We Are Learning A Little Serbian Too

Sept. 8, 2014 Letter Home

Elder Clawson enjoying a delicious Cinnabon (or two it looks like)!  The new Cinnabon store is all the rage with the missionaries in Tirana.

Dearest Family!!

I had a fantastic week! Elder Price and I were busy all day every day and we loved every second of it!

Monday we finished up Pday and went to Family Home Evening. It was pretty good and we had a couple people show up if I remember correctly. The next day we had District Meeting which was awesome, given by Elder Watson, and then we went to a lesson with Adem! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and once again he ate it right up. He did have some questions that were a little interesting but the Spirit was still there and we were able to just have a good lesson. We invited him to be baptized on a specific date and he kinda got a little upset. He's still a super good guy but he just doesn't know what he's looking for quite yet. We'll give him a little more time.

 

Elder Clawson and one of the best members in Prishtina, Kosovo.  

Wednesday we had to go to Tirana for the Missionary Leadership Coordination. We got there into Tirana and had about an hour to kill before we had to be at the mission home so we stopped at Cinnabon and got some cinnamon rolls and just sat and talked at a table outside. It was really good. The meeting that we had was fantastic and so spiritually led. President Weidmann is so great and he is definitely guiding us in the right direction. He's picking right up where President Ford left off and we are amazed at how well he's taken his role as our President. We set some goals in the meeting and then we finished. I had an exchange with the AP's in Tirana because they do exchanges with the zone leaders and I went with Elder Davis in Tirana and Elder Linderman came up to Prishtina with Elder Price. I had a great time with Elder Davis and we had some really great lessons while we were in Tirana. We met with some members and some of their new investigators and we just had a great time. Also, I got a package from Kirsten too! It had some sweet ties in it, she also had some butter snap pretzels!! DAH!! Those definitely made my day.

 

Elder Clawson's district with his mission president and his wife, President and Sister Weidmann.

The next day we had to wake up early and head to Prishtina. We got back and the AP's had to do some work in Macedonia so they left. We met with our investigator who's awesome, Nezir, and we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We kinda explained to him about the sacrament because he was kinda wondering about that during church the Sunday before. So yeah we had a great lesson with him and he understood everything and he is still progressing beautifully towards his baptismal date.

Later that night the AP's came back to stay the night in Prishtina because it was way too late to drive to Tirana. Elder Price and Linderman went and did a lesson with one of our investigators that we have been trying to put on a date for a really long time. They left and I did some manual labor with Elder Davis. We moved a piano out of the elder's home and into their car and we had a bunch of problems with the elevator so we ended up just taking all of the stairs. Pretty long. After that they slept over at our place and left early the next morning. 

Friday, that was a crazy day. So we were doing our weekly planning after the AP's left and then we get a call from Elder Linderman telling us that we need to go to Gjakova and give the senior couple a part for their broken car. We had gotten the part a few days earlier but were planning on giving it to them on Saturday. But we got up and left and drove the 2 hours to Gjakova and right when we got there, Elder Harvey looked at the part and said "That's not it." So we had to go all the way back to Prishtina, pay 100 euro for a new part, and right after that we had to drive out to a fshat to meet a new investigator. The new investigator is named Srdan and he was actually a referral from President Weidmann. He lives about 30 minutes out of Prishtina and he only speaks Serbian. So we had to bring a member with us that could speak Serbian so we could translate and we had a great lesson. He reads all the time and he is so ready for the gospel. And so is his whole family!  We couldn't understand what they were saying but we felt the Spirit so it was good. All in all it was great. 

Elder Clawson and Elder Davis on splits in Tirana, Albania.

Saturday we had interviews with President Weidmann and they went great. After that we all went out to the Thai restaurant and had some good food. That was basically it for that. 

Sunday was great because we had Srdan, Nezir, and a new investigator named Ilaz in church! They are all great and we had such a good time talking with them. We are excited to see what goes on with them. The sisters made us BLTs for lunch and it was super good. 

Today we just walked around and chilled. We went to a suit store cuz Elder Roberts is getting a new suit before he leaves. That was cool. 

Well Lotoja looked like it was super fun! I'm sorry I couldn't do the Montpelier to Afton stage. I really like that one even though it is super hard and sucks most of the time. And everyone passes me on the downhill. Well I love you all and have a good week!

Love, Jed

Dear Mom, 

I am loving Kosovo! It is the best place ever! Everything is going good. I'm over that nasty cough that I had and I feel fine. It's starting to rain a lot which kinda sucks but oh well. I'm glad you guys had a great time in Jackson! It looks awesome. Well I love you all so much!

Love, Jedediah