Thank you all (Mom and Adam) for your wonderful letters! The family really is growing, and I know all their names now! Congrats to all my cousins and future cousin-in-laws, I'll definitely need a book telling me who's whose! Meanwhile, back at the ranch here in Vlore, the miracles have been pouring out. I have so much to write...I don't know where to start. (Hence the title: Oh what a miracle)
On Monday, after email, we went tracting because our lessons fell through. I was feeling a little frustrated that no one would meet and it was getting cold. But we kept going and I had an impression to tract a certain building. Obeying, we went to the top floor first and worked our way down. Feeling again a little defeated, I started to walk out of the building before the last door, but Elder Fowles and his wonderful faith said, "Hey, this one's lights on, lets knock it!" So we did. It opened. Not only did it opened but the first words out of their mouth were "Come in, really come in". This was the Murati Family, Denis, Ana, and Dena (2 yr old boy-you see the mixture of names?) They said they were just in Vlore for a short time before returning back to Germany. Nevertheless we taught them a beautiful restoration lesson, one of the best I've ever taught. At the end we asked Denis to say the prayer...having never before prayed he got on his knees and offered a PERFECT MEMBER prayer. After the prayer he just felt his arms, shocked at what he'd just felt, and said, "I want to do that again." We later found out that that night he had the best nights sleep he'd ever had! We returned on Wednesday (2 days later) and again taught them prayer, its power, why we pray, and invited them to the baptism on Friday. Ana attended with her son and 3 friends and loved it, however they told us they'd be moving to Germany on Saturday and we prayed that they wouldn't go. We went over on Sunday, and they hadn't left yet. They said, "We are leaving tomorrow". We gave them a lesson on the Plan of Salvation, and it was so perfect and they loved it. They want to be baptized. Though we spent only 3 hours with them in their lives, it changed them. Ana prayed last night and we got contact information to give to them as they move close to Dortmund (close to Essen where Andrew was trained). When we left we laughed and cried and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us a family for only 1 week. They recognized that the reason they came to Vlore was to find the gospel. Please pray that they will find the church in Germany! We will do all we can!
Ok that was miracle number one.
Like I mentioned, we had a baptism of Memet Kashta. He was taught first by the Sisters, and then by us. He and his wife were both baptized and it was so great. They are in their late 50s and very quiet. The lessons with Memet are simple, and they've taught me! He has such desire to be a good person. I was able to confirm his wife on Sunday, so that was a neat opportunity, miracle number two.
Ok, the last miracle's story starts before Elder fowles came with me. That transfer day, I traveled up to the neighboring city (Fier) and worked for 2 days so as to wait for my trainee. I don't know if you remember but I taught one man twice in the two days that I was there (I hope that made sense), his name was Artan. Well, due to a faulty font in Fier they came down to Vlore for the baptism! Not only was I able to see Artan get baptized, but they asked me to give a talk on baptism! It was such a privilege to see someone that I'd found in a different city be baptized!
Finally, this week we had a trainer-trainee Training meeting up in Tirana (the capital city), During the meeting we all prepared for 20 minutes to teach for a role-play lesson that would be in-front of everybody. Well, the APs chose us to do the role-play, and we did it. I mention this because it was a spiritual experience, we had prepared and God opened our mouths and we were able to feel the spirit and there was not a non-member in the room. This just proves (and mom always talked about it) that you can feel hte spirit at ANY time, fake lesson, on the bus, at work, anywhere, even listening to country music.
I am so grateful for all these blessings, especially during this THANKSGIVING WEEK! Here in Albania, it is when they celebrate their 2 independence days (one from the Turks, one from Italy. So, everyone is celebrating! Feel free to read 1 Nephi 13:13-20 to see how Thanksgiving is prophesied in the book of Mormon....making it an international holiday! (cause this is a book for EVERY nation, kindred, tongue, and people)
I love you all and pray for you. May you feel grateful this week for the miracles in your life.
Ju dua shumë,
Elder Bejngëdër
2-Ana and Denis (Dean was asleep)
3-Sister Maxwell, Sister Kelly, Me, Elder Fowles, Sava Kashta, Memet Kashta
4-Me and Artan (baptised from fier)
PS-cool connections. Sister Maxwell wants to go into Landscape architecture and knows Greg at BYU. Sister Kelly was on Seth's dance team during the Christmas around the world last year. Elder Fowles played football with Colin Haymond at Manti High!
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