An expensive waffle

We did some service this week, Elder Farnsworth and I found a hoe, and I thought, "what should we do with this hoe? maybe take a picture with the hoe." So that is what we did, took a picture with the hoe! :)

I went on 2 exchanges! One with Elder Miller and with Elder Draper, they both are AWESOME! Elder Miller is from England and he thinks he knows english because he is from England, but I had to remind him "I am from The Land of The Free, Home of The Brave!" America! ;) . With Elder Draper, we had a killer time we played some games and ate some cookies dipped in Nutella, Healthy! For his bday we went to a killer waffle place! It was dope! (and missionary work)

We made a fruit salad for district lunch for 3 times in a row! You could say I am really good at making fruit salads now!

At church my friend ,Joe, from Elbasan who moved to Italy came! It was so awesome to see him again!!!

BTW: Important: I will not be able to email next week on Monday, because that is when mission conference will be, so we are going to be emailing on Wednesday!  This week is gunna be crazy!

Spiritual thought:We taught a lesson this week in Sunday school about Truth, and how we can know if something is true! It was awesome! We talking about Jacob 4:13
"for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls"
And 1 Nephi 10:19 "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round."

I know that for all of those people who are looking for the truth the best way is through the spirit! I know that The Book of Mormon is true, because every time I read it the spirit testifies of this fact!

Love you all! 

Have a great week!

Elder Michael Ueston

An expensive waffle

Me and Joe

"I ho(p)e they call me on a mission"

hitchhiking part 2

We have some great stories this week! You know what that means!! STORY TIME!

Deaf Guy:
I am about to get on the bus, when I started "talking" to someone. He looked at me and nodded his head no (which in Albania can mean anything.)  I was thinking, "So you don't want to talk... this is going to be an awkward bus ride", then he pulls out his phone, goes into notes and types: "I am deaf do you need something?" then boom, I started talking to him about the Gospel. We are going to meet again tomorrow!  If you were wondering! I am so gratefully we have pamphlets he can read!
Moral of the story: You don't need to talk to everyone, because you might be deaf.

Mario is going to get baptized on the 11th of March!

Air-Freshener:
Me and my companion bought an air-freshener, NOT because our house smells bad, but just because our house doesn't have a smell. Now our house smells like lavender! It is great! After getting home from a hard day of work our house smells great!
Moral of the story: #Blessed

We made banana bread, it tasted good, but SOS we need a better recipe! :)

Hitchhiking Part 2:
The first time I hitchhiked I was with my German father, 2nd day in the country. The second time (this time) I was in the middle of a sketchy town late at night trying to get home.
Here's why:
We were at an investigators home, they fed us some great food, pasta, olives, spinach, then we had a lesson on Charity. We looked at the clock and it is 8:45. We have to get home in 45 mins. So we leave and start running to one of the two bus stops. As we are running on this road perpendicular to the road, when ZOOOM we see the last bus drive past! Then we are like, "Oh Crap" so we start walking down the long and dusty road, with our thumbs out hoping a nice person would pick us up and bring us to the next bus stop.  A couple of cars drive by without luck. Then this guy stops. (I say a quick prayer) and get it! He was a nice guy and takes us to the next bus stop. Then we ended up getting home exactly at 9:30 + or - 2 mins (according to the watch you look at.)
Moral of the story: hitchhiking is fun. Do it at home.

We played Frisbee a lot, we had a lot of fun lessons.  We saw a dog squad 12 of them!

Bajrëm "brings" a friend:
We met Bajrëm, (Bae-Rum) again after english course and right before the lesson he asked this 12 year old, btw Bajrëm is about 40, if he wants to join us in the lesson. Then he grabs him and pulls him into the lesson.
Moral of the story: it doesn't matter how you get people to come to the lessons, as long as they come!

We met this members Muslim family. They don't like missionaries that much. They are great.......

Spiritual Thought:
D&C 122:7 "...know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
When we have trials God saying that they are for our experience.  I am so grateful for all the blessing and trials in my life that help me gain experience and become a better person!


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

My new "Rolex" watch :)

Service Project

Goodbye Elder and Sister Abrahamsons

Frisbee

American Fashion that's me

"Everyone" (kinda) is asking me what I am going to do for Valentines Day, well, I am going to wake up at 6:30am, get my hair looking nice, then make myself some eggs in a heart shape. #Goals

This week, we got a new investigator named Re* (re-shee-t) he is great and old.

We got an investigator, Na*, who wanted to set me and my companion up with some girls. He said he had a cute bar tender or something.. Yeah anyways... I don't think he was to interested to learn.

Friday we sang in some choir at this ceremony that the church had call "My Family Colors." It was interesting. All these people were taking pictures of us. It was weird. But seriously I have sang more this week then any other time of my life!

Then on Saturday the AP's baptized this one super cool guy! He is awesome! I have a picture!

This sign said "American Fashion" That's me!

Spiritual Thought:
Moses 7:18 " And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
Mosiah 18:21 "And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another."
Often times we are angry with our friends with members of the church. The Lord commanded us to be one heart and one mind.
We are all on the same team.
If we will have our hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another we will grow together and be stronger in the gospel!


I love you all!
Elder Michael Ueston

1000 Leks ($10.00)

I found out that a kilogram of sausage was only 400 Lek, or about $3.60. No worries I bought it! I didn't want to lose money! And I might do it again this week! ;)

Interesting Fact: When Albania was under communist rule they changed the word "baptism" to "Pagezim," which means, "without joy." Pa: without, Gezim: Joy. Interesting huh?

This week was really interesting, We talked to a lot of people and a lot of them said they could meet... "neser, neser, neser" (tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow) which means "one day." Or they said "Do T'Ju Marr Vetë" (I will call you.) I am so excited for that "tomorrow" they are all going to meet with us! Or that day when they will call us!

We met this Guy from Brazil this week, he's a member. He was lost, we helped him find him home and the church, so he could come to church the next day! You probs could say we found a lost sheep!

We met this guy named Mario he is super cool! He is smart and I hope he gets baptized, 1. because baptism is great, 2. His name is Mario! Then I will find a Luigi

STORY TIME: This week we saw a couple of homeless people asking for money, we didn't get them any BUT. Later that day we went outside and went behind some building to pray and found 1000 Lek (10 dollars) and I thought "If the beggars would just go and pray God would take care of them." Moral of the story: "seek first the kingdom of God!" 3 Nephi 13:33


Spiritual Thought: This week I thought it would be nice to use the bible, In Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

I know that though the Lord we should never be afraid because he is always there for us and will always help us, like D&C 84:88 says " I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

I know that the lord will always be there to lift us up and help us!

I love you all!
Elder Ueston

"Good Tidings"

This week a lot of funny little things happened!

1. Mission Conference in my hometown ELBASAN! And they changed a lot of things like our schedule and key indicators and it was sweet seeing everyone again!

2. We didn't get a transfer call, so we are staying here in Tirana.

3. This guy got baptized then we had an Albania dancing party! It was sweet! And people brought food and we sold it so the young women could get money to go to the temple! I was spoiled in Utah!

4. Our homie Shefik read the Book of Mormon and wants to get baptized! I am so excited!

5. I made about 80 waffles, 6 times the recipe!

6. The lights when out during our English course and we had it in the dark! Good thing english is all about talking!

7. I tried to make cookies, we had 30 mins during lunch... they didn't work out!

And that is what happened to me this week!

Spiritual thought:
I was reading in 3 Nephi 20:40 "..How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!"

In Albanian "Good Tidings" Translates to "Good News." Also a lot times in the Albanian Bible they replace "Gospel" with "Good News"

How true this is! On the earth today the gospel is the best news that anyone can get! The gospel is the news of salvation. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who gave us His fathers gospel that we can return to Him, and that He restored the gospel upon the earth today! I love Him with all my heart.

I invite you all to bring Good tiding unto your friends, and publish peace by inviting people to church!


Love you all!
Elder Michael Ueston

1/2 way

On Friday it will be my 1/2 way mark! "Woah, we're half way there Woah, livin' on a prayer" -Bon Jovi

Story Week:

Did you read "Wephi?"
We met Leonard again in the road this week! He said he was in Switzerland... It was funny because I saw him a couple more times.. he wasn't in Switzerland. haha! So we asked him if he had read the Book Of Mormon. He said "Yes", I asked him if he remembers Nephi "Yes." By this time, I knew he was lying so I asked him "have you read Wephi?" Don't worry everyone He read from the book of Wephi! I don't know what book he has, but he read it! So..... yeah we aren't planning on meeting him again!  Moral of the story: If they read "Wephi" ask them if they are really reading the Book of Mormon or not!

He was a member.. #PlotTwist:
I meet this guy in the road, we were talking for a while and he never told me he was a member from the 2nd ward, and I didn't ask either. So... I set up a lesson "with this investigator." The next day we were in the church with these 2 members and they were saying they were waiting for the 2nd ward Elders. The other Elders told me they were weekly planning, but never answered their phone. After about 20 mins of waiting they left, the members left, then I tried to call that "Investigator that was coming." I call the members that were walking away............ It was Awkward! Moral of the Story:"are you a member"

This week we found a lot more people, President came to our district meeting, had an interview, and we started English course! Our homie Armando came to church!

Spiritual Thought:
Helaman 3:8 "Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God." God invites all of his children to come unto him though us! Help God's work by inviting people to learn more about God!


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

This P-day we played Frisbee! 

Custom-Millie-Leather-Macedonian-Journal (CMLMJ for short)

This week I want to send a lot of pictures because I haven't for a while!

My Custom-Leather-Macedonian-Journal (CLMJ).  I went to a place that can laser things into leather! And I think I made a great choice!  

Custom-Millie-Leather-Macedonian-Journal (CMLMJ for short)

It is basically the coolest thing you will ever seen in your whole life! 

We got snow this week!!!!!! 

This is when we watched star wars (On New Years)!

Albanian money

I promised I would take a picture with this guy! Cute Xhaxhi

At least I will always have millie!

I went on an exchange with my German "Dad" again! I made him waffles! (that bottle has waffle mix)

Our homie from Elbasan came to Tirane!

These are some PJ's my mom sent me! #GOALS!

This week I went on an exchange, it snowed, we passed out English course flyers, find, and lessons! It was a great week!

Spiritual Thought:
My spiritual thought will comes from this photo:

"Don't be another brick on the wall"

Mosiah 3:19 "For the natural man is an enemy to God...unless he.... becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him ...."


If we are just another brick on the wall, we are most likely becoming the natural man. We must always try to follow The Lord and not be that brick! Through the Atonement we can receive strength to overcome all temptations!

I know that if we will use the Atonement we can become stronger and better members of God's church!

If you have time listen to this talk it is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfF_XfcKtwg

I love you all! have a great week!

Elder Michael Ueston