MERRY CHRISTMAS! Mom and I wish you all a Merry Christmas from Tirana, Albania. For the last 2 weeks we've had rain and cold. Today the sun was out, but it was colder. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. We just checked Santa's list, and mom and I made it along with all 9 of our grandchildren. We love you all!

Last Tuesday, December 8, 2009 Mom appeared on Albanian television. One of the young adults, Fatjona Priska, is a reporter for Ora News. Almost every morning she will interview someone on the morning news and Monday evening she asked Mom if she'd like to come and talk about Christmas traditions. We were a bit worried about wearing the missionary badge, however, as you'll see it was perfect. There's more to the interview than just this clip and in the next couple of days I'll see if I can post more. Mom was on for over 15 minutes. We've already been told that some people here in Tirana saw the interview.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 was Thanksgiving. Its not an Albanian holiday, but the missionaries all got together and had a great meal. Sister Neil, the mission president's wife, put the feast together. The missionaries were responsible for the deserts. Above photograph shows a very proud Elder Turley holding his 24 inch "deep dish" apple pie. It was delicious!
The Elders and Sisters lined up holding their deserts. We had everything from pumpkin and apple pies to rich chocolate cake.
The Thanksgiving feast was held in the basement of the mission home. Standing, in white shirt, is Elder Ditmer from Indiana.
Heading into the basement for the Thanksgiving meal, Elders Kushlan, Hagen, Garn and Smedley.
I knew it was getting close to Thanksgiving when I saw this fellow taking his birds home. Actually, towards the end of the year, you start seeing live turkeys on the streets of Tirana for sale. The big Albanian meal when turkeys are served is New Year's. Can the end of 2009 be that close?

We held our annual YSA "Clean the Building" service project this past Saturday. The Institute meets in the same building as the Tirana 2nd and 4th Branches. The building gets a pretty good work out from all the people that use it. It does get cleaned every week, but once a year we try to give it a deep cleaning. Above photograph is of Roan, Neti, Donald and Besmir cleaning chairs in one of the class rooms.
The guys really help clean up the outside. Around the outside of the building in a space that is not seen, people will sometimes throw their junk. Besmir and Amarildo hauling some junk away.
Alma and Elona cleaning the kitchen cabinets. This March Alma will leave on a her mission to Salt Lake City, Utah. For 18 months, she will be one of the sister missionaries on Temple Square.
After spending a couple of hours cleaning, we all sat down and had a pizza and ice cream lunch.

Once a quarter we have "Super Saturday" for all the seminary students in Albania. We had over 55 attend Saturday November 22, 2009. Mom and I were the only chaperones so single handedly we never "controlled" them, we just "contained" them for a couple of hours.
Learning Book of Mormon scripture mastery verses will never be the same. We had 5 bags in which were 5 objects. The bags were passed from table to table and those around each table had to determine which object went to what verse. It was great fun and very interactive.
We also had a Christmas trivia jeopardy game. Boys vs. Girls. The boys were very disappointed when the girls won. When this photograph was taken, "3" was the right answer.
After this baptism of Grei Lika and his brother Kein on November 22, 2009, 3 out of our 4 "ping pong" young friends have joined the Church. This picture is of me, Grei, Roni Kapillani, Kein and Donald. Donald's parents have not yet agreed to his baptism. We're hoping that permission will be given before we go home in 4 months.
On November 18, 2009 I baptized Fioreta Tozaj. She began coming to Church to learn English. The first time she was in Mom's English class, Mom shared her testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Fioreta asked to know more and three months later she was baptized.

Mom's talents know no limits. For the first time in our marriage, Mom sang a solo. A mission is a growing experience and this is proof positive. Elder Turley helped Mom pull it off, but it was all Mom. If this keeps up, she may start looking for an agent. The story behind "the solo" is very sweet. Mom taught her English class to sing "I Am a Child of God."One of her students, Fioreta Tozaj was going to be bapized and she asked Mom if she would sing a solo at her baptism. Mom, without hesitation, agreed.

My brother Scott was working on a helicopter deal in Milan, Italy and decided to come to Tirana for a visit. He came right in the middle of our 10 days of straight rain. He was here only Saturday, November 7, 2009 so we had a great breakfast at the Stephan's Center and walked around town. Above photo of Scott and Mom walking the streets of Tirana.
Scott said he didn't like my hats he was seeing on the blog so he brought me this new one. Can you see any difference? I should add that there were many Albanian Saints who did a double take when they saw us together. What do you think Garrick? Scott does look like an older me.
Every now and then Mom and I on our walks will find a "new" building painted in the most random way.
We also found our favorite restaurant at home. In N Out, but I'm afraid that the franchise has not made it to Albania.
We've told you all about our favorite conversion story of Roni and his sister Elba. Remember, Roni is my desperately needed pianist? Well, now we're singing after Institute nights. From left to right: Elba, Kejn, Grej, Donald and Yuli, with Roni at the piano. Kejn, Grej and Donald are some of our investigators.