Gëzuar Krishtlindja! (12/19/16)

Man, another super busy week! It has just been getting crazier and crazier it is insane! So last Monday we had FHE with President which is always great. One of the senior couples talked about how in baseball the home plate is always 17 inches and if the pitcher can't throw over it they don't expand the home plate for him they expect him to become better. He compared it to the commandments of the Lord it was really a great lesson! I loved it. It is awesome to go there. 

Gëzuar Krishtlindja

Also we temporarily moved into a new apartment and it has this
super annoying chandelier thing that I hit my head on 

Then on Tuesday we had transfers! So all of the missionaries were in the mission  office and we were helping them get to their new areas.It was pretty crazy! Then that night we had dinner at Presidents house with all of the missionaries that were going home. It was cool hearing all of their wonderful testimonies about the experiences from their missions. So then they all stayed at our house that night and we had to wake up at 3 AM to take them to the airport!! 

It was a pretty sad moment but I was way too tired to feel any emotions haha. So then the next day we went to the airport again to pick up the new missionaries coming in, it was pretty exciting! It reminded me of my first day in the country. They all seemed pretty excited! So yeah we took them around and stuff then we had a dinner with them at Presidents house which was really great. They all seemed so tired from all of the traveling, which makes sense! Then the next day we went up to the spot where Albania was dedicated for missionary work by Dallin H. Oaks. It is such a cool place and awesome to read the dedicatory prayer for Albania. 

Happy boy haha!!

By Friday night things started calming down. we were able to get a few lessons in! We have a couple really cool people that we are teaching I am excited to see them progress more in the Gospel. Also Friday night we went to President's house to meet with this Less Active member. It such an amazing meeting! So this guy was a little bit distressed because he tried so hard to go on a mission but he couldn't get the money to. So he felt the church didn't care for him. So at the beginning of the lesson he was talking about his harsh feelings he had towards the Stake President and different members of the church. But throughout the lesson the Spirit totally took over and he had a totally different feeling by the end! We invited him to get active in the church and to try to go on a mission again and so he said he would fast and pray about it, so we told him we would fast with him. So from Saturday to Sunday we fasted with him and after church we met up with him and said a prayer to break our fast and at the end of the prayer we all just sat there and was feeling the Spirit so much! He then broke the silence and said "I think we all know what I need to do" So he is going to start coming to church again and prepare for a mission! It was such a great experience. I truly felt Christ's love for one of his lost sheep. It was such a powerful moment! God KNOWS us. He LOVES us. I promise you that! 

Have a great week! 

Elder Farni

Tour of my old areas (12/12/16)

In Prishtina! (with the lights) 

This week was pretty busy but really good!! At the beginning of the week we had to give a training to all of the Zone Leaders about Christmas and different things. It was pretty exciting expect I was really tired the entire training and my voice cracked super bad during it.. it was kind of awkward. But oh well. Anyway then we were able to go to my old area, Prishtina (Kosovo) to see one of the Zone Trainings! It was great to go there, Except for we were not there for very long and it was so cold! But yeah we just watched the zone training then ate lunch and then left. It was good to see all the missionaries of my old zone again they are all so great. And yeah then after the training we just drove back to Tirana!  

Really cool stop on the way back from Kosovo. 

I was freezing though as you can tell by my face. 

So when we got back our President calls us and asks if we would be willing to go to Shkoder (area I was trained in) to speak at a fireside in his place! It was really cool to go there. The fireside was cool although there weren't a lot of people that came but we spoke about "Why do I believe?" And yeah it went really good I think. Then the missionaries in Shkoder got up and spoke about "Light the World" and then they taught the restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and the Gospel! The Spirit was so strong it was great! 

This guy came up and talked to me afterwards. It was a guy that is going to get baptized in a couple of weeks! It was cool, because he remembered me from when I was in Shkoder my trainee transfer! Turns out I met him on the street while street contacting a year ago and he saw missionaries again a year later and is meeting with them and is going to get baptized! It is pretty cool!

So yeah after we got back from Shkoder we were pretty tired. A lot of driving this week but it was pretty good. On Sunday we had church and it was so great. We met this 13 year old kid who wants to get baptized before Christmas so we put him on the 24th to get baptized so hopefully that will happen! He is a pretty cool kid. Anyway that was my week! It was great to go to some of my old cities! 

Still loving it here!! :)  

Elder Farni 

Baptism! (12/5/16)

This week was quite the adventure!! I am loving it so  much though! So one thing that is really awesome about being here in Tirana is that on Monday nights we go over to Presidents house to discuss the needs of the mission and stuff, then we hold FHE with him and his wife and a few other senior missionary couples! It is really cool! President gave a really great spiritual thought on why we need the Book of Mormon. It was awesome! He is such a great guy! But yeah it is always great to be able to take part in those family home evenings. 

Tuesday was a pretty crazy as well. We had a ward activity at the church and we were doing some traditional dances and stuff. It was really fun! I have come a long way since my trainee transfer with my traditional dancing skills. I was told by someone that I am quote "A beautiful dancer" by an Albanian.. So that is something to put on the resume after the mission!!
On Wednesday we had to take all of the new missionaries to go to get registered to live in Albania but then there was a bunch of problems so we had to work all of that out then it ended up we not even being able to do it at the place we normally go to! So we have to figure out how to get it done in the new missionaries own individual areas. So that is pretty stressful! Then after that we gave a halfway training. It was pretty great! We talked about all of the trainers and trainees "Strengths and future strengths" it was great. It reminded me of my trainee transfer! It doesn't even feel that long ago but it was almost a year ago! Crazy!

Also this week we just got all of the stuff printed off for the Christmas initiative! It is such an awesome thing! I love the "Light the World" idea it is just amazing! 

Anyway another awesome thing about this week was that we had a baptism! It was this guy named Pellumb. He is a really cool guy he was so prepared to hear the Gospel! His baptism was really awesome as well. And yeah that was pretty much my week! 
Loves! 

Elder Farni 

Thanks Giving!! (11/28/16)

Man, this week was INSANE! It was definitely one of the more insane weeks of my mission. It was so busy! So we were doing a lot of planning for Thanksgiving and stuff. We had it at this really nice place for parties and stuff and it got catered by an American food place so we got all of that together. So the day before and the day of Thanksgiving was crazy because all of the missionaries were all in Tirana and they needed places to stay and stuff so we were trying to control all of that. 

All of us stuck in the elevator!

 Then on Thanksgiving we were just finishing up preparing for the dinner and stuff, and we start to head over to the place where we were going to have it about 30 minutes before it starts. So we try to fit about 10 Elders into an elevator and we start going down when all of a sudden the elevator stops working!! It totally stopped! We were stuck in between two floors in a crowded elevator with 10 Elders! It was crazy! So we were all just kind of chilling in there. Then finally we get the door open and end up crawling out of the door where there is about a 2 foot space! It was crazy. But we made it to Thanksgiving! We were only a few minutes late. 

Me and my comp on Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving dinner was great! We had an actually American meal! It was really good. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and everything it was really nice! Then after dinner all of the districts in the mission had to make a skit so we all watched each others skits. It was so funny! But I was nice and stuffed after Thanksgiving dinner it was so great!! Also it was a lot of fun to see all of my friends around the mission! 

Me after long days in the office 

So after Thanksgiving we are told we need to take a portable baptism font and a heater to this area in the south of Albania called Korca. It is about a 7 hour drive there and back. It took soooo long! So we take it there. It was a pretty fun drive but driving makes me so tired, We finally got back at night and I was pleased to see this awesome package waiting for me in my office from my homie Islam in Switzerland! It was so awesome he sent McDonalds in a package from Switzerland!! It was crazy. He knows my love for McDonalds :') haha but sadly once it got into Albania there were a lot of mix ups so it didn't get to me as fast as he intended so it wasn't the freshest McDonalds in the world.... It was still an amazing gift though! 

Haha Elder Farnworth in the mornings in his bathrobe....

Anyways, the rest of the week was pretty quiet. We are just trying to finish up all of the stuff with the Christmas initiative! We have printed out 30,000 pass along cards, now we are trying to get the posters printed out and we are talking to the city to have them put the big "LIGHT THE WORLD" add on the big TV's in downtown Tirana! It would be pretty cool. Oh  yeah, also my Mission President made it back from Switzerland! His surgery went well, he is just beginning the healing process though! Still trying to take it slow so we are trying to help him as much as we can. But yeah things here are really busy but I am still finding joy in the work! I love the holiday season! They are starting to decorate around Tirana and I love it! Plus I have been listening to Christmas music since July to prepare for this season so I am pumped :) 

Love you! 

Elder Farni

Basketball! (11/21/16)

This week was great! It was a pretty long week, but great! So at the beginning of the week we had some long nights in the office because we had to translate the calendar for the church's new Christmas Initiative "Light the World" but it is going to be so cool! We are hoping to give every missionary and members little flip-booklets where they can like check off that they are doing everything. AND it says 3 times on the calendar to call your mom or someone from your family so mom... 😉(just kidding) 

*I found this post on FB, YAY Jacob!!
This was posted after Jacob wrote this email.

This week we were able to play basketball a lot this week! It is so nice! We wake up early in the mornings and go to the park and play with some other missionaries. It is a lot of fun! I am really really rusty though. It has been a year since I have played so it has been hard but it is still a lot of fun! Then during the week we played a game with the ward and I told everyone it was my first time ever playing. So at the beginning I was doing awful on purpose and stuff then when we were about to lose I started playing and me and my comp tore it up! He played basketball in High School so he is way good and it was just so much fun to play with him. 

The ward here is pretty nice as well.. none of them can really say my name yet which is normal here I guess. There is this one older lady in the ward who is so funny. She like loves the Gospel and loves the church and stuff. Whenever you talk to her you just have to say "amen" a lot because she always is like "Lamb of God amen!" haha it is great she is awesome. She is a little coo coo though.... ha. 

*Here's another pic from the Adriatic FB post.  Looks like a service day!

The work has been good for the most part. We have been really busy organizing a few things and preparing for the Thanksgiving get together. I am so excited for that by the way, we are going to be at a nice place with an authentic American Thanksgiving dinner!! It is going to be awesome. But it has been pretty crazy figuring it all out without our Mission President being here! But it has been alright. We have a new friend that we are teaching named Pellumb. He is a pretty cool kid! He really likes reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church so that is really awesome. 

But yeah that is pretty much it! The work is hard but it is great! Loving every minute of it! I love serving the Lord, it is such a huge blessing! Also, a cheesy invitation from a cheesy missionary. It is... to read the Book of Mormon! It is such a great book. Really, if you have time to read my silly blog then you have time to read the Book of Mormon. So get reading! Have a great week! 

Elder Farni 

Week one in Tirana! (11/14/16)

Flooding!!

Man this week has been crazy!! So busy! My first day in Tirana was probably the craziest day of my entire mission!! Okay so I will give you the brief rundown. So normally it takes about 1 1/2 hours to drive from Fier to Tirana. So we are driving then all of a sudden we are just in 100% stopped traffic! So we get out of our car and found out that the road is completely flooded! So I decide to try and drive through and it starts getting pretty deep and pretty sketchy. So I pulled off on top of a round-about just to be above the water. We ended up waiting there for about 45 minutes! We saw this other car try to go through the water and they  stalled out and their car got stuck and they had to climb out of their windows and abandoned there car! It was crazy. So after a long journey and driving through a lot of water we made it into Tirana. It took us 5 HOURS but we made it. But then right when I get in Tirana my new companion tells me we need to take the big mission van and drive back into the floods and rescue some other missionaries that were stuck! It was crazy! But we got them. They are all safe! Everything is good! The floods were insane though! I will try to get you pictures.

 So anyway once we settled down and got in Tirana and everything was good, we were in the parking at the mission office and someone backed into our car! So we had to wait for the police to come and figure all of that stuff out. It was pretty crazy. Then we went to dinner at the Mission Presidents house. It was really sweet! It was for all of the missionaries that are about to go home and they all bore their testimonies it was really powerful. So yeah that was just my first day!! Pretty crazy!

Then the second day we drove all of the missionaries to the airport and sent them off. It was kind of sad to see them all go. But then we waiting there for a new missionary to come in! Elder Davis! A fellow Beetdigger! Him and I just talked about high school and Draper Mom's a lot it was so great.

So after all that madness everything kind of chilled out and we had a kind of normal week. 

Choir Practice! Sorry I look like a punk!

On Sunday we went to church, and this is the first ward I have ever served in my whole mission! It was so nice there were a ton of people!! (well only like 60, which is a lot for me) But it was great to just have a ward run itself and I didn't have to be worried about much. All the members here are so great though! It is awesome to serve in a place that the church has been established for a really long time. 

Overall this week was crazy and stressful but I am still loving it!! My new comp is great. We play basketball in the mornings it is so nice! I haven't been able to play basketball a lot my mission so that has really be nice. Anyways, Elder Farni is happy! Have a great week! 

Elder Farni 

I will be leaving Fier and moving to Tirana! (11/7/16)

This week was really good! Sorry because this is going to be kind of a short email. 

But at the beginning of the week my homie Islam came and visited me again! But this time he was able to stay longer so it was great! It was so much fun to be with him. He was just following us around all day. It was like he was a missionary with us! Ha he is such a baller. I love that guy! 

We had a Halloween party and it was a lot of fun! We made this big sheet with like a place to put your face cut out and we drew pictures of skeleton bodies underneath it. It was really great!! I was able to show off the crafty side of me :) But it was a lot of fun at the party! And it was awesome to have Islam there. But it was really sad to say goodbye to him again as he had to go back to Switzerland! 

So during the weekend we were able to go to a new area in the mission called Korca. It is soooo gorgeous! And the drive down there was amazing too! I was so amazed! So pretty. And the people there are so prepared to hear the Gospel! Everyone just wanted to meet us and we had like some amazing lessons. We met these two guys named Simoni and Kleanti, and they were so funny! We had like a really great lesson with them then just hung out with them and played Settlers of Catan with them and it was so much fun. It was awesome to play Settlers while only speaking Albanian haha. 

They are so funny though! They will both be getting baptized in a couple weeks. It was really awesome to meet them! 

So at the end of the week we got transfer calls! I will be leaving Fier! I am going to be moving to Tirana, where I will be Assistant to the President! I am pretty excited to move to Tirana because I kind of like the feel of the big city! Pretty excited but also kind of nervous! 

 

Love Elder Farni! 

PS: The picture with me and the girl with the kids is to show how much taller I am compared to ALbanians haha!