Dear family,

So, even though I'm now finally serving in Tirana, I think I'm still somewhat outside of Tirana. It is somewhat considered a part of Tirana, but I am in a place called Laprakë.  As far as church goes, luckily we have transportation from the church that takes people from our area to church on Sundays, so that speeds up the process a ton.  There is also a city called Kamez that used to have missionaries but was closed because work wasn't really progressing at all.  So there are some members out there that we go out to visit as well.  None of us have bikes here, although the elders in Lushnjë had recently gotten permission to get bikes.  It would have had to come out of personal money, and they would be left in Lushnjë, so they didn't buy them.  The only missionaries here that have cars are the assistants, Outside Zone Leaders, and the office elders.  They are really the only missionaries that go traveling enough to need a car.  The zone leaders here in Tirana just go around doing exchanges with people in Tirana while the outside zone leaders have to go to every other city in Albania.

So yesterday, we went tracting, and we found this family of people who seemed interested in learning more.  There was this older lady that was kind of ruining the lesson, but overall it went well.  I think we'll be meeting them again sometime this week.  So we'll see how that goes.  Apparently before I got here, the missionaries here didn't do too much tracting because the one who left didn't like tracting at all.  The thing is, it seems like this place has tons of places to do some tracting.

We had zone conference last Thursday, so that was cool.  We had a tower building contest, and my group ended up winning.  That was cool.  Anyways, there's not too much else that happened this week.  I'm getting more adjusted to the new area and everything.  I cleaned up a couple areas this morning in the house so I could have a bigger study area.  I also organized some of my stuff around the house.  The only thing I really don't like about the house at the moment is the shower.  It is probably the worst shower I've had so far.  The only shower that could probably compare would be the one we had in the pig farm in Belgium that smelt weird.  The one at the pig farm was probably better until we lost warm water.  Then I would rather have this one.  So at least we have warm water.  The water pressure is just horrible.

Anyways, that's about all that happened this past week.  Hear from ya'll next week.

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear family,

So today is my last full day in Durrës.  On Saturday, we got called by president, and I will be going to Tirana's 4th branch with Elder Loose.  At first I was kind of bummed because I didn't want to leave Durrës, but I think it'll be good.  I hear our house is still ridiculously far away from the church.  The church building is used for 2 different branches, 2nd and 4th, and it is in the 2nd branch's area.  From what I hear, our house is about 45 minutes away from the church by foot.  Luckily, I just called up Elder Loose this morning and he said they are in the process of finding a new house that is only a 20 minute walk from the church.  So that's good.  Elder Loose is going to be the district leader, and the rest of our district is made up of the Tirana zone leaders and the sister missionaries for 2nd and 4th branches.  Out of the 6 people in my new district, 4 of us are from my MTC group including me.  So that's fun.  So this past Tuesday was my last district meeting as district leader.  In 6 weeks, a new MTC group will be coming in, and apparently it's a pretty big group.  So in preparation for them coming, I guess lots of people moved around to set people up to train and everything.  Also, there will be 3 areas reopening.  One of the Vlorë areas, an area in Fier, and some other area.

Well, not too much else happened this week.  We have just started getting stuff going with members, so hopefully this area will start bringing in some baptisms.  I will be in Tirana though, so I won't see what happens directly.  I've started packing my bags and everything, and I think I'm practically done.  I think I'm getting better at throwing useless things away.  There's a ton of stuff I just will never use and just keep.  Having to move around kind of forces me to get rid of junk.  So up to now, that has been the gist of my day.  Well, have a good week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear family,

So this week we had some members invite us over for FHE on Sunday where they also invited an inactive lady as well.  We had a spiritual thought and played a game of Uno.  We also had some cake, and then left.  I think it went rather well.

This morning, I was reading through my journal from 2005 in my best cross country season.  It was cool to read.  I also got caught up in my journal for my mission.  I hadn't written in it since December 10, so I just put in a summary of the most memorable things that happened during the past couple months.  I then went back and started working on writing about the year of college.  I had started writing it about a year ago, and then I stopped for a long time.  I'm finally finished with all the things I can remember about my first semester.  I'll probably start second semester sometime.

We weren't able to meet with too many people this past week, so that's too bad.  Although, looking at how the area has been from previous transfers, it wasn't a bad week.  It was just an average week.  There's not too much I can say about it though.  Not too much happened.  We'll be starting up another English course soon at the church.  Hopefully people will come.  The other elders here in Durrës organized it and it will be going on at the church which is quite a ways away from everything.  We'll see how that all goes.

Well, this is the last week of the transfer already.  It's flown by pretty quickly.  This Saturday I think we receive transfer calls.  I think Elder Asquith and I will probably be staying here in Durrës together.  We'll see.  The longer I'm here in Durrës, the more I seem to like it though.  I really wouldn't mind staying here the rest of my mission, but I think that is probably unlikely.  We'll see.  Anyways, have a good week!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Ju dua! (I love you; pronounced: you doo-ah)

Elder Wallentine

PS  Random people here in Albania have told me to tell you all hi from them.

Dear family,

The hymn book here is pretty small.  There are very few hymns, so in district meetings everyone gets upset if you choose to sing a hymn in English that is also in Albanian.  Especially if it is Count Your Many Blessings because that is a favorite here in Albania.  I personally don't care.  One time, I even brought up Count your Many Blessings every week in district meeting down in Vlorë until we finally sang it.  It was pretty funny.  The hymnbooks are little spiral books that are a centimeter or less thick.  There are at least hymns for everything like Easter, Christmas, sacrament meeting, etc.

Hey Emily, I did get to baptize somebody about 4 months ago.  It was really cool.  His name was Rinald.  I've learned a ton about Albania.  It's a pretty cool place.  It's like an adventure!  We also meet crazy people occasionally.  Oh yeah, here's a word in Albanian you could use.  It's çyça (pronounced chyoo-chuh).  Girls usually say that, and it means "Oh my goodness!" kind of.  Have a good week.

Last Friday, we were street contacting, and these 3 boys came and started talking to me.  They were interested in coming to church, and said they had spoken with several missionaries in the past.  So I told them when and where it was, and they ended up coming.  We had 4 or 5 people who we had invited to church this last Sunday, and I was a little bummed when I didn't see any of them in the congregation.  The 2 boys that came had just come a bit late, but they were able to attend 2nd and 3rd hours.  I was a little worried at first in 2nd hour because it was their first time, and the topic was the law of chastity.  I think it went well though.  They participated, had questions, and I think they enjoyed it.  I gave them a Book of Mormon, explained it a bit, and they said they would come back next Sunday.  They have work and school going on throughout the week, so they unfortunately cannot meet with us during the week.  They said they'd call if they ever have time though.

On Saturday, I tried calling a former investigator of mine named Artur to see if we could meet.  He said he wasn't in Durrës, but would give us a ring when he was back in Durrës.  So, we went street contacting, and around 12:40, he gave us a call and said he was at the place we typically meet people.  So that was cool.  He said he would be able to come to church in March as well, so that's awesome.  Also, in English course on Friday, the guy who usually tells other people to say the prayers was the only guy who came, and he said the opening prayer.  He also told us he'd read parts of the Book of Mormon.  The member we have helping us out also has invited him to church many times, and I think this guy in our course could possibly progress towards baptism.  I think we've got some promising people here in Durrës.  Also, this member had brought 2 of her friends to church last Sunday, and my companion and one of the zone leaders went to talk to them.  So I think some upcoming baptisms in Durrës are very possible.

I've really come to enjoy Durrës.  I think I might like it more than Vlorë now, although I don't know if it's just because it's been such a long time since I've been in Vlorë.  Either way, I've enjoyed both places.  Also, I've realized on my mission how great fasting is.  Ever since I read the part in Jesus the Christ where Christ told his disciples that some evil spirits can only be cast out by prayer and fasting, I've started testing it out more.  And by more, I mean just as often, but just having more of a good reason for fasting.  It's pretty cool.  Anyways, have a good week.

Love,
Elder Wallentine