"I'm a specialist"

After weeks of searching and searching, we finally found V*'s house (aka Waldo shirt guy.) We found Waldo!! #Blessed We drew a map and made V* show us where he lived exactly!

We went to a lady to get my watch fixed, because I couldn't get the back-part of my watch back on. She tried but couldn't. She got the back-part and just started hitting it with a hammer! Then looks up at us and said "I'm a Specialist" She got it back on, she definitely was a specialist!!

We had a great baptism with A*. Right after, we had a fireside with the branch and it went really well. This is the last week I will be with companion before he goes to America!! Shumë Çaj! I am glad he was able to baptize A* before he left!

I will be in Elbasan for the next 6 weeks, with a Canadian, Elder Mero! That will be 24 weeks here in Elbasan. It's good that I love Elbasan! !

This P-day we made waffles with the sisters and we played the game called Bang and also a game similar to Skum, Mulan. It was a good last P-day for my dead companion..


Spiritual Thought:
The ultimate way that we can know that God loves us is through His Son's Atonement. Though His Atonement we should never have to feel alone. Christ suffered the justice of God that we can receive mercy though Him. I know that God loves us all. He sent his Son to die for us and we are blessed to know that though him we are never alone!

I love you all!

Love Elder Michael Ueston

Some sweet statutes in Korçe!

K* baptism

Selfie with random statutes. 

A* baptism

A pizza

Funny story: I met this one guy who started speaking to me in English. He said he learned all his English from movies and listening to Eminem songs!! Killed it. 

Our friend Arjan will be getting baptized on the 13th and he has a super cool story:

This member felt a prompting to buy a pizza and to give it to someone. She didn't know who. She went walking around and found this really old guy (Arjan's dad) and talked to him and gave him the pizza. That next week he came to Church. We talked to him and went to his house the following week (he lives about 30 mins away). We met his family and his son Arjan. Arjan loves coming to church, reading, meeting with us, and wanted to be a member. We told him he had to stop smoking if he wanted to be a member. 

We have been teaching him for about 7 weeks now, he has stopped smoking and is ready for baptism. He now is helping us and has brought 2 of his friends to church which is awesome! I am so grateful that member felt and listened to the prompting of the Spirit. Because of that God is welcoming one more soul into his kingdom!

This week seemed very good! We started english course and it is awesome!!  I bought a sweet watch this week. It's been raining a lot, and we had a Zone Conference in Fier. Just a normal week.

Spiritual thought:

This week we went "area book contacting" and we called this one person who really seemed interested in meeting us. We met them the next day and turns out they live about 1 hour away and don't have a lot of money for a bus to come to Elbasan, but they were here for a funeral. It was amazing how the day that we went area book contacting was the perfect time for us to call them, we were definitely blessed by the spirit. Also she said that her and her family had meet with the missionaries 3 years ago but couldn't be baptized because they lived so far away and couldn't come to church, but she had been reading the Book of Mormon for 2 and a half years, and with in the last 6 months stopped, and said she had waited for us to call them again. We definitely were blessed too be able to meet them and were inspired to call them.

I am grateful that we have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us and to help others. I know that God lives and this is his church! 

Love you all!!

Love Elder Michael Ueston

Albania hospital

This week was really interesting. I was with the mini missionary for 5 days. He had to do a lot of passport stuff and go to the "hospital." and stuff like that. 

We went to this one hospital and imagine a high school chemistry lab, all the chemicals out on a table, on a metal table, and with medical tools all over, then to top it off, the walls were kinda falling apart. It really made me grateful for American hospitals! **don't worry mom there are other hospitals that are good**

Church was only 1 hour this week because we went to an Albanian funeral for a sister. Funny story, we were going to visit her but we didn't know where she lived. Looks like we don't need to know anymore. ;) but serious if you feel a prompting to visit someone you should!! 

On Sunday night we found this guy who had met with missionaries before, his name is Kujtim, he is awesome, he lives really far away but we hope that we will be able to meet with him because he is so awesome! He said he knew the Church was true and remembers some Elders from a while ago! 

Spiritual thought:

This week I really liked what Alma said in this scripture:

Alma 34:9 "for it is expedient that an Atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an Atonement made."

Not many people understand how amazing the gift of the Atonement is! Since the beginning of the earth, God had a plan to have Christ Atone for us so that we all can live with him again. 

I know that God lives and through the Atonement we can be ceased of sin and be able to have endless happiness with our Savior and best friend.

Love Elder Michael Uestën

hot and humid

We tried to find our investigators house who always wears his waldo shirt and we asked a lot of people and none of them knew where he was. It was funny. I kept thinking "No one is going to know where waldo lives, He is waldo!"

We have this Friend, Arjan, who we have been teaching and he is so funny! He should be getting baptized on Aug. 13 and he really wants to help us do missionary work and so we have been going to members houses with him and have been teaching very simple lessons! So much fun!

The only other thing that happened was that we planned 16 first lessons and none of them came, most likely because it is so hot! It has been a very humbling week.

I will be with a mini missionary for the next 2 days! so I am kinda like a trainer right now! #TrainingMySecondTransfer!

Spiritual Though:
Our friend Arjan used to smoke, he is 24 years old. This last week he stopped all smoking and we had another lesson with him and we could see the Light of Christ in him! It was amazing! We have been teaching him for about a month and he has changed and improved so much and I know that the Gospel changes peoples lives! I am so grateful that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through a living prophet!


I love you all! 

Love Elder Michael Ueston

Prayer

We were able to meet K's wife this week and he is amazing too!! K has been telling her about the lesson and she is very interested! It is awesome! THEY ARE AMAZING!!!

We have this guy named Visi. We always meet his in the street and he always wears the same shirt, "a waldo shirt" so it's like playing a game of "where's waldo" every time he says he wants to meet with us.

We printed 1200 English course flyers 300 pages of them and we needed them to get cut. We walked around and found this sketchy sweatshop looking place! they said they would cut it for free. They had this giant knife cutting machine to cut them and it was dope! No safety and nothing else it was sweet! Also it wasn't a sweatshop but it did have a guard dog in a cage, It was a book printing shop thing.

I did a baptism interview this week... so I mean from what I understood it was good! Just kidding the gift of tongues is real!

We have an investigator named Arjan. He is so funny! we have very simple lessons with him and they are like the best lessons I have all week! SO MUCH FUN!!

Spiritual Thought:
PRAYER! This week I really wanted to meet with some people that we had taught before. I prayed on Friday and Saturday that we would meet them and then on Saturday night we meet him in the road!!!!!! and he said he would come to church! We hadn't seem him for about 3 weeks and after praying just for about 24 hours we meet him!
God Love us so much! He wants us to be happy and he wants us to be able to feel of his love. He wants us to humbly ask him for things before he will give them too us! I know that God answered my prayers and I know that God loves me and each one of you!

2nd Transfer!!

2nd Transfer!!

I got a new companion! His name is Elder Eddings, he's from Utah (like all of them.) They call Utah the factory for missionaries! This is his last 6 weeks! He's super cool and served in Kosovo for a while so he is getting used to speaking Albanian Albanian (Tosk.)

K* got baptized!!! HE IS SUCH A STUD!!! At the baptismal service he bore the most amazing testimony and while he was doing this I thought about how we meet him..

**Flashback**
We walked some less actives home and while we were walking one of his friends started talking to us and at the end he said he knew someone who wanted to meet with us! We got K* number and meet with him. We meet with him for the first time and he just he is just looking to do the right thing in life! and now he is! #baptized
He is amazing! We had so many lessons and he we get to know his so much! I can honestly say he is one of my best friends! He is such an amazing guy and I am so grateful for his example to his family and also too me!
***EndFlashback***

So proud of him

Spiritual Thought:
The coolest thing ever was seeing K* after his baptism! He looked like he had a new light! I can't explain it! When we gave him the Holy Ghost and we said "Receive the Holy Ghost" I felt the Spirit almost like a wave. It strengthens my testimony that this Church is true! Our baptism is an amazing promise with God and is a miraculous way we can feel God accepting us into him loving and open arms of mercy!


I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Michael Uestën

Transfer

P-day! Or Free-DAY!!! 'Merica

I am finally done with my training transfer. I will be staying in Elbasan and Elder Eddings will be coming here. I am very excited! I will most likley serve in Elbasan for 3 more months! Also I kinda burnt my 12 week program book, just a little bit. ;)

This week was packed full:
We had a great lesson with our Friend Klodi about tithing and he understood it 100% and said he would be willing to pay more to the Lord!! He is amazing! He should be getting baptized next week! We are so blessed we found him too!! He got his baptism interview on his birthday!

We had an open house for the Church here and it was a lot of fun!
We had this lesson where this guy told us about the government doing all sorts of experiments and stuff and he wanted to sue the government and stuff... I really didn't understand what he was saying!! The only thing I understand was the word "experiment." sooo.... I invited him to do another experiment... the one with Moroni 10... and praying about it.... yeah.... he didn't come back! It was so funny!

Spiritual thought:
Christ will help us through all things! He died for us and wants to help us. Through the Atonement we can use his enabling power and receive strength if we are worthy of it! God often times won't change our situations, but what he can do is give us strength to withstand them, and eventually change them for ourselves.

When Nephi's brothers tied him up he prayed for strength, and he was able to break the bands with his own strengths. He prayed to use the enabling power of the Atonement to help him be strong enough to get though the trial he was facing.

We should pray for strength to change our situation, not just ask for our situation to be changed. With the strength of the Lord inside us we can do all things!

I know that God loves and we can do all things through him! I know that if we pray for strength in our lives we will come to understand the Atonement even more!


Love you all!
Elder Michael Uestën