Last Saturday, September 19, 2009 was a very busy day. Actually most days are busy, but last Saturday was over the top. We started with a Teacher Training Seminar for all Seminary and Institute teachers here in Albania. We had 19 in attendance, only one could not attend. Above Mom talking and handing out material to Sister Saraci and Sister Gjoligu.
Following the Teacher Training Seminar we held Seminary Super Saturday Seminary Kickoff. 50 seminary students from all over Albania converged on the 2-4 building in Tirana. We started off with a scripture mastery mixer.  As you can see everyone had their Book of Mormon in hand and were very intent on finding all 25 scripture mastery scriptures.
We also had a fun demonstration of how the Holy Ghost can help you find the "Iron Rod." The above photograph shows Jessica, with the help of Joni (the Holy Ghost) about to find the "Iron Rod." While Jessica was blind-folded and the Holy Ghost was whispering in her ear, everyone else was yelling different instructions and directions. 
Some of the teenage members of the Church here in Albania.
After Institute Graduation ceremonies, we had some dessert. Somehow I got the first piece of cake. Above photograph, I'm caught in the act with President Neil, Tirana, Albania Mission President. 

Because of Mom's extensive experience with EFY Conferences, she decided to teach all the Albanian young adults the song, "These Are The Days" in English. I hope you can feel the excitement of just being around these great young men and woman. And watch the chorister belting out this song.  She's the best missionary companion I've ever had!

The highlight of the past two weeks was Kamryn's visit to Albania. She spent nearly 10 days with us and they went by way too fast. She was on her way to Paris for a semester abroad with BYU. We took her with us to the YSA Conference in Vlore and did some Mom, Dad and Daughter sight seeing around southern Albania. Photo is of Kamryn's arrival at the airport in Tirana, Albania. Mom could hardly wait to get to the airport.
This is the 16th century Muradi Mosque located in Vlore, Albania. It is thought to have been designed by Sinan Pasha (1489-1588) who is considered to be one of the founders of Ottoman architecture.  Because of all the running around I did (getting supplies, dropping off and picking up young adults etc.) during the YSA Conference, I spent some time in center part of this beach city. The mosque is on the main road in town.
Saturday night after the YSA Conference had ended, we stayed in Vlore and attended Church there. After Church we were invited to lunch at the Snow's home. Elder and Sister Snow are the humanitarian missionaries for the Church in Albania. He is also the Branch President for the Vlore Branch of the Church. In the photograph from left to right, Kamryn, Mom, Sister Snow, Elder Snow (from Colorado), Elders Shields and Hewett. Apparently the Elders had a "kitchen problem" at their apartment. I teased them that what they really were doing was getting a great home-cooked meal from Sister Snow.
Late Sunday afternoon we headed south to Saranda, Albania.  Saranda gets its name from a 10th century church, located up the hill from the center of town, which was dedicated to 40 (saranda, in Greek) Chrisitian legionaries who were put to death in 320 AD. The city has long been a tourist destination for Albanians during the summer. But summer ends like a curtain following on a play August 31st. We had no problem getting a very nice hotel room. The above picture is from our hotel room looking across the horseshoe shaped bay at sunset.
Photograph looking from our hotel room towards the Greek island of Corfu. The southern border of Albania is shared with Greece and the island of Corfu is close enough I think I could swim to it. Missionaries are not to leave their mission so I stayed on the Albanian shore.
Just up the coast from Saranda are some beautiful little villages, this is photograph of Himara, Albania.  Next time, I think I'll stay here. This portion of the coastline is known as the Albanian Riviera.
Also north of Saranda is a fortress built by Ali Pasha Tepelena. At one time it was a small island, but it is now connected to the coast by a narrow causeway. It was the best preserved "castle" I've seen in this country, but was completely unattended. Here's a short little history lesson: Ali Pasha Tepelena was a "bey" or "pasha" appointed by the Ottomans. By way of diplomacy and violence, he became very powerful and ruled all of southern Albania and a good portion of Greece.  By 1820, the huge area which he controlled was beginning to worry the Ottorman rulers who dismissed him. He refused to hand over his territory and for 17 months the Ottomans besieged his castle at Ioannina. In January, 1822 he was killed and his head sent to Istanbul.  Moral of the story: don't lose your head of any material thing.
Between Vlore and Saranda is an old Soviet submarine base. In the photograph you can see on right a small opening into the hillside which allowed Russian submarines to "hide" under the hill here in what is called the Bay of Palermo.
Part of Albanian Riviera. It was near here that Julius Caesar landed with 7 legions of Roman soldiers in 49 BC during the Roman civil war. 
Kamryn with the Adriatic Sea.
South of Saranda is the ancient city of Butrint which became an urban center in the 4th century BC. It became a Roman colony in the 1st century AD.  Even the Venetians fortified Butrint. From Butrint you could control the straits of Corfu and access to Lake Butrint and its fisheries. This photograph is taken from Butrint's acropolis and the archaeologists' headquarters looking toward Corfu. Notice how narrow the strait is between Albania and Greece. By the way that's now the Ionian Sea out there, somewhere between Vlore and Saranda the Adriatic becomes the Ionian.
The 6th century baptistery of Butrint which was the largest baptistery east of the Adriatic apart from the one in St. Sophian's in Istanbul.
Apparently, Butrint was destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century AD. This is photograph of the theater which could seat 2,500 people.
At the entrance to the theater are some re-used blocks. That is they were re-used by the Romans sometime around the 1st century AD. On them are inscriptions which are considered "documents" which recorded such matters as the freeing of slaves.
On our way to Girokastra there is a famous underground spring set back off the main road in some oak trees called The Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër). During the communist era, it was a place that only the communist bosses were allowed to visit. It has not been completely explored, but the guide book says the pool is over 150 feet deep.
Mom and Kamryn at The Blue Eye.
Above the town of Gjirokastra is the citadel. Though people were living here as early as the 3rd century BC, the walls did not go up until the 6th century AD.  During World War II the Germans had some anti-aircraft fortifications on the citadel and there was an airfield in the valley below used by the Italians for their ill-fated invasion of Greece. Most recently the citadel was used as a prison by the communists.

Photograph looking across part of Gjirokastra, the Drinos valley and the Lunxhëria mountains opposite.
Now here is a great story. Located on the citadel is a United States T-33 "Shooting Star" jet trainer. Because of technical difficulties it was forced to land at Rinas Airport near Tirana, Albania in 1957. The pilot was returned to the US, but the plane was put on display by the communists as a "spy plane" and a symbol of the external threat which the communist leadership claimed was attempting to overthrow Albania during the Cold War.  It played right into the government's propaganda on why they needed to build over 400,000 bunkers and pillboxes. The plaque now located next to the T-33 admits all of this. 
Gjirokastra is a UN Heritage site and it was also the boyhood home of Albania's most famous writer, Ismail Kadare.  He said this: "It was a surprising city, which seemed as if it had come out of the valley unexpectedly, on winter's night, like a prehistoric being, and clambered up with difficulty, stitching itself on to the side of the mountain. Everything in the city was old and made of stone, from the streets and fountains right up to the roofs of its big houses, a century old, which were covered with stone tiles the colour of ash, like so many huge carapaces. It was difficult to believe that under these hard shells the soft flesh of life thrived and was renewed."

Ismail Kadare, 'Chronicle in Stone' (Kronikë në Gur), 2000.

On September 3, 2009 we left Tirana for a 3 hour bus drive to Vlore for the annual YSA Conference. We had 55 YSA attend. The conference was held at the New York Hotel located just south of Vlore.  The above photo shows from left to right, Marsida (standing) Almira Beleshi, Besmir, Edi Losha (standing) Renaldo, Mira Burim and Julia.  The latter two young single adults were from Kosovo. They had taken a 6 hour bus ride from Kosovo arrving at 1:00 am in Tirana and boarded our bus to Vlore at 8:30 am.
On both Thursday and Friday nights we danced.
Everyday we ate well.
We swam both in the hotel pool and in the Adriatic Sea. Above photo shows from left to right Mikel, Albi, Marli, Alma (upfront), Ergina, Nervila, Roan, Eldorado and Renaldo.
At the Adriatic Sea with Besmir, Edi Çuçi, Nervila and Endrit.

There was time for the group picture. On the right is Kuno Mueller. He and his wife were senior missionaries here in Albania when Mom and I first arrived. They live in Switzerland and drove down for the Boys and Girls Camps and the YSA Conference. They loved their experience as missionaries and have stayed in contact with many of the Albanian Saints.
We had workshops. Most were taught by the young adults themselves, but Mom and I did do one workshop. On front row is Albi, Ergina, Roan, Endrit, Marsela, Kamryn (our daughter who was visiting us for the week) and Mom. On the 2nd row between Endrit and Marsela is Julia Potter. Her mother and her Uncle Bob and Mom attended Chatsworth High School together. She is living in Kosovo with a married sister for the next 3 months.
Another workshop with Renaldo, Grisi, Besmir, Juli, Marsida, Elona in the picture.
We had lots of fun at the workshops. On front row Alma Osmëni, her brother Albi, Ergina etc. We had our own conference room at the New York Hotel in Vlore. Most of the room looked out over the Adriatic Sea.
On Friday morning we had service projects. Some of the young adults went street contacting, others cleaned a beach and a 3rd group visited a mental rehabilitation facility. I was with the 3rd group and we took some of the patients on field trip to a local Vlore museum. In the above photograph on the left are 3 of our young adults, Nervila, Laureta and Alketa.  The desk they are standing behind is the desk upon which the 1912 Constitution of Albania was signed in to law and Albania became an independent nation after World War I.

Early on Monday August 31, 2009 President Neil and I along with 4 elders took a P-day trip to Theth, Albania. Theth is located in the extreme north of Albania. The country is very mountainous and on our map the roads are referred to as "secondary". We figured that we could get there in 4 hours. It took nearly 12 hours to get there as we learned that a "secondary" road is a very rough, rocky, narrow and tortuous road.  Sister Neil was in the US for the Neil's eldest son's wedding and Mom had no desire to go roughing it in northern Albania so it was a "boys' trip".  The above photo was taken about 2 hours north of Skodra, Albania. 
Oh, how narrow was the road! I was riding shotgun, and took this picture as we climbed towards our goal of Theth, Albania.
On the road with Elders Foulk, Flack and Oakey.
In many ways a trip into northern Albania is a trip back in time. These villages have been virtually untouched for the past 100 years.
This was the end of the line for the van. We'd hit a few rocks on the way up to Theth, but we didn't see the big one that got us. We hit it so hard that the oil pan was destroyed. By the time I got out of the van to check the damage this puddle of oil had already formed under the van.  We were still a few kilometers from our destination and out in the middle of nowhere. We walked the last 1 1/2 hours into Theth. We were lucky to find a member of the Church who has a summer home in Theth. His family arranged for a furgon (van) driver to come and take us back to Tirana. It was a very long day, but the countryside was amazing!  (See pictures from the trip below.)

After loosing 2 hub caps on this very unfriendly  road, we had a flat tire. Luckily, the elders were quick to help and we were soon on our way.
In northern Albania, small villages just hang on the mountains. Photo taken on way to Theth, Albania.
President Neil testing to be certain that this shallow puddle is what it appears to be.

On the narrow road to Theth.

This is photo taken near Theth, Albania. The scenery is spectacular. It reminded me of the Canadian Rockies.
On the left is home of a family who joined the Church within the last year. We've been to at least 3 different baptisms for various members of this family.  The property has been in the family's ownership for some 800 years. The family now lives in Skoder which is about 3 to 6 hours south of Theth, but every summer some of the family returns to Theth. Fortunately for us the oldest brother, Sokol and his wife. were at the home when we walked into Theth because of our car problems. The tower on the right was built 8 centuries ago and is called a kulla. If you were involved in a blood feud, you could "escape" to the kulla and so long as you remained inside you would not be shot. Sokol let us go into this kulla which is three stories tall. It is built on a rock outcropping which allows it to be seen throughout the valley. 
Part of the narrow and rocky road into Theth, the only National Park in Albania. There were some places where it was easier to walk than ride in the van.
A very flexible wicker bridge which would allow villagers to get to the other side of the river on the way to Theth, Albania.
Heading northeast about a 1/2 hours drive from Shkodra is the Mesi Bridge. The bridge crosses, what at this time of year is a very dry Kiri River. There are lots of medieval bridges in Albania called, "Ura e Mesit" which means "The Bridge in the Middle." Its a place where people on opposite sides of the river met to trade and conduct commerce. This particular bridge was built in the 18th century by a local feudal lord named Mustafa Pasha Bushati.