People of home. 

    This week has gone by crazy fast. The weeks are flying by and I can't wait to actually get to Albania. This is place is great but I can't wait for It to be real and actually immersed in the language. Learning this language and being here so long has taken away my fear. I will talk to anybody that will listen to me when I can speak this language. I"ll just be so excited I can actually speak that I'll knock doors all day! I just want to be able to spill my heart out about how amazing this gospel is in Shqip. Sam when I can get back I will talk to any girl you point out. The language is coming but I have experiences everyday that make me so say I am doing so good then ones that leave me wondering if I know anything. Pak nga pak. Little by little it will come to me. This mission has already changed me so much and I've only been here a month. Studying these lessons and teaching them has strengthened my testimony so much! If you don't do anything else READ THE BOOK OF MORMON AND PRAY. Those two things will change your life and strengthen your testimony everyday! 

     The old Finns are leaving on Tuesday and I am super bummed. Elder Fowles and me are losing our horseshoe teammates. We have gotten super close to them over the last couple of weeks and it's going to be hard to see them go but they are going to do great in Finland. I hit my month mark yesterday! It doesn't seem like anything to you guys but the days are long here in the MTC and It feels like I've been here my whole life and just got here yesterday at the same time. I can't wait to get out there. I know this place is important but Albania seems like a dream that wont come fast enough. Along with the old Finns leaving we got new Finns and they overlap a week because the OF got extended so they are still here for the new ones. It is exciting to get new people and welcome them into the zone. My branch presidency are three of the most AMAZING men in the world and I'm so grateful for their example and the expectations they set. We are an extremely obedient zone and not that we compare as missionaries but we are the best.... The first meeting with the branch presidency. The BP tells you that exact obedience shouldn't even be a thought because it should already be something that you know you will do so you can get it out of the way and focus on everything else. Every week when we write him we have to tell him how we did on our 7-7-7 which is how many days a week you were out of bed at 6:30, quiet at 10:15, and in bed at 10:30. I wake up about 35 minutes early everyday to shower and exercise so the first one hasn't really been a problem but my room has gotten into a good habit of being quiet and in bed. My roommates Elder Griffiths and Elder Fowles got made the new zone leaders so being in their room we have to be the example for everyone so that helps us follow all the rules with exactness. I am so blessed to be in this zone with all these amazing people. 

    Crazy story for the week... Elder Johnson and I almost died this week playing horseshoes. When you get off the floor laughing get ready for a crazy story. So we play our game which is ten rounds we each throw 4 shoes per round and alternate sides and who throws first and after we got done sometimes we back up like 50 feet and see if we can even get close to getting it in the pit. It seems easy to throw that little thing far but it is a lot harder than it looks! So we're all throwing and having a good time because it's amazing how bad you throw when you 're that far away and Elder Nielson throws his last shoe and it goes almost straight up in the air so  we all start sprinting away to get away from it and we yell look out and Elder Johnson starts curling right where the shoe is going to land so I'm sprinting away looking at him hoping he doesn't get a shoe in the head and die and not paying attention to where I'm going and suddenly I run right into the wood block that is behind the pit. Shin hits and I go straight for the the pole. My back foot caught the wood and I landed to the right of the pole. They look over at me and we all die laughing for about 5 minutes. We only realized after we stopped crying laughing that we almost both died and are lucky to be alive. Moral of the story is horseshoes can be a dangerous game when played right. I honestly know I am blessed though because if my back foot wouldn't have caught the wood I would have got straight into the pole and its about a half inch thick. I would have either taken it in the face or in the chest and probably would have had a nasty hospital trip and if Elder Johnson would have taken a horse shoe to the head from 40 feet up he would be gone. I probably haven't laughed so hard since I've been here. Seeing Johnson run in circles and try not to die then for them to look over at me and I'm on the ground. We have a good time here at the MTC and it won't be the same without them. I love you all and for your prayers that I will be safe at this crazy place!  You're favorite missionary in the MTC. Elder Szabo

People of my Past Life. 

    There isn't much to write about the day to day stuff. Class is class and the language comes but it comes slowly. Pak nga pak. Little by little. I make a ton of flash cards and feel like I'm banging my head against the wall because I don't remember most of it but it comes. I did not think it would be this hard to learn. Have you ever thought about how many words there are!?! I have to learn all of those words in another language. I can bear my testimony and explain the Book of Mormon with the pictures in the front pretty good. I hope you enjoyed that picture of me hosting. Hosting is a blast! It was really good to get out of the routine and go do something and it is crazy that that was me three weeks ago. Next week will be my month mark!! I know you all miss me like crazy and are counting the days until I come home but it's flown by. I don't know how it feels like I've been here my whole life and just got here yesterday all at the same time. It's a basically a blur from P-day to P-day. All is well and I miss you all. Thank you for all the letters. They remind me I have a home and family outside of wherever this place is. Albania feels like a mystical land that doesn't exist that we just talk about and they speak this crazy language. I can't wait to step off that plane in Tirana. The field is going to hard but so AMAZING. No matter how hard it gets just remind me at least i'm not in the mtc and I will get back on track. This place is great buuuut it's the mtc. 

    Another thing I need to mention is we have been counseled to only write family on P-day so my letters will be far and in between while I'm here so if you don't get a letter back for a little or until I'm in the field know I love you with all my heart it's just hard to fit all the writing in in one day when I only have a couple hours to write. 

    Three things that keep me going while i'm here are Service, Horse shoes, and devotionals. Elder Szabo did you just say Horseshoes??? Isn't that a game my great grandma played and is a thing of the past??? Nope! There are two Finns who along with Elder Fowles are my favorite people here. We have a very heated rivalry going. We play twice a week. It is the most magical thing I have ever experienced. Some how it relaxes me relieves stress and is competitive all at the same time. Today we lost by three which was a close game but we all love it. I know you're still wondering why in the world would we play horse shoes. It is the best thing in the world and I will always love it. We even asked the gym person if anyone else uses them and we are the only ones and we are pretty serious about it. 

    The Finns leave in two weeks which is crazy because Elder Folwes and me are going to lose our team mates but it just seems weird that in a flash we'll be the old ones here and leaving the young Finns and Estonians behind and be replaced. They have consecration week this week which is where they can only speak their language so it's a little tough sometimes but you figure most of it out. They were supposed to leave next week but got extended because their mission president will be out of the city for some training so we will have old and new Finns here at the same time and our zone is going to be huge! We will probably have to move sacrament meeting to a bigger room. By the way we refer to everyone by the place they are going so if it seems a little confusing why we have such an ethic group that is why. Finns, Hungarians, Estonians, and Albanians are in our zone. 

       At the temple today we were going to do a session and my companion got a really bad nose bleed. He's been a little sick with a runny nose and his nose has been super dry so he's gotten some really bad ones. I got to use a tiny bit of my emt knowledge to treat a nose bleed! but we didn't have an ice pack so all I could tell him to do was stick a piece of toilet paper against the top of his inside lip but hey at least I got to use that right! Made the day a little more interesting and we were joking that we would actually have something to write home about this week. While we were waiting he said something that I hadn't heard in a long time but that everyone should remember. Those people you are doing names for have been waiting hundreds of years. You can wait a couple hours to do some names. The temple is amazing and everyone should be getting there as often as they can. It is such a blessing to be able to go every week.

       I have so much to say but such little time. I love all of you so much. If you're not reading your scriptures everyday and praying then you're doing it wrong and you're missing out on something great. Those two little things alone can change your life and give you guidance in this life. Elder Szabo... Your favorite missionary in two months. 

An email from President Hatch; " We dropped off Ashlyn and guess who we saw at the curb? Here is a picture."

FAAAAAMILY. 

      This week was rough. I was struggling up until yesterday. I was struggling with not knowing the language and just being here. Yesterday we had a SYL (speak your language) activity which is where you can only speak your language without notes or anything and our teacher would say Holy Ghost or Joseph Smith and we would have to tell what little we can say it and testify and it actually made me feel like I could speak without having my notes or anything. There is a long way to go but if you times what I know by three then when I leave here I should be somewhat able to do this language. This language thing is so much harder than I would have thought. I guess I just assumed you learn it super fast and it feels like you have learned absolutely nothing but when you look back you've actually learned a lot for only being here for 2/3 weeks. They count weeks by weeks been here not total days so that first Wednesday through Sunday counts as a week so technically I'm in week 3 even though we've only been here two so I'll end up being here 8 I guess. It's hard sometimes because the teachers speak Albanian 99 percent of the time and sometimes its hard to understand what they're saying and we just have to piece together what we know. I Know my mission will be hard but I honestly feel like if I can just make it out of the mtc I will love my mission and it will be smooth sailing even though it won't be easy I've already learned I can trust the Lord with everything while I'm out there as long as I'm being obedient. I'm here for him so he will guide me to where I'm supposed to be. Whatever success I do or don't have will be fine because if I'm doing everything I can I know that's what he wants. I cannot wait to actually be able to speak this language and tell those crazy Albanians how much this gospel can bless them. I try to focus on today and not looking forward to the future because it makes it seem longer but today is day 16 and there is no way I've been here that long. The days are long but the weeks fly by is completely true. I've gotten used to sitting in a classroom for 11 hours but it is still a little long. I wish I could just study the scriptures all day. My FAVORITE part of the week is the devotionals. Tuesdays and Sundays the Holy Ghost puts on his boxing gloves and punches me in heart as hard as he can. Those devotionals are amazing and I try to eat them up because I know i'll never have them again. If I wasn't being perfectly obedient I would sneak a video camera in and record them for you dad.... Be glad you raised a righteous son I guess :) My other favorite thing is our service we got assigned. We take down the chairs and roll up the floor mat in the gym because they have the devotionals in there and they have stadium seats that come out and a bunch of stairs and a stand and stuff and we have to take it down after each devotional. It is a blast. The chairs aren't the folding kind. they stack on top of each other and you stack them in twos then you load them on these carts. Elder Fowles and me try to do it as fast as we can every week. Then we have to roll the mat up and fold it on this cart thing. Anyways it's literally one of the things which gets me through the week. I'm always pumped for it. Find joy in the little things I guess... We've started a horse shoe rivalry. Elder Fowles and me are on a team with some Finns and we horse shoe pretty hard... My team got destroyed today which was a tough loss since I've been throwing around some pretty hard smack talk and it wasn't easy to lose... My competitive spirit doesn't like losing. Even though we don't keep score at the MTC..... Elder Fowles and one of the zone leaders is the other team and Elder Neilson is from Lone Peak and a pretty big football player and my team mate is one of the most hilarious kids ever. We have fun with it. 

     My companion and me are good but I would say i'm the most close with Elder Fowles who is one of my roommates but isn't in my class. All is well 

 My Companion Elder Kek

 Elder Greener and Elder Eddings

My Companion and Me. Elder Southum, Elder Wally and Greener and Eddings.  

 All of us going to Albania; the sisters Davis, Kelly, Bezas. then Elder Fowles and Griffiths

Mom you said you wanted to see the exotic food. 

 The view from my room... Keeps me sane. Just kidding. 

 My bed. Mom taught me well. 

My roommate..Elder Fowles

FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND PEOPLE OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD!!!!

     It's only been one week and It feels like I've been here a month. The beginning is ROUGH. From the beginning they process you and you don't even have a second to think about what's happening. They give you your tag and your packet and then to another place to all your books then you drop off your bags at residence then you run to class... where the teacher doesn't speak a word of English to you from day one. The first couple of days are really really hard. You're cramming your head full of a language that doesn't make sense and it seems like the days will never end. They say just make it to Sunday and you'll fine. Turns out it's true. It is amazing how much you can learn and how much of a difference one day makes. When we saw the new kids come we just laugh and say good luck. One week and you are like a veteran. I can't even believe I've been here a week. This place is another planet. I'm not even kidding. You think the mtc is in Provo but when no one is looking they rocket us off to another planet. I thought I was going to be super home sick and the language was going to easy but it's flipped. I love all of you and miss you terribly but I don't have time to be home sick here. I have 11 hours of class to be in and a language to learn. I love all of you the same but when I got Sam's dear elder i thought it was from dad and opened it and saw it was from Sam and I was just shocked and home sick for like 20 minutes. It just rocked me I don't know why. 

     I'll run you through my usual day and the couple days that are changed. Normal day for me is wake up at about six go shower get ready, go to breakfast and eat, go to first class block which is 3 hours long but right now the morning is when we don't have a teacher so we have personal for about an hour, language study for about an hour then TALL which is language on the computer, then additional study for about an hour, then we go to lunch, then back to class for another 3 hours with a teacher which is a mix of language and gospel  but mostly language. I'll tell you about that in a second. Then to gym for an hour, shower get ready for dinner, go to dinner and eat, then class for another 3 hours with a teacher, then we go get ready for bed at residence and go to bed aaaaaaand do it all over again. Our only schedule changes our Tuesday we have devotionals so we have gym in the morning and no class at night and PDAYS!!!! on Thursday. P-days are why I know God loves his children. 

     This place is sooooo spiritual. It's like being at a mix of a church and temple all day. I haven't stopped feeling the spirit since I got here. It just goes up and down. Think of a heart monitor at the hospital. It is always here but goes up and down occasionally. The devotionals are great the language is hard and the food is decent.

     I have a pretty good companion. We don't argue or anything but i just know we'll never be super close. I'm getting sick of some kids in my district. They are really immature sometimes and I get sick of them. There is one that I feel like i get along better than everyone else. So there are two Albanian districts. In my district there is a triple and my companion and me. Then in the other district there are the three motras and another elder companionship. We had three companionships in my district but one kid had some medical issues so went home and the other three became companions because they are in the same room. I'm with my companion obviously and the other two elders from the other class and one in my room is the one that I get along with. So my companion is Elder Kek, Then the other two in my room are Elder Fowles and Elder Griffiths. Then the other three are Elder Eddings, Elder Greener, and Elder Wally then Motra Kelly, Motra Bezas, Motra Davis. I'll explain more about them when i can send pictures. I need you to send me the cord that plugs into the computer for the camera if we have one because they don't have SD slots on the computers. So we have the Hungarians, the Finns (finnish), and us in our zone and we get the new Estonians next week. FRESH MEAT!!! 

 Oh and I am so sick of all the complaining. My district doesn't stop. This teacher doesn't do as well as the other one and this food isn't that good and all this. I'm just in the attitude of be grateful for what you have! It bugs me and i'm not perfect but I don't complain like they do. . It gets easier everyday and i miss all of you like crazy. 

   ATTENTION EVERYONE READING THIS LETTER. Getting real mail is the best thing in the world. We check it twice a day! Dear Elder it up while i'm here. I don't care if we aren't that close if you know who i am. Write me a letter and DEAR ELDER IS FREE WHILE I'M HERE. Mail is the best thing ever so send me letters!!! 

   Fun story for the week. We were playing horseshoes with the finns and our bet is that if you lose you have cold showers for a day. at the end we had a contest throwing it like 50 yards away and if you even made it in the pit the other team had cold showers for a week. It is a lot harder to throw then you think! On the second to last throw the finn on my team who is hilarious threw it and it hit the close pit and rolled into the other one 10 feet away. AMAZING. Not exciting to you guys but the other two had cold showers for a week which seems like a dumb thing to bet but what else do we have... It was the most amazing horseshoe throw ever!! and we are officially the dream team. 

   I have no time to write so I try to get as much in as I can! It flies by.