Elder Austin Gardiner: Adriatic South Mission: July 24th

Përshëndetje familja!

We've had kind of a slower week here this week, but it's been good still.

A few highlights from the week; we're teaching a free English Course and that's going super well. We have a one hour class twice a week and then after that we invite people to stay for a small presentation about the gospel. The course has been going for about three weeks and there are a few people that have been coming that seem super interested. On the first day we talked about the restoration and gave copies of the Book of Mormon to whoever wanted one and there's one girl who took a copy and since then has been reading and asking questions about what she read. Last time everyone who came stayed after and we were able to teach and testify about the plan of Salvation, and people seemed really interested. So that's been a really cool experience, and it makes you realize how complicated English is.

Other than that, it was one of the members birthdays this week so we went out to lunch with him. His name is Enea and he's a stud, he's got a super strong testimony and helps us out with lessons and stuff whenever he can. We've become super good friends in the time I've had here in Durrës. So we took a picture and I'll send that to you.

Also this week, Regjina moved back to Elbasan so we gave her the number of the missionaries over there and she said she knows where the church and teaching center are so hopefully she keeps meeting with the missionaries over there. Then the Gjergji family dropped us, so that was a little sad, but for now I guess it just isn't their time. Hopefully some day they'll be ready.

So we also have a friend who we've been meeting with, his name is Dhimi. He met the missionaries a long time ago and then we ran into him on the street once. He's not really interested in learning about the gospel, but he's really funny. He ended up giving us a paper that he wanted us to translate, so we decided to do that for language study, and it's probably the best letter I've ever seen. It talks about how God came down and directed him to the top of a communist war bunker where he found a special rock in the form of a boat with sails, and now his job is to share it with the world. He wrote letters to Discovery channel, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the queen of England, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the Nobel Prize and made some pretty hefty demands. Unfortunately, he wouldn't ever really sit in for a lesson though.

So that's about it for me, kind of a boring week. We've been trying to work with a ton of investigators and less active members, but no one is answering their phones or willing to meet, so we've done a lot of contacting. We've got a bunch of numbers now and plenty of people to work with, so hopefully this next week is a little more exciting.

I did bring my camera today so I have some pictures to send.

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Mirupafshim, Zoti ju bekoftë!

Elder Gardiner

Elder Mero and I from our trip to Shkodër.