Elder Farnworth is on his way to Albania! (12/29/15)

*Editor's Note:  Jacob was able to call us from the airport at 6 in the morning.  He was headed to Chicago.  He sounded good and was ready to begin his adventure to Albania.  He was tired and hadn't slept much that night in the MTC. His flight was delayed and we were able to talk for a few minutes while he waited in the SLC airport. He slept all the way to Chicago and then they barely made their connecting flight to Austria!  He was able to call us while sitting on the plane in Chicago and talk for a few minutes (not nearly long enough).  He had a 10 hour flight to Austria and then another flight from Austria to Albania.  We are eager to hear from him or his Mission President to let us know he made it safely there!  

It was such a happy Christmas...(12/26/15)

It has been such a great last week in the MTC!! I am ready to go to Albania! (hopefully).. If you don't already know I am leaving on Tuesday and I fly to Chicago, then Austria, then The Promise Land (Albania). Its going to be more than a day of traveling but I am super stoked. :)

Visiting Temple Square with my companion from England

I was able to go to temple square last week!  My companion is from England and they let the missionaries from foreign countries go to temple square.  We had a great time, it was nice to get out of Provo:)

These are all of my teachers, I'm going to miss them so much!

Last Sunday was great! So every Sunday we have to prepare a talk in Albanian, but we don't know who is going to get called on to speak. We literally find out seconds before, they say "we will now hear from: Elder so and so". So this last Sunday he said "We will now hear from Elder Farnworth" which was scary.. But I was pretty prepared! I got up and gave about a 10 minute talk in Albanian it was great! It made me so excited to go to Albania because I will be speaking to real Albanians my first Sunday there because it will be fast Sunday! ah, so excited! :)

This is our Christmas tree!

Our Christmas Card

Nothing else really happened the rest of the week, just usual. See you next week... PSYCH, Christmas was amazing :) For Christmas Eve we had some great devotionals, then we put on a Nativity scene as a district in our residence halls, it was a huge hit people from every floor came to see it. (For videos of it, contact Lisa Farnworth) Then on Christmas, we woke up early to open presents which was really nice. After that we heard from David A. Bednar and it was so amazing! He handed out 150 cell phones and had people text in questions and it was kind of like a Q&A and I learned so much from it. He is such an awesome man!!! I loved it the Spirit was so strong. Then they did a weird 2 man play of the Christmas Carol but I fell asleep for that. Then I called someone.. can't remember who. ;) then David Archuleta came and sang to us which was meh. The Sister missionaries all freaked out though. But he had Lexi Walker singing with him and she is amazing!! I think she has a famous video on YouTube of her singing Let It Go or something. But yeah then we watched a pioneer movie then just went to bed after that. It was such a happy Christmas!! One that I will remember for a long time :) 

Headed to Albania!

Well this is my last blog post from the MTC! Good Riddance! Can't wait to go to Albania on Tuesday :) Love you all!!

Elder Farnworth

My squad in a blizzard!

Elder Farnworth and Elder Samuel

I am going to Albania in 12 days! (12/17/15)

This week was great! It is crazy how fast this is going, but it is still not even real to me that I am going to Albania in 12 days! Ah! So excited :) On Sunday we heard from the BYU's men's chorus which was great, I really feel like I have grown to love Mormon Music sooo much. (I'm such a missionary I know. ;) But also really excited for Christmas in the MTC, I should be hearing from 2 Apostles I think so that is way rad :) 

Elder Samuel fell asleep so we had some fun with him :)

We study in style

The MTC has been going great! It is so challenging at times. The language is still so hard, there are some days where I just feel so drained from studying it so much. But then I feel so good about myself! One cool experience I had was on Monday. I just felt like I could not understand or speak Albania! Its normally hard to get back in the swing of speaking Albanian because we don't at all on Sunday, but for some reason this week was harder! So After Mondays class, my teacher left a note on the bored about how this is the Lords work, not ours, and we need to turn to him in all things with prayer. So I prayed for help in the language and stuff, and I just felt like I need to work harder. Which is weird because normally think "Wow I am working so hard!" which for me is true, because compared to before my mission I am working hard. But I am now a representative of Jesus Christ and if he were on the earth he would definitely be working harder than I am! So I set a lot of goals for myself and I did a lot of practicing with the language, even when I got back to the residence hall I studied and prepared and stuff. And I definitely felt the blessings from that work! We got a new "investigator" and everyone who taught her before was like "She is just on her phone the whole time and doesn't listen" So I was pretty nervous but when I went in me and elder samuel were just doing so great with the language and everything and answering all of her questions and the spirit was there and she didnt get on her phone once! It was so amazing. Hard work pays off!

This is for you mom: Our "christmas tree" :)

Ou Christmas advent calendar collections

Also we there is a girl come into the MTC this last week named Cajupi, She is from Albania going to the Adriatic South! So it is cool. But since she is already fluent in Albanian she doesn't have class with us but it is cool to talk to her and stuff. She seems way nice. I am just so excited to leave this prison and go to Albania!!!!!! 

ps- I know the MTC isn't prison. :) In prison they let you watch TV... 

Love you all!!

Elder Farnworth

I just got a haircut so my hair isnt that crazy and long anymore.. 

The Lord is helping me learn Albanian (12/10/15)

You know you've been here a long time when some random person says to you "You're still here?" Ha. This week was great though, it was probably the fastest week of the whole MTC, so I cant really remember everything about it. But it was a good one! I am super happy here and I love the Spirit that I constantly feel here. My teachers tell me I need to stop acting like I am in prison haha, so I guess that can just be one of my goals for next week! ;)

Abby sent me some festive socks in a package :)

My lessons went good, all of my "investigators" got "baptized" so I don't know what we are going to do now.. probably just get new ones. But I had a really cool experience in one of my lessons: So before we go into a lesson me and my comp say a prayer, so I was saying a prayer and I normally say like "please bless that we can have the gift of tongues" but I totally forgot to ask for it in this prayer. So when we get into the lesson, our investigator starts asking questions that she has about the Book of Mormon, and my mind was just completely blank I could not speak Albanian. So I realized that it was because I didn't ask for the gift of tongues!! It was like Wallus and Grammet, "CRACKERS GRAMMET! WE FORGOT THE CRACKERS" Lol so while my comp was talking, I quickly said a prayer and asked for it, then right after I felt like I was back in the swing of things and was talking really well. It was a nice little tender mercy and a good realization of how much I need to rely on God's help for me to learn this language. If you think about it, God speaks perfect Albanian. He knows more Albanian than my teachers or any of the books I have about Albanian. So why wouldn't I look for him to help me learn it? I really have Him to thank for the progress I have been making. 

Last picture of my old zone! 

So yeah, that was one of my spiritual experiences of the week :) Thanks for the support and love :) Love you all!! Have a fantastic week!

Also I really like this quote: "The biggest enemy of 'perfection' is 'pretty good.' "

-Elder Farnuërth

I'm so excited to go to Albania, I'm dying here! (12/3/15)

This week was really really good! My goal for the week was to just work as hard as I can, at the end of the day I just feel warn out which is such a good feeling I love it. So hopefully I can keep that up. Sometimes it is hard because I will sometimes wake up and just be like "I hate everything!" So days like those it is hard to be motivated to work hard and stuff. But I am trying to keep a positive attitude:) 

Also, its crazy because after Monday we will be the oldest district in my zone so that is just nuts! I feel like I just got here haha. But we got new zone leaders and district and we decided we are going to start a revolution and overthrow them so, I will keep you posted on that!

On a more spiritual note, yesterday I had the most amazing experience ever. So every Wednesday we Skype with real Albanian members, and my comp had practice for this MTC Christmas choir thing so he couldn't come, so I had to teach ALONE. Which like, no one does. I was the first to do it and it was so scary! Then they like gave me like the meanest girl to teach, we have taught her before and all she does is correct your grammar and tell you that you suck at speaking Albanian and stuff. So I just said a prayer and hoped for the best. And right when she answered I just felt so much peace, and such a clear mind and I totally knew what to say. I asked her what the Gospel of Jesus Christ means to her, and she gave me such an amazing answer. She told me that she was only a convert of 2 years, and that she can tell such a huge difference from her life now than what her life used to be. But she told me that it was hard because she loves her family so much but no one in her family is LDS so at first they didn't like her going to church and stuff so that is hard. And she told me how she has to work 10 hours a day and how she has 3 callings in her branch and it is super stressful. 

So I shared with her some personal experiences, and how I didn't always have the strongest testimony and how much better it is to be close with the Lord. I also told her how my family has been blessed, even though I am on a mission they have had blessings from it. And that I know as she serves the Lord and has faith that she and her family will be blessed, even though they aren't members. And I told her how happy God is with her for her faithfulness and willingness to serve and the spirit was so strong. Then I was about to end it but I got an impression to read to her Helaman 5:12, so I did. And I was scared because last time I tried to read a scripture with her she just laughed at me because I didn't have that good of Albanian and it kind of ruined the spirit. But this time, I was reading it and she didn't laugh, or say anything to correct my Albanian or anything, and when I was done reading and I looked up she had tears in her eyes and she just said thank you so much I needed this you are such a good missionary. The Spirit was so strong I was holding back tears. It was amazing!!! I am so excited to go to Albania, I am dying here. 

Anyway I love you all, Hope you have a fantastic week!! 

-Elder Farnworth

The Christmas lights are so amazing!!

Got this cute Pez dispenser in a package from Abby, love it!

An Elder fell asleep during class so I had to have some fun with him.

This guy tried to draw us...spot on right?

This week was sick #MTCfamousThanksgiving (11/27/15)

This week was sick... because I was sick. It sucked but whatever, it was a nice though because I got to miss some classes and sleep:) So on Sunday, we had a devotional and whenever we have this guy speak to us we call it the "roast" because he is kind of aggressive and he makes you feel guilty for every sin you have ever done. Anyway, He asks for volunteers to read a scripture for him (and this place is like the conference center, it has projectors in the front and cameras and everything) So he asks my comp to read a scripture and he gets up to read it, the cameras are on him and so are the eyes of 1500 missionaries.  He asks him what his name is and where he's from/where he's going. So my comp starts to talk and the speaker stops him and says "Are you even speaking English? We need a translator, where is your companion?' (because he couldn't understand his heavy British accent) So I had to get up, and the guy was like "Please tell me you're an American" and I was like yes I am from Draper Utah and everyone was laughing and stuff. Then he asked me to translate what my comp has been saying in "proper English" So I tease him about his accent too in front of everyone then the speaker just kept ripping on him the whole talk so everyone called it "The Roast of Elder Samuel" hahaha it was so funny. The MTC president came up to him after and made sure he was alright and stuff it was hilarious. Now everyone knows our names and soooo many kids are like "You're from Draper? Do you know so and so?" its funny. so yeah, everyone knows us. we are MTC famous. 😎

Matching missionaries

Jacob and his District Leader from Cali

So that was a fun start to the week. But then I got pretty sick and I didn't have a voice at all on Tuesday, so that was rough. I have this friend that is going to Canada, and I told her I was sick so she gave me a ton of drugs like Niquil, Dayquil, Asprin, this crazy nose and throat stuff that's from Paris or something. And I took it all and it helped me a ton! But yeah, leave it to me to find a drug dealer in the MTC 😈😉

  

On a more spiritual note, this week was really good too! We committed all of our fake investigators to be baptized and they all said yes, first try! Haha it was super rad. My goal from last week was to recognize the Spirit and ACT on it. And I really feel like I have been and it has been amazing! Oh, and I got asked to teach a lesson in Priesthood meeting about recognizing the Spirit so that is pretty cool haha. The Lord works in mysterious but awesome ways! Albanian is hard though. Some days i'm like 'I am never going to understand this!' But whatevs, we'll see I guess. On Wednesday we skyped with Albanians again and my voice was kind of back but it would crack every other word. So the Albanians were laughing at me and I thought they were laughing because I was getting my grammar wrong or something so I was like what are you laughing at? And they just said "your voice!!!" lol. Albs are very VERY straight forward it is hilarious. I was embarrassed but I did better than Elder Franks haha he accidentally said the F word in Albanian to an Albanian over Skype 😂🙊 It was funny. And then there was this other companionship that said there lady they were talking to kept saying "Can I talk to Elder Farnworth? I love him" LOL so that made me happy :)

My tag*

Thanksgiving Selfie with my District

Thanksgiving Outfits

Sisters in the MTC dress to match floral ties

THANKSGIVING was so good :) I loved it. I wasn't feeling that sick, so I knew it was going to be a really good day haha :) In the morning, we listened to Dallin H Oaks talk and he talked about how trials make us stronger and I absolutely loved it. Then him and his family sang and it was awful haha. But we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" And it made me think how my that is the Farnworth's family song and it made me miss you guys. Plus there was this girl singing by me that sounded like Grandma Farnworth haha, I absolutely loved it :) Then we had our big Thanksgiving lunch so that the workers could be home with family for dinner, but the lunch was great! It was nice to have like pretty good food for a change. Then we went to another devotional which was alt... just kidding I was literally asleep the entire time. #ThanksgivingNap Then we watched 17 Miracles which was good. 

Service Project in the MTC-We had to wear hairnets.

Making meal kits for families. The hairnets
are a throwback to my days at Wasatch.

Then we did service which was insane! We had 1200 missionaries make 350,000 Thanksgiving meals! It was so amazing!! Then we had dinner (it was just PB and J sandwich and stuff) but I gathered our zone, and got like bed sheets and put them on the desks and made it like fancy! And I put my Ipod on classy music,it was a lot of fun. Then we went to another devotional and it was so spiritual! it was all about giving thanks for different aspects of the church, and like family, and music, and talents, and other good stuff like that! It was great!! And then they unveiled all of the Christmas lights its so pretty :) I have pictures. 

Christmas lights at the MTC!

Love my easy mac! (Sent in a "made it 1/2 way in the MTC
package)

So yeah, this week was superb. I loved it! I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord! And for my MTC drug dealer 😉😂 And I'm grateful for the love and support I have. I got 3 packages this week!!! One from Family, One from Abby, and one from the Ward. I am truly blessed with such amazing people in my life. :) I love you all!!! Have an amazing week!!

 Love,

-Elder Farnworth 😚

The mission is stressful so I turned to the bottle!
(This came in "I made it 1/2 way" package).

Celebrating with Martinelli's...

Jacob's a bit dramatic;)

Spitting Truths about the Gospel in Albanian.. (9/19/15)

This week definitely had its ups and its downs, but mostly ups I think! We had our first TRC and it went to well, we just taught some RM's that went to Albania. it was super spiritual and super amazing. They told us about Albania and I am just so unbelievably excited to go!!

My Albanian is slowly coming along. Sometimes I feel like I am not getting it at all and get a little frustrated, but I know it will all work out because it is the Lords work. My teachers are super helpful though, like they always come over and teach me like one on one its really nice.

We had some really good lessons with our fake investigators. There was one where I really prepared for it and prayed a ton for it, and so when I got there I was just answering all the questions she had and bearing my testimony and stuff. She told me she really understands it all and thinks that the Gospel is beautiful. I was teaching her about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it has helped me in my life, the spirit was so strong in the lesson it was incredible. We weren't planning on inviting her to be baptized (because other missionaries in my district did and she said no) but then I just really felt like we should, so I did and as I was asking her the spirit was just unbelievable I almost started to tear up. Then she said that she would be baptized! It was so amazing. The spirit was amazing in that class though i loved it!

I tried extra hard this week to work hard in all of my personal studies, and I feel like I was rewarded with all of these amazing experiences!!  My district is ok, I just talk to other people in my zone and stuff. I see Elder Morrison like 5 times a day, ha its nice to talk to him. And I saw another girl from school today so that was pretty cool! I organized games of Mafia in our residence hall haha they are always a lot of fun. And I am 4 Square Champion. Anyways the work is good i love it!

 

I love you guys thank you for the support!! :)

Elder Farnworth

Jacob's District under water..;)

The gift of tongues is real...(11/12/15)

This week was really cool, I was finally getting into the swing of everything and am getting used to being a missionary,ha. On Friday I told my companion that we were gonna do the lesson without any notes or anything to help us with Albanian, we were just gonna go for it. I think he was pretty nervous ha but when we were teaching I just knew exactly what to say and it was amazing!! My comp was pretty quiet and nervous to talk, but it was like I was fluent in Albanian! At least to me it sounded like i was, i was probably far from fluent to an Albanian, lol. Then we have been doing all of our lessons without notes and they have been going so well. The gift of tongues is real!!! 

I saw Elder Morrison witch was cool, he seems like he is doing alright. And I am really getting along with a lot of people in my district. Wednesday was amazing, in the morning we skyped with a real Albanian and it was so funny. I was like saying a lot of the stuff that I knew very well and it sounded good and she said, "Wow you have very good Albanian" then she asked me questions and stuff.  I started getting choppy and stuff and she said "never mind." But she was so funny and nice, I am so stoked to go to Albania they all just seem super nice and I can tell I am just going to get along with them so well!!!

Anyways, I really bonded with my teachers, I sat down and talked with one of them and he told me that I was his favorite, and that he is really impressed with how fast I am picking up the language. He is so nice! Then my other teacher told me that she loves the way I teach, that it is very simple and it makes sense and my wording is beautiful (she is one of the fake investigators that I teach as well) 

So yeah, this week really built my confidence, and my faith in God. When I first got into the MTC people told me about how God will bless you with the "Gift of Tongues" and I was kind of like yeah right, I need to just work at it and I will get it! But it's true, the gift of tongues is real and as I grow closer to my Heavenly Father the more he helps me understand the language more. its amazing, the Church is true yo.

Love you all,
Elder Farnworth

 

 

First Annual "Scarf Friday" was a success.

This is our "Basic White Girl Fall Photoshoot"

God understands my crappy Albanian, lol (11/5/15)

The MTC is getting better! My teachers are super nice (for the most part) and I really feel the spirit a lot! My comp is cool, his name is Elder Carr, but his name would be "Karr" in albanian and that is like a really bad word in Albanian so he had to change his tags to say his first name (Elder Samuel). Its funny, he's from England so he has a really heavy accent and he says rubbish and english words like that ,it's funny. Um my district is good.. there are two other elders, Elder Cox (from England too) and Elder Franks (From Farmington) that I really get along with! And theres only one sister missionary in my district, Motra Willey, shes nice. I went to high schoool with her cousin. I will send you pictures of all of them in a separate email :) 

The MTC is good, the first few days were soooooo hard and long, I was like dead. But it has got better, I'm pretty used to it now :) I love all the dearelders you send me, I get them the day you guys send them so keep it up! I can never have too much mail.  Anyway, I am living a few rooms down from Elder Moreno! I went to high school with him. (its that kid that had the dreads). Me and him have been bonding a ton and got close. 

Albanian is the craziest language ever. I love it! It sounds so weird and sometimes I feel funny saying it. I am picking it up though, I prayed in Albanian at church on Sunday, it was nuts i was nervouse but i think it made sense? I dont know. God understands my crappy Albanian lol. But I can understand most things the teachers say but not too well. Plus they talk slow so I wouldn't stand a chance with a real Albanian. Also, are we positive that I'm all ready to get my Visa? ive been kind of nervous about that. But i got a letter saying I only need a visa for Kosovo, not albania. (and i wont be serving in Macedonia, crazy huh?) 

The people in my zone are dope. I am homies with my zone leader, he is going to Hungary and he is a chill surfer dude from California. its rad. Um, send me my blanket that would be awesome! If you can.

Um man I miss home, I cant think of anything else.

Anyway I hope I answered all your questions.

Love you!!!!

Elder Farnworth

 

Me, Elder Carr, ELder Cox, and Elder Franks! best friends in the MTC

Selfie game still strong ;) 

 

 

;) 

 

Jacob's first email home, yay! (10/29/15)

Hi, I only have a little bit to email you but I am doing well here in the MTC! I miss you all so so so so much. Every time I see the little papers you left me in all my stuff I kind of get choked up. It is hard so far but I heard it gets better.

The spirit is amazing here I love it. My comp is a really cool guy from England. Anyway I love you all so much. . But thank you for your support, I love you!!!!! My Pday is on thursday so that is when I will have an actual hour to write you and I will write you a better email. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I MISS YOU!!! I'm praying for you a lot.

 

Love you. have a good week!

Elder Farnworth

Elder Farnworth enters the MTC (10/28/15)

Jacob's last picture at home for 2 years

All the kids

It's not easy
to say good-bye
for 2 years.  We sure love Jacob, he will be missed around our home but we know he will be loved in Albania and that he will love the people he serves.

We're on our way to the MTC



 

Family time by the Provo temple

 



Our big little brother!



Saying goodbye



It's never easy



And there he goes....



We love you Elder Farnworth, see you in 2!

Jacob becomes a missionary (10/27/15)

Jacob was set apart as a missionary by President Mackay Douglas. 

Bishop Jim Gardner attended along with Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd and the rest of the family.

 

Jacob get his mission call!! (6-18-15)

Jacob gets his mission call to the Adriactic South Mission.

He is speaking Albanian and reports to the MTC on October 28th!