This has been a busy week for Mom and I. We generally walk all around the city of Tirana. This is a city of approximately 700,000 people. Entire tire country of Albania has only 3.5 million people and many are moving to Tirana. It is the only place in the country where people can find work. There are however many beggars on the streets. I took this picture of the old lady with her hand out because it reminded me of Albania. Her hand is in the sun light symbolic of a country where things are still difficult but there is hope. Mom and I visited a high school early one morning because one of Mom's English students asked us to come by and visit her high school English class. The class of approximately 40 students were classic teenagers. The boys all sat in the back and the girls were all in front. They asked us questions about our family. Mom showed them some pictures. We really had a great time and the teacher invited us back.

Mom with student, Dorin and English teacher.

Another picture of a couple of wonderfully painted apartment buildings in Tirana.

Saturday we had an activity night with the Institute students. One of the games we played had boys against the girls. As you can probably figure out the girls were winning and found the boys very amusing.

The highlight of the week was the baptism of Frida Rada a young lady that Mom and I met the first week we arrived here in Albania. I was very surprised when she asked me to baptize her. For the past week I've been memorizing the baptismal prayer in Shqip (Albanian). Trying to get the accent right on words like "autorizuar" is not easy. By the time Sunday rolled around, I had the prayer memorized, but as soon as I stepped in to the baptismal font I forgot everything. But I had planned ahead and posted the prayer by the side of the font just in case. So the prayer was partially said from memory and partially from the posted paper. It was a wonderful experience. What made the evening even more amazing was that after the baptismal service a young man, Eldorado Lubonja, who I had met a couple of weeks ago, asked if I would baptize him this Tuesday evening. So I'm keeping my "posted" prayer handy and getting ready for another baptism. The work moves forward. The joy that I feel from helping these young men and women discover the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be described. That I can play just a small part in all of this is quite amazing to me.