The Lord has not called us to fail.

Mommy!

Dang I wish I was there to hear the Wilson’s speak. I love hearing them teach the gospel. I bet they were awesome missionaries down in Uruguay. Do the senior couples have to learn the language down there? Ours usually don’t speak hardly at all. We just translate for them. I really like that scripture in John. That’s killer. It’s so true, too. The Lord has not called us to fail. He works with what we have. He knows that some of us will be better than others at some things and worse than others at some things, but all that matters is that we try our hardest. If we work our hardest to keep being better then God will make it possible to accomplish what we were sent to accomplish.

Ooh, I was talking with some of the missionaries about college and stuff and I realized that if I want to try to get into BYU I should probably find out about what I need to do to apply and when the deadline is. Is there any chance I could get you take a look into that for me? I’m pretty sure they’re not going to accept me, but why not give it a try?

Ha ha so you like our house? Yeah I love it too. We actually got a really good deal on it, too. It’s nowhere near the most expensive house in the mission, but it’s the best one in my opinion. It’s actually one of the cheaper ones. A member’s mom knew the pronari of this house and I guess had heard that the old house that the Assistants were in wasn’t all that great and so we got this one! Love it. And Krujë is about an hour outside of Tirana. It does have really good scenery. It’s where Skëndërbeu had his stronghold fighting against the Ottomans.

So with Donika we got to meet her this week and then on our second meeting, we were getting her to log onto my skype account so she could talk to us on Elder Monson’s. We were communicating by e-mail and the power over there went out so we just lost her for like an hour and figured she had left or something so we didn’t get to meet with her twice like we had planned. She’s still doing really well though. At the end of our last meeting she asked, “Could you tell me like what a mormon girl is supposed to be like? Like I know they aren’t supposed to smoke and drink alcohol and stuff like that and I just want to know like all of those things.” So we are going to be teaching her about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity this next time. Two big ones at the same time. But we’re pretty sure she’s been living both of them pretty much for a long time. She has a For Strength of Youth pamphlet and the Sweeny’s say that she really likes it and finds strength in it. So Donika is doing well. She is super ready to get baptized, we just have to start avoiding all the random logistical problems.

We actually ended up not being able to meet Ergi this week. I don’t really think he has a lot of actual interest in the church. Maybe he does and he’s just always at work, but I don’t feel like he’s making a ton of effort to meet us anyway. When you really want to do something you find the time. Yes it is common to turn over a female investigator to the sisters and vice versa. And actually that’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re not supposed to be teaching a person of the opposite gender unless there is another person of your gender accompanying you to the lessons or present in the house.

To answer your other question, yes there are other colleges that aren’t in Tirana and there are several inside of Tirana, but the ones in Tirana are the largest and so they have the most people from outside coming in. Elder Monson is leaving next Wednesday. That’s really weird. He’ll be going to Georgia for a week and then coming to Utah after that for school.

Sorry my e-mail was so lame this week, but I am just really out of it today for some reason. It could be because we just went to play soccer for like an hour and a half. ;)

I love you, Mom!

-Elder Swenson