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

Bajram! (7/11/16)

Well this week we got a new district in Prishtina! We got an Elder from Colorado, an Elder from Draper, an Elder from England, and a Sister from Albania! It is pretty cool to serve around them. I can't believe I am in the same district as someone from Draper AGAIN. Pretty crazy. It should be a fun transfer though! 

This week was pretty fun. The first day of the week was Bajram, which is like the Muslim version of Christmas and Halloween and Thanksgiving. So there was absolutely no one one the street! We were walking all day trying to find people and we just saw no one! It really was like the Apocalypse ha it was super weird. So we were just in the street like not doing anything! Then the next day was just back to normal. Everything was just normal. It was a good time! 

Then later in the week we met some really cool people. We met someone who had met with missionaries in Sweden but he didn't speak Swedish or English very well so we had a lesson and he kept on being like "Oooooh that's what those missionaries were trying to say" It was super cool he accepted a baptism date and stuff! It was awesome. We had a lot of success this week. 

On Friday we played Volleyball which is always fun. The members are pretty funny. The most intense part isn't even the game, it is what the actual score is. They always disagree on what the score is it is so funny! Because whenever they keep track of the score they both lie about what their score is and try to give them more points so it turns into arguments and stuff. One thing I really noticed about my mission is that Albanians really like to argue.. about nothing. It is pretty funny to watch.

Yeah that is pretty much it for this week! Nothing too special happened. Just loving every day out here in Kosovo! 

Love you all!
Elder Farnworth 

I will be a Zone Leader for all of Kosovo and Macedonia..(7/4/16)

Celebrating the 4th in Kosovo

This week was really good! It was super hot all week though. We went to play soccer one day and I was sweating from head to toe and I thought I was going to die! Then it started to rain super bad and I was like crying tears of joy ha it was so amazing. There was also a huge thunderstorm which was so awesome!! Some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life I loved it so so much! There were literally some that were so loud it made my ear ring ha it kind of made me scared but I loved it so much. 

We also had some amazing lessons this week. We put our main investigator on a baptism date for the 30th of July! He seemed pretty excited about it so I hope that it will be able to happen. We also had another lesson with him and the American Soldiers. It was so cool because at testimony meeting there was one Soldier who was talking about how he turned down the deployment to Kosovo because his wife was pregnant and stuff. But then he said he felt impressed to go for some reason and so did he wife so he ended up coming to Kosovo. Now he says he sees why he felt impressed, because he has been such amazing help with the missionary work! It is so awesome to see them all get so excited about it. They are all friends with like most of my investigators and they are all such helps. It is really awesome to see!

Today for the 4th of July we went mini golfing. It was pretty fun! I tied for 1st out of my whole district.. just saying. But it is pretty cool because in Kosovo they celebrate the 4th of July! Because they love Americans after they helped them in the war and stuff. So people keep saying Happy Fourth to us on the streets and stuff it is pretty cool. Also there will be a lot of Fire Works tonight so that is pretty cool.

The squad

Also, we got our transfer calls last night! I am going to stay in Kosovo where I will be Zone Leader of all of Kosovo and Macedonia. I am pretty excited it should be a good experience. I am also happy that I will be staying in Kosovo though. :) 

Anyway love you all! Have a great week. 

Elder Farnworth

Juice Pong (6/27/16)

My Birthday!!

Taco Bell!!

This week was great! I am finally 19! I am growing up so fast I know. But it was actually a really good birthday! So I was talking to one of my investigators the day before my birthday and he said he wanted to have a party on my birthday so he suggested that we got some people and played "Juice Pong" which was pretty funny. So that is what we did! We went out to lunch with some missionaries and other members and stuff and then we played Juice Pong and ate cake which was really fun :) Then we went to the American Base on my birthday which was really great because I was able to eat Taco Bell on my birthday :) So yeah it was a pretty good birthday! 

The day after my birthday was really cool too. We had a big service project at a place for disabled people. The church donated a ton of wheelchairs so we were there to help people around and help them get fitted for their wheelchair. It was really neat! It was sad seeing people with old broken up wheelchairs or with no wheelchairs at all so it was just amazing being able to help those people! It was really such an amazing serves opportunity.

Service Project

We also had a really cool experience on Sundays. One of my favorite investigators came to church, which was a huge blessing because he usually cant. But he loves to see the US soldiers at the church and he loves talking to them. So I organized to have a lesson with him and some of the Soldiers! It was so amazing the Spirit was so strong in the lesson. The soldiers were so happy to be able to be apart of that! It was just really awesome. I love this mission so so much! 

Love you all!

Elder Farnworth

KFC (6/20/16)

Driving to ALBANIA!!

This week has been pretty good. It is just getting so hot here it is killing me! I have been doing a pretty good job at not getting sun burnt but I am just hot all the time! But other than that I am enjoying the work a ton. This week we drove to Albania for a mission conference which is always a pretty fun drive just because it is a lot of really gorgeous canyons and stuff. But I guess I was enjoying it too much because I got pulled over for speeding.. That is my third time being pulled over but I still haven't gotten a ticket :) 

The SQUAD reuniting at Mission Conference

Perks of being an American in Kosovo. Anyway when we got to Albania we found that they opened KFC! It was so awesome we were able to eat there. I guess they are building one in Kosovo as well so that is exciting. I love American food! Also, being in Albania this week made me realize how lucky I am to not be in Albania during the summer. It is just so hot and humid there! Kosovo isn't too bad because it isn't humid. It is kind of like Utah weather so I am used to it. But yeah it is just super hot and just going to get hotter! 

There are 4 missionaries from Draper in my mission!  #represent

The work has been really good though. We work with a lot of really cool people. This week we were also able to go to a really pretty city in Kosovo called "Ferizaj" where we were able to have dinner with a family (only the third time I have been fed on my mission). But it was a really fun trip and that whole family is just awesome. Also we have been working a lot with this guy that is named "Islam". He is really really cool. He read from the Book of Mormon and he said that he wants to change his name to "Lamuel" haha.

Adriatic South Mission Conference June 23, 2016

Anyway the work here is going great! I am pretty much back to normal, no more pains so that is good. I am really glad that is over with! I am hoping to get some rain or something to cool us down from all this heat! 

Anyway love you all thank you for all your support! 

Elder Farnworth

Volleyball! (6/13/16)

This week was a lot better! I have been improving a lot with my health so that is a good sign. I am so glad! I was able to be almost fully back into my missionary work so that has made me pretty happy.

So during the week we had English Course, and we teach the advanced English class which is always a lot of fun. (I know my haters are thinking "how is he the advanced teacher, he isn't even that good at English!") Anyway, this new guy started coming and he is such a cool guy! Me and him just crack jokes all the time and we get along so much.

Later in the week we went to the US military base and had such a great lesson with the soldiers and an investigator at the base that got baptized a few days later! She was really excited about her baptism and it was so awesome because the American Soldiers really helped so so much in her conversion process. One of the soldiers was also able to baptize her on Saturday! It was really such a blessing. 

Later on in the week we played Volleyball, I was able to play in it! I felt pretty good the day of so I played a few matches. It was pretty fun actually! A lot of investigators came to it so it was a huge blessing. We were able to have a lesson with my new friend from English Course after volleyball. It was a lot of fun! 

So at the baptism on Saturday so many people showed up and the Spirit was so strong! Our new friend from English Course also came to see it which was so awesome. He told me he felt so much peace when he say her get baptized it was awesome to see the Spirit touching him. He is such a solid investigator it is such a blessing that we were able to meet him this week! Anyway. Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Farnworth

*Jacob will turn 19 on Thursday, June 16th.  Happy Birthday Elder Farnworth!!