So busy...but Still got a Letter Off...One Day Late!

This last week has been quite busy. I am sorry I did not get a chance

to email you yesterday. We were running a ton of errands, and then we

had meetings and family home evening from 5-9. President gave us

permission to send off a letter home today!

Mini transfers happened on Tuesday. Some of the missionaries were

moving around. It all went really well though. We took two

missionaries to the airport to fly home. It is crazy seeing people end

their missions. On Tuesday afternoon we had some lessons. We are

teaching a family just outside of Tirana. We also had a lesson with a

man who we met on the street. He had a wheel chair with the churches

name on the back. He is very nice.

I went on an exchange with Elder Acheson on Wednesday. I was in his

area. We had District meeting in the morning, and taught some lessons

throughout the rest of the day. We also got to meet with Ersi. He has

been having a tough time, and I really feel bad for him. He is an

awesome kid. He is living here in Tirana at a shelter. We met one of

the ladies that works at the shelter and talked out a set of rules so

that we can get Ersi to come to church, and to come for activities. It

was a huge blessing. The lady was really nice to us, and

accommodating. Elder Acheson still wants to be President of the United

States so he took a very diplomatic approach. It was funny! It worked!

The whole exchange was good.

We have realized that there are a ton of less actives here in Tirana.

We got a list of some people from our bishop, and our ward mission

leader. We decided to go out and find a lot of them on Wednesday

morning. We took the list and went out finding them. Addresses don't

really exist here so we got in the general area, and then were

looking. We prayed that we would be able to find some. In the end we

met a man there who was happy to help us find a few of them. With his

help we were able to find two houses with less active members. One of

which was very nice to us. She just said that she had no interest

anymore. She married a Muslim man, and has been less active for the

last 7 years. It was good to meet her though. Maybe the sisters will

be able to go there and just sit with her for a little while. the

second house was a little harder to find. The man who was finding with

us thought it might be one of the stairwells so he went up to the

house he thought it might be, and knocked. It wasn't them, but it was

a man and his wife who had two children who live in the States, and

are both baptized members. They gave us their phone number, and we

will have to go back there. That was really cool! They have been to

our church. That is the second person in two weeks that we have met

that has baptised children in America. While I do think it is great

that they are members it is sad to me that they don't stay with their

families and help build the church here in Albania. The Church, and

their country need them very badly. That is one of the reasons I have

so much respect fro President Mema (the Stake President here). He

could be working anywhere in the world that he wanted, but he is

living here, and directing the church. Following that house we found

the other house with members. They wouldn't let us in, but they gave

us phone numbers so we can go back. We thanked our helper friend a

lot. We invited him to meet with us. He was not interested, but we

gave him a pass-along card with our website so that he can check it

out on his own time. We then set out to find one more family. We found

them after a lot of looking. It is a mom and daughter. The daughter

was called on a mission to Albania, and since then they have gone

inactive. That is a very hard thing I think. We really would like to

get her and her mom to come back to church. Apparently they were very

strong in the church before.

Following that less-active finding session we took off to meet the

Vlore Zone Leaders in Durres to do an exchange. I came back to Tiana

with Elder Squire, and Elder Bangerter went to Lushnje with Elder

Gray. We came back for a lesson with Brother Shehu. The man that has

not received the Holy Ghost. He wasn't home and so his Mom Sister

Shehu and his daughter Rezi went out with us to find some less active

houses. We found two more. Neither let us it, but it was great to meet

them. We hope to get into their houses this week. We went to teach

Sister Bjeshku with the promise that we would be back in an hour to

teach Brother Shehu. We tought Sister Bjeshku. She is doing great, and

I think she will make her baptism. On the return Brother Shehu was

still not there. We were a little dissapointed, but we went out to

tract. We prayed and walked and picked a building. We tracted for an

hour and got absolutely nothing. With 9 o'clock quickly approaching we

decided we had to go. We stared walking down the stairs, and all of a

sudded Elder Squire said that he needed to knock the door right in

front of him. So we knocked it and a man answered. As it turns out he

is a Melchizedek Priesthood holder and has not been to church in 2

years. He was happy to see us, and we got his number and we met with

him the next morming. On Sunday he came to church, and he loved it. He

stayed for 3 hours and said he will continue to come week per week.

Another less active success was on Thursday morning. We went to the

Second Counselor in the bishopric and had a lesson with him and his

family. His family comes pretty regularly, but he hadn't been to

church once while I have been here in Tirana. He told us he would come

to church, and he kept his word and he came.

Thursday night we met an active member family. Their last name in

Bala, and they are "Bala-ng". They are great! We had a new idea to do

role plays with members. We did a role play with them on inviting

their friends to learn more about the Gospel through casual

conversataion. just normal real life stuff. We practiced with them.

They have an 11 year old son and a 4 year old son. They started doing

it, and they did great. At the end they asked their friends if they

wanted church materials. Then they were giving them stuff. It seemed

pretty real to me up until that point. I kind of questioned them a

little bit. So if you are just talking at the store, or in the road

you are going to have a pamphlet or a Book of Mormon. Is this a

realistic situation for you? Of course they replied. I then learned

that their backpacks and purses and carrying bags always have church

materials to give away. I was shocked to say the least. We shouldn't

have been teaching them. They should have been teaching us. How many

of you carry around pamphlets and Books of Mormon?? If you don't I

challenge you to start, and to try and use them The take member

missionary work seriously.

Saturday we had Futboll in the morning. It was really good. It is good

to be out there in the community playing with a lot of people. many

have been found through simple stuff like that. We had lessons in the

evening.

Sunday was quite the day. We had 3 less actives, and an investigator

at church. It was awesome! The attendance was the highest it has been

since I got here. We had 92. After church we had back to back lunch

language study with the other 4th ward Elders. We study Albanian

together on Sundays and teach each other new things. It works really

well. On Sunday afternoon we had choir practice.  Our choir is a work

in progress. The members really like it, and it is a good opportunity

to help them. The Stake President has set it up. We could use a

chorister like Mom.

Sunday night we had some good lessons. My favourite was one with a

recent convert and 2 active member men. they were supposed to have

investigators for us, but they didn't. The recent convert is still a

little bit Catholic. He believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that

the Book of Mormon is true, but he also believes the the Catholic

church is true. it is a little confusing, but in the end Elder

Bangerter read Ezekiel 37 to him and he said ok. It all made sense.

One of his arguments was that if the authority was really restored by

Peter, James, and John then that would mean we have the same church as

in olden times... he looked puzzled, and we all yelled yes. We think

it is all cleared up now, because he really is a pretty smart guy. He

is just a few months older than me.

The week went well. Good luck with graduation this weekend. I love the

air band thing!

Love you all! Take care of Buddy!

Elder Stewart