Once upon a time in Albania (Decemeber 14th 2009)

Hello from Albania!

I hope everyone is doing alright, I am doing great! It is almost Christmas! Wow! And I will get to talk to you all on Skype! Wow! It is hard to believe that it is already time for another conversation. May doesn’t seem that long ago. I also got some wonderful packages, one from the family and one from Jenni. I was thrilled to see all the good candy (btw I just wanted to say, not that there was any in these packages, but if you send me chocolate only send me Reese's or Hersey bars, everything else is found here, I thought I would just say that before it happened) and the other great things I had. I have not opened my wrapped presents. They are all sitting under my beautifully ghetto Christmas tree awaiting the 25th. However, I did open the Christmas music, which Elder Seevers and I both were so happy to receive because neither of us had any. For the first 3 days though my CD player had stopped working completely. Elder Seevers then manhandled it a little while I was in the shower and it started working just fine again. So we enjoyed the music for the first time today and it was great! I am also sharing my goodies, not wanting to horde them all (though I only share the Reese's I got from Jenni with Elder Seevers, they are too valuable to be further distributed.). I am also saving the Hickory Farms things for the week before Christmas. I’ll be honest, I am surprised to see such traditions of the Christmas season in our home find their way to me here in Albania. Thank you all!!

OK, so I have some stories from this week. First we had Zone Conference. It was good. I always enjoy Zone Conference. Anyway, the “presiding sisters” (I really don’t know what they are called, but they are the sisters in charge of the other sisters) gave training about doing language study. They handed us a piece of paper that had various things written on it and asked us to take a little self-evaluation. I finished quickly and noticed that at the bottom of the page was written “Never give up, never surrender!” so I laughed to myself and raised my hand to ask which of the two sisters had chosen the Galaxy Quest quote. They both stood there, a little confused, and at last Sister Kennedy, from the UK, said something to the extent of if you were cultured you would know that it is actually a Winston Churchill quote. BURNED. It was quite amusing, and I wasn’t really offended because I served with Sister Kennedy for a transfer and she usually burns people in like manner. My embarrassment was somewhat softened when President Neil said from across the room “Don’t worry Elder Scadden, I thought it was from Galaxy Quest too” LOLOLOLOL. In my book, that quote still comes from Galaxy Quest. Winston Churchill has plenty of other inspiring quotes to compensate for the loss.

The other good story of the week. We have been trying to meet with an inactive family, the Komerias, for the past 2 transfers, but they have always not answered their phones or been too busy to meet. Their home teacher, President Baird (the American working at the embassy), told us he didn’t understand their inactivity because they seem to still love the church, love having the missionaries and had no apparent signs of commandment problems aside from not coming to church (which is a big one). They have only been inactive for about 5 months or so they say. Well, we finally got a meeting with them on Saturday and we decided to talk about service and try to get to know them. Sister Komeria had to stay with their store but Brother Komeria went with us into their house and we met with him and their three daughters, Jane, Anji? and Elisa, 17ish, 15ish, 12ish respectively. We talked for awhile, they were nice and welcoming and we found out they were all musicians and they showed us the electric guitar they had. We went ahead and had the lesson. The 2 older girls and the father really paid attention. There were no signs of being tired of hearing the gospel message. Elder Seevers and I felt the spirit strongly as we testified about the greatest service ever rendered in the world, the Atonement of Christ. Afterward the conversation flowed back into normal things and Jane got out the guitar to do a demo of a song she had written for us. It was really quite good. The Dad then got up and played an awesome Elvis song and then an Albanian song. Finally the Dad told Anji to go get her violin and Jane and Anji played an absolutely amazing duet on violin and electric guitar. Their unison was amazing. The music they played just flowed through me (as those of you who know me may know good music does when I hear it). I was astonished by such talent in these young girls. I will admit that the music is probably not music I would play in my missionary house being somewhat outside of white handbook standards, but at that time as we listened the music turned my thoughts turned powerfully to Christ and how this family needed His light and love and how the church needed them. We left extremely edified but with no greater knowledge as to why they do not come to church. They have been added to our reactivation projects list. I might be leaving in a couple of weeks but hopefully we will be able to find the reason for their inactivity and the missionaries that follow, along with strong help from the members and a strong spirit, might bring them back.

Another thing that I wanted to talk about. Last week Ken sent me a short email, but in it he contained some important council. He said specifically this “I hope you do not [allow your sense of compassion for others to degrade]. Cynicism is a barrier that hinders us from loving others unconditionally the way we should.” He also said he just thought he’d share that with me, not really knowing why, but I needed to hear it. Of all the things I did not expect to happen on my mission, this one troubles me most, for I feel that while I have learned greater charity for certain people and groups of people, I have also lost a great deal of compassion for the poor and downtrodden of the earth. Daily I am asked for money by the Gypsies whether it be by the youngest child or the oldest and most worn. I have raised my voice in frustration against those whose begging becomes so incessant that they attempt to stop your way of walking. In Shkoder the Gypsy kids were our friends and I did gain charity for them, but that has not been carried over to Tirana. Only one time did I give a little girl some nuts that I had gotten off the street. Though I pray for Charity daily, my Cynicism runs deep. It is against our rules to give things to the Gypsies. Some of them are legitimately poor and others earn more then $500 a month (that’s close to above average here) from their begging and you usually cannot tell any difference. At times I feel my heart moved in compassion towards them only to feel that driven away as I hear the same memorized line “Me falni qind leke?”. I have often thought what I must do to gain a greater love for the poor of this country. They refuse to hear our message of Christ, we cannot give them money and they tend to be quite disrespectful. We pay a generous fast but still I am stepping over my brothers and sisters that lie in the gutters of the street. What should I do? I could pray more specifically for them, I could try to look for opportunities to serve them more. It has caused me much trouble and often I just say to myself that I will make it up once in the States when I am no longer obligated to not offer sustenance. Now! I hope that doesn’t put a damper on every one's Christmas spirits. Our Church has done many great things for the Roma community. This summer we opened a school specifically for their instruction. This fall we opened a clinic where we teach women to sow on machines so that they have a real skill to offer people. The poor of this country are being helped, but not by me on an individual level and I do not like that feeling.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. You’ll hear from me one more time before we get to see and speak to each other on Christmas Day! Thank you all for your prayers and your support. I love and miss all of you! I wish all of you a Marry Christmas and hope that you are all remembering the spirit of the season. Despite my previously mentioned concern, I am still seeing miracles and the I felt the Lords spirit more abundantly this week than I have for awhile and it feels great! Until next week, take care and may God be with you all!

Love
Elder Skadi