It has been a wonderful week. I feel like I literally fulfilled the scripture in Acts 16:10 "immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them." As I was writing to you last, we were in a hustle and bustle to leave to Kosovo and eventually to Macedonia. Our mission has 3 countries, and 2 languages. Due to this, it is imperative that we have our passports handy. However, as fate would have it, finding one's passport is always the hardest part! I felt like dad, who I think has had too many instances of passport searching. In this case, Elder Linderman had misplaced his. We had NO time to look for it. We said a prayer and went to work. We did all the office work needed, packed up the car, drove to our apartment and THEN started looking for the passport. We were so grateful when we received a call from the other Elders saying they had found the passport. We hit our knees in gratitude. We knew it was the will of the Lord that we would go on this 4 day exchange out of the country, but we didn't know how it would happen. I know that because we put our trust in the Lord, he provided.
We spent Monday night and Tuesday in Prishtina. Ah! I love Prishtina. The smell, the streets, the food, the members...all of it reminded me of when I was being trained. The mere fact that Elder Linderman was my companion during this whole time was just the cream on top. Just contacting on the boulevard was so great! To add to all the greatness, it was Kosovo's Independence day! The streets were packed with people! The best part however was that we were able to meet with both Ismet and Hazir. Since the purpose of our visit was an exchange and not a run down memory lane, I taught Hazir with one missionary, and Elder Linderman taught Ismet. The best part about the lessons was to see their smiling faces and now know that I could understand them! We committed Hazir to come to church....and he did yesterday! It was so great to work with the Zone Leaders up there.
We left Tuesday at 5 for Skopje, Macedonia. It was dark when we crossed the border, but we could see a large, lit-up cross a few miles down the road, situated on top of a large hill. Skopje is full of religion. They are very orthodox and very muslim. We arrived at the senior couples home to Dominos Pizza awaiting us...very rare. Wednesday morning I woke up at 2 to take Elder Barber to the airport, as he was ending his mission. All the signs were in Cyrillic. It was great to learn how to say hello, how are you, and 'can we talk?'. I kinda understood what Jake's mission must've been like. My name went from Elder Bangerter to Старшина бенѓедер. We were able to go to one point where the people spoke Macedonian and Albanian. While on the exchange we set many goals. The highlights came through prayer. During one nightly planning session, we prayed for a bench lesson (they have no building to meet in), and to meet with a specific member. During the day we were blessed with 3 bench lessons and to meet with that member. The Elder said, "Wow, it's never been that easy before!" Well, prayer really does work. Then at the end of the night we had about 10 minutes left and I asked, "Lets pray that we can get someones number." Now you see, I could've said, "Let's get a number" But instead, we prayed. After the prayer, and 4 people, we stopped a young Albanian and got his contact information.
We arrived at home pretty tired and went back to our own area to work. None of our investigators came to church, but we are really going to try hard to meet with Kujtim, Dhimi, and the Doni family this week. Please pray for them.
Last night we were able to hold a FHE with our ward mission leader (so that he'd know how to do it tonight) I showed them the Bula-bula game that we always played and they loved it! They said, "We're gonna play this tomorrow night too!" So, watch out what traditions you start, cause you never know who or where it's gonna be picked up by someone else!
I am so grateful for the book of Mormon. Truly, reading it each day sanctifies us. It really does. I can't imagine a day going by in my life without reading from it. I know that I love to read novels and get lost in the story. Each day you want to go back and find out what happens next. This is how the book of Mormon is to me. The best part is, this book is real and has eternal significance. It shocks me that I understood it when I was a little kid, and that the same verses have deeper meaning this time around. I love talking about you to everyone I meet. I love saying, Well, my parents taught me this... or My family does this... I'll be excited to tell everyone this week about the two new angels from heaven. I hope that you--no matter where you are--can make someones day brighter. President Packer noted this about President Monson (paraphrasing) "President Monson has the largest personal ministry I've ever seen. He does so much that is not open to the public eye; he visits the sick, he blesses, he goes to hospitals, he comforts; in both person and through letters." I hope that we all can increase our little bubble of our personal ministry, that which only we and the Lord and those we serve can see. It is not a formal call, but is the most important, and we write about it every day in our journals. I remember what Dad taught me, "The only thing that matters in this life is how we treat people.
We are looking forward to the 2nd stake conference of Albania in the coming weeks. We just had a transfer. I love meeting with President and seeing the revelation come through feelings and thoughts. It is amazing how large doors of destiny hang on hinges of small decisions. Already, I've seen the effects of our little decisions. You all too can see and feel the effects of your decisions, it all comes with time, (but it gets a lot easier if you write it down in your journal)
Paci nje jave te mbare dhe plot me lumturine dhe lindjet! Gezuar ditet te mevonshme, te cilet jane nje kohe per ne, qe te bejme punen e zotit. Babai, Mamai, ju do te jeni presidentet te misionit te bukur dhe te suksesshem! Ju dua te gjitheve!
Me shume dashuri,
Elder Bejngeder
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