It was such a great baptism..(2/27/17)

Emiljo's Baptism!!

This was such a great week! It is crazy though the weeks are just getting faster and faster it is nuts!! Anyways, so on Tuesday we had district meeting which was good.. Then we did a lot of street contacting which I really love doing.. It is weird. At the beginning of my mission I didn't like street contacting at all but now I love it! Especially here when we don't have that much time to do it.. whenever we find the time to do it I try to make the most of it because I love it so much! Especially here in Albania you see a lot of crazy things on the street. Like seriously, the people watching here is so funny! I love Albanians.
So we had lunch as a zone one day this week, and something super embarrassing happened to me. So as I was getting up I knocked over my glass and it shattered on the top and made like a super loud noise and everyone looked.. So I tried to grab it really fast and I sliced my thumb and it started bleeding everywhere so I didn't want to make it a big deal so I just grabbed a paper towel and just put it in my pocket so no one would see how much I was bleeding haha.. It was really dumb of me, but I am okay!! 

Me, Olsi, Emiljo, and Elder Rogers

Then the next day we did service for this guy in our word.. We helped clean up his yard and stuff. It was really fun! The weather is really warming up so it was like a beautiful day. But it was awesome because a few of our friends came to help with the service as well! Also, on the way back from the service there was this puppy in the middle of the road that was so cute!!! So we took about 30 minutes to stop and get it out of the road then went and bought it food and some water and stuff. It was definitely an effective use of our time. 

Service

Then later on this week we were teaching our friend Emiljo. We were kind of reviewing all of the lessons before his baptism. So we brought up a few of the commandments and there was one that he was kind of confused on the first time we taught it so we went over it again. He didn't fully understand until after we explained it to him and he was kind of surprised and said that it was going to be hard to live by. So we kind of discussing why it was important to live the commandments and stuff like that and you could tell he was kind of concerned about it. But then he stopped, and we were all silent for a second and he said "I probably won't be able to do it on my own. But I am not on my own. I know that I will be able to do it with Christ's help." And right when he said those words I felt the Spirit so strong in my heart and I know he did too. His faith is such a great example to me I am so grateful for it! 

A DOG I FOUND ON THE STREET TODAY

So later on in the week he was baptized and it was such a great baptism! He invited a few of his friends it was awesome. Then afterwards we went and bought crepes with him and some of the members then we went and had an activity at a senior couples house it was a ton of fun! 

So yeah that was pretty much it!! Really great week! Sunday was awesome too. Emiljo got the Gift of the Holy Ghost and it was really great! As well our other friend Olsi is getting called to be Sunday School teacher so we are really excited for that. The work here in Tirana is going great! 

Thank you all for your love and support! 

Elder Farni 

I thought I was going to explode! (2/20/17)

This is a member. We call him "Gjyshi" which means Grandma. 

This week was pretty good! So on Tuesday we had District Meeting which is always fun. We have one of the largest districts in the mission and they are all so fun to be around ha. Then on Wednesday this new Sister flew in. She will be serving in Macedonia which is pretty exciting! So we helped her get all settled and stuff then we put her to work. It is always kind of weird when Macedonian missionaries come in because we try to have them work but like, they don't speak Albanian so they kind of just walk around with other missionaries and yeah. But anyways that day I thought I was going to explode. We had breakfast, then at like 2 we had lunch at KFC then at like 3:30 a member took us to eat and bought a bunch of food then we had dinner at Presidents house with the new missionary at like 6. All of the food was so good so I ate that day I just got home and thought I was going to explode! I really love the food here so much though. 

Frisbee Crew!!

Anyway then the next day we had a bunch of work to do in the morning to prepare for a training for the new Macedonian Sister and for all of the other trainees. So we gave the training and it went super well! At the beginning President had them read John 14 which is like the last supper and Jesus talking about the Spirit and stuff and yeah. So we talked about working in unity as a companionship and stuff then we did role plays and President started his training and was talking about all the role plays and stuff then like it all looped back around the the Holy Ghost and how important that is in our work and how it is the senior companion always. It is just so cool to work with President because in his training's he just 100% follows the Spirit and it all just goes so well and they are always so uplifting and Spiritual and stuff they are so cool! He is such a great man. 

This guy in Tirana made this sculpture and 

now is sending it to Thomas S Monson!

So after the training me and my companion had to pack up and go to a city called Lushnje to do an exchange! The exchange was pretty good. Lushnje is a really really small city.. it was kind of like my old area, Fier, but like ever smaller. We would go street contacting and stuff and just see the same old people over and over again ha it was crazy. It made me realize how grateful I am to serve in a big city like Tirana. When I got back to Tirana I was excited to go street contacting and find people because there are a huge variety of people it is awesome! I really love Tirana. 

Shqiponja!

So then on Saturday we went to the park to play football with some investigators and members... So many people showed up!!! It was awesome but also it was way too many people to play a game of soccer so we just had half of them play soccer and the other half played Frisbee. I was on the frisbee side. I love playing frisbee so much man it is so fun! 

Then on Sunday church was really good. We have a very small ward choir and we performed.. The choir director is this really old senior missionary lady and she scares me really bad haha. She is really sweet until it comes to choir then she will yell at you.

.. its scary. 

Anyway it was a great week! Bye!! 

Elder Farnworth 

The Gospel has no limits, nothing can restrict the spirit form bring brought to the people who are willing to receive it! -Elder Kaleb Farnworth (2/13/17)

With Olsi

 Since I gave Zac a shout out last week I thought I would give Kaleb one this week. Anyways, this week was super good!! We went to this place called Apoliona, it was super rad!! I guess the Apostle Paul visited it thousands of years ago or whatever. It was pretty cool! Then we went on an exchange this week in my old city, Fier. It was fun to be back! I saw some of the members there and this one guy called Bilbil that I was teaching while I was there and he is baptized now! It was amazed to see how much the Gift of the Holy Ghost really can change someone. But the exchange was fun. I was with my good friend from the MTC, Elder Cox. It was really good. 

Saw this poor little guy so I thought I'd write him a pick me up:)

Me on the keystone of an arch

Then we had this thing in Tirana that was like an award show for an art thing that the Stake was sponsoring? I don't really know what it was but the missionaries were put into a choir so we were there singing for it it was a lot of fun. 

Then on Saturday our friend Olsi got baptized! It was a great baptism. The Spirit was so strong! It was amazing. Then it was one of the senior missionary here's birthday so after the baptism we were planning on having a little party at his house for his birthday but then like everyone from the baptism came! They don't have that big of an apartment so it was packed! (and smelt like BO) ha but it was a lot of fun. 

Library in Apoliania

Okay now for a more Spiritual side of the email here is a really cool experience I had; About 4 weeks ago we were in church singing the song "I need the every hour" And the Spirit really made me feel the truthfulness of that song. It was kind of those moments where it all clicks, and I realized I DO need my Savior, every day, every hour, every second! I thought even though I am a missionary and I have the Holy Ghost that I still feel that I need him more and more in my life. Then it really hit me that it isn't just me that needs him, it is everyone! Every single person needs The Savior of the world every day, hour and second. So that night I prayed harder than I ever had before, and every day that week I would pray so much throughout the week that I could be closer to him and have His Spirit more. And I really was striving in every testimony to have the Spirit so that people could truly feel my testimony that they need the Savior every hour. So that was a really cool experience. Then last Saturday, Olsi at his baptism bore his testimony and he talked about how his first Sunday coming to church, (4 weeks ago) he heard the song "I need the every hour" And the Spirit powerfully testified to him the truthfulness of that song as well. Then he shared that he felt the same Spirit over and over as he read the Book of Mormon and met with us. It was a real testimony builder that the Spirit of the Lord reached out to both me and Olsi. He helped me to be ready and worthy to help Olsi feel the Spirit more, and He helped Olsi recognize it and know it is true. I am so grateful for the help the Spirit is in this work. I know without a doubt this is the work of the Lord. I know God cares about us so much and he knows and watches over each and every one of us. 

  

Really cool amphitheater

I think olive trees are so cool

Have a great week!! 

Elder Farni

P.S. This video is of an 80 year old senior missionary from New Zealand teaching our friends how to do the "haka"

"This week went by fast, but like too fast" -Elder Zachary Farnworth (2/6/17)

I couldn't think of a good title, so I went on Zac's blog from his mission and just stole one of his titles.....

Okay so first off, shout out to my paps who had a birthday this week!!!! He is 51 years YOUNG! ;) anyways, This week was pretty good! To start it off last Monday I had an interview with our mission president. He is such a great man!! Whenever he talks about the Gospel it always just makes so much sense! He is a really cool guy. He got me pretty pumped for missionary work. 

BEFORE my MTC district in the MTC 

So on Tuesday we had transfers which is always crazy. All the missionaries came to the mission office and it is just pretty crazy.. But what made it crazier is that we had a District Leader training in the mission office at the same time. It was crazy. But the training went really well! I always love giving training's, especially with our mission president he is just such a great man. 

Also this week we were able to do a lot of work in our area! We have this guy we are teaching named Olsi, he is really cool! He has such incredible faith and really loves the gospel a ton. It is pretty amazing to see how much he has applied the Atonement into his life! He has changed so much since the first day that we met him it is really cool! I love seeing the amazing affect that this message has on people. I know that it is true! I know that the gospel changes lives!!! 

AFTER us now !!

On Friday we played some games with the members then had a really great spiritual thought.. We were all sitting in the dark and we took turns passing around a candle and baring our testimonies about how Christ is the light of the world. It was really cool! The Spirit was so strong. I have really been able to identify the Spirit in my life more since being out here. I really am so gratefully that I am apart of this church and I have the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

Also this week we played soccer with some of the members. It was so much fun actually the field we play it is basically all mud and it was raining so it was just a muddy mess it was great though! Really so much fun. The members here are really great I love them. On Sunday a senior couple in our ward invited us and a member who's wife is less active to have dinner at there house. It was pretty fun! The guy is pretty crazy.. He didn't speak any English so we were just translating for the senior couple, and the wife was telling us about why she can't eat the spaghetti that was for dinner because she was allergic.. Then her husband was just like "don't listen to her... she isn't eating them because she is fat and needs to lose weight." And I was like jeez dude... Me and my comp kind of looked at each other and were like uh.. we aren't going to translate that ha. 

But yeah that's pretty much it! Time is seriously flying it is weird. At the beginning of your mission people tell you that "days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days" But now I would say that days feel like a couple hours and weeks feel like minutes. It is crazy how fast time is flying by! Peace out!! 

Elder Farni 

I am always tired! (1/30/17)

This is a really cool member in the ward

This week was really good but it went by pretty fast! We were doing a lot of preparation for the Mission conference that we had this week. It went really good! We watched the world wide missionary broadcast. I really loved it! I love hearing especially from David A. Bednar. I love how straightforward he is and whenever I hear him talk the Gospel seems so simple to me and it makes me so excited for the work! He is a baller. Also there were changes to the missionary schedule and the key indicators! It is a pretty big change.. it will make things pretty different. If you are actually interested about it you can email me and I will tell you more about it :) 

So fun fact about missionaries is that we are always tired. Actually I don't know about all the other missionaries but like I am always tired so.. But anyway sleep is pretty precious on the mission. Nevertheless, we still woke up an hour early this week to go play ultimate frisbee with the other missionaries! I was so proud of myself. I only complained like 3 times which is not that bad for me. It was good because we have kind of had a crappy diet here... It is just so hard when the crepe place delivers and you are constantly craving crepes and you know it is only one phone call away.. Anyway we are trying to eat healthier and to work out in the mornings so we will see how that goes. 

The early morning frisbee squad

On a more Spiritual side I have been having a really awesome study from the Book of Mormon. This weeks studies have just been so powerful and I really just receive reassurance over and over that it is true!! I know that it is true! Really like any problem that you have or doubt that you have about anything the best solution is to just read the Book of Mormon! It is such a rad book.

Anyway also this week there was a baptism and we had a few of our investigators come to it. They felt the Spirit so strongly they said they couldn't even describe the warmth that was felt. It is amazing to have experiences like that! As members of the church we kind of get used to the Spirit so sometimes it is just amazing to see people really react to it and feel Gods love and to know what they are feeling. The church is true!!!! 

We also had a ward party this week. I have come a long way with my Albanian tradition dancing. I am pretty proud of myself... But yeah that is pretty much my week! 

Loves! 

Elder Farni

Week 65 (1/23/17)

The weeks are starting to go by fast here in the ASM. It is pretty crazy I can't believe I am writing another blog post! It feels like yesterday I was writing one for last week. Crazy. But it is still going great I love it here a ton! So this week was pretty fun. On Tuesday Elder Lesi (my trainer) finished his mission! So us, him and President went to an exit dinner. It was weird, it only feels like a couple transfers ago he was training me but I realized it has been a YEAR since he trained me. Where is the time going? But it was fun we went to this cool restaurant that had like bears and monkeys and stuff. It was BEARY fun.... *Crickets* 

Elder Lesi's last night! 

It is really starting to warm up here! It makes it really nice for street contacting because I decided I am kind of a baby in the cold so I whine a lot while street contacting in the cold. So it was a blessing that it has been warmer!! We met some pretty cool people while street contacting. A lot of people will like invite us to get a drink with them because we are american, so when we first sit down they ask us about america and stuff and we ask them about their families and stuff... then we start talking about the Book of Mormon. 27% of the time they will try to argue with us because they are part of a different religion. 80% of the time they will kind of just smile and say "wow that's great" and slowly call the waiter over, pay for their drink and leave. But then there are the beautiful 3%ers that will listen to us and ask questions and get a good conversation going and say they will read the Book of Mormon and that we will meet them again. But then about only a half of them will actually meet with you again. Cheers to the 1.5%!!!

Also this week we were in Prishtina to do an exchange there. It went really good! It was freezing there. Man I am glad that I was there during the summer because wow it was cold! It was a good time. We were teaching a lesson in this cafe to some people while the inauguration was on the TV, so while the missionary I was with was talking I looked at the TV really fast and saw Gary E. Stevenson and was like DUDE LOOK! And then we were both like wooooo and the guy we were with was kind of confused but it was pretty funny. 

But yeah that is pretty much my week!!Bye!!

Elder Farni 

SNOW!!!! (In Tirana) 1/16/17

So much snow!!

Okay, so I know that last week my title said that it snowed, but that wasn't legit. This week it actually snowed! Like a ton! It was so awesome! We were in a meeting and when we got out there was a full on blizzard it was so amazing. I think I might of already said this but last time it snowed in Tirana was when my dad was on his mission! All of the Albanian people were going nuts. This old man randomly through a snowball at me and ran away it was super funny. Then me and my comp threw snow balls at Elder and Sister Abrahamson's window (Senior couple that lives by us) And that turned into a little snowball fight between us it was fun. Then we went over to their house to have hot chocolate it was great. 

SNOW!!

Okay so anyway about my week, it was actually really good! Not too exciting. The 1 day it snowed was definitely the most exciting part. Let me think what else happened.. Oh yeah! It was my companions birthday on Monday. Happy birthday Elder Rogers! We all got together and had breakfast at the senior couples house. They made these cinnamon rolls that were TO DIE FOR. Ah. But then, this guy in our district ate mine and Elder Rogers second cinnamon roll! Like who does that?! Took us about 15 minutes to cool off when we got home. (Sorry, I know you have a lot better things to do than read some mission vent about someone eating his cinnamon role, I'll move on) 

But other than that we didn't really done anything.. We had a lot of time to work in our area this week and we were really blessed with a lot of work! We met with a ton of people and met a lot of new cool people to teach it was awesome! Oh and there was this one time where Elder Rogers was on the phone talking to someone and I started like tackling him and fighting him just to be annoying, then I picked him up and his pants totally ripped hahaha. It was so funny, he was kind of mad but then we laughed about it. But then it was awkward becasue this guy was on his way for a lesson!! Luckily, there are like a ton of tailors everywhere here so we just ran it to one of them and had it fixed in like 2 seconds! 

I picked him up and his pants ripped...

Also there have been a lot of car accidents around the mission lately and we have to deal with like the insurance and getting it fixed and stuff it is a mess. So we were at the insurance office, and it made me think how hilarious an Albanian version of "The Office" would be. Aw man could you imagine that? But yeah so we dealt with a bunch of those and it was so much fun! Not really but what do you do. 

Then on Sunday we had a bunch of investigators come to church! A few weeks ago we started an investigator class so we could teach the more simple doctrine and we normally only have like 3 or 4 people but last week the room was packed! It was such a blessing. Anyway things are going great! 

Hope you have a great week! 

Elder Farnworth