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

August 25, 2014

Hey!

So this last week was pretty normal, we had an exchange though, so that sorta messes us up a little bit, but it was fine just unexpected. We are doing great here in Peja.

So we went to a US military base on Thursday, and that was awesome! Made me a little home sick but it was so great! Us 4 missionaries taught the institute class for the soldiers and got to eat Taco Bell and stock up on some American groceries! it was awesome hahah.

We have to do a lot of finding here, which isn't a problem, it's part of Missionary Work haha but we have to do a lot of it. We do however have a couple of awesome investigators. They aren't progressing super fast, but they are progressing and learning a lot about our Savior Jesus Christ. I have seen a lot of help from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as I teach people, and I see them work with the investigator through the Holy Ghost and it is such an awesome experience.

Sorry cause i don't have a lot of time to write today, but I wanna bear my testimony that I know this Church is true and that what we are doing is the work of God. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary here in Kosovo!

Ju dua shume edhe une shpresoj qe ju do keni nje jave shume i mire! (I love you a lot and hope you will have an awesome week)

Elder Sajmëns

August 18, 2014

Hey so I guess I'm 19 now.....Weird

First off, it is my Grandpa's birthday today. He passed away almost 6 years ago. He was an incredible man! He is a hero of mine that I look up to! He worked so hard for his whole life, because he loved his family. He truly is a wonderful example to follow and he was so Christlike! So I wanted to just say that. He was a wonderful man and he is doing some great work in a different place now, I know it.

This week was a slow week, because a lot of us were still getting over sickness and we had an unexpected transfer with the other elders. Now we have a new elder serving here and one went down to Tirana, I don't know why, but I guess I don't need to know haha. But Elder Baker, who came up, is awesome and we are excited for him to be up here.

So my companion actually had to go to the doctor, just cause he wasn't getting any better, he is fine now and is getting a lot better pretty quick. So I spent a couple days on exchange with Elder Baker and we did mostly street contacting and did a couple lessons! But it was tough with the sickness, but we are all better now, so this week should be a lot better and we should all be on our feet again. I was lucky enough to be the only one in our district not to get anything....yet. haha hopefully not at all.

One awesome thing happened on Saturday though! And it is a testament that the Lord blesses those who keep His commandments and serve Him. We got to go down to Gjakova and Elder Baker got to see his parents on skype because his dad got baptized! It was an awesome experience and I feel honored that I had the opportunity to be able to see that amazing experience in his life! I know that this is the Lord's work and if we hold fast to the iron rod (1 Nephi 11) and do what is right we will receive blessings and those that we love will also be blessed!

Well I don't have much more time so I'll end it here. Hope you all have an awesome week!

Elder Sajmëns

August 11, 2014

Hey Everyone

Yeah so really not a lot happened this week, but I'm going to talk a little bit about an average week in Peja.

So on Monday we have P-day, which for the last couple of weeks have been boring cause we didn't do much.  Today we didn't do anything because the 3 other elders in my district are sick. I'm not but they aren't doing so hot. So we just had a chill day today.

Last Tuesday we had to go to Pristina for a Zone Training, so that kinda took all of the day, and in the afternoon we met with a couple people but mostly tabled, which means that we stood in the Boulevard with a table and a bunch of stuff from our church. So that was fun.. hahah usually people don't stop, but that's how it is with most things haha.

Wednesday. We did a lot of street contacting and handing our fliers for our English course. So it wasn't a super eventful day, but we did have some lessons with some investigators and a Recent Convert. So that was awesome, but we are gonna start doing all of our creative finding ideas on Wednesdays haha.

Thursday. We do service in the morning, and we have been trying to make cookies for people, but clearly we need more practice because they keep turning out bad haha. Then we had some lessons and went to an investigators house, which is really far away. We took a taxi most of the way, on the way over, but walked all the way back and it took about an hour and a half haha, it was brutal. We also tracted, which turned out ok, no one really answered the door, but we feel strongly like we need to be doing more of that.

Friday, weekly planning in the morning, which takes forever hahah so that takes up all of the morning and we take lunch right after, so we usually get out of the house by 2. Then it's trying to meet with people or street contacting. So we street contacted and handed out English course fliers.

Saturday. We had to do a lot of splits with the other elders so that they could get some work done. One of them was really sick with the flu, so they had to stay home for a few days! So we were helping them out on Saturday. Usually we play basketball on Saturday nights, as a finding activity but we weren't able this past weekend.

Sunday. Church is at 10 in a room that we rent from a Hotel. It lasts about an hour an a half, with sacrament meeting and a gospel principles lesson. I had to give a talk which was rough, but my Albanian is getting there, it is a much different dialect here though haha. And then we had English course in the afternoon, and that went well. No one interested about the Gospel, yet ;)

So that is a typical week for us here in Peja. We have a good time, and we work really hard. It's a pretty difficult work up here in Peja, but we are loving it and are trying our best. The Lord is definitely helping us out though!

I have to go now though, hopefully I don't get sick as well ;) haha Have an awesome week everyone! and I hope you are all doing well!

Much love!

Elder Simons!

August 4, 2014

Hey guys

I'm going to keep it short this week, because I don't have a ton of time. Kosovo is beautiful! People told me the Pejë was the most beautiful city in our mission and now I believe them. It is so beautiful up here, I have pictures, but we've had a lot of problems today with power outage and Internet going out, so Idk if I've sent them all. My new companion is also awesome! We were in the MTC at the same time so I already knew him, but we are getting along really well and we are both really excited for the next transfer/mini-transfer. haha. we don't exactly know how long we have together here, but we're gonna make the best of it.

The church is still really new here. It has only been open to missionary work for about 4 months now and we only have 4 members. It's just a small group of a couple awesome members. We are trying to build this city into a branch which would make Kosovo a district, for the first time!! So I am super pumped to be here helping!! It's kind of a big honor to be trusted by the Lord.

But I am doing well here in Kosovo and I hope all of you are doing well!

Have an awesome week!

Elder Sajmëns