Once upon a time in Albania (February 22 2010)

Hello all!
I hope you all are well. I was so excited about the new Gmail features we have but the computer I am on won't read my pictures! Geez, better luck next week! Ah, well, you all are probably wondering what happened at transfers. Well, I am staying with Elder Thackeray here in Durres. I would be lying if i said we were not all surprised by this happening. That means I will be here for the next transfer also. That piece of knowledge is good to know. Also, sorry if it is someones B-day, I forgot to check so you'll hear from me next week if it is.

Well, I didn't mention this last week but I will now. For the last 3 weeks I've had some crazy pains coming out of my heel. There is some kind of hard orb forming underneath the skin. I got an xray and that showed nothing so it is not a bone spur. Some have said it could be a wart or a callus but the surface of the skin remains relatively unchanged. Some have said it might be a boil forming under the skin?? Anyway, It really started to cause problems a week and a half ago so I started to stay inside off of it because of the pain. Finally I got an old man cane which was really styling but killed my hand to use for an extended period of time. I also was put on a ridiculous dose of Ibuprofen. That seems have really helped with the swelling (because it was getting quite sizely). As it now stands, since we have no idea what it is, I am working half days, wearing tennis shoes and using a medical cane. Things seem to be improving but the going is slow. Inevitably I might have to go to the American hospital to get a more in depth check up if I continue to have difficulty. Needless to say, I am really quite irritated with this current condition, but am learning to live with it. So don't worry yourselves too much, but just keep that specifically in your prayers, that this strange growth will go away and that I'll be able to work like normal again soon.

Other than that things have been good. We found some new investigators this week (well, elder Thackeray and Elder Mugleston did while I sat inside with a sick Elder Loose) and we are hoping that something positive will come from them. We are about done tracting out the section of the city we had targeted for our primary efforts. We are about done with the second time through and will probably only go once over in the morning since we have talked to most of the households. Don't worry, we keep a record of every door so we don't re knock doors that rejected the message. This area has not been the greatest tracting area so we are looking forward to moving on to a different part of the city that may have some really prepared people. I've got to say, the more I do tracting, the more I love it. It really beats trying to talk to people in the road but that is just my opinion. We are going to reopen our English course this month too so it would be wonderful if some new investigators came from that! Ermal, Donald, Grei and Kein back in 2nd branch all came into the church because of English.

We went to Vlore on exchanges. Vlore is a pretty city nestled away in a valley on the coast. Nothing really amazing happened there though. Oh, I did go to the doc. That was an interesting experience. It was a private clinic suggested by Germany for us. When I arrived there were lots of people in the waiting room. I went up to the desk and said I had an apt. with Doc. Cela at 1 (it was 1230). In 2 minutes I was in a room talking to Dr. Cela. 3 min later I jumped to the front of a line of 10 people waiting for xrays. 4 min later my xray was getting looked at by Dr. Cela. 5 min later I had some kot (worthless) medicine in my hand. I do not know what got me the special treatment but I jumped tons of people. We talked about it and we figured it was because we weren't there on the governments bill but were paying right there with cash. Everyone else just tells them to get their money from the government. Anyway, it was much less ridiculous than I thought the experience was going to be, though my radiology technician, they guy taking my xray, told me he still had 1 yr of school left before he was fully certified. Now I don't know what that really means but it made me think he wasn't the most qualified individual to be using large machine that gives off radiation. LOLOLOLOL.

Well, the week has been somewhat uneventful. I must now go. I love you all and miss you all. I thank you all for your constant prayers and support. Keep the faith and may God be with you.

Love
Elder Skadi