What's up guys?! I have finally made it to the beautiful country of Albania. It is quite the place, that's for sure. I'm still adjusting to the culture and the time zone difference... All is good though! Oh yeah, and remember those 9 weeks I spent in the MTC? Turns out all that language study was pretty much for nothing because I definitely can't understand anything. Oh well, I'm just grateful that I'm here to be completely honest. "Avash, avash" (Slowly, slowly) as everyone is telling me. I'm learning to be a more patient person but it is at times hard to feel like I'm just a companion for my trainer so that he can do the real work without breaking the rules. I definitely feel the pressure to figure all of this out soon though so that I don't feel as useless, and also because I'm in an area that really needs some help haha.
Speaking of my trainer and my area, I'm being trained by the one and only Elder Basham. He's dank if I do say so myself and he's been a great support to me over the last 6 days or so since I got here. He's been out in the field for about 14 months and he speaks the language beautifully. I'm just a little bit jealous of that fact, but it will come with work. We are assigned to work in Gjirokastër which is one of the coolest places I have ever been to in my entire life. The city is basically built up the side of a mountain and all of the roads lead up to this giant castle that overlooks everything. When you get up closer to the castle too, all of the buildings and roads are completely made of stone. It's crazy beautiful and I'm super stoked to continue to become familiar with it all. People call it the most ancient city in Europe. I don't know if that is true or not, but I will own it for now because its dank as flip.
Anyways, this area has only been open in the mission for a year. It is only myself and Elder Basham serving here, so it gets a little lonely at times. We have a grand total of 1 active baptized member of the church here in the city, so we don't even get the privilege of having a branch. We lead a church group that consists of us missionaries, our one member, and whatever friends we have in Gjiro that we can convince to come and join us. Our church building consists of one singular room. Very dank. Any prayers for our success here (and my learning of the language) would be much appreciated!
So much has happened since we landed in Tirana last Wednesday and I could type out several paragraphs if I wanted to. Turns out, I don't want to do that today so you guys are going to get the short version. Elder Basham and I didn't even get to Gjiro until Friday night if that helps any of you to imagine how much went down. It "sufficeth me to say" that to sum it up, I have eaten some amazing food, tried to catch up on the much needed sleep after our 24 straight hours of traveling, driven many hours across the beautiful country of Albania, met many super dank Elders and Sisters serving here (very stoked to continue to meet and hang out with more of them), tried talking to people in Shqip with little success (because I literally don't understand anything that comes out of their mouths), met lots of dank Albanians, ate more really good food, and got settled into our apartment. Many stories are within and I will let you all use your imaginations (and the pictures).
I have been almost completely convinced that this is the best mission in the world for several reasons. One of which, is the fact that we can use the mission vehicles to travel around on P-day. Today, for our wonderful day of weekly preparation, we went on a little bit of a road trip actually. We almost made it to Greece, but President told us that was probably too far, so that adventure will have to wait for another time. Instead, we hit two random dank castles, one of which was on it's own little island in the Adriatic, and also hit the cities of Ksamil, Sërandë, and Delvinë which was super dank. We got to hang out on the beach for a second in Ksamil which was super relaxing. Got a little bit sunburned too, but that is actually a blessing in my mind right now after having been stuck inside my house for 9 weeks straight. Many pictures have been included in the link below for all of you to enjoy.
I think that is all for now folks! I promise I'll share some more specific stories next time when I'm not still completely overwhelmed with everything that is happening. Keep vibing and don't be strangers!
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