Rocky theme song.

  2 years ago...... 1 young man embarked on a journey to a land far away. He left his family and friends with a prayer and a purpose but he had no idea what he was getting himself into.  He was pushed past his limits, he sweat and bled and worked as hard as he could.  2 years later he is a changed man. The young boy that embarked on this journey is emerging a new man ready to take on his life. He knows who he is and what he stands for. He's learned more than he can explain and wouldn't trade it for anything. He emerges triumphant and successful. Tired and tried. Ready to take on the rest of his life.   

#SZABO2016 is here ladies and gentleman. 

Greatness. 

Goodness. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I33u_EHLI3w

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLcJHC9J7l4

Elder Szabo 

Sorry.

Hey because of a crazy pday trip yesterday we didn't have time to write so I hopped on today to let you know. See you next week! 

Elder Szabo is a ridiculous person.

  Good and bad news this week family... GOOD NEWS You will still be seeing me on the 17th of August as planned. BAD NEWS they denied my second extension..... Back story??? 

   

         Yes you read that right. I tried... well more I joked about extending again and then it almost became a thing... So we were in the office for my comps regular interview (my last interview is scheduled for the 16 of August at 1:30 in case you were wondering and wanted your mind blown) and him and president walk out of the office and then the aps start telling him about how a mini missionary won't be able to serve and they didn't know what they were going to do so me being my ridiculous self said President you got me until the 7th of September and he said without hesitation what about the 28th... I said sorry pres but I have school. Then he explained how an extension works and how he has to call the missionary department and then they decide whether someone can extend or not and I told him to do it. Then he had another interview so he went in his office and I put a sticky note on the door that said Elder Szabo Sep 7th and told the aps to bug him about it and didn't think anything was going to happen because of it. Then a couple days later we got a text from president saying he'd talked to the missionary department and it was too late to change the ticket without charge so it got denied... I was THIS CLOSE to getting a second extension but guess the Lord wants me to go home so home I will go. 2 more weeks... 

      Other than that... we should be having a baptism this week. Unfortunately It's breaking my streak of having a baptism the last week of the transfer but beggars can't be choosers. He's doing really good. He's a 12 year old kid and can't pay attention to anything and only really comes for his sister but why did all of us come to church when we were kids... I know I wasn't coming for the 2 hours of lessons and meager servings.... Now I fast every week and try to get everyone to stay for 3 hours so how the tables have turned... He'll become a really strong member he just needs to get his own testimony like we all need too. Speaking of church I had to teach combined 3rd hour this week and may or may have not forgotten I had it until an hour before church during my studies but AT LEAST I remembered! I don't like giving lessons as a missionary because my style is to shift attention and have videos and activities and things like that and it's hard when I don't have any access to any of that stuff. I would give it a 6 out of 10. Not terrible but not life changing. It was on the manual the church released about teaching in the way of the Savior... The bishop got up and said the lesson will be by Brother so and so and the missionaries aka me. and the guy stands up so I think oh he actually prepares something but he just stood up for about 2 minutes and went off about something then turned the time over to me... Good thing I remembered. 

      The other big news is that we got p day trips taken away. Not entirely but we can't go on long trips anymore... Long story but we were mostly to blame because of all our travels. Lots went into it one of the things being our district disunity but that's a story for another time. We may or may not have freaked out last night when we found of why it all went down. My comp called president to see the rules and why it happened and we got shut down on going on our trip today and basically any other ones we had planned so my last couple p days are going to be boring. We went bowling today... Lame. What do you do. 

     That's about it. I have two weeks. Be grateful if I have anything to write about next week I won't say anything in 2 weeks because i'll see you all 3 days after. So you only have to read one more email after this... 

I love you all and will see you in t minus 16 days... #trunkyisadisease 

I GOT THE PACKAGE.

I apologize for being a terrible son and human being. I got the package it was wonderful thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you 

Like Dad always says gifts are not my love language and the last couple weeks have just kind of flown by and I forget to write about it. Turns out the mission didn't change me as much as you thought.... #2moreyearswilldothetrick #worstsonever 

    This week..... We actually had some lessons surprisingly. Enzo the referral we got from one of the girls in the ward is doing great. We had three lessons with him. He's 12 so it's pretty simple luckily he doesn't smoke heinous amounts of crack cocaine and doesn't have to worry about paying his tithing for a while so we are just working on trying to get him a testimony and not have to rely on his sister so much. We were able to help him accept a date this week and it's the 13 of August. If it goes down it'll be the fourth transfer in a row that I get a baptism on the last week of the transfer. So cheers to having absolutely no work but pulling out some baptisms on the crazy mission I've had. 

       In other news our ward does not function at all and we only had 5 people in third hour.... but i didn't have to teach a lesson this week so bravo! Next week I will probably have to teach a combined third hour with everyone... The bishop walked up to me and handed me this teaching like the Savior package and said we're having combined third hour and if this member who is supposed to teach it doesn't show you're up.... Luckily he mixed up the weeks and it's not until next week so I have some time to prepare. Blows my mind that a 20 year old has to get up and teach a bunch of people that have been members for a while. I could go off for a while but i'll save you the soap box stand. 

     In other other news I have 3 weeks left. 

     Have a great week. 

30 days....

Family. 

       This week was slow. 

       We had Zone Training. 

 

       We had English Course.

 

       We had 1 lesson besides english course.

       We contact A LOT. 

       We went a whole week without getting a normal lesson. On Saturday we had a lesson and I realized that had been our first one since last Saturday.... You could say we have too much work to handle right now. :) But good news about that lesson is it is a referral from a member. A girl in our ward brought us her 12 year old brother and he is super cool. First time I've ever taught a 12 year old on my mission so learning as we go but it was a good lesson and he came to all 3 hours  of church this week. Should be getting baptized in a month or so as well we are hoping to start reteaching her father who was taking lessons a little bit ago. As well a kid in our English course showed up to church on Sunday and we are going to have a lesson with him this week. So it was a super slow week but it ended on a good note and hopefully we can get something going this week. Like i said before I have not taught a lot on my mission but I have had to give so many talks and lessons in church... Last week I had to give a talk and teach second hour... This week I went into the Sunday school class and realized all the youth weren't in there even though they didn't have  a teacher for their class and so I walked in to see what they were doing and they said oh Elder Szabo has the lesson... So unplanned I had to give a lesson then go to priesthood and if we have enough aaronic priesthood the bishop takes them into his office and has us teach them and this week we had enough so..... I got to teach third hour as well. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I love teaching but 2 hours straight burned me out. Especially because I wasn't prepared at all. The bishop opened his office and said we are just preparing you for a calling with youth when you get home laughed and walked away..... I will be able to do anything you ask when I get back. My homecoming talk is going to be a piece of cake! and it's in english!!!! I forget I speak a foreign language sometimes.... So normal now. Other great news. My boy Gjergj got the priesthood and passed the sacrament! Awesome. He is a baller. When we were giving him the priesthood the bishop finished the written exact part and then started into the blessing and said Vellai Pali and Gjergj said Yes? hahahaha I had to stop myself from busting up. They did it all over again just because of that. It was so funny. Other than that we are just contacting the day away. Sun rise sun set we be on the street. No one is talking to us either... It's like when I was Elbasan and i'm not sleeping at all lately. God knows how you push you doesn't' he ? :) 

I love you all. Have a great week. 

Went on an adventure... See you in 36 days anyways...

Hey family... We went to a peninsula close to Durres and hung out with the Berat youth that were there so we got back late and I don't have much time to write... 

      All you need to know is we have absolutely no work. We street contacted and handed out English course fliers. 

      Gjergj is doing good and is getting the priesthood next week. 

       I gave a talk and had to give the lesson in second hour... I may not have taught many lessons in my mission but I have had to give way too many talks and lessons in church. This mission has been member prep... Missionary prep need not apply.... Albania. 

    Other than that I only have 5 weeks left and i'll see all of you soon so don't complain about not getting a long letter. I love all of you. 

       Strive for greatness. Keep the commandments. Smile 

Love Elder Szabo 

Mission conference pictures

I'm not as kot as they say....

We came to conquer the world and baptize your family.

 This week was interesting to say the least... We got Gjergj baptized IN HIS FSHAT! So much cooler than a font. Rivers are better than fonts... We went up to visit him last week like I told you about and we figured since his family couldn't come to the baptism we'd take the baptism to them and we did and it was awesome. We went up on Friday and took my two favorite members with us. Because the bishop couldn't come we took our ward mission leader Edi who is the rm from Fier and Joni who is the Rm from Lushnje who I've told you about. Without going into too much detail it was probably the most ridiculous ride of my life... They were are DJs and lets just say they like rap more than motab... We had a good time. It was great. We went up and went to his house and his family fed us a big lunch which we were not expecting and then we had a lesson with them about why we baptize people and why in this church and then we went down to the river which was a 5 minute drive outside of their village to the river and dunked him. Edi baptized him. Only his parents came but it was still super great. Little ceremony , baptized him, welcome from Edi and then we ended. The best part is that he came to church on Sunday and got the Holy Ghost and stayed for all three hours and he made some amazing comments in third hour. He has a lot of potential just need to make sure we keep him rolling on the path. 

  

     Speaking of that my last transfer call was received this last Saturday.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. I'm staying here in 4th ward with Elder Holding. He's going to kill me. Weapon of choice... Undecided.  I'm really glad this is how it's ending. I would have liked to make it up to Kosovo but I didn't really want to have to readust to another comp since we are getting along so well and we both know our area and can stay with Gjergj. My group dies on Wednesday so i'm officially in limbo and the oldest missionary in the mission for 6 more weeks. Does it feel like it.. A little. I"m ready to work hard my last transfer. If i'm going to be completely honest i'm not going to die hard in the sense that i'm going to stop working or just stay inside but I don't care about hurrying to get out and do it if we are kenaqing with people. Lost a little bit of my fire but I just like to think i'm a wise old turtle now... A little tired and a little slower but is wise and knows what he's doing. Going to be a good last couple weeks. It's hot, humid, and we don't have any work. What else could i ask for :) 

      Other than my main village man getting dunked not much happened this week... We only had 43 people in church which is awful. Everyone is gone to the beach. but we did help our retention for third hour a little bit. We have a poster of Jesus that is up in the church and we printed out a sign so we had a speech bubble that said "how are you going to stay with me forever if you can't stay in church for 3 hours" ... We think it helped. :) I'm kind of a ridiculous person if you haven't noticed. \

     Oh the other thing that happened this week is that we were pretty upset at the aps for most of the week. Like I said last week they threw us under the bus for that meeting and then at district meeting they told us they were going to be out of town so we had to do everything and they haven't planned anything. They tried to justify it by saying there isn't that much to plan. We were a little upset... So we got put in charge and went and bought everything with the other elders which was ridiculous. People do not bulk buy here so you could say he got a couple stares. Then we figured out the grill so we could cook. WE have our party tonight. It's an american party for the fourth of July so we're having hamburgers and hot dogs and doing some activities. IT should should be a good time. 

Other than that... 6 weeks left. Have a great week. Elder Szabo 

My wish came true and then it punched me in the face.

Hello one and all... I'll try to keep this short as I know you all bore easily at your long lost missionary and his stories and life...... :O 

        It was a slow week again but filled with a lot of good. Gjergj was in town a lot this week so we got to see him three times. We had a lesson and then his interview on Friday. HE PASSED! He is awesome. He is getting baptized this weekend. Make that 3 transfers in a row that i'll end on a baptism. I was thinking the other day that from my first to second baptism I went ten months and then after that i've ended every transfer with a baptism. Hopefully I can end my last one with one as well. Unfortunately Gjergj went back to his fshat after the interview so he's going to be there until the baptism BUUUUUT President gave us the advice to go visit him in his fshat so he'll be ready for baptism so today we drove out there and to Burrel and got to meet his family and see his town and explained to them why we are here. It was really good and his family is super cool. It's a couple hour drive and the road was super fun to drive. MOuntain road with a lot of curves. So you know me I drove really slow and cautious. ( mother don't you roll your eyes at me!) It was one of the most beautiful drives i've been on and we all know how many i've been on... On the way back we stopped at a bridge and had to cross it. Super sketchy but we did it and plus the fshatar we met right before ran across it so.... But it was a really good trip and we are going to go back on Friday right before his baptism so he is ready. He's trying to get work in Tirana so he can be here for church. He has a lot to learn but who doesn't when they are baptized. He is a great kid. So be looking forward to that on Saturday along with my last transfer call ever.... DUN DUN DUN. *Darth vadar walks in the room and does a spit take* 

     Speaking of which. Molly plug your ears and close your eyes. I had to give my dying testimony this week. I don't know if I've ever told you but it's a thing in our mission that before missionaries die they give a final testimony at the big mission conference. We had my last mission conference today BUT since i'm extending the aps weren't going to let me give my testimony and i've been giving them crap for the last couple weeks so I sat there and watched my group get up and bear their testimonies one by one and it caused a lot of reflection and thought... and then after the break we came together and one of them walked over and said you want to give you testimony..... So my chance came and in that moment the reflection deepened and I had to decide what I was going to say. He also told me I had 3 minutes. LUckily I figured out what I was going to say a year ago so I went up and testified about it's not about what you say but you are that will be remembered because no one remembers these testimonies but you remember names and what kind of missionaries they are and talked a little about how the Atonement has changed me and how much i've changed. So..,.. I gave my dying testimony. Didn't expect to but it happened and it blew my mind a little bit. I had to walk up with my walker and adjust my hearing aid but I got through it... I got some really good compliments from missionaries after that made me feel good about it. We all know how much I love inspiring people... #Elderszabosoapbox!!!! 

     Other than that I had weekly planning with Pres this week... It lasted 3 hours and could have gone another three... LEarned a lot and felt like i've been planning terribly and with not enough effort my whole mission. Good thing we have the atonment. 

     Going to end the transfer strong and get us a baptism. Other than that... 

Have a great week! Elder Szabo 

Come on!

Ok family. If you expect me to keep writing you letters you have to at least try to write me! *he says looking awkwardly at his parents*  In your defense I didn't really write last week but I was trying to sign up for classes which I ended up having to do today. It took me about 10 seconds after I got two pieces of info. I had already preplanned my classes so just had to click a couple buttons... I'm going to have to move them around because the way I set them up would be pretty intense and i'd be in class for about 8 hours so might have to change that... Kind of hit me last week that real life is coming and i'm becoming all growned up. Turning 20 means I know everything and my future is perfectly planned out so no worries! :) Wait that's not it at all. I have gone through about 3 career changes over the last 2 months. I'm boxing with life and i'm rocky balboa... 

Ok onto the week.... Met with Gjergj once. Kaq. 

Have a great week!!! 

But really that was about our week. Gjergj is in testing season so he only comes for test right now and he only had one this past week so we had one lesson and he wasn't able to come to church because of financial things. Even though he couldn't make it to church we are confident he's going to be baptized on the date he decided on. July 2 and 3. If he makes it this will be the 3 transfer in a row that I end the last week with a baptism... I counted the other day and realized that from my first baptism to my second there was a 10 month period... and then the last couple months i've had one the last week of the transfer. Luckily we are going to beable to meet with Gjergj three times this week and he's going to have his interview on Friday. So keep him in your prayers. He is super awesome he just needs to come to church and be incorporated intot he ward better. Luckily we're going over to the bishops with him for FHE tonight so that is going to be awesome! It should be a good week. Other than Gjergj we have no one. Lots of street contacting but we have become super chill with each other so we make it fun and joke around a lot. We've stayed up a couple nights talking and last night we stayed up playing cards pretty late.  Oh how things turn around after a couple months and you get comfortable with someone. 

     I learned a very valuable lesson this week. H O N E S T Y. I won't go into the whole thing but just some little things with how missionaries feel about members and they don't tell them but complain when we are with missionaries and then they told me about it and it just made me realize that we need to be more honest with people. A member read something on a blog of a missionary and he denied writing it and just some minor things like that but it made me think of my blog and what i've written and if everything I wrote i'd be ok with everyone reading it.... Hit me really hard I just need to be honest with people. We are need to be honest with everyone. Even if it might cause some problems or contention or confrontation it is the only way to effectively get over problems and it's the Lords way. You didn't see Jesus watch Peter do soemthing and then lean over to John and say Wow... Did you see the way he couldnt' heal that guy because of his lack of faith. No he straight up told him. Of course he had perfect love which we love but we can handle it with the spirit and it will all go over well. This isn't a pointing fingers rant it's a I need to take the beam out of my own eye. It was a big eye opener this week for me. It's amazing how much you can learn in two years especially the last couple months. God has been pouring lesson after lesson on me since I got here. Such a blessing being tutored and guided by my Heavenly Father. He hears my prayers and he hears yours. Council with him and council with others in honesty. It'll change your life and open your mind. Give it a try. 

      Other fun thing this week. After running around second hour to help a member get a video for her lesson for second hour i walked into preisthood and realized we didn't have a teacher so... What do I do go grab the books and start preparing to give the lesson.... So i get the howard w hunter books hand them out and ask what lesson it is... 16 I think someone says so I flip open and what does it say.... Marriage. The missionaries including the senior couple elder had some good jokes and then I proceeded to give an hour lesson on marriage. I don't bring this up to brag I can drop an hour lesson without notice or the fact that marriage is getting close for me i'm reminded enough by the other missionaries. but the point is I want you to ask yourself if you walked in to sunday school, sacrament meeting or any gospel class and they said there is no teacher would you be able to give a lesson? I'm no saying it has to be the most amazing sermon ever given since the one on the mount but just take an honest look at your discipleship and ask yourself if your gospel study and your prayers and your church attendance is being used effectively so you can be used as a tool in God's kingdom. Are you working everyday to build his kingdom and are you working on yourself and your life so that he can use you when he needs you. Physically and spiritually are you in a position to be called to service. What's holding you back? what do you need to improve? Think about it make some goals and improve your discipleship. Don't take a back seat approach to YOUR discipleship. Kick your driver out and start leading your path. Follow Christ with dilligence an be ready when called upon. GO FORWARD. Moral of the story... Are you prepared for whatever comes up in life. If not do something today so you'll be prepared tomorrow. Be progressing not digressing. Do something and act don't be acted upon. Get off your chair and do some push ups put the remote down and read some scriptures. Be useable in the hands our God. 

You kids have a great week. Love Elder Szabo 

School

I don't have any time because I'm been trying to figure out my school thing and don't have information I had no idea I needed. OH the joys of being on a mission and trying to be a real person. Probably going to have to change some insurance stuff... 

This week. Had an exchange with Elder Befus. Went to high school with him. Had service on Saturday in durres with the youth and the sisters had a baptism. Sunday our investigator came to church and we had a barbeque with the bishop. Went to see a castle today. 

Have a great week.

my birthday

 my district

Nature. Caves. Walking.

  On the week not too much to report. We had zone training and we had an exchange with the zone leaders. My first zone training that I didn't have to give in 7 months... It was nice but really weird.  The exchange... All we did was street contact. I hate exchanges. But I talked to this girl in the morning and we had a super good talk. She spoke English and her parents are jdub and she decided a couple years ago that she didn't want to be anymore but hasn't told her parents. She was just interested about what we believe. Some sincere desire it was nice to talk to someone who just wanted to learn. 

    We actually got an investigator this week. We met a kid named Gjergj street contacting and had two lessons with him and have another one planned for tonight. We pushed super hard for a baptism date with him but he wanted to read the book first but he was totally ready for it. Just a shyer kid but super awesome. A student here and his family lives in a village but he understands and it's looking like he'll be my end of transfer baptism! Other than him we have absolutely nothing so we're still finding a lot. 

    We had a special multi stake broadcast for all of Europe. IT was super good. We had 2 and fourth ward together. The broadcast was good but atmosphere was not. The sound was in and out and people were on their phones and kids and noise and talking. It was frustrating but super good. 

    Today we went out to a fshat and on a nature walk up to a cave and then got back and they told us the close bus just left so we went back on the other trail to the river bed and we got a little lost and ended up walking down the river bed because we went off the path and then we had to walk back to the main road to catch a bus... It was a lot of walking but it was really good to out and hiking and outdoors. Exactly what I needed after a long slow week. 

     I love you all. Have a great week. 

The ocean breeze.

Family. I got heavily reprimanded and scolded for being and sounding trunky so I apologize and will not mention the fact I'm going home or that any of you actually exist..... 

       This week. We still haven't found anyone.... but we met some with members so that was nice. We also had district meeting with President Weidmann and interviews after.  

     We met with The topi family which is the girl who served in molly's mission at the same time so that was cool.  We also met with an older couple that elder holding knew before his mission. Their daughter lives in America and lived with him on and off so crazy small world. Other than that nothing really happened this week. Just working hard and trying to find some people. What's new. Church was interesting because sacrament meeting there is this little kid that runs around and kept slamming the door so he went outside and we went out to get him and then just stayed out with him so he wouldn't interrupt. I'm going all out for this kid. I'm getting color books and crayons and the whole thing. We'll see if we can keep him quiet. Third hour was funny because the bishop called me over to translate for the senior couple and he said Elder Dabell I forgot this is the 5th Sunday and we're all together so can you teach the lesson?? haha Albanians.  It was really good. They served a mission in Africa and did self reliance for 2 years so he gave it on that. If he gets a chance to talk he always talks about it. I learned some stuff it was really good. Oh we had a service project. There is this walk way by the church and on both sides it had all this grass and weeds and stuff so we helped a guy clean it all out and make it look nice. It was nice to have some service to do and get out and do some manual labor. Interview with president was good. Weird because it feels like I have nothing to talk about... I asked him about how to not die hard and how to stay active when I go home he told he remember why i'm out here and remember Christ and then that if I would read the scriptures everyday for 30 minutes i'd never fall away. Went to Krye today. It's a tourist spot outside of Tirana. I went this time last year... Weird. It was a good little trip.   Church is true. Have a great week. Elder Szabo 

pictures

I got my flight plans...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Ya I got my flight plans... I fly into Salt lake at 10 pm 17 of August. Not going to lie right now. I'm getting super excited to come home. For a lot of reasons. 

       Update on the work.... Nothing. We haven't found anyone yet. We had a lesson with one super solid guy this week but haven't been able to meet with him since. Hopefully he can meet again and then the other investigators that were being taught came to the baptism so we got to meet them but other than that they are super busy and can never meet. So the search continues. If there is one thing I have done on my mission it is street contact. In the morning in the afternoon at night. Guess God didn't trust me to teach anyone so he thought i'd be safe on the road and he'd leave the baptizing to the other missionaries haha. Interesting to see how each persons mission is for them and what they need to learn. Mine was humility :) 

      Update on the comp..... I realized somethings about myself and about him this week. I have learned and changed a lot on this mission. He does things and it reminds me of a year ago when I was with Elder Asler and how I react shows me that I've matured and changed a lot.  We get along great but we do things very differently and i'm kind of done trying to convince people to do things the way I do them so I just let him do whatever and go with it. Mostly because I'm old and tired and just don't really care anymore. Example. Yesterday after district lunch which we spend a lot of time at talking to the other missionaries we got home to drop our stuff off and then I was ready to leave again... didn't even close the door but my comp sat on the couch and I thought it'd be for a little turned out he needed a 3 hour nap until the end of the work day so I sat down and studied for 3 hours. I am almost done with D&C... Things like that. A year ago I would have gotten super upset and told him he needs to be more obedient and work harder. Now I just let him do him I do me and it's all good. If he wants to waste his time and not work super hard that's his decision. I can't do anything to change it and worrying about it doesn't do anything. So we get along super great he's just not super fired to go out and work and our area is dead (which I have no experience with) and he says he's tired all the time(no idea how he feels). I hope this comes off in the right light. Great kid, hard worker, and good missionary. We just do things differently and he isn't super excited to go out and find. Which is supposed to be my job. I'm the one dying!! I'm learning a lot and God is showing me how much I've learned over the last couple years so i'm really grateful for it even though it's not the way i'd choose to end. I've gotten along really great with all my past couple comps so little wrench in the works for the end. 

       I love you all. Have a great week. 

Home is where the heart is.

Family! I can't believe I was talking to you a week ago and i'll be seeing you again in 3 months.

      This week was a week. Second whitewash in a row. Going into an area with absolutely no work. Would be weird if i did have a lot of work! :) haha I love being back in Tirana. I said i was excited about it like 10 times while we were skyping and I was right. There is just an energy here and so many people to talk to. I am big city boy and i'm back in the city! I almost all four Tirana wards! So close. Luckily with my time in Tirana I know the basic layout of Fourth ward so we weren't completely in the dark. Just figuring out little side roads and where to go exactly. Weird how I could remember roads and where somethings were even though I haven't walked down some for a  year. It was a good week just a little slow. Had some English courses which are always interesting to get thrown into when you don't know where they are at but after the first one it went great and we had a good class that wasn't  awkward. We have been doing a lot of finding and my companion wanted to call the people in our area book so our second day together we were inside for 4 hours! 4 HOURS. calling people that have been taught before. I wanted to jump off our balcony. I hate area book finding. We got a couple lessons out of it but none of them went anywhere. We came into the area and they had a couple of investigators but we haven't been able to meet with one of them and the other one is CRAZY. We have no idea how they thought we was ready for baptism. He asked us questions about mind control and at one point we thought we was going to try to kill us. Needless to say we aren't going to week with him this week. Speaking of crazy people... That is all we've taught this week... Not kidding. Everyone we contacted into that we met with or people from the area book were either crazy or would not stop talking in the lessons and we just gave up and tried to finish the lesson. Not a super great start... but only gets better from here right?? 

      My comp is from Salt Lake. I'm he's year group so he's been out for about 7 months. He's Elder Bangeters son. He came straight out of high school. He played soccer in high school. His dad owns Sinclair oil company. His grandpa started it and now his dad took it over. $$$$$$$$$$$ :O  He's a really good kid and we get along really well. We get along but we don't click like I have with my last couple companions. We don't talk a lot when we are home. We just do our own things and then go to bed. Interesting dynamic. He does a lot of things I don't really agree with but I'm sick of trying to convince people that the way I do things is the right way. I'm old and tired so I'm just going with the flow and being patient. Kind of an off week for me. Just a mix of emotions of almost being done and a long week coming together. The first week is always a little off for me. We'll see how thing progress. I love you all. Have a great week ! 

99....

       Family. It was good seeing you yesterday.. Weird how normal it was to get on skype talk to you for an hour and then go on with my day... 4th time and 2 years later and I guess this missionary thing just becomes my normal. I joke about how much time I have left but I can say I am SUPER excited to come home on the other hand I will work as hard as I can here and don't want to leave. This weird vortex i'm stuck in of working hard and trying to give everything I have and at the same time realizing how little time I have left and my minds wandering to that time. On the Tuesday we will officially be the oldest missionaries here...... If that doesn't blow your mind I don't know what will. I don't really know where the last two years went... All I know is that i've moved around a lot, I've learned more than I can explain and Im converted to this gospel. Other than that it's all a big blur. 

    We talked yesterday but a quick update on the week. Kristo was baptized! Gëzuar!!! It was an interesting baptism and wasn't the best i've ever been to but there were only two of us and not very many people came but he got baptized and that's all that really matters. Especially because on of our recent converts baptized him which was super awesome! His mom and sisters also came so that was a good and we found a way to fill the font up faster so good for missionaries down the line and all the baptisms they will be having in the next couple months. Honestly pulls at my heart that I have to leave this place. We were eating lunch with the branch president and his wife yesterday and just talking about the branch and the problems and I just got this filling that I need to be here for the rest of my life helping the church grow and that I don't want to leave. I love this place. For some reason I have a weird connection to Fier and it has a special place in my heart. Sad to leave it. Going to Tirana will be great though. Definitely couldn't have asked for a better way to die. I love big cities and 4th ward is a great place to be. Elder Holding is a good missionary as well. It'll be run whitewashing my last transfer. He has been out here the same amount of time as Elder Wilson so a little under a year. I am their year group. So got me some youngins to rassle and pass some of my knowledge on. Dont' have a son so I have to corrupt other peoples sons... :) Going to be a really good time though. Tirana is where my heart is at. 

      Other than the baptism it was a pretty low key week. Went to MLC. Gave my last zone traning. Met with some people. You'll get an update next week on the new Tirana shananagins. I love you all. Have a great week! Don't forget to read your scriptures and pray daily. A power and peace come from doing those two things alone. Imagine what you can get if you do a little more. 

Love Elder Szabo 

How did we get here....

Family. We just stayed with our investigator longer than we thought because it was raining and my comp wanted to stay so we just got back to internet and the aps our going to call me any minute so i'll try to be fast and let you know what went on. 

     Monday after I wrote last week we had a lesson with Kristo our friend. 14 year old boy who passed his interview and is getting baptized this Saturday! We had our lesson with him and it was pouring rain and he lives a little out of the city so we wanted to walk with him so his mom wouldn't be mad. So we had to run and get an umbrella and then walked out to his house and talked to his mom and we think it softened her heart a little bit that we walked with him and showed up soaking. She's not against the baptism just want her fully on board so we don't have problems later. So we did that and then on the walk back we stopped by our Branch President's duqan and talked with him for a little bit because he was leaving the next day to Italy for his daughters wedding. So we talked with him and then headed home. 

      Tuesday we had Zone Conference which is lead by president. It was together with the Vlore and Tirana zones. It was really good just went really long and we ended up missing our English course but they talked about teaching when we find and finding when we teach. It's always good to learn at the feet of your mission president and APs. 

       Other than that we've just been meeting with our recent converts and Kristo. It's been really cool to see him learn and how excited he is about the gospel. As well that we were able to get the signature from his dad for the baptismal form. We met him on Saturday before soccer and explained why he needs to be baptized again and he was really cool about it. We are hoping that his whole family can come to the baptism and we can start teaching them as well. This transfer is going to end like the last one. BAPTISM and spending all day at the church. We are having the baptism at 11 and it takes about 5 hours to fill up the font so going to be an early morning and all day spent at the church and then after that we have to drain it and take the font to Lushnje because we only have one font for 3 cities. So we are driving that to them and then coming back and then that night we will get transfer calls... Don't know where the last six weeks went. I do not want to leave this city but i'm hitting my 6 months of leadership and that's usually when you get bumped. I have bumped around my whole mission and haven't stayed anywhere more than 3 months after Shkoder. I love moving around but I feel like i'm just starting to build a relationship with the ward and people here and I'm going to leave. Going to be really hard if I have to leave. I have really come to love this place. 

       Speaking of loving this place.... Church this week was almost a disaster... Almost. Our branch president is gone getting his daughter married GEZUAR!!!! but our entire branch presidency is less active... So we showed up to church and five minutes before didn't think they were going to come so we started preparing sacrament and they showed up right at 10 and the second councilor left because he saw that the first councilor came.... Sacrament went alright. We almost didn't have sacrament. Second hour went alright and then third hour we only had 6 people in priesthood. 3 of which were members. Only 25 showed up to sacrament meeting... 174 people are baptized in this city. So for third hour the councilor told us he has to go back to Tirana so we had to teach the lesson. I was pretty mad at him but nothing I could do. So I taught the lesson and gave a pretty hard lesson about how absolutely no one is doing anything in the church and that it's almost dead and how they need to progress... Good thing the people there didn't need to hear it... Usually how it works out. and after church I got in an argument with a guy that comes every single week to church and knows the scriptures better than any of our members but won't accept our authority. It's a long story. He's a great guy just won't listen to us and we started having a discussion which ended in we standing up and storming out. It just wasn't a great Sunday and I was very frustrated with everyone and everything. Without missionaries the church would be dead here. Dead. Because one person didn't show up we almost didn't have church and without missionaries it wouldn't have happened. No one is progressing here. It kills me. I know I was a terrible member before I came out here but I expect something out of these people. We keep working with hope and leave it up to God. The church in general is extremely weak right now. So my Sunday wasn't really great and I was just upset and off the rest of the day and did not feel like working. Good news is we are having a baptism and God still loves me.  

     I love being a missionary but sometimes it wears on you. Just wanting growth and success and all of that and just assuming after being here for 20 years the church would be better off. It's all in the Lord's hands just have to do my part. I also haven't seen a change in the zone and it's not doing very good right now so just an interesting end to my week and feeling like a failure... They say some of your biggest ups and downs on a mission. Don't worry i'm not depressed or anything just humbling and frustrating end of the week. I'm happy. I still have a testimony. :) I love you all. Have a fantastic week! Can't wait to skype you for the last time. Don't know where the time goes. I can remember where I was last year when I skyped you... I hope you all realize how important the gospel is and are progressing towards greatness. Love you all. Have a great week. 

Elder Szabo 

I have a dream...

Family...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

This week went by faster than most weeks. I know I say that every week but its true. Its like when you put your keys somewhere and then when you have to leave somewhere and you go get the keys and you look all over the house and can't find them and then you put your jacket on and put your hands in your pocket and its in there.... That's what happened with the time on my mission.  

        Yet again I did a lot of driving this week.... Dont get me wrong I love driving but when you are in the makine or sitting waiting somewhere all day except a couple hours it gets tiring and long. On Thursday I had to take Elder Sadiku to Tirana so at 6 30 we rolled out and drove to the hospital where he had to get blood work and a physical and all this stuff done for his operation this week. So that took a couple hours. In and out of rooms and up and down stairs and waiting for things. After that we had to go to the mission office and get the money for his braces then go across town to the orthodontist which was right by where I lived in Tirana in 1rst ward. So we got there and it took about an hour to get his braces on. After that we rolled out and stopped by the office to drop the receipt off and then went back to Fier. We got back at about 4 45 went to the church and had english course and then right after we drove to Berat for a baptismal interview, I did that and then we drove home..... That was my Thursday. Running all over the place and then sitting and waiting. I was pretty wasted after. My comp drove to and from Berat and when we got home I just laid down on the floor. The next day we had an exchange with the APs so we met up half way and then off to Tirana again for me. Then the next day we met up in Lushnje and went back to Fier.Tomorrow we are going to Tirana for a Zone Conference which is led by president. Then the week after that we'll be in Tirana for MLC, the week after that we'll probably be in Tirana for Transfers unless I stay here for another 6 which would be fine with me. I have been to Tirana every week this last month, been to Berat 3 times, Elbasan, and had to do a Tour te Vlorë. D R I V I N G. The joys of being the south zone leader...  5 districts, 6 cities, and half a country... Beautiful. 

       Other than that nothing too special happened. We do have an investigator right now named Kristo. He is a 14 year old boy my comp contacted on the street. He is super cool and doing great. The first week we met him he brought his twin sisters to church and then brought them to english course and we had a lesson with all three of them after. We read the book of mormon for kids in 2 days and has started the actual book of mormon. He's super awesome! He's a little slower to understand but he absorbs everything we tell him. He has a date for the 7th of May and he is on track to make it but the only problem is we've only met his mom once and we need to get them on board so they are ok with him getting baptized. The church could change his life and the direction of his life and we really hope we can get the parents on board. Along with him we are teaching a man named Dauti who came to church yesterday and stayed for all three hours. Hes about 50... we've had a couple lessons with him. He's not crazy interested but he feels the spirit and is willing to meet and is reading so we are hoping we can help him understand the importance of baptism this week... speaking of baptism.... 

       Every week on Friday we send a text to President telling him how many scheduled baptisms we have for that week and how many interviews are set up for the next week. Usually in response we get a Good job or hope we get some baptisms next week! But this week he asked us why we had 10 baptismal dates and now only 1 was still on... So then he asked how we could help more people get baptized... (a simple question that I had the answer to.) I asked him what he thought we could do and turned it on me and said what do you think so we told him teaching people not lessons and helping them progress instead of just rushing to get them baptized and then we told him we'd fast and pray about it.... Always run being rrahed (rrah- to beat but it is used in the metaphorical sense meaning someone should get a verbal beating or gets wood) by president. So I studied it and fasted about it and got some revelation and when I sent him the text he said that is so great you're on the right track. ....... It was a nice pat on the head from my mission president telling me oooh thats cute you figured that out youre on the right track... 

        On Sunday a miracle happened! Elder Szabo got fed twice in one day! I felt like I was a state side missionary! We went over to our branch presidents for lunch as usual and then later that night we went to take the sacrament to a family because the daughter was sick and they fed us as well. Miracles do happen the church is true! 

      Our branch president and his family are going to be gone for a week and a half because they are going to Italy and Switzerland to get their daughter married civily and in the temple!! THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN EVERYDAY IN ALBANIA!!!!!! A miracle and its going to be awesome for them. Its a giant sacrifice for them to go but its going to be so cool and such a blessing that they can see that. They have two kids that have gone on missions and their youngest was born in the covenant. They are long time members and its super cool to see here because doesnt happen very often. I love that family. Mama Gjika is my Albanian mother and feeds me every week. I told her I want to marry an Albanian and she told me she would pray and receive revelation for me on who it should be... Motherly priesthood keys...? haha I could stay in this city for the rest of my mission even though i know it won't happen. 

      I could go on for a while... Didnt think I had much to say this week... But one last thing before I sign off is that I am basically the Clerk for the branch... Both councilors and the clerk are less active and don't do anything so when all the other missionaries left I got put in the position to help President with Finances. Technically not kosher but if i didn't help they wouldnt' get done because he doesnt know computers very well and you have to have two people doing it. So I want told him I would stay in Fier for the rest of my life and he could call me as Clerk here. It's the first time i've ever had to do tithing and fast offerings and quarterly reports... I am coming home ready for whatever calling I get! Oh the things Albania teaches you.  My branch president told me on Sunday that the Stake president told him the missionaries helping isn't alright because the Clerk needs to be there and we can't just call him and ask for permission to use his information.... he then told me that the sin was on my head and I was too blame... So if I don't see you in Heaven you'll know why. President Gjika jokes around a lot and is a really solid guy. He also only has one arm. I just realized there is so much I could tell you about this place. Guess we'll have a lot to talk about when I get home... For now that will do. 

I love you all! Remember how important the gospel is and how much it blesses lives. Live it. Share it. Have a great week! Elder Szabo