November 20th

Përshëndetje familja!

First off, we got transfer calls this weekend. Surprisingly, Elder Larsen will be leaving Fier and Elder Draper will be coming. It's really sad to see Elder Larsen go, it's really been a pleasure serving with him. But on the bright side, I am also super excited to work with Elder Draper. Elder Draper is from Oklahoma and was in my MTC group and we were good friends back then and he's a super cool guy. So this should be a really good transfer, I'm really looking forward to it.

So other fun things. We went and did a service project with the Weidmans. We unloaded a bunch of refugee supplies from a van for the red cross. Hopefully they all go to a good use!

We had a ton of time out of our area, but it was still a good week. Church was really good this week. We had less people than normal, but it was more reverent than it's been in a while. We had a high counsilman come and give a talk and he did a great job. Elder Larsen also got to give a testimony because he's leaving and it was super good. He had a very good mix of testifying and inviting the members to take their testimonies and to begin to take the branch and support it on their shoulders. We also taught second hour for all the adults and talked about service. We tried to get the members to list specific things they can do to serve others because most of the time when we talk about service everyone just talks vaguely and doesn't change anything. But this time at least some of the members took the lesson and then actually applied it!

We also met with Redi a couple times. Right now he just needs to make the decision to focus more on the gospel and do the things necessary to receive the blessings. He seems like he has a ton of desire, but he's just distracted and busy by the other things going on in his life. So we had a good lesson about Alma 32 and what he needs for the seed to grow. But then he didn't come to church again on Sunday. So hopefully we can help him decide to take the step of faith to act more.

Other than that, I went on an exchange in Elbasan on Friday. It was the day of the branch family home evening activity so I got to see a ton of the members while I was there. We even got to do a lesson with Lindis and some other recent converts. It was super fun and great seeing everyone again, especially getting to see how well everyone's doing. 

We also got to go to Vlorë to do some baptismal interviews.Two kids got baptized and they both did good on their interviews, and they might have another baptism this week. The kid who might get baptized this week was someone I taught when I was there and he's super cool, so I really hope he gets baptized. But I'll have more on that next week.

To answer your questions...I'll still be a Zone Leader. Also I forgot to mention Thanksgiving. We will have a mission conference on Thursday in Tirana and they'll give us some form of Thanksgiving lunch, it should be good. And no, I did not see president Owen. He did an activity with the youth, but the missionaries weren't invited. 

I love you all, have a great week! Mirupafshim, Zoti ju bekoftë!

Elder Gardiner