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