Last week we had a wonderful Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults. There were some 37 in attendance.  We gave a lesson on what it takes to be a 1st Place Member of the Church.  At the end of the lesson, they were each given a blue ribbon with 10 characteristics of a 1st Place Member written on it in Shqip, including: stay for all three hours of Church on Sunday and turn off your cell phone.  

This past Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009, Mom and I traveled to Lushnje, a town about 1 1/2 hours south of Tirana. We took a furgon, this time 12 passengers in a 9 seat van.  The driver drove like a mad man. We were stopped twice by the police for speeding, but he bribed his way out of both tickets.  What a trip! Lushnje was and still is a farming town. Like most cities in Albania it has its downtown square and old communist statues.  Above and below are two pictures of "heroic" communist statue in downtown Lushnje. Mom with Elders Cadic and Rospoli can be seen climbing steps near statue.

This is picture of the Lushnje treg (market). I've never seen so many 2nd hand clothes and shoes in one place. The treg is located on the same street as the Church building; just at different ends. We had to walk through the crowds to get to Church early Sunday morning.
The Church members meet upstairs in this building in Lushnje. Chapel is located on the right upstairs with the entrance located on the lower left (just behind car).
Sign over the entrance door of Lushnje LDS church building. There were only 6 members and 4 missionaries in attendance at the Sunday Sacrament Meeting. The meeting reminded me of some of the small branch meetings I attended in Southern Africa so many years ago. You have to admire the courage of these members. In a country which is 70% muslim, being baptized into a "christian" church is an act of real courage. They face circumstances which are hard to believe. Usually their families and friends will disown them, in some cases they will lose their job. If you think about it too long, their conversion will bring tears to your eyes.

We had visitors this week from the Church Education System. Mom fed them a great lunch on Wednesday. To Mom's left if Eckehart Jensen, Felic Lotito and Horst Gruse. Brothers Jensen and Gruse are from Germany and Brother Lotito is from Italy. In the fore ground are the Hibberts the senior couple living in Durres.
How about a mobile book store? I think this guy had an old Pfizer soft back training manual for sale.
You'll have to look at this picture sideways. I've tried three times to get it right, but it always ends up on its side. The weather has gotten very cold this week and many people started fires outside around the city. This picture was taken on the Lana of some people trying to get warm. I don't think EPA would be real happy with the residents of Tirana this week.

Saturday in Tirana was Seminary Super Saturday. All the Seminary students from Tirana as well as those from Vlora, Lushnje, Elbason and Durres meet for Scripture Mastery competition, lessons, games and lunch. We had over 60 in attendance. 

Mom and I taught them how to swing dance. The kids really got into it. I'm sure it was the first time they had ever heard some good old 60's music. 

I also taught them ping pong soccer with straws and a ping pong ball. Everyone was out of breadth by the time the game was over. Mom gave a great lesson and everyone learned how to mark their scriptures.

Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009, Ina Merkoçit was baptized. I gave the opening prayer in Albanian. This young lady is a wonderful convert to the Church. She gained a testimony of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ after living the Word of Wisdom and reading the Book of Mormon. Since the age of 11, she had smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day. After Ina's baptism, both Mom and I commented that we witnessed a physical change in her appearance. She was just radiant and more beautiful. There was a small miracle in Albania this Sunday.

Well, the Valentine's Day Dance was a huge success. We had over 60 young single adults in attendance. The decorations were great thanks to help from the elders and sisters missionaries in Durres. Without them, I'm not sure that the decorations would have made it. 
Mom got to Albanian line dance so she was extremely happy. She's wearing the new Valentine's Day red sweater I got her. I know you're all thinking that we're just dancing our way through this mission. Well, you're partially right.
We had 15 or 16 young adults come up from Vlora, a two hour drive by bus and another 7 from Shkoder, a nearly 3 hour bus drive.  This was the first time for some of these young adults to be around so many other young LDS singles.
Even the young adults love to dance the Albanian folk dances. Just about everyone in this photograph is holding hands forming a long chain that went around the cultural hall twice. Can you find the leader? He should be holding "the scarf".

Its not summer yet, but there has been so much rain this week that when I found this picture of Skanderbeg Square I just had to post it. Opera house on the left, Mosque of Et'hem Bey with clock tower in the middle.
When the skies clear, Tirana, Albania is beautiful. Our apartment is off to the left of this photograph.
Happy Valentine's Day from Tirana, Albania. Mom and I were walking around Tirana Park a few weeks ago and found this graffiti on a strange looking concrete structure. "Would you be my valentine?" Today, February 14, 2009, we're off to Durres for the YSA Valentine's Day dance. It starts at 4:00 pm and ends at 7:00 pm. I know that sounds like a strange time for a dance to start and end. It has to end by 7:00 pm because people have to get back to their homes and cities. Most buses and vans do not travel on the roads of Albania after dark. So, if you want people to come to your activity, it has to end in time for them to get home. Logistically, Albania has its challenges.

I can't explain how much Mom likes the Albanian music. Its loud, eastern sounding and everyone knows the words. Here is the promised video of Mom cutting the rug at Edi Çuçi's 20th birthday party. This dancing went on for hours. It was so loud that I had to leave the room a couple of times just to clear my head. Only that person at the front of the line gets to hold the napkin or scarf, Mom is hoping to be the leader of the line before she leaves Albania. It was just before mid-night that we were able to leave the party and walk home. This being Senior Missionaries is tough work, but somebody has to do it.

The Tirana, Albania District Conference was held this past weekend at Durres. Because the chapel in Durres is not very large the Sunday meetings were held in two sessions. Mom and I attended the afternoon session which began at 1:00 p.m. During the session it really began to rain, there was great thunder and in typical Albanian fashion the electricity went out, but this building, the only operating chapel in the country which the Church owns, has a backup generator. So after a brief moment of darkness the lights came back on and the meeting continued.  This happened twice during our 2 hour meeting. I took the above picture just before our meeting began. Elder Snow, from Colorado, on extreme left along with his wife are the humanitarian missionaries here in Albania. 
On Friday, Feb. 6, 2009, Mom and I along with the Assistants to President Neil picked up the new  Senior couple from the Tirana International Airport and drove them to Durres where they will be staying. Photo above shows Elder and Sister Hibbert on right from Rexburg, Idaho. He formerly taught Biology and Anatomy at BYU-Idaho. Other missionaries in photo from left are Elders Asplin, Oki, Leonard and Sewell.
Mom continues to dance her way through Albania. We attended Edi Çuçi's 20th birthday party on Friday. You'll have to wait for the video. Lots of food and dancing.
Mom even got me on to the dance floor for a spin.
These are Edi's parents, Alida and Nardi Çuçi. Mom and I were the only non-family members at the party. Edi is a member of the Church and helps us with translating. His parents have just started taking the missionary lessons. 

This week on our "Preparation Day" we took a bus to Fushe Kruje a small town about 1 hour outside of Tirana. We went to visit a "Bar".
But this is not any ordinary bar. This is the George W. Bush Bar. Apparently, President Bush visited this bar and met with the local towns folk when he came to Albania in 2007. See photograph above with name of bar  on building.
Picture from the balcony of the George W. Bush Bar with local constable drinking his morning tea. Down town F. Kruje can be seen in the background.
Miri Hoxha and I at the front door of bar which has a nice bronze plaque. 

This week we had 6 baptisms on Sunday in Tirana, Albania.  There had been some reconstruction work taking place on the only baptismal font in the city. The work took longer than expected so a couple of the baptisms had been postponed from the week before. But the best baptism was of Sister Clirime Deda.  She was baptized by her husband who had joined the Church about 3 or 4 months ago.  He had met the missionaries on his own and after a couple of the lessons introduced his wife to the Church. The photograph shows Brother and Sister Deda with their oldest son (younger daughter was a little too short to appear in this photo. Also in the photograph are Sisters Waldrin, Slack and to far right one of our young adults, Armarilldo and Elder Newhouse.)
We also attended two Zone Conferences this week. The first in Tirana and the second in Fier on Friday. Behind the Church building in Fier is a row of small offices. The word "Advokat" in Albanian means attorney.  Before the communists were kicked out, there were no attorneys in Albania. Obviously, from this photograph, there are some now.
Sisters Boyer, Waldrin, Kennedy, Frank, Langford and Slack taken at the Fier Zone Conference.
On an intermittent basis, we will still lose electrical power at our home. Sometimes it's only for a few minutes, sometimes for many hours. I think I've discovered the reason why. Too many electrical lines for kids to swing on. That's not a spider web you're seeing in the photograph above, those are electrical lines hung low enough that an 8 year old could reach them. 
Every day when Mom and I walk down Myslym Shyri (probably the nicest street in Tirana), I see this lady with her scale. You pay her and then step on the scale to learn your weight.  Hey Buck, if Pfizer lays you off, I think I've found a job for you. I guess you can do a little knitting as a side job.