Lots Of Driving

Nov. 18, 2014 letter
Well my family, 

I don't have a whole lot to talk about this week because I was out of my area for a lot of it with a mission conference but that doesn't mean that I didn't have a fantastic week!

So monday was good and we met with Suad and taught him about the Bible a bit more and he really liked. That was about it for that day. The following morning we decided to have a quick district meeting and then we did service. Later on in the day we met with Betim and Suad together and talked about Christ appearing to Thomas after he mentions that he won't believe unless he sees for himself. They really liked that lesson and they both speak pretty good english so we were able to watch the Bible Video with them and they loved that. A bit later we had our English Course class. Our class loves us to death. We get them all laughing and having a good time. They just don't want to really talk about the church all that much. Our spiritual thoughts are always pretty good and they participate all the time and give pretty good comments. But then they say 'Yeah we like this but our parents are Muslim so we can't learn about this church.' 

Lots of meeting and conferences this week.

Nice parking job Elders.

The next day we had a killer day set up and planned but all of the people that we had planned to meet with decided to ditch us. We also rode a bus to Gjakova early in the morning to get the mission car that is there, and then we drove back to Prishtina in that because our car was still in the shop and so we got permission to use theirs. We got to Prishtina and then found out that our car, which was in the shop, was actually done and being washed at that moment so we had done it all for no reason. But we took the other car anyways because it was automatic and Elder Jorgensen could drive it. We left and didn't get the chance to meet with anyone but we got to go finding which was good. At about 3 in the afternoon we headed down to Tirana with the other Elders and had a good long drive in the dark because it gets dark at like 4 here. We got there, got a suflaqe and then dropped them off at the AP's house and we drove to Elder Acheson and Elder Richard's house. I did want to go visit some members like Eli, Evi, and Sam but I didn't get the chance because Eli said it was too late and Evi and Sam were too far away for us to go. So we just chilled with the other elders and talked about life. 

Elder Clawson and a cute little kid from church.

The next morning we woke up and Elder Jorgensen and I picked up Elder Smoot and Elder Walley and we drove them to Durrës where we were having our meeting with Elder Dyches. The whole mission was there and I didn't know like half of the people. They were all so new and it was weird seeing them all. Maybe I'll get acquainted with them a bit later. But the Mission Conference was really good and Elder Dyches and his wife gave us some great trainings. After that we ate lunch together and had a good time just chatting with everyone. It ended at about 3ish and then the Gjakova elders told us that they needed to take their car back to Kosovo and Elder Jorgensen and I had to stay overnight again because we had MLC the following day at the mission office. So we drove back to Tirana in the big mission van with Elder Rawlings and Ostergaard, Sister White, Sister Davis, Elder Asler, Elder Wright, and Elder Opper. That was a pretty crazy ride. Then I had to drive the big van, Big Blue, back to Durrës and get a bunch of stuff loaded into the back of the van. Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet anyone in Durrës either. Kinda sucked. But I got to call Ersi but he didn't answer so I just talked with his mom instead. We drove back to Tirana dropped off all of the stuff and helped the Assistants set up for MLC for the next day. Then we got to drive the Golden Astra to the Tirana Zone Leaders house because we were staying with them. So I just wanna say that two of my mission goals were recognized in one day. I got to drive big blue and the golden astra. The best cars in the mission I say. 

Elder Clawson, and Elder Jorgensen's English class.

That night we stayed with Elder Rawlings and Elder Ostergaard and that was a good time. I slept in Elder Rawlings' bed that night because it's really big and it feels like a dream. We woke up the next morning and headed out to MLC. Elder Dyches gave us a wonderful training on how to take responsibility and it was fantastic. We all learned something from that. We presented our zone goals and stuff and then we all ate lunch together. Right after that we said goodbye to everyone and drove back to Kosovo with the Tooleys. They are the senior couple in Gjakova and we love them. They are pretty darn funny and they were giving me some great marriage advice the whole time. I learned a lot about what I need to look for in a future wife. We got into Kosovo and the Tooleys had to drop us off in Gjakova because they didn't have time to go to Prishtina. Once again, we took the Gjakova elders car to Prishtina and then we got home just in time to get to bed. 

A lot of driving this week.

The next morning we drove with Elder McGrath and Stewart in two cars, ours and the Gjakova elders (Gengar and Bathsheeba are their names. Mine is Bathsheeba.) and we went to Gjakova and then quickly returned home. Not much happened on Saturday but we did have a lesson with Ajdin. We taught him about the 10 Commandments and about Reading and Praying Often. He really picked it up and committed to read more and to pray about Joseph Smith. At the end of the lesson we got on our knees and he was the one to give the prayer. He asked right then and there if Joseph Smith was a prophet that helped restore the church. We finished the prayer and he said that he felt really happy! Sweetness! After all that we were actually able to give him a blessing because he is really sick. He works all the time and never gets a break and it just kills him and he doesn't have time to just relax. It was a good opportunity for me to give a blessing. It had been a while and I really enjoy it. At the end of the blessing he was super calm and said thank you and then went on his way. It was so great. 

Elder Stewart's broccoli pizza.  Jed said it was good:)

Yesterday Ajdin went to the hospital to see if there was anything they could help with so he couldn't come to church and Nezir had told us before that he was gonna be in his fshat working on his orchards. So we had no one to really sit by in church. Elder Jorgensen and Sister Favero gave some great talks that really made us think. After that we had lunch which was some super good spaghetti. Then we spent the rest of the day finding. Good stuff. 

Today Elder Jorgensen and I did yoga. I am getting super flexible. Its AWESOME!!! Then we went with one of the counselors in the Branch Presidency to go get some visa stuff done because he is pretty influential in the political area of life. We got a bit closer to getting visas so hopefully that will pan out. Afterwards we got haircuts..... And we like them. 

A little Christmas cheer in Kosovo

This week I'm going to end by letting you all know what a miracle it is to have the Priesthood here on the earth. I know that it is power given to us from God, to act in His name and do His will. It blesses everyone and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a Priesthood Holder. GOD LOVES US!

Well I love you guys. Have a great week and I hope Jake stops wrestling so you can all go skiing. Loves!!

Love, Jed

Dearest Mother, 

That Christmas tree looks great! We put one up in our bedroom this last week but we are gonna get a real one pretty soon. Probably the P-Day after Thanksgiving. We are pretty excited for Christmas. Oh and don't worry about sending a package. I'll be fine with being here this Christmas!! Save the money. 

So how much snow actually fell at home? Has it been snowing in the mountains a lot? Have a good week mom! I love you!

Baptism This Week!!

Hello my beloved family in America, 

A baptism this week!!  This is the first picture we've seen of Jed's investigator.  He says it's bad luck to take pictures of them before they're baptized.  Handsome group of men!

Yes, this week was full of love and great things. 

Monday was good because we were able to meet with Nezir and get a Priesthood lesson review because he was kinda iffy on who could baptize him. He was blown away when he found out that I had the priesthood and could do it.  He was excited to hear that he would be able to get the Priesthood shortly after his baptism so hopefully everything goes well with that. 

Tuesday was full of all kinds of wonders and such. We had a fantastic district meeting given to us by Elder Stewart and that was a good spiritual boost to my life. After wards Elder Jorgensen and I walked about 30 minutes to the place that we had the car accident so that we could meet the guy and talk to him about all of the specifics so that we could get our car fixed. Anyways after that we had our english course which went well. There was a new bunch of guys that came in that were like 20 ish years old and they were all in college and wanting to know english. There's also this 14 year old girl that thinks she knows the entire language who always asks me if I have a girlfriend. 

 

After the english section we were going to have our spiritual thought and Elder Jorgensen looked at all the guys and said, "If you guys don't want to stay you can leave." And so they all stood up and left, along with almost the entire course!! Fortunately some of them stayed and listened to my FANTASTIC spiritual thought on God's love for all of us. So yeah I wasn't super happy with the disappearance of those other people though. We then had a lesson with Ajdin who is doing awesome! He is progressing super well and he may very well make his baptism date! He reads whenever he has time and loves learning and he has made tons of awesome friends in the branch so we're happy for him. 

Wednesday was the day that we had interviews with President Weidmann! 

He came in and we had our interview and it was awesome! He is such a good guy. He just sits ya down and asks ya how life is going, how the investigators are, what they need, what can we do better, and then he checks our planners. I've been keeping a super good planner this transfer and he said he was super impressed with how I had it set up so that made my day. Then we just talked about how we could progress the work in my area and then we talked about the zone and stuff. It was super good to have that interview with him because Elder Jorgensen and I have been super frustrated with stuff and with little errands that we need to do that have been taking our attention away from our area. After our interviews Elder Jorgensen and myself went to a turkish restaurant and got some somun me suxhuk which is like a calzone loaded with cheese and sausage. Super good stuff. Love it!

Futbol with the members and other missionaries.

Later that night we had a personal english course kinda thing with two boys named Artur and Adhurim. And yes that Artur has no "H". So they come to our normal english course but they are super interested in the gospel so we had like 30 minuts of english and then 30 minutes of gospel and they ate it up. When we were talking about Joseph Smith we were showing them pictures and they were leaned over trying to look up close and asking questions and they loved it. Good kids. After that we had a lesson with Nezir but we had invited President Weidmann to come and help us out with it. Betim (a member  also wanted to help and so did our recent convert Suad! So we decided to just do a lesson with all 6 of us and we taught a review of the Restoration and it was great! 

The next day I was in Peja with Elder Baker on an exchange. We worked there and found for most of the day but we were able to find them a new investigator and he was in love with Americans. He just kept telling us how much he respected us and how much he loved what we did for Kosovo during the war. We had a good lesson with him on the Restoration and he was pretty interested. He is Catholic originally so it's good to be working with a Christian. The day was good and I actually had the opportunity to teach a lesson with the other elders in Peja as well. We went to a recent converts home and I went with Elder Morava who is from Albania, and Elder Baker went with Elder Simons and they taught a young man named Sahiti, and Elder Morava and I taught this lady named Dashuria. She is deaf and can't talk. We just sat there and wrote on a piece of paper some questions and answers and then she would circle the answer and then we would say some stuff in sign language. Sister Curtis had shown me some stuff in sign language before she left and so I was able to use some of that in the lesson which was super awesome. It was definitely a humbling thing to see someone learning about the gospel in such a different way. 

Elder Clawson filling the portable font.  

The next day I came home and we had a meeting with all of the district leaders and presented the zone goals for them. Then we went out to lunch. Later that day we met with this guy named Agim who hasn't been progressing and such and we were planning on dropping him but we had a member come to his lesson and his presence kinda made Agim listen and think a bit more. The member shared testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and gave a story from the Bible that tied into the lesson. It was super good and we know that Agim felt the Spirit so we'll see how he acts on that. 

That night Nezir came to the church and we explained what would be happening the next day and we tried on some baptism suits. He was very happy. 

Saturday. That morning we started heating up the water for the font and then we went and played soccer with some investigators and members. We returned and started filling the font. At 6 o'clock that night, everyone came and Nezir came all ready for his baptism! We had a good service and Sister Zollinger talked on baptism and gave a great talk, and then a member, gave the other one on the Holy Ghost. Then we had the actual baptism and I got to baptize Nezir! It was so great!! He was super excited and happy and loved every second of it. We had refreshments afterwards and then everyone left. We walked home and slept well that night. 

Yesterday, Elder Jorgensen confirmed Nezir and Ajdin was able to come to church and see all that stuff which was good for him and all the LDS soldiers from the base were able to come and join us as well. In the hour after that we were able to give Suad the Aaronic Priesthood!! It was great to see that. He is a good guy. 

So all in all I have learned a lot this week. I noticed a couple nights ago that something was nagging at me and I talked with Elder Jorgensen about it and I kinda realized that I haven't been the nicest person towards others. Saying snide comments and making little jokes here and there and I realized that I wasn't necessarily showing love the way I should have. So this week I'm going to work on that a lot more. I also remembered a quote from Chaplin that says "Only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural." and that kinda made me think that if everyone is loved by God then there is no reason to hate. We are all the Children of God and He loves us more than we can realize. I also was able to study about the first and greatest commandment which just kinda solidified that knowledge. 

I love working here in Kosovo! This week we get to go to Durrës for a little mission conference and I'm excited to kinda go back for a bit. I love you guys and I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Jed

Dearest Mother, 

I love getting your emails! Thanks for sending them. It looks like everyone has changed so much since I left! I'm gonna hate coming home because it's not gonna be anything like it was! I'm gonna come home to a whole different family!! So you guys ripped out the gardens and stuff? How'd that go? Well I hope you guys have fun this week. Hopefully you guys can get some more skiing in! 

Love you so much!
Jedediah

Baptisms And Potatoes

Dearest Familja, 

Elder Clawson and Nazir harvesting potatoes in Kosovo.

Once again I have encountered another week in the land of Prishtina, Kosovo. I have lived and I have conquered and come on top victorious. 

This week started out really good. On Tuesday we had a wonderful district meeting and then later that day we headed out to US military base with the sisters. We met with the Senior missionaries, the Tooleys, and then we headed to the base. So I don't know if I explained this, but the last time that I went to the base, I wasn't feeling very good. I had been sick and so when we all went to eat I couldn't eat a whole lot and it was super sad because I had been looking forward to getting some American style cafeteria food for a while. This time around I was able to take full advantage of it and I loved it! I had a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, salad with ranch dressing, white milk, and lots of bacon. It was a good time. Right after that we went into a seperate room with two soldiers and had a lesson. The sisters prepared it and we talked about prayer. It was super good and really made me think about how I pray. Sometimes I am just sitting there trying to get my prayer over with so I can sleep but I have realized that God is like a parent on P-Day that is waiting to hear from his missionary to see how they're doing and I need to be a better 'emailer'. All in all it was a spiritual lesson that benefited everyone. 

The car didn't fare to well this week.

Wednesday. Oh the lovely Wednesday. So after studies and what not, I decided that it was time for Elder Jorgensen to learn how to drive stick once and for all. Therefore, I drove out to this abandoned little piece of town with a big hill on it. I park the car on a little incline and switch him places. He starts it up and rolls backwards for a bit trying to get a start on the clutch. I say something to the effect of "You might wanna hurry." And then he hits the brakes and looks back and sees this big semi truck backing out of a parking lot. Unfortunately Elder Jorgensen couldn't quite get the clutch into gear fast enough without rolling back even further. So this guy ended up smashing the back end of our car. Good stuff!!! I get out of the car with steam puffing out of my ears because this guy would've seen us had he looked into his mirrors. Then I cooled down and got his insurance and our insurance and called the police and all that jazz. We ended up going to the police station and getting everything figured out. Wasn't our fault so we were happy. Now we are just waiting for our car. 

Elder Clawson at the church.

Thursday, just had lessons. We met with Betim and Suad separately that night but we taught both of them about the Atonement and gave some clarification on that. At the end of both of their lessons we watched "Because of Him" which came out for Easter last year I guess and I almost lost it every time we watched it. Suad almost lost it like a little girl and it was just really nice to sit back and have a relaxed lesson talking about what Jesus did for us and how much it blesses and helps us. We also taught our english course and we had one really annoying girl that thought she knew English better than me and everyone else in the universe so I may have had to humble her with some street talk and Bible talk. Nothing too hard. 

Harvesting potatoes in Kosovo.

The next day we had service in the morning! We woke up at 5:30 in the morning and met one of the members at the church at 6. We then drove out to his village which is about an hour and a half away from Prishtina right next to the Serbian border. Didn't really know that but we were okay. We helped him with his potato harvest and had a great time. All the elders took a hoe to the soil and we were digging up taters like there was no end. The sisters tried to switch off with us but the then Nazim, the member, told them that they were the ones that needed to gather all of the potatoes and then go back to his house and prepare the food for us! It was kinda funny but not at the same time. We went up to his little farm house and had a lunch of bread, jam, and cheese. We ended up getting back into Prishtina at like 4:30 which gave us enough time to run home and shower and then get ready for our fantastic halloween party! We were in charge of the 'Donut Dangle' (I named it that) and the Apple Bobbing. We set everything up and had a great turnout! Everyone was having a great time and we ate hot dogs and drank juice and laughed and partied. The games were super fun and everyone was being a sissy la la about the Apple Bobbing so I had to take off my tie and show them all how it was done. One highlight from Friday night was in connection with Nezir. He had his baptismal interview with Elder Stewart that night. AND HE PASSED!!!! Oh he was super excited, I was super excited, Jesus was super excited, and the world rejoiced. He asked if I could baptize him and of course I said yes. So he will be baptized this coming Saturday and we are super excited for him. 

Lunch after harvesting consisted of bread, jam, butter and ketchup.  A floor table and a wood stove:)  Heaven!

He hasn't smoked for two weeks now and we are blown away with his spiritual change. He is so great!! So there was that and also our other investigator, Ajdin came to the party and had a great time. He is getting super interested in the church and he loves coming to Institute and stuff and he is loving meeting with us. I think he'll be baptized for sure. He's just a solid guy that wants to do right. 

Saturday was a good day too. Met with John Jashari and talked about Charity with him. He kinda hates Serbians a lot because they imprisoned his son and he wants revenge bad. But he took the lesson well and is going to work on it. 

Jed's district harvesting potatoes.

Sunday was great! We fasted for an inactive member and she came to church and even bore her testimony! It was a tender mercy I tell ya!! I bore my testimony as well. It was good. The soldiers from Camp Bondsteel actually were able to come attend church with us yesterday as well and it was great. One of them said a testimony and said the closing prayer and it was great. 

For lunch the sisters made us french toast and hashbrowns and they were to die for! I loved it. After that, we went finding, and then had a meeting with the Branch Presidency about how the work is going and then we got everyone's numbers for the zone. 

Today we just sat around and got errands done. Elder Jorgensen and I have been overloaded with busy work this last week and it is killing me. I'm getting a cold and I'm super tired!! But I love being on my mission. I love the Kosovar people and I love chatting with Muslims everyday trying to learn more about them and how I can help their faith in God grow, if they accept my message is up to them, but I love being a missionary and doing this work. And I know that God loves us all! 

Another area Jed says he wants to live in some day.

Love, Jed

Dearest Mother, 

I hope you guys had a great time in Hawaii! I loved everyone's costumes too! Emma's was great and I loved Jane's. I hope the snow stays! It looks like you guys are all having a great time and loving life. Keep having fun and be safe. 

Love, Jedediah

I Took That As A Yes!

Oct. 27, 2014 email
Well Family, 

Pumpkin selections for carving.

It's been another week here in Prishtina and it was definitely a good one.

The Ap's came up from Tirana on Monday and had an exchange with us on Tuesday. It was super good because they both just stayed up here and we had two companionshps working one area so we just went finding and found tons of people and tons of numbers so we were set for the rest of the week. The following day we met with Nezir. It was the first lesson that we had since he had started the smoking program and it was going to be our first impression on seeing how well he was doing. 

Handsome Elders.

We came into the lesson and talked for a bit and then I asked him how many cigarettes he'd had that day and he told me that he hadn't had any smokes since the day that he started the program. My mind was melting out of the side of my face! So Nezir has been making some amazing progress. He hasn't smoked since last Sunday and we are planning on his baptism really soon. He's such a good guy and I"m blown away by how much he has changed from the first time we had contacted him in the road. He was super quiet when we had started teaching him and he would hardly say anything in his lessons and when we would ask him to pray he would say it in his head and then say "Amen" at the end of the prayer. But now he is super open, asks tons of good questions about the priesthood, temples, baptism, and all kinds of other stuff and we love it. His prayers are super sincere and out loud! We are so happy for this guy!!

Elder Jorgenson, and Elder Clawson

So that was one success that we had this week. Another happened a bit later. Elder Linderman and I got a number from street contacting from a guy named Ajdin. We called him up on Wednesday and got a meeting with him and we had a great Restoration lesson with him. He is Christian and he loves Jesus! That was a miracle in and of itself. So there was that and the lesson was just very spiritual. We set up a return appointment for Friday and parted ways. 

Church with members and an investigator.

Friday came around and we met with him again. We taught the Plan of Salvation and explained how one way we can get closer to the Celestial Kingdom is by baptism! We invited him to be baptized and he was like "Yeah, right now?" And then we had to explain that there was more stuff to learn but he was super excited to hear he could be baptized! He is such a good kid and he's 22 and super cool. We're excited to work with him. 

It snowed in Kosovo last week.  Looks like Utah today!

Another cool thing was that we got to meet with Agim from a village outside of town. We haven't had a lesson with him for a while because he has been busy but we finally got to meet with him again. In the last lesson that we had with him he mentioned that baptism looked a little weird and awkward so in the recent lesson we explained a bit more about baptism and how it can bless and then we asked him if he would like to come and see a baptismal service one time. He said 'me gjithe deshire' which means with all desire. So I took that as a yes. Hopefully he can come to Nezir's baptism real soon. 

Pres. Monson the slayer.

Visa stuff. 

Thursday I had another exchange with Elder McGrath. We taught some lessons in his area and had a good time. I really don't know what else to say about this week. 

Today I carved pumpkins with everyone else and Betim. We did the symbol of the Rebels in Star Wars. It was pretty sweet. After that I had to do some visa work and stuff to see if I can stay in Kosovo and I didnt' really get anywhere. They either tell me I don't need it or they direct me to someone else. Kinda rough. 

Well you guys! I love you all and I hope you have a good week!

Love, Jed

Dearest Mom, 

Sorry this email was a little short. I'm super tired and I wanna just take a nap. But I am super glad to hear you guys are having a good time in Hawaii! Keep having a good time and eating good food! I love you!

Love, Ted

Love Of The Bakery Lady

Oct. 20, 2014 Email
Hello family!

Elder Clawson at the market.

This week was kinda rough but it was still good. Lots of finding and stuff like that. 

The week started with our zone training! And personally, I think it went super well. We gave a training and had a good time with everyone. Lots of people participated which is always nice because I hate being the only one talking for two hours. After that we all went and ate at the Thai food joint and had a good time. Then Elder Jorgensen went out to Gjakova for an exchange with Elder Penrod and I stayed here in Prishtina with my boy, Elder Holm. We spent the night handing out English Course Fliers and having a jolly good time and then out of the blue this huge group of people starts chanting and hollering at the end of the boulevard. Being the curious missionaries that we are, we decided to go see what all the fuss was about and in the center of the city was a huge mob standing in front of this massive Jumbotron. I guess that was the night that Albania was playing Serbia in futboll and everyone was super jazzed up for that. 

Albania vs. Serbia Futbol match excitement!

We also had our first English Course class and we are teaching beginners again. I like most of the people there. They are nice and there are two boys that sit in the back that are awesome. They are actually brothers and they are learning a ton. I want to start the gospel lessons with them but their dad isn't cool with it. Speaking of their dad, we were talking with him one day and he was asking how life was in Kosovo for us. He spoke English pretty well and he said "So my boys don't understand English so we can speak of manly things." And then he said "How are you standing with the ladies?" I was just like "What you ask me brother?!" Yeah he gave me lots of tips on that kinda stuff and then I finally had the chance to tell him that I don't get with girls and then he just laughed and said "Sure, lets stop with the BS (but he dropped some real words)." So we'll work on the dad slowly and then we will get the boys. 

The following day we drove to Gjakova to pick up my companion. We drove back and then we just went through the day and taught some more lessons. The following Thursday we did service in the rain and picked up lots of trash and such. This one old lady saw that we were picking up trash for free and so she decided to just take us over to her house and clean up her super nasty window wells. Later that night we went and had English Course and that was awesome because one of the members brought like 5 of her friends and such and they were super fun to have in English course. Then afterwards we had Institute and they all stayed for that! Elder Jorgensen and I had the lesson that night and we taught the story in Alma 47 about Lehonti and Amalickiah. It went pretty well and they all participated a ton. It was a pretty fantastic lesson. 

Good looking bunch!

Needless to say they all came to church the following Sunday and are now receiving lessons from the sisters. 

Friday was the day that we had our district leader meeting in Prishtina. It went well and we gave a training on getting members into our lessons because Kosovo has had a struggle with that in the past and we really want to change that. We went the rest of the day finding and weekly planning. 

Service day, in their Help Hands vests:)

Saturday was good too. We cleaned the church and got it super clean because President Weidmann was coming up! They were here for Branch Conference and it was great. I loved it. We had a lesson with Nezir and we had the 1st counselor come in to help us with that one. We decided to start the smoking program with him because he needs some major help. We'll probably be giving him  a blessing pretty soon. But he was optimistic and ready to try his best. Really good lesson though, we shared 2 Nephi 31:17-21 and talked about enduring to the end. He's totally on his way to being baptized! 

Can you tell they're still teenagers:)

Jed.

Right after that we had a big meeting with President Weidmann and all the leaders in the branch and we really enjoyed that. President Bodell also gave a good piece in that and it was great. During that meeting President Weidmann talked about the missionaries and how much we sacrifice to come out on our missions. Then he asked everyone if they remember the names of THEIR missionaries that taught them and found them and he got to The Jashari family and they said "Elder Clawson and Elder Price" and my heart just melted with emotion! I am now legitimately thought of as someone's missionary. The person that helped!  The next day we had  church and we just had one big 90 minute block instead of 2 hours in 2 different sections. The talks were great and Betim was called to be the 2nd Counselor! We got to ordain him after that and that was a great experience. He is the man! Then we had chicken and rice for lunch and that was awesome! The sisters made it. 

We had a lesson with Gjon Jashari and it went fabulous! He was understanding everything and giving all kinds of good comments. He is a fantastic member. 

Futbol with the Young Single Adults.

Today was just a good Pday. We played futboll with the YSA kids and then I came here and now I'm emailing you. I also am having a contest with Elder Stewart to see who can win the love of the bakery lady the fastest. Who ever gets the first article of free food wins. I'm totally gonna do it but he has a head start cuz he started going to the bakery before me. But I can just turn on some of that old lady charm that I got going for him. There will be an update on that next week. 

I love you guys! Have a good week and tell Angie that I love her still!

Love, Jed

Dearest Mother, 

I hope you guys have a great time in Hawaii! Enjoy the malasadas. Except for the pineapple ones. Those are the ones that I threw up the night I got my mission call. That taste still haunts my tastebuds to this day. Have fun in the water. Drink some POG for me too. I love you mom! And I hope all that canned food is good.