Update from Elder Johnson - October 2017 - Tirana
2 October 2017
Hi Everyone, My week was awesome. We were pretty busy, as usual.
TUESDAY - we had District Meeting. Directly afterwards, we met up with Elder Divkoviç, one of the greatest missionaries this world has seen. It was his last day, so he was in Tirana, and wanted to see some old members and friends. After lunch, we got to be on a split. I went with Elder Divkoviç and we visited many members. It was awesome. I have gone on two exchanges with Elder Divkoviç, (one in Shkodër and one in Tirana (the first time I was here) ) and he is a legend. He talks to everyone. He has no fear, and shares scriptures and just knows what to do. He is awesome. So, even on his last day, we were talking to absolutely everyone even though we had no time (and that is how it should be). I have been working on being better at talking to everyone, and it has been super cool. We do our very best, and God places miracles into our lives.
Elder Divkoviç left and Elder Nielsen and I immediately drove over to Durrës for our exchange. I stayed in Durrës with Elder Benson, and it was a sweet exchange. Elder Benson is the best. We realized during the exchange that exactly one year had passed since we were last serving together, our last day in the MTC. We loved the MTC, and had a great time that night, talking about those great times, and updating each other on our family, and awesome mission experiences. He served in Berat and T3, so we talked a lot about different members and experiences. I love Elder Benson. He is such a great missionary, always talking to everyone, and letting the Spirit guide him. I would love to serve with him again. He and I are both here for the right reasons. We just want to serve, give of ourselves, and become better.
We had a great restoration lesson, and some great contacting opportunities. I love getting caught up in a conversation with people about God and Jesus Christ and faith. I know what is true, and once I open my mouth, it just comes. It is so clear to me that this is God's true and restored church. It all makes perfect sense, and the parts that we don't fully understand give it more sense. The gospel of Jesus Christ, and the scriptures are just perfect. I love them.
WEDNESDAY - Elder Benson and I went to a members house in Durrës for lunch, and on the wall, was a picture of Sister Wood from our Germany days, so that was a fun surprise, and I got to kenaq with Vëllai Muça about that. So cool to meet her Dad. We did some studies and also did some Book of Mormon contacting, where we have people read one page from the Book of Mormon and highlight where it talks about God. It was cool, even though no one stopped to read a page, except two little boys. I just love testifying of the Book of Mormon.
I just love the albanian language and culture -- it's a part of my character, and I hope that never changes. I just love the little (and big) nuances of this beautiful place.
THURSDAY - Back in Tirana. We had MLC, which was incredible. It is such an inspired meeting. I am excited to implement the thoughts and ideas shared. Zone Conference is on Thursday, so we are preparing for that. It will be great. After that, we had English Course (but no one came), so we went tracting and found a really cool lady who wanted a Book of Mormon, so we asked if we could explain about it, and she invited us in. She seemed to have a great desire to read it, because we told her it is another testament of Jesus Christ. Then we went over to Gentian's house and had a great lesson (more of a discussion) about the Restoration and Prophets.
FRIDAY - In the morning we got up and got out. We did some street contacting, and I did my best to talk to absolutely everyone pa turp. It went really well, and I talked to many amazing people, including an older guy named Vladimir. He was happy to meet us, and had been a faithful Christain when he lived in Germany, but now didn't attend any church. I told him about our church and invited him to come check it out. So, we walked over to the church, and showed him the rooms, and had an awesome Restoration lesson. We invited him to be baptized and he happily agreed. He said he would come to Conference (but didn't end up coming) Hopefully we will be able to see him again. He was so cool. I also did a baptismal interview for a guy in T2. He was so cool, and was baptized the next morning. I gave a talk at his baptism.
SATURDAY - After the last-minute baptism in the early morning, we had another last-minute baptismal interview for a woman, who was then baptized at 4. It was super cool, because we were actually the only ones in attendance. She was shy and so the only people in attendance were us, the APs (who were teaching her), President and Sister Anderson, and the woman's husband (who baptized her). It was a really cool experience, and, of course, I got to play the piano. I absolutely love the APs. They are such studs.
Saturday night, we got to watch general conference Saturday morning session of conference with the first and third wards combined. It was great.
SUNDAY - I also played piano in church again. We had a really cool testimony meeting. At night we watched the Sunday Morning session of conference. I absolutely love listening to the Apostles and Prophets of the Lord speak to us.
Well, I am out of time. Have an absolutely amazing week.
Love, Elder Johnson
9 October 2017
Hi everyone
I had an amazing week. I have been loving every second, of course. The great blessing of the gospel and being a missionary in my life is I don't remember sorrow. I can't even remember what it feels like to be sad. (It is like President Uchtdorf's talk, and I am constantly in the light.) I don't feel homesick, at all. I just want to be here. It has been fun serving around Elders Riepel and Clayton who are going home on Wednesday. They are ready to go home, but I am not at all jealous. I just want to stay here. Time flies. It stinks. When people ask how long we have left, I usually say 'around 22 months I think'. I was hoping that they would make a special announcement at conference to extend missions to 3 years, but no luck.
Anyway, I listened to Priesthood session yesterday and absolutely loved it. That was probably my favorite session of all time to ever listen to. I loved all the amazing insights shared, especially those from Elder Renlund and President Uchtdorf. They will change the way I think about the Priesthood and Light and so many other things. I want to do a deep study of all those talks. Elder Renlund's talk will forever change the way I teach the Priesthood to investigators and members too. I still haven't listened to the Saturday Afternoon or Sunday Afternoon sessions, but I will get there.
Good news - After transfer calls on Saturday, we learned that...
1. Elder Nielsen and I are staying together
2. We will be covering both third ward (T3) and first ward (T1) for the next 6 weeks. It will be a lot of work, but it will be so sweet. It means 5 hours of church, as well as lessons with T1's Recent Converts, Ded, Alfred, and Përparim, as well as an awesome investigator named Nezir. Hopefully we will be able to meet with him a few times this week and report more on him next week.
So, this last week, we had some awesome opportunities to street contact, which is always great, just stopping people in the road and testifying to them of Jesus Christ and the Restoration. I love it. We had Zone Conference on Thursday, which was awesome. Fun to see so all of the missionaries. Lots of inspiration given and received. Motivation and Tools to more effectively do the Lord's work. I performed a musical number. I played that Nearer My God to Thee arrangement that I have. It went pretty well, even though I hadn't practiced it in forever.
Elder Miller is a trainee down in Pogradec but is here today and staying with us overnight which is fun. (His trainer just finished his mission, and is now traveling Albania w/ his parents) Tomorrow, he gets his new comp, and then goes back to Pogradec.
Well, I love my life, and the Lord, and the scriptures, and all of you.
And remember, "There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for!" — Love, Elder Johnson
16 October 2017
My week was awesome. That is all I need to say.
We got to meet with Egzon Byberi again, më në fund (finally). He was baptized in T3 while I was there and we were really good friends. He is in school in Greece, and has two weeks there studying and two weeks off during which he will be here. He hasn't been coming to church at all, but Miracle, he came yesterday and committed to come every week that he is in Tirana. At 6, we are going to go to his house, which will be awesome.
We had district meeting on Friday with our new district leader, ELDER BENSON. What a stud. It was great, with an amazing training on personal revelation, which is necessary for the work we do. We contacted lots of potential investigators, but did not get a lot of lessons this week. We did get a lot of lessons with less actives and recent converts, especially from the First Ward which was great. We got to have ward correlation meeting with both T1 and T3 (a rare occurrence here in Albania), so we are pumped to have some help in getting this work moving forward.
Just a quick mention of the Fejzi Family. They are doing so awesome. Gentian has the Aaronic Priesthood and is diligent in keeping the commandments. Frida is understanding more and more and loved seeing the Restoration film, which we showed them on Thursday. Tedi always surprises me with his deep understanding of gospel principles and stories and scriptures and his great questions. He will be a great missionary (Tedi wants to go to Brasil). Anajsa is adorable and loves the sister missionaries now. She has opened up to us and we love hearing her funny stories. I love that family.
Sunday was the best. We got to go to an amazing 5 hours of church, eat lunch, visit a less active, and see an amazing broadcast from Elder Ballard to all the members 18+ (including us missionaries) in Europe. It was incredible! We are expecting miracles in Europe. We were promised them by an apostle of the Lord, as we pray to be guided to those ready to hear the gospel. I love Elder Ballard.
Today, we didn't play soccer which was sad, but we got to play pool with the assistants, which was sweet, and pretty funny. I love these missionaries. We are planning a few exchanges for this week. It is going to be a great week. I love my life.
At the end of every day, I am filled with gratitude for all the blessings and miracles and experiences. — Have a great week. I love you. — Elder Johnson
23 October 2017
Hi everyone, — I had an incredible week, (as usual). Monday night we went to Egzon's house which was sweet, we talked about the temple and ate a delicious dinner of fries and qofte. Then, Elder Benson was at the church for a baptismal interview, and didn't have time to go back to Durrës, so he and his trainee Elder England, just stayed at our house for the night. Super fun. The next morning, we had district meeting.
We found an amazing man named Simon this week. He has loved meeting and reads the Book of Mormon like crazy. He is already past pg. 90. He loved church and wants to bring his wife and 4-year-old son next time. This is really exciting for us. We will meet with him tomorrow and will talk again about a baptismal date. We have high hopes for this man and his family.
We are also working with Kujtim in T1. His children are all baptized and he is 'active'. He is just not baptized because he has a problem with smoking. We are trying to help him with that, testifying of the power of the Book of Mormon when we read daily, prayer and fasting, and Christ's grace and loving nature. We know he can do it. We are going to set a schedule with him to quit smoking. We are also going to bring Përparim to lessons with him, a recent convert who has overcome many Word of Wisdom problems himself, and is a shining example of change and worthiness. We fasted specifically for a miracle for Kujtim and another member who has a problem with smoking. We love these incredible members. We are encouraged by the help the members are starting to lend, as we are more consistently having Ward Council and Ward Correlation Meetings that are effective and edifying.
I was able to baptize two girls (Paula Agastra and Ina Hyskaj), who the Sisters have been teaching, which was awesome. We also did the 1pg. BoM study Zëri i Zotit, had interviews with President Anderson, served a less-active member, enjoyed 5 hours of church (including two sacrament meetings - one where I gave a talk on Charity, and one where I played the piano), had a mini-exchange w/ Elder Jaunay on Sunday night, (he is the man) and didn't have any time to do weekly planning because we were so busy. I love my life, and the work we do. It is miraculous.
Just know that I love you a lot and pray for you all the time. I am so happy to hear about everything you are doing. Have a great week. — Love, Elder Johnson
30 October 2017
Hi everyone — So good to hear that BYU won. That is awesome. Sounds like you had a great week. I also had a great week. Again, super busy. Got to do some sweet exchanges with the other Elders in Tirana. Tuesday through Wednesday with Elder Taylor and Thursday through Friday with Elder Clark. It was my first exchange with Elder Clark and he is awesome. He is from Scotland and is still in his training transfer, but already super good at Albanian. It was fun to be with him. During both exchanges we were super busy, speed-walking from lesson to lesson. We met with Nezir (T1 investigator) and Simon and V. Capi and Alfred (T1 Recent Convert) and the Fejzi's (I love them SO MUCH) and Kujtim and more.
There were also lots of activities this week. (That is the Tirana life - activities) There was Institute, Book of Mormon Reading, a baptism on Saturday (I didn't baptize her, but I did play my Nearer My God to Thee arrangement, again.) and an activity where a guy talked about Science and Religion. It was cool. It is good when the saints can gather and we can bring some investigators and less actives to be a part of it.
Sundays for us are busy. And they are now going to be even busier. We have church at 9 and stay until 2.
9:00 - T3 Sacrament Meeting - I played the piano (we got to the church early so I could practice and I learned a new sacrament hymn which I then played in T1 and T3 church)
10:00 - T3 Sunday School and T1 Ward Council - Elder Nielsen and I do splits to cover both of these. Hopefully we can move Ward Council to be after church from now on)
11:00 - T1 Sacrament Meeting - piano again, Simon and Kujtim and Petro came!
12:00 - T1 Sunday School with all of my favorite people - Përparim Kaliqi, Alfred Tuçi, Ded Vishai, V. Capi, Simon, and of course, Elder Nielsen.
1:00 - T1 Priesthood - but yesterday we were all together with the Relief Society and we read a sweet general conference talk.
At 4:30, we went to the Roberts for dinner (an American family working for the US Embassy, they live in a little base and when we drove through security I almost died because it looked exactly like America, with grass and bigger houses, and kids and trampolines. It was the weirdest feeling I have ever experienced.) We had some tacos. I had not had tacos in forever. So good. Then we went to choir at 6. This is for the Christmas program that will happen in Durrës. So every Sunday, from 6 to 8, Tirana and Durrës missionaries will be there to practice. (There are no Albanian men who can sing, so the missionaries have to do it.) Then, we went to the Fejzi's with the sisters. Anajsa loves the sisters. and We all love Anajsa and Tedi. They are the best. Gentian and Frida are really funny too and just the best. They fed us some food as well, and then we went home, and immediately did call-ins. And then went straight to bed. Sundays are super busy, but super fun.
Today, I studied from Alma 39. Alma talking to his son Corianton. Some golden scriptures there. We played soccer with all the Tirana missionaries, and a few members, followed by some pool. (and let me tell you, I played pretty good today.) It was super fun. I love my life.
Next week will be busy. We are planning on doing two more exchanges, where I go to both Shkodër and Durrës. Tonight, we are having a ward Halloween activity. That will be fun.
I tell you about some of the things that I do, but that is not really important. I am so happy not because of what I do, but because of who I am becoming and what I see others becoming. It is such a joy to be with our incredible Recent Converts, and especially with the scriptures. So many incredible stories, conversions, battles, and principles, all of which have deep meaning and application to our life. I love the Book of Mormon. It is our major focus as missionaries. It is the sickle that we use each day. We beg people to read it, and I invite you to read it every day. Don't let a day go by without reading it. You cannot afford to do so. This life is short, and we can't waste a second. The promised blessings of daily study (especially as a family) of the Book of Mormon are too great to be given up. Please read it. Let it fill you all with joy and light, knowledge and peace. — I love you all. — Elder Johnson