Durres Bound!

Elder Clawson with a young man they're teaching.  The one on the left is the investigator, and the young man on the right is a new member who is on FIRE!  Jed said he is an amazing member missionary!

Hello my dearest and most cherished family!

Well Lushnjë is great and stuff but guess what?


I'M GOING TO DURRES TOMORROW!!

So I'll tell you why I'm being taken out of Lushnjë. Last night I got a call from President Ford at about 9:30. Unfortunately I hung up on him instantly because I'm used to hanging up on Albanians and then calling them back. So we had a little bit of phone tag and then I finally got a hold of him. He was in Rome at the time. He told me that he had spoken with the new Stake President, and they had come to the conclusion that they needed more Elders in Durrës. It's a larger city and only has 4 missionaries. So me and my dear Watson, will be leaving tomorrow morning and we will be starting our new area in Durres. 

Easter Eggs are dyed red in Albania.

I'll admit I was actually pretty bummed when I heard I was leaving Lushnjë. I'd actually made a joke to Elder Watson the other night after we got done chatting with our local baker, "Man I'm starting to get really tight with the people here. 50 bucks says I get taken outta here soon." I was totally saying it in a joking manner because whenever I start really warming up with the people in my area, I get taken out and sent somewhere where I don't know anything. But I was also stoked that I'd be going back to my birthplace. (Jed's birthplace or his first area in the country to serve was Durres.)I'm excited to see if I can revive some of the old work that I had before hand with Elder Foster and work with some of the recent converts there as well. Not to mention the awesome ward there. 

Someone brought them Dr. Peppers from Kosovo.  A little bit of America I guess:)

This week has been okay for us. We found some good potential people that we will be handing off to the other missionaries. Flosed hasn't been able to meet with us but he is starting to ask us more questions when we see him. Hopefully he still progresses with the other missionaries. We've been looking for a house most of the week and we actually had one all ready for us to move into but we kinda got broadsided with a change of plans. 

P-day with the Elder's in Vlore.  These two young men on either side of Jed are his son's he says.  Elder Watson on the left is his current companion that Jed is training, and Elder Eliason on the right was Jed's companion and trainee last go around.  Always good to see Elder Eliason:)

I had my first and last district training too! I gave a training on how we can be consecrated missionaries and lay everything on the altar of sacrifice. I thought it went pretty good. For the couple weeks that I was a District Leader, I really enjoyed it. Elder Acheson will be the District Leader over us in Durres which will be good because he is a great kid. I also went to Tirana this last Tuesday for a training from the AP's for the new District Leaders. That was fun because all the Leaders are Elders from my MTC group. BOO YAH!!

P-day in Vlore. 

At the beach in Vlore.

Today I went to Vlorë for my last P-day with the zone leaders. We ate lunch with the missionaries down there and took a nice long walk on the beach. It was quite romantic actually:). Elder Eliason and Elder Watson got acquainted with each other. THE LONG LOST BROTHERS UNITE!! We also went and looked at a castle which was really pretty and super neat. Then I drove back with the ZL's and that's why I'm so ridiculously late with my emailing. 

It sounds like you are all having a hay day in Utah! I'm glad Seth got himself a chicken. Just make sure it lasts longer than the one that I got at Easter. Either that or make sure he doesn't get as attached to it as I did. How was Lake Powell for dad? Did ya waterski? Probably not. You're getting kinda old. Can't turn 'em like I can. Just kidding, Papa Jimmy, YOU'RE AWESOME!! 

The view from the castle the missionaries visited in Vlore.

Elder Clawson looking rather handsome. (And maybe a bit manly!) at the castle.

Well I guess I love ya and stuff. Have a good week and I'll talk to ya from Durrës! PEACE!

Love, Jedediah "The Claw" 

The sights of Vlore, Albania.

Dearest Mother, 
Can I just say that your strawberry pies looked fantabulously gorgeous?! They looked way freaking good. They don't have pie here. Kinda poopy. Have you started on the garden yet? I'm sorry I hated weeding so much. I feel kinda bad about that now. Well I love you long time! 
Love, The Eldest Elder

Lushnje Is Fantastic!

Elder Clawson and Elder Watson street contacting.  Sharing the Good News with some cute little ladies:)

Dearest family,

I have had a lovely first full week here in Lushnje. Nothing crazy has happened so far but we are slowly getting work which is a more than I can ask for since we are opening a new area in Lushnje. Our days are still full of finding but we've also been able to really connect with a lot of the members here. The youth here are fantastic and make up like 50% of the entire branch but they are all really nice and like to have fun. 

Tis the season for hayfever!  Even in Albania.

So this last Monday we were out street contacting and we stopped this kid named Flosed. He lives in Berat which is about an hour out of here and he is in Lushnje for school. We asked him if he had time to come up into the church with us for a second. We gave him a Book of Mormon and promised him that if he read it and prayed about it, he would be given an answer from God. He accepted and then left. The next day we had an English Course and he actually came to that which was dang exciting. Unfortunately I'm the teacher for the beginner course and he is in the advanced class so I wasn't able to get to teach him any more english, but we were able to have a lesson with him about The Restoration of the Church. Juxhin came and sat in with us to help us which was flipping awesome. (I've actually known Juxhin for quite a while. Since October as a matter of fact. When I came down here on an exchange from Durrës, I met with him while I was with Elder Bullock. At that time, he was still an investigator and was preparing for baptism. We had a short lesson with him and we clicked from the beginning. I left and when it came time for his baptism, they asked him who he wanted to baptize him. He told them that he wanted me to do it. That was the same week that Julian was getting baptized in Durrës and so they told him that I was already busy with something. I really wish I could have done it but I'm glad he liked me enough to ask me if I could do it. Right now we are like brothers and we have some good times together.) Anyways, Flosed's lesson went really good and he asked a lot of really good questions that really made me think to answer them. One thing that he is having a rough time is the whole Resurrection thing. We'll have to explain that a little bit more the next time we meet him. (Perfect week for that!)

Going for the double chins.

I'll tell ya some other stuff that happened this week. We were street contacting and out of the blue comes this big gypsy guy. He comes up to me and asks me how I was doing except he was saying "ç'kemi? A je mire? Je i bukur." Which is kinda something girls would say to us. I answered him and told him we were good and then he smiled, stroked the left side of my face with his large hand, said "Oh, sa mirë!" and then walked away whilst blowing us a kiss.  Gotta love it. 

P-day at the beach!  

Blue crab from the Adriatic Sea.

In sacrament meeting yesterday a nice older lady was up bearing her testimony. She stated how she loves the work of the missionaries and how they bless the lives of other people. I was sitting on the very front row because I had to pass the sacrament so I was just sitting looking at her and listened as she bore witness of the truths she had seen in her life. Then she ended with a testimony of missionaries and the work they do and then she looked at me and pointed right at me and said "Ata janë shumë të mirë, dhe shumë të bukur!!" which means "They are so good, and so beautiful!" Everyone in the congregation got a laugh outta that because she legitimately pointed right at me! It made my day. 

P-day soccer game with all the other missionaries, and I think some members from Lushnje.

Today we went to Fier to go to the beach. We got there, parked our car, and were gone for about 15 minutes. We came back and found two cops out putting a boot on our tire. Elder Palmer and Bilodeau instantly were like "What the heck are ya doing?!" I won't go into detail but the Albanian police know what kind of cars the missionaries have and they know we have money so they like to swindle us. They asked for 70 euros to take the boot off and that was not gonna happen. They threatened to tow the car so we called Elder Morava, (an albanian missionary in Fier who is awesome.) and he came and lowered the cost to 30 bucks. Not bad. We paid and we left for the beach. The beach was cool. A little dirty but cool. 

Everything is going good with Elder Watson. He's quiet and kind.  He's definitely growing and getting into the rhythm of things. Defineately a good kid! 

Well I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! Filled with sprinkles, candies, butterflies, snickerdoodle cookies, movies, snuggles, bunnies, hostess powdered donuts, and everything else that makes you smile. 

Love, Jed

Officially Living In The Village!

Headed to the church with a TV to watch conference.

Well my beloved family, 

I am officially living in the village! Lushnje is absolutely fantastic and I love it here!

Documenting his first meal in Lushnje!

So after last P day I hooked up with Elder Ostergaard and we took off on a fergon (taxi or bus) down to Lushnje. We moved all of my stuff into my house, which is really nice by the way, and then we took all of Elder O's stuff to Fier where he is staying now with his new trainee. After that we went and stayed the day in Lushnje. President told us to ambient (I love his use of very proper English words.  He's learning to talk like Pres. Ford, and Jane Austen!)for the first couple of days with our new areas and then to begin the heavy work when we received our new trainees. So we had a good time in Lushnje. We walked around and found out where the church was and all that cool stuff. The youth here are awesome and I'm excited to be working with all of them. 

The next day, Wednesday, we took a fergon down to Fier and we basically ambiented Elder Ostergaard into his new area. Fier was really cool but a lot bigger than Lushnje. I think we both are really enjoying our areas. 

Elder Clawson with his new companion Elder Watson

So we got our new boys on Thursday!  I got an awesome kid called Elder Watson. He's from Minnesota and he is a killer with the language. He said a prayer for us as we were leaving the house and his language shocked us. He is so good. Probably the best MTC speaker besides Elder Gunther that I've ever heard. So I also don't have my own house. I live with the zone leaders in their ridiculously nice house. It's really hard to find a house here because everyone just wants to sell and we rent. So we are on a hunt for our own house. 

Nothing better than American (Actually Hispanic) hot sauce.  It made this kid happy!

So, Elder Watson and I have been contacting the streets of Lushnje seeing as we are opening a new area of Lushnje. It's really rough but the people here are so much nicer and more willing to talk to us. We only had three lessons this week but this coming week will be better. Elder Watson is very outgoing and takes the TALK TO EVERYONE theme very seriously which is awesome because it's something that I really needed to work on. 

I did get to see the whole Saturday afternoon session of conference which was really good but in order for missionaries to see any of the other sessions, we had to bring an investigator and I didn't have anyone to bring so I'll watch them when I can. Probably for Personal Study sometime. 

Today we went to Apollonia!! (click on this link and it will give you a little history of Apollonia.  Pretty amazing!)It's funny that dad mentioned that Paul was around my area because if anyone is familiar with Acts 17, Paul teaches in Apolonia. (you can click on the link and it will take you to Act 17 and YES it is in Apolonia!)So yes I have been where Paul stood and preached. CRAZY HUH? Yes, I know it's amazing and I'm awesome:) Every day I see something in Albania that just blows my mind! This place is so ridiculously overlooked by people. This place is awesome.

We got to see lots of cool stuff and had a good time. We live with the zone leaders who are Elder Palmer and Elder Bilodeau. They are both really cool guys and they set a good example for all of the zone. Oh and they have a car which I get to ride in quite frequently. Wham!!!

Well that's about it everyone. I love you all and I'm glad you had fun biking and stuff. Curse you all for rubbing that in my face. Just kidding. 

Loves you long time, 
Jed

Dear Mother, 
I am loving Lushnje. It is tons smaller than Tirana and I don't have to worry about teaching people that live in a different branch. Not a whole lot of good food here so we'll see how much weight I lose. Hopefully not a lot. Well I love you so much!
Love, Jeddy