Dear family,
So we just got back from Tirana today for our district
trip. We couldn't think of anything else we wanted to do, so we went bowling in
Tirana. It was pretty fun. We saw the elders from Shkodër there bowling as
well. That was kind of fun, even though I don't know any of them all that
well. Anyways, this is the last week of the transfer, and it is kind of cool
because we have kind of a weekend this week. On Friday we have weekly planning
in the morning, and then we are all supposed to be inside by 4:00 because
apparently that is when it starts getting dangerous with fireworks. Then, the
next day, we are allowed to sleep in until 8:30 if we wish, and then we are to
be doing deep cleaning all day. The rest of the week will just be normal.
Also, we find out this Saturday all about transfers. I think there's a good
chance I'll be staying in Durrës for another 3 months or so, but we'll
see.
The other night I found out a good way to go to sleep when you
can't. I woke up around 2:30 am, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I must have
had some horrible dream because I was really angry as well. I was all tensed up
for a while, so I just went out and sat on a couch. Then I read whatever
chapter my scriptures were open to. It just happened to be Moroni 10. I got to
the end, then memorized a verse, the third to last one, and then I was able to
get back to sleep. That was cool. I accidentally didn't wake up on time that
morning, but it was nice that I got more than 4 hours of sleep. I'll keep you
all updated on what goes on with the mission and new years and
everything!
Love,
Elder Wallentine
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Dear family,
So on Saturday, we had a branch Christmas activity that was pretty cool. All the different organizations presented different things that were Christmas themed. Afterwards, when we had returned home, I got a call from the branch president to give a talk the next day in church. So I didn't have too much time to prepare, but it wasn't too bad. It's not like I had anything else to do before church the next day. I did find out however that Isaiah 9:6 in the English Bible is actually Isaiah 9:5 in the Albanian Bible I have. That was annoying. Luckily, the same scripture was in 2 Nephi, so when I saw that Isaiah 9:6 in Albanian didn't say what I wanted and I didn't see verse 5, I just went to 2 Nephi.
It snowed last Friday. Usually, from what I've heard, it never snows here in Durrës. It snowed a pretty good amount, but around noon, it was all slush, and by the end of the day, it was all gone. It was kind of cool in the morning as we were walking to a meeting we passed different snow men, which I found out people here call them "Pleqtë Dëbore" or Old Men of Snow. Singular is just plaku dëbore.
We had a special training this week on Wednesday and Thursday. That was fun. Wednesday evening we spent in Lushnjë with 4 other missionaries, and I learned how to make eggnog. I also recently learned how to make this rice pudding stuff. I don't know how much of each ingredient we use, but it has something to do with mixing boiled rice with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and starch. I don't really know how to make it, I just know what goes into it. It's pretty tasty though.
Our English course will be interrupted for a little while due to the holidays. It'll start again in January, so hopefully people remember. We invited them all to come to church and told them where and when it was, so they at least know if they want to come.
Anyways, that's about it for this past week. We'll talk this Christmas!
Love,
Elder Wallentine
So on Saturday, we had a branch Christmas activity that was pretty cool. All the different organizations presented different things that were Christmas themed. Afterwards, when we had returned home, I got a call from the branch president to give a talk the next day in church. So I didn't have too much time to prepare, but it wasn't too bad. It's not like I had anything else to do before church the next day. I did find out however that Isaiah 9:6 in the English Bible is actually Isaiah 9:5 in the Albanian Bible I have. That was annoying. Luckily, the same scripture was in 2 Nephi, so when I saw that Isaiah 9:6 in Albanian didn't say what I wanted and I didn't see verse 5, I just went to 2 Nephi.
It snowed last Friday. Usually, from what I've heard, it never snows here in Durrës. It snowed a pretty good amount, but around noon, it was all slush, and by the end of the day, it was all gone. It was kind of cool in the morning as we were walking to a meeting we passed different snow men, which I found out people here call them "Pleqtë Dëbore" or Old Men of Snow. Singular is just plaku dëbore.
We had a special training this week on Wednesday and Thursday. That was fun. Wednesday evening we spent in Lushnjë with 4 other missionaries, and I learned how to make eggnog. I also recently learned how to make this rice pudding stuff. I don't know how much of each ingredient we use, but it has something to do with mixing boiled rice with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and starch. I don't really know how to make it, I just know what goes into it. It's pretty tasty though.
Our English course will be interrupted for a little while due to the holidays. It'll start again in January, so hopefully people remember. We invited them all to come to church and told them where and when it was, so they at least know if they want to come.
Anyways, that's about it for this past week. We'll talk this Christmas!
Love,
Elder Wallentine
Monday, December 13, 2010
Dear family,
So I will start with some fun tracting. We walked up to the 10th floor of this building by stairs (there was no elevator) and knocked on the first door. The door opened by some little kid. We asked if his parents were home, so he went to get them. Then, some guy walks up the stairs into the house after we greeted him. Then, this lady comes out, and tells us to leave. So we go down to the next floor and knock on some doors. Then the guy came and started telling us that nobody lived in the building and that we had to leave. He then followed us down the 10 flights of stairs that all of us had just walked up until we left. As we left the building, we then stopped and talked to some Muslim guy. I wasn't all that happy with the first guy. I tried having some kind of conversation with him, but he was pretty rude. So after lunch, I wasn't really in the mood to do more tracting, but we did anyways. We ended up finding a new family we could teach. The dad and 12 year old son were there, and we taught them and set up a time to return. I think they are pretty promising. Also, we found a couple people who could be promising another time.
Yesterday, we also had a good experience. There was this kid who is always outside that usually shouts stuff trying to bug us missionaries, and yesterday he called us over. So we went. We talked a bit with him and I asked him if he and his friend knew why we were here in Albania. Thus, we told him why we were here and a bit about what we were teaching. He was never any big problem before, but I think he's a pretty cool kid. One of my favorite parts of the conversation was when I told him about Joseph Smith being a prophet, he asked if he had killed anyone. He then asked if he was a good person, and I told him how you kind of have to be a good person to be a prophet.
Also, this past week, we were tracting, and we were talking to this lady who said she was Muslim. So I said something like: Oh, great, so you believe in prophets. She said she didn't and didn't believe in any books like the Bible or Koran. I at least informed her that that means she was neither Muslim nor Christian. I think there are many people who really don't understand anything about religion. Especially the people who tell us that Islam and Christianity are the same. Many people also tell us that religion is pretty much just politics and also that they were only made by people who wanted to get gain. I can't say all that is always false. Usually, when we ask them some kind of question, it is easy to see if they are really willing to learn or not. For example: Would it be important for you if there was a prophet today? An interested person would say yes. Someone who didn't care and wanted us to go away would say no. Someone who did care but wasn't interested would hesitate and respond with something with no connection. And others would say yes and then tell us they didn't want to learn more. It's kind of silly sometimes.
I think most of the success we've had tracting here in Durrës has been people who just let us in without a long discussion at the door. It's interesting. Anyways, we had another good week this week. We got a total of 10 lessons again, so that's good. The next couple weeks, we have quite a few things that will interrupt normal missionary work, and it's the holiday season, so we'll see how it all goes. I know that on New Year's Eve we have to be inside by 4:30 because it will be dangerous after that due to tons of fireworks. Anyways, have a good week.
Love,
Elder Wallentine
So I will start with some fun tracting. We walked up to the 10th floor of this building by stairs (there was no elevator) and knocked on the first door. The door opened by some little kid. We asked if his parents were home, so he went to get them. Then, some guy walks up the stairs into the house after we greeted him. Then, this lady comes out, and tells us to leave. So we go down to the next floor and knock on some doors. Then the guy came and started telling us that nobody lived in the building and that we had to leave. He then followed us down the 10 flights of stairs that all of us had just walked up until we left. As we left the building, we then stopped and talked to some Muslim guy. I wasn't all that happy with the first guy. I tried having some kind of conversation with him, but he was pretty rude. So after lunch, I wasn't really in the mood to do more tracting, but we did anyways. We ended up finding a new family we could teach. The dad and 12 year old son were there, and we taught them and set up a time to return. I think they are pretty promising. Also, we found a couple people who could be promising another time.
Yesterday, we also had a good experience. There was this kid who is always outside that usually shouts stuff trying to bug us missionaries, and yesterday he called us over. So we went. We talked a bit with him and I asked him if he and his friend knew why we were here in Albania. Thus, we told him why we were here and a bit about what we were teaching. He was never any big problem before, but I think he's a pretty cool kid. One of my favorite parts of the conversation was when I told him about Joseph Smith being a prophet, he asked if he had killed anyone. He then asked if he was a good person, and I told him how you kind of have to be a good person to be a prophet.
Also, this past week, we were tracting, and we were talking to this lady who said she was Muslim. So I said something like: Oh, great, so you believe in prophets. She said she didn't and didn't believe in any books like the Bible or Koran. I at least informed her that that means she was neither Muslim nor Christian. I think there are many people who really don't understand anything about religion. Especially the people who tell us that Islam and Christianity are the same. Many people also tell us that religion is pretty much just politics and also that they were only made by people who wanted to get gain. I can't say all that is always false. Usually, when we ask them some kind of question, it is easy to see if they are really willing to learn or not. For example: Would it be important for you if there was a prophet today? An interested person would say yes. Someone who didn't care and wanted us to go away would say no. Someone who did care but wasn't interested would hesitate and respond with something with no connection. And others would say yes and then tell us they didn't want to learn more. It's kind of silly sometimes.
I think most of the success we've had tracting here in Durrës has been people who just let us in without a long discussion at the door. It's interesting. Anyways, we had another good week this week. We got a total of 10 lessons again, so that's good. The next couple weeks, we have quite a few things that will interrupt normal missionary work, and it's the holiday season, so we'll see how it all goes. I know that on New Year's Eve we have to be inside by 4:30 because it will be dangerous after that due to tons of fireworks. Anyways, have a good week.
Love,
Elder Wallentine
Monday, December 6, 2010
Dear family,
So 2 days after the snow day over there, we had a rain day! Kind of. Friday mornings are when we do weekly planning, and as we were planning, the rains came incredibly strong. There was about as much rain as there was a couple weeks ago when we went out and all the roads were flooded. I guess all the roads were flooded again. Luckily, both times this has happened, we have been inside because of p-day and weekly planning. Although the first time it happened, my companion's umbrella was annihilated because of the wind. It was pretty cool. I was not using my umbrella, and I decided not to use it after that. It went inside out, and was completely destroyed before it was ripped from his hand. Luckily, the floods go away after a couple hours, so it has never really affected our work too much. The flooding did get kids out of school though. Shkodër on the other hand is in a bit of trouble I hear. They are all over the news (that we can only get a small glimps of when we have a meeting) and people have to go around in boats. We also hear a lot about all the flooding from people. I think parts of Vlorë is flooded as well. I'm not sure if the flooding is affecting work in Vlorë, but from what I hear, the elders in Shkodër are now in Tirana. Also, at some point, the road from Durrës to Tirana was under water. This all sounds pretty crazy and exciting, but life for us seems somewhat normal here in Durrës. The floods are pretty exciting though.
This week, we were heading out from lunch, and I looked out from our house, and I saw some old cement buildings a little ways off in the distance, and I decided we should go tract there. I don't think I had ever really noticed them before, but we went there, had a couple people tell us to come back, and then we got in with a guy named Bardhyl who said we could come back next week. He has a wife and 2 kids, so hopefully we can teach the whole family next time. We ended this week with more lessons than we've had here in Durrës since I got here. We also have started finding success with the English course we have. The first day, we had 5 people in class, 2 stayed to hear religion. We also had a member there to help. The next time, we had only 4 people in class, but all 4 stayed for religion. I think they all seem at least intrigued by what we've taught. The members we've had come have also been a big help. It's great to have members helping out. When we did English courses down in Vlorë, we always had members, so I think that's what we'll do here as well. I guess the other elders here have been finding a good deal of success with their English course as well.
I find a bit of enjoyment watching the exchange rate whenever I pass the electronic signs they have. The dollar for a while was at about 98ish lekë, and the other day, the dollar got up to 106 lekë. That was cool. I think it has gone back down to 103 now. I have also enjoyed 20 minute naps. Sometimes, the 20 minutes seems like forever, and it is very relaxing. Whereas naps for 30 or more seem to go by really fast and I'm exhausted afterwards. I've stopped those.
We've been tracting more often lately, and one thing I've noticed, is I enjoy the meetings we get from tracting more than with street contacting. With tracting, we go to their house, and either they're there, or they're not. With street contacting, we meet them, get a phone number, call them another day, wait for them to show up, call back if they don't, end up leaving if they don't come. If they do come, they usually come late. So tracting appointments seem much easier. We did find quite a bit of success last transfer with street contacting, but I think it's time for a change. So far it's been working pretty well for us.
Well, I am starting the beginning of the last winter in Albania. So far, it has been getting steadily more and more enjoyable as time goes on. Thus, time also goes faster and faster. It's cool.
Love,
Elder Wallentine
So 2 days after the snow day over there, we had a rain day! Kind of. Friday mornings are when we do weekly planning, and as we were planning, the rains came incredibly strong. There was about as much rain as there was a couple weeks ago when we went out and all the roads were flooded. I guess all the roads were flooded again. Luckily, both times this has happened, we have been inside because of p-day and weekly planning. Although the first time it happened, my companion's umbrella was annihilated because of the wind. It was pretty cool. I was not using my umbrella, and I decided not to use it after that. It went inside out, and was completely destroyed before it was ripped from his hand. Luckily, the floods go away after a couple hours, so it has never really affected our work too much. The flooding did get kids out of school though. Shkodër on the other hand is in a bit of trouble I hear. They are all over the news (that we can only get a small glimps of when we have a meeting) and people have to go around in boats. We also hear a lot about all the flooding from people. I think parts of Vlorë is flooded as well. I'm not sure if the flooding is affecting work in Vlorë, but from what I hear, the elders in Shkodër are now in Tirana. Also, at some point, the road from Durrës to Tirana was under water. This all sounds pretty crazy and exciting, but life for us seems somewhat normal here in Durrës. The floods are pretty exciting though.
This week, we were heading out from lunch, and I looked out from our house, and I saw some old cement buildings a little ways off in the distance, and I decided we should go tract there. I don't think I had ever really noticed them before, but we went there, had a couple people tell us to come back, and then we got in with a guy named Bardhyl who said we could come back next week. He has a wife and 2 kids, so hopefully we can teach the whole family next time. We ended this week with more lessons than we've had here in Durrës since I got here. We also have started finding success with the English course we have. The first day, we had 5 people in class, 2 stayed to hear religion. We also had a member there to help. The next time, we had only 4 people in class, but all 4 stayed for religion. I think they all seem at least intrigued by what we've taught. The members we've had come have also been a big help. It's great to have members helping out. When we did English courses down in Vlorë, we always had members, so I think that's what we'll do here as well. I guess the other elders here have been finding a good deal of success with their English course as well.
I find a bit of enjoyment watching the exchange rate whenever I pass the electronic signs they have. The dollar for a while was at about 98ish lekë, and the other day, the dollar got up to 106 lekë. That was cool. I think it has gone back down to 103 now. I have also enjoyed 20 minute naps. Sometimes, the 20 minutes seems like forever, and it is very relaxing. Whereas naps for 30 or more seem to go by really fast and I'm exhausted afterwards. I've stopped those.
We've been tracting more often lately, and one thing I've noticed, is I enjoy the meetings we get from tracting more than with street contacting. With tracting, we go to their house, and either they're there, or they're not. With street contacting, we meet them, get a phone number, call them another day, wait for them to show up, call back if they don't, end up leaving if they don't come. If they do come, they usually come late. So tracting appointments seem much easier. We did find quite a bit of success last transfer with street contacting, but I think it's time for a change. So far it's been working pretty well for us.
Well, I am starting the beginning of the last winter in Albania. So far, it has been getting steadily more and more enjoyable as time goes on. Thus, time also goes faster and faster. It's cool.
Love,
Elder Wallentine
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