Week 1 in FIER (10/3/16)

This week was pretty hard actually. My first day in Fier I started feeling a sickness coming on then the next morning I was totally sick! It sucked! so I have been sick all week. And it didn't help that our water wasn't coming on for the first 3 days that I was in Fier. It was hard. But Fier is so awesome! I really do feel like I am in a new mission though. It is pretty crazy how different it is from Kosovo! Kosovo was pretty clean for the most part but Fier is pretty dirty. My shoes and clothes get really dirty by the end of the day. But it is great I love it. 

The members here are really nice people. They all were so friendly it was so very awesome! The Branch President here is such a great man. His name is President Gjika and he has such a sweet family. He only has one arm but he is such a baller! I rides his bike and goes on long runs all the time. His family had us over for lunch after church on Sunday. It was really good! They fed us traditional food which was SO good. I haven't had good traditional Albanian food for a while so it was really good to be able to have that! I was so stuffed afterwards. 

The coolest part of the week was this thing that happened with our investigator name Klodi. He lives far out in a village and he told us to come meet him. When we got out to his village we didn't know where his house was so we tried to call him and his phone was off! It was really creepy in the village but I was totally down for the adventure so we decided to look for his house! And after much searching and walking down sketchy paths we found it! It was so awesome we were able to meet him and his kids it was so great!  And we had such an awesome lesson here. Definitely was a HUGE hand of the Lord in our work this week. 

I am excited to work in Fier! It is definitely a lot different from Prishtina but I still think it will be great. 

Elder Farni

*Jacob left his camera in a taxi so no pictures til his new camera gets there!!

Transfers! (9/26/16)

This week was pretty great! Okay so first of all there were these sisters in Gjakova, Kosovo that got arrested! I guess this lady called the cops on them after they tracted into her house so the cops came and accused them of not having "registered to live in the city" or something so they got in trouble with the cops ha it was crazy! So anyway, we were told that we needed to get registered to live in our city or whatever, so we go to the police station and ask them and they give us a bunch of blank stares. They really had no idea what we were asking for so they tell us to go to another office who tells us to go to another office who tells us to go back to the police station. So then the police station made a bunch of calls then they were like okay you need to go to this place! So we go there and they had no idea what we were talking about so this guy told us to take a number and there was a huge line and it was literally just to get our question answered! So we figured it was just a lost cause. I figured if they arrested we will probably be in jail for a shorter time than we would trying to figure out how the crap to get registered with the city!! 

We also went to Macedonia this week! The drive there was so awful. There was a lot of traffic so we were on the road for so long. Then my companion realized that he didn't have his passport so we had to turn around and drive all the way back!! Man it was hard haha. Then when we finally got to the Macedonian border they stopped us and told us that we didn't have the proper paper work. I was like dude what the heck! I have been in Macedonia like 5 times with this paperwork what do you mean it isn't right? So we ended up having to spend 50 Euro to get what we needed. It was so stupid! But once we were in Macedonia it was really good. We did some street contacting and stuff, I always feel so hopeless when I talk to people but I got a few phrases down! We also played soccer in Macedonia it was really fun. 

So at the end of the week we got transfer calls! I am getting transferred back to Albania! A city called Fier. I am pretty excited to be down there. It is going to be a very big difference from Prishtina! It will be an adventure that is for sure. 

Elder Farnworth 

We did contacting with an American football (9/19/16)

This week was really good! We were really busy this week which was really good. The Sisters in my area got emergency transferred so we had to take over teaching a few of their people but also we had to take over their beginners-English course. It was a lot of fun haha. We were teaching them like head shoulders knees and toes and stuff. And I was just cracking a bunch of jokes and stuff it was a lot of fun. The best part was at the end though, I said "after every English course we like to give a Spiritual thought, so if you don't want to stay to listen to it it is okay." then like everyone just got up and left and I was like... dang it.... hahaha it was so awkward and funny. 

Live shot of Elder Farni Football contacting 

Also another fun part about this week is that we did a lot of contacting with an American football!! It was awesome, we just stood out on the boulevard and just played pass with it and a lot of people stopped us because they have never seen an American football so they were all like "wo cool its a rugby ball!" and I was like uh no. But it was actually pretty successful! We were able to talk to a lot of people and we actually ended up sitting down and getting a drink with this family! We were able to tell them about the Book of Mormon and invited them to English course and stuff it was pretty cool. 

Lunch with the AP's! 

Then during the weekend the AP's came up to Prishtina to do an exchange with us! It was a lot of fun. I got to spend the day from an Elder from Utah named Elder Rogers. He is really cool! Me and him really got along and just laughed a lot. He is such a cool guy! It was a really fun exchange. I was also able to contact a little with Elder Guyman which was fun because we were together a lot my first transfer too! Me and him get a long a lot too. He is about to go home though so that is sad. 

Elder Rogers and I reppin our "Kanye2020" shirts 

while cooking s'mores on the stove 

Overall it was a really good week! We get transfer calls this week so that is kind of exciting! I will let you know what I will be doing next week :) 

Have a great week!!!

Elder Farni

Driving 4 dayz (9/12/16)

I wrote my Instagram username all over this "W"

We had a super busy week this week. We were outside of our area so much! SO much driving. We drove to Tirana on Tuesday night, and the drive was nuts!! It was the foggiest I have ever driven in. I like could barely see like 2 feet in front of me it was insane. I had to drive so slow! Luckily there weren't a lot of other cars on the road so that was good. Then we were in Tirana all day Wednesday because we were going to drive the new Elder that is serving in Macedonia to Macedonia on Thursday. But being in Tirana was pretty great! We had a meeting with the Mission President and the other Zone Leaders, it was really good! Also while I was in Tirana I was able to be with my MTC friend Elder Cox. We just did some street contacting but were mostly catching up and stuff. We like all of the same music and have very similar personalities so we really get along. 

Then when we finally got back to Kosovo we had a Zone Training and it went so well! We talked about the love of the Savior and how we can't share that love if we don't love the people that we teach. It is so true!! Everything the Savior does during his earthly ministry is done with so much love for God and us, so we all need to demonstrate that same love in our lives! The world would be such a rad place if everyone would try to love and serve each other as the Savior did. 

Current District with a look out of Prishtina

Also this week we met these two guys that are both rappers! It was interesting teaching them but they are pretty nice. We taught them the Restoration then we showed them the "Jamesthemormon" song about the Restoration. It was pretty funny. (if you haven't heard that song you should look it up) They thought it was pretty cool though! Pretty funny way to teach the Restoration though, haha. 

On Sunday we had Stake Conference which is so cool! We took a 3 hour bus ride from Kosovo to Durres, Albania. It was really great. I love stake conference here! It is so amazing to see all my old friends from my old areas! They all saw my "Farni" name tags and were like "finally I can say your last name!!" But it really is cool to see all of the members from Albania come together in one building!! The Spirit was so strong there. The car ride back was pretty awful though!! A lot of twists and turns and it felt like the bus driver was trying to make it the craziest ride ever.

Overall things are going really good!! Transfers are coming in a couple weeks. I will most likely be leaving Kosovo and go back to Albania. I am pretty excited for that I guess but also going to be sad leaving Kosovo. Bitter sweet I guess. But I am very happy to be out on the Lords errand!

Love Elder Farni

Protests, protests, and more protests (9/5/16)

This week was pretty crazy, which I guess means it was just an average week. The Government has been talking about giving some land to Montenegro and people are NOT happy about it at all. It is pretty interesting. But there was a protest every day last week about it. It was funny because we were on the boulevard walking with one of our investigators and like a peaceful protest came walking down, and we are suppose to stay away from protests, so me and my comp just awkwardly like started walking away from it. Our investigator was like uh what are you doing. It was a funny awkward missionary moment :) But on Friday there was actually a pretty big protest! We were instructed to stay inside like all day because it was going to be pretty intense I guess. But there were just a bunch of people gathering around the parliament not doing anything. The SWAT team was there with their riot shields but nothing happened. I was actually kind of disappointed. I was just on the sidelines of it all yelling "throw something!" (Just kidding Mom)

Also another cool thing about this week; there was is this guy that works for EULEX that lives in Kosovo, and he always comes and hangs out at the church. He isn't really interested in the church but he likes being with us and stuff so we just hang out with him sometimes! He is pretty cool. He tells us all the "Insider info" about Kosovo. It is INSANE!! The whole government is ran by the Mafia and there are so many controlled crimes that go on and there is nothing that EULEX can do to help them. It is insane. So for all you that think that the American government is corrupt just do some research on the Kosovo government and you will think that America is just fine!! Haha sorry didn't mean to get all political or anything. #Kanye2020

Saying goodbye to Islam :( 

Also this week our really good Friend Islam moved to Switzerland :( We were able to hang out with him a ton before he left and he even came to a zone conference and talked! It was amazing. But it was so hard to say goodbye to him. We went to the Prishtina Airport with him and it was just really really sad! I hate saying goodbye to people. But I know that he is going to be doing great things in his life. Love that guy so much!! 

Gonna miss this guy!!!

On the more Spiritual side of it we were able to go to Bondsteel (the American Base) this week and teach a lesson there. We had such a great lesson! There is this new member from the states that just got deployed and he is so cool! He reminds me of Bishop Gardner, just a happy, nice guy! Love him. But we had such a great lesson about repentance! The Spirit was so strong. I was just like receiving revelation for myself about repentance as I was teaching it. A story came to my head about when I was younger, I used to always be nervous to invite my family to my basketball games because I never thought I was good enough and I was embarrassed. And when I told my dad that he was so sad! Because he loves and WANTS to support me no matter what! And it is the same with God. Sometimes we don't invite him in our lives because we don't think we are good enough or we are embarrassed but this is no excuse for us to not invite God into our lives. He WANTS to help us and support us. That is why he sent his Son to Atone for our sins! Let us all use that amazing blessing and invite God into our lives!! 

Man, I am such a missionary.. Go me! ;) 

Elder Farnworth

The District

Oh also I got my dead skin eaten off by fish

Why Sister's live longer than Elders

Elder Farni (8/29/16)

Farni Tags! And I got my Macedonian tags! (also say Farni)

First of all I would like to officially announce that my "Elder Farni" name tags have officially arrived so if you could all refer to me as Elder Farni that would be great. (Shout out to Elder Befus) Hahaha. Finally after 10 months people will be able to read my name tag and actually pronounce what is written and not say something like "Farnwawiorwe" lol. 

This picture with Islam's family perfectly shows how tall I am compared to Albanians

But this week was actually really good. We met a lot of really cool and nice people as always. I got spoken to in German a TON this week though it was weird. I guess I look really German? I don't know. I need to start learning how to teach in German though I guess! There was this one day though, that I was just getting number after number on the street. 

It seemed like everyone wanted to stop and talk to me it was great! 

I was like super pumped and excited and stuff then someone came up to me and just shut down all of my excitement. He just like wanted to argue about everything and he was like telling me I was like bad at the language and that God is mad at me for being on a mission haha so I was just like well you are a downer! And just gave him a pass along card and turned away from him. Whenever there is good there always has to be bad I guess! I didn't let that get me down though. You kind of just learn to not let stuff like that get to you up here! 

Anyway then we were able to go to our friend Islams' house again in Klina! It was super cool. His 12 year old niece from Germany is visiting him and she is such a nice person. We convinced her that I was a professional singer in America and she believed me it was super funny. She got all starstruck and asked for a picture from me and stuff it was pretty funny. She later found out it wasn't true but still was funny. 

Also this week is Islam's last week in Kosovo! He is going to Switzerland to get his phD and I am going to miss him so much! It sucks that he is leaving but I am so happy for him! (shout out to you Islam) we also went bowling and went to the newly opened KFC with him today it was a lot of fun! 

Anyway everything is going great here in Prishtina! Loving the mission every day. Have a great week! 

Elder Farni

Fun Time bowling!! 

Joe Biden 8/22/16

New shades in the city

This week was pretty good. At the beginning of the week we walked down the boulevard and there were like a ton of American flags everywhere and like American stuff hanged all over. It was weird, but it made for really good contacting! People would stop and talk to us and be like "see how much we love America?" and I would be like "yeah that is great! Would you like to hear a message about Jesus?" And they would be like "get out of here" and walk away. Its great! But I found out that all of that American stuff was all set up because Joe Biden was coming to visit Kosovo for some reason? I don't really know why. But it was really cool he stayed at a hotel like a block away from our apartment so all the roads were blocked off and at times there were helicopters flying above our house and stuff! Pretty cool. Then when he made his public appearance we were able to see him! Pretty crazy. We also saw some secret service people that were from America and were members of the church! Pretty crazy. Small world!

Lemon Cake I made for district lunch! 

Other than that this week was pretty boring.. It is getting to the end of summer so people are getting busy and can't meet. We have been doing a lot of finding lately but we are meeting some pretty cool people from it! We are still hanging out with our homey Islam. He is still doing really well! He is about to move to Switzerland to get his PhD and it is going to be super sad when he leaves!! But we wont worry about that until it happens. :) But the work is going really good! Still loving every day of it out here. 

Love you all!! 

Elder Farnworth

                                                               Joe Biden Posters! 

                                                     Stuff they had to protect Joe Biden