No sleep till Brooklyn.

Hello Family, Friends, and Close work associates.... 

       This week.... Went on some exchanges, had to drive to multiple cities in one day, and didn't get much sleep... That's about it. That is my life right now. ha. We did another super exchange in Vlore on Tuesday. We sat in on their district meeting and then just worked with everyone throughout the day. I was with Elder Keck for most of the day. We got to see a run through of a Christmas program that was being run all by itself. Miracles are real people. They happen in Vlore. Then they had an activity for the initiative and it was really good. They have a ton of youth and a lot of energy and it was really good to see. Not that I don't love Lushnje but honestly it's not my favorite city i've served in. It's just  a different kind of work and It's been hard for me to adjust but i'm getting there. 

      After the exchange we had to drive to Elbasan and then Durres.... There was a little miscommunication and Durres need their passalong cards but Elbasan had them because of elders being put back in the city so we made the drive so they could get those. Charity! haha We realized we do things as zone leaders so others don't have to so their work can go smoother. Being leadership is a very different kind of work because we have to look over our area and the entire zone so if the zone is doing good we are doing good. If we have to sacrifice for them it's worth it. 

     Then on Friday to Saturday we had an exchange with the APs. I stayed with Elder Opper in Lushnje. It was a very good exchange and we had a lot of good talks. One of which might have gone late into the night.... Very late into the night... But it was a very good exchange. One of the best i've had. We talked about a lot of stuff. Ranging from Charity and loving your companions to what being kote means on a mission and how we can get excited about the work. It covered a lot but it was very good. He is an incredible missionary and it was good to serve around him a little bit. 

  

      Sunday we had a huge blessing. We have a recent convert family. The Nezha family and 3 out of the 4 are baptized (i don't know if i've told you this already so stop me if I have) The 15 year old son isn't but he has really been opening up lately and we came to church for the second time yesterday and stayed for both hours. We really hope he can accept a baptismal date soon and their family can start preparing for the temple. It would be a miracle if we do. He wouldnt' even sit in on the lessons when missionaries started coming out and now he's coming to church and sits in on our lessons. It's been really cool so see the progression and how the spirit is working on him. The other big blessing was that Agron, our friend who hasn't been progressing super fast because he just doesn't understand things very well, came to church with wife and his two kids! He's about 40 and he has a 6 year old son and a 3 month old baby. It was amazing. Hopefully we will be able to help them understand more and be able to be baptized as a family. He has a huge desire he just doesn't understand the why of the things he's doing or the importance of the restoration. There is a interesting thing i've noticed since being here in Lushnje becasue there are so many fshats (villages) and people from them that work the ground and don't get a lot of education that they don't really understand the process of how to learn. Dad you might want to sit down before reading this next part.... You always told me when I would complain about math that school was really just teaching me HOW to learn not necessarily that I would be using the things I was learning and I never really understood what that meant. I knew what it meant but i'd never really saw it in action. A lot of the people from villages here have never really got that in there lives and it makes it really hard to help them understand and learn about the gospel because they have never really had to learn or take understanding from what they read or learn and it makes it difficult for us to teach them to understand. It's a problem we've been struggling with lately is helping people to understand the message we present. It's very interesting to see and trying to adapt to their understanding. We just don't teach in a way that they can understand a lot of times. But with all that aside Agron finally came to church with his whole family which was a huge step and we know they will be baptized it'll just be a little slower than we want. last transfer and now is the first time in a while where i've had any remotely close to being baptized so even when I complain about not having work sometimes I remember the dark ages and remember we have it pretty good. We have some people we are working with but don't feel like we have a lot of work just because they aren't progressing super fast. 

       The zone is doing pretty good right now. We had some shake ups this week because an Elder has to get some dental work done so he's in a trio with the aps for a couple weeks and the mini in Vlore got moved to his spot and a macedonian missionary who is new is going to be in vlore for a couple weeks. Never a dull moment. Transfers are the week after Christmas and our zone is going to get flipped inside out. We are getting a lot of trainees coming in and all of our district leaders and going to get switched out. Constantly changing and adapting is the name of the game. Our zone is going to be a completely different animal next transfer. I'm a little sad I won't get to train and my line is going to die but Elder Opper told me something that made me feel a little better. He said you are going to have a lot of trainees in your zone and you can leave an impact on them on how zone trainings are supposed to be and how missionary work is supposed to be. So we have an opportunity to start a lot of missionaries off on the right foot and hope we will be able to do that. 

     Just a heads up this will be our last p day until Christmas because we get an all day pday that day so I won't be writing to you next monday so don't be alarmed when nothing comes in. As for Skype time. Plan on plan on 9-11 your time. We haven't decided exactly then but we'll do it at night so it'll be in that time area. 

I hope you are enjoying the holidays and the fun that comes with them but also another reminder to remember the true meaning of Christmas and why this time of year is so special. christmas.mormon.org Share it with a friend a neighbor a coworker and spread the joy of Christmas. Serve others and Smile. A savior was born and he saved man kind. He still lives and guides his church in these latter days. Discover truly why a Savior was born and what it means to you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love Elder Szabo

and they govern themselves...

  Family!! Last week was pretty good. Crazy and busy and this week will be the same but never a dull moment in the life of a zone leader. We had MLC this week which is where all the leaders of the different zones and the stls get together with president and the assistants and we report on our numbers and how everything is doing then we get a training from the assistants and president. It was really good. We talked a lot about the initiative and Christmas and helping people find the spirit of Christmas and starting traditions because so many are Muslim that they don't really know about Christmas and new years is bigger here. It was really good and there was a big push from president to find more families which is the drive I've been getting over the last couple of weeks. We all fasted and prayed this week as a mission that we can find more families and that everyone will have a baptism at the end of the month. Our commitment for zone training was will you pray in every prayer to find a family. So there is a big push right now to go out and find families not just solo people. It's really good and i'm excited to see the blessings we see over the next month. 

       

       We had our Zone Training the next day and it went alright but not as well as we wanted it to. It was our first one together and we were still working out the kinks I guess. It's interesting to have to capture peoples attention and keep 20 of them engaged for an hour and half. We are really seeing some companionships get the fire about finding families and we are already seeing blessings and people are finding them. Like I said in MLC if you're not looking for them you can never find them so we just need to shift our focus and we can find them. Our next one is going to be a lot better. Can't believe I've already been here for a month. The time is just flying by and it feels like we are busy most of the time with stuff that isn't our area but it's really good and we are doing really well. We had a really good discussion for about an hour one night about what our responsibility is as zone leaders and how we need to help people and the areas. The main idea that was talked about is how we need to help missionaries become converted and then they can help the areas. A Joseph Smith quote I read says something like I teach them correct principles and then they govern themselves so we thought a lot about how we need to help them become converted and teach the missionaries correct principles and then they will be able to do better work in their areas. We've had a lot of good talks this week and not to burst anyones bubble that thinks I'm a perfect missionary but we have stayed up a couple nights talking into the late hours of the night.... Ahhhhh i know. We kneel down to say comp prayers every night and then we end up talking for about an hour or two and it's happened the last couple nights. Don't think less of me! I hope you can all still love me. I'm not a perfect missionary... 

      Investigators we have. We are teaching the Xhaka family. The husband is the main one we teach but his wife sits in on the lessons and he just hasn't been progressing over the last couple weeks and he just doesn't understand but this week we saw a little progress and we can see his desire is really there he just doesn't understand the why behind what he's doing. He's come to church for the last 3 weeks and we had a really good lesson with him last night. His son was there from school on a little break. He lives in another village close to Elbasan with his grandparents because its cheaper. We taught the Word of Wisdom and Agron didn't really commit to it he just said I'll think about it and then his son went off about how he could just get a lemonade and his wife said he should pray for help. So.... The whole family together is super solid ha we just need to get them all a testimony and a desire. They all have pieces of the puzzle. Funny story with them. The lesson before the last one we were talking about them getting baptized and the wife told us that she couldn't get baptized because she had a baby and we didn't understand why that mattered because she didn't have to hold the baby but then we figured out she wasn't talking about the baby getting baptized but the fact that she had to breast feed it and we told her babies don't get baptized so she thought it would be bad for the baby if she got baptized and then continued with that.... Face palm moment. We have interesting lessons sometimes. :) Fshatars aka people from villages are very interesting. Another good note is we have a recent convert family who is a dad mom and daughter and son all of which are baptized except for the son and he sits in our lessons but just plays on his phone and acts like he's not paying attention but at the end of our last lesson on Friday he just whispered to Elder Crandall what would you say if I came to church and then we showed him the initiative video and he loved it. Who knew teenagers like watching videos on their phones... and then Christmas miracle he actually showed up to church with his dad. The sister is studying in Tirana right now. So we are hoping we can continue to work with him an that he can get baptized here soon so they can start preparing for the temple together as a family. They live about 20 minutes out of Lushnje by Makine and every Sunday they get a bus into town and then just hitch a ride back with whoever will take them. 

  

      Speaking of church... We have had a lot more people coming to church lately we've been getting about 50 on average and it was about 20 6 months ago so that is really good but we are learning that it's not about quantity but quality. Our testimony meetings are interesting to say the least but they are usually really good and then second hour this week was... Terrible. I usually go to the youth class because i'm really sick of sitting in Elders quorum and listening to a bunch of old men argue for an hour but this week all the youth left after sacrament meeting so I had to sit in on Elders Quorum and it was an interesting experience. The teacher started and asked some questions and then this one member started taking over the lesson and talked for about 20 minutes and then accusing people of stuff and then they started getting in an argument and I just wanted to walk out the whole time because we weren't learning anything and the spirit wasn't there. At the end the 1st councilor in the branch shared a scripture and said that there is a teacher appointed and the spirit is the real teacher and then they just kept arguing so I couldn't hold it in anymore and raised my voice a little bit and told them they could discuss it afterwards because we hadn't learned anything and no one felt the spirit and that they were done so end with a prayer and they tried to keep going but I just kept telling them to end... Interesting to say the least. The 1st councilor called us later and thanked us for how we handled it and what I said. It's just hard to have solid members and investigators sitting in a lesson like that when no one is feeling the spirit and you don't want people to be there. It's a big problem in our zone right now that missionaries are scared to bring people to church because arguments break out and there is no love and the wards and branches have some problems. We're working on it but Albanians have some pride and like to argue. 

      Overall it was a super good week. Busy crazy and felt like we didn't do much and I can't believe I've been here for a month already. My last Christmas is approaching. This week is going to be just as crazy because we have another super exchange tomorrow in Vlorë and then an exchange with the APs at the end of the week so it'll be lots of running around and driving again but it's always good. Super tiring. In the last month we have driven to Tirana twice, Fier Twice, Vlore and Berat 4 times.... Yay!!! but i'm getting along really well with my comp and we are both learning a lot along the way. We are both in it for the long haul. 

     www.mormon.org/christmas Remember The reason why we celebrate Christmas and find out what it really means to you. A Savior was born and he saved all of us an still lives that we can all follow his example and return to our Father in Heaven. As you listen to your music, drink your eggnog, do your caroling, and make your gingerbread houses remember why we celebrate and the where the amazing spirit of Christmas comes from. Jesus Christ a Savoir was born and he saved all of you but it's up to you to use his birth his life his teachings and his example. I testify of his divinity and that he is the Son of God. I have found out who my Savoir is and I have gained a relationship with him. I council you to do the same and find out the true meaning of Christmas. I love all of you have a great week and enjoy the holidays. Elder Szabo 

Squiggly Arms.

  It's 

been 

      requested

 that 

I

        try

 to 

       improve 

my 

        spacing 

and

        paragraphing 

so

 I will do my best.

 I apologize. :) Love you dad. It was a really good week of running around and being super busy and not getting a lot of work done but all in all it was really good.  

    Tuesday was our super exchange. Fier one of the cities in our zone has been struggling lately so we decided to do a super exchange which means we both go into their area and work with them so Tuesday morning we went down there and we went on splits with the district leader and his companion. The District leader is the Hungarian. Sam served in his ward on his mission. But anyways so I was with him and my comp with his comp and we did that until about four then we did 3 trios with both companionship that are there. It was really good. Fier is a little bigger than Lushnje and the big city boy in me got excited. ha. But it was really good to see the problems that we have been hearing about and go in and assess the situation. We slept there and had a training in the morning and then rolled out and we hope it did something for them. The two aren't getting along very well right now so we had a little talk about that and hope the training will help them. I've been there and know how it feels and it just makes everything else harder especially when you have a struggling area. But we will see how they do in the future. 

     

       Thursday was mission conference/Thanksgiving! So we drove to Tirana and the whole mission comes together and we have a little training then we eat lunch and then perform our skits/talents. It was really good and our skit went really well. IT's always good to get together and it was catered by a place here that does american food so we got Turkey and stuffing and mashed potates and the whole shebang. It was great. Afterwards we had to go to the mission office because we found out we were getting new makine. So we went there and got it all figured out and then drove off in our brand new hyundai i30! Needless to say we were pretty excited. Heated seats, push start, and a little bit of driving too fast.... You tried mom but I haven't changed too much... haha but it was really good and we are really enjoying the new makine. We drive a lot because of the villages of lushnje and the exchanges we have to go on. Us and the sisters both got new ones. We are fighting over who gets the keys now.... and bartering for different drives. We are doing really well. I really love my comp and we are getting along very very well. We both have no idea what we are doing as zone leaders but we are making it work and we are having a good time doing it. 

   

        Saturday we found out that we were going to get to go on a little bit of a drive and that we had to drop some things off at the cities in our zone for the new initiative. So Saturday at 12 we took off and had to go to berat, fier and then Vlore and back to Lushnje. It was about a 4 hour drive all together. It was good but it eat up a lot of time. Got to love being a zone leader. So we got back and finished off the night working. So yet again we have another week of running around and driving to different places and being busy and not getting a lot done but we always say as long as our zone is doing good we're doing good because that is our area right now so it's all worth it. 

       

       This week we have MLC and zone training which means we have to drive to Tirana and Durres this week so it'll be another hit of not getting much done but it will be good. Our zone hasn't been doing great lately so it'll be good to have a training and get everyone excited again. Being a zone leader isn't my favorite thing in the world but i'm learning a lot and i'm grateful for the opportunity to serve and to try to bring this zone to excellence. We are trying to take it seriously and really make a difference here. I can't believe i've already been here three weeks and that December is here. The time is just flying by and gets faster and faster. If you didn't know the church has dropped another initiative and it's an amazing video like usual. Go check it out and spread the Christmas spirit. 

www.mormon.org/christmas

Merry Christmas everyone and have a Fantastic week. Read your scriptures, pray, and find out the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus Christ was born a Savior for you all. Love Elder Szabo 

Welcome to Being a Zone Leader.

Hey family we came to Berat to go the castle and practice our skit and then had to do some baptismal interviews here and have to do another one and six and the APs are going to call me any minute to do our weekly call in report. We just got to internet and I couldn't write this morning because I had to do numbers. So I will write until they call. This week flew by. It really felt like we didn't do anything because it's all just a blur. Bad news our six investigators super amazing family we taught.... We went back for the second lesson and at the end he told us that he was going to Italy for work and he'd call us when he got back so that was a little bit of a bummer....... Just got off the phone with Elder Greener. ha He called right after i wrote that sentence. We talk for about 30 minutes about the zone the numbers any problems we see. It's good. Interesting to see how God works through leadership in his church. It's a great system for assuring success and watching over people. God is all about accountability. But my week was pretty good. We have been working with a man and he just wasn't really understanding. He reads the scriptures and comes to church but didn't really understand the importance and the restoration. This week he really came a long way and doesn't understand fully but has a lot better understanding and actually progressed this week so that was really good. We are all about Sunday Night Miracles. Are first one was the 6 new investigators then this week it was Agron the man that wasn't understanding and a new investigator we got and he accepted a baptismal date. We had 3 first lessons set up and we were pretty confident about the first 2 but the last one we didn't think he would come so we went tracting for a little then went back to the church and called the first guy... Said he couldnt' make it talk next week then we called the other guy and he said he couldn't make it either so we decided none were coming so we went out again and started tracting and right at 6 we got a call from the 3rd lesson and he said he was waiting at the church. We were a little surprised and excited so we ran to our makine and hurried to the church and we had a really good lesson with him. The Lord works in mysterious ways. It was another good end to the week. We went to Agrons right after and he accepted a baptismal date as well. Then It was my turn this week to call all the district leaders and get numbers so that was good. We are doing pretty well as a zone and we are both learning as we go but I feel like we are doing really good. It's starting to get weird because i'm starting to become one of the older missionaries and It seems like I just got here. I'm the second oldest missionary in my district and it blows my mind. (oldest time wise not age wise.) This week we have a super exchange with Fier because they are really struggling. Super exchange means instead of one going into the area we are both going and switching around with the Elders there and spending a whole day in their area. Then we have mission conference/Thanksgiving Thursday. and a baptism Saturday... So it's another busy week but we are hoping we can still get some work done and the Fier thing is our work so we are really hoping it goes well. Elder Crandall and I are doing extremely well... We ask ourselves multiple times a day whose idea it was to put us together. We are a hoot. We just joke around all the time and we both have really deep voices and do a lot of different voices and just crack jokes. We are having a blast and trying to do something for this zone at the same time. I'm still not a huge fan of Lushnje. Tirana is my city but it's a great place and we are going to do great things here. Hold on tight because I got 6 more months of this!!! It's going to be really good. Despite not sleeping at all last night I am in a great mood and love being a missionary. I wouldn't trade this for anything. I love you all. Have a great week! Elder Szabo 

I thought I knew what I was doing....

FAMILY! It was a crazy week. First week as a ZL and it was a crazy first week and the first we did when we got here was learn how to rassle the portable font we have. We had to learn how to drain it the best way and it took us a bit which was good because we had to fill it and empty it again for a baptism from Berat. We just had a lot of stuff this week that made it seem like we did absolutely nothing and were just doing business stuff all week but at the end of the week we realized that we actually did some stuff and we had a really good end of the week. At the beginning of the week I was not excited about being here and about being zone leader. IT's just a lot different here and it's a smaller city and I got used to Tirana where there are people out all the time and we drive A LOT. and I hate it but by the end of the week I have come to love it and am excited to see what the future holds. My comp and I get along really really well. We just joke around all day and spend half of it saying we don't know how to do that and figure it out. I'm senior comp but he's senior zone leader so it's been interesting learning together. I"m excited for our time together and hope we can have an impact on this zone and on our area. Some fun thing about being zone leaders is that we have to call our district leaders every night and get a daily report everyday so when it's my phone day I don't really get to do anything at night. We have to make 4 calls every night. Good thing I learned from my mother to love talking on the phone. That just gets wiped away being a missionary and a leader. Honestly being a zone leader is not my favorite thing. I feel like I have good leadership qualities but being in charge of people gets tiring sometimes. I feel like my head is just in a thousand places all the time. Worrying about everything and everyone and thinking all the time about how we can help them and make this a great zone. This 6 months is going to fly by. I'm kind of bummed i'm ending my mission as leadership but I know this is where I need to be and I can help these people right now or else I'd be some where else. This week like I said we felt we were just running around the whole time and got nothing done and hadn't found any new investigators but saw a huge miracle at the end of the week. Literally the very end. We hadn't found any but I contacted a guy in the street and he said he lives in a village that neither of us had heard of so going out there was a gamble because we could waste 30 minutes just driving out there and he could not even have desire so we called multiple times to make sure we could come and he kept saying yes so last night at 7 we had our lesson planned so we drive out there and after making a couple wrong turns get out there and we found his house and we said hi and he seemed really cool so we were happy it was worth it then we go inside and we count 1 2 3 4 5 6 people in the house. There was Dritan the man I contacted his wife their daughter, his mother, his wifes sister and here daughter. So we get even more excited then have the lesson and it goes super well and they didn't understand everything fully but understood that they needed to read and pray and then come to the end and we try to set up a follow up appointment and..... TUESDAY AT SIX! They all said they would be there. 6 NEW INVESTIGATORS SUNDAY NIGHT AT 8 O CLOCK! So we end get in the makine start driving away and we both lost it and freaked out. First of all we were both raised in Shkoder so 6 new investigators in general is just amazing and then put them all into one lesson at the end of the week. We were excited. It was exactly what we needed to end our crazy week and it was such a great blessing to see. We are meeting with them tomorrow so you will hear all about them next week. I"m really excited to see what the next 6 months lay in store. I love my comp. I love the area and it seems like a lot of good things are going to happen. I'm excited and it seems like the time just gets faster and faster. I'm at that point where honestly life before the mission just seems like a weird dream and like I've been here my whole life. If you're served a mission you know what i'm talking about. this just feels like my normal and the time is flying. No wonder missionaries are so weird when they get home! I love this mission and wouldn't trade it for anything. It's changed my life and the path of my life. I'm firmly planted in the gospel and have gained a testimony. I hope you all have done the same and know what a blessing this gospel and church are. Try preaching it 24 7 and you'll get a feel for it's importance. I love you all. Have a fantastic week. Smile and laugh a little. Life is beautiful. Elder Szabo 

OH CANADA!!!

Hey we just found out we have to go talk to Ali's old pronari about his house so I don't have very much time. I apologize. Transfer calls rolled around again and SURPRISE not what I thought was going to happen at all. The picture I included shows my face when I got the call. I"m going to Lushnjë with Elder Crandall as..... South Zone Leader! Didn't see that coming. I'm super excited for it. Not for the zone leader part but elder Crandall is a stud. It's actually my first junior comp on the mission so it'll be an interesting next couple of months. I have never been in the South so it'll be a learning experience but there are 6 cities and 25 missionaries so I get to go on a lot of exchanges. 5 to be exact. Every transfer. I"m bummed I'm leaving especially because i'm leaving the big city but it's going to a really good transfer and I'm going learn a ton. My family line might die but we'll see what happens. Still a chance I might train. My father is dead!! He's leaving me all alone in this big world. Crazy to think about a year ago he was training me and now he's dead. Flew by. Honestly have no idea where the time went especially this last six weeks. We just kept asking each other how is it weekly planning already!! I'm also bummed because we actually have some work and we are going to have to leave them. Ali and Myslym and Lumturia are our main ones. It felt like I was teaching my grandparents and now I have to leave them. I'm sure they will get baptized over the next couple months. Hopefully the transition goes well. I will have a makine again in Lushnje. First time since 1 transfer. Oh and Elder Crandall and I were trained in the same place. Literally we slept in the same bed. and served in Shkoder for the same amount of time. It's going to be interesting but great! Elder Stewart is leaving me for Canada and not going to lie I've got a little Canadian pride now. I'm currently wearing a shirt that says Canada on it.... A gift from my dying comp. Never say never I guess... haha We've had an AMAZING time together. Honestly one of my best transfers and i'm going to miss him. On to bigger and better things I guess. Change is inevitable in the mission. I love you all! Have a great week and be excited to hear all about the move and being zone leader next week. Elder Szabo

Adriatic South Mission Conference - Oct 2015

WE GO BIG. OR WE GO HOME.

Hello! Greetings from the country of Albania. It just hit me that I live here and speak the language... To start since I forgot last week I'll tell you about the argument I had with the bishop.... So the bishop has required that before people get baptized they have an interview with him and we had a miscommunication with him and he thought they were getting baptized the following week not that week so when we told him to announce it in church he got angry and walked away and then came back to me and got mad because we didn't tell him and they hadn't been interviewed and he said fine they aren't getting baptized then and I said (I know I shouldn't' have but it's still true.) You don't have the authority to do that. Yes Elder Szabo that is the exact thing to say to your bishop.... So he got really mad and stormed off. So all through sacrament meeting I was just like great the bishop hates me it's going to get real hard to be a district leader and missionary here... But he talked to me after and we both apologized and figured it out then he invited us over for lunch that week so it was an interesting exchange. Those two that got announced that week finally got baptized and confirmed this weekend and it was  grate. It was a long process and stressful. It was good to finally get it over with. That sounds bad but you know what I mean. It was a really good week. I don't have a lot of time to write about it but we have some super solid investigators right now. Myslym and Lumturia came to Sacrament this week and  it was great. They couldn't stay but we have really high hopes for them. We have really solid lessons with them and they understand and super awesome. It's like teaching my grandparents. They are really funny. I hope this week they can accept baptism. Ali had another skype lesson yesterday and it went really good. We met with him Saturday night and he talked a lot about us helping him leave Albania we told him we couldn't and just sat there not knowing what to do then we kneeled and he prayed and we gave him a blessing and then started our fast with him so hopefully something happens. Speaking of using the priesthood. I got to baptize and confirm the sisters investigator. an 18 year old girl and her brother got baptized. I baptized her and a member baptized her brother then we confirmed them. I love getting to use my priesthood. We had FHE this week which has been very poorly attended the last month but this week we decided to carve pumpkins and we got about 10 people to come which isn't very good but it's better than last week. We had mission prep again and... 0 people came. Hopefully we can announce it better this week and get it started so a lot of people can come. It was a bummer because it's on the other side of the city so we wasted about an hour for nothing but what do you do. We had a really solid week. Had one lesson with our two families and they aren't on baptismal dates yet but they are all as my comp said "investigating" and are super close they just need to find out it's true. It's been a really good transfer. I've really enjoyed it especially after the last hard 6 months. Blessings have come. I get transfer calls this Saturday and my comp dies Tuesdayy... WEIRD! I'm sad to see him go but we all go home at some point. I've been giving him a super hard time about it so its alright. ha. I love you all have a fantastic week! 

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15 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!! We're all about the comeback.

That is how many days my comp has left on his mission. Despite giving him a hard time about it all the time I am not excited for him to leave. He is an incredible missionary and we are doing really well together. Going to be a big change when he leaves not only because we're doing so well but because I'll be back down to 2 elders in the house and it'll probably seem really quiet and weird. It's been a blast. It's fun not only being with your comp all the time just having the atmosphere of more people in the house. The only problems have been being late for studies because we only have one shower and fitting all the food in the fridge. We have had to adjust how much food we buy at one time. I think i'm going to be in 3rd ward for a while and might train here. I'm either going leadership or training next transfer. We don't have very many missionaries and we are all going to have to do something. Interesting to see what happens because if I go leadership my family line will die... It's super short because my father killed my grandfather and my grandfather killed my great grandfather. Make sense? I've got to see my father because he's dying in Tirana so it's been good to see him before he left. Crazy to think that a year ago he was nurturing me in his loving arms in Shkodër and teaching me how to walk. This week not a lot happened... It feels like absolutely nothing has happened when I sit down to write. It's all just a blur and we keep asking ourselves where the time is going. We had interviews with president this week and afterwards he came to a lesson with us. It was super good. He doesn't' speak much Albanian but bore his testimony at the end and the lady we were teaching teared up. We have 3 sets of investigators right now. An older couple named Myslym and Lumturia who are in their 70's, Zamira and her son Marin, and Ali. We have taught the former 4 times and he has read out of the book of mormon and she came to church two weeks ago and we weren't able to week with them this week because they left town on the day of our lesson and didn't come back until Sunday afternoon but they called to cancel the lesson which is  a really good sign. We found them tracting the last day I was with Elder Schram. They are slowly progressing and understand what we tell them just don't have a testimony it's true yet. We have a lesson set up this week and hopefully it goes well. Zamira is a lady in her 40's and her son is 15. We found them through english course. She came with her son and afterwards asked a lot of questions about the book of mormon and we set a lesson with her. She has read the bible a ton and is super awesome. We had two lessons with them and she started reading the book of mormon and came to church yesterday but when we called her we couldn't' really read her reaction about church and meeting again so hopefully we can continue with them. Ali is a man from Iran I've told you about him but this week BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!! We finally got a skype lesson with people who speak Persian. It was awesome. We got permission to email elder stewarts dad because after trying everything we could think of and not getting an email back form a Persian speaker we were getting impatient so he emailed his dad because there are Persian speaking missionaries in Canada. Sent the email and hoped for the best and that we'd get an answer today but the next day President Weidmann called us and told us he had the number and email for them and the Elder Stewarts dad had figured it out and contacted President Weidmann who then talked to the mission president in Toronto who oked the lesson. So the aps called on their international phone and set up a lesson for us and it happened! He did it on his phone at the church and had to use headphones so we just sat there for an hour and a half while he got taught but he said after it went really well and we have  lesson for next week. We need to talk to the Canada elders and figure everything out but hopefully he will get baptized pretty soon. Speaking of baptisms. I had to do 5 baptismal interviews this weekend. A brother and sister and two parents and their daughter. It was very interesting and only the second time I've had to do them. It taught me a lot about what it means to be ready for baptism and the importance of desire along with knowledge of the gospel. Truly trying to be led by the spirit to judge their readiness. It's hard with my district because we're over two wards so I don't get close contact with the other elders investigators but I am learning a lot from being district leader. It's a lot different the second time around. All in all it was a good but somewhat hectic week trying to get all the interviews in. The weeks are just blurring past and we don't' know what's happening. Its become so normal it just feels like another week instead of something new happening. We have mission conference this week and will have a seventy coming. We've had a lot lately and it's been awesome. I love getting to learn from so many apostles of the Lord. Wonderful blessing of being on a mission and something you don't really get too often outside of one. I love being a missionary. It's hard, it's long, I don't sleep, but I wouldn't be anywhere else doing anything else. This mission has changed my life so much and  i have come closer to my Savior and Heavenly Father and just become a better person in general. I am earning my title of 2.0 out here and can't even imagine what the Lord has for me to learn in the 9 months I have left. I love you all. I hope you are all still reading your one conference talk a day and your scriptures daily and praying on your knees. I love you all. Have a fantastic week. Elder Szabo 

They gave me 2 years...

Hey we went on a hike today and it went super long and we took a crazy way to get back down so it took forever and was raining and we almost died a couple times and I hurt my ankle but i'm alive and doing well. It was a one for the memories. Crazy and dangerous but worth it. I had a pretty good week. I had investigators in church for the first time in about 7 months so that was cool... We are starting to find a couple people to teach and are building better and better. Had a argument with the bishop... Then we made up after sacrament meeting. I'll tell you the full story next week. I'm doing really good. I still love my companion. Can't believe he only has 3 weeks left. The time is flying by. Speaking of time.... I decided i'm extending this week. Which means I won't be coming home until Aug 10. We had a meeting with 2 70s this week. One from the first quorum and one from the second quorum who is in our area presidency. It was a really good meeting and during it I just felt the push that I should do it.6 weeks more of something i'll never be able to do again. It's hard it's long but in the end I know I won't regret it and I get to actually serve 2 years! I love you all. Have a great week! Elder Szabo 

Look at your boy!

FRANCE 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Albania beat Armenia 3-0 which means we got into the euro cup. Soccer.... for you non sports people out there. It was crazy today. The soccer team drove through on their bus and they had the roads blocked off and a huge crowd waiting for them. I got a video of it. (which you'll get next week don't have my card reader). That will start in march so lets hope I'm still in Tirana. My plan is to stay in 3rd ward for 6 months then die in Shkodër my last three... We'll see what the Lord has in store for me.  I am leaning towards not extending right now but we'll see what happens. I have an interview with Presdent Weidmann next week and I'm going to talk to him about it. I feel like God says whatever you want so I don't really know. I haven't got a strong answer to whether I should or not. Anyways... Onto my week. We had zone training this week and it was really good. A year ago I was having my first zone training in the exact same place but my comp was in the district leader training and we came from Shkodër... Oh how much has happened since then. Now 6 of my group are in leadership. This week didn't have a ton of big events to write about. It all just seems like a blur now and gets faster and faster. My comp hit less than a month left today and the jokes are starting to roll. Oh the joys of killing companions. I am doing really good right now. We get along very well. We don't see eye to eye on everything but we are doing great. We had a really interesting talk about sacrificing and still being effective and we had some different ideas but for the most part agreed. The rainy season is starting here which means lots of tracting. Is is weird knocking on strangers doors and trying to teach them about the gospel in Albanian seems normal to me? Some might call that crazy! We have had some decent success in the last little bit with tracting and have met some really cool people and a couple return appointments. Our one investigator right now is a hand off from another ward because he moved into our ward. His name is Ali and he is from Iran.... Oh and he speaks very little English and Albanian.... So you could say our lessons are a little interesting. He's been an investigator for 2 months and are hoping we can help him get baptized. His wife is also coming to live with him and he said she wants to be christian too. Our lessons consist of very simple bad grammar English and Albanian mixed sentences and using his translate app on his phone. It's interesting to say the least... He speaks Persian... Their alphabet looks like spaghetti. But luckily we have the book of Mormon partially translated in his language so hopefully he can read that and gain a testimony. He seems like he has a strong desire but it's hard to gauge because we can barely communicate. He understands but their is just a little piece missing. Some of the adventures with him this week... We went to the other church for the pass of lesson then they told us he needs help at the bank so we go back to our side of the city to a bank that is close to the church and they tell us that we have to go to the original bank where he got the card so we walk all the across the city to the bank then had to run to an internet lokal then back to the bank then back to the internet lokal and finally got it all figured out and then walked back across the city and showed him the church. We were with him for about 3 hours figuring everything out. All to figure out we could have avoided it all if we would have just paid with paypal in the first place instead of directly with his card.... Oh the joys of being a missionary. So that was our first experience with him. Then we had a lesson with him then we set one up and he wasn't coming which was really late and he calls us and says I'm at the church and we're like no you're not we're here and you're not then a missionary takes his phone and says he's at our church which is all the way across the city... So a little confusion. Then we had this great lesson planned on priesthood and had some scriptures and we get in the lesson and after a long process of trying to find Alma 13 we realize he doesn't have all the chapters in his book so we had to change our plan on lessons a little bit... Needless to say it's been a little interesting but he's a great guy and he's broken language makes us laugh a lot. Hopefully he can get baptized along with his wife. Other then that we've gone tracting a lot this week and the highlight of the week... (besides conference....) was The Roberts! Who are the Roberts you ask? They are an American family who just moved here. Brother Roberts works at the embassy and we ate dinner at their house last night. They live in this compound which has guards with shotguns out front and high walls but inside is like little America. It's awesome. Their is grass and a swimming pool and a bunch of little houses. They had carpet in their house!!! My feet haven't felt carpet for over a year!!!! It was delightful. They said we'll try to do it once a month. We went with the senior couple as well who is from Minnesota (mini soda!) They think they might have met Molly. It was a weird experience but so great. Everything in English feels like America and little kids who are American and speak English... It was bizarre. It's weird how normal this place becomes to you and how foreign america (or Canada) feel. It was great though... I might run away and spend Christmas at their house... Overall it was a really good week. I"m doing great. I love my companion and we have a really good ward. Conference was really good but it's sad because no one comes to any session but Sunday morning... We get maybe 10 to all the other sessions and 80 to the Sunday morning. We had to set it all up and had a lot of close calls of it not being shown. It all worked out and was great. I love conference even if I can't fully fully enjoy it because I don't listen in English it's still good and amazing I can understand it in Albanian. I challenge you all again to read a talk a day for the next 6 months and actually know what our profets and apostles have said. It's kind of important. I love you all. You're in my prayers and fasts. Have the best week ever. Elder Szabo 

One a day keeps satan away!

Look at me. Now look at the profet. Now look at me. WE HAVE A LIVING PROFET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that amazing. Holy garbanzo beans we get to hear him and the living apostles of Jesus Christ speak twice a year! You've heard them once and you can read and treasure them everyday! I challenge anyone reading this to read at least one conference talk everyday for the next six months. This isn't one of those I'm going to lose 50 pounds new years goals. I mean business. If you just read that last sentence you are hereby obligated to read at least one general conference talk everyday. Any less and i'm just disappointed in you. Get reading folks. 

    If you can't tell I'm doing a lot better this week. I apologize for the last couple of weeks and how down I've been. The last six months just kind of piled up and got really hard at the end. This week was great! I get along with my new comp. Elder Stewart. He is from Canada. I have now served with people from 3 countries and 5 states! We get along really well and are doing really well. We had a really really good start work wise then it kind of died down. Our second day together we had 7 lessons and a baptismal date.  A new air has blown in and the plague is dead. We ended with 10 lessons but that day was a really good day. We got two tracting lessons one right after the other and they were with young families. There is a place in my ward called student city... Why is it called that? because it's where all the student housing is so there is a ton of students and young people. Which is exactly who i want to teach and baptize. I realized this last week I could stay in third ward for a while. I didn't really like it at the beginning but i was mostly bitter about leaving Elbasan and the comp situation. It's a really really good ward and has some solid people in it. Plus student city. I realized this week that during second transfer I was reading about the missionaries in the Book of Mormon and realized they had incredible success but that it also notes their much suffering and trials and I prayed hard that I could have the trials so I could earn the success. Trials match success. I think the last 6 months were an answer to my prayer. I had to go through a little fire and be tested but I feel like it's time for some success. God really humbled me and made me realize it's all in his hands. I am extremely grateful for what I've learned and who I've become. I've been in this country a year!!! Crazy to think about a year ago I got to Shkodër for the first time and couldn't speak the language at all. It's weird to see new missionaries come because I've been here for a little so they seem so far away. Plus I've had a companion die the last two transfers and will have 3 die in the next three months. They are dying one by one every transfer. Also my father dies in 6 weeks which is weird to think about. The time really flies by even when it's slow. I love being a missionary. It's hard and sucks some times but it's worth every minute. Hopefully will have more good news to report and I get to see conference this week so i'll tell you how that goes. Lets see if I understand more than I did a year ago.  Fingers crossed!! Also being a district leader again over 10 people... I have to call every companionship nightly for an accountability call then call the zone leaders and tell them about it who are in my district. I think they are kotë but i'm trying to make them useful. I get their goals the night before then their acutals and talk about what happened and the lessons they had. I want my district to do very well and I am praying a lot to receive guidance and know how I can help them all. It's a responsibility that doesn't matter very much but I try to take it seriously and magnify my calling because a good district leader makes the job of the zone leaders a lot easier. District leadering. It's funny because an ap a zone leader and the two district leaders are form my group. Who would have thought we'd be here a year ago... haha. Hopefully I escaped big leadership and will sail home as junior comp the rest of my mission.  I love you all. Have a fantastic week. Elder Szabo 

Mental Toughness

Hello. I'll start with transfers. I am staying in 3rd ward and will be serving with Elder Stewart. He is the old ap who extended his mission for 6 weeks so i'll be killing him. Standard transfer call but wait................ They are also opening a temporary area in 3rd ward and they just happen to be living in our house. Yep we are going to have 4 elders in my house for 6 weeks. 3 beds and a pad. check. 3 large wardrobes and some dressers. check. 1 bathroom. check. Yes we only have one bathroom. Good thing I like cold showers right? It is going to a very interesting transfer. Buying food for 4 people, figuring out the bathroom,..... etc etc. Crazy how two more people complicates everything so much. Definitely going to be the most interesting transfer I've had. The other two missionaries are another missionary who is extending and an Albanian who's already served in 3rd ward so I'll probably be in 3rd ward for a while. The extending thing. The church stopped allowing missionaries to do it but because our mission is weird and we get a month cut off we can extend so that is an option now. I probably won't do it because of school but we'll see what happens when the time comes. There are 5 missionaries extending including my father and 4 going home this week. 

     Did I want to stay in 3rd ward? No. But I know the Lord knows what he's doing and i'm excited to have a really really really good missionary for a companion. Hopefully he can turn this area around because I sure haven't. Going to be honest if you can't tell I'm a little burnt out. I've been going hard for 6 months and have absolutely nothing to show for it. These last couple of weeks have been really hard and I'm struggling to keep pushing right now. I'm getting really sick of contacting. Not because I hate contacting but for some reason I can get no numbers from it. I feel like I do it the right way like I learned second transfer but I get nothing. It's really hard to keep pushing when you've seen nothing from your works. I've boiled it down to three things. I either lack faith, i'm a terrible missionary, or God is really trying to humble. I really hope it's the latter because the first two don't sound too great. I have thought  A LOT these last couple months and the hard part for me is I know God is the Lord of the harvest I understand that but when you try so hard to be obedient and hear all these stories of the blessings of exact obedience and you see nothing from it. It's really hard for me to not think i'm just a terrible missionary sometimes. I'm supposed to be a powerful missionary who teaches with the spirit and converts thousands but it just ain't happening. I apologize for being a hypocrite after all the trials are for our good and finding joy in the journey speeches but God is doing a real good job at humbling me and realizing I can literally do nothing by myself. I am extremely grateful for these experiences i'm having and have learned more in the last year of being in this country than the previous 18 years of my life but he's not making it easy. I realized it's all mental (hence subject line) It really is all about your attitude but it's hard for me to keep pushing and be Nefi when the I can't see any progress on the boat! Don't worry i'm not going to stop being obedient or stop working hard I'm just a little beat up and tired. I just need more mental toughness and a whole lot of the enabling power of the atonement. Strengthen me through the trials don't take me out of the trials. I apologize for the rain cloud of a letter but I thought how I actually feel is better than pretending. I'm still very happy and doing great don't get me wrong. I love my mission and wouldn't trade it for the world just going through a bit of harder patch. This next week be better. I testify of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the truthfulness of his gospel. Strive to feel his spirit more in your lives and be grateful for the knowledge you have that I fight everyday to share with others. I'll save you all my conference rant and just advise you to prepare by reading last conference (you should be reading at least a talk a day) and preparing some questions to be answered. Ladies and Gentlemen we have a living profet and we get to hear him speak. Those 8-10 hours(based off of how much you can stay awake haha jk!) should be some of the most cherished of the year. I love this gospel and the fact that we have a living profet. Don't let it just pass you by but use it to receive revelation for your life. I love you all. Have an incredible week and a wonderful conference weekend. We're on a week delay over here so I won't get to hear them for two weeks. Don't forget to smile and enjoy life. Elder Szabo 

I am BLACK PLAGUE.

Family, Friends, Citizens, Human beings one and all. I set a new PR. I know you thought it couldn't be done but I only had 1 lesson this week. With a recent convert..... It was honestly a pretty tough week for me. Just a lot of lows and not wanting to go out and work but before I talk about the rain cloud know it ended on a good note (this is a movie you'll enjoy watching mom.) I have been without work for 6 months now. Without work without work. This week it just really wore on me. I just struggled wanting to go out and contact and keep going. Tried to stay positive and give it my all that day but then I'd get out there and it would kind of just hit me again. Not to mention 5 people came to Family Home Evening even though we were expecting way more. It just seemed like everything I do just fails and I don't know what the Lord wants from me. Pushing against the rock and not seeing anything happen. It's been a long 6 months to say the least. I know it's all God's will but on the flip side I should be having success right? I'm being obedient, doing what I'm supposed to, and working hard. Why am I getting nothing. I go out and street contact and no one stops. We go tracting and no one lets us in. I plan activities and no one comes.... That was just the mood of my week... but it got a lot better Sunday. We had one of our area 70s that's over our mission come and speak in our sacrament meeting. He said he felted impressed to share his conversion story and he told the events leading up to the missionaries coming and teaching them.(he ended up being a mission president and is now a 70 so you never know who'll you'll teach on your mission) Then he talked about how we need to open our mouths and the Holy Ghost will do the rest. We don't do the converting we just open our mouths. I don't know what it was but he really lit my fire again and the spirit was just telling me the whole time You need to go out and find those prepared people. I need to give everything I have. Then after the meeting we were walking out and he asked how my mission is going and I said great! but I haven't had any work for a while. He told me about the Greece mission and at one point were averaging 4 lessons a week so they had a conference and only talked about obedience obedience obedience. A companionship after tried to be 100 % obedient and they had 10 lessons then 20 then 30... But said they couldn't keep it up and eventually their lessons fell again. He testified of the blessings of exact obedience then told me that I should only speak Albanian when outside and talk about the gospel to invite the spirit. Don't talk about your family, football, or your girlfriend. The spirit doesn't care about football. (he's British and super funny by the way so do your best accent while you imagine these stories) I feel like I'm pretty obedient but there is always more I can do and I was already speaking Albanian but need to start talking about things that invite the spirit. He really just lit my fire again and got me really excited to go out and just open my mouth. I have an unofficial goal this week to find a new investigator every day or 7 total. I think the black plague is coming to an end. These last 6 months have been extremely hard and long at some points but I think the Lord was just trying to humble me because I might be a little stubborn. I've been asking for my weaknesses so he can strengthen me and to give me everything he's got and I think he did a pretty good job. I"m ready to just tear it up now. I know it's always the will of the Lord but Sunday I just felt this fire and confirmation that it's time that I start getting work done. I need to sacrifice more and be more obedient. I only have 9 more months in this crazy place and I need to give it everything. It's time. So that was my week. The last month it has also been very hot here. it's supposed to cool down this week but we'll see. We had a pretty good storm last night. Next week I hit my year in country mark and I can't really believe a year ago I was being born in Shkodër. So much has happened and so much has been learned in the last year it's amazing. It's amazing what the Lord can do with you when you give it over to him. Also Transfers are next week so be expecting something crazy. We'll see what happens. I still have not been a senior companion and if I go leadership I have a 100% chance of co senioring so I might hold that streak for another transfer. Guess they couldn't trust me to be a senior comp. Being honest after second transfer I've felt like the senior comp with all my companions though... Not trying to be prideful I was just always the one pulling the companionship. S'ka gjë nesër ( direct translation doesn't have a thing tomorrow. it's a saying that means anyways or moving on) ha I totally speak another language! It's super kotë and i'll never use it again but I speak it! I plan on throwing it away and learning Hungarian when I get home so one of our languages can survive! Plus it's my mother tongue so... It's going to be a good week. I love you all. Keep climbing the mountain and make it the best week ever. Elder Szabo

 We have a new address so let everyone know. 

P.O. Box 2984

Blvd. “Gjergj Fishta”, Qendra “Alpas”,

Shk. Nr. 5, Apt. Nr. 14,

Tirana, Tirana, 1000, Albania