Fourth Week in the MTC

Hey everyone!

Another amazing week here at the MTC! We have seen a lot of missionaries come and go and that has been sad but we manage hahah.  This week came with it's challenges with language and learning, but I have grown from those experiences and I'm that much stronger now because of it!  I don't have a lot to write because the MTC is a lot of the same every day! hahaha I've been sick the last couple days, but just a mild mild cold so I'm just powering through it! I started getting worse at basketball somehow but I'm back on an uphill with my shooting, but still loads of work to do hahah but thats only a problem for Gym time hahah!  

Class is good! I have some of the most amazing teachers!! Motra (siser) Iftiu, Vallai (brother) Hoxha, and Vallai Vance!  They all have different teaching styles, but somehow they all work in pretty good harmony with each other!!  The Albanian is coming slowly, but it's coming! But for now I'm just working at it during language study and I spend additional and personal study on doctrine and gospel stuff, like Scriptures, Preach My Gospel (PMG) and some of the Missionary library (right now I'm reading "Our Heritage"

My companion is still awesome! I don't what to say, I lucked out.  We get a long awesomely and we tend to sort of balance each other out!  So it'll be hard for my future companions to live up to!  Also I'm pretty sure that I want to migrate to New Zealand and become a Kiwi hahah because every Kiwi I meet is awesome!!  So maybe when I join DS or FBI I can  go work at the embassy in New Zealand, maybe pop over and see Elder Waters hahaha  

I'm sorry I really don't have much to say about what I've done, because it's just a lot of studying!  It is pretty crazy that its been 4 weeks!! It has flown by but at the same it feels like I've been here for a long time!! It's a weird feeling but its cool! I love being a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ!  And doing His work! I can't wait to go to Albania and teach the people there about the truth! I know so firmly that this is the truth and I am going to give 100% of myself to this mission call because that is how I will show the Lord that I am dedicated to His work!  I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at all times, and in things, and in all places!  And those of you who are members, remember you are missionaries too!!  

Spiritual Experience: So when our teacher Vëllai Vance took us to a spot on the MTC campus that we now call our personal sacred grove because we had an amazing discussion there and all knelt down in prayer to rededicate ourselves to the Lord and His work, because we weren't being the best we could and got too lazy! We weren't being as obedient as we could be, but we were set back on the right path to being a true missionary of the Lord!  This work is true!

Some Albanian (these could be very very incorrect haha!): 

Nuk e mirë dhe e keq, atye është vetëm fuchi (ch should be a different letter but idk how to get it) dhe ata shumë i dobët të kerkuar atë

This should mean "There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it!" roughly hahah   - Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone)

Ai shkallëzua shpejt!  "That escalated quickly!"  Rob Burgundy (Anchorman)

Unë ndjej keqardhke menjëherë për këtë vendim 

"I immediately regret this decision!" Rob Burgundy (Anchorman)

Ti je një zotër dhe një shkollar!

"You are a gentleman and a scholar!" - Michael Scott (The Office)

I miss you all and love you so much!!

Elder J. Sajmëns (Simons)

Third Week in the MTC

Hey Everybody!

SOO I layed in bed too long and now I have a really limited amount of time to write this post!! Sorry, I know they're amazing, but it'll be short today.  That was 100% a joke! but I do have to go fast that part was true!  This week was really really good! The speaker at our devotional on Sunday was Elder Holland's son and he gave an incredible talk about Joseph Smith! Elder Holland was there too, and he got to introduce his son which was so awesome to see him as a supporting parent, and not just an apostle!! Brother Holland's talk was incredible, and he definitely is a spiritual man and an incredible speaker! Our devotional on Tuesday was also awesome! The speaker was Elder Perkins of the 70 and he gave a great talk on what missionaries need to look at to improve! And we all noticed that we could improve in every single area! Fortunately for us we have the Lord on our side and through Him we can progress spiritually! Without Him we would get absolutely no where and I have a firm testimony of that!! So if you wanna get better pray and ask for help, because that's how it is going to happen! I have already notice a great change within myself! And boy have these 3 weeks flown by! and yet if feels like we've been here forever, but I love it here and I am so grateful to have this opportunity!!  

So I guess I'll just break up my days and talk about that! So we spend many ours a day in the class room on personal study (usually scripture reading or Preach My Gospel), Language study, companionship study (mostly we plan our lessons). hahah The language is coming along, slowly but surely! hahah um I can speak very little right now, but I do translate movie quotes to help me understand and figure out the grammar principles and structures that we have been learning.  My favorite thing to say its Ka gjarpër në çizme time! which roughly translates to There's a snake in my boot!  I know I'm pretty awesome at Shqip (Albanian) hahah just kidding!!

Ok I'm really running low on time now!!! Um I spend gym time trying to play basketball, which normally doesn't go well, but I have improved a bunch!! I do have a tendency to hit the rim over and over and over, instead of make baskets but oh well, I'll get there! hahah and because I'm getting fat, I've even started getting up at 6 to go running, although I've only done that twice so far! hahah hopefully I'll get better at that!!!  

Ok that's it, sorry folks, I've run out of time, that's on me! hahah My bad, next weeks post I'll write first so that I can have loads of time!!!! Just remember that God loves you, Jesus Christ loves you, and I love you.  Heavenly Father Answers our prayers and I testify of that because he answers mine!!

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Simons

Selfie with companion during class haha

Me playing with my MTC card...and cool retractable key chain thing!

This face that my companion can't do...yet!

You can draw on the desks like a whiteboard!

P-day selfie with Elder Waters and Elder Myers (he's in the other Albanian district)

Packages from Jojo and Mike, and Grandma :)

Me and Elder Waters doing (a) pukana

Second Week in the MTC

So I'm not sure what to write for this weeks blog because it is a lot of the same.  However I'll do my best! haha.  So this week had a couple tough days, just cause of stress and language and teaching skills, but no point lingering on those, because I've taken what I need to learn out of them, and I'm just leaving the rest behind haha.  The language is tough, but its so beautiful and I love it.  I'm not so stressed about the language though, yet.  What is cause me the distress, although not so much anymore, is the teaching.  It sorta hit me in the face that I don't know how to teach effectively, but Preach My Gospel is an AMAZING resource that I am learning to utilize to it's fullest capacity!! 

We studied the fundamentals of teaching in class, and then had to apply it in a lesson with an investigator (who was just another teacher. haha)  But I love all my teachers!! anyways haha.  Me and my companion made a quick sorta lesson plan, to find out what the investigator wanted to learn from us!  Before the lesson we said a prayer (in Albanian/English, we call it Albanglish, but it was mostly Albanian;) )  and we went into the lesson prepared, but with the Spirit.  We got really positive feedback and said that we were sooooo close to finding his main concern, and that if we had, we could have gotten a baptismal date out of it.  Which happened in the third lesson for our first investigator.  So technically thats two hypothetical baptism for the Waters/Simons companionship ;) hahah no just kidding, but we work well together and it was all the Spirit, we were just doing our best to apply what we learned in class, both teaching skills and Albanian, and letting the Spirit talk through us!!  We were really excited and we have another lesson with him on Saturday haha cause that's when he teaches us again! Hopefully we can find that concern and get a baptismal date!!!  

I miss my family as usual, but I also really miss Israel!!! Learning about the Savior all the time, both increases my testimony like CRAZY and makes me super homesick!! It's really making me appreciate the time I had there and it makes me realize how much it helped my testimony.  I miss the branch there too! and everyone in it!! I send my love to them, and to everyone really hahah I'm learning to love everyone!! Which is a shame that I didn't really before, but hey its hard to love someone you don't know!! This is such a humbling experience for me and I am loving every second of it! Even the hard times hahah we have trials to help us grow!! All is still very well with my companion and district!!! I can't WAIT for Emily to come though!! I'm so excited to get to be here for her first couple weeks!!! 

My companion made me go to choir on Tuesday hahah cause he's such a good singer, so that was awkward for me because my singing makes people cringe, and probably ears bleed haha.  But it wasn't so bad, and we ended up not even being in the choir for the devotional hahah Oh an the devotionals are always so amazing!!! They have really good speakers.  But I was pretty mad that I forgot my journal on Tuesday hahah guess I won't be remembering that one! hahah jk.  It was so good though!!  

I don't know what else to say other than I'm having a blast and I love being a missionary and putting on the nametag!!  OH shout out to my Aunt and Uncle JoJo and Mike!! Thank you so much for the packages!!! I love them so much!!! Sorry I don't have your email but I love you guys and I appreciated the packages very much!!  

I love you all and I'm so thankful for your support!! Have an amazing week and remember that you are a child of our Heavenly Father and that He loves you more than we can comprehend!!

First Week in the MTC!

Hey!!!

It's finally P day hahahah  Sorry it was a whole week! I've been dying to let you guys know how I've been doing!! First I'll just say that the first day was tough haha, the thought of being gone for two years was very daunting, but the Spirit is so strong here and I felt comforted :)  The MTC is such an amazing place!  My companion is so awesome!! I love him and the rest of my district!  There are 14 elders and two sisters in my district! My companions name is Elder Waters, he is from New Zealand and we are a really good team!!  In the last week my testimony of the gospel has grown so much and I am sooo excited to preach it!! But it does scare me. But Heavenly Father is on my side and I take great comfort in that fact!!

Albanian is so tough! I know how to pray and mostly bare my testimony in Albanian and a few other things! It is really hard though but the Lord will help me get there, all I have to do is have faith and put forth the effort!  It was awesome to hear Zach talk about the Nephites example in 3rd Nephi because THATS WHERE I'M READING TOO! :) so that was awesome! I miss all of you guys, but I'm where I'm supposed to be! SO I'm really happy about that!!

We taught an investigator on Friday, we were supposed to do half Albanian and half English but my companion and I only knew how to pray in Albanian haha. The first lesson didn't go as well as we wanted, but it was I first time so it wasn't a big deal!! then we taught her again the next day and it went better!! My teachers are great and who taught us right before our third lesson with the investigator said that he would commit people to baptism on the first lesson, which surprised us haha but whatever!  and our third lesson we though went awfully but Brother Vance, our teacher, said that if we had asked her to commit to baptism she would have said yes, because our lesson was so spiritual and powerful, we were meant to be companions and that is a perfect example that Heavenly Father knows what He's doing!! The reason Brother Vance knew she would say yes was because he asked her, and get this, she turned out to be out third teacher that we hadn't met yet.  PLOT TWIST.  It was cool! All of my teachers are awesome and I have had some amazing experiences here.  As my dad said before I came, the MTC is one of the most amazing experiences and one of the best to feel the spirit, and boy was he right! I am looking forward to the next 8 weeks and I will cherish them instead of just wish they would be done!

I don't know what else to say, I don't expect my blog posts will be as long as Zach's or Spencer's hahah but I already wrote more that I thought I would hahah.  I love you all, and this gospel is true!!  I am so excited to learn Albanian and preach it to the People there! I want them to be as happy as I am with God in my life!!  Know that I have a firm, and now firmer testimony that this church is so true, it is the church of Jesus Christ, and that this gospel is so true!! and Jesus Christ atoned for our sins!! oh btw I cried in my testimony during my third lesson because I testified of the truthfulness of the Atonement, because I've been to the places where it happened! and I felt the Spirit tell me that it was true! I miss Israel so much and I am going to go back one day!!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful life and if you are facing trials, have faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel, and our Heavenly Father, because he trusts to you get through that trial and be stronger!  I love you and miss you all!!

Love, 

Elder Simons