Well the highlight of the week was definitely getting to talk to you all yesterday! That was so amazing, I loved getting to see all your faces and hear your voices. I'm so happy to hear that you're all doing well, I love getting to hear about what's going on through email, but getting to skype you all was really special.
So now for the rest of the week. We're still teaching the Gjergji family and they're doing pretty well. We were only able to meet with them twice this week, and the first lesson ended up turning into an argument about how we can't worship saint Mary(because Ina is super catholic and that's something they do) so that was pretty rough. Then after that they've all been kind of sick. A lot of them had pretty bad migraines so we just did a really short lesson on Friday. So after that we weren't feeling too good about them, it looked like they were kind of losing interest. But then yesterday they called us and said they all were super sick so they couldn't come to church, but that they wanted us to come and give them a blessing, which of course we did. So we went over there and were able to talk for a while and give them a blessing. And it was awesome because we called them again this morning to set up another lesson today and they said they're all doing way better today! I'm definitely glad we have the priesthood, which actually got restored 188 years ago today! Now it looks like the only hard thing is that Suzana, the daughter who is the most interested, has work every Saturday and Sunday which makes it really hard for her to go to church, and if she doesn't go it's hard for the rest to go. But I'm sure that it'll all turn out fine.
Then we met a guy named Konstantino this week and he's super cool. I met him street contacting and he said he really wanted to meet. So we called him the next day and said he was sorry that he said he was sorry that he didn't call us to meet the day before but that he really wanted to meet. So we had a lesson with him and it was such a cool lesson. He lived in Greece for about 11 years so he's baptized orthodox, and he's in law school to become a lawyer. He has a ton of faith in Christ and he loves the idea of justice and mercy with Christ as a mediator to pay our debts of sin. It was cool because he had so many good questions and we were able to answer them all in a way that he really felt the spirit and completely agreed. We basically ended up teaching the restoration and the plan of salvation in the same lesson which doesn't normally happen and he was so interested and wanted to learn so much.
We also met with Collin again this week(our missionary friend from Oklahoma). We had a fun lesson and invited him to church. He said he really wants to come, but that his preacher from his church might not let him, so hopefully he'll be able to come. We also told him that our names aren't actually Gardiner and Wilson and surprised him pretty hard. He's a super cool guy, and we asked him if he got an answer that the Book of Mormon if he would become a Mormon, which he said that he would but that it's something that would probably take a while for him to get an answer for. He also told us that his perception of Mormons has completely changed from meeting with us. He basically thought we were a cult of super weird people that didn't believe in Christ, but now we're super good friends and that's changed a bit.
So other than that we've basically just done a lot of street contacting. We've spent a ton of time doing that this week. It's been cool seeing how much I've improved in the language from the beginning of my mission. I remember standing out on the road trying to talk to people and not being able to understand a single word but now even though I don't understand everything I can understand most of what they're saying and even respond pretty well. So that's been a very welcome change.
In regards to pictures. I have the ones I took in Vlorë, that I still haven't sent(even though that was more than two months ago) that I might be able to send today. And then next week we should be going somewhere for a P-Day trip, maybe Skëndërbeu's castle, and I'll make sure to take pictures for you while we're there.
That's about it for me this week. I love you so much! We're going to do some family history work today so I should be on again later if you have any questions. Have a great week!
Mirupafshim!
Elder Gardiner
Also, a while ago you said that Thomas could get me some more Mormon Tabernacle Choir music. If that offer is still valid I would really appreciate it.
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