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