September 29, 2014

Hey!

So this last week has been good, kind of slow because we had Zone Conference which takes up about a day and we had some problems with where we have church. So since we only have 3 members we meet in the conference room of a hotel, and there was a mix up with reservations and contracts and we are still sorting it out. We ended up having to go to Gjakova for church yesterday. However 3 of our investigators came. 3 kids in a family that we are teaching, and this family is so awesome!

They have 6 kids ranging from 8 months to 17 years old and they are awesome. We teach them about the Church and about Jesus Christ and also a little English at the end. They are so awesome at reading the Book of Mormon, and they retain so much. They can tell us like everything that happened during the reading that they did! It's pretty incredible. They also believe the things that we teach them to be true, which is awesome cause they are haha. It's a wonderful experience every time we go to there house to teach.

One sad thing though is that we got transfer calls yesterday and Elder Myers is leaving Peja :(. He is going down to a city in Albania called Lushnia. He has been an awesome companion and I'm really glad I got to serve with him! My new companion that will be coming up tomorrow is Elder Morava. He was in my first district actually! So I've been on exchange with him and stuff. He is Albanian and he is an awesome guy! I'm excited about this upcoming transfer, but I am nervous about the language barrier. I guess it's safe to say that I'm gonna get pretty good at Albanian haha. I'm excited.

I'm also really excited about continuing to work here in Peja, I can feel some great things are gonna happen, and that we are really doing an awesome work here. We are after all doing the Lord's work!

Well I hope you all have an awesome week!

Love
Elder Sajmëns

PS. Today marks 8 months on my mission!!

September 22, 2014

Mirë Dita

This last week was pretty awesome. We had some pretty good lessons and we met with some new people. For some reason it was also difficult to meet with a lot of our investigators, but we eventually did and they are all doing great! They are all still progressing at their own pace and we are really excited because they are making some awesome progress. We also had a lot of stuff get in the way this last week. We had a lot of rain, which as silly as it sounds makes it impossible to find, because Albanians don't go out in the rain. So either no ones out side to talk to, or no one can come meet for a lesson. And because a lot of our investigators were busy we had to stay home and do area book work and stuff like that. Which don't get me wrong, it's important stuff, it's just super boring haha. We also had 5 investigators in church! Which I don't know about other missions but in this one is a lot more than usual. And a lot of our investigators it is hard to get to work.

Oh one cool thing that happened this week with our investigator Saiti. He hasn't been able to come to church forever! and it is one of the big things holding him back from being baptized! But this week he told us that he got a different job and that he wanted to start coming to church! Which is so awesome! And in a few weeks we think he'll be baptized, he wants to.

Other than that there isn't any big news about the work here in Peja, for us. We do have transfers next Tuesday though which is pretty intense! I'm almost at 8 months into my mission! which is crazy because that is a 1/3 of my mission! It is going by so fast! It's crazy! I think I'm staying here in Peja, I definitely hope that I am! but we'll find out on Sunday night so I'll let you guys know next week! I took a couple pictures this week, but they're pretty lame so I'll try and be better at that!

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

Elder Sajmëns

A jeni lodh?

Translation is, Are you tired? and that may sound weird, but that's the most common greeting here in Peja, haha. You'd think that it would be Hey or Hello, how are you? but no haha they lead of with Are you tired? It's awesome.

This last week was pretty good. Pretty uneventful though. We had some really good lessons, but it was also a slow week. Some of our investigators couldn't meet as often and we weren't as busy with lessons as we would have liked to have been. So it was a lot of finding, which is fine, it's a huge part of missionary work! but it can get super tiring, not that I don't love it haha. But our investigators are still progressing.

One of our investigators had a problem making it to church because of his job, but he just told us yesterday that he got a new job so he will be able to start coming to church! We were so psyched about it! He is an awesome guy and he really understands the things that we have taught him, and he really has a testimony of the Restoration.

I don't know what else to report really because that's all I can think of that you guys would be interested in. I guess I'll try to be more attentive this week and think of more things that I can right about haha.

So the Book of Mormon though. I know that its true, and I encourage all of you to study from it, and if you haven't read it yet to give it a try, you won't regret it, I promise ;)

Have an awesome week!

Love,
Elder Simons

Finally....some pictures :)

SORRY Don't have a lot of time to write this week, it was a long P Day, good but long.

So this last week was pretty good, pretty usual and nothing too big happened. Our investigators are still doing awesome, and progressing and we had a pretty awesome lesson with Genti and his sister Enkeleda. We are planning to meet with them a lot more. They have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith but they are very hesitant to be baptized. We are trying to help them learn why it would be such an important step for them and what a blessing it is that we have the restored Gospel and authority to baptize! We are so blessed to have a way to be completely cleansed from our sins and to make a covenant with our Father in Heaven to keep His commandments and follow His son Jesus Christ. We receive blessings from following His commandments.

So there was a ton of rain this last week! Which has been amazing! I absolutely love the rain! IT has made me super homesick for England though haha. One of my favorite places in the world. But I love it here and I'm starting to really get to know the people, the language is still kicking my butt haha but it's certainly a lot better than a couple months ago! I do love this language and the people, I was truly sent to an amazing mission! And I am so thankful for the experiences that I have had here and am having and will have.

 
I guess that's all I have for this week, ahahh sorry guys, I wish i had more intense stories for you, maybe next week. I do have a couple pictures this week though haha, cause my camera works, and my SD no longer has a virus :) so that's good, I guess you'll be getting a lot more pictures.

Kallofshi Mirë edhe ju dua shumë!

Elder Sajmëns

This is where we hope to have a baptism

This is where we meet for church

September 1, 2014

Hey!

So this last week finally felt like we are all recovered, well everyone else.  So far I've avoided all of the sickness going around! Hopefully I won't get sick anytime soon! We have some awesome lessons with our investigators this past week, a couple set backs, but mostly progression and it is so exciting to see!

We have several investigators who are almost ready for baptism! They are progressing they just have a couple more steps to take and it is such an honor to be a part of their conversion and being able to teach them and bring the Spirit to testify to them of the truthfulness of the things that we teach! We also have some awesome lessons planned on how to help our investigators!

Finding new investigators is still really slow! We started several courses like English, Bible study and a program to stop smoking, but so far no success with those, not many people show up, if any. And we are also doing other things like talking to people in the street and we are gonna start doing a lot more tracting pretty soon here (knocking on doors). We are excited and are ready to be absolutely exhausted! :) It was quite a set back with everyone being sick, and it was actually in the whole zone, but now we are back on an uphill slope so it's good and we are really excited.

I think that the work here in Peja is about to accelerate and I am so excited to be one of the missionaries to help build it up and hopefully within the next few months we can make it into a branch, which would make the first District in Kosovo. It's some really exciting stuff!

I don't have much else to talk about as far as last week/the work. And I don't really have any cool or funny stories haha. So... Well we have found a couple of different kinds of centipedes in our house. I'm convinced that at least one of the two is deadly poisonous haha so naturally that freaks me right out. but most of the time I just forget about them, it's when I remember them that I have to check inside my covers for them...waiting to kill me....just kidding. kind of.

Oh just remembered a quick story, well barely a story. We were at a members house teaching his nephew, who is one of our investigators, and it started raining towards the end of the lesson. So it's like close to 9 o'clock at night and we politely decline many of their offers to call a taxi because it was just a little rain.... then the thunder struck and the rain started coming down a significant amount more... So we start walking home out of the apartment building and within 3 or 4 seconds we are absolutely soaked. and I mean soaked, all the way through. My socks were even soaking wet, and that was just in the first few seconds. It's only like a 10 minute walk, but the wind made it seem a lot longer haha. So we walked through a storm, which to me feels like part of the mission experience haha.

Anyways, I guess that's it for the week, oh and I hit my 7th month mark :O. Crazy stuff! Love you guys, the Church is True, and you should go read some scriptures and pray ;)

Elder Sajmëns