Once upon a time in Albania (November 2 2009)

Hello all from Albania!

Woohoo!! I got a GREAT package this week! I am very pleased with its contents, you all are wonderful! I also want to wish Grandma a happy 89th birthday. Wow! Grandma has seen many of recent history's most important events. Oh, back to the package, what was up with sending me vitamins especially for people 50+ yrs old?? Lol, no problem, I compared them to the other ones I had and they are essentially the same, so no worries. I just thought it was funny.

Well dang, I forgot to take notes about what I should talk about. I hope this email is not too lame. It is getting cold here in Tirana, I’m not too excited about that but I have plenty of good items to keep me as warm as possible. So what happened this week? Well, we are still teaching those two awesome boys I think I talked about last week. (Hey, did everyone like how I told the same story to weeks in a row with Elder Seevers telling me I needed Charity? I’m telling you, all is as one day here. I is so hard to distinguish one day or week from the next.) Well they are still awesome! Now we have another boy with them, Gray's younger brother, who is also great. All three of them want to be baptized. However, seeing how 2 are 15 and one is 11, we wanted their parents in on this. We visited the family of Donald. They are quite a wealthy family for Albanians and live in a very nice house but they had all the usual, lame Albanian excuses about learning more about the gospel. They are the kind of people that would have answered the door, said they were of a different faith (when in reality they don’t know anything about their faith and don’t ever go to services) and then closed the door. They claimed they had such a huge faith in God but I told them they had no actions to show for it and that this faith is worthless if they do not act the way God has commanded. (I said it in nicer words) We discussed their son getting baptized but they were skeptical. They said they would talk about it. They were kind, respectful people but quite willing to parish in their ignorance. I think it was one of the hardest lessons I have been a part of yet on my mission because they threw so much stuff out there that usually just stops a lesson dead. But because of Donald’s requests we were permitted to push onwards. The Lord certainly helped us to get through that lesson as well as we did, there is no way I could have done it on my own. Gray's family was somewhat different. His Mom is the closest thing I have found in Albania to a hippy. She is a really energetic, kind lady and told us pretty much straight off that her sons had total permission to be baptized and become members in our Church. She is also willing to learn from us, but I think it is more out of respect for us and her sons than anything, but a willingness to listen is a step, I believe. So our plan to see their families baptized is not so close of a goal. We will continue to teach the boys and gage their readiness for baptism.

So we are not the only missionaries in our area who have great people right now. All of Tirana e Re (which is 6 missionaries: us, Elder Turley, Elder Loose, Sister Bojer, and Sister Bentley. So there is no confusion, the ZLs are also in our district but their branch is fourth branch) is having huge success with finding and teaching. The Lord is really blessing us with many miracles.

Our branch president was replaced on Sunday. Sparti has been called to serve in the District Presidency so he could no longer be a branch president. We were all extremely surprised when Shpetim Shima was called as the new BP (he is the father of the two kids baptized when I first came to Ti-re). The surprise is that he has only been a member for 8 months in a branch full of older members. I think it is great!! He has such a huge amount of faith. I believe he will make an outstanding BP and his counselors are all experienced men. It was fast and testimony meeting so after the counselors and BPs had born their testimonies, it was opened to the congregation. Immediately s women in her late twenties rushed to the microphone, absolutely balling, and told us she was never coming to church again (which is ironic because that was the first Sunday in a couple of months that she had been at church). I will admit that that was super awkward, especially because we had 3 investigators in church. However, it got tons better when every other person got up giving large thanks to Sparti and declaring their support for the new BP. They were mostly the stronger, older members of the branch but I believe that a majority of the active branch agrees with them. Brother Shima is well loved. Still, having talked to a few of the members who are younger, they all worry that this will ruin everything. They just haven’t experienced changes like this before. The Lord's work will go forward.

Well, shorter email for this week. Next week might be my last P-day in Tirana e Re. I talked to the Assistants today and it looks as though there will be huge changes this transfer. We have to prepare for January when 14? Missionaries are leaving. 4 Branch presidents, an assistant, and a zone leader need to be replaced because of the changes coming in January and so they need to start getting that set up now. I wouldn’t be surprised if I found myself in a different city next transfer but I really hope that I do not move and that I get to stay with Elder Seevers. He is such an outstanding companion. Anyway, that’s all for this week. I love you all. Thank you for your support and prayers. You are all in my prayers, may God be with you!

Love,
Elder Skadi