2014 Feb 17th email

What's up?  So, yeah, today was a long day.  Not much of a P-day actually, we're more tired than usual.

What's with the Fiala's getting the same mission calls as friends?  When does he leave?  (Friend going to same mission as another member of his ward.)

Uh, yeah, holding children is not suggested, and I haven't.  (Mission rule I had not known about until I talked to missionaries in our area)

So, yeah, the baptism was awesome!  No, the dad still isn't a member yet.  Working on it, though.  

Jake and Andrea and Eric, count your many blessings....(don't know)

1) It's called Big Market, which is a shop in every major city here in Albania.  Fruits, there are fresh fruit stands, and we are starting to use them again.

2)  yeah, we have activities, not many because the branch's budget isn't too big.  Honestly, other than mutual every wednesday, we haven't had one since I've been here.  They could probably benefit from devotionals from Apostles, if only they were translated.

3) We can drive in our zone, which is the cities of Elbasan, Durrës, Lushnjë, Fier, and Vlorë.  That's like half the mission.  We have to travel for baptismal interviews, which we do for the district leaders' investigators.  Yeah, we drove to Elbasan.  President allows missionaries go to baptisms in other cities if they are performing the ordinance.  So, our boundary is our zone, i.e. those five cities, and Tirana when it's for a good reason, like today getting our new car and getting it inspected.  The limit is 2000 kilometers/month, but we have legit reasons to travel a ton.  We don't abuse our privileges.

4)  Paperwork.  I don't know how many action items they did, we just always asked how many left?  (Audit)

5)  Oh yeah. Every store seems to sell flowers on Valentine's Day.  All the women dress their very best on Valentine's Day, with the best red dress they have.   They go all out on Valentine's Day.

Alright, so this week was pretty good.  Honestly it was pretty routine, at least for serving a mission in Albania.  In all honesty, I can't really think of anything special.  Except, we met this guy on the road who is realy cool, and pretty religious. He goes to a church sorta thing every Friday run by this American guy.  So, when we met the kid on the road, he was trying to one up me saying that he's older than me so he knows more about God than me.  He's 20.  I cleared that up quickly.  Age is respected a lot here.  Then he said (and this is in broken english), "I'm with this guy (he points at a picture of Christ on one of our pamphlets), not with this Mormon guy."  So we told him to read the small letters on the title page.  That got him really interested.  So, we met, had a good lesson.  We hope to meet with him this week.  And that's the exciting thing that happened last week.

Ok, have a great week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer

2014 Feb 10 email

Holy geez, Dave's a dad.  (Cousin)  definitely not mature enough to be a dad yet.....  Just kidding, that's awesome!  So, uncle-in-law?

I don't think there's a college in Lushnjë, it's so small I don't think it could hold enough people.  I think most Albanians try to go to Tirana for college, it's the capital and there's more job opportunities there.

1)  My cardio has been going well, at least with what i can, I try to do as many jumping jacks and the occasional jump rope.  I've even tried running in place a few times, whatever I can do.  Yeah, I can definitely run a lot more than I used to, at the end though was when I really started to get tired out

2)  No, no one can afford to do it.  (Don't know)

3) I believe so!  (Again, don't know. Sorry)

Ok, well this last week something pretty cool happened.  So, back in October when i was in Elbasan I was teaching this family and eventually baptized the mom.  Well, her son turned 8 this week, so I had the opportunity to go back and baptize him as well!  It was awesome being back in Elbasan, definitely the best city in the mission.  I'll send a picture.  Also, Elder Foster was able to go to Durrës and baptize someone he taught when he was there as well.

So, yeah, other than those two kids, a lot of our work has pretty much disappeared.  It's been interesting.  It's been tough.  

Also, dad, I think I now understand everything you had to do as Bishop.  Yesterday the Lushnjë Branch had the audit, and that was miserable!  Add Clerk to a calling I will not wish for.  It took about 3 hours.....  Everything went fine, just a lot of sitting.  Otherwise, it was a good week.  

Jake, where are you?  (No email sent)

Eric, you too? (No internet now)

Andrea, nice on the basketball!

Well, that's about it.  Have a great week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer

2013 Feb 3rd email

Alright, well, Eric is going to grad school?  What the heck?  That's awesome, if I ever figure my life out, hopefully it'll be something of use.

Yea, Seahawks.  (Super Bowl)

So, Elder Foster and I were in Tirana today because we had to get our car checked.  So, we played basketball with Tirana Elders.  I actually did ok today.  So, then we got back to Lushnje after, then we had a couple lessons that were set up a little earlier, so now we're on now.

1) No, I haven't heard anything about the Olympics.  Where is it held this year?  (This is what happens when you don't watch TV, especially Sport Center for 18 months)

2) No (I cannot explain this one.)

3) The Papa Murphy islands (or whatever they're called), Four wheeling, and yeah co-piloting on a plane.  It was a good trip, no doubt. (Recalling his trip to Scotland with his dad.  They are the Papa Westray Islands.  He just really wants some pizza.)

Alright, well, I don't have too much time, but this week we started teaching these two young çuns (young teenage boys, which just sounds weird to say now), and they are incredible!

Anyway, it's been a ton of fun here as a South Zone Leader.  We've seen a lot of success and miracles, and it's just amazing to watch and hear about it every week!

 The kind of traffic Scott encounters

Well, Jake and Andrea, hopefully with all the lack of school (snow days) they won't extend school an hour longer a day for a while like they did 10 years ago (what?!?) after Hurricane Isabel.

Alright, well, have a great week!  Be safe and be wise!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer

2014 Jan 27th email

Wait, seriously???  No school and no exams?  Jake, as a junior, you are incredibly lucky.  Andrea, that's a good start to your exam life.  Man, I had to do them every year for 5 years......(We had no school last week.  Started with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and then 4 snow days.  It was exam week and by Thursday the county decided it would be best to just cancel exams......)

The branch is getting better!

Yes, we do still teach English, but this week will likely be the last week.

Yeah, Colin (a friend serving a mission) told me already when he goes home.  I think he was shocked at how early I will be leaving compared to when I began.  Not my fault....

1)  Honestly, nothing really in food.  In dialect, they use a couple different words than in other cities, but that's about it.  (Difference between Tirana and Lushnje)

2)  Branch work's good.  What happens after church Sundays is that we do the online stuff for tithing and expenses, and then we wait for President Spaulding to be done with interviews, then he pretty much tells us what work to do during the week.

3)  We actually just played on Saturday with members!  But they only know how to play soccer, so it was rough. (for Scott who prefers basketball)  No, only Elbasan and Durres church buildings are normal church buildings, the other buildings are for rent.

Andrea clearly has the coolest 14 year old trip of anyone by far, just saying.....(family tradition)

Anyway, Elder Foster and I had another good week lesson-wise.  From what I learned being a Zone Leader in the South, if you don't have at least 20 lesson a week, you're not working hard enough.  The work in our zone is just going so well right now, we're just excited to be the zone leaders over it, and it's also fun when we present our work to President Ford each month.  It's been fun.  (What a great thing to hear from a missionary!)

Well, Christmas was over a month ago, why is time flying?  I don't feel like I've been a missionary for a year and a half at all.  Maybe 6 months, but that's about it.  That's ok, there's still tons do do, we got that stake to get ready.

Anyway, have a great week this week!  Love you lots!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer

2014 Jan 20th email

Hello everybody!

So, this week was definitely an interesting week.  It definitely felt like it started slow, but by Sunday we realized the week flew as always.

Yeah, the number of sisters has increased, but it won't increase again at least until after I get home.  3 sisters go home in April, with 3 coming in.

So, we just got back from Berat, another city I have already been to, but it was good to see the city again.  

1)  Yeah, we do the interviews for the District Leaders.  Two weeks ago I did one in Vlore, definitely the best interview I've done, never felt the spirit stronger in one than that one.

2)  No, they had to be pushed back.

3)  I like working with President Ford.

 

Jake and Andrea, good luck on tests this week! (So far we have had no school due to snow.....)

Alright, well, have a great week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer

2014 Jan 13th email

NO I DO NOT NEED ANYTHING!!!!!!

Anyway, how's it going?

Yeah, so we spent the day hanging out with Fier, going to Apollonia and the beach.  It's not very cold here.  Man, I stink at soccer.

It's great to hear that Grandpa's doing better!

Yea, I'm so glad Eric and Kristen enjoyed Florida, maybe now he'll actually write me.

1)  Google translate does an abysmal job with Albanian.  Don't ever trust it.  Yes it's supposed to mean I love you lots.  Yeah, "ç'farë në botë!" is just a literal translation, Albanians never say it.

2)  Yes, we never walk, always drive.  We switch off every day.  Gas prices are ridiculous here, although I don't know how bad it's gotten in USA, so I can't really compare it.  We are limited to 2500 kilometers, but since we have to drive so much for interviews and exchanges, if it's for good reason, it's fine.  

3)  I haven't run since I got to Lushnje.  Don't judge.  But my comp agreed we will run at least once this week.  He wants to wait until March when it warms up in the morning.  Because of that, I try to do some sorta cardio in the morning (jumping jacks/jump rope) and I have to be more careful what I eat, since I never walk.  Getting fat again is not in my plans.

Anyway, we for the most part had a great week last week.  We have 5 baptismal dates, and 2 should be baptized next weekend. 

Anyway, I like being a zone leader.

Alright, well, I'll send some pictures in another email.

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

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer

2014 Jan 6th email

Wow, Eric is married now.....

So, yeah, we had a busy first week in Lushnje.  We do travel a lot, there are a lot of villages nearby Lushnje that have members, and we did a lot of visiting this last week.  So, I don't know how many members in the Branch exactly, but there as 53 in church yesterday which is a really good number for Lushnje.  The Branch President grew up in Utah, but he and his family have lived in Virginia for a few years while he was doing training.  I forgot the name of the city.  But, he does security I believe.  Yeah, I can definitely sympathize with a ward clerk when I get home.  

So, the stake should be formed March 8 & 9.

1)  Juvenilje is just the name of the restaurant, at least as far as I know.  No, not Juvenle.

2)  So, in my MTC group, 5 of the 7 of us go to BYU.  One will do SUU and another will go to ISU.  I don't know how many before the mission went to BYU, but there are several that have applied to transfer to BYU or that have decided that they will attend BYU once they're done.  

3)  How small it is.  It is puny.  I have now done big city, normal city, now I am in borderline village.

OK, so like I said, we do a lot of branch work, which involves buying food for members.  We did a lot of that last week, which makes me appreciate everything I have.

Anyway, lesson-wise, we had 3 investigators in church yesterday.  So, I don't have anything super-interesting to say, but the work here is going very well!

Ok, everyone, have a great week!  Be safe!  Don't do anything stupid!

Ju dua shumë!

Elder Palmer