the Book of Mormon

Things I did this week:
-I went on 2 exchanges this week! 1 with this new missionary Elder Thioabald! And another with Elder Gardener!
-I has a cool interview with president!
-Started english course, got 4 new investigators from that!
-Met a less active
-Our Branch president was not there this week so I lead the Branch also I taught 2nd hour!
-Frisbee with 14 missionaries!
-I said my last good bye for Larsen and Lords!

Spiritual thought:The Book of Mormon is the sickle we must use to thrust with all of our might. D&C 4:4 "The field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might....:
The Book of Mormon is the Sword of the armor of God!
The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is the most powerful resource in conversion!
The Book of Mormon is really important!
Read it!

Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Michael Ueston

a Teacher

Hello Americans! I will be back in your wonderful country soon! I got my flight plans!  Albania to Italy. Italy to NYC, NYC to SLC.  You may think I am already home, because they gave me an assignment, already, to talk in my home ward but don't worry I am still here!

It has been raining a lot this last week! We had to go to Tirane. As we were trying to leave and the road was closed because of flooding, so we had to turn around. We tried going down another road but then we wondered if that road may be closed too.  We asked President, He said "Just stay for safety." We stayed at Elder Larsen and Elder Lords's house! They were both in my group but are leaving 11 days before me! We eventually got back to Lushnje!

We have been handing out hundreds of English course flyers! We handed out 2000 flyers! thus far! We have about 400 left and the course starts tomorrow!  Lets hope we got some people there!

We have been preparing 2 of our friends Gesi and Jona for baptism! They are super ready! I can't wait for their baptism on the 16th!


Spiritual Thought:
This week I have been thinking about what an honor it is to be a Teacher! I love being able to teach people of the gospel! I love teaching people about the truths that I have found and love hearing people tell me about the simple truths that they have found! I invite you all to write down the truths the spirit teaches you!


Love you all! have a great week!
Elder Michael Ueston

Thanksgiving

Still here yes! how much longer? until Dec 28th

This week we had transfers, so I went to Tirane! Then we came back home to Lushnje! After, we had a mission conference on Thursday for Thanksgiving! It was a lot of fun! I MC'ed and gave my last testimony! It was kinda weird how that is probs the last time I will see all those people! But life! Then we came back home!
This Saturday my homie S*, 81 years old came to the waters of baptism! He was so happy! He said "if the water is cold or hot I will still get it" I love that man!
Then today we went to Tirane just 1 more time!!!! To play frisbee! It was raining the whole time and we got super wet then we realized we didn't have any other clothes! It was worth it because I got to see all of those cool missionaries from Tirane!

Spiritual thought: I have found so much joy during my mission. One of the best feelings in the world is when you see someone change there life and come unto Christ! Something that Seit said made me think. He said "My life was in vain. I believed in God but I didn't know who he was, until you came!" The Gospel changes lives!


Love you all!
Elder Michael Ueston

rabbit

I got a call from president! I am going to stay in Lushnje! I have been here for 6 months and I am going to be here until the end, 5 more weeks!  I am going to serve with an Albanian! Elder Jakaj!

This last Monday I ate something bad, I think it was a sausage or spinach or something, all I know is that it wasn't good and I got sick! That was last Monday.  Tuesday I was a little bit better, but then my comp got sick. We both are better now! That was the first time I got sick enough I had to stay home!

I just wanted to add some pictures of my friend S*! He is 81! He is one of my favorite person ever!!

A member told us they wanted to give us a rabbit. I thought it was going to be alive so I told them how was can't have pets, she said "No we already killed it for you!" Needless to say we talked about the 6th of the 10 commandments! ;)

Spiritual thought: No one, except for Jesus Christ, is perfect! You can never expect anyone to be perfect! We must be patient with everyone we meet! I invite you to not get mad when you see someone make a mistake, but be grateful that you saw those mistakes and now you will not make that mistake!
Love you all! have a great week!

Elder Michael Ueston

giving talks

This week this member came up to me and asked if he could give a talk. I said "why not." expecting his talk to be 1 min or so. I asked him what he was going to speak on, he said "nephi 1-20." I told him to talk about his experiences and maybe just read 1 verse. He said "okay." Sunday rolls around and he reads all of 1st nephi 1, and 2nd nephi 2 and probs more! It was about 15 mins of just reading!!
Moral of the story: Not everyone should give a talk!

The Berat missionaries didn't know how to use our baptismal font and it didn't hold the water over night! poor kids! President and the APs joined us for our district meeting! Presidents training was amazing!

I called the father of some our investigators to ask him if his daughters could get baptized, because he said no before, and he said they could! that was a true miracle of the week!

We stated to do this new way of contacting where we give people a page of the Book of Mormon with a couple of questions, "what do you think is interesting?" "do you want a free book?" etc! it has been fun thus far!

Spiritual Thought: 3 Nephi 9:13-14 " O all ye that are spared... will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? ... if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life.Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive..."  After I read this scripture it helped me understand the amount of love our God has for us! He just wants us to come back to him! He just wants us to live with him again! But he needs us to repent and be converted that He MAY heal us! and he will receive anyone who comes unto him!
I know that God loves and watches out for us! He just wants us to return to him!


Have a great week!
Love
Elder Ueston

quotes

Another week! Yes I am still here! This week was good! Normal stuff, I gave a good 15 min talk, we had a half way training, interview with president. Then for Pday we played risk and Frisbee!

Now here are some good quotes from this week:

One of our older investigators said
"I am glad I am getting baptized now! I will be cleaner then all of you because I've already done all the mistakes!" hahah Great learning opportunity

New Investigator said "It doesn't matter how old you are but how old you look" I was inspired!

One of our investigators wants to go to American and submitted his name to go, it's called "The American Lotter." he said "I put my left hand on the Book of Mormon then submitted my name for America.  If I go there I will become Mormon" Too bad he has to use his right hand ;)

My companion woke up and stood up and said "Today's gunna be a great day" I said "are you on drugs?" "even if I was I probably wouldn't tell you." Fair enough.

Spiritual thought: I have grown to be incredibly grateful for the power of fasting! Looking back at all the times I have fasted, I have received all things I have fasted for!  If you ever have a question for God or don't know what to do about anything, Fast!! Show God your desire to receive an answer by fasting, and you will receive an answer!


Love you all have a great week!
Elder Michael Ueston

2 hour church

This week, instead of having our normal 2 hours of church, we had 3 hours of church! 1 hour of sacrament meeting and 2 hours of priesthood session of conference (and woman's session)!!
Only 2 people stayed until the end! hahaha I don't think we will do that again!

Last Friday! we meet 3 old grandpas! They were all so cute! Hopefully we can meet them again!

Zone conference was great! We went to Elbansan and learned stuff!

We met some cute kids from english course! after english course we meet with them and their moms!

We had a super exchange this week in Lushnje! A super exchange is when 4 elders go to the same city! It was fun! Found a lot of cool people!


Spiritual thought:
I LOVED Tad R. Callister talk about the Book of Mormon from this last general conference!
LISTEN TO IT!!

The Book of Mormon is God’s compelling witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and the absolute truth of this Church.  After listening to this talk, I don't think it could be said more clear that The Book of Mormon is True! I know that this book is true! Read it!


Love you all! have a great week!
Elder Michael Ueston

bukurosha

Bukurosha: (boo-koor-rosh-ahh)the word Bukurosha in Albanian means "beautiful woman." but plot twist we have an investigator named Bukurosha (they do that in Albanian sometimes.)  We see this investigator in the road and my comp is like "is that Bukurosha? "yeah let's talk to her" I said.  We started to follow her when my comp yelled "beautiful Woman" (her name).  3 younger girls look at him, thinking he is talking to them!! Cute mistake.  hahahahahahahahahaha It was great!

Florika and the seat belt:We decided to have a member lesson and invite our favorite recent convert! She doesn't buckle her seat belt! The car lets me know with an annoying continues "beep beep beep" I tell her that she needs to buckle her seat beat, she doesn't know how to! she tries to rapping in around her. Still doesn't stop the beep.  I then decided too teach her how to buckle her seat belt.. she was so confused! But eventually learned!  Moral of story: you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Is* got baptized!Is* got baptized this week! It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I have gone to! Definitely the most reverent!

Pday in Berat!
We hiked! I will send you my adventure pics!

Spiritual thought:
I loved conference this week! Elder Uchtdorf said that President Monson told him to ponder the story of the tree of life. I thought this was interesting.  Imagine how many times He has read this story! He could tell you so much about this "simple" story! He could have even said "I don't need to read this! I have read it hundreds of times before"But he didn't he read and it got something new out of it!We will NEVER stop learning! We can always learn something new from the scriptures!I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon. If you have already read it! READ IT AGAIN! you will get something new out of it!

Love you all!
Elder Michael Ueston

PDAY IN BERAT!!!! We looked at bat caves!

moonshine

Our investigator's grandson calls me "Xhaxhi Michael" aka "Uncle Michael"

English course started up again! We had a ton of people! It was dope! The kids love me!

This drunk guy tried to get us to drink his homemade moonshine, I declined. (A lot of Albanians make homemade moonshine btw.)

A doctor told our investigators to drink Moonshine and coffee twice a day after his heart surgery because it will "help." UGGGGG!!!! "If doctors are so smart, why are there millions of them"

Church was great! I played the piano, gave a talk, and taught the lesson in 2nd hour. We only have 2 hours! The best part was I didn't know I would be doing any of this until the last second! #Unplanned #WhyPlan?

Spiritual thought:
"Joseph Smith said all things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The central message of all time is that Jesus is the Christ, that He alone burst the bands of death and triumphed over the captivity of hell; and that there never shall be any other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, except in and through the name of Christ." Thanks President Anderson I know that Jesus is The Christ!  Learn more about him!

Have a great week!


Love
Elder Michael Ueston

amazing people

Stake conference in Durres happened this week! We took a 30 seat bus, we had 26 people come with us! I even met my friend that I baptized about a year ago, and gave him the priesthood! It was an amazing moment!

Missionary work:
Is* is doing great, he knows the church is true and loved conference! he has been bringing us a ton of referrals! He is awesome!
Ti* accepted a date to be baptized. He loved conference a lot! Especially how they talked about the importance of families!
3 new investigators: Referrals that are super prepared and really understood and accepted our message! AMAZING PEOPLE!

Planked for 3 minutes this week, ran a 5k. Basically the fittest person in Lushnje rn! Also for P-day we hiked the Berat Castle!

Spiritual Thought:Families are very important for the Gospel. Families are the most important unit of all time. The book of Mormon is the guide to have a happy family! I am so grateful for the blessings the gospel brings to my family! Family is sacred! Keep it that way!

Love you all!
have a great week!

Elder Michael Ueston

My Son

I dropped off Larsen and grabbed Stapleton in Tirane. (hour and a half)
Drove back to Lushnje. (hour and a half)
Thursday we went back to Tirane to grab my son. (hour and a half)
Drove him to Lushnje (hour and a half)
Drove to Berat (45 mins)
Drove back to lushnje (45 mins)
Monday (today) we went to Tirane to fix the car (hour and a half)
Drove back to Lushnje (hour and a half)
For a total driving of 10 and a half hours of driving! FUN!

My son is from Gilbert AZ. His name is Elder Tobler! He is cool and tall. They grow up so fast!

While we were in our area this week we passed out 700 English course flying! At Church I sat on the stand because it looks like I am the 1st counselor now!

Spiritual thought:This week my thoughts were focused on The Power of the Spirit! The Spirit is like a tour guide in our lives. The Spirit will tell you what is true and help you know what you should do to stay on the right path! I am grateful for the guidance in my life!  Listen to the Spirit!

Love you all! have a great week!

Elder Michael Ueston

Elevator selfie 

Elder Tobler and me

waffle

This week we got a call from president this is how it went:
Pres: "Elder Weston you are training"
Me: "cool"
Yeah so I'm training and I will probably be 1st counselor in my area as well! I am excited! but I will miss Elder Larsen! Cry emoji.  Larsen BYEEEEEEE! I'm getting my son on Thursday!

This week we had a baptism! Ag* and La*, they brought their families, then they all came to church! We doubled the attendance in sacrament this week! #Blessed! Also Ag* got in the water while we weren't looking before the baptismal service and get all wet! hahah super funny!

I went to Berat for an exchange and ate a really good waffle!

Spiritual thought: I am grateful for families! Family are so amazing! I am grateful for my family and their love for me! I know that I will be with them forever through God's Plan!

Love you all! have a great week!

Elder Michael Ueston

25%

This week concerning missionary work was good. 25% of the people in church Sunday were investigators, and 10% was me and my companion! I will let you do the math!  Found a lot of people. Worked hard! It was great! Two people are going to be getting baptized next week! Life is good!

Now the good stuff: one of our recent converts had a great opinion about Asians. "Asian's all look the same... the thing Asians have is agility, because they use sticks to eat their rice." True!

We are teaching a great guy named Is*, he loves bringing us referrals! That is always cool!

Spiritual thought: Being worth for the priesthood is such a blessing. We listened to a story from President Monson's life when he gave his first blessing and after the guy who received the blessing said "I am grateful you hold the priesthood" and President Monson said "me too." be grateful for the simple things! :)

Love you all have a great week or something!

Elder Michael Ueston

Zone Conference

Berat

This Tuesday I went on an exchange. It was a lot of fun to serve with Elder Stapleton for a day! He is a cute kid!

Today for P-day we went to Berat. They have a castle over there and it is super pretty!

The work in Lushnje is going alright! Everyone is at the beach during August and no one wants to meet because it is too hot!

English course has been going well, we have been printing out random word and phrases and are making the students make sentences! It is a lot of fun!

Spiritual Thought:
This week in the lesson in Priesthood, at church, we talked about the Atonement. The Atonement is truly a blessing and the only way that we can return back to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for the merciful plan of God. That he has given us an opportunity to repent!

President Gordon B. Hinckley: "No member of this Church must ever forget the terrible price paid by our Redeemer, who gave His life that all men might live—the agony of Gethsemane, the bitter mockery of His trial, the vicious crown of thorns tearing at His flesh, the blood cry of the mob before Pilate, the lonely burden of His heavy walk along the way to Calvary, the terrifying pain as great nails pierced His hands and feet...We cannot forget that. We must never forget it, for here our Savior, our Redeemer, the Son of God, gave Himself, a vicarious sacrifice for each of us."

I invite you to study the Atonement more!


Love you lots!
Elder Michael Ueston

p-day

Elder Weston's new suit

trustworthy kids

One of our investigators was a little confused when he misread the word
"Bota e shpirtave" (the spirit world) and he said
"Bota e shqipareve" (the world of Albanians.)
The look on his face was priceless!

We had a lesson about turning the other cheek with our favorite recent convert. She said, she doesn't want to turn the other cheek, but she will hit them 3 times! Her excuse was, "What if someone is robbing you?" I am not just going to let them take my stuff! haha fair enough.

Family home evening last week was a big hit, a total of 3 people came! Not all at the same time btw... I hope it goes better this week!!

We made pizza. It was good!

This lady came up to me on the road, I'd talked to her one time before, and she said "Hey watch my 'store'" aka. table on the road, "I have to go and buy something." She was like 70 years old. We sat there for like 10 mins, then she came back and she was grateful! It was service... I guess. I guess we looked like trustworthy kids! #blessed

I pulled out my butchers knife this week, to cut a watermelon, and with my 90° perfect cut, I cut it right in half!! I also cut the plastic cutting board right in half along with it... I forgot how strong I was... whoops.. that's what I get for doing the fitness game!

After District meeting we got ice cream!

Spiritual thought: "For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve." Choose to serve The Lord! As I have served The Lord I have felt some of the greatest joys of my life! I invite you all to Serve Him as well!!


Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Michael Ueston

"Hey watch my 'store'" aka. table on the road 

We made pizza 

We also made a watermelon hammock 

convert

President came down to "The Lush" and we had interviews with him! Right before that we were having a lesson with our favorite recent convert!
Our conversation with our recent convert!

Us: "we would have to make the lesson fast because our president was coming."
Her:"so... do you want me to cut some watermelon?"
Us: "no. like we said we don't have to much time"
Her: "well don't worry about it he can wait for 30 mins"
Us: "no. like he is important. We have to be back on time"
Her: "He can wait, no one is more important then anyone else. Just when he calls tell him you are around the corner and then get there in 15 or 30 mins"
I just started laughing so hard!!!
This is why everyone is 15 mins late to lessons! haha

This week was good! I gave a talk in church. Made a game of Jeopardy for FHE using the BoM for tonight! Met people. English course. Pretty normal.

In district meeting I related my dog named Millie to Alma 20 and 22! Pretty much the best spiritual thought I have ever had!

Spiritual thought:
"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." Alma 26:12
I am so grateful for Ammon's great example of true worship of God!


Love you all! have a great week!
Elder Michael Ueston