Boys camp was pretty great. I enjoyed it a ton. It seemed to come at the best time as well because it helped kind of serve as a break from the normal missionary life. The day before I was feeling pretty frustrated with my companion and it just seemed like I was wound pretty tight. Nothing like 3 days of soccer, volleyball, and chess to solve that. I recently heard from a member here in Vlorë that last year at camp, the missionaries that went just kind of hung out with each other and not with any of the YM. He was a little surprised he asked the YM about it and they said we played a lot with them. I had realized on that camp how much I loved camping, and how much I like camping when I have a sleeping bag as well. I didn't even have any blankets at the camp, so I was pretty much freezing both nights I was there. Luckily, it warmed up pretty quick as soon as the morning came. When camp ended, it seemed like I could just jump right back into the missionary schedule as well, so that was pretty nice.
We had transfer calls last Saturday, and they were not very exciting. Everybody in Vlorë is staying exactly where they are. I kind of miss parts of the beginning of my mission where I was moving all over the place, and now I will be in Vlorë for at least 6 months. After this next transfer, I will have spent half my time in the country in Vlorë. I have thought that it would be hilarious if my current companion ended up being the one transferred this next big transfer because he has been going around telling everybody about how he will be here the rest of his mission since he got here in Vlorë. He would be pretty angry though. He hates getting transferred.
Anyways, so I attached some photos to this email. Some of them are from boys camp, some are from a castle we visited down in a place called Porto Polarmo or something like that, one is a picture of the twins we got baptized that was taken without me knowing thus the lack of me being in it, one is a picture of me and a bunch of the youth in Vlorë at the Berat castle, and another one is a picture I drew today while everyone was exchanging pictures from the transfer. I had nothing else around, so I started drawing and so I sent the almost finished product. I had to stop so we could come do email.
I know I have met someone with the last name of Smurthwaite. I don't think we ever knew each other too well, but we've talked before. I also have met Elder Vance, kind of. I have at least seen him and know who he is. There are only 40 missionaries here in Albania, so I at least know what every missionary here looks like. Elder Vance was in Lushnjë before I came to the country, and now he is going back. I told you all at some point how it was closed. Well, apparently a member of the 70 didn't like that, so it is now reopened. I guess there is a lot of less active work to be done there. I don't think I'd mind serving there again now that I can actually speak the language somewhat.
I saw a quince for the first time of my life the other day. It was pretty crazy. It looked like a big lumpy pear. I am totally going to eat one of those one day. The word for it in Albania is ftua, and it changes just like the word dragua which means dragon. So ftua, ftoi, ftoin, ftonj, ftonjtë, and ftonjve are all different forms of the word. The first 3 are singular, and the last 3 are plural. Some are definite, and others are in different cases. It's fun.
I'm ready for the summer to end. Sure being hot, sweaty, and sticky all day is fun and all, but a lot of members work throughout the summer and go to the beach, so it's harder to meet with people and less people come to church. It's kind of a shame. Hopefully, that can change soon. There has been a change recently in the District Presidency here in Albania. There was an American that worked for the government or something that has been the District president, but he has to go move to some country that I have no idea how to spell. It's pretty crazy. So now our whole district presidency is Albanian. That is one great step forward I think. It's pretty exciting.
We still have had enough work where it is hard to find any time to go tracting. It's kind of cool. We have been getting around 16-20 lessons a week as of late, and along with a lot of work we have in the branch, that fills up our schedule pretty quick. I'm trying to get it so our lessons are a bit faster, but it's difficult because my companion likes to talk a lot and seems to go off topic quite a bit. Luckily, I think me and my companion to get along better than we did several weeks ago, and we're starting to teach more in unity, and I've learned how to avoid arguments for the most part.
Well, I'm looking forward to getting those wedding invitations. If it would be possible one of these days, would it be possible to send a USB drive or something? I would buy one here, but they're pretty expensive. Although, there's really no point to sending it on its own, so if you ever are sending something, if you remember a usb, go ahead and put it in. I still have quite a few unused SD cards, so chances are I will not need anything like that for quite some time.
Anyways, thanks for everything, I'll talk to you all next week.
Love,
Elder Uallentajn
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