C'beni! How are you all doing!? I hear Conrad's got a lady friend! *Spongebob eyebrow raise* Hahahahahaha! Dooty, I miss Spongebob! My companion doesn't like Spongebob a whole lot, but there were a couple times this week where i quoted it, and I wanted to laugh with him about it, but nope! S'ka gje.
Anyways, I have a lot of insights I want to share this email, so I'm gonna alternate with a spiritual insight and then a story! Here we go! Insight 1!
We were studying the Plan of Salvation this week, and we were studying in the Pre-Earth Life, and we talked about how cool it is to think that all our investigators, everyone we talk to on the street has already accepted to follow Jesus Christ in a life before this one. Everyone we know has accepted to follow the Plan of the Savior, and they are children of God like us. I am here as a messenger to help remind people of what they've already chosen! What an opportunity we all have as members, as those who have come to a remembrance of the beautiful Plan of Salvation, to help our brothers and sisters remember and come to a knowledge of this Plan we all have for our lives! It's so cool. If you have fears of doing missionary work, study the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, and as you do so with real intent to be taught and gain an understanding through the spirit, you will be filled with a renewed zeal to share this gospel. I promise that.
So our English course was way better this week! We taught about passive reflexive verbs, and how we do them in English! It's funny, because I'm learning more about English than I did before, but at the same time, I'm kind of forgetting how to be a normal English speaker! Haha! But it's sweet! We met this one boy named Aden from English course. He's 13 years old, but he's like almost as tall as me! He plays soccer, and he's a goalie! Sidenote, in Albania, if your even a little chubby, they'll let ya know! Ha! The sisters in Durres were in a lesson and they were showing one of their investigators one of their rings, and the investigator tried to put it on, and it didn't fit, and she was like, "Why doesn't it fit? You all are fat, and I'm not, but it doesn't fit! You have like meat on your fingers!" Haha! But yeah, Aden is a homie. He's like a little brother! Two weeks ago, he asked to come to church with us, and he did! And he came again this week too! We taught him the restoration, and watched the restoration video, and it was so beautiful! I had a thought that I shared with Aden that we don't know the desires of his heart, and what he truly desires, but God does, and He can help Aden to recieve that. It's true. Right now, I think Aden may just like being our friend and speaking English with us, but we're praying that he'll have real intent, and a sincere desire to be taught the gospel.
I had a thought this week as I was in a lesson. Ever since I've been here it's been a little bit hard to focus on people and to stay focused so I can understand them, because it takes a lot of focus. This week though, after I had that thought about the Plan of Salvation, and I realized that if I strive to focus on the person I am teaching, the Spirit will come and guide me, because the Spirit is working to speak to the heart of that person, and when I focus on helping the person I'm talking to, my worries of understanding them are suppressed, and I am able to focus on that person, and help them! I just have to remember that they are a person who is in need of the gospel, who I can help, and when I seek to do so with love, I feel the Spirit help me!
Haha ok, guess what! We cleaned out our Area Book this week, and we found a paper from 2007 with a bunch of names of potential investigators! We started calling them, and we get to Muhamet. So not knowing what to expect, I call him, and surprisingly, his number still works from like 10 years ago, and he wants to meet with us! We meet him the next day, and he's about 55 years old and he seemed really interested in the message! Woot! Also, apparently he had met with some missionaries in the past, but didn't make any progress.
So we saw a little fight between two boys this week! It was kind of intense! They were right in the middle of the sidewalk punching each other in the face and stuff! It was kind of awful to watch because they were just going at it and attacking each other. It made me think about what Joseph Smith endured, and about what the Savior suffered for us. I can't imagine what they went through for us. I also read this scripture this week and it helped me feel the love of the Savior more. I read 2 Nephi 1:1-5, and 1 Nephi 22:24-25. Here is 1 Nephi 22:24-25:
24 And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as calves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion, and might, and power, and greatglory.
25 And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.
I thought about how beautiful it is that in verse 24, it talks about how powerful the Savior is, and then in contrast, it talks about how He is a Shepherd, and He feeds His sheep, and they know Him. He is a King that knows every single one of His sheep. And then when I read 2 Nephi 1:1-5, I thought about how the Savior truly is our Big Brother. He brings us through our challenges over and over again, blessing us with his mercy, and He does so not asking for recognition, or appreciation, but that we seek to do as He does.
So we had some AWESOME food this week! We went to this pasta place here, and I had this pasta with shrimp, and it was stinkin' incredible. We went with this senior couple that came and did an inspection, and it was way fun! Mom and Dad, I'm so excited for you two to be able to do that when Dan moves out! We also had a meal with the Tahiri's, the family of Sindi and Celeste, and it was cool! They're pretty poor, so we had this like boiled spinach, eggs, french fries, hot dog, with kos, which is yogurt, but it was more sour. Hehe, I didn't actually drink it, but yeah! It was fun! Their family is amazing. They don't even have a toilet in their house though. Ugh. And they have two beds that Sindi and Celeste use. They are really special. It's actually really hard for Sindi and Celeste, because their family are not members, and they are recent converts as of 2 months. Their whole family is incredible, and we've got a really strong relationship with them, so I hope that with time, they will want to have that joy that Sindi and Celeste have!
Haha! Ok, now for the kind of crazy story! So there is a recent convert here named "Festim" which literally means "party" and he's so cool! Whenever we think of who would be a good fellowshipper for an investigator, we think that Festim would be perfect for them! Well his wife is not a member, and they've got a baby on the way, and we started teaching her last week! It was a little late, and after Festim surprised us with dinner after the Restoration lesson, we left his house at like 9:20, and he's like, "Oh yeah! You can catch a bus back to your house!" Cool! Well, no bus. We're like 45 minutes from our house right now. Crud. So, we start running! We're running down the street, in the sketchy part of Durres, with some clubs, and there it is... A stray horse eating out of a trash can with his trusty dog friend behind him. I felt like I was in some kind of twisted Budweiser commercial. It was one weird side all together. A horse eating garbage, with a dog friend with two missionaries running down the street. Haha! But yeah, we got back to the house at like 10:20. Oops. That won't happen again. Haha! Funny story though!
Anyways, gotta go now, but I love you all so much! I'm praying for you! I love America! I found some tortilla chips today! I'm so excited!
Elder Shnajdër
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