I am happy here in Albania! (4/24/17)

I was trying to take a selfie with Tirana in the background 

but some dude got in the way 

This week was probably one of the most busiest weeks of my entire mission. I know I say that a lot but I just feel like I am getting busier and busier each week! It is really great though I am still loving it so much! Okay so at the beginning of the week we were street contacting but it just didn't really feel like that is what we should be doing.. So I asked my comp what else we could do.. so we both start throwing out idea's and I say a prayer in my head asking what we should do, then it just kind of leads to us decided to go visit this members family that we have visited a couple times before. The member just moved to Switzerland so we wanted to go see how the family was doing.. So we go over there and the entire family is there, which is the first time! (normally when we go over we just end up teaching the member and her mom) But this time her brother and her dad were there and participated in the little FHE we put on! It was such a blessing! At the end of the night we knew that that is where we needed to be that night and we were grateful we listened to the Spirit which took us there. And later we talked to the member that lives in Switzerland and she said it was an answer to her prayers as well it was such a neat experience. 

So then after that this week was just week... A lot of administrative work I guess but it was still good. So we had transfers so we had to drive people places and carry luggage around and arrange people to be taken to there new area it is always fun.. Also the Sister from my MTC group, Sister Willey, finished her mission last week so we had an exit dinner with her and then that night at 3 AM we took her to the airport! It was SO WEIRD seeing her leave. It put into perspective how much longer I have... But I am not thinking about that :) 

Then we had Zone Conference in Tirana which was good fun. It is always great to have a bunch of missionaries gather together ha as well I loving giving trainings so that is always a great time!! Then that night we had another dinner for a new missionary from Tirana that is starting his mission! It was a lot of fun.

The Wreck!!

Later in the week we drove to Kosovo to give a Zone Conference there as well! When we got there we went to this place that sells Himalayan food that is SO GOOD. Back when I lived in Kosovo I used to go there all the time. So like, when I went back all the workers there remembered me haha. So like, I guess at the end of my mission I will be able to say a bunch of random food joints around Albania and Kosovo know who I am so like I had a successful mission right? Right. Anyway, it was way good in Kosovo! The Zone Conference there was really great! Okay crazy story time.. So on the way back from Kosovo we were driving on this highway and there was this huge semi truck full of dirt driving the opposite way, and it like ran into the barrier between the road and flipped over onto the side of the road that we were on! It was crazy! It happened like 30 meters ahead of us it was craaaaazy. We ended up sitting in are car for like 45 minutes because the dirt fell out of the truck and was covering the entire road it was crazy! You never really know what you are going to see next in this mission. 

He was a stud!

Anyway at the end of the week we were able to work in our area a lot which was really good. We also played Basketball, Volleyball and Football (soccer) with the branch which was fun! We met like the most famous freestyle soccer player in Albania he is sick! If you care at all you can look up his YouTube videos his name is Fabion Duro he was incredible. And on a side note, I would say my football skills are getting pretty good as well ;) But yeah, then we did some street contacting and stuff! It is amazing to see how much the Lord blesses us when we actually have time to do normal missionary work. I am convinced that even though I am in this area I still have the same chance or opportunities to meet and teach people as other missionaries do in normal areas. It is so cool! We met a really cool couple on Saturday and they both said that they really wanted to search to know if our message is true or not. They really seem humbled and down to earth and really prepared for the Gospel! 

Not much to say about church this week... I really like church here though. It is nice to be in like a functioning ward ha. My last areas I would pretty much like run the show every week ha but now I can kind of just sit back and enjoy it it is great. 

Anyway I am happy here in Albania it is going so great!! 

Love you all! 

Elder Farnworth

I finished my mission! (4/17/17)

That's what I would say if I were a Sister Missionary. So crazy!! Tomorrow Sister Willey, the sister from my MTC group, is going home!! Like what the heck?? I don't feel like I have been here that long but at the same time I do! (cliche missionary thing to say I know, moving on.) 

I didn't take any pics this week so this is a selfie by my computer.

Anyway this week was great! So at the beginning of the week we went to Elbasan for a Zone Conference and it was so great! It was cool to be apart of the conference with the zone that I used to be zone leader over! All the missionaries there are killing it they do such a great job. But yeah the conference went great but it was just so looooong like it was crazy. Sometimes I just feel like I am in long meeting after long meeting which is exhausting but I love it so much! Every time I grow so much Spiritually which has really helped me so much. 

So then the next day we had District Meeting, which was really good, but again, meetings meetings meetings. Then we were just doing some street contacting and stuff then had another meeting with our President for the upcoming transfer! It was a good meeting though I little meetings with our President because he is just such a Spiritual man! But yeah then the second half of our week wasn't as busy.. we had more time to street contact. We put together a little missionary fireside for our friends and it was really good!! Like, 70 people came to it which is like more than we normally have in church so that was super dope! 

This week we did a lot of street contacting.. And it is starting to get sunny outside so it is hard to get motivated. During one of my personal studies I got the idea to start off every street contact with a question so I would ask everyone I stopped "What is the most important thing in your life?" And it was so cool, because everyone would say Family! Every single person did it was awesome. So I would just tie it into how the Gospel blesses families and it was amazing! Just being able to testify about that over and over again was such a great experience! Made me remember how important my family is to me! I love them all so much!!

Okay so at the end of the week we put together an Easter activity at the park and we did an Easter egg hunt which was so fun haha but there is this crazy lady in our ward that like participated and while we were hiding the eggs she kept trying to like cheat and look where were were hiding them and I was like Sister Hansi you cant cheat! (keep in mind she is like 60 years old) and she was like "put some right in those bushes so I can find them easy" I was like how old are you?! It was so funny. I was just waiting for her to shove some kids out of her way to get the eggs before them.. It was weird! But after the activity me and my comp and this other missionary along with 2 members went and played basketball! It was so much fun. There were a bunch of Albanians playing... and they aren't that good... but we wasted them!! We would play like 5 on 5 full court and we would just beat every team they would put together it was so fun! It was really nice to play a proper game of basketball that was probably my first actually game of basketball my whole mission it was so much fun! 

So then on Sunday we had a great day at church and had a few of our investigators in church so that was nice. Then after we got invite to a lunch by the senior couple that work in the office with us and they made us like a "pass over lunch" which was really yummy! It was a cleaver idea. Then we were invited by an American family that works for the embassy to have dinner at there house! It was so cool and so great to have a nice AMERICAN dinner for Easter! It was awesome! 

Still loving it here! 

 Elder Farnworth

Weeks like these make me want to stay here forever! (4/10/17)

We went into a pet store to hold some puppies!

This week was just soooooooo goooooooooooooood. Man I really really love this place so much!! Okay so at the beginning of the week we did singing street contacting again with the whole zone and it was so successful again! We set up a big poster of Jesus and all the missionaries sang next to it while other missionaries (including me) were walking around and talking to people. It was so good! I met this one guy that was 19 years old and homeless and said that he felt like he has done too many bad things in his life and that God can't forgive him. I kept telling him that God really does love him and hasn't forgotten him and that because of Christ he can be forgiven for all that he has done. Then I taught him about the Restoration and invited him to be baptized and the Spirit was so strong! He accepted the baptism invitation and said that he really feels that this is what God wants him to do. It was a great experience!! I really felt like even if we aren't able to meet him again (because he is on the moves around a lot and doesn't have a phone) I know I made a difference again and planted a seed for him to be baptized one day. 

The next day was really special, we had a Missionary Leadership Counsel with all of the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training leaders and it was so great! Me and my comp gave a training about going the extra mile in missionary work and relying on the Atonement to help you. It was so spiritual! The meeting went like an hour and a half over time but it was so spiritual like no one really cared we were all just on Spiritual highs it was great! Then right after we went to help the Sister's in our area teach their friend, Sidorella. Me and my comp were coming out of that meeting feeling so Spiritual so we were so ready to teach her and help her to feel the Spirit! So we reviewed the Restoration and then talked about 2 Nephi 31 and she said she really liked verse 12 and I said what do you think verse 12 means to you? And there was like silence for like 4 minutes and she didn't say anything but we could all just feel the Spirit testifying to us the truthfulness of the verse and what it was saying in the verse! So I testified to her about the Spirit, and I said that we just experienced first hand what the Spirit does. Then I told her that as verse 12 was saying that if we do what Jesus did, and we follow him, after we are baptized we are promised the gift of the Holy Ghost, AKA that feeling that we just had will always be with us! So then I said do you know what you need to do? And she said "I need to get baptized." So then I was just like "will you get baptized tomorrow?" And she kind of got scared and was thinking but then I invited her to offer a kneeling prayer with us and ask God what she should do. So she did and afterwards we all just sat there and the Spirit was so strong! You could tell that it was testifying to her so much that it was true. So then she said "okay I will" And I invite her to say a prayer again to confirm her answer and she did and the Spirit was just telling her yes yes yes! It was so amazing. Really after the lesson I felt that I didn't even do much it was like 100% the Spirit! It was a testimony builder for like how important the Spirit really is in the work and how little we as missionaries do. All we have to do is make sure we don't get in the way of the Spirit! It was so amazing. 

Anyways, wow this is long I will wrap it up. So on Saturday we played soccer it was loads of fun but the definite highlight of the day was on the way back we were walking and saw a little pet store that had puppies!!! We asked to hold them and she let us they were SO CUTE!!! I will attach pictures of them :) Love you all have a great week!! 

Elder Farnworth 

Training's, Police Man, Exchanges, Conference! (4/3/17)

Me and Elder and Sister Collins in Shkoder! 

Wow what a week this was!! (man before my mission I would always say that I will never be that kind of missionary that always starts off his weekly posts by saying "great week!" or "this week was hard but good" or other cliche stuff like that but here I am now. Sorry everyone.) 

Anyway, so at the beginning of the week we gave a training with our Mission President to all the Tirana missionaries for the "Prince of Peace" Initiative. It was so good!! Then we gave another one, our last one, in my old area Shkoder on Wednesday. It was crazy, on the way to Shkoder I got pulled over going 160 KPH in a 50 KPH zone and the cop came up to the window and said to me and my comp "You two are going to jail and you are losing your license." I was like freeeeeeeeeeeak. But then he went over and talked to his other cop buddy and he looked at my license and saw that I was American and came to our car and said "Just drive slow. You guys are good to go." and didn't even give me a ticket! It was really lucky. Haha, anyway, they trainings went great! = We have done the training like 9 times now to every district in the mission. Each one was so Spiritual it was so awesome!! I really loved it it has brought me so much peace. It is amazing how much God knows us all individual. He gave me this wonderful opportunity to teach all of the missionaries about peace because as I have done it I have gained so much of a better understanding of the true peace that comes from Christ and his resurrection. What a blessing that has been!! 

So then on Thursday we were given the assignment to go to my other old area, Fier and do an exchange there! So we went there and did an exchange with 2 missionaries from my MTC group, Elder Cox and Elder Ellsworth. It was a lot of fun to be with them! It was really hot in Fier though ha. But yeah it was good and it was nice to see some of my old friends/the members from Fier! Also while I was there Elder Cox poured a cup of water on my pants while I was lying on the couch and made it look like I peed my pants.... It was great.... Anyway. Then we had to race back to Tirana for an activity that we were going to do! All the missionaries in Tirana got together on a great big boulevard and did a choir together! It was so much fun. I wasn't apart of the choir though, I was going around and talking to people. It was a lot of fun! A lot of people seemed interested, it was actually pretty successful. Also my Mission President came and started contacting with me it was a lot of fun to be side by side and contact with him!

Saturday was a pretty good day. This guy got baptized in our ward! He has a really cool story actually, he is from Persia, and doesn't speak Albanian or English so they taught him all the lesson's over Google Translate it was crazy! He is a really cool guy though. He said he used to live in Iran and he saw like people being killed and stuff so he decided that he wanted to become Christian ha it was pretty cool! 

When a missionary pours water on your pants....

So then on Sunday we had church and at night we were able to watch conference live! It was so cool! We watched it in English with some of the English speakers of the ward. We were over at the senior couples house. There were a lot of people there so me and my companion and this other missionary had to lay on the floor and some members feet STUNK! It was hard to focus ha it was nasty! But anyway it was a great week! Oh yeah and also today was my MTC comp, Elder Samuel's birthday so we went bowling and to KFC for it it was good fun! I will attach some videos of me bowling with my celebrations :) 
Love you all!! 
Elder Farnworth