Dec 25th 2013

No email this week.  We had a great Skype call will Scott.

P-day for the following week will be New Year's Day.  We will find out about transfers then!

2013 Dec 16th email

What is up?

Alright, I'm just gonna let you know now that next Monday, I will actually not have P-day that day.  P-day will be on Christmas!  So, we will still skype at 6 that day, President Ford has allowed us to have the full day as a P-day.  So, yes, skype at 6 my time, so 12 noon for you.  But, leave your computer open with skype on starting at 5, just to be safe, in case I come early or something.

Wow, 2 weeks ago you told me Do opened his mission call.  Now he's gone.

So yeah, this letter came late because we played soccer with President and his brother from 8-10, and then basketball from 10-12.  I'm tired.  And really awful at sports now.  But, at least I'm getting thinner. 

No, I never made french dessert.  I probably did what took the least effort to do....(His brother made a Buche de Noel for French class)

So yeah, Christmas like I said will be P-day, we'll probably try to get a meal appointment at a member's house, and then Elder Pierce and I will go to an amazing family he baptized in 4th branch (through tracting) and have fish or something, and that will be before we go and skype yall.

1)  Please do whatever is possible to get that one I suggested to work.  If not, yeah use the other one, it's too late to get another picture taken.  It's just the glasses will stop all the attractive friends of Kristen to become attracted to me......(Full sized picture of Scott for Eric and Kristen's wedding)

2)  I will be at an INTERNET LOCALE!

3)  No, there's a lot of trees, just the place where we took pictures didn't have any trees in that area.  Yes, Christians here do use the Christmas tree, fortunately.  (See Christmas card.)

Ok, so this last week we had 23 lessons in total.  That's the most lessons I've ever taught in a week.  Eric, if you taught 40 lessons on average, shut up, it's different here.  Anyway, we were blessed by the Lord with many opportunities.  In fact, we were street contacting and a woman comes up to me and said she saw me in a vision of us two talking together in that exact spot.  Unfortunately, she told me she was gonna get her granddaughter baptized in the Catholic Church on Saturday.  I was hoping to meet with here before that to explain to her what it means to have the authority to baptize, but she can't meet until tomorrow.  I was planning on giving her Moroni 8 to read, but I feel it's too harsh, so we'll probably just teach her like another investigator..

Street Contacting

Ok, as far as souvenirs, we didn't come across anything that looked like an Albanian made nativity scene.  But, we will keep looking.  So, yeah, sorry if I don't send anything home for Christmas, I figured getting my souvenirs for y'all altogether would save me a lot of money on shipping, and yeah, I'll definitely get y'all good stuff.  I'm gonna make one more withdraw from my account of no more than $300, and then hopefully that can cover everything I wanna buy for you and the fact that I still need to get an Albanian flag.  Hopefully that will be that last withdraw I'll make as a missionary.  By the way, I'm already scared of being a poor man when I get home.

Anyway, I'm excited for Christmas!  I'll see y'all next week.  Tell Kristen I got my interview almost done.  Sorry, it's a little difficult to read, I didn't write it thick enough.

Have a great week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer

2013 Dec 9th email

 Christmas card

Hey, what's going on?  I just remembered that my birthday is this month, that's scary.

Ok, so, I got a letter from the Bertonneau family, good to hear they are doing well.  But, Sister Bertonneau hinted something that kinda scared me.  So, I know we'll talk more on Christmas, but I'll be honest, I would really prefer it if you don't come pick me up at the end of my mission.  I have always wanted that moment in the airport when you see your family for the first time after 2 years.  So, yeah, I would really prefer that you don't pick me up.  Sister Bertonneau said in her letter you wanted to do that, but I would prefer not.  Dad and Andrea have their 14-year old trip this year anyway, so I would say save some money and we could go back in like a year or something. 

Yes, Elder Knight is going home at the end of the month.  (Scott's trainer.)  That is weird. He was supposed to be my first companion I would ever have that's home.  It weirds me out.

Dad:

1)  Skype.  Let's plan for 6 PM, my time, so 12 PM your time, assuming you'll be in Virginia.

2)  So, Elder Pierce and I are committed to running 3 times/week.  We have a pretty good course, hopefully at least a mile, but there's lots of hills.

3)  I dunno, I'm tryna be smart with my money at this point.  So, with this in mind, start thinking of what you want from me to get for you all for June.  I'm in Tirana which is a great city to get souvenirs, but I'm not guaranteed to stay here, so have everything ready by Christmas.

Anyway, Jazz stink, but the Cardinals could make the playoffs!

So, this week, a cool thing happened.  So, we had zone training, and it turns out the Sisters in 2nd/4th Branch had continued teaching a mom and daughter that Elder Knight and I taught over a year ago! (slaps self in the face....).  And, I had the privilege of baptizing the daughter on Saturday!  The mom can't get baptized yet.  Anyway, it was cool, cuz I had no idea she was even being taught.

Also, we have another investigator.  We had trouble meeting him during the week, but he came to church on Sunday, and he really enjoyed it!  I also had to give a talk, on the Restoration, yesterday.  I didn't prepare very well, but I managed to last over 10 minutes.

So, I decided I have made a goal for the rest of my mission.  I am gonna baptize a dude.  All 6 of my baptisms are girls.  Ima find that future Stake President and baptize the heck outta him!

Also, our zone had a special fast this week for a long list of less-active members, and we saw small miracles occur from it!  A less active came to 4th Branch yesterday and bore his testimony apparently, and this lady in 1st Branch who kinda disappeared randomly showed up apparently!  So, we did see the fruits of our labors.

Also, this morning we went to Mount Dajti, a mountain in Tirana, and cut down a Christmas tree for our  house.

I love you all lots!  Have a good week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer

2013 Dec 2nd email

 Scott's MTC group

1.5 years into mission!

The fact that my first semester of BYU ended almost two years ago makes me want to punch a wall.  Don't worry, I'm not trunky, although the group that goes home at the end of the month is pretty trunky.  The worst part is that the sister going home in that group is the sister that reported with my group.........

Anyway, hope that Thanksgiving was fun.  It was a ton of fun here in mission conference.  We had mission conference from 10-12, and then lunch from 1-2, and then a talent show from 2-4, and then a testimony meeting from 4-5 for those going home soon.  The talent show was fun, our district did a rendition of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" that had to do with mission and Albanian stuff, so it was fun.  I got a lot of them on video, so you'll be able to see them.

Um, funny story, so dad actually told me about Bishop Holdaway about 3 weeks ago, so I already knew about it.  I'm kinda bummed out actually, I would have liked him as my bishop.

Yes, I have started the calendar, it just lists of events that happen before Christ is born.

Jake, I wish I had a suit that fit me.

Andrea, you are so lucky.

Eric, 1 month and counting. (holy crap......) (until his wedding!)

Dad:

1)  No football.  But, talent show.  It was a ton of fun.  We got some funny guys here, let's just say that.

2) Yes, I'll talk about that in a sec.

3)  Yeah, I'm down.  I probably won't be able to run 3 miles a day, but at that point I could probably run every morning for like 25 minutes.

JABARI PARKER!!!!!!!

Anyway, yes, the baptism happened and it was awesome!  Her sister spoke on baptism, but pretty much gave her whole conversion story.  The sister who spoke, had a really bad day one day, and her store she works at is by the store of a recent convert, and Elder Pierce and Elder Ferguson walked by and were talking to the recent convert, and he told them he had someone for them to teach.  And she was golden from the start, and she was baptized the Saturday before I was transferred here.  And she is awesome.  Probably the best talk I ever heard on baptism.  And her mom and some friends came to the baptism and really seemed to enjoy it, and we're hoping this week to be able to start teaching them all.  Also, the 4th Branch missionaries gave us a referral who ended up coming to the baptism, and we had a short lesson with him, and he is really solid.  Bear in mind that all 5 of my baptisms are girls, so teaching a guy that really seems solid is something I'm excited about.  We have a lesson with him tonight, and I'm just stoked to teach him.

We also got another referral from 4th Branch named who's actually a rapper!  He apparently has a rough past but has cleaned his life up a bit, and was astonished to have never seen the Book of Mormon before, so teaching him will be a lot of fun too.

So, yeah, things here are going good.

Ok well, have a great week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!  Enjoy putting up the Christmas tree without me!

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer