Once upon a time in Albania (December 28, 2009)

Hello all from Albania!!

Happy New Year (almost)! I hope you all are doing well and that your Christmas finished up well. I was so happy to talk to you all and see you all, it was great! It is really hard to believe that I have been on my mission for almost a year, and only have a year remaining. It is exciting to think that I still have more time left in Albania than I have yet been here. There are still many experiences to be had, trials to face and growing to do. I do think that the next time we talk to each other I will prepare one question to ask each individual, so that I can hear everyone speak at least once.

Oh, next P-day I will be writing emails on TUESDAY because it is a big transfer day. Saturday we find out where we will be going, if anywhere, and who will do what. I could be training again but we will see, these things are really impossible to call. When it comes down to it, it is between President Neil and the Lord.

Hilarious thing occurred yesterday. I have mentioned the Gjoligus before (we went over to their house for Christmas eve, also know as Christmas Adam). All their kids are American and at church on Sunday, Bekim, the oldest boy who is 8 yrs old, said something hilarious. Two Albanians came up to him at church and grabbed his cheek, it’s a big thing that people to here and I’ve had it happen to me about 40 times. Well, Bekim was somewhat unlearned with that, since it’s not a huge practice in America, though some do it. After it happened he started to cry and said to his mom “That is so messed up, why would they do that? What is wrong with these people?” We laughed pretty hard knowing that we’ve all asked ourselves those same questions in other situations. A different culture, a different place and it’s a lot different than America.
Hey, I ate my Zatarrans Red beans and rice (which was great) but I was wondering if anyone, like Mum, Lauren or the Brays, had a recipe for a good red beans and rice dish. I imagine it’s got to be pretty straight forward but I’m pretty sure there is more to it than some red beans and rice. The reason I ask is because I can get red beans in a can and rice here and if I know the extra stuff I need for it I bet I could easily mix it up myself. So if you could, I’d like to know what other people do to prepare it

2 good pieces of news this week. Our investigator, Julja, who is the girl friend of a member and who also dropped off of the face of the earth when that member broke up with her, showed up to the ward Christmas party with that same member. They appeared to have worked out their problems and she is excited to continue learning after the new year (This week is one of the slowest missionary work weeks of the year, apparently, because everyone wants to wait until the next year to meet). That was very exciting because she seems to be really ready for the gospel. Now, we had hoped she would have came and met with us even during this stuff with Harbi, but that’s alright, we have hope that she will begin progressing again soon. Also, the Kumria girls and their dad, the family that we recently started trying to work with to reactivate, came to the ward activity. They performed, which was great, and it was the first time they had been seen in the church for a number of months. Unfortunately they didn’t come to Church the following Sunday but we are ever hopeful that maybe their hearts are softening.

This week we had some problems with finances. It would seem that president Shima did not receive adequate training on the matter by the previous president and so after transfers we will be doing financial training. It’s pretty cool because I already know quite a bit about the financial ropes of a branch now and the skills learned from this further training may come in hand later on in the mission and in life. I hope that once we all get trained on the matter and also a new ward sec. is called, we missionaries can start phasing out of the financial process. I wonder what it must feel like to be a missionary in autonomous wards and branches. I did not expect that missionaries would be given so much responsibility and control within a branch. I will be happy when Albania is able to function entirely without missionaries but that is some years down the road.

Along those same lines, I was very pleased this past Sunday when the people passing the sacrament were all Aaronic priesthood holding youth. I have not seen that before I believe. If we can get 2 other boys to attend more regularly, I believe we might be able to have a completely Aaronic priesthood operated sacrament ordinance. I hope that I will get to see that before I leave 2nd branch.

As part of our helping President Shima learn the ropes of being a branch president, I recently saw a document that contained the full statistics of our branch. I was extremely surprised by what I saw. In our branch live 268 baptized males, 78 of which are Melchizedek priesthood holders. As I was just looking at it in passing, being pressed for time, I did not look up the total population of the branch, but even with just the men we have enough people for 2 full and functioning wards. Taking the potential population of women into account we probably have closer to 3 wards. I was really blown away by that. We average 70 people, including 6 missionaries in church a week. The church could be so extremely strong here! A Stake could really actually be here! But the turnover rate of new members to inactivity is so large that we really aren’t growing and haven’t really been growing, for the past 7 years. I wonder if this is the sort of thing seen all over the church, not just in new areas. I have heard that church activity is something like 30-40% of all baptized members. If that is true, Albania certainly follows that pattern. That makes me very sad, but I suppose it applies to the scripture that says many are called but few are chosen and on top of that in 2 Nephi it talks about how many members of the church will be far too complacent and will fall short of the mark. I wonder what the entire world would look like if we had 80-90% activity rate. Of course people would still have struggles and short comings, but if that missing 40-50% still tried their best imagine the huge contribution they would make to the Lords work and how much faster the work of the Lord would roll forward! (hmm I also just realized that I really over use !!!!! points in my emails. I fear I will never be able to write an effective essay again). Well, it is no use worrying about the numbers. If we do our best to do our part, we will truly be blessed and will rejoice in happiness with those we have helped and strengthened. Despite Albania’s struggles, I know that the work will roll forward here, and that one day Albania will have many strong members within the wards of her Stake. I look forward to that day.

Anyway, I am doing well. I miss you all even though I only just saw and talked to all of you (that actually probably made it a little worse temporarily, LOL). I love you all very much. I know that this is the Lords work, I am blessed to be a part of it. Jesus is the Christ, and if we will come unto him, forsaking our sins and taking up our cross, we shall be saved in the Kingdom of our God. Thank you all for your prayers and great support. May God be with you until next week!

Love
Elder Skadi