Dear Family,
Thank you for all the emails this week. I love hearing every update! I hope all is going well in all the states that you are in! Thank you for all the advice and the encouragement! Mom, I don't recognize that language of the violin, but Kosovo has been under many different reigns and I think it may be a serbian language or an old latin. I still can't believe that she said "Kosovo". That's not a word that is in anyone's vocabulary! Seth, I need to thank you or anyone that helped you put together your harddrive! This week we've been listening to all the discourses by Truman G. Madsen about the prophets of the church. I never thought it, but the lives of those prophets are so applicable to a missionary in Kosovo. Each time we listen to an excerpt, we get "psyched up" and build our faith in our missionary work. And this week we needed it.
A lot of work this week was contacting! I think we did at least 4 hours of street contacting/tracting every day and some days we did 6 hours. And so with those long days of finding it gets pretty long. But it was also fun, every time we felt a little beat down, rejected, tired, wasted, or just tuckered out, we'd say to eachother, "What would Wilford Woodruff do?" (I like this one WWWWD) Our first thought is to stand on the bench and yell, "Pendohuni, pendohuni!" (repent) but we figured that the time for that type of contacting passed away with Wilford Woodruff, and I don't think the Muslims would take that too kindly! Our second thought is to testify, being full of faith, and thinking outside of our box (but still inside the Lords). At one point, I found myself preaching about baptism on the street, or other topics that were dear to my heart. You see, that is the common thread with all the prophets of the church: their heart. They all REALLY believe and ACT on that belief. And so, when I teach things that are close to me ( i.e. family, the book of mormon, ordinances, purity, eternal perspective) the teaching goes better and "both are edified". At one point, when it was raining while we were contacting, we resorted to just befriending the few, the proud, those who dared be out on the street during a rainstorm. We simply explained "We are missionaries who talk to people, and that there aren't a lot of people to talk to, can we talk to you?" They usually accepted and we'd have a great discussion.
Please pray for the people here in Kosovo. This week I ran into so many people who just couldn't believe in Christ in every sense of the meaning. Their hearts are just a little "hard" at times. Some of them are even "past feeling". While others try to convert us to the Koran!
Ismet is progressing so well. He is really really amazing. He has kept every commitment we've given to him. He came to church yesterday and said, "I want to continue in gods path and I want my kids to continue in gods path." Well, gods path is this path! He is still set for the 14th. However we may need to move it because he may not be able to come to church next sunday. (he works for the government and they are having elections, and our mission presidents standard for church attendance before baptims is twice) It is hard to believe that we just met him on the street doing Word of Wisdom Contacting, and now he is almost a baptized member of Gods church.
Elder Linderman and I are growing close. One example: While we were rain contacting, and during my conversation with a man, Elder Linderman took hold of the umbrella to make it easier for me to explain the Book of Mormon that I was holding. After giving the man a pass along card, I was writing in my planner when suddenly E. Linderman took of running...with the umbrella! Leaving me in the pouring rain! It must have looked hilarious seeing me chasing my companion in the rain...then again there weren't a lot of people around! But that is what we needed at that point; it had been a long day and we needed a couple laughs. He said, "I never knew how much power a companion can have when he is holding the umbrella!" It will be different having a new companion in a few weeks.
Hey my brothers, I'm curious, what was your eating schedule like? How often did you eat in or out and what did you eat? It would be different to have 2 meal breaks during your day! Also, could I get the email address for the Haymonds? T
I love you all and pray for you all every night, even Babylina Owen. The language is coming, sometimes in my personal prayers, I have to do it in Albanian because it just feels better! Pray for the work here, it is progressing!
Love, Elder Bangerter
No comments:
Post a Comment