Survivor

The Albanian version of "Called to serve," says,"Para, gjithmon’ para... ("Onward, ever onward...)
Para, shkojm’ për para" (Forward, pressing forward")

Plot twist: The word "para" (means Onward, and Forward, in this song) it can also mean "Money." This is how I sing it (translated included)

"Money, Always' Money,
Money, we go for money" 

This is my new favorite song! ;)

There was on earthquake here! There I was sitting in the church, having a lesson, when the church shook a little bit! It was an earthquake!!
Magnitude: 3.2 Depth: 1 km.

IT WAS GIANT! ;)
I AM A SURVIVOR! #ISURVIVED

I was sitting at home when all of a sudden, I got a call from President.  At first I was like, oh crap! Then I was like, maybe he wants to congratulate me on surviving the earthquake? I answered it! He didn't wanna congratulate me, but it was okay. President invited us to go to lunch with him. He was going to lunch with a member and wanted us to translate! We got free food, and got to hang out with President and His wife! IT WAS DOPE!!

I thought that the earthquake was the coolest thing that happened this week until...Ba* (50 years old recent convert) was wearing some legendary Spider-man socks at Church! I was so proud of him!

Our investigators are all doing good. Missionary work is normal! Tomorrow we are going to Elbasan for mission conference!

Spiritual Thought: Alma 1:25 "Now this was a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith; nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God, and they bore with patience the persecution which was heaped upon them."

I am so grateful for their wonderful examples, and I hope that during our lives we can stand fast in faith, being steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God, and be more patient during our persecutions and trials!


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

#ProudDad

My homie Kl* got baptized this week! He was feeling nervous about getting baptized through-out the week, then we reminded him how satan wants him to be nervous! After that he wasn't nervous anymore! He is AWESOME!

Also for the baptism, we made some cookies and my homie from Elbasan came down! #Goals! We went to Ndroq, this village 30 mins away from Tirane, with a bunch of the men in our ward! It was super dope I ate pizza!

Our Persian friend got his Book of Mormon and Gospel Principles book, in Persian, this week! He was so happy! He said "Westttooonn! I am Happy" It was cute! #ProudDad and he passed the sacrament again! If only we were like that when we get Books of Mormons! Know what I am sayin?

I had my last interview with President! He is such a smart guy! We are going to be getting a new President this next month! I will miss Pres.!

We went outside and tried to contact in the rain this week... it didn't work... so we tried to find people without umbrellas and walk with them! It was kinda effective! ;)

Spiritual thought: In district meeting we talking about the sacrament, making sure it is holy, and understanding the symbolism of the sacrament. It really helped me feel the spirit during sacrament on Sunday! It helped me think of why we are taking the sacrament! You all should try to make sacrament a more holy experience for your week!

LOVE YOU ALL! HAVE A GOOD WEEK!
Elder Michael Ueston

Kl*

homie from Elbasan

Skype

Bishop calls us up and says "I want you to visit this member, she is less-active." We went over to her house and she had recently gotten married. Her Italian husband didn't "speak" Albanian or English. I say "speak" because he understood what we said but he couldn't speak and sometimes his wife translated for us! It was so weird! He was speaking to his mother-in-law, she doesn't speak Italian, and he doesn't speak Albanian, but they were both talking in those languages and the crazy part, they were having a conversation! IT WAS CRAZY!!!

I was at the church, I looked out the window, into a courtyard type thing, and I saw a cat sleeping there! So of course, I went out there and looked at the cat. It then woke up, and abruptly ran away! 2 days later, I saw it again and I tried feeding it but it ran away again!  So... the reason why I told you this story is because, if you were a cat, what type of food would you like?

It was raining so much this week! For 2 days in a row we got super wet! For the first day we were trying to wait for the rain to lighten up a little bit... but it didn't... so we just walked through it! The 2nd day we remembered an umbrella... or you could say someone forgot an umbrella at the church!

Our Homie Klaus and Aleks (Alex) are getting baptized this week and I am excited!  My sons passed the sacrament!  N* AND B*, passed the sacrament this week! You have no idea how cool it was to see both of them pass the sacrament, for the first time! It would be as if you had twins passing the sacrament for the first time and you taught them how to do that! know what I am sayin!?

Skyping the family was cool too! I love my family!

Spiritual thought:
"Believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them." Mosiah 4:10
It isn't just about knowing what the Gospel is, but we must apply in into our lives like King Benjamin said.
I have started to grow a love for the scriptures and all they teach me!
READ THE SCRIPTURES!!


Love you all! have a great week
Elder Michael Ueston

funny words

I am going to try to make this email fun

To start off the week, I went on an exchange! I went with my homie Elder Samuel who's from England. (His name is Elder Samuel because his last name is a swear word in Albanian :) ) He says he speak "English" but he uses a lot of funny words for example:

• The pitch (the field)
• Rubbish Bin (trash can)
• Muppets (dumb people)
• Trainers (any type of shoes) 
• What's the crack (what's up)
• cheers (hi but also good bye....)
• pub (bar)
• Pants (not pants)

confusing huh?! for example:
"When I got to the pitch, with my trainers on, my mates said to me 'cheers' and I said 'what's the crack you rubbish bins? want to go to the pub?' Do you understand? I don't either! He is awesome though! As he might say "he is hard-bodied!" (he is cool)

Our work here is doing good. We have a new friend named Ar* who is super cool, the other Elders found him for us (because he lives in our area)! I was hoping people would just call us so we wouldn't have to street contact and it worked! #Blessed!   Our friend Al* didn't sleep in this week and came to church so I guess we could count that as a plus 1!

We played soccer (some might call it football) on the pitch this Saturday, then this morning we played soccer and american football, on the pitch, for P-day, with a lot of the missionaries in Tirane!
The office couple ordered 24 boxes of Russian pamphlets instead of 24 pamphlets this week! haha Don't tell!


Spiritual Thought:Nephi says this to his brothers
1 Nephi 11:17 "I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." Sometimes you don't have to know everything to help other people! Maybe you just need to know that God loves us!  I know that I don't know the meaning of all things but I do know that God really does love us and will always love us!


Love y'all!
Have a great week!

Elder Weston