What Is A Prophet

March 9, 2015 email

Elder Clawson with a family he and his companion are teaching.

Hello Family!

Well not too much happened this week because we had TONS of meetings to get to and such. 

Monday night we were able to meet with a new investigator named X and he was very interesting. He said he was Atheist but he talked a bit in our lesson about how he has seen the hand of the Lord in his life basically and how much God has blessed which was pretty awesome to hear. The lesson went pretty well and he listened very intently to the message of the Restoration. Unfortunately he was super busy this week and he didn't have a whole lot of time this week to meet so that was a bummer. 

On Tuesday we went out finding in the morning at the Pyramid because it was a beautiful morning full of people ready to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We took out a huge board that said "What is a prophet?" and we used that to kinda reel people into hearing from us. We got a few numbers and hopefully they will be willing to meet with us this week. After that we had some lessons with some members and then Elder Braden and I had to go in early to prepare our goals for the following day. 

This was the dinner called "Wine and a Spiritual Thought".  Jed loved the interaction with people from all over the world.

Walking to P-day activities.

Wednesday we had our big MLC meeting which was awesome! For this meeting, President Weidmann invited all of the district leaders to come down and he gave them a training on how they could better interact with their missionaries and set District Goals that were in hand with the Zone Goals that we set. He always gives the best trainings! After that part, we presented our numbers and then received a training from him about "How to Begin Teaching". This is a chapter in Preach my Gospel and it is super good. It helps us be more bold while sharing our message and just gives us lots of good stuff to work on. We decided that some of the main things that we needed our investigators to know from HTBT was; The importance of our message and the authority of our calling as missionaries. If our investigators understand this then they will want to be baptized and they will want to progress in the Gospel. MLC took a while and then we went finding after all of that. At 6 o'clock we had saved up a bit of our lunch to go to a concert for a member. She was playing the violin and she did a super good job. She is 13 years old and has been playing for 8 years. Very talented girl. After that, we had to go home and prepare our zone training. 

The following day we had our zone training and gave a training on finding and then also on the HTBT section that President had trained us on. About halfway through our finding section, President Weidmann walked in with his wife. Yes that was stressful. The trainings went well and the Spirit was felt and hearts were touched. A few interesting things were also put into place as well. We are required to find for an hour and a half everyday if not more, we always speak Albanian outside of the house, and we roleplay a lot more often. Hopefully all of these new committments will get us on track to celestial glory. After that we had our English Course and we had a bunch of new people. about 7 girls around the age of 21. WHY!?! So yeah they just sat and watched us and then we ended the class with a spiritual thought on the Law of Chastity. It was good. That night we also met with the L Family and taught them the Plan of Salvtion and tried to help them get answers to some of their questions. They had quite a few about the Resurrection which was interesting. 

The next day we woke up and went finding again. We had originally set up a lesson with a guy that we had met on the road the morning before but he couldn't make it so we just went finding again. Once again a nice sunny day. I love the sun and hate the rain. My spirits just die in the rain. So we did that and then had to weekly plan for a good chunk of the day so we did that. That night I went with one of the T4 Elders to do a hand off lesson with a family that we had found that were interested. It was our first lesson with them and it was really good. We taught the Restoration and ate dinner with them. The father's name is S and his wife is R and they have 4 ADORABLE little girls all under the age of 13. Oh they were the cutest things that I had ever seen. Besides Jane. So that went well and I was sad that I had to hand them off but at least they are receiving the Gospel. 

Saturday I had to go to Durres for a leadership meeting with the Stake. We had Stake Conference this weekend and it was very good. I didnt' see a lot of people from Durres but I did see some familiar faces which was nice. The meeting talked a lot about Ward Councils and how they need to work with the missionaries better. So from now on we are holding Ward Council every week with missionaries. President Weidmann spoke and glorified the missionaries. He loves all of us a lot. We got back a little late from Durres and had another meeting. It was the adult session of Stake Conference and it was also very good, they gave lots of talks on fast offerings and tithings. A bit later after that we had a lesson with Elton. His grandmother had passed away the day before and so we just gave him a big comfort lesson. 

Sunday we had our big meeting in Elbasan with all of the Tirana wards. I got to see all of my lovely converts and the missionaries and I also met tons of new people. I don't know  a lot of the members from Elbasan so it was good for me. I have now officially been to every city in the mission that is open for missionary work. Elder Linderman and I had to translate the talks for President Weidmann and the senior couples. We had a little microphone with a transmitter in it and they all had earpieces and it was super difficult. You have to pay lots of attention to the speaker and more to what you are saying. A lot of times I would just say something in Albanian into the microphone. The talks were awesome. Pres. Mema talked about missionaries that were preparing to leave and he just let it rip. He really wants only the prime and elect to be serving. Ity was really good. Afterwards we came home and got back at like 2. We were asked to give a blessing last night but the lady wasn't home so we weren't able to do it. Then we had a lesson with Florence. It was a drop lesson. I explained to him why we were here and why we spend our time diong this. Florence then expressed a desire to act and show effort so we set a baptismal date that we could work towards. Hopefully he works out. Also my camera bit the dust last night when it fell out of my pocket. I have no camera now. After all of that jazz we went contacting. Love. 

Today, I basically just put in zone numbers, talked with the AP's, ate breakfast with the District and went climbing. I love climbing. Well that was about it for the week. I honestly love being here spreading the good word. God is at work in Albania and it is awesome to be a part of it. I love being a missionary!!

I love you all! Have a good week!

Love, Jed

Dear Mother, 

Well I am still healthy and alive. And also, I think I"ll just come home on the 1st of July. There's only Elder Jorgensen flying to Utah and I need to go home with him. Transfers are at the end of this month and so that's when I'll find out where I'm going to finish. Well I hope you all have fun in Palm Springs, I bet it's nice and warm. Love you!

Love, Jeddy Jim