January 15th

Përshëndetje familja!

This week was a really good week! I don't have a lot of time, but here are some of the highlights.

First off, Zone Conference. This was my first Zone Conference as a ZL which means we got to give our first training. Also the Vlore elders got to stay the night at our house, which was super fun. We were super stressed getting everything ready throughout the week and it took a lot of time out of our area, but it ended up being great. So the way it worked is we were given an hour and a half to split between accountability (where we talk about numbers and goals), our training, and a training from the sister training leaders. We started with accountability and that took way longer than we thought, but it was really good. We have a habit of setting super high, unreachable goals and then just getting discouraged because we don't hit them. So we decided to put a huge focus on the zone creating a realistic goal and holding each person accountable for our success. So we'll see how that goes. Then the STLs gave an amazing training about Christlike attributes, and then by the time they were done our hour and a half was over. So we stood up played a short video and gave a five minute training, and it was great. Then we of course had the trainings from president and the APs, which were both amazing. One of the best parts of Zone Conference though was probably getting to spend some time with Elder Murray. When we served together we didn't get along super well and it was really hard, but now both of us have grown a lot and we've become really good friends. I loved getting to talk to him, he's an amazing missionary.

Other than that, we also had Redi. He had kind of plateaued for a while but this week we had some great lessons with him. Last Monday we had a lesson just on the spirit and how powerful it is and why we want it. The spirit was so strong, he was focused super intently and and shared an awesome story about a time where he felt the spirit super strong when he was younger. And then I had the opportunity to promise him that if he prays to know if the church and the Book of Mormon are true that he'll be able to feel that again. And he listened and promised to do it. Then for our next lesson he said he hadn't had time to put himself in the perfect situation to do a prayer like that, but that his regular prayers had been super powerful and sincere that week and he said he felt different and felt the spirit more. 

Unfortunately right when we were about to invite him to baptism he had to go to work. But we'll meet again on Wednesday and I'm feeling really good about that lesson.

Then today we had another amazing lesson. We met with someone named Entela. She's been coming to the Lewis' English Course and church for a few months but we were just waiting for the perfect moment to ask her if she wants to start taking lessons. Then this Sunday while Elder Schneider and I were teaching second hour president Lewis felt inspired to lean over and ask her if she wants to start taking the missionary lessons, which after a little bit of explanation as to what those are she gladly accepted. She's so cool! She's a literacy teacher and she's super smart. We gave her a Book of Mormon and now she's working on reading two pages a day to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. The lesson went practically perfectly. She has a ton of faith in Christ and understood everything we taught, we used a ton of scriptures and we could tell she was really feeling the spirit. We kept mentioning baptism and she seemed to just light up every time we mentioned it. So then we got to the end and invited her to be baptized and she said she would love to, we invited her to be baptized on 17 February and she said there's no way she could do everything she needs to before then, so Elder Schneider shared 3 Nephi 9:20 which talks about how we need a broken heart and contrite spirit and then we're ready for baptism and she said that that was the perfect scripture for her. So she'll keep thinking and pray about that date, but so far things are looking great! 

Church was amazing yesterday too! We had had a lot lessons with less-actives this week and invited them all to come to church, and then surprisingly, they did! We had a ton of less-actives, semi-actives, and investigators in church and the spirit was super strong in church. Xhoni, the kid we baptized right when I got to Fier, gave his first talk and did a really good job. And then president Lewis shared some of his favorite parts from President Monson's funeral, and it was so cool looking at the audience as I translated and everyone just seemed to be concentrated so intensely on the words that we were sharing. It was a really cool experience.

That's about it for me now, I'm doing great. I love things here in Fier, and Elder Schneider and I are doing great. He's an amazing missionary and I'm enjoying serving with him again.

I love you all! Have a great week, hopefully this gets to you all!

Elder Gardiner

​Picture from MLC. 3 of the original 4 companionships in our MTC district

January 8th

Përshëndetje familja!

Well another week down and New Year's is over. Luckily I'm also over my annual New Year's sickness.

Things are going well here. I'm loving serving with Elder Schneider. It's taking a little bit of adjustment, but he's a great missionary and I'm super glad we get to serve together again.

This week we've been pretty busy traveling and doing zone leader stuff so we haven't had as much time for regular proselyting, but we have had some good lessons. This week we had transfers in Tirana, two district meetings in Vlorë, and MLC in Tirana. MLC was so cool though, it's a meeting for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders with president and the APs and we got to discuss the state of the mission from last year, and set goals for the new year. Last year was a good year, but we're ready to kick things into gear and get even more done this year. Also it was fun because 6 of the 9 people in my original MTC district were there. So now we'll take the stuff we learned and apply them in zone conference this week. This conference Elder Schneider and I get to give our first trainings as zone leaders, it should be exciting.

As for work in our area, we were able to meet with Redi again. He was really busy with work over the holidays so we didn't see him for a couple weeks, but then we had a good lesson with him on Thursday. We're still working on getting him to accept a solid baptismal date, but we're meeting with him again today and we're having Vëllai Gjika come help us so it should be a really powerful lesson.
Because Elder Schneider was new here we decided to go and visit some of the members and see if they have any people that we can teach. So we got to meet with a few different people, and while we haven't gotten any referrals from it yet, they did commit to think about people they can talk to and share the gospel with.

I had a really cool experience this Sunday. The Stake President, President Mema, came down for church here this Sunday and bore his testimony. Then after church he took me on a split and we went to visit some members who have been offended by President Lewis and he talked to them. I was just there to show him where they lived, but I got to sit in as he talked to them, and it was so cool. I felt his love for them and I felt the power he holds as their caretaker appointed from God he was able to connect with them and to help them in a way we as the missionaries just can't quite do. It was amazing.

That's about it for me. It was a great week, we were super busy though so it flew by.

I love you all, have an amazing week!
Elder Gardiner

January 1st

Përshëndetje familja!

This has been a bit crazy. But to start with the biggest thing, we got transfer calls on Saturday. So if you remember in the Skype we were talking about how it was pretty much impossible that Elder Schneider would come ZL with me... Well I forgot that President Anderson has no rules. So yeah, I'll be with Elder Schneider again next transfer and I can't even attempt to explain how excited I am. And as for Elder Draper he will be whitewashing AP with Elder Benson. I did think Draper would go AP, but definitely didn't see the rest of those changes coming. It's sad to see Elder Draper go, but I'll be seeing plenty of him over the next few weeks in all our meetings and conferences. Also I didn't think I would get to serve with Elder Schneider again so that was a super pleasant surprise.

As for regular missionary work this wasn't the best week for us. We had to move houses this week so the process of cleaning and moving and organizing everything took a good three days out of our work, and we both got sick. So once again I was sick for new years(fortunately not nearly as bad as last year though). Now we live in a brand apartment in the same building as the senior couple, which is a huge blessing.

We did have a really cool hand of the Lord moment though. Earlier in the week we went with the senior couple to give some cookies to a less active family and while we were there we told the son to take his best friend and come have a lesson with us some time. He said he would call us, which in Albania basically means that it won't happen, but then surprisingly this Friday we got a call from him saying he was on his way to the church. Luckily we had just gotten to the church, and sure enough a few minutes later they both showed up and we had an amazing restoration lesson. They even walked through a huge rainstorm to get to the church. They didn't come to church because they slept in, but as soon as school starts they should start coming back. So even when we don't have time to go out and contact God will bring his prepared children to us!

We had a fun service opportunity too this week. We went to an older member couple's home and got to help make cement and then went and picked oranges. Pictures and videos to come. Then we took the oranges to the retirement home and she gave us a bag too.

New Years was a lot of fun. We got to stay up to watch the fireworks, and like always it was insane. I took a video, but it turned out to be huge, so I'll work on getting that uploaded sometime and get that to you. My full year as a missionary is officially over. Now I just have to work the heck out of these last 7 months.

I'm doing great. I'm mostly better now, hopefully I won't be sick at all by the time Schneider gets here. I'm going to miss Elder Draper a lot. He's definitely been one of my favorite companions of all time and I'm hoping we'll continue to stay close through the rest of the mission and after. I love it here and I'm excited that I get to stay here in Fier. It's easy for things to look a little depressing and dismal here but recently I've just been feeling so much hope. I see the people who we have coming to church and they're perfect for what we need. If we can help them accept the gospel, be baptized and keep coming there are a lot of good things coming for Fier.

I love you all. I hope you have a great week and an amazing New Year!!!

Elder Gardiner