As mom and I walk around Tirana, we're always coming across some more wonderfully painted buildings.  How about that vine in front and the cubes in back. 
The randomness of some of the paint jobs is mystifying. I think living in this place could give you a bit of a headache.
This may be my favorite painted building. The building is called "The Green Palace." I love the yellow arrows. The story is that the citizens of Tirana don't like all the other Albanians moving to their city. (Population of Tirana is somewhere near 800,000, with a total country population of 3.5 million.)  Most of the immigrants to Tirana are coming from the northern part of the country. This green building is on the road leading south out of town. The story is that the northerners are to see this building and follow the arrows and keep heading south out of town. 
This picture of the Lana (the river which runs through Tirana) shows the only building which has been allowed to remain standing on the Lana. Less that 5 years ago buildings were backed up to both sides of the Lana. They have all been torn down except this one and here is the reason why.

Northern Albania has for the last 400 years been governed by a code of conduct called the "Kanun." Part of the "Kanun" was the "blood feud".  Over the years many Albanians have killed other Albanians. Literally hundreds were killed each year in the 16th through 20th Centuries. It is estimated that at least 1/3 of these deaths deal with water disputes.  When a member of an Albanian family is killed, it becomes the responsibility of the victims family to kill a member of the perpetrator's family.  These "blood feuds" are carried down through the centuries. Only men can be killed, but entire family lines have been wiped out by these feuds. There are certain rules which the "Kanun" outlines including giving the victim a warning shout just before you shoot him between the eyes. After the murder has been accomplished there is a "blood tax" which must be paid, but the perpetrator is not criminally punishable. One place where a man is safe is his home. The picture above is a home of a man, who is unwilling to come out because he is a potential victim of a blood feud. The government felt that it could not destroy the man's home because without the safety of his home the man would probably be killed. The story is that the man does not leave this building ever and it remains the only standing building on the Lana through the entire length of Tirana.
Mom and I are continuing to invite smaller groups of members and investigators into our apartment. We're trying to get everyone acquainted with each other. The above picture is of last Sunday's dinner guests. From left to right: Bond, James; Hoxha, Mergen; Herve, Kitio; and Cuci, Edi.

Last Saturday I went with Edi Cuci and his dad Nardy to visit Nardy's work. He has a small fabrication shop which mades windows. He and his brothers have a great business building apartments in Tirana. One brother is an engineer, another is a general contractor and the third does metal work. This picture is of Nardy and Edi standing in front of apartment building that the brothers are building. On the first floor will be shops and a bank. The apartments are all upstairs. Edi has been a member of the Church for a year. His father has just taken his 2nd missionary lesson. 
After seeing the worksite, we drove part of the way up Mt. Dajti. Off in distance you can see part of Tirana.
You can take a gondola ride to the top of Mt. Dajti. Mom has stated that she's not going in an Albanian gondola, but we'll see. If you look carefully, you'll see a couple of the gondolas. It doesn't look too scary to me.
The missionaries and member missionary, Edi, are celebrating with Ina, second from the left, who just finished the seven-day "No Smoking Campaign" at the popular Creperia Restaurant. Seven days ago, she was taught how to pray.  Now she is an investigator with a testimony that God lives and has sent His Spirit to her heart to testify the Church is true.  Seven days ago, she didn't even believe in God.  A mighty miracle. 
A couple times a week, we are getting small groups together to encourage fellowship with new members and investigators.  From left to right is Lola, baptized on Christmas Day, her sister, Egla, who has taken the lessons and comes to Church but is not yet baptized, Ina, an investigator and the senior missionary who loves them.  We are standing in front of a charming French cafe that serves wonderful hot chocolate and pastries.

Mom and I walked around Tirana Park this week. All the leaves are gone from the trees and its kind of a dreary place, but the walk was nice. Tirana Lake is really a small water storage area which catches some of the winter rains. The story is that it was actually started just for that reason. A man with a tractor was trying to stop rain water collecting on his property so he dug a hole and it just grew. Eventually they had to put in a small levy to hold back the water. There are a couple of statues in the park. Based on our "walkabouts" so far, Tirana does not have a lot of city art 
The trail which runs around Tirana Lake. This is the only place I've seen joggers running in Tirana. With all the crazy traffic in town, the city is no place to try and jog.
I've never seen anyone catch fish here, but you know fishermen. They're the eternal optimists.
Picture of Tirana Lake taken from the levy. Those two small boats are completely full of water. I don't know if you could boat on this "lake" or not. We'll wait for the summer to see what will happen.

For those of you worried about me going "soft" on this mission. Fear no longer, I'm playing soccer or basketball on a pretty regular basis. The problem is that most of the guys I'm playing with are about a 1/3 my age. This Saturday morning the young adults played soccer for over an hour on an in-door astro turf court.  This morning one of the young men said, "You run pretty well for an old guy." That type of compliment really warms my soul. Back row from left to right: David Beckham, Beni, Mario, Ledi, Jacob, Elder Hunt; Front row: Ardy, Elder Wild, Armarilldo, Neti, Edi and Adolph sitting up front.  
Basketball with the Elders on Monday morning (our preparation day). Backrow: Meri Hoxhja, Felix, Elder Hunt, Ardi (with ball over head), Elder Anderal, Michael Jordan, Elder Kushlan, Chris, Elder Owen, Elder Hamilton, Elder Smith; Kneeling: Elder Lindsay, Elder Newhouse. Thats an asphalt court we're playing on so no one is diving for loose balls. Though this court is located in a public park you still have to pay to use it.  

In the main city park of Tirana is a WW II memorial to those men, not Albanian and many of them British, who gave their lives fighting the Germans. They helped liberate Albanian soil, but when the Communists came to power, right after the war, the graves of these men were plowed over and forgotten. The Communists basically rewrote history and made themselves the "liberators" of Albania. Everybody else was just forgotten.
One little interesting fact that I recently learned is that when Enver Hoxha's (40 plus years the Communist President of Albania) body was exhumed and his huge tomb ransacked no one knew what should be done with the very large red marble stone which had covered his resting place. It had been cut and shipped from Italy, at great expense.  Then it was decided to give these non-Albanian men a proper memorial and the red marble stone was retrieved and used in this new memorial.

From small vegetable and fruit stands to moveable stores, Tirana is loaded with people trying to make a living selling. This fellow has lots of socks for sale.
From left to right is Albi, Denada, Motra Shupe, Eldorado and Alma.  Our job description broadens!  Eldorado was introduced to the Church by his girlfriend, Alma.  He was baptized a few months ago.  Alma's family, Albi and Denada and their mother, is not too sure if they like him or not because he is very quiet and they don't know much about him.  We decided to ask Albi, who is a cook at a very nice hotel in Tirana, to come over with the family and Eldorado to cook dinner.  We had so much fun together and the dinner was delicious.  As their mother joined us and we sat around the table to eat, we had such an amiable conversation and short family home evening lesson on the blessing of diversity in people.  We talked about the differences in personalities among our own children, showing them the picture of the family in front of the temple, ending on the one thing we all share in common, which is the love of the Gospel and our commitment to live Heavenly Father's commandments.  A beautiful discussion followed. We think Alma's mother likes Eldorado better now.
Desert anyone?

Happy New Year from Tirana, Albania!

This video is taken from our balcony and runs for just over 5 minutes. (Sorry, its so long.) This place really went off. I've never seen so many fireworks going off at the same time. The video starts a little before midnight because the Albanians got a little anxious and started sending their rockets up early. During the Communists rule no one could have any type of gun powder, sparklers, fireworks etc. So after the Communists were kicked out of power, everyone wanted what they couldn't have before. Everyone now buys these great fireworks. Everywhere we looked from our 180 degree view balcony there were fireworks going off. It was a night Susan and I will always remember, including the fact that starting at 6:00 pm the electricity starting going off and on for about 4 hours. But at 10:30 pm it went off for the rest of the night and didn't come back on until 10:20 am this morning. Right now I'm waiting for the water heater to warm up so I can take a shower. I love this place!