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

Italian Sodas's 8/15/16

This week has been a lot bit quieter, actually a pretty hard week this week. All of the people in my district that I was really getting along with randomly got transferred! So I am kind of sad. That kid that was in court and stuff got transferred because they didn't want to risk the chance of them bringing up the trial again so they made him leave Kosovo, he was mad. His comp went with him which kind of made me sad. Then I was just really feeling exhausted all week and I had a headache every day. It was a pretty hard work but the baptism at the end made it all worth it!! 

This is for you mom :) I made Italian Soda's for my district

Things are going great here. The work is really good!  We have another baptism planned for the end of this month (a father and son) then another one on the 3rd of next month. The work here is good! When I got called as ZL the Mission President was telling me how he expects my area to be an example for the Zone, which like freaked the crap out of me ha because I just thought there would be no way. But now my area is leading the zone and we are the only ones that have had a baptism so far this transfer. The Lord really qualifies those he calls!! Such a blessing up here.

Love you all!

Elder Farnworth

Floods and Bazookas (8/8/16)

Remember how last week I said that there was a huge flood on Monday? Well there was another one! It was pretty insane. We walked outside of the internet cafe and there was like a ton of rain again and like more flooding I was like flip. So I was just planning on booking it to the church and getting drench, but right when I stepped outside there was this lightning strike literally right above the building across the street so I was like FLIP! And like ran back inside haha. Then I saw a taxi and I ran to it and just jumped in without even checking if anyone else was in it and he drove us to the church safely haha it was so crazy. 

North Zone and South Zone leaders represent!!!! 

Then we drove to Tirana on Tuesday for another meeting. It was pretty fun! We have been driving a ton this transfer it has been insane. But a lot of fun I really like driving. When we got in Tirana we hung out with the AP's then went to the meeting the next day which was really good! But then I drove back to Prishtina after and I was sooooooo tired. I like got in Prishtina and just wanted to die. I could barely keep my eyes open the whole night holy cow. So I went to bed pretty early that night but it was great!! 

My boy Islam getting ready for his mission! ;) 

Then we gave our Zone Training on Friday! We still are trying to figure out how to do all of this zone leader stuff so for the training we just like, watched a video adn then did some role plays and called it good!! Just kidding.. We actually gave a good training and stuff it was really good and inspiring. (We still did watch a film and did some role plays)

Damage done to the parliament 

So Friday night, I was in my bed and I heard a loud "boom" noise. So I go out to see if it was lightning and thunder but there wasn't a cloud in the sky.. So I just like went to bed but then the next day I found out that someone had shot the parliament in Prishtina with a bazooka!! I guess the government here is like giving some land to Montenegro and people are not happy about that, obviously. We also almost got caught in the middle of a protest! We had to run away back to the church to get out of it ha it was crazy. And there are a few protest planned this week that we are going to have to avoid. So yeah, just a pretty boring average week here in the life of a missionary in Kosovo :)

Love you all!! 

Elder Farnworth

Dude, this week was just insane! (8/1/16)

Okay so first let me start with last Monday, we were just getting a drink with our homie Islam where out of no where there is this huge storm! It was coming down like crazy!! So we were under a tent trying to stay dry then the ground underneath us started to flood! So we ran to the church and there were like a ton of members in the church and we just waited out the storm in the church with the members! It was nuts! 

Stuck in the Elevator!!

So a few days later we were going down the elevator to get out of our apartment, when suddenly the power goes out and the elevator drops like 3 feet then stops!! It freaked me out!!! My life flashed before my eyes!!! We were stuck in there for like an hour with this crazy old Albanian lady! The entire time she was like banging on the walls of the Elevator and was like freaking out. Also I don't know if you know but elevators in Kosovo are really small and really sketchy. So needless to say it wasn't the highlight of my week, but I am kind of a "glass half full" guy you know? So I took advantage of the situation and got a solid 30 minute nap in it. :)

Also this week I went on an exchange with this cool new missionary named Elder Miller. He is from England and he is such a baller! Me and him are a lot alike! The entire time we were just cracking jokes and laughing the whole time. It was a really fun exchange. 

So at the end of the week, we were just enjoying a nice movie as a branch, then we get a call from the other missionaries saying the cops were trying to arrest them or something?! So we run down there and I guess this Elder was driving through a green light and this guy in an electric wheelchair like zooms out in the intersection and hits the side of his car. So the cops get there and at first say it wasn't the Elders fault but later say because the other guy is handicap it is the Elders fault! So they were like saying they either are going to arrest him or take his passport and documents until he goes to court. So we get there and we have to run 2 1/2 miles to his house to grab his passport so he doesn't get arrested. It was so so nuts holy cow. Also at that time there was like "beer fest" in Prishtina so there was like a huge concert that I had to run through (I secretly loved running through it) It was such a crazy night!!! But everything is okay now hopefully. 

We got some new mission vehicles!

This week was really good though. We have definitely seen the hand of the Lord in our work a TON! We have met a lot of new people to teach and to help it has been a huge blessing. We have also been able to spend a lot of time with Islam which is great because he is so much fun. We seriously get along so much and he is just there for when I am down! It is great! 

Anyway love you all so much!! 

Elder Farnworth

I got pulled over by Macedonian police!! (7/25/16)

The ride up

Real quick update before I start my weekly email, I am still rocking my circle Coachella glasses every day. I know you were all wondering, but yeah they are still going strong. 

But this week was really good! This way awesome member named Beqir came back from America! He was there for 3 months. He is always there to keep me updated on the music world haha, so I am glad he is back! I need to get caught up!

Where had lunch when we got up there

So another pretty cool thing from this week was that we were told to do a new contacting idea where we set up a table with some pamphlets and stuff and have a big poster next to it or something. We didn't do the poster because we only have Jesus posters and we thought it wouldn't be too safe to have that up in a city that is mostly Muslim so we just stuck to the table. It actually went really really good! At first I was like, uuuuugh we look like JW's right now... But I just like stopped caring and talked to a ton of people and it was actually really successful! It doesn't really matter what you are doing, just as long as you are happy and you have faith that God will help you then he will help you! 

Cross selfie

Later on in the week we went to Macedonia, it was such a fun trip! So we got there a little late because there was some more traffic than we expected. So we only knew how to get to the church, so we were going to go to the church and call the Macedonian missionaries to guide us to their house. So it is like 9:00 at night and we get to the church, and our phone doesn't work. For some reason it just wasn't letting us make calls or anything in Macedonia! So we decided to go find someone with a phone we could use. So we go out to find people and we see a family walking by and I starting speaking in the very little Macedonian that I know.. Then I am just like, do you speak English, and they say yes so I ask them if I can borrow there phone.. It was pretty awkward but pretty funny. Then while we were there we went on a way cool branch activity where we took a gondola up to this giant cross on the mountain. It was so cool! So pretty, holy cow. 

Me and a Macedonia Missionary

We could see like a way cool view out to the whole capitol city of Macedonia. It was awesome.

So a pretty crazy thing happened on the way back to Kosovo. I got pulled over by Macedonian police!! So they like took my passport and told me I had to pay the ticket before I could get my passport back. So I was like what the heck, no! So I said I will just pay it now, but he said I have to wait 3 days to pay it for the office to open again. Also keep in mind that my phone didn't work, and I did not know my way around Macedonia so I would have been dead if I would've had to stay in Macedonia for 3 more days. But then we finally annoyed him enough and he gave me my passport and let me go, haha. It was pretty scary!! But I got home safe and sound. :)
But all and all it was a great week! I was able to hang out a lot with my friend Islam, he is such a good guy me and him really get a long. He is like the Albanian version of me I swear ha he is a lot of fun. I am just loving the work so much! Thank you for all of your support!! 

Love you all!!

Elder Farnworth

Alexander the Great

The arch in skopje got wrecked after a protest

Definitely one of the most unique places I have ever had a lesson...(7/18/16)

My district with our circle sunglasses at Zone Training :) 

This week was pretty great! Just like normal. But the weather in Prishtina has been pretty amazing! It has been a little rainy and windy and just perfect weather. Not too hot not too cold. Meanwhile the rest of the mission is dying of heat.. hehe :) I love Kosovo! It has been really good here. We have been being blessed with so much work to do!! We are just meeting the coolest people ever and we are getting some pretty great lessons with people. 

So at the beginning of the week we went to Albania to go to something called an MLC (Mission Leaders Conference) So that was pretty good. It was a super long drive to Tirana but it is the prettiest drive ever! It makes me feel like I am driving through canyons in Utah it is so great. I love it so much! Then we drove to Macedonia to give our first Zone Training. I think that it went well, probably didn't, but who cares! 

Me and my good friend in Prishtina! 

So later in the week we met this guy on the street who was trying to argue with me about the Book of Mormon and stuff and we just talked for a very long time. By the end of the conversation he invited me to go to a mosque with him so we could read out of the Koran or something. So I was like what ever so we just went with him and we read a little bit out of the Koran but we ended up having a full on lesson about the Restoration in the middle of a mosque! It was craziest. Definitely one of the most unique places I have ever had a lesson before ha. But I don't think he was very interested in meeting any more but he thought the story of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon was pretty cool. 

Also this week, we started to play Settlers of Catan on our lunch breaks and at night and it is so fun! I am pretty dang good at it so I challenge anyone to a game of it when I get home! hahah have a great week!

Loves!

Elder Farnworth