2013 Feb 25th email

Hello, how's America doing these days?  Eric, that's another week you bum.  (Brother didn't write....)

Anyway, sorry, I forgot to take any pictures last week, so I'll send you a picture of the bible next week.  I don't know exactly what version it is, (King James?) but it's the best bible in Albanian we have out here.

We do have access to the Ensign, but we're behind as far as getting them, so we don't have March Edition.  (There is a mention of Albanian Easter traditions in the March Ensign-"In Russia people often greet one another on Easter by saying, "Jesus is risen."  The other person replies, "Truly, He is risen."  In Albania the tradition is similar; they click red egg rocks together and say, "Christ is risen.")

Yeah, the Casadys told us there are a ton of new missions formed.  It's kinda cool, I wonder if the not-Albanian-speaking countries will ever separate from us and become its own mission.

Plain yogurt is disgusting.  That's why I stay away.

So, the baptism in Elbasan....  I don't know if I can go because Elbasan is not in the zone I am currently in.  In fact, I really haven't been in contact with Elbasan missionaries for a while, so hopefully by now they're on a baptismal date.

The jumping photographs?  How we did it?  Fantastic timing.

Have fun with the yardwork...

Congrats on those getting into BYU!  (BYU sent out acceptances last weekend.)  It's awesome over there.

Andrea, I wish I was undefeated. (Church ball)

Jake, love Driver's ed.  (Almost done)

Baba:

1) The exchange in Tirana was a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed it.  The language there in Tirana is a little bit different than in Fier.  I don't know, Tirana and Elbasan are a bit similar, so it made me feel at home.  I wouldn't mind at all serving in Tirana next transfer.

2)  The only work I did in 2012 is the mailbox painting I did with Eric before I left, and I think he has a better idea of what I earned.  (tax prep)

Ok, so last week.  On Monday night after P-day, we had a lesson and taught  the Gospel of Christ.

On Tuesday, we went to Lushnje for district meeting.  We spent an hour picking up trash on the road for service, and then we actually went to the church to do district meeting.  Then after that we went back to Fier, we had an activity that night with the youth.  By the way, Elder Christiansen and I are the 'de-facto' YM Presidents, so we had to decide what we were gonna do that night.  We taught them how to dance.  We did 'cotton-eye-Joe,' and 'soulja boy,' and it was a ton of fun.  (To the cousins-can you tell me what dances these are?  Eric, do you know?)

Wednesday, I went with Elder Handerson (Elder Anderson has really big hands, and since there are two elder Andersons we call him 'Handerson.') to Tirana, and we taught some of his investigators.  

Thursday morning I went running for the first time in a while with Handerson.  So, after bruising my arteries for 20 minutes, we went back, showered, did studies and then went right back to Fier.

Friday, we taught a lesson in the morning with Sister Casady helping us, we talked about importance of baptism.  Then we did weekly planning and lunch and then we went to teach English, and taught about Faith after teaching English.  Afterwards we did Branch Council.

Saturday, we played soccer with the youth, as we always do, and then went home and did studies, and then we went and visited some members.

Well, that's it about me.  Enjoy this week, I can't believe this week I hit the year mark on receiving my mission call.  It's ridiculous.  Anyway, take care this week!

Ju dua,

Elder Palmer   

2013 Feb 18th email

Hello, family!  How is it going?

Yeah, I  like my apartment a lot.  I would say it is better than my dorms at BYU.  It's not a laptop (on the table in the picture), it's a mini-DVD player for watching 'The District' and other approved missionary DVDs.

Apolonia was a lot of fun, we were only there for about an hour, but we saw some cool sites.  I'm sure that the ruins are old, but I have no idea specifically how old they are.  We didn't go inside the building with the red roof. 

Yeah, we just used the timer for the street contacting picture, there was just no one on the road that night so we thought that would be amusing.  I'll send a picture of our church building next week.

Jake, don't die.

Andrea, congratulations on getting into Art!

Pops: (Pops?)

1) The yogurt here is called Kos, and it literally is just a bunch of plain yogurt.  I try to stay away.

2)  So, Albania has both a President and a Prime Minister.  The President is named Bujar Nishani, and the Prime Minister is called Sali Berisha.

3) I think I have seen one or two while in a restaurant, but I don't know any specifics.  Yeah, most households have a TV.

Eric, where are you?  (Big test)

On Tuesday I will be going up to Tirana for the day.  It will be my first time serving there, so I'm excited.

Well, anyway, that's really it about me.  Enjoy this week!  Jake, don't die on the wheel, Eric, don't die in school, and Andrea, don't die drawing!

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer

2013 Feb 11th email

Hello, there.

How is everything going?  So, yeah. very nice on the new car.  Mom, dad already sent me a picture.

So, things here have gone pretty well.  We teach, we walk, we eat, sleep.  all that stuff.

Yes, I have seen an Albanian Strength of Youth pamphlet.  Some of the translations are different.  On the "dating" section, it's just titled, "meeting."  As far as I know, yes, the members here do use it.  So yeah, I sent a picture of my apartment in Fier.  Yeah, it's pretty dang nice.

I think I will go to Tirana sometime next month for zone training, but if President ever comes down he brings mail, or if the couple goes to Tirana for whatever reason they get the mail.

Music?  It's called popullore.  I am sure it's on youtube.  

Yeah, I got two letters written to me, no names were written on it, so whatever. (Youth wrote letters to the missionaries at an activity in December)

Dad:

 Frankfurt, Germany until next April when Rome is finished.  (temple district)

Andrea, I'm sorry that everything you do is pointless.

Jake, very good.  I don't think I ever beat Gayton, but ask Eric to confirm. (Church basketball)

So, yeah, this last week was pretty good.  Nothing really exciting happened though.  On Wednesday we did an exchange with the elders in Lushnje because Elder Christiansen had to go do a baptism interview, so I was with Elder Webb for a day.  It was pretty fun, he's a good missionary, we had fun.  So, yeah, really all else exciting happened was I finally got an Albanian Bible.  It looks really nice, I'll send a picture next week.  We also had zone training here in Fier last week, which was good, learned how to use family history to gain investigators and to activate less actives.

Anyway, that really is it for this week, nothing too special going on.  Have a great week, may you last well and may the Lord bless you!

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer

2013 Feb 4th email

Hello, family, how's it going?

Yeah, it's February and I got my call last year in February, what is this?  Actually, Elder Christiansen and I got our calls on the same day, he just reported before me.  In fact, there was an elder in the group before me that got his call like a month after me.  Yeah, weird.

Um, there is not any other language in the world that is like Albanian at all.  A lot of Albanians do speak Italian because their tv shows are often dubbed in Italian, but  I haven't met anyone that knows Italian but not Albanian, so no issues there.

I have no idea what food is grown in Albania, but I would think pomegranates and kiwis are grown in Albania.  I do have access to fish, but I stay away like a champ.

Dad:

1) Not at all. (Cannot elaborate on this yet)

2)  I would say I was street contacting at like 7.  It gets dark around 4:30-5 here.

3)  So we do the dirty dozen, which is where you do one regular pushup and one pushup on the wall, then 2 on the ground and then 2 on the wall, then 3 on each, all the way to 12, and then all the way back down to 1.

So, you bought a new car, eh? And you didn't think of sending me a picture to see what it looks like?  Come on, man.....

Jake, go Ravens.  (Hey dad, how about you tell me about how "well" Alex Smith did this season.......AS A BACKUP)  (Super Bowl.  Mark wanted Alex Smith to play all season.)

Andrea, draw......and keep drawing.

Also, one of the members of our branch actually just left for her own mission.  She will be serving in Milan, Italy, and reports to Provo tomorrow.  She already knows Italian, so she will only be there for a couple weeks I think.

We also had mission conference on Wednesday in Tirana, which was fun, got to see missionaries I haven't seen in a while.  And we actually have zone training tomorrow here in Fier, so that's convenient for us.  And also, I did an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Cannon, on Friday.  He and I stayed in Fier while Elder Anderson and Christiansen went up to Tirana.  All the leadership in this mission is now set in Fier, but the ZLs have cars so it's no problem for them.  It was a fun exchange, Elder Cannon's a cool guy.

Anyway, that's about it for this week.  I was looking at my blog, that picture is of me holding a Pizza Roma.  (See 2013 Jan 21st email.)  I know it's big, but it's 2 bucks.  (Another frugal Palmer finds his way!)  Anyway, have a good week, take care!

"Do you have a question

for the Lord?"

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer