The Highs and Lows of Missionary Work

Baptism this week.

Hello family!!

So this week has been interesting and it's funny you ask if I ever get disappointed while I'm here. I get frustrated plenty. It's mostly because I can't understand anything these people are saying. Some people just speak super fast and I'm just like WHAT!?!?!?!? It's ridiculous. And then I feel like I'm speaking perfectly but then they don't understand what I'm saying. That gets me too. And I'll give some insight to the disappointing times of a missionary. So 2 weeks ago on a Monday night, Elder Foster and I had an hour to kill so we went tracting to a large building on the outer edge of the city. We found one lady that was pretty interested but she told us to come when her husband was home. So therefore, we went this last Monday night to her house in hopes that her husband would be there. We rang on her bell and knocked but no one was coming and then the door behind us opened up and this guy just stood there and looked at us with this blank stare and then he asked us what we wanted. We told him that we were missionaries for Jesus Christ and that we wanted to talk with people about our church. He told us that no one in the building wanted to talk to us and that the people in the apartment didn't want to speak with us either. (I wasn't understanding any of his language by the way) Elder Foster proceeded to tell him that we had spoken with the people in the apartment beforehand and that they had told us that they wanted to meet again. The guy asked "Well who answered the door?" and we told him that a woman had come and opened the door and then his reply was "No women live in this complex."  Then the guy called his sons and escorted us out of the building. 

 

Another thing is probably when we street contact. We will talk to people and some people just straight up ignore you which is stupid but then there are other people that say they have work or they don't have time. Most people that say that are walking like .0005 mph and I can't help but think "This is the most important message in the universe and you are rejecting it!!!!!!!!!!" 

Elder Clawson and a few missionaries walking in the rain.

And a lot of lessons will fall through when it's raining because Albanians think that walking in the rain makes you sick and especially if you stand in front of the air conditioner. Weird.

Anyways, the rest of this week has been good. Conference was good. So I watched the Saturday morning session at 6pm Saturday night at the church with the other Elders and the Sisters. Just us, watching conference in English. Eating Haribo candy and drinking Fanta Exotic. OH and Friday we had our baptism for Zamir! That was pretty awesome. The APs came down and one of them baptized Zamir. The one that baptized him is Elder A. and he lives in Ogden and he told me he's gonna come visit my family when he gets home. I think he leaves in January but he is a way cool kid. So yeah the baptism was awesome. Dritan came and watched the baptism and afterwards he came up to us and took us aside and told us that he wanted a break in the missionary lessons. Talk about getting your heart crushed after such a high boost. He said he has some family problems that he needs to take care of before his family can start taking the lessons again. Sad day.

The Durres missionaries watching General Conference.  The 10 am session they
were able to watch at 6 pm that evening.  In English:)

For the rest of conference I watched the first Sunday session in English at the Institute Center last night and that was such an awesome sesh!! 

So for our P-Days, we don't really do anything great. Our area is the only one without a car or senior missionaries so we don't get to go to any of the castles or anything. We go for walks in the rain and eat out, play ping pong, study more, nap, email, and thats about how my P days go. It's kinda disappointing because it' s the one day that I get to do something for me but I can't enjoy it fully. But oh well, I'm not here for myself anyways so who cares. 

Our english courses this week were fun. We talked about families this week and I showed them all the pictures that I have and they fell in love with Jane and Kirsten. It was fun. I really enjoy teaching English Course. Our other investigators are going well. We taught Deacon Anthony last night and he called me his little brother in God. (Nacho Libre was what I thought of when he said that) Anxhela and Zef are still progressing and we are hoping for some definite baptismal dates from them this coming week.

So I've talked to Scott, Bryan and Tanner Lewis this week and they all seem pretty happy and stoked to be on missions. I love being here and I'm being safe. I love you all so much and I hope everyone is safe.

Love, Jed

Dear Mother, 

I heard about the snow at home from Kirsten. That sounds super sweet. It hasn't gotten really cold here yet but we had to start wearing our suits yesterday. I hope the Thai Pumpkin Soup was delish. I stalk your blog and look at the Instagram side window all the time. Jake looks like a man already and Jane looks like a grown little girl. I miss you guys and love you all.