Finally...a Baptism!

On tuesday we had a small minitransfer. Elder Prince and Elder
Gierisch from Macedonia went home so we had to do a little
rearranging. On transfer days Elder Greener and I are the ones that
coordinate the transfer. Elder and Sister White usually have a lot of
business to take care of, and President always has interviews with
missionaries as they are passing through. Elder Greener and I
coordinate the times of the transfer, where it takes place, and who
comes in to it. Knowing that the transfer would be happening Elder and
Sister Smith booked a choir practice. There is a missionary choir that
consists mainly of Tirana missionaries with just a few extra ones. Our
main song is a special edition of Praise to the Man. For the most part
it is written in 4 parts, but at a few places it splits into 8. It
sounds really good now. Elder Bangerter is a really good singer so he
came up from Berat to the practice. It was cool to see him again. Our
performance is on Saturday night. We are putting on a song night. It
consists of the missionary choir, our stake choir (which we are also a
part of), and there is an opera singer from Durrës. He is amazing.

We had a really interesting meeting with President on Tuesday in the
middle of the day. It is always quite the experience sitting down with
President Weidmann. The purpose of the meeting was to plan the
Missionary leadership meeting, but we ended up talking a lot about a
lot of different things. He always shows us cool things in the
scriptures. One of the things I like that he showed us in one of our
last meetings had to do with Enos. He asked me.. Elder Stewart, what
kind of a man was Enos? I said he was a wicked man who wanted to
repent. He explained that Enos actually wasn't a wicked man. He was
just Jacobs' son, and he felt unqualified for the task at hand. He was
pleading God for his enabling power. President went on to say.. how do
you think you would feel if you were called as a prophet right after a
fantastic prophet passed away. I answered that I would feel
unqualified. I really like the way President analyzes the scriptures.
I could tell he had spent a lot of time thinking about Enos, and
applying it to his life and the lives of others. He does that kind of
thing all of the time. Every time I am around President or Sister
Weidmann I can tell how much they care about each of the missionaries.
President has said a lot of times that the most terrible thing for him
would be to see any of the missionaries from our mission go inactive.
It sounds pretty cliche, but when he says it I can tell how much he
means it.

Tuesday night was the farewell dinner for Elders Prince and Gierisch.
Whenever missionaries leave Sister Weidmann puts on a dinner for them.
We go to it as well as Elder and Sister White. I love Elder Prince and
Geirisch. I got to know them when we were part of the same zone for 6
months when I was in Kosovo. I have been on exchanges with both of
them. One of my favourite moments with Elder Geirisch was in Macedonia
while contacting. An American man came up to us, and he was being
really rude. We just stood there and kind of took it. He was saying
all kinds of stuff against us. Eventually he said.. You believe that
Jesus is Satans brother. Elder Geirisch said.. We believe that he is
your brother as well. Elder Geirisch just stood there and smiled. It
was pretty witty. Elder Prince and Elder Geirisch built a lot of
Macedonia from the ground so they both had very interesting missions.
At the dinner we ate tacos, and had a good time talking about
different experiences we have had. We then had the opportunity to do a
testimony meeting. I love the farewell testimony meetings because the
Spirit is always very strong. It went great. We took some pictures
right afterwards, and then went home to sleep.

We woke up at 2 to take them to the airport. We got to the airport and
everything was going smoothly. We checked their bags and sent them
through the scanner. They then called us back over and we had to walk
back behind the ropes and open the bags one at a time. Two other
security guards came back to us, as well as two police officers. They
informed us that we had very illegal things. As it turns out it was a
few pairs of brass knuckes and night sticks that they were taking
home. It all got confiscated, and they got a police escort through
security. I thought it was pretty funny. They were freaking out.

Wednesday was MLC. All of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders
came in. MLC usually goes from about 10-1.  Our training was on the
Higher Law. We talked about missionary activities, and how we can take
them up to the next level. It went very smoothly. We did a little bit
of role-play and a little bit of brainstorming. President did
fantastic. I don't think I have ever seen him cry, but he choked up a
few times while talking about the importance of this work, and giving
it our all. He definitely has an increased understanding of the
importance of this work. He cares a lot about it!

We met Dashamir on Wednesday. Brother Sula helped us. We reviewed
baptism, and what it means. Brother Sula did a great job testifying.
Dashamir has been on cloud 9 all week. Following that lesson we met
with some other investigators that we have named Mateu and Miranda. It
is a mother and son.

On Friday we went to Korca with President and Sister Weidmann. There
is a man named Sotiri that they work with a lot. He has connections
all around the country, and he helps us find opportunities for
humanitarian service here Albania. We had a pretty big group. The
Weidmanns had their son and his wife, and Elder and Sister Orton the
humanitarian couple came along. The drive to Korca is beautiful. Elder
Greener and I were just there for translating. We went out for lunch
when we first got there, and then we went to an orphanage for kids
0-6. They are doing a few renovations and need some sponsors. I feel
bad for the kids that have to live there. I realize how fortunate I am
when I go to places like that. It is a real eye opener. We also went
to a facility for the mentally handicapped. It was a very sad center
to see. Most of them had been completely abandoned from their
families. They needed washing machines because theres were broken, and
all clothes were being washed by had. I think the church will for sure
help with that one. korca is a very special city. It still is not open
to missionary work however. We did teach a lesson while we were there.
It was an internet referral for a man that met with missionaries in
Greece. He was a great man with a huge testimony of God and his hand
in our lives. When the church opens in Korca I would not be surprised
if he is one of the first members. We had a lot of testimonies given
because of the size of our group. The Spirit was strong!

Dashamir. It happened. Saturday was amazing. At 3:30 on Saturday
afternoon Dashamir arrived to the church for his baptismal service! I
was so happy. We told him that he needed to pick a member and he had
picked Martin. Martin is a recent convert from January, and Dashamir
and he get along well. Martin had known since Wednesday that he was
baptising Dashamir, and he was so excited. We had a lesson with  the
two of them before the service.

The service went great. There were a lot of small miracles that
happend. On Saturday morning Sister Shehu (one of my favourite
members) was ticked off at a few members and missionaries. It happens
every once and a while. Elder Greener and I tried to talk her down,
but she said there was no way she was coming to the baptism. We tried
to convince her to come, but she said no. She said she was
undervalues, and she left. We told her we wanted her to say the
opening prayer, but she said she was not coming. It has happened
before, but Elder Greener and I had a feeling she would come to the
baptism anyways. We wrote her down for the opening prayer and printed
all of the programs. Right before the baptism started she walked into
the room. She still wasn't smiling, but then she saw the program. I
don't think she stopped smiling for the rest of the night! The second
miracle was the speakers. Our first speaker was our 2nd hour
investigator teacher. The second speaker was Brother Sula. Brother
Sula pretty much walked in the door right as his turn to talk came up.
He just walked from the back to the front, and nailed it. I was
getting scared we has going to miss it. The third miracle was the
witnesses. We were able to get more priesthood out by telling two of
them that we needed them to come to the baptism to be the witnesses.
Neither of them had ties, but I had one and another member had another
so that they could stand as witnesses. The looked so happy to do it!
They had to redo the baptism twice. The first mess-up was that Martin
forgot to say AMEN. The second time Dashamirs elbow didn't go under.
It went well though. He and Martin both did great.

Dashamirs testimony was very powerful. He has a very strong testimony
of Gods love, and of the power of prayer. He got to the pulpit and
said he was so happy and grateful, and would be ungrateful if he
didn't pray. So he prayed for us all, and then he gave his testimony.
At the start right before he said the prayer I think everyone was
really confused, but as he prayed the Spirit came, and no one even
thought to question it. I don't know how that works as far as being
allowed goes, but I thought it was amazing. It was a mission
highlight!

Dashamir was confirmed yesterday. Bishop gave him a beautiful
blessing. We set up lessons at both his house and Martins house for
Sunday night. Dashamir lives a ways out of town so it took quite a
while to get to his house. We finally found it. He was so excited to
present us to all of his friends from around his neighbourhood. He
then took us to his house. We sat at a table out front of his house,
and were just talking. His mom then came out and talked to us. She is
a very practicing muslim, and was a little bit hostile toewards us.
She made a lot of really mean comments, and made fun of Dashamir for
listening to us. She went on for a couple of minutes. Finally Dashamir
stopped her with his testimony. She kept on going and making mean
comments as we talked, but I was super impressed that Dashamir very
politely stood up for what he believed. He sure respects his mom, and
hopes that one day she will come around. Dashamirs wife is also
muslim. She wouldn't even talk to us. She brought us a thing to drink,
and then left. I felt really bad for Dashamir. I saw how strong he
really is though.

The lesson with Martin went really well. He is very firm in the faith.
It is pretty hard here for YSA because the people all around them are
so not into religious things. Martin said he doesn't have many friends
for now so he stays in his house and studies and reads the Book of
Mormon and Bible. He is a really cool guy to so I was sad to hear
that. HE plans on serving a mission when he completes his year as a
member of the church so that will be very exciting for him!

It is really great to be able to serve! We have been extremely busy
lately. I feel really bad about how bad I have been at writing
everyone. Meaning how I have hardly even writtena big letter these
last few weeks. I haven't really had a p-day in a while. Elder Greener
and I broke down and decided just to write today because we haven't. I
miss you all a lot! Thanks for all of your letters and prayers! I love
reading your letters. Lately I have been printing them off and reading
them on Monday night.
Good luck in school Sara, Hannah, and all cousins! Keep tearing it up
in Thompson Matt!

Take Buddy on lots of walks!

Love Elder P. Stewart

Elders Wright, Greener and Stewart

Elder Rasband and Elder Stewart

Elder Stewart and Elder Griffiths

Note The Book of Mormon on the top shelf beside the Vodka in a restaurant. :)

Elder Clemans and Elder Stewart

Elder Waters and Elder Stewart

Elder Stewart and Elder Dahl

Kurt Koci and Elder Stewart

Sis Weidmann, Elder Stewart, Pres Weidmann

Elder Stewart and Elder Prince

Elder Geirisch and Elder Stewart

A man in Korca

A stadium in Korca

Korca

Korca

A man they met in Korca who was very friendly.

Martin and Dashamir

Elder Stewart, Martin, Dashamir, Elder Greener, Bro Lezo

Elder Stewart, Dashamir, Elder Greener

Vlore Exchange

Things must be busy for Elder Stewart! We  didn't get an email to us last week, just a quick apology and a copy of the letter he sent to Pres Weidmann. But, we knew he was ok, so that was great! This week, we just got 2 pictures of an exchange he was on in Vlore. So, we still know he's ok! His official release date is November 11. :)

Elder Gray, Elder Griffiths, Elder Clemans,  Elder Dahl and Elder Stewart

Elders Griffiths, Greener, Clemans, Wally, Gray, Waters, Dahl, Stewart
Sister Barch, Sister Larson, Elder Larson, Sister Bezas

Cool Experiences and Beautiful Vistas!

Last Monday was pretty interesting. We got a call from some of the
stake people who were all down at EFY. The person who was in charge of
booking the Congress Building for Stake Conference had forgotten and
so they had Elder Greener and I go get it. The people thought it was
pretty funny that we were in there to book the building for a Sunday
less than a month away. Elder Greener and I made up a pretty good
looking form with Elder and Sister White (the office couple). I was a
little scared they were going to be booked, but it turned out the had
space. It was a once in a lifetime experience to book the Congress
Building. The Albania Stake is doing awesome by the way. President
Mema is working very hard.

Tuesday was a good day. We saw the Tafili family. When we got there
the parents weren't home so we spent about 15 minutes kicking the
soccer ball around in the street. It was really fun. Those kids have a
lot of energy. The Tafilis are doing really well. They have now been
members for a year. Their next oldest son turned 8 so he will be
getting baptized this month!

Wednesday we had a huge Zone Service Project. We all went up to
Shkodër and helped at an orphanage. We tried to build a soccer field
behind the orphanage. We got a lot done, but there is still a lot more
to do. It is a process.

We were on a 3 day exchange in Shkodër. I had the chance to serve with
Elders Simons and Penrod for the majority of it. We went there with
the Zone Leaders so we went from 4 to 8 Elders in Shkodër. We worked
really hard and had a very good time. We found a Dad and daughter that
appear to have potential. We had a few devotionals together. I had a
lot of Nerf battles with Elder Simons in the nights and during lunch.
Our opening devotional was on our mission motto. "WE serve with faith,
obedience, diligence, and joy." I fell it was a very inspired motto
from President Weidmann. Without any one of those in life or on a
mission we aren't very well rounded. We need all of them. We had four
missionaries move an egg with the tips of their pointer finger from
one place to another. If any one of them quit paying attention the egg
falls. It worked well.

We had a cool experience last night where we found 3 new
investigators. Two of them we met in the road.

We had a good p-day today. We went out to the Shkenderbeu castle that
I went to last year with Elder Rasband. We went with the majority of
the Tirana Zone and the Durrës District. I hope a picture is worth a
thousand words because this email has to be really short today.

I love you lots! Take Buddy on walks! It is still 3 months before I head home, and the work is
going really well right now. I try not to think about it. I miss you all a lot though!

Take Buddy on lots of walks!

Love Elder Stewart

Shkoder Orphange

Service Project as a Zone

This may take awhile to make a soccer field here!

The whole zone.

Elder Penrod, Elder Simons

Elder Simons and Elder Stewart

Near Shkenderbeau Castle

Elder Greener and Elder Stewart

The Castle

What a view!!

Never a Dull Moment!

Their Stake Choir - Small but growing!

Dear Family! I am so happy that the bear did not eat you!

This week has been a very intersting week as I have been serving with
two companions, not 1. Mini-transfers took place this week and as a
result everyone came into tirana. Elder Wright was supposed to head to
Germany that day to receive surgery for a hernia. There was a little
miscommunication it sounds like, and he was not able to leave. He
didn't have a flight. We spent the following days waiting for flight
plans, but they never came. Every night he went to bed thinking that
he might be leaving the next day, but I guess that just wasn't the
plan. He was great to have around though. It was very interesting
teaching with threee missionaries, but I liked it a lot. With three
missionaries it also makes it possible to get a lot done contacting,
and when we have to come in here to the office. As well, Settlers of
Catan is pretty hard to play with only 2 people so we had some pretty
intense games of it the few nights he was here. I forgot how much I
love board games.

This last week I also went on an exchange with our District Leader
Elder Verushi. He is from Durrës, and he is a very good missionary. We
had a good exchange. He is madly trying to learn English so that he
can continue his studies. English is a really big advantage. I tried
to help him with that. He is doing really well at it now. He is a
super solid teacher as well. It was fun teaching with him. We also had
some time to cook some stuff together. My cooking skills are a little
rough around the edges, but we had a pretty good time doing it. I was
kind of hoping he would know some Albanian Traditional stuff, but he
didn't Someone else will have to teach me.

We have been working really hard with our one investigator named
D. It was quite the series of events this week with him. He has
progressed a lot. He re-found his desire the other week when we taught
him about the two greatest commandments. We told him that if he put
God first everything would work out. His whole persona has changed. He
has a huge desire to be baptised. He was already down to smoking very
few cigarrettes. This week we used a member who had smoked a ton. He
said that one day he just said I am done, and he prayed a lot and
quit. D has a huge testimony of prayer so he did the same
thing. He says he has been feeling really good. We did D's
practice interview, and he passed with flying colours. He had his real
interview on Friday, and the interviewer failed him saying that he
wanted him to be longer and better repented of smoking. It was a very
tough thing on D. I was super confident in him. He has changed
a ton. He first met missionaries 7 years ago, and has never had the
desire to quit smoking. His desire is now huge, and the steps he has
made are incredible. I felt bad for him, but we supported the
interviewer, and are now working for baptism on September 5th. I think
he can do it. We are just praying for him a lot.

I smashed a can over my finger again at soccer. Everybody loved it. We
always have a spiritual thought, and it was our week. Usually no one
listens so we decided to do something awesome. I explained the lesson
and smashed it once, Everyone was so surprised and they all went
silent and were just looking at me. I quickly reexplained what I had
just said, and smashed the can again. It went really well.

We saw our investigator O again. We met him in the stairwell one
night. He has lived in Canada and in the States before. His Dad just
passed away. He is married with two young kids. He is a very spiritual
man. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. His wife sat in on the end.
O heard the restoration a few weeks ago, and he is very open. He
told us he will come to church. He will be busy for the next couple
of days, but we will go back there at the end of the week. We are very
excited for him!

I hope you all have a great week! Take care of Buddy!

Love Elder Stewart

The Prishtina Zone Leaders stayed at our house one night. Elder Keck,
me Elder Muncy, Elder Greener, Elder Wright.

Zone Conferences

This week we had two Zone Conferences. We organized them. The first
was in Durrës with the Durrës and Vlorë zones. The second was in
Prishtina with the Prishtina and Tirana Zones. They both went great. I
will send you the programs so that you can see a little bit about how
it worked. Everything went great. Our training had to do with inviting
people. We had a powerpoint and did a lot of role plays talking with
people and inviting them. We took pictures of people that we see on a
daily basis and had peopl talk with them and start conversations. I
attatched a few of them. Everyone really liked it. President Weidmann
gave a very good explanation of the importance of obedience. Sister
Weidamnn told the story of a man pushing a rock. God told him to go
and push it daily. In the end he didn't move the rock at all and felt
like a failure. God said, "I didn't tell you to move the rock, but I
told you to push it. Look at all of the strength you have received.I
will now move the rock." It kind of reminded me of that scripture in
1st Corinthians where it talks about the peopl working but in the end
it is God that gives the fruit. It is so true, and I am grateful that
he has it all under control. It is sure a great work to be a part of.
We all have a great opportuniy to take part. We need to push.. not
lean.. but push.

This week we have been able to work a lot with D. He is the one
that is planning on getting baptized. He is so excited. Earlier this
week he was super stressed, and he said "I just want a break. I want
to break for 2 months, and then I will learn again. We talked him
through it, and gave him a blessing. He is progressing again. He came
to church an hour early to read the scriptures before church. He is
doing great. He has been learning for 7 years. His interview should be
on Saturday.

We had a really cool lesson this week. We met some really cool kids.
They are from ages 17-23. We met the one while picking up a broken car from
the car dealership. The other 2 came to that movie we had a few weeks
ago. We set up a lesson with Andi from the Car dealership at 7:30, and
a lesson with the A and D at 8:30. As it turned out they all
called and informed us that they would be coming just after 8. We
called our main man Ardi Markaj (one of the members) and he came flying
into town. It was a 20 minute ride by moped. He came and helped us.
The plan was to show a short film with them to kind of break the ice,
but there was no one at the church to let us into the bishops office
to get the TV. I resorted to picking th lock because it didn't look to
hard. As I was picking th lock a member of the Stake Presidency opened
the door. It turned out he had been in the bishops office the whole
time. He is a really cool guy though so he thought t was funny and he
let us take the TV. We got the movie going and everything was going
well. At that point President Kashari (of the stake presidency) walks
into the room and asks for the key. He had locked himself out of the
office. While he was in the room we said "Hey President, what is
baptism?" He totally explained baptism and did a great job testifying.
Our friends loved it. I then left the room with him and we called
around to get someone to come to church with the key. There were so
many small miracles in that lesson that all came together to make it
great.

Elder Greener and I have made it our goal to get out of the way. There
are a lot of things that we could do for the ward, but we have decided
to try and help them more from the background. 2nd hour teacher didn't
show up at church so we were supposed to take it. Elder Greener saw a
good opportunity and vollunteered a different lady. She ended up doing
great. She was super scared, but we participated like crazy and she
did great. The same thing happened in 3rd hour, We didn't have a
teacher. It was only missionaries, and one other man. He refused to
teach the lesson, but i got him to team teach it with me. He nailed
it. We gave him a ton of praise, and I know he will be totally happy
to teach another lesson.

Have a great week.

Love Elder Stewart

Frozen Yogurt stop on PDay after soccer with his district.

Elder Cani, Elder Lesi and Elder Velushi - all Albanian elders serving in Durres. Apparently they are "ripping it up". Elder Stewart says that those who serve in their own country have an amazing connection with the people!

At the church in Prishtina after Zone Conference.

On the road back from Prishtina, it was totally flooded.

Eating out with Elder Wright and Elder Fowles, the Zone Leaders.

Albanian fast food - suflage! Looks very healthy!

Object Lessons, Skyping Lessons and Lessons from a Wise President

Object lessons work great! 

This week we met the B family this week.

They are one of my favourite member families here in the fourth ward.

There kids are 11 and 5. Sister B is the member that carries gospel

pamphlets in her purse. They have been gone for a lot of the summer

with vacation at the beach, but they are home now. We went over to

visit them, and brought a can of beans. (Editors Note: This is an object lesson with the Book of Mormon and a can, where the can gets squished and it is to illustrate the strength found in the Book of Mormon.)

The rest is history, but they loved it. We have developed a pretty good relationship with them. They

have a huge desire to do missionary work. As most Albanian families

they both have non-member brothers and sisters that they would love to

join the church. We invited them to keep praying for good

opportunities to share the gospel. We gave them a few good ideas. He

is the ward clerk, and she is the primary president. They are really

strong.

Sister Shehu is 72 years old, and has more energy than anyone I have

ever seen. We asked her about less actives, and let me tell you she

knows less actives. She goes out and helps us. She is willing to walk

around for hours with us, and visit people. She shows us where they

live. This week we went with her a few times. She is packed with

information, and loves the members a ton. She has a plan drawn up to

get 10 less actives in church next week. We are going to try it out.

This week she went with us to an old investigator as well. She rode

all of the busses with us. We went way out in the middle of nowhere.

The family that we met was so happy to see us. Apparently they have

quite a long history, but we are going to try and teach them and see

where we end up. Sister Shehus son is the man that was never

confirmed. We are still trying to work with him. She really wants to

help him, but he is just not interested yet.

We got a flat on the way back from Macedonia this week. It was really

a small miracle. We were driving down windy mountain roads, but the

tire went flat right by a gas station, and we had a place to pull in.

I never had to change a tire before my mission, but I have changed my

fair share while being out here. Maybe I will become a mechanic??  :)

We have been teaching lessons periodically over skype. They have gone

pretty well. There are some people in Germany and France that are

learning. The man in Germany was supposed to be baptised today, but

something happened and it got postponed. We have some pretty good

friends in France. He said he would teach me how to cook traditional

Albanian food if I am ever in France. Apparently he is quite the cook.

D came to church this week. He is a really nice guy. He is

scheduled to be baptised on the 22 of August. Right now statistics

show that almost 100% of investigators that come to church after

accepting baptism here in our mission will be baptised. He accepted

baptism and came to church so we are really hoping for him. He knows

the Gospel great. The ward seems to accept him as well so we are happy

for him.

We helped Brother Skuka move this week. He used to be the Elders

Quorum President. He moved into a different ward though now so he

won't be with us anymore. He speaks 6 languages. It amazes me how

humble people live here. They moved the great majority of their house

and belongings in a Dodge Sprinter. He is a seemingly well off guy

too, but just very humble. People live in pretty small appartments

here. They are very homy feeling. I like it.

The Bishop pulled me in yesterday before church, and talked to me

about the situation that we had last week with the father and his

kids. I had a really good talk with him I am super impressed with

Bishop Beleshi. He is a very young member when you compare him to

bishops around the world, but he is giving it everything he has. He

doesn't have a whole lot of the know-how, but he sure has the desire.

He is exactly what our ward needs right now. He talked with Brother

G a little while later. Brother G is a great guy, and I

think he will come around. His family is still at the beach, but when

they come back I hope we can work together to help him.

I bore my testimony yesterday about eternal families. We have such a

light in our lives because of it. People here need that so badly, and

the families that come to church are always so happy.

Elder Greener and I are having a great time. We cleaned our house up

quite a bit because President came and did interview with us there.

The interviews went good. He was really concerned about Dad. I told

him that Dad is doing good now. He cares a lot. President Weidmann is

a really good guy. He usually has a theme type thing that he takes

around the mission and does in each of his interviews. This time it

was on being Loyal. I had a really good interview.

We met President Weidmann another day this week. While talking about a

lot of different administative things he took a second and showed us a

few things in the scriptures. One of my favourites was where much is

given much is required. I had heard that a lot before, but he related

it to sucess of a missionary. He said that where God gives a lot he

expects a lot, and we will be judged for the work that we put in

following the sucess he gives us. He had a lot of different

scriptures. In the end I was super impressed. I did a terrible job of

explaining that, but I will get the scriptures together and send them

to you next week.

Take Buddy on a lot of good walks. Thank you for looking out for him!

Good luck with your checkup Dad! Tear it up in Thompsen Matt! Good

luck at EFY Sara. You be careful! ;) Hannah and Mom I love you both

and thanks for all that you do! 

Have a great week!

Love Elder P Stewart

Challenges make for Great Growth

Our week has gone well. On Monday night we were street contacting. We
stopped at a fruit stand and were talking with people. We talked to
two guys for about 10 minutes. They were pretty cool, and we invited
them to learn. They weren't super interested so we invited them to the
movie we would be showing on Saturday. They said maybe. On Saturday
afternoon they gave us a call and asked where they could meet us. We
took them to the church, and they had a great time at the activity.
They came to church the next day and stayed for 2 hours, and loved it.
They ended up knowing some people there as well. We will be meeting
with them throughout the week. Theyare pretty cool guys. They are 18
and 21. 

The man in our ward, whose family we have been working with, is really working hard against us. We are not sure why. He is so mad at us for continuing to meet with his 19 and 21 year
old son and daughter and his wife. His family, especially his son have
been doing great. His son E loves the Gospel. He is super good
with computers, and we set him up doing Family History. His wife is a
little mentally sick, but she lights up every time we do a lesson. She
even prays. We invited them to the activity but they couldn't come so
we went over there on Saturday night, and the dad was home. He
is in Korca throughout the week except on weekends. We were really
excited to have him in the lesson. His kids know it is true. With a
little positive encouragement from their father they are guaranteed
baptisms and a family in the church, but the dad yelled at me... alot.
He was so mad. We are not sure why, but he was so mad at us for
working with his family. We explained to him why we do our work, but
he was so mad. Elder Greener gave a super powerful testimony to try
and get the Spirit back, but nothing was working. We didn't know what
to do. We tried to calm him down. We offered to give him a blessing.
He wouldn't have it. We prayed and he walked us to the door. He came
to church again by himself yesterday. He admitted that he had been
acting out of line. I had a pretty good talk with him. He is a great
guy! I figured everything was fine until I talked to him last night
and he told me that we are not allowed to visit his home for at least 2
weeks. We are praying a lot for him. I think he is just super
stressed. He is maybe a bit embarrassed about his wife, but there is
no need to be. It is a very interesting situation. We have always got
along great, and we aren't sure what happened. He doesn't want to talk
with us. He said some very negative things about us. He and Elder
Greener had a bit of a clash at the door. I know he is super mad at me
because he sees me as the instigator in meeting with his family. He
just doesn't understand. He told a lot of the members about what
happened. They all have come up to us asking what happened. There is a
lot of internal gossip that can break up the ward. We just have been
trying to keep our heads down and keep working. President called us on
Saturday night, and talked to us about a few things. He asked us about
our day, and we explained it to him. It is quite a frustrating
situation. I am sure it is all just a misunderstanding because with a
little positive energy their whole family could be happy in the
church.

D, a long time investigator committed to baptism this week, and
we will work very hard with him! Brother Lezo (our ward mission
leader) helped us in that lesson, and we sure saw the effect that a
good member can have on a lesson. He is scheduled for baptism on the
22 of August. I promise one of these baptisms is going to work out! He
is a 45 year old man. His family is super Muslim, but he is a
Christian. He knows the gospel perfectly.

I had a super good exchange with Elder Gray this week. It was just
like the Durrës days. We both agreed that those were probably three of
the funnest months of our missions because they were so hard. We
worked like crazy, and did a lot of fun stuff. We talked about our
first lesson together with a lady named Bruna. Brother Toci helped us,
and he was probably like 'what is going on? How did we end up with
these two duds?' But after being energized by a ton of nutella, being
chased out of appartment buildings, teaching awesome investigators..
 figuring out that people would give us their
attention if they didn't understand us and using the word "stationwagon"
as our main street contacting approach (the whole mission started
copying us), seeing Elder Clawson and Watson almost every day at
lunch, being super thrifty and saving hundreds, getting rocks thrown
at us by kids, running around Durrës every morning, taking Ersi with
us everywhere, working with the young men, learning how to deal with a
ward council, comparing how fat we were getting during nightly
planning, sweating like crazy in a house with broken air
condidtioners, going out every single morning and contacting as hard
as we possibly could, figuring out how to survive without our
trainers, building up an area that didn't have investigators, fruit
for days, becoming best friends with the bakery ladies, weekly soccer
with investigators and ym... and much more it all added up to
greatness. My testimony grew a ton. We tried our very best to help
everyone, and we had a lot of fun doing it. In Lushnjë we got to teach
a few lessons together. We contacted a lot as well. He is a great
missionary to work with because we get along great. We ran stairs in
the morning. We played some basket ball on a mini hoop in his house.
It was good stuff. I have certainly met many great people on my
mission!

This week we also went to Shkodër to translate for President. The
church is looking to donate a little bit of money to help out a few
orphanages.

We have been doing quite a few skype lessons. One of the people we
have been teaching will be getting baptized in in Germany on Saturday.
His name is A.

There was a small transfer that happened this week, and as a result
Elder Greener and I are in Macedonia right now helping people move
around. We will be headed back to Albania tomorrow with 3 other
missionaries.

4th ward is doing well. We have very good realtionships with most of
the members. We are working hard to help them. They have helped us a
lot lately. In Sunday School for example we had two young guys help us
with our new friends that were at church. Martin and Ardi are the
members names, and they are great. Martin is a pretty funny guy. We
are the same age he has about 300 pounds of muscle on the average
bear, but is super blonde haha. We get along great. It is sure fun
working with great members.

Have a great week, and take good care of Buddy!

Love Elder Stewart

Elder Griffiths, Elder Gray, Elder Stewart, Elder Greener