Elder Parker Stewart in the Adriatic South: Mission Conference and More New Investigators

First sulfage in awhile in Tirana after mission conference.

This week has been great! We got 7 new investigators this week! It has
been amazing up here. I will tell you about a few of them.

Last week we were waiting for a man to show up to meet with us. He
called us and said he was going to be late so we decided to go to a
better spot, and contact for about 15 minutes. As we were walking down
to the boulivard to contact we walked by a happy looking man around
our age, and we started talking to him. He was super nice. We got his
number and said we would meet up again. My favourite part was at the
end right before he put his phone away he yelled 'Selfie' and snapped
a photo with us. We thought he was pretty cool, and so we met with him
this week. He was really nicew and respectful. At the end of the first
lesson everything was going super well so we extended the invitation
to be baptized. He said he should be baptized on Dec 20 as long as he
knows these thigs are true. We met with him again this week. I think
he will put in the effort to get an answer. I was pretty excited for
him. He is 24.

On Friday we met up with a man. He is in his 60s. Apparently he is
quite the public figure. He told us he likes to feel unknown, and
behind the scenes but it is hard because he is famous. I thought that
was pretty funny. He is a chatterbox! I love it. We get along great
with him. he was asking all kinds of questions about the Plan of
Salvation so we ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation as a first
lesson rather than the Restoration. He loved it! At the end he said
this is great, but it isn't really fair if i am happy and others
aren't. It turns out he does community service all of the time. He
also runs an NGO. He also is on TV all of the time and wants to say
stuff about the church. This guy is super good. He commited to be
baptized on December 20 as well. He loves the things our church does.
He loves the Plan of Salvation. He came to church this week and loved
it. He was super in favour of the no crosses thing. We taught him the
Restoration on Sunday night, and it went great!

We met the third cool investigator on the road on Friday. He didnt't
have a phone number so I gave him a passalong card, and we invited him
to church on Sunday. It was a pretty big longshot, but he came! I was
amazed! He had a great time in church. Sacrament was really good, and
he liked it, but in Priesthood they had him stand up and introduce
himself. The Prishtina branch does a pretty good job of making new
people feel like a million bucks. They hit it off with him super well.
We then met him again a few hours after church. He is the nicest guy.
He is 51. He is not rich and famous like the other guy. In fact he is
quite the opposite. Humble is a good word for him. He is very open.
his main questions were centered around Jesus Christ so we taught him
a first lesson with a large emphasis on the role of Jesus Christ. He
wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on Dec 20.

Wow just writing those three paragraphs got me really excited again. I
am praying that all three pan out. We still have a lot of work to go
before December 20, and so do they. But this has been an unbelievable
week.

On Wednesday afternoon we had to take off for Tirana for our mission
conference with Elder Dyches. The Sisters had to take the 4am bus
because they had a bunch of stuff to do in Tirana on Wednesday so that
meant Elder McGrath and I went with the other Elders in the Gjakova
car because the Prishtina one was smashed. We had a good drive down to
Tirana. We didn't have any problems. We got into Tirana and were
really hungry so we grabbed some Sufalqe. They don't have any in
Kosovo so it was a good treat. On Wednesday night Elder McGrath and I
stayed with the APs and two of the Macedonian Elders. It was fun to
see the Macedonians because they are kind of off in their own little
section of the mission. On Thursday morning we drove with them to
mission conference. Elder Barber and Price are their names. It was
really fun to get to know them better. We have met a few times before,
but this was the first time we were really together. we had to be at
mission conference a little early to take a mission photo. Hopefully I
can find it somewhere and send it to you. It was great to see
everyone. There were a lot of people I didn't know this time so that
was weird. I hadn't met any of the new group yet so it was good to
meet them.

At mission conference we heard from the Weidmanns, Elder and Sister
Dyches, and Stake Presdident Mema. They all do a great job. Elder
Dyches talked a lot about teaching and revelation. Sister Dyches hada
ton of personality. She had me laughing pretty good. They all had some
really good points, and I took some good notes.

I drove home to Kosovo with three Macedonian Elders. Elder Barber the
fourth one went with Elder McGrath on the Prishtina bus. I don't
really know why they had us do that. It may have been to just switch
it up for the Macedonians. They are always together, and it never
changes so they go a little stir crazy. All four of the Macedonians
stayed at our house on Thursday night. It was fun to get to know all
four of them!

On Saturday morning we had more driving to do some more driving. we
had to return the Gjakova car. I drove to Gjakova with Elder Clawson
in the Prishtina car, and Elder McGrath and Jorgenson went in the
Gjakova car. It was a fun ride. On the way back we all rode together
in the Prishtina car. The reason Elder McGrath and I went is because
they can't drive on their own.

I think that is our week in a nutshell. Thanks to the Wilde Family for
an amazing package!!

Have a great week! Take Buddy on Walks!

Love Elder Stewart