworn at us, and then every little bit of bravery they ever had leaves and they run like a frightened deer.

We have it set up nice with our finances. All of our rent and utilities get taken care of through the office. We don't have to worry about any of that stuff. It's really nice! And then every missionary has a debit card issued by the mission. Once a month we'll get money put into our account and we go withdraw it from an ATM. This is the money that we use for food, travel, and other necessities. When we want to buy personal stuff like souvenirs or clothing, we purchase that with our own personal money. I haven't bought a bunch of personal items yet. The only thing I've bought was a hard drive so I can back up and organize pictures that I've taken.

Rachel, that's so awesome that you got a Frozen piano book! I really liked that movie! Have you seen it yet? When I get home you'll have to play me some songs from it! Oh, I've been hearing a lot of people saying that Psych is ending. Is that true? There isn't any wall to wall carpet in Albania, so we have all hard, cold floors, so I've been wearing my Psych slippers a lot. My slippers have sparked many conversations about Psych and it ending, so I was really shocked to hear that!

Cars are very different here. I never really understood the genius of a smart car until I came here. Everything is so small and crammed together, so small vehicles are the best option here. I've also seen a lot of cars here that aren't sold in America. All of the missionaries who are in leadership positions have mission cars, and every mission car is an Opal. The one I've spent the most time in is an Opal Corsa. That's the vehicle that the zone leaders have. The other day Elder Clawson and I were talking about how awesome it would be if the mission vehicles were like the Blueberry from Psych.

Today we went to Divjak for P-day. All of the missionaries in the south zone: Durrës, Elbasan, Lushnjë, Fier, and Vlorë got together to play capture the flag. It was really nice because I was able to see a lot of the missionaries form my MTC group. We played capture the flag on the beach in Divjak, but there were a bunch of bushes that grew very pointy, sharp reeds. I've never seen things like them before! They were pretty sharp! Fortunately I wore jeans today, so I had an advantage over the other missionaries. Whenever I was close to being tagged, I would run into these bushes and that would buy me enough time to get away. We had a lot of fun playing capture the flag today. Our games got pretty intense too! Elder Penrod was telling me that they played capture the flag in Vlorë with some of the members and they don't understand the concept at all. He said that the Americans just walked across their side, grabbed their flag and walked back while the Albanians stood there. So now they just stick to futball.

I miss Lushnjë a bit, but I'm glad to be here in Durrës. I know that transfers and changes like this are always a little rough at first. Things were just starting to pick up for us in Lushnjë after three weeks, and now we have to start all over here too. Today, when I was in Divjak talking to the other missionaries in my group, they were talking about all the lessons and success they were having, and that was a little disheartening to me. However, I just need to stop worrying about myself and what I want and I just need to focus on doing the Lord's will. Street contacting can wear pretty hard on you sometimes, and, at times, it's hard to stay hopeful. However, I know that the Lord has called me to come here to Albania. I know that He needs me here in Durrës. I know that He will help me with this work. I know that a mission isn't easy, and I knew that when I put my mission papers in. I know that the Lord will qualify us for the Work that He calls us to. I know that He will help me to understand what everyone around me is saying. I know that He will put me in the path of those people who are ready to hear and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that God lives and He loves us. I know that He won't forget us. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and I know that through His Gospel, we can become happier in our lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that God loves us because He sent His Son to Atone for our sins. Now, God gives us prophets to help us, and He gives us His Word. I love reading from the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I've learned a lot from their pages, and I know that I can still learn much from them, as well. I know that the Lord knows each one of us individually and He cares about us personally! We should never forget that!

Thank you so much for your love and your support! I definitely couldn't do this without you!

Javë të mbarë!

Love,

Elder Watson

Batjar, Elder Watson, and Juxhin in Lushnjë

View of Elder Clawson's and Elder Watson's new place in Durrës

Elder Clawson in the Durrës house

Monday, April 21, 2014

20 April 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Easter in Albania is a little different. You can actually say "Happy Easter" to people in public and they won't get offended. From our apartment we can see a big banner that says, "Gezuar Pashket" (Happy Easter) that stretches across the street. There are signs all around town wishing you a happy Easter. It's really nice how you can be openly religious here and not have people freak out about it. We went over to our branch president's apartment for a while last night to share an Easter message with him and his wife. Whenever you go into an Albanian's home, they always give you a drink and a small snack. It's a tradition that every Albanian practices. However, since it was Easter they gave us a special treat. We talked with them for a while and we shared a message from Helaman 14:17 and talked about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and what that means for us. Elder Clawson made me give the thought last night and I was kinda nervous, but everything went well. Another thing that Albanians do on Easter is they dye hard boiled eggs red, then when they have dried, each person takes an egg and you hit two of them together on the tips to see who has the strongest egg.

That's awesome that you had Stake Conference this last week. I always enjoy stake conference, and I'm looking forward to going to Stake Conference in Albania! They've only had one Stake Conference here in Albania because they've only had a stake since the beginning of the month. This week, the youth were having an activity at the church building in Lushnjë and we met the Stake President there. He speaks English very well! That's so awesome to hear how the Princeton Ward was represented at Stake Conference! {Members of our ward were called upon to bear testimony, play piano, and say a closing prayer.} That's so awesome to hear about Spencer, Grant, and Mikey. That makes me so happy! (A few of Jacob's friends who will be receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood.) Also, say, "Përshendetje!" to the Jensen Family for me when you get the chance. {Friends who sent well wishes who also have a daughter on a mission to Salt Lake City, UT, right now.}

Yeah, The Palace isn't best situated for four missionaries, but that will be changing on Tuesday. Elder Clawson and I have spent a lot of time looking for an apartment in the past couple weeks and we finally found one that is perfect for us! However, it just wasn't meant to be. On Sunday night we received a call from our Mission President, President Ford, and the area that Elder Clawson and I have been working in is being closed and we will be reopening an area in Durrës this Tuesday. Now there will only be four missionaries in Lushnjë (two elders, and two sisters) and there will be six missionaries in Durrës (six elders). Durrës is a coastal city in the middle of Albania, and is much larger than Lushnjë, so there will be more work for us there. I've only been in Lushnjë for 18 days, so this is very soon. Usually transfers in Albania last for 13 weeks, but I guess that it is needed for Elder Clawson and I to go to Durrës right away. Elder Clawson is very excited to go to Durrës because that's the city he was born in.

Okay, Elder Clawson wasn't literally born in Durrës, he was born in Idaho, but we have a bunch of mission language that I'll explain really quick. The area where you are trained, or first start you mission, is where you were born, and the area where you finish your mission is where you die. And missionaries that have finished their missions are referred to as "dead." If you serve with a missionary who is "dying" in that transfer, you kill that missionary. Your trainer is your father or your mother for elders and sisters respectively, and the rest of family relations branch out from there. So my father is Elder Clawson, my grandfather is Elder Foster, and I have a brother Elder Eliason. Elder Clawson showed me a family tree that follows our line back to 1995. It's pretty awesome!

Lushnjë is pretty small so there isn't a whole lot of public transportation. A lot of people like to own their own vehicles, so traffic gets pretty bad. But in the larger cities, there are buses that go around the city. But mainly people walk, bike, or drive. We have tried a lot of candy and sweets. There are a lot of things that are sold in Albania that aren't sold in America because they're too high in sugar or fat, like Fanta Exotic. Fanta Exotic is a drink that taste like someone liquefied a bag of gummy bears. There is a lot of good chocolate like Kinder, Milka, or Lion. There is something called Nucrem. It's like nutella, but it comes in a giant bucket and it has chocolate and vanilla flavors. The food here is so amazing and I've only scratched the surface.

Wow, the weather in Minnesota is so crazy! {Last Wednesday we received 20" of snow and schools were closed; but by Sunday, the temperature was in the high 60s!} We've had a cold snap (as far as Albanian weather goes) this last week. It's been kinda' chilly and rainy for the last week. When it rains, it puts a damper on the work because people don't like to go outside at all. The weather in Albania is pretty bipolar, but not as bipolar as the weather in Minnesota. For example, this morning was chilly and rainy again, but now it's very warm! I'm not looking forward to the summer here, it sounds like it's just as humid as Minnesota, but much hotter.

Wow, that is surprising! Dad, you'll be more familiar with technology than I will by the time I return! {Dad showed Rachel how to use a feature on the TV remote.} That's so awesome to hear that Elder Dobbins came back! Wow, I remember going teaching with him about this time of year, two years ago! Time is flying by! I can't believe that April is almost over already! I can't believe that I've been in Albania for almost three weeks! Wow, that's amazing!

It will be a little different being in Durrës because we won't be living with the zone leaders and we won't be able to take advantage of their automobile privileges. Like today, we went to Vlorë for P-day. We met up with the other missionaries in Vlorë for lunch today. After lunch we went to the beach and drove up to a castle ruin on the top of a mountain overlooking Vlorë. It was so calm and peaceful on top of the mountain, and the view was absolutely beautiful! I'll definitely miss P-days with Elder Palmer and Elder Bilodeau. We've had some great P-days together!

I've become a little more confident in my language this past week. I've been put in more situations where I have to use my language on my own. For example, on Tuesday this last week Elder Clawson had District Leader training in Tirana, so he and Elder Price, from Vlorë, went to Tirana and Elder Penrod came up to Lushnjë for the day. Elder Penrod and I were in the same MTC group, so neither of us knows the language very well yet. However, we were able to talk to a lot of people and we actually got a couple phone numbers from people who seemed interested. It was a difficult experience, but it was good for Elder Penrod and me. We could see that the very limited Albanian that we know, and the even more limited Albanian that we understand, could be used to do missionary work. Up until that point, both of us relied more on our companion to do most of the work, but I think both of us had a confidence boost from that day. Also, I've been sharing more of the spiritual thoughts in the English class we teach and at youth activities. I'm getting there little by little. "A rock upon a rock becomes a wall; A wall upon a wall becomes a castle."

My testimony of revelation has grown this last week. I've been thinking a lot about my Patriarchal Blessing and the blessing I received when I was set apart as a missionary, and I have seen the blessings and promises becoming real! I know that God still speaks today. I know that He has restored His Priesthood to the Earth again. I know that through the power of the priesthood, He directs this Church today. I know that He calls worthy men to be priesthood leaders, such as: prophets, apostles, bishops, branch presidents, stake presidents, mission presidents, and so on. I know that these men can receive revelation from God for us. With how well I've adjusted to Albanian culture and food, and how my mission has gone so far, I can see revelation from God through priesthood leaders being fulfilled. I love the chance that I have to serve here in Albania, and I can't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be! I know that Jesus is the Christ, and the Savior of the world. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church that He directs today. I love this Gospel and I know that it's true. I know that everyone can come to know that this is the Lord's Church through sincere prayer. We truly are very blessed.

Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Love,

Elder Watson

Photos from Vlorë

Monday, April 14, 2014

14 March 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

It's so weird to think that I've been away from home for about three months now. Wow, time flies! April is half over already. Where does the time go??!

The food here is amazing! I'm afraid that I'll gain a lot of weight here! Food is super cheap and eating out isn't much more expensive than making the food yourself. I had qofte for the first time this week. One of the missionaries described qofte as the animal parts that aren't worthy enough to be made into hot dogs. That sounds super sketchy, but it is so good! There is a grill that sells qofte right by the church, so for lunch we'll usually get some qofte. Enough qofte to feed 4 elders, including drinks, is only about $8. Food is very cheap, but very good! We haven't found an apartment yet, but we've been looking. There aren't many places in Lushnjë that are renting a furnished apartment in our price range. We have found a couple possibilities, but we don't have anything definite yet. There was one place that we found that we really want to get. It used to be the church in Lushnjë when it was very small. It has two floors and is really beautiful. It would be the most awesome place to live, but the people that are selling it are asking a really expensive price. Elder Clawson and I, as well as the zone leaders, have all been looking for an apartment. We even went to the old part of town and we couldn't find anything in the old, run down, communist housing areas. So we're still staying with the zone leaders at their apartment. Their apartment is in Lushnjë on the edge of town. They probably have the nicest apartment out of all the elders in the mission! It is referred to as "The Palace" by all the missionaries. It's really awesome and I love living there, but it's too small for four elders to live there. I would like to get a place so I can finally unpack and sleep in an actual bed, but we're making it work right now. We live with Elder Palmer and Elder Bilideau. Elder Palmer is from Richmond, Virginia, and he is almost done with his mission. In three months he'll be finished and on his way back home. Elder Bilideau is from Martha's Vineyard and he has about five months left on his mission. They are great missionaries and they have a makinë ("car" is a bad word in Albanian, so we always say makinë) so we get spoiled a lot because we get to hitch rides with them. We get to go to some awesome places on Pday! Last week, we went to Apollonia and this week we went to the beach of the Adriatic Sea! We wouldn't get to do all of these things if we didn't have a makinë!

Lushnjë has a branch of about 35 that attend regularly. This last Sunday was a fast Sunday, so I got the chance to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting. After the meeting, several people came up to me and said they were impressed with my language. The other missionaries said that I spoke very grammatically correct. Imagine that, I have better grammar in Albanian than in English. Over the past couple of weeks I've been thinking about memories that I have, talking to people and public speaking, things like that, and it's really weird to think that I did that in English. Looking back it seems so weird that I was ever afraid of speaking in public... in English! That's so easy now!

I've gotten really comfortable with talking with strangers. Most of the time we are street contacting because we don't have much work. So I've gotten really good at saying, "Mirëdita. Si jeni? Mirë, a mund të falsim pak? Oh, nuk keni kohë tani? S'ka problem. Mirupafshim." I'm trying to make an effort to talk to everyone, even if it is only saying hello. Yeah, I've had a lot of people ask me questions about my name. "Watson" is very difficult for them to say, but I ordered a name tag that will spell my name "Uacën" That will be a LOT easier for them to say. I'm just waiting for the tag to be made and sent out here. I'm hoping that it will come pretty soon.

We've had quite a few... unique... experiences street contacting. Elder Clawson told me that one of his favorite things about Albania is, "they don't have mental institutions here, so the people who should be locked up are out roaming the streets." I thought he was joking, but a couple experiences we've had has confirmed his statement. This one lady came up to us one day and she spoke English very well. So we were talking in English and all she could talk about is Ronnie Reagan (Ronald Reagan, US President). She was talking about how she saw him in Syria and how he is actually Albanian. She was teaching us about the operations that he had so he could be taller, whiter, have red hair, and speak like an American. She stayed and talked to us for about 20 minutes, and I'm not exaggerating! She has showed up many times to church and the only thing she wants to do is talk more and more about Ronnie Reagan. We've tried talking to her about the Gospel, but it has gone nowhere. This is just one of the many interesting street contacting experiences we've had. Now, don't think that every person in Albania is like this. Elder Bilideau and Elder Palmer met a man street contacting on my first day in Lushnjë, and he is getting baptized next week! He was definitely prepared to hear the Gospel! It's amazing seeing the progress he's made in just two weeks! It is really awesome to see something like that happen!

I love it here in Albania. I love it here in Lushnjë. I can't imagine being called to serve anywhere else in the world. It's really weird, I feel like I fit in perfectly here! I'm really excited to experience more and more of the aspects of missionary work. I am super excited that I can be a missionary here and talk with people about something I love so much. I love this Gospel and I know that it's true! I have found so much comfort in the Book of Mormon and I know that it is truly the word of God! I love learning about the life of the Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He is the Son of God, and that He is our Savior. I know that God will help me to learn little by little, and soon I'll be able to understand everything and I'll be able to know how to help others more efficiently. In Albania, they have a saying which translates to, "A stone upon a stone makes a wall, a wall upon a wall makes a castle." Right now I just need to keep putting those little stones on each other, and soon I'll have a castle!

Thank you so much for your love and support!

Love,

Elder Watson

Sufllaqe

A view from "The Palace"

Inside "The Palace"

A view from "The Palace"

Unfortunately, the beach along the Adriatic is filled with trash.

A tiny crab found on the beach.

Elder Clawson playing with the tiny crab

Elder Bilideau enjoying the sea

Blue crab found on the beach

Blue crab

Fishing net in the bay

Saturday, April 12, 2014

7 April 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your love and support! Thank you for supporting me in my efforts in serving a mission! Without your support, I don't know if I could serve a mission.

The trip to Albania was very long and very hectic! One of the elders in my group had a medical emergency and couldn't come with us to Albania. He is okay now, but he has to stay home for a while under observation to see if he can still come to Albania. Please keep him in your prayers. He was really excited to come to Albania, so that was very hard for all of us to say goodbye to him. The flight from Chicago to Vienna was very long! But the airplane was very comfortable and the people were very kind. I sat next to a man from Vienna and we talked for quite a bit. In Vienna, Elder Bangerter and I were looking for a drinking fountain to get a drink, but guess what doesn't exist in Europe? Yup, drinking fountains. So we found a vending machine, but it only took Euro coins. So we needed to go to an ATM, get some cash, go to the gift store and buy something to get change in coins, and then go back to the machine to get a drink. It turned out to be nearly a half hour adventure! But on the flight from Vienna to Tirana, I sat next to a man from Tirana. We talked for the entire flight in Albanian! He talked very slow, but I understood most of what he said! It was the confidence boost that I needed!

President Ford and his wife are very kind! I am grateful that I get to work with them for a few months before they leave. From the first few minutes of getting to the mission home, we were already going out and teaching lessons and contacting people. We were paired up with other missionaries from Tirana and we got right to work. That was very difficult, but Elder Harvey, the elder I went out with for about and hour, said that I did a great job. I didn't understand what was said, but he said that he was impressed with my abilities already.

Elder Clawson and I are opening a new area in Lushnjë so we are starting from scratch. We don't have any investigators right now, so the majority of our time has been spent street contacting. I've been trying to talk to everyone that walks by, but people mostly ignore us. However, when we get to talk to someone it's really awesome! I don't really understand what is going on because they speak so fast in the south, but I've been trying really hard. I feel bad because I don't feel like I've been doing the same amount of work as Elder Clawson just because I have a language barrier. I try and stop people and then usually Elder Clawson takes over after they respond. From some people, I have received some compliments about how good my language is, and also from others I've been made fun of because I can't really speak yet. But I've been trying to think of what I can do and I'm trying to stay positive. However, it can be hard sometimes. But I just need to rely on the Lord and trust that He will help me to improve over time.

Albania is very different from the USA. There are animals EVERYWHERE! There will be packs of stray dogs that roam the streets and people are selling live chickens and geese on street corners. The old men "Xhaxhi" sit around all day and play either dominoes or chess. Life here is very slow. People take their time. The people are also very poor. Things are very cheap here. The other day we bought lunch for under $3 for both Elder Clawson and I. Since it is very poor, we don't really get fed by church members, because work is hard to find, they don't have much. But the people are very friendly and very kind. Whenever we go into another person's house they always give you a drink and a snack. The people here are very humble and kind.

The food is absolutely AMAZING! I love the food here so much! I haven't had a ton of traditional food yet, because I've only been here a short while, but some of my favorite things are byrek and sufllaqe. It is absolutely amazing! I can't imagine serving anywhere else, I know that I'm supposed to be here! Elder Clawson and I don't have a place yet, so we are living with the zone leaders. They have an awesome apartment! They have the nicest place in the entire mission, or so I've heard. We are sleeping on their couches and living out of our suitcases, so part of me wants to get a place so I can unpack and set up a place that can feel more like home.

General Conference was a little weird. They only get to see a couple sessions of General Conference. They watch Saturday morning session on Saturday night and Saturday afternoon session on Sunday morning. Then they watch another session on Sunday night. We set up another room where we could watch a couple talks in English so we could understand. So that was really nice! But it felt really weird not getting to see it all.

Thank you for your love and support! I couldn't do this without you!

Love,

Elder Watson