Touring Europe with the Fam (10/9/17-10)

Editors note* First stop on the way to picking up Jacob was in Greece. We loved it so much but we were so excited to see our boy! We felt like kids the night before Christmas!!

I loved seeing my family so much! It was such a uniqe experience to have
them come and pick me up.. Something I will never forget! Seeing them come
through the gates in the Tirana Airport was amazing.

With a member we call Gjyshi! (Grandpa)

In my last area, Pogradec

First few days in Albania we spent having lunch with my Mission President
and going around to meet some of the members!

Second part of the trip we were off to Kosovo! It was a long drive but a lot of
fun. We had a wonderful Turkish meal at my favorite place, got a tour of the
church building and the mosque's.. and had the chance to spend the evening
with the branch president in Kosovo, President Teli!

The last stop was Macedonia. We only had a little time to stop, grab lunch with
the missionaries serving there and do some sight seeing. It was awesome!

Our next stop was Italy.. We left Albania early in the morning and my emotions
got the best of me. It was one of the hardest things to get on that plane and leave
the country I have grown to love so much over the past two years. It is an
indescribable feeling. However, Rome was amazing, it was great to see the Temple,
do a LOT of sight seeing, and of course, having McDonalds for the first time :)

In the Vatican!

The Rome Temple

After Rome it was off to Sweden! It was so awesome to go and see Kalebs
mission and to get a glimpse of what his mission life was like. All and all it
was a wonderful trip!! I loved seeing my family and touring Europe with them.

Towards the end of the trip, everyone was sad that it was coming to an end.. But for me, going back to America was the big exclamation mark to what was a great trip. I loved seeing my family at the airport and seeing Zac and Makail who weren't able to come on the trip and I especially loved meeting my niece Isla. Glad to be home!!

Picture from my homecoming: It was so great to have friends from the mission
there as well as my old Mission President, President and Sister Weidmann!!

Final Blog (10/8/17)

The biking crew!

Well, this is it! My last week as a missionary in Albania. It was a really good one actually.. It was crazy! We were really busy though. So we had a way fun activity with the members where we rented and road bikes all the way to Macedonia it was so fun! So we get to Macedonia which was like an hour long bike ride... then when we turn around to get back..... My tire popped! It was awesome hahaha. So I tried to ride on it just slow and carefully but that just made it worse lol so that sucked. So I ended up riding with a member on his bike, the member road on the handle bars and my companion drove while holding onto my  broken bike it was so funny! It was sooooo hard though riding with someone on my handlebars.. He was not very light haha. But it was a way fun activity!

One last comp pic!

Then later on in the week we had a Zone Conference. It was really strange to just be sitting there and thinking "man none of this applies to me at all!" it was crazy though because at your last Zone Conference you give your "Dying Testimony" or your last testimony. It was super weird. I feel like my whole mission I would look at other missionaries give their final testimonies and I would just think "That is never going to be me..." And now, here I am! It was really good though. One cool thing was I was able to get trained for my final training by my old companion, Elder Miller. It was crazy because his first transfer I was training him as his Zone Leader now in my last transfer he is giving me my last training as a missionary! Weird weird. 

Cool lookout at the end!

So real quick last funny story.. So we were at our recent converts house...  having dinner. They were the ones that just got baptized like, a few weeks ago. So they get out this really suspicious drink and I ask them, does this have alcohol in it? And they were like no no of course not! We live the word of wisdom! We don't drink alcohol! So we just drink it... Then we find out that it was actually a gift from one of their family members.. I guess what I am trying to say is that it definitely did have alcohol. It was so funny. Me and my comp got a little buzzed at that lesson ha and I told them that it has alcohol and they feel really bad now and they threw it out. It was a good way to end my mission though! Get drunk with my trainee!! 

My destroyed bike 

Anyways so then this week we watched conference! I really loved it. My last 2 days as a missionary I was able to hear from living day prophets, seers, and revelators. What a way to finish! I felt like they based the whole conference on me, giving me advice on going home and how to stay strong. I loved especially there emphasis on the Book of Mormon and on Families as well. It was really cool for me. Also another talk I really liked was David A Bednar talking about going to the Temple and Sabbath Day, how they are both connected and a way to fully bring the Spirit in our lives. I am so excited to go to the Temple! 

For Mom!

Well I guess this is it. Elder Farny signing off! I just want everyone reading this blog to know that I know that what I have been doing for the past two years, IS the work of the Lord. I am so very grateful for my mission. These have been an amazing two years, but I will not accept that they will be the "best two years of my life" Because I know that I will have amazing years ahead of me because of the amazing testimony I have built for the Gospel of Jesus Christ over the past two years. I KNOW that this church is true. I KNOW that this is the only way to happiness. I am so very grateful for the very personal relationship I have developed while working side by side with my Savior over the past two years. He is my friend, I love Him so very much. With all my heart accept His invitation, "Come unto Me" because I know that that is the key to happiness and peace in this life. I know that His church was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I have had experiences while reading the Book of Mormon that are very sacred to me and that I cannot deny. I know that that book "is the most correct of any book on this Earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.” I love reading it, I invite everyone to read it daily because it has a huge effect on life. I am grateful that I am lucky enough to be with my family for eternity. After spending two years without them, I have grown a strong desire to be with them forever. I love them. I am grateful for their support throughout my mission and for the support of all of my friends as well. I love the Lord. I love this church. And I have LOVED my mission. I say that In the name of Jesus Christ... Amen. 

FARNY OUT! 🎤 *mic drop* 

Best Weekend Ever! (10/2/17)

Our 1 year old church in Pogradec!!

This week was amazing! It was really busy but it all turned out amazing. So at the beginning of the week we realized that on Friday it was the

Me as "One of the daughters of Ishmael" 

Pogradec 1 year anniversary of being open to mission work! So we decided to through a party for it! We didn't really know how we were going to put together a party in like 4 days but we were determined! So we worked at it all week.. and it all turned out so great! We made these little flyers and stuff and handed them out and a ton of families showed up! We made the whole focus of it on families which made it really special! We played a game of jeopardy which the Albanians loved so much! It was the first time they ever placed it and it came together really well. Then me and my comp did this skit which was like the highlight of the night.. He dressed up like Nephi and I was "One of the daughters of Ishmael" and we like sang a love song together and then like we did a traditional Albanian wedding dance which was like hilarious. I wore a skirt and a yellow mop on my head it was really goofy but it was so funny! We also got a cake with all the names of the missionaries that served in Pogradec from the beginning! It was a really successful night. The members all seemed to love it which was awesome! 

Baptism day

So the next day was also amazing.. Because Virgjinia and Kostandin got baptized!! It was really special! We drove out to this part of the lake about 30 minutes away from Pogradec and baptized them in the lake! It was a gorgeous place. We were pretty worried because a day before the baptism it was freezing cold outside and like rain and wind and it was just terrible. We were worried that the baptism was going to just be miserable but then it ended up being sunny!! The sun came out of the clouds right after we baptized them which was really special for them. They are such an amazing couple and they always talk about their goal of one day getting sealed in the Temple. This week we are going to get them started with their Family History work so that we can have them take it to the temple! Me and my companion were talking about it this week.. Missionary work in Albania is special because I feel like we aren't only doing missionary work on this side of the vale but we play a huge part on helping with the work on the other side as well! In the communist times in Albania all of the records of peoples ancestors and stuff were destroyed so there are very very little written records of peoples ancestors. So me and my comp were talking about how important it is that Virgjinia and Kostandin do family history work because they are literally the only hope of their ancestors names getting to the temple! It is really special. I love this Gospel! 

We are also teaching this guy named Kosta who has amazing faith. He lives in a really humble home and doesn't have work but he has great faith! He has read 150 pages of the Book of Mormon and he loves it! On Sunday night we had a Word of Wisdom lesson with him and he gave me his pack of cigarettes and told me that he was never going to smoke again! It was amazing! 

Me and my trainees family pictures 

Well, this is it. One more week then the tag comes off! I can't believe that it has already come and gone. I have loved my mission so so much and I am determined to finish strong :) Stay tuned for my final remarks next week! 

Elder Farnworth 

I love missionary work! (9/25/17)

Cute picture of the couple we will be baptizing this week! 

Man this week was awesome. So we have been teaching someone named Virgjina and Kostandin, they are awesome! They are an older couple that have huge faith in Christ. So they have been coming to church for a while and kind of have had some problems and some questions but like this week... Everything just made a huge turn for the better! So my comp and I were really just praying that they would soften their heart about baptism and would accept that this is the true church and all that stuff.. That was like the focus of most of our prayers.. So we had a lesson with them about the Priesthood and about temples.. It was amazing! We taught about temple marriage and families being sealed for all eternity and both of their faces just lit up! Neither of them had heard anything like it before, and they thought that it was the most beautiful thing ever. We also explained the work for the dead that happened in the temple and they both talked about their parents and asked if it was possible to do the work for them and we of course said yes! It as so awesome! Ever since then they have really started to take everything a lot more serious.. And now they are going to be baptized this weekend! I gave them a picture of my brother and his wife, Zac and Makail, at the temple on their wedding day. They said that they are going to frame it to remind them of their new goal of going to the temple one day to be sealed together! I definitely have a testimony of the divine help that we as missionaries get in our work. During our prayer in the lesson Kostandin shared that he saw a room full of people that look familiar to him. I imagine all of his ancestors, waiting outside of the baptism font, waiting for him to go to the temple to get baptized for them! I love missionary work! 

Loving the beach weather! Starting to cool down!!

We are also meeting with this other family, named Drita, Kosta, and Sebastian. Drita is the mom, Kosta the son, and Sebastian the grandson! Meeting with them has really really humbled me.. They live in a really humble home with only tiny room.. They have their beds and kitchen and a tv crammed in that one room. Yet they have so much faith in Christ and have a desire to follow them!! It reminds me of the Zoramites in Alma 32 who were humbled because of how poor they are. I hope that I can be humble all of my life without have to be made humble through poorness or anything like that.. I hope that I can always just choose to be humble and to follow Christ my whole life! Lessons with them are going great though.. He has read over a hundred pages of the Book of Mormon in less that a week which is amazing! And all three of them came to church :) Super excited for them!! 

Mine and my companions shoes compared to an Albanian shoe..... 

Another thing I hope to never take for granted is going to the temple. I feel like this week I talked about the temple with a lot of people.. And I never realized how lucky I am to live in a place where I can be surrounded by temples!! None of the members in Pogradec have ever been to the temple.. So it is their great dream to be able to go there! Unfortunately, until the Rome Temple gets finished, their closest temple is in Switzerland. It is really hard to get the money to go there so it is just really hard for them all to go to the temple.. I will never take it for granted! I was talking to some members and they asked me how close was the temple to my house and I told them 15 minutes and they said that that is literally a dream! They would give anything to live 15 minutes away from the temple. Don't ever take the temple for granted! I feel like that is a big reason why I got called to a mission that doesn't have a temple so that I will realized how lucky I am to live close to the temple. My invitation to everyone reading this is to go to the temple this week!! Love you all! 

Elder Farnworth

This week was great!!! (9/18/17)

Me and Olsi

We were so blessed with a lot of work. So just a couple of highlights from the week!! So I don't know if I told you about this.. but if I did I am sorry but I am going to again... So here in Pogradec there is a really really nice house that is on the 7th floor and has like a really nice view of the lake and stuff. Anyway so we used to live there but then the Sisters came to Pogradec and they didn't want to move into the house that the mission got for them so they stole our house from us.... now we live on the 1st floor in a pretty sketchy area.. but I can't complain because it is a pretty nice house still. ANYWAY, so when we were talking to our Mission President about moving out he kind of jokingly said "I promise you will be blessed because of your sacrifice" well.. that promise came true!! So we move into our house and we meet our neighbor, who's name is Drita, she is an angel!! She said she wanted to come see our church one day so she came by just to check it out. Then the other day we were walking home and she invites us in to teach her and her son and her grandson! We teach them an amazing lesson and they all accepted baptism dates! It was so awesome!! I guess the Lord works in mysterious ways right?

Me and Brisil

 Also another huge blessing for this week was our English Course. We have been passing out flyers and advertising a ton for our English Course.. and when we started it up a ton of people came it was awesome! But the miracle was on Friday.. we planned to have a picnic with the branch and just a few of our investigators and stuff... Just a small little picnic. So we start telling our English Course about it and invite everyone there to it.. we kind of just expected it to be a small picnic so we didn't really buy too much food but then 60 PEOPLE showed up!!! Most of the kids in our English Course showed up and brought their families!! It was amazing we were able to give them all a quick tour of our small church then we went and had a great picnic full of games and we had to buy more food to feed everyone! It was a huge success! It is crazy because this is by far the smallest branch I have ever served in but that was definitely the best turn out to any activity I have ever had my whole mission! Awesome!!

Our VOGUE magazine pose!

 Sunday was super fun because a couple friends from Tirana named Olsi and Brisi came! They are so so awesome.. it was so fun to have them at church!! They both spoke and were able to meet all the members and our investigators it was awesome!! I am really going to miss all of the great people and amazing friends I have met on my mission. I really do cherish the time I have been here so so much, I am so grateful for everyone here and at home that shows me so much love and support. 

I love you all!!!
Elder Farnworth

Olsi gets the Melchizedek Priesthood! (9/11/17)

Me and son when and bought a blender and made Oreo McFlurries 

Another week in the books! Each week is going by crazy fast. Time just flies here! It has been good though. So me and my companion, Elder Miller, have just been working like crazy!! We don't have that many people that we are currently teaching right now so we are just doing a lot of finding! We have been on the streets a lot, and since summer has ended there have not been a lot of people out! So we have just been walking a bunch trying to find people! It is great and especially great learning experience for my trainee. He is doing amazing and is already so great at the language and really confident which is great! I couldn't have asked for a better companion to finish my mission with!

So we have been teaching this couple for a while, named Virgjinia and Konstintin, they are so awesome. They have been coming to church for a while but haven't really been progressing a ton until lately! We have had some amazing lessons with them. They have really plunged themselves in the Gospel and are super excited to get baptized and to become members in this church! This week we really helped them see the big picture of not only getting baptized, but also being able to go to the temple and be sealed for time and eternity! They are really excited to work towards baptism then strive spiritually and financially to go to the temple! I am so grateful that I am here and have this opportunity to tell these people about all of these great things!! I love missionary work!

Typical Albanian Village!

So another thing that was really cool about this week was that we had Stake Conference on Sunday!! It was so awesome to get together with all of the members from Albania and Kosovo for the last time! It was so weird that I was saying goodbye to most of them. I loved it there because I was able to see all of the wonderful friends I have made over the past 2 years! I am going to miss them all so so much. 

Also another really awesome thing that happened this week was that my recent convert, Olsi, got the Melchizedek Priesthood! He asked me to give it to him, which was a really special experience for both of us! I am so grateful for him and for his great faith. He is such a great example for me!! I am really grateful for the opportunity that I have had to meet him and teach him and see him grow into the great man that he is now! I know that he is going to go on to do great things (including serving a mission) Love you Olsi!! 

I am grateful for this time that I have to serve in Pogradec, it is such a special city! The members here are awesome. The work here is going great! Only good things to say about these last weeks of my mission!

Love you all,

Elder Farnworth 

I have a son! (9/4/17)

Bye Elder Samuel

This week was great!! Bitter sweet.. but definitely more sweet! So on Tuesday we went to Tirana to take Elder Samuel home! He was just going around saying goodbye to members and doing a bunch of different stuff and stuff so I was just tagging along with him. Then the mission president let me come to his exit dinner with him! It was so much fun but it was really weird.. Then on Wednesday we took him to the airport and that was that! Him and Elder Cox are home.. super weird that I was like in the MTC with them now they are home. I will be shortly following them! It was really sad to see them both go I will miss them a ton. 

Okay so that was the bitter side of it, but here is the sweet side.. I am finally able to train! My first time my whole mission.. better late than never! So I got put with an Elder named Elder Miller! My second time serving with an "Elder Miller" haha. He is so cool! He is from Roy Utah. And me and him get along really well! We have a lot in common and stuff. I am so excited to be able to finish my mission serving with him! He calls me dad all the time haha I love it, he is so awesome.

Me and Elder Miller

So we didn't get back to Pogradec until Thursday night but it was cool cuz right when we got back we had a bunch of lessons with our friends.. We had one lesson with this couple and randomly in the middle of the lesson they were like, we really want to get baptized in this church as a couple!! I was like okay!! Ha it was so awesome and such a miracle because last time we invited her to be baptized she said no.. But now that we are teaching both of them I guess they feel a lot more open to it when they are learning together as a couple. It was awesome! I am excited to teach continue to teach them and hopefully they will be able to prepare for their baptism date! 

So I kind of feel bad for Elder Miller... His first couple days he has had to deal with a lot of crap with the members haha. We have had a few members get really offended and come in the church like screaming at the missionaries and stuff then another member came on Sunday getting mad at us for not giving him money.. Ha but maybe that is why is here! To be able to help these members get over stuff like this. He actually handled it really well! We went over to the 2 offended members on Sunday and he led the Spiritual though with them and they yelled a little bit but by the end of it they were okay again and they were really happy with the missionaries again! I was like good job son!! 

Also, one other crazy thing to mention.. so there is this place here that has way good pizza and crepes and they just randomly decided to hate on us because we are Christian!! They always like glare and stuff.. So today we tried to go and eat there and he like wouldn't let us! And I was like why not and he started talking crap on us and stuff.. It was dumb. So I was like fine! I don't even want your pizza or your crepes! (When really I was like dang it those crepes were good) But I am still so happy to be a disciple of Christ!! 

Things are going great!! Only 5 more weeks! Crazy! I am definitely going to work my hardest these next 5 weeks but I am excited to get home and see my fam especially my niece and all of my brothers new puppies!!!!!!!

Elder Farnworth