It's a Hot One in Tirana!

Sister Shehu's birthday party. She has been a great support and friend to the missionaries.

It is about 1000 degrees here in Albania. Everyone is sweating like
crazy. The summer heat is quite intense! We have to drink a lot of
water. Even early in the morning when we go running it is hot. It
makes for great fruit though. The fruit is incredible right now. We
have been eating peaches, figs, and watermelons. It is heavenly.

We have a good investigator right now. His name is N. He is married
with a child, and another on the way. He is very funny! We have met
with him 5 times in the last week. He accepted baptism on August 8th.
Unfortunately Satan is working against us. He showed up to the factory
where he works on Sunday morning to take his shift and they told him
they no longer had a spot for him, and that he was to be transferred
to the Shkoder factory. He was sent up there on Sunday. He doesn't
know how long it will last, but for now he is apart from his family.
His job situation will have to be worked out in order to allow him to
meet with us and attend church.

That part member family that had us over last week had us over again
this week. We were at their house almost every night this week. E
is 19, A is 18, X is 21, and then their parents. Their mom
has suffered some depression and hard expereinces in her life that
have affected her entire being. She is very solemn, and to herself.
However, when we teach she smiles, I think I even heard a laugh. Her
kids are happy. She is so happy. It is a really amazing thing. During
the lesson she becomes alive again. We end with a prayer and are
leaving, and suddenly she is back in her own world again. It is a
tough situation, but it makes the truthfulness of our message so
clear. I have loved working with their family. They have a few
concerns about baptism right now. It took their dad 8 months to get
baptised, but I think that they are coming around. Ardian is their
cousin. I am not sure how consumed in it he is, but Ervis keeps all
reading commitments. They are all great!

This week we were trying to get our investigator, N, into a members house for his
lesson because we don't have a place to meet him. He takes care of his
parents, and they won't let us come to their house. We have been
meeting in little coffee bars. I called all of the active members in
that area, and even the less actives that we meet with to see if they
would open their house to us. They all said no. I had a really strong
feeling to contact a less active I had never met, but that I had seen
on a list. Her name kept coming to my head. Turns out she is in the
Hospital with cancer. She had a massive operation. We asked to visit
her, and went and found her. She said she had been praying for the
Elders to call and to give her a blessing. We had a great conversation
with her. She has a super strong testimony. She got sick at the end of
last year, went less active, and lost contact with the church. She was
so happy to see us. We talked with her for about an hour, shared a
message, gave her a blessing, and as we were about to leave she was
just so happy. She sang to us "A Childs Prayer." She has an amazing
voice. It was a very powerful experience. There were doctors, nurses,
patients, and people flying all around us, and everyone just kind of
stopped. Time seemed to stop.Her less active daughter just kind of
stared at her in awe. Honestly can say it was a highlight of my
mission up to this point. Elder Greener and I walked out of there very
quietly. We have been back to see her twice since. What a lady. She
has a huge background.. lost children, divorced. She hasn't always
believed Jesus to be her Saviour, but now she knows, and I know that
she knows. We told the relief society about her, and two sisters took
the initiative! We actually saw them there. It was a fantastic
expereince!

Sister Shehu turned 72 this week. She helps us in our work all of the
time. She is a long time member, and these photos are from her
birthday party. She was so happy!

We are teaching a members boyfriend right now. he looks like he has
pretty good potential. We are hoping that he turns out to be like
Patrick. That wopuld be pretty awesome. He came to church for his
third week in a row!

I can't believe Matt is in the MTC. Enjoy it while you have it Matt!
Study hard. Go easy on those three pointers in gym time as well.

Love you all! I hope you are having a great summer! Take good care of Buddy!

Love Elder P. Stewart