June 30, 2014

Hey!

First week of the transfer. I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I have another awesome companion! We were in the MTC together, he was in the other district so I didn't get to know him that well, but he is a swell dude (elder).  His name is Elder Smoot, which unfortunately for him sounds an awful lot like an Albanian swear word. so we call Elder Smot.

This first week was interesting. We ate a lot of really unhealthy food haha and had a hard time with some of the youth and disrespect in our English Course. Most of our problem was with a non-member, who we've unfortunately had to ask not to come back, because of some of the stuff he said to me and my companion. That was really sad, but a church is a house of God and people need to have respect for it. Another crazy thing that happened was that Sister Kokol had a problem with a guy, he's actually pretty old, but he expressed romantic feelings, which resulted in an emergency transfer, which sucks cause Sister Kokol is freakin awesome! But she had to go, and the whole branch is gonna miss her. But we got a new sister to replace her and she is awesome too!

As far as missionary work is going in Fier, it has slowed down a lot because it's summer and everyone has left on vacation, or just has no care in the world and so no one wants to talk to us. But we are still working hard! I tried boarding for the first time the other day. It's where you make a board and/or poster and street contact by it. So we just stood there and people walked pass, we also couldn't get it to stand so we didn't even end up using it. It's also SUPER HOT!!! And apparently it's gonna get even hotter!! what?!! man oh man. We sweat walking from home to the church which is like a 5-10 minute walk, and street contacting is a nightmare as far as sweating goes haha. Fortunately a nation wide solution is an afternoon nap, so at lunch if we ever have time, we try to assimilate ourselves into the culture ;) It's awesome. Fier is still awesome, it's just gonna be a different transfer, that's for sure! I'm really excited for it though!

It's crazy that yesterday was my 5 month mark...what? I'm almost a fourth of the way through my mission...It is flying by. It has been such an incredible experience and I'm glad I still have 19 months left!! But I'm worried that they are just gonna go way too fast! I really miss a lot of the missionaries I served with last transfer, but I'm sure they are all doing great!

I don't have much else to say haha and my camera is broken, so... I definitely don't have pictures haha. 

A lesson that I have been learning the past few weeks is that trials are for our benefit, and that's not because I'm going through them, but I read about examples in the Book of Mormon of people enduring their trials. They don't ever ask for their burden to be taken from them, but instead for a way to endure them. I look back and a lot times I have asked for mine to be taken away. Trials are legitimately for our benefit, and I am ready for the next one, because I know that Heavenly Father only gives us stuff that we can handle. As a friend of a friend once said haha roughly "God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers" So if you are going through something really tough right now, I'm not gonna pretend like I know what you are going through, but there really is someone who does. If you turn to God, with faith in Jesus Christ, you will receive the strength to endure, and that is a promise. In the wise words of Gandalf: (I also sent this to a friend because they send me quotes and it was a Lord of the Rings quote this week haha :))

Frodo: " wish none of this had happened"
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that has been given to us."

If you have a tough trial, God trusts you enough to get through it.

I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week!!

Elder Sajmëns

June 23, 2014

Hey guys.

So I've almost been on my mission for 5 months...what? haha it is going by so fast! Today is the last day of my first transfer! Tomorrow I'm not a trainee any more! Which is kinda scaring the crap out of me.. but what do you do? 1 Nephi 3:7... Oh yeah. It'll be great. I'll be staying in Fier an my companion will be Elder Smoot, from the MTC. He was actually in the other Albanian district, but it'll be great.

I will miss my trainer though, Elder Ostergaard is awesome! He is such a fantastic missionary, and he really did an awesome job showing me the ropes! Hopefully I won't forget everything he taught me haha. He is going back up to Tirana to be Zone Leader. He's a stud. He'll be awesome there! I'm really excited to be staying in Fier! I think this has been a really good learning experience being in Fier and I've still got plenty of room to grow and learn so bring it on! haha.

This last week has been awesome! It was kinda sad cause our district has been awesome! but I'm excited for the other missionaries who are leaving Fier and finishing their mission! And I'm excited for next transfer. We had our last baptism of the transfer! and our branch is doing really well, I think! I'm really glad that I get to stay and help out some more!

I'm also excited cause I get to serve with some of the same missionaries, Sister Kokol and Elder Balwin. They are both awesome! Sister Kokol is so funny and Elder Balwin is a super helpful and willing person! So it'll be a good transfer!

I hope that my mission slows down though, because it is going by really fast, I'm almost a quarter done! It is such an amazing opportunity and blessing to be able to assist in the Lord's work! And sometimes I am definitely too quick to forget my God, because of stress, or selfishness. But He loves us regardless, and has offered us a way to be forgiven!

I had to give a talk on Sunday, for 10 minutes. That was a rough experience haha, but it went better than I thought it was going to. My Albanian is still pretty iffy, but it's come a long way! So hopefully I'll keep improving, but I know that it's with the Lord's help that I have come this far and it will be by His will that I move forward! Without our Heavenly Father we are nothing, I need to be better at remembering that. Especially as a missionary, I am a representative of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has done something for us that we cannot even begin to understand! He suffered beyond mortal capacity and gave up His life, willingly, so that we could return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father. I haven't been the best example in my life, but now I understand a lot more that I need to at least be trying my hardest to live the way He has showed us! Making it back to our Heavenly Father is impossible by our selves, but with Jesus Christ, it's a whole lot easier! Always remember that He is there, holding His hand out, ready to lift you back up. He always has to help me up, but He does.

I hope you have an incredible week and can feel the Saviors love for you in your lives!

Me Dashuri

Elder Sajmëns

June 16, 2014

Hey guys!

One more week this transfer, which is pretty insane!! We have mission conference on Wednesday and I'm really excited to see some of my MTC district(s)! We're will also be getting a new Mission President pretty soon here! It's pretty crazy! I guess it probably seems a lot less crazy to all of you hahah but for us here in the Adriatic South it's pretty ridiculous!

So this week was kinda weird! We had some issues with some youth being kinda crazy. We have a couple people who really wanna be good (we think) but who are teenagers and sometimes get more caught up in what their friends think of them, than what the Lord thinks of them. But I mean we all do or have done that at some point (or many haha) I know I have before. So we are just trying to do our best as missionaries, but without overstepping our bounds, cause we do have certain responsibilities in our calling. On the other hand we had two baptisms this week! They are both awesome! And we are baptizing another this week who is a sister to one of the people we baptized this last week! They are all awesome! And they are gonna be awesome members!

Right now I'm reading in Alma, more specifically all the wars. There are a few things that I sorta learned/am learning. Life is tough. Looking at Moroni and Helaman and the Anti-Nephi-Lehites, sometimes we have trials that we just to trust the Lord and endure and there are others where we have to listen to the Lord but we have to act and fight it. This can be taken literally, but I've trying to focus on more of a spiritual sense. It is also important to know when to fight back and when to endure. The beautiful thing is that the Lord is on our side and we will always win if we listen to Him. Another thing that we can learn from the Nephites is that if we want to continue to have our Heavenly Fathers support than we need to always remember Him and His commandments. He is not gonna give us blessings if we aren't doing our part. Personal study is one of my favorite parts of my day! There is so much to be learned, and we will learn every single time, because we aren't learning from the words, but from the Holy Ghost, and He always has something to tell us or teach us! We can always do better, and I am so thankful for all the examples we have, in the scriptures and in life. We really are blessed in this life!

I don't really know what else to say. I would recommend reading my brother and sister's blogs, they are awesome and have much better blogposts hahah, but I hope mine aren't too boring, if you read them anyways.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2008-06-01-the-restoration

Watch this, it's awesome :)

Have an awesome week!

Elder Sajmëns

Pictures from P-day

Visit to Blue Eye (a water spring) and Gjirokastër

June 9, 2014

Hey!

This week was a little slower, but it was still good! We had a couple of finding days, which are fun, but tiring and very, very long! But it is definitely one of the most important parts of missionary work because without people to teach, we don't have much to do, or much need to be here. So it's been good. But it's also tough, because there is a lot of rejection and when you are offering something that you know will bless their lives, it's really hard!

OK, one thing about Albanians that you probably don't know is that they are very, very blunt! hahah Which isn't a bad thing, but they'll definitely tell you when they think something is wrong with you hahah, it's great, I LOVE the people here, because they tell it how it is haha. Now those of you who know me, you'll probably know that I don't take criticism very well. Well it turns out if you spend time in Albania, you'll fix that right up haha. Now this has a point to it. We have an investigator, whose name is Ema, and she is awesome and is really being converted, and we had an awesome experience with the Restoration film, which I'll talk about in a second. Well she is a twin and her twin's name is Eda (Her mom must hate the world and wanted to confuse a lot of people cause they're definitely identical..haha) Her sister did not like us and I didn't know why until a few days ago. I found out because she told me she didn't like me hahah Apparently because of a bad joke I made (not even offensive or about anyone haha for reals) But it's all good now, it was just hilarious. Anyways, when we watched the Restoration film with Ema, the Holy Ghost was sooooo strong and it really testified to everyone in the room that when Joseph Smith knelt down in that grove and prayed to our Heavenly Father, he did in reality see Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that he restored the Church of Jesus Christ and the fulness of the gospel on the earth, and he sealed his testimony with his blood. I would encourage all of you to watch the restoration video sometime this week, and maybe even study about it. And for any of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I definitely encourage you to watch it ;) it's life changing!

Well I love you all! Fier is doing awesome, Elder Ostergaard and I have two baptisms this week and we are super excited for them! One of them is Ema. And It is gonna be a good week!

I hope that you all have an incredible week!

Much Love,

Elder Sajmëns

Baptism Pictures

June 2, 2014

Hey!

This week was pretty awesome! Mostly because we had a baptism and she is awesome! She is gonna be a fantastic member and I believe that she will really help the church grow here! We have some other investigators that are progressing and are excited to be baptized and they are also gonna be awesome members!! The work here in Fier is really picking up and the branch is growing!! I've been in the country 2 months now! It's pretty crazy how fast it has gone! I still have plenty of time left but it's going quick! I still love it though, if not more! Fier is awesome! and my language is finally starting to get better, slowly, but it's getting better! :) We had a really good week and we are excited to try and top it!

I don't really know what else to talk about honestly hahah that was the big news for this week. For P-day we played soccer, the 6 missionaries in Fier and a couple members, one recent convert who is awesome! and a member from Tirana who was down here visiting. It was really fun, but super hot! hahah man it's starting to get really hot here!

This is the last month of the transfer, so I only have like 4 weeks of training left, which is pretty crazy! It's gonna be super weird, not being trained. I don't know if I'm gonna feel prepared enough hahah but I guess I'll get over it. This transfer has been going great so far, and I still have a while, so hopefully it'll keep going well!

I think that the next couple of weeks are gonna be awesome! and I feel so blessed, the Lord is really helping us out! This is His work and we are simply tools in His hands! What an awesome blessing and opportunity! I love being out here serving! The Saviors life was all for us, so the least we can do is serve Him back! I am so grateful for our Savior and His eternal sacrifice for us! We are so blessed to have a way to return back to our Heavenly Father! This life isn't easy, I can see that in Albania, but God will bless us for enduring trials, and He only gives us trials that He knows we can overcome! So if you're struggling, you know where to go for help!

I hope you all have an awesome week!!

Elder Sajmëns