March 19

Përshëndetje familja!

There were a bunch of really cool things that happened this week. Miracles every day!

A little bit of back story for the first one. There's a recent convert here in Shkoder named Amadeo and he's the coolest. He's definitely one of the best people I've ever met. He just changed jobs so he had time to meet this week and needed some spiritual uplifting. Unfortunately, his phone wasn't working and we don't know where he lives. So we did the one thing we could, pray. We had both been praying to run into him, and then right after we left emailing last Monday we felt like we needed to go tracting in a part of town we hadn't tried before. We got out of our car, took a couple steps and then heard a voice yell "missionaries!" and sure enough there was Amadeo! We had a really good lesson with him, got his new phone number, and found his house, so now we don't have to worry about that happening again!

Tuesday we had a meeting where the APs taught us about the new Easter initiative that's coming out on March 23 and it was super good. All the Tirana missionaries were there so it was fun getting to hang out with all of them for a little bit. Then after that we had to drive back to Shkoder but our car was pretty much out of gas. So we started going to the nearest gas station but then I felt like going to a different one by the mission office so we went, filled up, and then as we were about to pull out the attendant (you don't pump your own gas in Albania) asked if we were with the same church as the guys with the van (the APs). So we explained who we were and about our church and he said he really wanted to learn more. So we got his number and gave it to the APs. 

This Friday we met with a less active member in Lezhe and it was super cool. He's a really shy and quiet guy so it's really hard for the missionaries to connect to him. But he's obsessed with one video game that I used to play before my mission. So when I told him that he got so excited, and we've basically become best friends now. He even came to church this Sunday! I guess it's a good thing I played so much video games before my mission!

On Saturday we went to visit a less active named Prenda. She's an older lady so she has a hard time coming to church, but last time we visited her she asked if we could come some time to move some pieces of firewood from the entrance to her house to her roof. So we went on Saturday and ran into two of our investigators, Pali and Daniel, who live right next to her. So we got to talk to them for a little bit, and we even met their mom who's a super awesome person too! They even helped us with the service too!

Other cool experiences. We met a cool guy tracting who immediately invited us in and let us teach about the Restoration. He left yesterday to visit his daughter in Belgium for a month but said we can come back when he gets back. I gave a talk in church in Shkoder and Lezhe yesterday. Also, we had church in Lezhe which hasn't happened in the past like 5 weeks, so that was cool. I don't know if you remember Fatjon from Durres, but basically he's an investigator I worked with the whole 6 months I was there who almost got baptized multiple times, but he got baptized this week! He's such an awesome guy so I'm super happy for him. He even brought his whole family and a bunch of members came for the baptism.

Shkoder's a great place. I'm super glad that I get to serve here.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Gardiner