Creative Zone Conferences!

Happy Mothers Day!!

That was so great to talk with you yesterday. I really enjoyed that. I

don't really remember a lot of it. It flew by really fast, but it was

great to see you all!

This week has been great. We have had another busy week. Last Monday

we drove to Prishtina for the Prishtina Zone conference. The

conference took place on Tuesday, but we had a meeting and a family

home evening with President up in Prishtina. On Tuesday we had the

conference. Elder Bangerter and I had 45 minutes. We decided to change

things a little bit. Instead of giving a training we had a full group

role play. We had previously thought out a few scenarios of finding.

The first was inside of an elevator. We had two Districts go out into

the hall and the other District stayed inside the main room, and we

quickly set up the elevators (Folded up ping-pong tables and white

boards). The missionaries then came in, and entered the elevators, and

had about a minute to create a gospel conversation, and to try and get

the people interested. We had them switch elevators, and then we

evaluated it. We then did it again. We did the same thing in the store

situation. They were at a check out counter with a few small snacks,

and we had the check out people with aprons, and other people in line.

We then did it with people stopped at a crosswalk. Everyone loved it.

I will send you the powerpoint that we used. I thought it went really

well. Elder Bangerter is a really creative guy so it all came together

great. We are really trying to get better as a whole mission at

finding new investigators. President does a great job motivating us,

and he gave a fantastic training. He does a really good job at just

teaching by the Spirit. It looks to me that he goes in with a plan,

and then just teaches by the Spirit only using his set plan if he

feels that that is right. He knows his scriptures really well. As a

mission we have been focusing on using Christ more in our lessons. We

are trying to use more of his attributes and stories about him as we

teach. A few weeks ago it dawned on us that it is really hard to

"invite others to come unto Christ" when they just don't know who he

is. President Weidmann did a great job of using scriptures about

Christ all throughout his training. After hearing him speak I always

feel so energized. He is a great leader. Another highlight of the

Prishtina Zone Conference was that we had invited one of the members

there to bare his testimony. He did a fantastic job. Elder Bangerter

recorded it, and I am so glad he did. It was powerful! Muslim to

Christian. The struggle. One thing he said was how disappointed his

parents were with him. He said they were devastated, and that they

made it clear to him he was bringing the whole family shame. He said

that hurt a ton, but that he knows these things are true, and that he

knows that he will make his parents proud. He is such a great a guy!

He said that when he first came to the church he had no interest, but

as he saw the pictures of Jesus Christ, and heard of the things he did

he wanted to learn more about him. He will be a fantastic leader of

the church in Kosovo. His fiance has a really great conversion story

as well. It was great for all of us to hear that. Miracles happen, and

conversion is a powerful thing.

Wednesday was a great day. We were back in Tirana. We met with a less

active man and his family. We had planned to meet with them two time a

week, and to help him on his way back. One thing that we felt was

really important was to get him reading from the Book of Mormon again.

When we got to  his house we asked his daughter where they had read

to. She loves to read, and has been reading on and off with her dad.

She said they were at 2 Nephi 32. We congratulated them, and asked to

read a chapter together. At the end of the chapter we began talking

about the Holy Ghost. We then asked him how he felt when he received

promptings from the Holy Ghost. His answer was that he was sick that

day. What we said? At that point his family told us that he had never

received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Sunday right after his

baptism he was sick and he never went to receive the Gift of the Holy

Ghost. We were quite surprised. We hope to help him get rebaptised,

and to become an active priesthood holder.

Also on Wednesday night we saw Sister Bjeshku and her family. She is

great! Their whole family is awesome. It had been a while between our

last teaching appointments, and so we wanted to review everything with

her. We talked about the steps of the Gospel that are necessary to

make the Celestial Kingdom. She totally understands it, and her whole

family is very excited that she is learning. It will be great for her

husband as well. He seems to have a really strong testimony, and a lot

of knowledge, but her works on Sunday and it is hard for him to come

to church. We hope to get him coming back to church as well. Their

children are very strong members. Brother Bjeshku is a very supportive

husband and father as well so that is great.

Some other stuff happened on Wednesday as well, but the other really

cool thing that happened is that we felt like we should go and visit

one of the recent converts in our ward. We went to his house, and he

wasn't home.. but his parents let us in, and we talked with them for

about 20 minutes. They were really nice. They then started asking a

lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. The mom had learned before,

but is not baptised. The Dad had never sat in on a lesson before. We

taught the Restoration and it went fantastic. I love the dad. He is a

really big funny guy. I think that is the best way to describe him. I

loved it. They loved it. They invited us to come back and teach them.

We went back a few days ago and had another lesson with them. this

time their son was there. He is super solid. They have huge potential

as a family. We will be meeting with them again this week. The Spirit

has been super strong in both of our lessons with them.

Tirana Zone Conference was on Thursday. In many ways it was a lot like

the one in Prishtina. It was a tri-Zone conference however. We had all

of the Albania Zones there. Things went great. We did the elevator

scene with them as well as public transportation (Busses and Vans). I

think people were happy with how it all went.

I don't have time to finish this letter. We had a lot of things come

up with mini transfers.

Love you all! Take care of Buddy!

Elder Stewart

Our most current family pic!