I Don't Know! I Haven't Done This Before!

Aug. 4, 2014 Email

Dearest Family and People,

So yes I am now in Kosovo. Monday was my last day in Shkoder and we had FHE (Family Home Evening) with a bunch of kids and Besara. She was super sad to hear that I was going to Kosovo but she is leaving for Sweden soon anyways. The next day I drove down to Tirana with Elder Temple and we got cinnamon rolls and got to the mission home. It was super sad saying goodbye to my Shkoder district. 4 elder districts are the best because you all just get super tight and it was sad to part.

Saying goodbye to friends in Shkoder, Albania.

While at the mission home I watched the driving video!! I got with Elder Roberts and I drove us up to Prishtina. A 4 hour drive on crazy roads in a stick. Not to mention the fact that I hadn't driven in over a year. We got to Kosovo in one piece and I actually did a great job driving. No surprise. Oh and Mother, I can drive even though I had those several speeding tickets. And I'm probably one of the safest drivers.

Jed saying goodbye to one of the members and her children in Shkoder.

I am with Elder Price from my MTC group and we went to town finding and teaching investigators. HOLY COW! The people here are so much more receptive to us. We found three awesome investigators and we have 7 on baptismal dates. We are always busy and it's super crazy to have so much work. We have 4 people getting baptized this week and Elder Watson has another. I get to be here for my sons first baptism! We are all super excited for this week.

Thursday we had a big meeting with all of the other mission leaders in Tirana so we had to drive at like 4:30 in the morning to get there on time. Elder Charles, one of the Seventy, was there and gave us a really good training that we are going to be touching up on during our zone training tomorrow. After that we had some work to do in Tirana for the other Kosovo missionaries and that was time consuming. We ended up getting home at like 8 that night. But we definitely came back enlightened. And yes Elder Linderman is the new AP! He is doing awesome and we love him to death. 

The car Jed get's to drive.  Her name is Bathsheba. (Aunt Jone does State Farm cover Jed in Kosovo?)

 I love being a zone leader! Elder Price and I have no idea what we are doing though. Kinda freaky because Elder Price has only been here for 5 weeks and every now and then something happens and I look at Elder Price and I ask "What do we do?" and Price says "I don't know! I haven't done this before!" So I'm glad this is a learning experience. I hope we don't look as lost as we feel. Everything seems to work out though. We are definitely trying to be more sensitive to the Spirit.

We gave a District Leader Training the other day for all the DLs and we taught about accountability and we shared Ezekiel 3:1-6  and talked about how we are all the watchmen on the tower. It went really well and we were definitely relying on the Spirit in that training.

Cathedral in Prishtina, Kosovo.

Another cool experience that we had was with one of our investigators named Agim. We were teaching him the Word of Wisdom and he was getting it, but there was something missing and we didn't necessarily know what it was. In the front of the Word of Wisdom pamphlet there is a big pic of Joseph Smith. We both felt prompted to ask Agim if he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We asked and he said "Who?" So we explained the Restoration again to him in a more detailed way and the Spirit just flooded the room. He looked at us and just said "Whoa, that's so right. This is true. Why wouldn't God work this way?" I felt kinda bad that the first lesson kinda went over his head the first time but I can kinda understand why. It's the very first lesson and it's a lot to take in at one time so maybe he was just a little overwhelmed at first but now he understands it all. He is on a baptismal date and we are stoked for him. The Spirit works miracles. 

Today we played Frisbee and watched Ephraim's Rescue. Great movie. Sister Curtis was a gem and made me some onion dip for my potato chips. HALLA! 

Some P-day frisbee.

P-day pizza! And those cute sister's there cook for the missionaries on Sundays.  They are going straight to HEAVEN for that!

I love being in my district though. There's me and Elder Price, Elder Watson and Elder Roberts who are both super cool and fun, and Sister White and SIster Curtis. The sisters are great and they make good food for Sunday Dinner. LOVE IT!

Jed and his new companion Elder Price.

The branch here is good too. The president is an embassy worker and he rocks. We have tons of YSA age kids that are awesome and solid. There's no youth so we'll try for that. But all the members were super nice to me and love talking to me and the language here.... Whoa. I thought Shkoder had a different language. I love speaking with Kosovars. They are so deep and throaty. Its sweet. 

Another P-Day. 

I'm glad you had a good week! Have a good time at Bear Lake and tell Matt congrats on getting married for me! I love you all! Be safe and have fun!

Love, Jedediah

Dearest Mother, 

Thanks for sending the email.  I am so grateful for you mom. You are fantastic! Sorry you can't send packages to the base. Not allowed no more. I love you so much! Have a good week!

Love, Jed