AHHHH FREAK OUT. Hump day!

If you didn't just sing that first part I don't know. Transfers happened again. Weird how they do that every couple of months. As expected they killed our area as we are losing 10 elders and getting 0 this transfer so some areas had to die. They are keeping the house open so senior couples can use it occasionally. My companion is going to 4th ward and white washing the area so he's staying in Tirana. Not that this matters to you guys very much but Elder Greener in my group got made the AP which no one really saw coming. They were all joking it was going to be me. He's going to do great though. AP is hard work. I think I covered all the important points of transfers.... Oh and I'm going to Elbasan! with Elder Eliason. He is starting his dying transfer. Which means i'm going to run him into the ground and we are going to work SOOOOOOOOO HARD. I'm excited and I don't think he knows whats going to hit him. :D I haven't served around him at all just heard about him from other missionaries so it'll be interesting. First couple weeks are always weird because you're adjusting to being with someone literally all day and you can't run away. I'm excited though I've heard a lot of good things about the city and the branch and it's super close to being a ward so that's happening while I'm there. It'll be interesting because they killed an area so it's just 2 elders 2 sisters and the sister just got done training and is now training. Happens all the time in our mission because we have so few sisters. Elbasan also happens to be the hottest city and has the worst water so don't drink the water!!! It'll be weird coming home when you can drink out of the tap again and you can drink water restaurants give you. Oh Albania. So many weird things about this country. You never know in this mission but I think I'm going to be in Elbasan for a while because if I kill Elder Eliason I'll probably stay for another mini or 3 months but we'll see. Also referring to the subject line it is my hump day today. In my mission it's weird because they cut off a month so you have you're you die in one year mark then your actual year mark then your year in country mark. This is my you die in one year mark so Let your countdowns begin after today. This week has been a very slow one because my companion has been sick over the last days and we've been inside the majority of the time. It wasn't as bad as last time because we got out of the house for a couple lessons and Saturday we did a service project helping some less actives paint their house and had an open house for our church but we were still inside a lot and it sucked. I know it's necessary because they need to get better but I start going crazy when we stay inside. I just clean and read and listen to talks and try not to go crazy. It was a bad way to end the transfer but he needed to get better so what do you do. After a transfer of no work it was a good break for him. ha. I was reminded by someone that I was writing that I used to be a very ungrateful negative person and it made me really sad I wasted so much time being that way. I'd like to say I have a pretty good attitude now and try to look at things for the positive. I hope to become better everyday and really view things with a great attitude. Life flows a lot better when you do. Also just a fun fact for you there used to be three points to the optimal human and now there is five... (had a lot of time to think this week) It was PHYSICAL MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL before and now SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL have been added. In few words social is your ability to communicate with people and how you interact with them and emotional is being in control of your emotions  and having them balanced as well as being happy and grateful. I made a diagram and everything. really exciting. So now you have to try to improve all five points everyday not just 3 to become an optimal human being. Let the human optimalalization process begin!!!!! GO FORTH becoming better everyday. I'm probably going to write a book about this one day so be excited for that.  I'll have a lot more exciting news next week with the move and new comp and city. I love you all. Keep improving and becoming better human beings. Keep climbing the mountain and learn through your trials. and read your scriptures everyday! It's the iron rod people! You can't make it without it! So hold on tight and don't let go. Continue on and have the best week of your entire life. Elder Szabo

You're a Wizard Harry.

Inside joke I have with my comp.... I don't have a ton of time today because I have to go see our potential new center for first ward with our Mission President. Suffices me to say this week kind of sucked.... We had very few lessons and have really trying to find less actives this week which turned out to be a failure. Albania has a terrible address system... In other words doesn't really exist and nothing is marked and its garbage. You never realize some of the things we take for granted. We just have all of these pallat numbers and roads so we just walk around and try to find them and ask everyone if they know the name of the family and past missionaries haven't kept good track of them or made maps for almost all of them so we are just going off a prayer and an old member list which has some shady addresses. We tried for about 4 hours straight on saturday just walking around the city and trying to find people and we found four. 1 was home and busy, another wasn't home and his wife told us to not come back because they are old and he's not interested anymore , and two others weren't home but their neighbors said it was them... (yes we knocked on a ton of doors and said does this family live here) We were both just beat and tired and went tracting for a bit after and got nothing. Good way to end your week... I was pretty frustrated and tired and just upset that nothing came of it when we tried so hard. We're trying to be obedient and work hard and we're getting nothing. So we came home and I was sitting there thinking and just realized as I have many times this transfer that it's all about how I look at it. It's my attitude that matters. Yes it will still be hard and it's really hot right now and nothing is coming of it but If i'm learning and improving because of it then it's worth it. Trials are for our good. It's literally why we are here??? Did you know that?? The only way to become better and like God is to go through opposition. The can't know the sweet if you haven't tasted the bitter? Trials aren't hardships we are given to beat us up and make us discouraged they are learning experiences so that we can become new creatures relying on the Atonement of Christ and the help of God but...... We have to use them as so. We are all climbing a mountain back to God and it's going to be hard but the hardest parts of the climb are what make you strongest not weakest. So when life gets the down put your shoulder down and start running because it's going to be hard but It's going to be worth it and you can learn so much from it. My favorite example of this is The sons of Lehi. Nefi is held to be one of the greatest men in the history of our records and Laman and Lemuel are remembered as complaining and stiff necked. They all went through the same wilderness together, they all suffered hunger and fatigue, they all built the boat, and they ended up in two different places. Why? Because Nefi knew that through trials and opposition he could become better and that you can literally always be grateful! Don't think it's possible? Nefi was tied up and abused by his brothers for 3 or 4 days while amidst a terrible storm. After he is untied and notes his swollen and sore body he thanks his God for his greatness and mercy. Life is for our good. Remember that trials are for our good and that if you have the right attitude and always have gratitude you can always ALWAYS learn from your trials and become better. There is something though and it's an important part maybe the most important. If you are not living God's standards and striving to keep his commandments you can never be sure if your trials are for your good or not. Think about that for a little. Only if we are on God's path up the mountain can we be 100:% sure that what we are receiving is for our benefit. God does nothing save it be for the good of man but if you're not following his rules you'll never know. So get on his path, change your attitude, and GO FORTH achieving Greatness when it's easy when it's hard when you're climbing a sheer cliff or when it's flat. KEEP MOVING FORWARD! Trials are for your good. God lives and he loves us. His commandments are for our good. He knows better than us so gladly follow his rules and pray you might receive the trials that will mold you into the person he knows you can become. Instead of praying for trials to pass over you pray that you may receive strength to become better through the trials that will help you return to him in your best. I pray we all can change our attitudes and view the hardships of life as positives not negatives. Life is out there waiting for you. Greatness is waiting but it's not received it's achieved. Never stop improving. Never stop becoming. Never stop climbing the mountain. Never leave the path of righteousness. I testify to you that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior and he died for us so we could all become like him. I testify we have a living Father in Heaven who wants desperately for  us to return to him in his perfect love he will get us there if we let him, council with him, and use his son's Atonement. Stop settling for mediocrity and become an incredible human being. Use your trials for your benefit don't let them pass you by and weaken you. The heavier the weight the stronger you become. GO FORTH and let God expect greatness out of you. I love you all. Elder Szabo 

The Quest of a Lifetime:Optimization of the Human Experience

Family and Friends. I love you guys so much. In my vast experience as a 19 year old I've learned a lot. As an 18 year old I knew everything and didn't need help but the second I turned 19 my eyes were opened and I realized I don't know everything, I should have listened to my parents advice (they were right most of the time), and that I have a lot to learn. Honestly I've learned more in the last 11 months then I did the prior 18 years total. This mission thing is just a blessing pamasë (without measure) . I have found my direction in life, who I want to become, and the big three things that I will strive to improve everyday. edhe njëqind. It means another 100 years of life. You tell people it when they tell you their age. 

    Alright this week.... Still have no work and did a lot of finding. We actually are making some progress with some less actives and were able to meet with three. Two families and one man. Every night we just call every member we have in our phone until we set up some amls or a less active lesson. It's exciting because a lot of them don't exist and we have a fun time with it. I hope we can bring a lot of them back. We only have two weeks left in the transfer and I think they are going to kill my area because we're losing 8 elders this transfer and not getting replacements so they are going to have to reduce a little in our mission. Our mission is tiny. We have about 70 missionaries including our 4 or 5 senior couples and we have like 15 sisters. That's for 3 countries! :O granted they are tiny little countries but still sounds cool I have three countries in my mission. Honestly not too much to report this week. I feel like I have less and less to say every week... If I eventually stop writing family you'll know why.... ha ha ha Mom don't look at me like that! it was a joke! Honestly though the longer you get out here the more this just becomes normal and there seems to be less and less to say. District leadering is going well. I decided to try to be a better one this week and be more involved with the people in my district and know their work better. Always walking that line of not counseling sisters but helping them and watching out for them. Everyone in my group here in Tirana thinks I'm going AP next... We'll see what happens. There is somethings in my setting apart blessing that makes me think I could go at some point but I will be content living out my mission as a normal missionary grinding away everyday. I decided i want to go to every city in the mission for three months for the rest of my mission so i hope the Lord's will and mine align..... I think it'd be cool to have gone to every city. I actually had some time to write today and I'm at a loss for words.... Just that not too much has happened. I did go on an exchange with Elder Greener this week because We had that stake choir and our companions went to Vlorë and we stayed because they were in the special talented missionary choir. We get along very well and have the same opinions on missionary work and life and it was good to spend some time with him. I hope I can serve with him some day. We may or may not have stayed up a little late talking but we were in bed so I'm not a terrible missionary! We just kept talking and talking about stuff and finally realized how late it was and went to sleep. I was in Fourth Ward with him and it was interesting to see how another ward is run and what the sacrament meeting was like. It was really good though. We got a new little initiative in our mission on how we are setting goals because before  it was that the zone leaders would set goals then the district leaders then the missionaries after that. but now it's the missionaries set their own goals then the district leaders and then the zone leaders and it's putting a big emphasis on them actually being inspired realistic and goals that push you. I think it's going to help a lot with goals that actually help us and learning to set goals for life in general. 

I've learned a lot just thinking about what the purpose of goals are in general and it's helped a lot and it's really helping the missionaries set goals instead of receiving quotas. No one cares about a goal they aren't passionate about and usually if someone else gives it to you you don't care about it. Set goals for you life people no matter how old you are! Decide where you want to go and who you want to be and if you're not there yet set goals and GO FORTH and achieve greatness! I'm sick of mediocrity in our lives. The willingness to live below our potentials. The excuses that hold us back from being great physically, mentally, and spiritually. I don't care who you are or how old you are you should have a goal and a plan for all three of those categories. You aren't working out? Start today! You aren't in school? Read a book and expand your knowledge. Learning doesn't only happen in schools people and shouldn't end when you step out of structured education. Aren't spiritually where you want to be? Start reading your scriptures and building your faith little by little and day by day. Verse by verse and prayer by prayer you will become an incredible human being. Stop making excuses or pushing it off until tomorrow. If you aren't improving your not fulfilling your divine potential. So get off the couch, turn off the tv and open a book or go for a run. It's up to you who you become and how great you can become. Set goals and GO FORTH! I don't accept your mediocrity or weakness. It's time for change and it's time for a new human being striving for greatness in every aspect of their lives. It's up to you now. Who will you become? Don't let me down. Elder Szabo

Men are that they might have joy

Elder Szabo is that he might achieve greatness! A huge blessing about having no investigators is that you really get to work on yourself. I have learned so much in the little time I've been here and am a new creature. I am still without work. We had a man named Halin on a baptismal date but we didn't come to church two weeks ago and then didn't answer our calls for a week then last saturday we ran into him and set up a lesson and he prished and said he would come to church but ddn't show up so we don't really know what to expect from that. Elder Eddings and I set goals for the next month and are decided to do all the little things and try to be exactly obedient so we can be more blessed. I started writing in my journal every night because it says we should but i've really come to love it. It's great to write down all the great thoughts and impressions you've had. I"m not a big this is what i did today writer so I write lessons i've learned or things like that. Usually in our zones we receive goals from the zone leaders and we base our goals off of that but they decided to change it so that each companionship makes their own goals then the zone leaders make goals based off of the comps goals. So it goes from the bottom up instead of the top down and it's such a better way to do it because a lot of times people will just set goals because they were told to or not really care about the goals because they don't mean anything to them this way allows people to actually set their own goals and really council with the Lord. We had a district leader training on how they still need to be realistic but pushing yourself and it's taught me a lot about setting good goals which I feel is a good life skill. The things you learn on your mission! Who would have known! I found out a couple weeks ago that we have about 400 members in our ward and we are currently pulling about 50 people in church every week. We have this giant list of members and we've been trying to call them but a ton of the numbers don't exist or they answer and say they are busy and have no interest. I don't understand how so many people can just walk away from the church and some of them have the preisthood and are endowed. I don't understand but we are trying to find them and help them come back. Problem. Albania doesn't have an address system. The addresses are literally just roads and pallat numbers which could be any pallat on that road. It's imposssible to find anybody because all we have is the street which sometimes isn't right. It's frustrating but we are doing our best. Not much else to report on. I'm doing a lot of tracting and street contacting as usual. MY COMP LOVES STAIRS. :) We're pushing forward. Long days and the weather is hot here! Humidity is not my favorite thing but i'm learning to love sweating. When you're standing contacting and you feel it start dripping down your back oh boy you know it's going to be a good day. :D haha I love missioary work it just gets a little long sometimes. All in the Lord's time. We're having a staring contest right now and he thinks he can win! I will never lose faith!!!! :) I'm also going crazy... I apologize. I love you all. Remember how important the gospel is and that their is nothing better or more important you could be doing. You're Albanian missionary. (it's weird here.) Elder Szabo 

The Time is Far Spent.

Hey I have literally no time to write you this week... Less than last week. My comp decided to accidentally sleep a little longer today and we have about 20 minutes to get all of internet done. All I have to say is i'm doing great... Still have no work besides one man who is on a baptismal date but didn't come to church sunday but we are meeting with him everyday. Doing lots of finding and we are starting english course this thursday. Elder Eddings redid the flyers and they look really good. Hopfully more people will come or we will stop doing it. I realized this week that we need to hold on to recent converts more by helping them get a connection with the ward so we are really going to try to push for when investigators come to sac meeting that they talk to as many members as they can so they can have a tie with the members and not the missionaries. I found out we have about 400 members or more and about 50 60 are currently coming.... Not good. As district leader I really want to push this and help more people stay in the gospel. President Hinkly has a quote that basically says if they don't stay after they are baptized missionary work is Kotë. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and really want to get the ward more involved with us. We have no connection and we finally got ward correlation with our inactive ward mission leader who is coming back to activity and are going to start having ward council regularly. Things are going to happen soon. Also gave a training about teaching people so they understand that the gospel is forever not just baptism because often we forget to stress what happens after as much as baptism. Temple and enduring to the end are just as important as baptism and are never stressed. MIssionaries are all about baptisms baptisms baptisms and we lose too many people because of it. Remember every single member of this church is a missionary not just the ones with a calling they just do it full time. If you're not trying to actively find missionary opporunities you're missing out on a big part of membership in this chruch,. I love you all! I didn't have a time to read any of your letters so i will respond next week. Elder Szabo 

Here comes the BOOM!

Family and and general citizens of America. 

    I don't have any time to write this week. My comp enjoys his naps more than writing to his family so we didn't have much time this week. The work is still slow but it's picking up. We got two baptismal dates this week but nothing has happened with them. One was a referral from our sisters who ended up not being the person they gave us it was weird but anyways we called him and tried to set something up and he said he would call us because he had a school thing that night so we didn't meet but he called the next day and said he could meet and also that he is blind.... So we went up to his house and yep completely blind! He has muslim roommates that don't want anything to do with religion so we had to teach him in the lokal below his house but it wasn't too loud so it was good. It was a very interesting lesson... Never taught a blind person before. He would lean in when i was talking then switch over and lean in to my comp when he would start. It was a really good lesson though! He said he was seeking for the truth and accepted everything we said... Only one problem.... Can't read the book of Mormon if you're blind and we don't have it in audio in Albanian so we are going to have to record it or get some members to do it for us. He accepted a baptismal date but we haven't been able to meet with him because the only way he can come to our center or the church is if him and a friend that can help him come are both free or we can go up there. So we're trying to figure it out but he seemed really solid and sincere desire to learn so I hope it goes somewhere (and because I haven't had work for 7 weeks....) The other one was a pass off lesson from another ward. Tirana has four wards so when we contact and meet with people a lot of times they are from another ward so we give them the number or find out in the lesson they live in another ward so we hand them off. We met with him and it was a really good pass off lesson he's been to church and reading the book of mormon but the other elders didn't give us his number so we couldn't call and tell him exactly where the church was and remind him so we haven't seen him since but got the number yesterday so it should be good. Other than that not too much is happening. Last night we had a leadership training from the stake and the tirana missionaries were invited. It wasn't really anything to do with leadership. It was a couple named the Gibbons who just wrote a book about the book of mormon. It was super interesting. They had a ton of interesting stuff on it's impact in the world and the whole idea of the book was really cool. The whole thing had to be translated in Albania by our stake president. I don't know why they came but it was super cool! I don't remember the exact name of the book it was the crucible something name is gibbons if you can find it off that. Really interesting book. Sorry trying to really condense everything because don't have time. Everything is going good just trying to fine tune missionary work so we can find people. This mission has really changed my life and I regret wasting so much of my life before my mission but i'm glad I came and have made the changes and really just want to help these people find this message. I love this gospel and the teachings it has. Count your blessings you have it in your lives and know the purpose of life. You have a Father in Heaven the God who you can talk to and who will talk to you through revelation isn't that amazing! I know right. You should go pray right now and thank him you have that knowledge. I love you all. Keep me in your prayers. This work isn't easy and being district leader is hard because I'm really trying to do a good job and have an impact here. Have a fantastic week and continually get better everyday physically spiritually and mentally. Elder Szabo 

CO-junior and District Leadering.

Family and Friends of the like. This week was good. New Companion and off to a lot better start then the last transfer. I try not to complain but last transfer was pretty difficult for me. I learned a lot but they weren't easy lessons. My new comp Elder Eddings (edinz) is great. He is from Somewhere close to Bountiful up north. He is a computer guy and is going to make video games when he goes home. He self taught him self to code and all that. Fun fact he's lost about 60 pounds on his mission. :O I know right we're all amazed. haha He just played video games and sat in front of a computer all day so eating actual food and walking around so much he's lost a ton of weight. He literally did nothing. He still eats terrible it was just his activity level shot up. I love him. We are both very sarcastic people I think he is more than I am. We are very different people but get along. It's interesting the personalities that get thrown together on missions and how they work together. He's a very passive person and I have a more aggressive personality so I kind of just drag him around and make all the decisions. He doesn't make any decisions so I just make them all. It's interesting to see where people are on the Obedience Sacrifice Consecration pyramid. (something I made up) basically how much people are willing to give up for their mission and how hard they want to work. I hope this doesn't sound like i'm just trying to pick out the bad or that i'm complaining just making an observation! He is obedient and works but he doesn't have that fire to go out and work. I'm a crazy missionary and have a high standard. He's a great missionary! We get a long very well and things are going to be great this transfer! 

     Things picked up a little this week but we still didn't have a ton of work. I guess I'll tell you about my first DM. I only had a couple days to plan it and I went in with a lot of scattered thoughts that i just pieced together so in my opinion it wasn't a very good training but i'm still feeling out my roll as District Leader and working my way in. It's a very different responsibility and i'm excited to see what happens and how I can help my District. It's also interesting because the Zone Leaders are in my district so they are under me my care but over me at the same time it's interesting. I'm grateful for the opportunity and have already learned a ton through study and just experience about qualities of a good leader. #kingbenjamin. We have one investigator right now. We've taught him twice and are going to his house tonight. He a 40 year old guy and he doesn't understand anything we teach him. He had to spend 15 minutes explaining why we get baptized and the importance of it and another 15 on what the book of Mormon is. So it's going a little slow. For some reason he really likes me so in the middle of the lessons he'll just lean over and kiss my cheeks or hands. It's interesting. Good stories if nothing else. But honestly not much happened this week. 

      The thing I want to write about is I had a pretty rough day this week and was just really sick of street contacting for the 80th time. I have had no work for the last work 7 weeks and it kind of wears on you. Don't worry i'm still as happy as ever but it just gets a little old. I went home that night and just thought a lot about missionary work and what i'm really doing here. I just don't want to be another cog in the missionary work clock punching in and out for two years just street contacting and tracting and baptizing a couple people then go home just to be replaced by another missionary. I know there are people that have had to contact more than I have and have had way less work on their missions but I really just want to make a difference here. I don't want to just do the same ol missionary work everyday and get very little accomplished. If that's what the Lord wants for me I will do it gladly but I feel there is a better way. I want to get the church's name out there I want to do some big service projects and get this church known here. I want to work with local government and get projects done in the community and really make a change here not just street contact for two years. I want to innovate and make a change. I want things to happen and to work in a more public way.... I know you're all just shaking your heads and laughing but really I just want to do something different and big here. I don't want to leave these two years saying that I did the same ol thing everyone else does. I know this is partially just my personality that hates mediocrity but I really want to make a difference here and do something big and different. I want to do some big service projects and change this place for the better. Maybe i'm shooting my sights too high and it's something i'll just have to do after my mission but I feel like why can't I do it right now. I want to become a missionary like the sons of Mosiah and Alma and they baptized 1000s maybe I won't baptize that many but I can have a huge impact on that many. "if you want to achieve a goal never before achieved you have to do things never before done." I want greatness in all I do and this is my life right now. I'm not settling for old street contacting and tracting. I will let you know how this goes. I'm having my transfer interview with President this week and I'm going to talk to him about it. That's all I really had to say this week. Not too much happened besides getting made a district leader and a new companion.... :) I love you all. Keep achieving greatness and improve your body mind and spirit everyday. Don't settle for less than your best. ELder Szabo