I Love Being Here In Albania!

Hello my dear family,  

Tirana, Albania

So Tirana has been treating me well so far. The branch is really interesting. Lots of older people and about 5 youth which I'm trying to change, but the kids in Tirana are all so busy with school or they just call me a "Jehovajt" and don't talk to me at all. They mistaken us for JW's quite often.

The food is still way good and we've been busy with finding people on the street. There's a lot of people here that are way crazy. One old guy came up to me and told us that he was the "last prophet" and that we needed to go back home to Obama in America. He's talked to us a few times and told us that we are full of it. But there are also a lot of really nice people that we get along with. And there are gjarpers. That means snake in Albanian and it refers to girls that flirt with missionaries or any American guys. They say we're beautiful, they wink at us, and just try to ask us to go drink coffee with them. We kindly decline and ask if they want to learn more about Jesus Christ. That usually gets rid of them. 

So the work has been good. We got a new investigator this week but he was kinda drunk we think, so who knows where that one goes. We are working with three kids in a family that are on a baptism date in December and I enjoy going and teaching them. We play UNO with them afterwards which gets kinda crazy sometimes. 

Nothing like a good game of UNO!

We meet with a lot of part member families and try to work with the people that aren't members but they skip out on us a lot. That's how it goes I guess. But I love them. The missionaries in my zone are way fun to be around. One elder from my MTC group, Elder O, is a beast with the language and it blows my mind! People always come up to him and ask about his red hair and he's always so happy. I think he's a good role model to look up to. Some new sisters are getting sent to my area of Durres tomorrow from Tirana so I was kinda jealous of that. But it'll be good to have a couple more sisters there. The Couple missionaries here are from Idaho. They are awesome and they are so great to all of us missionaries and we love their guts. 

We play soccer on Saturdays and invite the few youth that we have in the branch to come. We tell them to bring there friends that aren't members but they have't yet which kinda makes the whole thing kinda useless. But this last weekend we got two non members to come. Two twin girls that lived in Italy and they're friends with one of the members. Hopefully we can get to teach them because I'm starting to get a little tired of finding. 

So the group thats leaving next only has 49 days left. They like to remind me that they have less days than I have weeks. It doesn't bug me though. I told them all that you would feed them and go skiing with them if they came over. They are all really nice guys and I'm pretty sure you'd love them more than me. Just kidding. I know you love me more than any other child. The food here is still BOMB!!! I get brioche a lot and it is awesome! It's got chocolate in the middle and it's incredible when it's hot. 

Well it's getting colder here which is fantablulous. I played basketball with the zone from Tirana and the Elders from Shkodër today which was way fun. I realized that I suck more than anything but it's still fun and no one yells at me or anything so that's nice. We all went out to lunch and had a good time. 

Lunch with Jed's zone after a great game of basketball:)

Jed (Elder Clawson)  and Elder Matson.  Handsome boys I'd say!

So I'm happy. My companion is good, and I'm coming along okay with the language. I'm definitely humbled though by my lack of communication skills which is a Christlike Attribute that I can work on. I love being here in ALBANIA!!! And it's almost Thanksgiving which is apparently one of the best days to have here for missionaries. I love you all so much and miss you like a fat lady misses chocolate cake while on a diet. Have fun in Hawaii!!

Christmas lights are popping up in a lot of Jed's pictures lately.

Love, Jedediah, The Boy With The Mole In His Eye

Dear Mother,
I hope you are having the time of your life in Hawaii!! It looks so fun. I hope you're eating a ton of awesome food. Don't eat the pineapple malasadas though. Thats what I threw up the night I opened my mission call. That taste is vivid in my memory. Tell everyone that I wish them good tidings and kisses and sprinkles. I love you mom and I appreciate you writing me. Loves!

Love, Jed

Whip My Big Boy Pants On

Dear sweet family,

Elder Clawson at his evening planning session.  His apt. is up above this "locale" or little cafe.  He drinking his favorite warm cinnamon pudding drink:)

So it sounds like you guys have had an awesome week!!I'm glad to hear that Jane and Bryson are still good friends. I saw the adorable picture of Jane in her blue monster costume and such. It was fantastic. 

So this week has been pretty cool and super interesting. So Monday after I had gotten everything done for the day, Elder Foster and I had to go vistit all of our investigators, and tell them that we were going to be moving into different areas and such. We said goodbye to Arta and she seemed kinda sad that we were leaving. Then we took the long walk out to the Pjetri's home. We got inside and the mom just had us sit on the couch while she left to go get the kids an her husband. We just sat their by our lonesome and then the first person to come in was Nertila the 15 year old. She was freaking crying. OH NO!!!! That pulled our heartstrings a little bit. Everyone else came in and sat down and we explained to them where we were going and that we would try our hardest to come to the baptism of their dad. We gave a short spiritual lesson and then I told Elder Foster that it was time to go. They escorted us out and then the mom started crying when we said good bye. It was so sad! 

Jed and Elder F. with a little girl from a family they were teaching in Durres.

The local baker or byreke.  

We went home and met Julian and told him that he was going to be meeting with the other elders with Arta. I might see him in Tirana sometimes, but who knows for sure. That night we bought some ice cream and ate it like a bunch of depressed little girls. 

The next morning we had to leave early so we ran to the Byreke (bakery where Jed buys a loaf of bread just about every day.)  place and got one last byreke. The byreke lady told us that it was like her sons were leaving her. She started crying and we got some pics with her and went on our way to the buses. I said goodbye to Elder Foster with a big hug and then I was off to Tirana. (I think as a mom I will forever be grateful for Jed's trainer Elder Foster.  He was kind and patient with Jed and taught him how to work hard and be a good missionary.)

Jed at dinner with his new district.

Crepes!!!  Jed's favorite food in America is now a daily staple.

A very traditional Albanian dish.  He didn't tell me what it was called, but
it looks...............different.

I had a training meeting at the mission home with all of the other elders from my MTC days. That was fun. After the meeting ended I took off for my new house. Elder Matson is a good guy.  Our house is a bit bigger than the one in Durres and it's built over a locale (I think a locale is a little cafe or coffee shop.) which is actually way cool. Our pranari (landlord) is the owner of the locale and he calls us his Brioche. It doesn't make sense but whatever, he's still a fun guy. So there were two problems with the house: It was a disaster, and the fridge was broken with tons of mold in it and it leaked. Therefore, we spent the next couple of days looking for a new fridge that was somewhat cheap. We found one at a mall and we are gonna buy tomorrow maybe and have it delivered. One day I went to town and cleaned that house. It was so perfectly clean. Then I took the fridge out of the wall and took it outside and tossed it into the dumpster. That fixed the leak. And we both got sick this week so I think it might have actually come from the mold growing in the fridge. It was leaking for about a month is what I've heard.

We don't really have any investigators here right now so we've been doing an awful lot of finding. We've gotten a few numbers that seem promising and I'm hoping that it all goes somewhere happy. I met a really nice police officer that approached us while we were street contacting. He was walking towards us very purposefully and I was just thinking, "Oh no he's gonna tell us to leave and then he's gonna arrest me." But he was really nice and didn't kick us out. It ended with us getting his number and getting a return appointment for this week. Super awesome! Every night for our planning we go down to the locale below us and order some tea or salep, which is like this cinnamon pudding drink and its awesome, and we plan our next day outside at a table and that's super relaxing. One of the highlights of my day for sure. 

So yeah I'm just hoping to kinda get a kick start into the work this week which will require me to whip my big boy pants on. Thank you for teaching me how to clean by the way Mom. Today we went to a mall and I rode a mechanical bull and got a free soccer ball with a CLAW MACHINE!!! You can actually win on those things!!! We ate at a really good place called Mish Helli. Tirana is a lot bigger than Durres so therefore it has a lot of really good food. I get crepes almost every day, they're only a dollar twenty, and loads of other good stuff. I do miss Durres but hopefully I'll be going back for a day after Thanksgiving for Ndue's baptism. 

The soccer ball Jed won from the local "Claw Machine". (like in Toy Story.)

Super jealous about your vacation. And for the kids at home that get to party with Fred and his french girlfriend, Raquel. Give them some love for me. So I don't necessarily need anything that I can't find here. Gypsies honestly have everything you could think of. So yeah, just stuff that you think I would enjoy. But so far I'm having a good and enjoyable time here in Tirana. I can get along with anyone so I know I'll be a happy camper here. 

I miss you all so much and think about you every now and then. My district is actually super awesome here though. We are all very young. Elder Matson is the oldest and he's barely been here a year. But yeah I've been here for 4 MONTHS!! It's gone by so fast! I love Albania and I love you all!! Have a good week!!

Love, Jed

Dear Mother, 

I saw the instagram video that you made about the snow. Kinda made me sad when I saw that you tagged me in it. But thanks for remembering me. Sorry you all cried about the missionaries. Kirsten said Elder Perry came and talked! Thats awesome!! And thats way crazy that Tanner saw Gina in New Zealand!! It is a small world. I talk with him almost every week. He's already training a kid. I'm not even done being trained and we've been out the same time. Well have fun at Mauna Kea next week. Eat some bacon for me. I have a nice senior missionary couple that feeds me on Sundays which is awesome by the way. I love you so much.

Love, Jed

I Am Going To Miss The People Of Durres

Hello Family!!

Well this week was pretty fantastic! This might not be super long because nothing super crazy has happened but it was still a very productive week full of happy feelings and cookies and sprinkles and stuff. 

So Ndue has been awesome this week. (He's the father of a member family.  There's a picture of Jed with the family last week.) We met with him twice and taught him the Plan of Salvation and last night we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Plan of Salvation lesson, he participated a ton and gave a lot of really good insights. He really knows his stuff when it comes to the example of Christ. He has a good heart and he's full of Christ like love. Last night, we taught just him while his wife sat in on the lesson while the children all made dinner. It was really peaceful and it really invited the Spirit into the lesson which is always necessary. He hasn't been reading what we've been assigning him to read but he has been reading other things. So we just emphasized why we give him these specific topics to read for later lessons and also for him to better learn and apply the lessons that we have taught previously. Once we had said the closing prayer of that lesson, they asked us if we would like to stay for dinner. Of course we said HECK YES!! We had a traditional dinner with loads of olives, bread, salad, meat, peppers, pasta, and soda. We all talked a lot and had a jolly time. That  family is the most awesome family I've ever met.

Julian and Arta are doing well. Julian has expressed his hopes and dreams of being married in the temple. He said it would definitely be worth the wait and that he was willing to wait if Arta was. Arta has been doing good with commitments and I have high hopes for her. Zef is still being a stud. He's making good progress with his drinking problems and I know that if he sticks to his guns he'll be able to get through it. 

Elder Clawson and 2 other Elder's getting visa's in the capital.

So interesting thing happened last night. Tomorrow marks halfway for this transfer and we got a call from President Ford. We'd had some speculation as to if we might be moved this week because there's been things going on here that require people to fill positions and move around throughout the area. But we had decided that no matter what happened, I would be staying in Durres and Elder Foster might go to a leadership position. So this phone call wasn't a total surprise until President Ford asked if he could talk with me. He said I am going to the 2nd Branch in Tirana with Elder Matson. (Tirana is the capital city of Albania.  It's about 20 miles to the East of the coast town of Durres where Jed has been serving the last 8 weeks.) Elder Foster is going to  be the new south Zone Leader. I cannot express the sorrow that we felt last night. We had just gotten back from the Pjetri's and we were on Cloud Nine. I am truly going to miss the people here. I'm going to miss the youth that helped us with lessons all the time and the great support that we constantly had from the Branch.So tomorrow morning I hope on a fergon and drive to Tirana to get into my new apartment. Me and Elder Foster have been super busy today with trying to get stuff ready for the other Elders and the Sisters. Our area of Durres is getting closed until the new transfer starts which is right at New Year's. 

An ostrich egg from last weeks adventure.  Jed's making it into breakfast!

The finished omelet.  Bon Appetit!

So next week I'll be writing from there! Elder Foster was born (Being born means it is the first area a person serves in.  For example, Jed was born in Durres.) in second branch and he says the food is awesome. Lots of rich people live there and so maybe I'll convert Alban Skenderaj. You should look this guy up. He's the best Albanian singer. Look up Mrekulli Tet and Mire Mengjes by him. Good songs. We hear them all the time out on the street and stuff. 

Lunch at an American restaurant.

This mornings haircut.  Handsome kid!

Well I saw the pic of Jane, butt naked on the floor. I'm glad to see that Gus is alive still. How's Lucy? Halloween is celebrated here but not as big. It's considered very evil here by the older people. I didn't get to eat at the zoo yesterday because the people were all in Korça but they said we could next week. Dang. Thanks for sending off that package!! I hope it gets here. I haven't gotten any of the mail that everyone says they're sending me so maybe you are all just a bunch of filthy liars or some Albanian dude is stealing my letters. Either way it's messed up. 

I miss you all and think about you all the time. LOVE YOU!!!!

Love, Jed

Dear Mother, 
The new missionaries enter the MTC this week which is crazy!! I'm not a total fringo anymore. Elder Linderman and I see each other pretty often cuz we're in the same zone but when I go to Tirana I won't see them very often. But he's doing really good down in Fier. Motra Hoover was actually companions with Motra Atkin (Who's in Andy and Kristy's ward) and they taught the Pjetri family. Everyone but the dad and got them baptized. I hope everything works with them. I love you and miss you. Thanks for the prayer

s. I definitely know that they are helping me.

Love, Jed
your eldest

We Walked Home Victorious!

HELLO MY FAM!!!!

So we had a pretty awesome week. Last Monday was actually Elder Foster's birthday and we only had one lesson planned that night. It was with the Pjetri family. They are all members except for the dad and the youngest daughter but thats because she's six. Anyways we went to their home and gave a lesson and then out of nowhere they turned out the lights and brought out this huge birthday cake! We all sat and talked about life and what not and we just had a good time. 

Family that Jed and Elder F are teaching.  Beautiful:)

Well that was my cool thing at the beginning of the week. For the majority of the week it was basically the same. On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Richards. Yeah I went on an exchange with another trainee. We had a whole day planned with lessons and what not but we got dropped by all of them except one. The lesson we did teach was with a recent convert named Armando. He's a way cool kid. He was the young mens 2 counselor I believe and then he started going inactive so we've been starting back up with him. He enjoyed the lesson with us and now he's actually helped Elder Foster and I with some other lessons with Zef in the mornings. 

So we had a lot of finding that night since all of our lessons had fallen through. We street contacted for about 3 hours before we had to go back home and we got 4 new numbers which is amazing for finding here!! So at least that day ended on a really high note which was nice and Elder Richards was fun to be with for the day. We taught Zef some awesome lessons this week too and I know it's definitely been because he's been reading faithfully and been keeping his commitments on everything. We had a lesson with him on Thursday and we ended by asking him to be baptized. His response was just a simple "do pagëzohem" which is basically just "I will be baptized." So yeah we were super happy about that. \

Elder Clawson and Elder F with an investigator. Handsome missionaries!

It's funny you should ask about J girlfriend because we've been meeting with her since J got baptized actually. I thought I had said something about her but I guess I hadn't. She has been taking the lessons very well and Julian has been helping her a ton with everything. But we had a lesson with her the same day that we had that good one with Zef and we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end we invited her to be baptized and she said yes too!! She had a date in mind already too.  So yeah we were pretty stoked on all of that success and I know it's been the Spirit really working on these great people. So nothing else really interesting happened for the week........ UNTIL YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!

So we woke up at 6 because the night previous we had talked with the Pjetri family about coming to their house before church started and getting their dad to come to church. The story with their dad is that Motra Atkin and Motra Hoover were teaching them about a year ago and he didn't have anything against the church or against his family hearing about the gospel, but he just didn't have any interest in it for himself. So they were all baptized and he has just been floating off on the side. So we hopped on a bus and got out to their house and there he was!!! All ready and revving to go with his kids. It was awesome. We went to church and the Ford's were there and that was nice to learn from them. In priesthood session, Julian received the Aaronic Priesthood which was fantastic. So church was nice and afterwards J and A took us outside next to a sister in our ward and a couple friends that she had brought to church. 

This sister is a pretty well off member and she has some very well off friends. The friend she introduced us to was a large bald man. He had a way nice Range Rover, and had adorned his fingers and wrist with golden rings and a golden watch. He asked us if we could meet with him sometime during the week and of course we just said heck yeah. He was impressed with my Albanian for only being here 2 months and that made me feel like a superstar. After we talked for a little longer, the sister in our ward asked us if we could join them for lunch. I was kinda skeptical about this guy still so I was gonna say no but Elder Foster was just like OK!! So we got into this man's Range Rover, ya I rode in a Range Rover, and drove off with him, his five year old son, and J. 

I loved this comment from Jed, "It was like the Lion King, but I wasn't going to inherit this land at anytime."

Elder Clawson in the elevator up to the tower.

Pet tigers.

Once we had all finished eating, Julian asked if we wanted to go for a little walk. He guided us down the road and then down another little path that led towards these boxes. I was shocked as I rounded the corner and saw two massive tigers, 5 full grown bears, 1 bear cub, and 2 coyotes. Yeah this guy had tigers, bears and coyotes as pets. WHAT IS THIS!? Elder Foster and I were having a hay day! We took tons of pics and what not and we were seriously freaking out. We looked at the animals for a while and then we had to go. Iljaz drove us all the way back home and told us that he wanted to do this every single Sunday. I don't know if that's gonna happen but I wouldn't complain if it did. 

So we had a lesson with the Pjetri family right after we got home so we went out to their house and we watched the Restoration video with the family and their dad. The Spirit was so strong during the whole lesson and at the end of the video it shows Joseph Smiths dad being baptized. So at the end of the video we asked how the dad felt about all the things he had seen. His name is Ndue by the way. Not to be mixed up with NUDE. But he said he felt really good. Therefore, we invited him to be baptized and he said YES!! Holy cow! Everyone was so excited! The daughters were fist pumping and smiling from ear to ear and it was just a fantastic thing. So we ended the night with that and walked home victorious. 

Give Jane a big kiss for me right on the face. She is getting big from the pics that I've seen. And her hair is so crazy. I love you all and I miss you. The church is true and it does change lives!! YOU ARE ALL SO AWESOME!!

Love, Jed


Dear Mother, 
If you haven't sent that package yet, I would like you to send a ped-egg in it. My heels are disgusting. I've been ripping my sheets like no one' s business. I hope you loved SLC and Bruge's. Me and Kirsten loved it. I hope everything is okay at home. I love you and thanks so much for writing me every week. LOVE YA!!

Love, Jed

Oct. 14, 2013

Long day of missionary work.

Hello Family!!

Wow 417 lbs. of apples?! That's ridiculous! And yes I'm super frustrated that I wouldn't be there when you make the juice! I loved the stuff that Fred and Rach gave us and yes, according to Fred it would give anyone a bad case of tummy aches. They actually emailed me this week and it was way fun to talk to them. Tell Spencer, Good Luck in Canada. And I totally remember when Ty left!! It's nuts.

So the weather here hasn't been too cold and I've actually been cooking in my suit most days. It's ridiculously humid here all the time. It's starting to rain a whole lot more often though which kind of changes things up. I actually explained to Elder Foster what Tomatillos were and he was flabber gasted at how I described them. I told them they grow like tomatoes but they start out growing in these Chinese Paper lanterns and so I just thought that was funny how you happened to bring that up.
Well I hope the boys have a good time in North Dakota!! Tell them to give Farmer Jim a nice firm handshake for me.

I would love some chocolates in the mail! I haven't received any mail yet so I'm anticipating some good stuff. But if I don't get anything thats okay. But yeah Kirsten has been super busy and she's actually doing some way cool things later this next year but I'll let her tell you about that stuff when she comes out to the house.

So this week regarding lessons and my investigators, it wasn't the best week but it was still productive. We did a ton of finding on the street and we got a few new potentials and I got man handled by a girl about my age, maybe a little older and so I just sat inside for a little bit and tried to forget the experience.

Pday activities.

We taught our investigator Deacon Anthony last night and he came to the lesson straight from his church in his robes so that was pretty gnarly. He told me last night how impressed he was with me and how young I am serving in a foreign country. He really respects the fact that I have come here and left you all at home. He's a cool guy.

So one of our investigators, Bledi, was kinda brought back from the dead the other day. He told us he wanted to start meeting us again and that he wants his family to meet with us now. SWEET!! That made our week a lot better.

We went to the beach today and I almost fell in as we were climbing on some rocks. We caught some crabs and had a fun time jumping around and then we went and got some ice cream. AND WE GOT ATTACKED BY THE SAME  GYPSY KID AGAIN!!!!! But this time he only went to me and the zone leaders. They came up from Lushnjë to hang with us today. Elder K and Elder B. Nice guys. But I was the one that finally took action and I just yelled "IK!!" and then I picked him up by his shoulders, ran back to a palapa thing, dropped him and took off sprinting with everyone else and he couldn't catch up. I was sick of that kid.

Tell everyone that I love them. Give Jane a wet one on the cheek for me. Tell SETH to email me! I want to hear how everythings going with him. I love you all so much and miss you. This church is true!! Oh and sorry to hear about how our whole government thing isn't really working out. That's why I should go into the CIA for my future occupation. I can fix this kind of stuff. Just pay the right people.

Speaking of paying the right people, I found out that a lot of Albanians think that the missionaries are drug dealers. Or JWs. They both aren't good things to be here.
Let all the Grandma and Grandpa's know that I think about them often and that I love them. Especially Grandpa Garner. I miss our Jetskiing and Bear Lake days together.

I love you all!!

Love, Elder Jed

Dearest Mother,
I really wish it was as cold as home right now. I am cooking as we speak. I don't really need anything special. Just put some money into my personal account every now and then and I'll buy what I need cuz everything here is ridiculously cheap. I met a Mafia guy that told me when I get off the mish, he can help me get a cheap motorcycle with his foreign "importing business". He' s one of our potential investigators we met this week. I love you so much. Have fun in Salt Lake with the girls. Go to Binghams Cyclery and right by it is Brugës waffles that me and Kirsten always went to. It's way good. Loves!

Love, Jed

The Highs and Lows of Missionary Work

Baptism this week.

Hello family!!

So this week has been interesting and it's funny you ask if I ever get disappointed while I'm here. I get frustrated plenty. It's mostly because I can't understand anything these people are saying. Some people just speak super fast and I'm just like WHAT!?!?!?!? It's ridiculous. And then I feel like I'm speaking perfectly but then they don't understand what I'm saying. That gets me too. And I'll give some insight to the disappointing times of a missionary. So 2 weeks ago on a Monday night, Elder Foster and I had an hour to kill so we went tracting to a large building on the outer edge of the city. We found one lady that was pretty interested but she told us to come when her husband was home. So therefore, we went this last Monday night to her house in hopes that her husband would be there. We rang on her bell and knocked but no one was coming and then the door behind us opened up and this guy just stood there and looked at us with this blank stare and then he asked us what we wanted. We told him that we were missionaries for Jesus Christ and that we wanted to talk with people about our church. He told us that no one in the building wanted to talk to us and that the people in the apartment didn't want to speak with us either. (I wasn't understanding any of his language by the way) Elder Foster proceeded to tell him that we had spoken with the people in the apartment beforehand and that they had told us that they wanted to meet again. The guy asked "Well who answered the door?" and we told him that a woman had come and opened the door and then his reply was "No women live in this complex."  Then the guy called his sons and escorted us out of the building. 

 

Another thing is probably when we street contact. We will talk to people and some people just straight up ignore you which is stupid but then there are other people that say they have work or they don't have time. Most people that say that are walking like .0005 mph and I can't help but think "This is the most important message in the universe and you are rejecting it!!!!!!!!!!" 

Elder Clawson and a few missionaries walking in the rain.

And a lot of lessons will fall through when it's raining because Albanians think that walking in the rain makes you sick and especially if you stand in front of the air conditioner. Weird.

Anyways, the rest of this week has been good. Conference was good. So I watched the Saturday morning session at 6pm Saturday night at the church with the other Elders and the Sisters. Just us, watching conference in English. Eating Haribo candy and drinking Fanta Exotic. OH and Friday we had our baptism for Zamir! That was pretty awesome. The APs came down and one of them baptized Zamir. The one that baptized him is Elder A. and he lives in Ogden and he told me he's gonna come visit my family when he gets home. I think he leaves in January but he is a way cool kid. So yeah the baptism was awesome. Dritan came and watched the baptism and afterwards he came up to us and took us aside and told us that he wanted a break in the missionary lessons. Talk about getting your heart crushed after such a high boost. He said he has some family problems that he needs to take care of before his family can start taking the lessons again. Sad day.

The Durres missionaries watching General Conference.  The 10 am session they
were able to watch at 6 pm that evening.  In English:)

For the rest of conference I watched the first Sunday session in English at the Institute Center last night and that was such an awesome sesh!! 

So for our P-Days, we don't really do anything great. Our area is the only one without a car or senior missionaries so we don't get to go to any of the castles or anything. We go for walks in the rain and eat out, play ping pong, study more, nap, email, and thats about how my P days go. It's kinda disappointing because it' s the one day that I get to do something for me but I can't enjoy it fully. But oh well, I'm not here for myself anyways so who cares. 

Our english courses this week were fun. We talked about families this week and I showed them all the pictures that I have and they fell in love with Jane and Kirsten. It was fun. I really enjoy teaching English Course. Our other investigators are going well. We taught Deacon Anthony last night and he called me his little brother in God. (Nacho Libre was what I thought of when he said that) Anxhela and Zef are still progressing and we are hoping for some definite baptismal dates from them this coming week.

So I've talked to Scott, Bryan and Tanner Lewis this week and they all seem pretty happy and stoked to be on missions. I love being here and I'm being safe. I love you all so much and I hope everyone is safe.

Love, Jed

Dear Mother, 

I heard about the snow at home from Kirsten. That sounds super sweet. It hasn't gotten really cold here yet but we had to start wearing our suits yesterday. I hope the Thai Pumpkin Soup was delish. I stalk your blog and look at the Instagram side window all the time. Jake looks like a man already and Jane looks like a grown little girl. I miss you guys and love you all. 

You Are So Golden! Jesus Loves You!

Elder Clawson and a member who is preparing to serve a mission!

Hello everyone!!

Thats awesome that the Mowers came up!! (Nic Mower is one of Jed's favorite friends that moved to TX about 8 years ago.  He came to visit the Clawson's this week, and is leaving for Spain on a mission in Oct.) So this week was pretty fun.

Last Monday, right after I had gotten done emailing, Elder Foster and I had started walking from our house and we were walking towards the crosswalk and we saw this like 48 year old guy crossing the street and then all of a sudden, this white scooter comes shooting by, clips this guys leg, the guy walking falls right on his back and the dude on the scooter slides out and crashes his scooter!! Then they both just stood up and the driver of the scooter just yells out "Hapi sytë!!" which means 'Open your eyes!!" and they just went their separate ways. It was nuts!! I thought someone was gonna end up dead.

 We have started teaching a girl named Megi in our English course. We'd had a lesson with her before and asked her to start reading the Book of Mormon and she told us at this last lesson that she hadn't had time. We told her the importance of reading it and what not. At the end of the lesson she prayed and "Unë premtoj ta lexoj Librin i Mormonit" which was her telling God that she promised to read the Book of Mormon. I was just rejoicing in my head like "AH!! You are so golden!! Jesus loves you!" So we feel pretty confident about her. Another cool thing is that we met a young man named Zamir and he started taking the lessons in Lushnjë and then he came to Durres for school and he's getting baptized! We've taught him these past two weeks and we are super excited for him. He's awesome.

Nothing super outstanding happened until Friday and Saturday. Friday, I had my first gypsy  problem. Elder Foster and I were walking down on the Vulga to meet a referral and then out of the blue comes this dirty, dark, small gypsy kid. He was like 3 feet tall and he was freaky. Gypsies don't really beg, they just sit there and chant their begs and it sounds like they're putting a spell on you. But anyways, we aren't allowed to give money, so I kept trying to give him a picture of Jesus but he wouldn't take it. Then the stupid kid latched onto my arm with the strength of 10 men!! We could not get him off!! After about 5 minutes of struggling with this kid, a big lady came over and ripped him off my arm and told him to leave. I was seriously freaked out. 

On Saturday, we got shut down by everyone. My first day with no investigator lessons basically. Elder Foster told me it might not be the first because sometimes we just have bad luck. Yesterday we had a lesson with the Pjetri family and their daughters, Nertila and Marieta asked us for blessings because they don't have a priesthood holder in the family. Elder Foster gave the first one and then I gave the other to Nertila. IN ALBANIAN!! I was sweating buckets and I was soaked at the end. But I was able to pull through and gave a somewhat understandable blessing.

So to answer your questions:

Durres is cool. It's large, dirty, and has every variety of human beings imaginable. I've been winked at almost 2,000,000 times by girls in the street and every once in a while you get a guy winking. It's weird. The food is heavenly. No matter what it is. It's just a really great place to be.

My typical day is I wake up, work out and eat until 8, have comp. study until 10, and then we have lessons from 10:30 until 1 which is when we take lunch. We eat lunch, and then we nap. We sleep till about 2:30 and then we have personal study, and then I have my language study. So I don't have an extra hour of language but I have an extra hour of Companion study, which is kinda like a coaching course. We leave the house at 5 and have lessons or find until 9 or 9:30 depending on if we have a lesson or not. Then we go shopping and plan for the next day and then we get ready for bed and hit the sack at 10:30. We're usually super tired at the end of the day, but we always have pillow talk for a few minutes.

Can you tell Jed is a baker.  He has flour running through his veins:)
His first banana bread!  All he had was a cake pan, and it looks great!

 And I made the best banana bread this week. It was in a cake pan because I don't have a bread pan but it was still delish. 

Well I love you all very much and I hope all is well with you!!

Love, Jed

Dear Mom, 

Thanks for telling me about the Mowers coming up. I bet Nic is super excited for Spain. Have fun in Lake Powell this week and listening to Conference. We watch the first two sessions at 6 PM on Saturday and Sunday but that's it. Oh well. I love you and miss you all so much! Have a fun week!

Jed