I guess not too long ago, Tirana, Albania was a pretty drab place. But a new mayor, who happened to be an artist, felt things should be changed. He commissioned a lot of student artists to paint some of the buildings in town. The colors are random and a little crazy on some of the buildings. These are pictures just taken from our balcony to give you an idea of how the color scheme is working out.

This is a picture from our balcony which shows how many of the buildings in town were constructed. These buildings were built when the communists were in control of Albania. The buildings were actually built by the people who are living in them. The brick work is pretty random as you can see.  When the communists were kicked out, a law was passed that anyone living in an apartment they had built would be considered the owners and the apartment was theirs. Thereafter, each building had to maintain its own structure, stairwells, windows, and plumbing etc. So now some buildings are maintained better than others. Where we live, the building has been kept up. It also wasn't built when the communists were in control. Looking at the construction under the communists, I have a feeling this place would come down like a house of cards if we had a good earthquake.

This is Kamryn's investigator! Just before we came to Albania, Kamryn met Aulona when she was opening a bank account in Oceanside. She was the first Albanian we have ever met. We discovered her parents live just 2 blocks from where we would live in Tirana. Wednesday, her parents came to our English class, and her mother stayed for the Institute Book of Mormon class that followed.  All the members of the class were unified in befriending her and answering her questions. With the help of a translator, I shared the miracle of our meeting and my testimony of the Book of Mormon. She left with her own copy. She returned Thursday night.