Update from Elder Johnson - October 2016 - Lezhë
3 October 2016
Përshendetje, everyone! — I am loving life. It was so great to talk to you the other day. So, the flights were great, and I slept the whole plane right to Vienna and then to Albania, but then was mesmerized by how beautiful it was as we were landing. It is definitely Europe and I love it so. It is a whole new world over here, and it is so cool.
The Mission President is great. The first few days were actually a blur. We got to Albania on Wednesday, met President and Sister Weidmann (from Switzerland), had dinner, and went to bed. Oh, and I lost my suitcase, or the airline lost it. So that stunk. Luckily it turned up the next day, but that was a little stressful. It was my carry-on that they made me check in Chicago, but I was still worried. Motra Miles and Elder Schneider's bags also went missing, and arrived the next day. I have been able to see Motra Miles all the time in my area, which is really cool, because we are both being trained and are still clueless Americans.
Oh, also Wednesday, everyone got taken out for lessons or tracting and things like that. I went with Elder Lords, and we went street contacting. It was awesome. He is my mid-wife. Ok, so maybe dad understands this, but everyone here in the mission has terms for the mission 'life'. All us trainees were born on Wednesday, and the person who took us out that first day is known as our mid-wife. My father, of course, is my trainer, Elder Samuel. My mother is the oldest sister in my district, Sister Eliason. We are known as 'fringo's, which is Shqip for new-borns. It is awesome. I have a whole family tree here. It is so funny. Also, the missionaries keep talking about missionaries who have gone home as being dead. Like, "Oh, It is so crazy that Elder so-and-so is dead." It caught me off guard at first, but I seriously love it. So funny.
So, we slept over at the mission home Wednesday night. Then we took a bus to Shkodër, while the Motrat took the car. We had to bring the new-found suitcases with us. It was an adventure. Then, we got our stuff and crashed at the other Elder's place on Thursday night. The next day, Friday, we spent the day in Shkodër and then drove down to Lezhë and unpacked.
Ok, funny story, Our apartment's lights don't work, except for the bathrooms and the outside balcony, so at night we go by that light alone. There was a crazy thunderstorm and it was awesome and then our lights all went out right as some lightning flashed so we could not see a thing all night. Then, the lights just came back on about 8:30 this morning. It was crazy.
We have four hours of study every day. Personal, Companion, and Language. And then an extra hour of companion study for the first twelve weeks. It doesn't leave much time in the day.
We watched a session of General Conference as a district in English and loved it, especially Elder Uchtdorf's talk, and Elder Uceda's who actually spoke to us in the MTC as well. We have to wait for General Conference to be translated to Shqip and we will watch it next Sunday.
It has been crazy talking to people and trying to understand and respond në Shqip. I am not very good at it yet, but it is coming. I have so much study, and so many meetings each day. But, we get a lot done.
My companion is great. His name is Elder Samuel. We have set a goal to be the most obedient, diligent, and productive missionaries we can be. Elder Samuel is from England. He has a great accent. His name is actually Samuel Carr, but his last name is a curse word in Albanian, so he uses his first name.
In our district, we have Elder Samuel and I, Elder Ellsworth (loves Lord of the Rings, District Leader), Elder Sadiku (from Albania), Motra Eliason (extended her mission 6 weeks to help train), Motra Miles (who was in my MTC district!) and Elder and Sister Collins, a Senior Couple in our area. Super Fun! So there are actually only 9 sisters here to train the 10 sisters coming in, so one trainer has to have twins.
So, everyone else in our district is in Shkodër and works only in Shkodër. Elder Samuel and I live in Lezhë, which is about 35 minutes from Shkodër, but work in Shkodër, Lezhë, and Laç, which is 20 minutes from Lezhë. So a lot of driving to many different cities. Luckily, we have lots of MoTab to listen to while we drive and some movie themes too for P-days.
Shkodër is good and has a fair amount of members and a brand new church building. (Small by our standards, but great for them.) Lezhë has 3 members, siblings, ages 11, 14, and 17, and a tiny room for a church building. And, Laç has 0 members. We have gotten the special assignment from President to open Laç. So, yeah we have a lot of work to do. It is insane.
I am so happy to be here, and am still getting used to the fact that I AM IN ALBANIA! Today, we arose, studied, and cleaned the apartment a bit. Then, we walked around Shkodër a bit. There is a huge catholic church right across the street from our little church building. We went inside and also took some great pics around the city. We had some amazing suflaqes for lunch, basically just tons of meat and french fries and ketchup and mayonnaise, with some lettuce and tomatoes, in a pita. But it was great. …and a Magnum bar. Right now, I am in an internet place with a bunch of computers in Shkodër. It is great. I am also drinking a Fanta Exotic. Delicious! So, no limit on emailing time here on P-Days, which is nice. We are going to see a castle next P-day so that's exciting.
The food is great, the people are greater, and yes, the church is true in Shqipëri too. I am really loving it. I am trying to work hard, and I’m having a great experience. Time is just flying already. I love you all. Elder Xhansën
Pictures:
Us Elders on the train to SLC at 4:00 in the morning.
Marking scriptures on the plane to Vienna. (Red - Pronouns referring to Christ, Yellow - Direct Quotations or Words of Christ)
Most of the Elders attempting to take a picture. This one was the best of 20. There are some pretty funny ones. Everyone was so dead tired. It was hilarious.
First apartment pics… our room, living room and kitchen. The bathroom is small (like all bathrooms in Shqipëri) and NO shower curtain. Nuk i di pse. Don't know why. It is so weird. Water gets everywhere. I think just our apartment has that problem.
10 October 2016
Hey, Everyone — How are you all? Hopefully great. I know I am doing great and loving the missionary life. Albania is amazing. I think I will start with some things I did this week.
Accomplishments and Things I learned this week:
1. The money is very strange. They used to have old lek, but it got to useless so that made a new lek that is worth 10 times more. It is sort of confusing. But the point is that when someone say something costs 'dhjetë mijë' (ten thousand), it actually costs 'një mije' (one thousand) (the equivalent of ten dollars, so whenever we hear mijë we just think dollar.) It is hard to get used to, but it is a cool little Albanian thing.
2. 'Do të mund të' means ‘will be able to’. That is something I will start incorporating into my speaking. And in this area they say Faleminders instead of Faleminderit for Thank you. Lots of little things to learn here for the language.
3. I finished reading Our Heritage and am now starting Jesus the Christ, just reading during car rides between Lezhë and Shkodër and when I have extra time at night or in the mornings.
4. I listened to all the sessions of general conference në Shqip Saturday and Sunday and one of them I saw twice. Once for Shkodër and once for Lezhë. My understanding was not great. But I was able to pick up some words and sentences, and the spirit filled in a little more, and I thought about it so it was a pretty great learning experience still. Elder Samuel and I are going to try to watch them in English for some companion studies. Looking forward to that.
5. Missionary Work has a lot of meetings and stuff to do other than missionary work. Add on four hours of study and two hours of Lunch every day and the commute to Shkodër on many days and there is not a lot of time. We are hoping to have a little more time this week to get some great stuff done.
6. We taught Elton twice this week. He is our investigator who comes to the lessons, but does not think he needs to get baptized because he has already been baptized.
7. We also taught Shaqir this week. He seems ready to hear the gospel. He wants to read the Book of Mormon and committed himself to do so every day, and we are hoping that he and his two children will commit to baptism this week. For some reason, his phone was off yesterday when we tried to call him to invite him to sacrament meeting, but we have high hopes for him and his family.
8. You can't really schedule lessons for days in advance here, because Albanians will forget, but most Albanians are happy to just come meet for a lesson on a moment's notice. But, another interesting thing is that Albanians don't really show up on time for lessons. Sometimes 20 minutes late. It is a shame.
9. Every day for language study, Elder Samuel and I read three chapters of the Book of Mormon out loud në Shqip. It is super helpful and by the end of this transfer, we will have finished the entire Book of Mormon out loud në Shqip. It is really helping my reading ability and pronunciation. Sometimes, just reading 3 chapters takes as long as 45 minutes. But it is awesome. I can actually understand and am learning more about the stories by reading it in Albanian. So cool.
10. Elder Samuel carved a watermelon the other day. (They don't have any pumpkins here.) He is sending a picture home to enter into the pumpkin-carving competition that he has won every year for the past few years. It is so impressive. (And I got to eat the watermelon! YES!)
11. The power for the apartment went out twice this week. It has been really rainy and thunderstormy lately. Even at the castle today. We had a candle-lit dinner last night and had to go without our nightly John Bytheway talk. That was disappointing. But always fun. It is also fun to sit in the dark and watch thunderstorms. We have a great view of it out our apartment window.
12. We went to a castle today. The Shkodër castle. It was pretty awesome. I just wish I had a Rick Steve's book for Albania so I could learn cool things about it. There was a cool cave we crawled through and so many cool walls and fields and stairs and views. I LOVE EUROPE!!!!
13. We get to eat out a lot because of how cheap it is here. The other day, I had a HUGE plate of DELICIOUS spaghetti for only dy mijë lek (like two dollars) It was awesome!
14. We got haircuts.
15. We had zone conference which took all day Thursday. Learned so many great things there and got to see a bunch of my MTC Albies there.
Well, that is about it. Or all I can think of just now.
I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that all that I have in my life, including my amazing family, extended family, friends, and even the gospel, are blessings from God, and that if I work hard here, I will be blessed for it an hundred-fold throughout my life. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church of God on the Earth. It is so cool to read the humble beginnings of the church in Our Heritage and then to see the humble beginnings of the church here in Albania where we have very few members. But it is amazing. as Han Solo would say, "It's true. All of it." I love you. Please pray for me to have a productive week. — Elder Xhansën
P.S. Most of the pictures attached are just ones I took at the castle today. Albania is SO BEAUTIFUL!
17 October 2016
Hello world, This week just flew by. This mission has been going by too fast. So, I have written this email to inform you all that I will not be returning from Albania ever........ so I have just been informed by my mission president that I do have to return home after two years. Dang it. Oh, well.
This week was very good. Well, all the days blur together so I am not sure which events took place on which days, but... I got really sick this week. I have been coughing and getting headaches, but I am fine now, except I am still coughing. But, other than the coughing, I feel completely fine. It was really just one day that I was really sick. We also had some good lessons this week and some good language study this week. I taught the seminary class for the three members in Lezhë (the zh makes the sound of the 's' in vision and the ë is silent.) on Saturday this week. They are really great. We are trying to invite them to bring friends. That is really how we will get the work going. Through the members. Their parents aren't members, but those three kids always come and are really great. We have two small rooms on the second floor of some building as our church. I have not been tracting door to door yet. We mostly find in other ways, but I am hoping we can do some tracting soon. We have been listening to John Bytheway during lunches, which has been awesome. We have been having a lot of Spaghetti recently. It is great.
The other day, it rained like crazy and thundered, of course, all night, (It does that a lot here, but I love it) and the place where we parked our car was crazy flooded, like the entire street was under water. It was awesome. We were able to drive out alright, but it was crazy.
Today, Elder Samuel and I came up to Shkodër to play some Pool and Ping-Pong with the other Elders. It was fun. Played 13 games of ping-pong and won a few of them too so that was fun. I am getting ready for when I get home and play against my Dad. (I'm coming for you, Dad. That will be an epic match.)
I love you all! I hope you are all well and happy. I know that this is God's work and it must go forward. I know that life is not easy, but that every thing we go through is to help us to return to live with Them, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost forever. I know that many of our friends will be there. We will be able to meet the prophets and they will congratulate us on our faith and courage for being a saint living in these hard times. Most importantly, our family will be there with us. I miss you all. In this life, we are here as families to build up eachother and help and love eachother. Right now, I am seperated from you all so that other people can be with their families forever. I am excited to see you all when this mission life is over, and am so excited to see my Grandpa Johnson and others when this earthly life is over. This is the message I am called to share, so I share it with you all, with my testimony that it is TRUE, that God loves us, we can live with Him and our families forever, and it is through the Savior that we can do that. Through sacred covenants like Baptism, we promise to follow Him so that He can guide us safely home. I bear testimony of that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. — Elder Xhansën
24 October 2016
Everyone, Si jeni? (How are you all?) I am loving life on the mission. Every time I think about it, I just realize, "I am on a mission. I am living the best two years." It is so great.
This week was good. We had some good lessons with Elton and Kurs Anglisht (English Course) and Church in Shkodër and Lezhë. We found a xhaxhi (funny old guy who walks the streets and plays dominoes with his other xhaxhi friends and is super nice to talk to.) and his younger friend who could be promising investigators in Laç. They promised they would be able to meet whenever we wanted to. That is fun.
What I love about the mission is that the Lord gives me hard days and then days that lift me back up higher than before. It is so awesome. This week we had a lot of lessons fall through, but other things are going well, for me, at least. It is quite something to be here on a mission. I love it.
Today, we went down to Laç, and climbed a mountain to get to the Church of Laç. The views were so beautiful. It was awesome. I just loved the hike up, and it reminded me of so many similar hikes I have been on with my family, this last summer even. Such fun.
A typical Sunday is we get ready and have Personal Study, go to church in Shkodër from 10:30 to 12:30, have a quick lunch with our district at the Collin's (senior couple in Shkodër. They are so nice.) house, and then go to church in Lezhë from 3 to 5, and then come home for three more hours of study. Then, we have Daily Planning, journal writing, and some Christmas or Choir music before bed. Church in Lezhë is my favorite time of the week. Yesterday, it was just us and Sister Collins and the Beqiri's. It was awesome. I feel so close with them. Elder Samuel plays the piano, and I bless the sacrament, and we both speak every week. It is awesome. The lesson in 2nd hour was awesome. We talked about the family tree of Adam down to Christ and important stories of the Bible. Those kids have an awesome faith and desire to learn. If I can help their faith and testimonies and conversion grow, that is all I need. It makes me so happy.
To close, I just wanted to share a small segment of something Brigham Young said, Anyone who wants to find salvation through Christ must have faith in (1) His Name, (2) His Atonement, (3) His Character, (4) His Father, and (5) Their Plan of Salvation. This faith will lead to obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
I love that so much and want to apply that. I learn so much every day. (Four hours of study every day is awesome!) I know that the scriptures are so important. I know that when we follow Christ's example, we will be happy and become more like Him each day. Everything points back to Him. He is the Way and the Light, our Savior and Redeemer. He loves us and we love Him. He, along with God, Our Heavenly Father, and The Spirit of God, The Holy Ghost, want to help us and will help us if we ask and are worthy to have the Spirit with us. They will perfect us so that we can live with them again. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I love you all. It sounds like you are doing amazing. Keep on keeping on! — Love, Elder Xhansën
P.S. All the pictures are from today's excursion to the Church of Laç.
31 October 2016
Hello Everyone, and Happy Halloween! for you all. Albanians don't really celebrate it a lot here, but I have seen some scary masks for sale, and a Happy Halloween sign, so I guess they know about it. I am really just in the Christmas mood right now. My companion and I have been listening to Christmas music a lot this week during lunch and at night. It is great.
This has been an amazing purely MISSIONARY week. Before this week, the work seemed to be progressing slowly and I didn't feel like we were really being guided a huge amount. But, wow, God knows His children and we have really been guided to find people who are ready to hear the gospel this week. We just had to be patient and keep working as diligently as we could, and eventually, God blessed us.
On Tuesday last week, I was on an exchange with Elder Ellsworth, our amazing district leader (who also LOVES Lord of the Rings), so that was fun. He is really diligent and focused and prayerful. That day, we got to talk to a lot of people and had a few good discussions, but all our lessons fell through and we had about two hours of time to tract... It was awesome. We literally prayed to be guided directly, and then thought of a good place that he hadn't really been to before in Shkodër, and we were guided, and it took patience, and talking to lots of people, but eventually, we were guided so obviously. I don't know how to describe it. We would walk and then at every turn or street, it was obvious which way we were supposed to go, and we both felt it. We followed this pattern of coming to a new fork in the road, looking both ways, and knowing which way to go for a while, and then we saw a specific apartment, knew that that was the one. We went in and went to the top floor and knocked on a door, and an amazing couple answered the door who were so ready for the gospel. We talked to them and the Spirit was there and wow, the gift of tongues is so real. That was just the most amazing moment. Sadly, I don't get to continue teaching them, but Elder Ellsworth and Elder Sadiku are teaching them.
Then, another day, Elder Samuel stopped suddenly and said he felt like we should stop tracting, go home, and call all the numbers on the potential investigators list in our area book. So, we did, and all the numbers either said they weren't interested or didn't answer. Then the very last number we called, a woman named Luka answered and said she was very interested in meeting and learning more about the Church. We are going to meet with her tomorrow.
Also, a xhaxhi we met in Laç, Zef, and his wife have been calling us trying to set up an appointment to meet and talk in Lezhë. We are meeting with them tonight at 7.
And, the mother of the Beqiri's (our three teen members in Lezhë) came to church yesterday and we think she really liked it. In Lezhë we have 4 members. The three Beeqiri kids and one adult who comes to our ward in Shkodër as well. They are awesome. We don't have a bishopric because there are not enough members. We had sacrament meeting (I bless the sacrament, Elder Samuel plays the piano, Denis, the oldest kid with the Aaronic Priesthood passes the sacrament, and all three of us gave talks this week. Mine was on the Holy Ghost. After sacrament meeting, we split up. The youngest daughter is named Danida, and she is 11 and sort of reminds me of Megan actually. She has primary with Sister Collins and everyone else stays in the other room for Sunday school. We had an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation, which was exciting because their mom was there. We are hoping that their mom and dad will get baptized and it seems very possible! We are going to meet with their family at their house for FHE on Thursday.
For Breakfast, I have a yogurt and some bread with honey. I love my bread with honey. I eat a lot of bread with honey. We have spaghetti just around 5 days a week. And anytime we are in Shkodër. It is always delicious and the best item on any menu. Sometimes we have eggs or the missionary meal (Pasta with delicious sauce and hot dogs sliced up in it). Food is so cheap and delicious here. Whenever we go to Shkodër (usually Mondays and Wednesdays) we eat out as a district. On Sundays, we have a district lunch at the Collins house. I also love my almost daily dessert, Lemon wafers with the creme filling, I can't remember what they are called, Napoleons? It is awesome. Oh, and I love Fanta Exotic.
I love lunch because I get to eat and listen to Christmas music (and other music sometimes, but mostly just Christmas music recently.) and take a nap if necessary and study some more. It is so nice that we can take two hours for lunch (very European) and none for dinner. We just eat something quick when we get home after daily planning.
The budget is great. It isn't hard to stick to it or stay within it. The thing is, there are certain things you are and aren't allowed to buy with your MSF. (missionary funds) You cannot buy personal things or souvenirs or gifts with MSF. You have to use personal money for that. If we have extra MSF at the end of the mission, it goes back to the church. I tried to get money out of my Buxx card at Raiffaissen Bank, and I think the problem is that my credit card is not working because I am in Albania and the bank who is in charge of the card doesn't know that, so they don't allow it. So the solution might be to just tell them to allow the card here.
My favorite part of the day is probably personal study. I get so much out of it and learn so much every day. I just wish I had more time for personal study.
Today was good. We played pool again and I loved it.
Luke, good job on your primary talk. Talking about those things with Mom will be memorable and important. And getting answers to prayers is a very important topic that I am still learning about nonstop and teaching about to other people. Seriously, it is one of the most important topics and principles of missionary work and life in general.
I see the hand of the Lord in our work each and every day. It is amazing. I am growing closer to my Savior every day, and I am so blessed. I hope all of you are doing well. You are in my prayers. I know that your faith and prayers in my behalf, are a huge support for me, and part of the reason for the success we are now experiencing, so thank you for that. I love Albania and all the people here. They are sort of funny sometimes, but incredible people. I know that God plays an active role in our lives and that as we rely on him completely, he can shape us into amazing tools and perfect jewels in His kingdom. How blessed we are to have this life with trials and blessings and family. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and he loves us perfectly. I testify that He lives in His name. Amen.
I am loving missionary life. I love you all. You are amazing. Keep up the good work, and don't forget to have fun!
Elder Johnson
