This week has been fantastic. God really does qualify and help his servants.
We have been working with Myslym and Lumturia. They are an older
couple, but they are so open. Many of the older generation are not as
open due to communism, but Myslym and Lumturia are great. This week we
taught them twice. The first time we taught them about following the
prophet, and the second time we taught them about the Sabbath day and
coming to church. Myslym is a goof ball because he doesn't like to
keep commitments. Lumturia says he is like the kid in school that ever
admits to studying but somehow magically aces the final exam. He soaks
it all up. Lumturia usually tells us about their reading assignments
and he fills in the details she misses. They both came to church.
Myslym told us he wasn't going to because he had a meeting with some
other people. I told him we go to church for God and we put him first.
On his way out from church he leaned to me and said.."I came to church
for God today." They have a great light. I love them both. They really
enjoyed church. Their phone went off in the middle and some of the
members glared and whispered things to them. I was scared they would
get offended, but they laughed it off. They are great!
We were very worried about our other family. Zamira had been acting
very tense on the phone, and we were worried that she was unhappy with
us, or going to drop us, or something. We got an appointment set up
with her and Marin, and met them. It turns out they just had some very
hard finacial struggles throughout the week. Zamira looked like she
hadn't slept as much. Marin was his usuall self, but he said he had
missed a lot of things througout the week. His mom stays on track of
his schedule just like you do for us mom, and she hadn't remembered so
he missed a few classes and practices and such. We listened to her
talk for quite a while. The amazing thing for me was that she didn't
once curse God or swear or lose he composure, she just went on and on
about how she had sheen God helping her through he trials throughout
the week. I felt the spirit very strongly. In some of the toughest
circumstanses of her life she praised and praised God even reading
scriptures from the bible and Book of Mormon. We talked about the Holy
Ghost, and the atonement. She believes very much that Jesus Christ is
her Saviour. She showed us a cool note as well. Sister Fronk (a sister
in 2009) had made her a cake and wrote her a birthday note 6 years
ago. While reading through her Bible she found the note and thought of
us. We didn't know before, but Zamira met missionaries for about a
year about 6 years ago. She seems super prepared now. Now that Marin
is grown up a little more I think she is very strongly looking into
our church.
We met Ilir for the first time while walking quickly down the street.
I felt to talk with him and said hi and tried to talk with him, but I
missed him and he got a few meters passed me before he turned around.
I looked back and saw him standing there so I went to talk with him.
He is 28 years old. He just finished school to be a doctor. He is the
oldest of four children. Boy boy girl girl. We had a great converstion
on the road. He said he would like to learn more. We had our first
meeting with him on Saturday night. It was fantastic, but he did not
want to pray. He let me pray once, but it weirded him out. We didn't
pray again. We had a good lesson for him and he committed to read and
to come to church. He came to church on Sunday morning and said his
family had gotten mad at him for meeting.. mostly just that jis
grandparents were mad. They all live together and it had become the
topic of conversation. We told him that we aren't here to force people
to do anything. He said he didn't feel comfortable coming into
sacrament, but that he wanted to meet us again. We set up an
appointment for 4 oclock. We met him at the church and talked about
his reading. We hadn't hit to much on the Book of Mormon so we were
hitting it again. He had read 30 pages!!! and he remembered every word
of it. We talked through it and answered his questions. We talked
about Jesus Christ and about his role in the book and in our lives.
W|e talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and the way he felt. At that
point he made one of the most sincere comments I have heard. He said..
"I have been thinking a lot about that prayer stuff, how do I do it?"
We explained how and asked him if he would try. He said yes. I don't
remember what he said.. all I remember is he was having a
conversation. For about 15 seconds he talked with his father in
heaven. After 28 years he made the connection. You could tell he felt
it. I felt it a ton. Elder Szabo and I were blown away. The spirit was
incredible. We left on cloud 9! I can't wait to meet him some more
throughout this week.
Ali is doing great. He is in a rough spot. He doesn't really fit in
here in Albania. He doesn't speak the language, and he is just a
little different. He often feels like an outcast. We met the Toronto
missionaries again. Ali is such a great guy. He came to the lesson
with an empty pot. I asked him about it. He said.. there is a very
poor lady that lives near by. I made here some pasta and gave it to
her. Wow Ali. You have nothing, but you still give!
Other fun things that happened... we teach Seminary, we planned a
pumpkin carving FHE, we planned a Zone Scavenger Hunt. Our motto is
that if we are going to do something we are going to go it awesome,
and we definitely did all of those things awesome. Elder Szabo is great
and we are having a really fun time together.
Walk Buddy!
Love Elder Stewart
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| Adriatic South Mission Conference October 2015. Elder Stewart is in the very centre. |
