Update from Elder Johnson - September 2017 - Tirana
4 September 2017
Hi! — Time does seem to be flying by. Earlier in the mission, it seems like the weeks were longer, and when P-day came around, it was one of only a few that I had had. (if that makes sense) but now, the p-days just fly by and that means the weeks are also flying by. It has been interesting to see how the mission has changed me so far. I now need to work harder than ever. I have already learned and changed and done a lot in my mission. But, I have a lot of time to go, and I want to make it as effective and great as the first half. This means I have to work a lot harder than before, because it would be very easy to just go through the motions now. I have already learned Albanian, I know how to teach and contact and plan and work. The thing is that I have so much that I can improve in the language and every aspect of the work. I want to see the same amazing changes and miracles in the future that I have already seen. I want to change and become better. I want to touch people's live, in a way that we will then be linked for eternity. So, I have got to keep working and do so even better. I have been trying to find ways to do that. Anyway, that is my goal for the remainder of my mission.
One of the the best parts (and maybe the best part) about a mission, is that you keep an eternal perspective always. We are constantly teaching about the plan of Salvation. I am praying for specific people like I never have before, with that great plan in mind. I am constantly learning about actions and agency and consequences and God's incredible mercy. It is amazing. I love being a missionary.
Mom and Dad -- You two are amazing. You do so much for me. You have to consistently write me letters and you are even paying a huge portion of the mission itself, not to mention all the trips you have taken me on before my mission, and after. You are the best. I wish I could pay you back. I guess it is sort of the same thing with me and God. Like it shows in Mosiah 2 (a chapter we shared with Gentian and Frida this week as we encouraged them to live the Law of Tithing.) I am indebted to God for everything, even to my very life, and every breath. We will ever be unprofitable servants, but his mercy, shown in large part through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, is infinite and covers the cost. I can pay God back, at least in very small part, by obeying His every command and doing my very best as I serve Him these two years. I guess I will have to pay you back in the same way. Thanks for everything.
I had an awesome week. We got to use the President's car. We felt like kings. He also gave us his keys because we were going to get something from his house. We had the president's 'keys', so basically we were mission presidents for an hour. I think that is how it works. haha. Anyway, we had a good laugh about that.
One of the great things about being in Tirana is that when the new missionaries come in, we get to take them out for some contacting or lesson right after they get off the plane and to Tirana. It was so fun. I took Elder Mortensen and we had a great lesson with Niklejdi. I had forgotten what it was like to be a greenie. It was fun. Now I remember how bad I was at Shqip when I first got here (compared to now).
Today was fun, as we played some volleyball in the morning. We have such great missionaries here in Tirana (including, now, three trainees) Then, we had breakfast at Stephen's Center. I love Elder Jaunay. He is the AP from New Zealand. Such a stud. — Have a great week. I love you. — Elder Johnson
Text I got from Tenley tonight---
"Tonight I went to a tunnel singing and met two elders who both know Ryan. One of them did exchanges with him and the other one said that he was his Zone Leader. The one who did exchanges with him said that he was the most diligent missionary that he has met ever and the Zone Leader said Ryan's Albanian is ridiculously good. Native speaking even 😂 it was so cool to meet these guys and I wanted to tell you about it because don't we all love missionary reports? 😂 so so so proud of him"
11 September 2017
Hi everyone, — Well, now it just started raining and thundering outside so that is fun. We love the rain, especially in comparison to the scorching heat we have had all summer, (emphasized by our missionary attire.) We had a great week, though. We handed out a lot of English Course flyers throughout the week in preparation for the registration that we had on Friday. Classes will start on Tuesday and continue every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 10 weeks. English is a great way to start conversations with people, and a great finding tool.
Highlights of the week were:
Tuesday, Baptismal Interviews for Gentian and Frida! Super exciting. I got to translate as Gentian had his interview with President Anderson, and it was awesome. He is so ready. Frida also passed her interview with Elder Riepel, and we are all looking forward to their baptism this coming Saturday. They are the best family ever and they are super prepared. I am so blessed that I get to be with them as they make this amazing step.
Lessons with Niklejdi: We have had some great lessons on the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity with him, and he basically already lives them and agrees with them. We are trying to focus on gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith as prophet. He is doing well.
Wednesday through Thursday, we had an exchange with Elders in Durrës. It was awesome. Elder Nielsen went to Durrës, with Elder Ellsworth, while Elder Jakaj came to our area with me. He is Albanian and started his mission about 4 months ago. He is a stud, super hard-working and has very good taste. (He loves the Lord of the Rings --what more could I ask for) We spoke Albanian the whole time. It is very easy when you are with an Albanian. I love speaking Albanian! We had some good lessons with members and an investigator, Serxhio, while he was here. Elder Jakaj can pass English flyers like a mad man, so that was great.
Saturday night, we had an amazing meeting with President and Sister Anderson where only the Recent Converts and Investigators were invited. It was great. We brought Serxhio and he liked it. We also brought another interesting character. A big guy who speaks english really well (because he lived in America for a while) but does NOT know how to stop talking. It was probably not a great idea to bring him, because upon entering the church and seeing some of the members and missionaries, he told us he would start practicing polygamy. He knows a bit about our church, and about polygamy, but once he got to the church, he decided he wanted to marry 10 of them. That was funny.
Sunday, we got to the mission office at 8:45 to drive to Durrës for stake conference. All of Albania and Kosovo was there. The first session lasted from 10:00 to 12:00. and the second session from 1:00 to 3:00. We had to stay for both, because we sang in the choir. It was fun, and we got to sit on the stand the whole time, and hear the same talks (slightly different) two times. It was awesome. The talks were amazing. The Stake Patriarch spoke, as did President and Sister Anderson, and the Stake President, President Mema. The talks were all amazing and all about FAMILY! It was incredible and definitely something super important, especially as we are growing here in Albania. The spirit was so strong.
Today, we played Volleyball, and then went to a cool museum that showed Albanians (or Illirians) from cavemen times to today. Really cool. Then, we ate at the Stephen's Center.
Answers for Mom's questions: I don't need any clothes. All my clothes are doing great. We do laundry in our house and whenever we need to. We have a rack that we dry our clothes on on outside. I will take a video of our house this week and send it to you.
We had a great ward activity this week: Film night watching 17 miracles. This week we will have a picnic and at the end of the month we will have a talent show. It will be great. We only have 35-ish active members (and literally hundreds of inactive members)
Our district consists of 6 people. Elder Nielsen and I in the 3rd ward. Elders Riepel and Clayton in the 1st ward. Sisters Haggard and Godfrey are assigned to both First and Third ward. Both wards use the same church building. We have the greatest district ever.
Well, that's all for this week. I love my life, and all the missionaries, and Albanians. Looking forward to the baptisms of Gentian and Frida this week. I hope you all have a great week, and don't forget God's love for you. Read the Handbook of Happiness (the Book of Mormon) every day and you will be blessed. If you haven't read the talk in the September Ensign about living after the manner of happiness, please do. It is so great. I know that The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ applied in our lives, brings us happiness. I love you all. — Love, Elder Johnson
As Zone Leaders in the Tirana Zone, we put out a weekly newsletter with our goals, commitments from Zone Conference and upcoming baptisms, and this time we got to put Gentian and Frida Fejzi in there, being baptized the next Saturday.
18 September 2017
Hi everyone, — This week was pretty long, but amazing.
Last Monday, we had a super fun Family Home Evening as the first and third wards. We are doing a bunch of activities together, which have been really great.
Tuesday, District Meeting, lessons with Idi and Niklejdi -- Idi is doing great. We first ran into him at the beginning of my time here in T3 and he has progressed a bunch. He is a less active, and college student. The first few times we met, he would not come into the church or pray, and we would have lessons at the localë and he would smoke. But, recently he has wanted to come inside the church, smoked a lot less (not at all during lessons), and prayed. He started reading the Bible (not the Book of Mormon, but still an amazing step). The other week, he expressed desire to quit smoking and wants the strength to become a better person. We offered him a blessing. He did not accept, but after the lesson on Tuesday, he told us he would like a blessing. It was a special experience. He still has not come to church, but he is definitely getting there. We are good friends and have great discussions and lessons. He calls me a 'mama's boy' (which I am) and 'cute boy' (because he assumed the girls all liked me before my mission, which is also true... just kidding) He taught us a new Albanian expression - 'Bëj sy të katër' which translates to 'make the eyes four' and basically means 'be vigilant', because with four eyes you could see a lot more. Something like that. I love Albanian. It just makes sense. It must be the gift of tongues. Even though I probably could not accurately translate into English most of the things I hear or say, I understand and it all makes perfect sense to me. I love it.
Tuesday through Wednesday, I had an exchange with the T1 elders and got to go back, again, to my old area. I was with Elder Riepel, and we had a great time, and worked hard. His mission is winding down. He and his companion, Elder Clayton, only have three weeks left. Elder Riepel is also from Colorado, which is fun. He is a great district leader. -- The best part of the exchange probably was when we got to meet up with Përparim. He is the best. I forgot to mention this, but he got the Melchizedek Priesthood last Sunday. It was amazing to be able to raise my hand at stake conference to sustain him. Wednesday morning, we met up with him. Përparim gave his first priesthood blessing to a girl named Ejona. I don't know if I have mentioned this, but Përparim and Ejona are probably going to get married, which brings our district much happiness, because they are our two favorite people. They don't admit anything, and we don't push it, but they definitely like each other. It is so perfect. I have been so blessed to be able to be here in Tirana, first as he was baptized, confirmed, received the Aaronic priesthood, and passed the sacrament for the first time. Now, he has received the Melchezidek Priesthood and I got to take part as he gave his first blessing. It was amazing and obviously guided by the spirit. Përparim has a calling in the Elders Quorum Presidency and helps the T1 Elders with lessons and has become a major part of the ward, as he has befriended all the new investigators and supported the bishop and others. He is njëshi! (the best/number one) -- We also had a sweet language study. Elder Riepel showed me a bunch of different vocab that I did not know. I will work more on my vocabulary.
Thursday through Friday, I had an exchange with the T4 elders and I got to go to their place with Elder Rau, who is being trained right now. He is an awesome Elder and is getting the hang of the mission life.
Saturday was the awesome combined ward picnic, which was a huge success, and of course, the best part of the week was the baptism of Gentian and Frida Fejzi. They are so prepared, and the baptism was so special. I got to perform Frida's baptism, and she was brought to tears as she shared how special of a day it was, to be baptized with her husband, on their 10th anniversary. So cool. — We are seeing miracles. I love my life. Have a great week. Sorry, I was sort of rushed at the end there, but I love my life and my Savior. I pray for all of you. — Love, Elder Xhansën
25 September 2017
Hi everyone, — I had an amazing week. Last Monday night, we had a lesson with a guy named Eduard. I am not going to say that he is part of the mafia, but I will say that the entire time we were with him felt like a scene out of the Godfather.
Tuesday was fun. We had an early-morning lesson with Serxhio, district meeting, and then Greek suflaqes for lunch. We were asked by the APs to go to the other Tirana district's district meeting to give a training. So we did and it went really well. We talked about the Christ-like Attributes of Faith, Hope, and Charity. We also taught English Course. We teach the advanced course, so we just talk with them to give them practice. It is fun, and we end with a 15 minute spiritual thought. Basically, our class is just full of single women. It is pretty funny when they get stuck talking about yoga or cooking or something. It is a social group for them. Tuesday night, we went to Gentian's house to help him start with Familysearch.org. Family History is hard in Albania because communism wiped out a lot of that stuff, but Gentian actually has a bunch of names and information, which is super cool. While Elder Nielsen was helping him out with that, I was able to hang out with Tedi and Anajsa, which was so fun. I love just listening to them talk, especially Anajsa with her 5-year-old Albanian speech. She has a slight lisp and it is so fun to listen to her go off on random topics. I love this family. Tedi is awesome, and shows me cool stuff from school, or things he read in the scriptures.
On Wednesday, we started an exchange with Elder Childs (Elder Harris' trainee in Shkodër) It was so sweet. We drove up to Shkodër to exchange. I love that drive. It was very nostalgic for me because I had done that drive multiple times a week throughout my training transfer, (especially that last part of the drive from Lezhë to Shkodër) and it is just SO BEAUTIFUL. I picked up Elder Childs, and then drove the two hours back down to Tirana. Driving in Albania is so crazy, but you just get used to it. It is actually really fun. Like playing Mario Kart in real life. 3 lanes turns into 6 and motorcycles and bikes weave through, and it is just normal. Lots of honking. When you come to a round-about, you just go for it. There is no 'right-of-way'. So fun. Driving back in America will take some getting used to. So, anyway, we got back to Tirana, where it was pouring rain and met this American couple who was visiting Albania who had called us, wanting to meet. We got completely drenched just running from the bus stop to meet them. (we were not prepared with rain gear because we had been driving.) We told them how the work was going here. (I think she sent you an email with a picture of me.) That was fun.
On Thursday, Elder Childs and I got to do some tracting and some sweet studies together, but we actually didn't have a whole bunch of time. We had lunch on Thursday with our district. We got Proper Pizza, and more Greek suflaqes. After lunch, we did some quick tracting and an exchange review, and then drove up to Laç to unexchange. Elder Childs and I had some great discussions during the drives and especially during our exchange review. I was almost brought to tears as I expressed my gratitude that he was serving in Lezhë and Shkodër, among those people that I love, and doing so diligently. I know what it is like to serve in those places and I know the culture and people, and I love them. So I really appreciate Elder Child's (and Elder Harris') diligence and hard work. They are doing great.
On Thursday, after we finished the exchange with Shkodër, we had Kurs Anglisht (English Course) and then started yet another exchange, this time with the T2 Elders. I got to go with Elder Wood in their area. (Elder Wood is from our MTC group and I went on an exchange with him about a month ago.) They are working hard, but not seeing much success. It was good to go over there for a day and work with Elder Wood. They are very busy, and are trying to find more time to find. We had dinner on Thursday night with a couple (Albanian man and American woman - met at BYU) They are so cool, and she cooked some delicious food. We went running in the morning and I'm still sore. It was a great exchange.
Also, while I was gone on that exchange Niklejdi dropped us, which stunk.
On Saturday, We brought Nesim, a Muslim guy that owns a shop close to the church, to a baptism, which was so cool. Sitting next to him, I saw the whole program with the singing and talks and the ordinance from his perspective. I imagined what it must be like to listen to the songs about Christ from his Muslim background. I felt the spirit really strongly there. Nesim thought it was weird. We are good friends with him, and have had many great discussions together. He probably won't get baptized, but he is a super cool guy.
I played the piano in church again. I am not that good at it, but sometimes I am the best option. I want to get better. We had a ward correlation meeting with Roj Vogli, our new (and awesome) ward mission leader. He served his mission in England. We also ate lunch with Peshkopin (BIshop) and his family, which was delicious, because all Albanian cooking is absolutely delicious. He is doing a great job recently at communicating with us and helping us out.
Today, we played some Laser Tag, which was sweet. It is at a new mall in the center of Tirana. Very new to Albania. We had a delicious lunch of Greek suflaqes... as usual. and then played some bilardo. (billiards) Definitely a great week.
So, we don't make a lot of food in this area. We usually order food. We make food on Sundays when we have district lunch (except this week, because Bishop had us over for dinner.) We never need to make food, becuase there is a traditional albanian place right down the street from our house, and it is amazing. We get potatoes and rice and salad and pasta. It is so amazing, and so simple. Or we get Greek Suflaqes, which we love. The greatest blessing of Albania is the incredible (and dirt cheap) food. A meal for both of us (whether traditional or suflaqes) is never more than 5 dollars total (for both of us to be stuffed) It is amazing.
Recently our pronari's wife (landlord) has been making us pilaf (rice), qofte (a kind of meat - which kind? - I don't know, the delicious kind), and byrek (which is not pie, no matter what google translate says). She is an angel. She calls us her boys (çunat). She is like our mom, because she occasionally comes up and cleans and randomly makes us food. She is so nice. We are really good at keeping the apartment clean though, so one morning when we were going up to our floor, she opened her window and asked, "who cleaned your kitchen?" When we told her that we did, she was super impressed because of how good it looked.
It has been raining a bunch recently. It is getting a lot cooler (finally) It feels nice.
This coming week will be great. Tomorrow, I will start an exchange with ELDER BENSON in Durrës. I am super excited to get back with my MTC companion for a day. We also have MLC this week, which will be fun. I am excited to hear what President will have to say. He is a miracle worker.
But yeah, it was a super fun week, and a busy one, with two exchanges, lots of missionaries, and lots of cool and crazy little experiences. I love my crazy adventure life in the service of the Lord.
Amidst all the craziness of exchanges and p-day and stuff, we still do lots of missionary work, tracting and street contacting and lessons, not to mention so many amazing study periods, where I feel the spirit super strongly. But all the fun and crazy experiences are just a bonus from God. I love my life.
I love you all so much. Keep going about doing good, and do it with a good attitude. — Love, Elder Xhansën
