Ryan's Mission Binder

During my mission, I kept a binder of important documents, notes, and memories from my mission. I loved looking through it and called it my book of life, as shown in the picture below, which I kept on the first page. Above is a quote that I kept on the cover of my binder, along with a simple note from my family and my MTC access card. To its right is my mission call from President Thomas S. Monson.

I like my dad, was blessed to introduce a new prophet during my mission. While my call was signed by President Monson, he passed away and Russel M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve and senior apostle, became the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was blessed to testify of the prophetic calling of both President Monson and President Nelson, and each of these incredible men have had a profound influence on my life. During my last few transfers, my companions and I downloaded and listened to every general conference talk ever given by each of these incredible men. This was an impressive feat, as President Monson had given 234 conference talks over his lifetime of service as an apostle (all of which can be downloaded and listened to on this page.) I learned so much about God and His Son, Jesus Christ, about love and service, and about physical and spiritual health.

I love the idea of each day being a new page in my book of life, and yes, I want to live each day to its fullest. I love reading, so of course this comparison got me. I hope that I will fill my days with family, games, service, reading, learning, adventuring, and a focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ, as is depicted in the picture.

I also included a mormon ad I found, ‘Pull Together’. It is important to remember to pull together with your companion on a mission. Make sure you are on track with each other and especially with the Spirit, because He is the one who does the converting.

Next is a letter that I received before my mission from the incredible President and Sister Weidmann, my first mission president from Switzerland. Their letter included some studies to help prepare me for my service and some expressions of what the Adriatic South Mission would be like.

“In this area of the vineyard, we have a motto - Serve with faith, obedience, diligence, and joy. You will be part of a well-trained team reflecting these attributes. We look for guidance from the Lord of the vineyard. We talk with Him often and listen carefully to His voice. Then, with faith, diligence and obedience we accomplish what His spent has directed us to do.”

“We love this work because it allows us to work so closely with the Redeemer of the World, our Savior, the Son of God. We serve Him with all our heart, mind, might, and strength. He is the gatekeeper of the vineyard, and the only name through which salvation comes to mankind. We love you and are looking forward to serving with you in this wonderful part of His vineyard - Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. — Warm regards, President Louis and Sister Esther Weidmann.”

I love my mission, and these maps just get me thinking about how much I love each area, the people I knew, the language spoken, the missionaries I served with, and the great times I had. I have such a great connection to Albania, Kosovo, and even Macedonia, because of the experiences I have had there.

I started my mission in LEZHË (yellow star), where I was trained by Elder Samuel from England. We worked in Shkodër, Lezhë, and Laç. Up there, I learned right up front to stay on the gegë side of the Albanian language. I give my ‘h’s an ‘f’ sound, said ‘katërdhjetë’ instead of ‘dyzet’, and ‘qysh’ instead of ‘si’.

We stayed in Lezhë for a transfer and then moved north to SHKODËR for the other half of my training, still working in both Shkodër and Lezhë. Known as the ‘cultural capital’ of Albania, I fell in love with the language (once I started understanding it), the food, and the multitude of bikes.

After being trained, I served in TIRANA, in the first ward, with Elder Larsen and then Elder Ingram. I came to love Tirana, so much so that I would come back to serve another 7 months later after this initial 3 months. Elder Larsen and I taught and baptized Përparim, whose friend I was lucky enough to be in Tirana through so many steps of faith that he took, including his baptism, receiving the Aaronic and Melkizedek Priesthoods, and his marriage to a lovely member of the ward. What a stud!

I got my first, and only, taste of the south when I served in BERAT (silver star), ‘shtëpia ime’, with Elder Harris and then Elder Percival. What a place. I fell in love with the people of that little branch. President Xhindi was incredible and we saw miracles, and baptisms. (Xhanino and his mother) These were incredible experiences and friendships never to be forgotten, and I visited Berat two more times on P-days from other areas later in my mission.

Back in TIRANA for a combined total of 10 months, it became my favorite city. The capital of Albania, it was by far the biggest of the cities I served in. With Elder Nielsen for three transfers, and then with Elder Harris for another two, I served as Zone Leader in the Tirana Zone, which meant incredible exchanges across Tirana, Durrës, and my birthplace, Shkodër/Lezhë. I loved all the missionaries I was around, and was blessed to see so much of the work, and the miracles with which we were being blessed across the country. Being surrounded by missionaries, we enjoyed early morning workouts playing frisbee in the central park of Tirana, Saturday mornings playing soccer with members, and Sunday evenings at stake choir practice. We met so many more incredible people, served in the Tirana Third Ward, but also sometimes in both the Third and the First wards, which was a great blessing to me, as I got to reconnect with the First Ward, and my best friend Përparim. We taught some incredible people who joined the church, including the wonderful Fejzi Family (Gentian, Frida, Tedi, and Anajsa), the young couple Simon and Aspasia, and our older friend Nezir Sharku. What a blessing to know these incredible people.

I was so very grateful for the incredible opportunity to serve in PRISHTINA, Kosovo (blue star). I arrived the night before its 10 anniversary as an independent country. I fell in love with the people and oh, the language was beautiful. Gegë, pure divine Albanian. I will defend gegë to my dying breath. I love this dialect (if it can even be considered the same language). I had the wonderful opportunity in Prishtina to train Elder Musselman. He was great, so hard-working and willing to learn. He got really good at the language really quick (despite diving right into Kosovo’s gegë dialect). We were blessed to have Elder Nielsen and Elder Murray in Prishtina with us. It was the ultimate district, and we had a blast, contacting together, visiting members together, and using our p-days to visit the most incredible locations in Kosovo and Macedonia. We had a lot of early mornings getting buses to places like Prizren, Kosovo once and Skopje, Macedonia twice. It was so fun. We had the best members in Prishtinë. Few in number, but strong. Donjeta and Biza, some of the strongest converts I have known, were baptized while I was there and became best friends. It was fun to experience the joy and life they brought to our small branch. We also had some American members from the military base in Kosovo, and we had a blast translating church meetings for them. President Teli was a great branch president and loves the missionaries. We had some fun talks with him and he was a great support to our missionary work as well.

My last area, DURRËS (red star), was great for many reasons. We lived about a hundred meters from the beach. The ward was the biggest I had in my entire mission. I had two great companions, Elder Ferguson the licensed pilot, and Elder Clark from Scotland (which means I started and ended my mission with companions from the United Kingdom). I loved my last two companions and we had a great time connecting, contacting, eating delicious food, and sweating all day in the crazy Durrës heat. I also got to connect with the Muça family, whose daughter lived in Germany while we did, so they had visited and recognized me as one of the bishop’s kids. It was awesome to properly meet them and speak to them and she made the best food. We ate fasule dhe pilaf (beans and rice) at the Pranvera (our favorite restaurant) on a daily basis. We taught some great families and had a great district, even playing Settlers of Catan during lunch sometimes. The best tradition I had with my companions was our weekly watermelon that we bought from the awesome fruit market. We were regulars of course, buying fruit on a daily basis. We always had a huge watermelon in the fridge that we would eat a couple slices of each day and it was the best. Another one of the reasons I love this place is that I had a car and I got to drive everywhere. I also love walking through the Albanian streets, but driving in Albania is something special. Everyone drives crazy and it great. It just works. I also mastered the art of parallel parking which felt really good. Driving in America just isn’t the same. Finally, my companions and I listened to every single Pres. Monson and Pres. Nelson talk during these last transfers, which helped make every day uplifting and exciting. If you haven’t done this, there is something incredible about learning from a prophet of God in this way. What an awesome way to end my time as a missionary, listening to two of God’s prophets.

I was living the life in the ADRIATIC SOUTH MISSION and I will never forget the people and language and cultures that I learned to love so so much!

During my mission, I loved the notes and letters I got from family and friends, and I kept many of them in my binder to encourage and remind me why I was serving. My uncle, Brian, gave me such an amazing letter before I left that I love. His testimony and his excitement definitely kept me going. On the other hand, my young cousin, Kayla, wrote me a note, saying “Do not go!” and giving me excuses I could use to get out of it. Haha, I definitely knew that she and the rest of my extended family loved me, and I was ever grateful for their love, their letters, and their prayers.

One of the greatest parts of the mission experience was sharing it with friends. My MTC Group (pictured above on the day we arrived in Albania) was the biggest (to this day I think) to ever arrive at one time in Albania. With 10 Elders and 10 Sisters, I got to be in districts with almost all of them once or twice, and it was such a great time. I served with Elder Harris for six months total and Elder Nielsen for 4.5 months (plus being together nearly all the time in Prishtina) specifically, and saw everyone else on a very regular basis, as the mission was very small. Elder Benson (my MTC companion) and Sister Godfrey (in my district in both Berat and Tirana), as well as Elders Schneider and Gardiner, are especially great friends with whom I will keep up for a long long time. I also loved my AP’s, especially Elder Jaunay (from New Zealand), and Elder Stapleton (from Utah). There are many more names I should mention, but those immediately stand out as some of the best and easiest to get along with and simultaneously the hardest-working. I got to know some studs on my mission.

Perhaps the names most deserving of mention are my mission presidents and their wives. Elder and Sister Weidmann from Switzerland were awesome and inspiring, and I especially got to connect with President and Sister Anderson during my second year in the mission. I had the great blessing to spend lots of time with them at MLC (Mission Leadership Councils) and Zone Conferences during the time I was Zone Leader for 7 months. He even gave me and Elder Nielsen the keys… to his car and his house so we could get something he forgot for his Zone Conference presentation. It was a pretty fun assignment (He even said “your mission, should you choose to accept it…”) and we made a point of taking pictures of us holding ‘the keys’ of the mission president. He was a great support and always made it known how happy he was to have me in the places and positions I was in. Their mission is going to last another few years, but I'm already excited for when I will see them again. At the end of my mission, they sent letters to my parents and stake president, and they also gave me a special document of Returned Missionary Counsel, all of which I have attached below.

Eventually, I was released from my mission, and to this day I’m not sure how, by leaving my old life behind for two years and serving the Albanian and Kosovo peoples as an 18-19 year old, I had the best experience of my life so far. I got to drive the rest of my MTC Elders to the airport and Elder Schneider and I waved goodbye as they all got on the plane back home. It felt great to be able to stay a little longer, and the next morning, I returned to the airport and greeted my parents as they got off their flight and it was so great to see them. My stake president released me over Skype, and my parents and I visited my favorite cities, from Tirana to Lezhë to Shkodër (with two night in Montenegro) back to Shkodër and Tirana to Durrës to Berat to Gjirokastër to Syrikaltër to Beaches along the Adriatic Sea to Vlorë and again back to Tirana to fly out to Italy on the way home. It was so special to share some of the feelings and the people and places I loved with my parents and reconnect with them for two weeks, visiting, playing Istanbul, swimming, and planning for BYU classes. Time has flown since I’ve been home. It’s weird how life can go on like normal after such a life-changing two years. Did all of that really happen? Did I seriously leave home to spend two years among Shqiptarët and Kosovar? It honestly could have been a dream. Either way, it’s one I will never forget, and I thank God for sending me to the Adriatic South Mission.