Once upon a time in Albania (January 25, 2009)

Hello to all from Albania!

Wow, it has been cold this week! Over all though, Albania seems to be less cold than NC. The other real issue is that I am outside for much longer hours than I would be in the states. It's also good to hear that Grandma is alive. I’d just like to shout out to Amanda and Stephanie Bray who have their birthdays this week, Happy Birthday! So the sickness was quite cumbersome. I was confined to quarters until Thursday. It was extremely refreshing to be out working again. I do not understand how I’ve managed it but I sure do seem to get sick a lot here. It is somewhat dishonoring. Maybe I need to be better about using that hand sanitizer that you all sent me for Christmas. I still find it difficult to use often. I sometimes wonder what kind of super bacteria I am helping to create when I use it. When the scriptures talk about the pestilences of the last days, I tend to think that they will come because we started relying too much on strong antibiotics that really are just making us weaker in the long run. Anyway, enough of my ridiculous medical opinions.

Last week I mentioned Elder Turley going home. He is home now and our retention, Zef, has been chosen to take his place. He has been in Elbasan for 4 days now as a missionary. He was super stoked about going. We talked to his comp yesterday and he seems to be doing great. This is an excellent opportunity for him to prepare for a full time mission. One year from now he will be getting ready to leave. That is pretty exciting. However, now our teaching pool has been reduced to zero. We’ve been doing tons of finding and have several new investigators but we will have to wait and see if they progress anywhere. None of them seemed out of this world prepared but at times the prepared can be hard to see. I am ever hopeful. Due to the sickness, and our lack of teaching pool, we got 4 lessons this week, my least yet on my mission! We had more new investigators than lessons though, which was somewhat entertaining to report, but I hope that this week will remain the weakest, number wise, on my mission. Though, I must say, while our numbers were low the days we were actually outside the house were really quite good days. I feel like the Lord is helping me to become a better, more effective finder.

During my time inside I remade my language study plan. My language study had been kind of weakening in effectiveness and consistency, but the new plan I’ve set out is good. It is surprising how much more we are able to accomplish when we just do a little planning. As for my language itself, it is doing OK. Elder Thackeray and I only speak in Albanian to each other outside of the house. I’m certainly improving but have a long way to go. Fortunately I have a year left to continue to improve, more time than I have had in the country. I feel like I’m in a good spot.
I’ve also been reading the New Testament. I have always found it intriguing how the devils and evil spirits always testify of Christ. At times, at least according to the record we have, they even run up to Him, declaring Him to be the son of God. However, Christ always quickly silences them. I do not recall if James E. Talmage address this in Jesus the Christ (I’ll find that out when I reread it here soon), but I wonder why Christ resisted the testimony of devils. There is one obvious possibility, even though they spoke the truth they were still evil and enemies to Christ and their testimony was viewed as something wicked. I don’t know really. It was just an interesting thought I had while reading. If any of you have any insight into that, I’d love to hear it.

So here in Durres there is a Sister named Motra (sister) Cherma. She is bedridden and we bring her the sacrament every week. She reminds me a great deal of Sister Hodge. She is kind, loving, full of stories and wisdom. Our visits with her make me miss Sister Hodge and I am sad that in this life I will not be able to meet with her again. One of the best things about current Albanian culture is how the old women act and treat others. They are all like a bunch of fairy godmothers, especially those that are members. Unfortunately, it is a culture that is dying with the rising generation. The majority of the youth are embracing most of the negative aspects of western European culture without taking any of the good. I am glad that the Church exists here because I have seen very strongly the way it is helping many youth avoid the destructive behavior and influence that is becoming so prominent in their country.

Mum and Dad, I do just want to say that I chuckled a little when Dad told me you all go to the empty nesters family home evening. But it is a good thing that it exists!

I have a complaint that I would like to share. It is that many of our Albanian young single adults leave Albania to go to school and then get hitched to Americans and never come back! I therefore have decided to always encourage my nephews, nieces, friends and children to never think about marrying someone who should be going back to their country, marrying someone there and building Zion in their place! I NEVER thought that something like this would bother me. I’ve always had the attitude that it's great if members from other countries are able to come together and get married but it is one of the most damaging qualities that exists in the church here in Albania. So many good members, male and female, have gone off to BYU I-do and never come back! Thus, even the oldest branches continue to struggle to find effective, young members who have more or less been raised in the church culture. Roflcopter. Really random, I know, but we missionaries mourn a great deal over the many that have been lost to American marriages.

Well that is all for today. Something that I realize about my emails is that I don’t share tons of spiritual experiences. Allow me to say that I have them but that I just do not often feel compelled to share. A lot of them are little, small, unexpected blessing from the Lord.l Others are really great events. When it is something that I really desire to share, I will share them, but I simply didn’t want any among you to wonder if I wasn’t really having any because I don’t write about tons of them. Fear not!

You all take care, I love you all and miss you all very much. I feel the power of your prayers daily and am ever grateful for your love and support. May God be with you!

Love
Elder Skadi