Fast December Fades Away...

In late November we took a day off and, with Susan and R.Q. Shupe, visited Apollonia, an ancient seaside city founded by the Greeks in 588 BC and later inhabited and built up by the Romans after the city sided with Julius Caesar in the war with Pompey. It was once a thriving city of 50,000 inhabitants, but an earthquake in the 3rd Century AD rerouted a river and led to the city's decline. The dog in the picture adopted us at the entry point and followed us throughout the extensive ruins, keeping a respectable distance, but seeming to be there to keep an eye on us or protect us.

The large bunker that we saw on the drive is not so ancient, but unfortunately was built to last. We liked the graffiti on the bunker.

My camera ran out of battery so I did not get pictures, but we also visited the large amphitheater in Durrës, which is the largest ancient amphitheater in the Balkans. It is said to have seated up to 20,000 people and was used for gladiator combat. It is only one third excavated, and there are houses built over part of it. Sadly, there are many ruins in Albania that, for lack of interest or money, have not been excavated and are disintegrating beyond repair. Many that have been partially excavated are unavailable for visiting (mosaics covered over with sand, for example) or are not preserved. Many have been looted or razed for development. The communist dictator Hoxha had no interest in preserving historical sites and, in fact, destroyed many beautiful places of interest. Fortunately, the southern city of Butrint was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been excavated and is a fascinating place to visit.

One of our December activities was caroling in the Qendër (Center) of Tirana with all the Tirana missionaries and a few members. It was very cold and a light rain threatened and eventually shut us down, but we were able to sing for 35 minutes. This year Lindita Grimci arranged for us to be "legal"--she obtained permission from the city for us to sing (last year we just met and sang)--and arranged for amplification so we could be heard above the traffic and the mosque's call to prayer. Later while downloading the pictures from our camera, I noticed the ironic juxtaposition of our missionaries singing songs of the birth of Christ under a huge communist-era mural. The light, once restrained, is now shining on this wonderful country!

A huge City Park Mall has opened a few miles outside of Tirana, bringing new shopping possibilities for us. It's very fancy for Albania--and for us! Marty likes the Food Court with an AFC--Albania Fried Chicken--patterned very much after our KFC in the U.S., but not nearly as tasty.
Cookies. I made a LOT of cutout cookies in December. I made five large batches of dough, and Sister Shupe and I rolled, cut, and baked 75 cookie trees and stars for the Young Adult Christmas Party. The youth had never frosted and decorated sugar cookies, and they really enjoyed it--especially the eating part. We decorated the trees with M&M's, which are available here (made in Turkey).

I joined TWIG (Tirana Women's International Group), a group of expat women who get together for companionship and cultural events. Every year TWIG hosts a holiday bazaar in the shopping court of the Sheraton to raise funds for activities and to benefit an orphanage. I attended a few craft mornings with some women from the group to help make items for the bazaar and have enjoyed getting to know women from several different countries who are all here with their husbands who are working for their various embassies, or as consultants for the military or businesses. I baked and decorated four dozen gingerbread men and women with candy canes, and three dozen sugar cookie Christmas trees and put each cookie in it's own cellophane bag. I also donated three of my Christmas ornament creche balls that I made just for the event. I did not stay for the bazaar as it was on a Sunday, but I was told later that the cookies were a huge hit, sold out early, and people kept coming back to the baked goods table looking for them. They sold each cookie for a little more than $2.00 each (200 Leke)! By the way, the molasses for the gingerbread cookies was sent to me by my sister Nancy. She emptied out a large plastic Karo Syrup bottle, refilled it with molasses, taped it up really well, and sealed it in vacuum seal bag. It arrived without spilling a drop, and believe me, is much prized!

Elder Kushlan left us on Dec. 20, as he needed to get home to attend university in early January. He was scheduled to finish his mission Jan. 6 and didn't want to leave quite this early, but it was the only day a flight was available for him. This IS Albania, after all. There are not many flights in or out of the country.

Christmas Day we hosted 12 missionaries from Tirana in our apt. for feasting, carol singing, and exchanging of white elephant gifts. The three other LDS missionary couples hosted missionaries, and in some outlying cities, the missionaries got together and created their own feast. Pictured above are six of the missionaries singing their version of the "12 Days of Christmas" Albanian style. The Bairds, LDS family at the U.S. Embassy, gave us a frozen honey ham and it was soooo delicious with au gratin potatoes, orange rolls, peas, fresh pineapple and mandarin salad, with mint brownies for dessert. We had a great time. One of our white elephant gifts was a "missionary banana".

Edi Leaves for the London Mission!

When we first met Edi Çyçi (pronounced Choochi), we thought he had spent much of his life in America because his English is so good, hardly without accent, and his speech is sprinkled with American idioms. He said he learned it from television and movies. So it was fitting that he has been called to an English-speaking mission, the London Mission, and he left on Saturday, November 28 to go into the Preston MTC. We're excited for Edi and know that with his firm testimony of the gospel and love of our missionaries, whom he loves to be with, that he will be an excellent missionary himself. His mother joined the Church this year, and we're hoping that maybe Edi's mission will soften his father and brother's hearts.

We're Thankful

Since our mission is small we decided to bring everyone in for a Thanksgiving feast and afternoon movie. After debating back and forth whether to ask the Shanghai Chinese restaurant if they would provide a meal for us at their restaurant, I decided that maybe I could make dinner for 52 people. Was I nuts?!

I assigned the Tirana sisters to come up with table coverings and decorations, and invited the missionaries to provide the desserts.

The Assistants and Marty spent half a day on Wednesday in the cold, musty basement, sweeping, mopping, removing junk, stacking the huge stash of chairs we have down there, and setting up tables and chairs. I scrubbed a decade of grime off the plastic chairs and Marty cleaned the dirty basement kitchen by himself, even cleaning out the refrigerator. The basement was transformed, especially after the Tirana sisters came in with their clever decorations. I made place cards and told the missionaries that if they messed with them they wouldn't get dinner. (This was a trick to intersperse the newer missionaries among the older ones. The missionaries naturally gravitate to their MTC groups, and I wanted to "mix it up" a bit.)

I cooked six 12-lb. Butterball turkeys that the Bairds were able to buy for us through the U.S. Embassy, and one 6 1/2 lb. half turkey breast we found at the Conad Supermarket. I made tons of gravy, six batches of Parkerhouse and orange rolls, and got help on the last day from the Snow's, our Humanitarian Aid couple in Vlore, who whipped up all the potatoes (office elders and Assistants peeled), and helped me make the dressing. I put together a large fruit cocktail/fresh mandarin orange/banana/mini-marshmallows (sent by my daughter Emily)/and whipped cream salad that was devoured as the first course. Knowing that I had limited oven and stove space, the rolls, gravy, and most of the turkey were cooked ahead and frozen for thawing and reheating the day of the dinner. Getting it all together and hot at the same time was a trick. The green beans didn't heat up in time and had to be served along with the second round. There was enough food for seconds, and we had the equivalent of two turkeys left over! With all those side dishes, I guess we didn't need so much meat. Remind me never to go into the catering business.

Elder Turley and Mugleston's huge Apple Pie (they peeled 28 apples), one of many desserts provided by the missionaries. We had mixed decor as the 1st Branch had already started putting up their Christmas decorations.
Motra Kennedy, a happy Brit likes our Thanksgiving tradition! Also at her table (round to the left) are Sister Korita, Elder Allen, The Shupe's, (Institute/Outreach couple), and Elder Hixson.
The Tirana sisters decorated the tables with flowers, Thanksgiving-themed crayon artwork, small Thanksgiving cutouts to scatter on the tables, and candy. L. to R., Sister Boyer, Sister Bentley, Sister Larson, and our Albanian mini-missionary, Sister Korita, who is serving for twelve weeks until January when we get a new sister and will have even numbers again.
Gravy for a crowd! I think it was at least two gallons and was yummy, if I don't say so myself. My Kitchen Aid Mixer has gotten a good workout on our mission. Hope it holds out another year and a half.

After dinner we came up to the first floor where we had set up a theater using my computer, a multi-media projector, and some good speakers, and watched "UP" which all but the newest missionaries had not seen. The missionaries loved it! Afterward, they had seconds of dessert and went on their way happy and thankful for one another, for their missions, and for a little diversion from their long days of hard work.

Elbasan Open House

Saturday was the open house for the new Elbasan chapel. The people of that branch really did a nice job of cleaning and setting up classrooms to demonstrate the different aspects of the Church. Lindita Grimci, our Public Relations Specialist, helped to organize the event with support from our office elders. I brought flowers for various rooms in the building, and also the refreshments. Sister Grimci arranged for Marty to have a meeting with President Topi of Albania to extend an invitation to him, and he promised to send some of his deputies. Instead he sent some counselors, which we were told is a much higher position than a deputy. Since Elbasan is over an hour from Tirana over a winding mountain road, we felt very honored to have not only President Topi's representatives, but several other government officials from Elbasan and Tirana. There were two media representatives taking video for the evening news. The Director of the Committee on Cults from the Ministry of Culture of Albania, Mr. Rasim Hasanaj, came to the open house as well. He has become friends with Elder D. Todd Christofferson, whom he met during the apostle's visit to Albania in June. Mr. Hasanaj was invited to attend the BYU International Law and Religion Symposium that was held at the beginning of this month in Provo, Utah, and met again with Elder Christofferson for lunch. We would like to have the Church recognized as a religion instead of a cult. Currently there are only four recognized religions--two sects of Muslims, the Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Church--so this interest in our church is very welcome.

In addition to the special invited guests, we welcomed several visitors from the community, including a large number of children and young people. There were so many young boys and girls, that the missionaries had to let them into the building in small groups to usher them through the different exhibits. We hope some seeds were planted in their hearts that will produce fruit in later years.

Center: Mr. Rasim Hasanaj, Director of the Committee on Cults in the Ministry of Culture, and another visitor from the Ministry is next to Marty on the end. Agim Grimci, a member from Tirana is on the left.

Some of the members of the Elbasan Branch, along with missionaries who worked on the event.

President Topi's Counselor listening to a presentation by Sister Xhaferaj on the Church's programs for families.

One of our Albanian missionaries, Elder Celaj, is telling some of the young visitors about the Book of Mormon.

When the day was done, Marty and some other men retreated to the basketball court out back for a quick pick-up game. Apparently, the old guys won.

Alma's Mission Call

In case you were curious about Alma's mission call that I mentioned in the last post, she opened it this morning in District Conference, and her call is to Salt Lake Temple Square--English Speaking! We're thrilled for her and were secretly hoping that would be where she would go! She leaves in early March.

13 New Missionaries

Alma Osmëni

13 new missionaries arrived after spending almost three months at the Provo MTC. Back l. to r: Elders Seevers, Buys, Thorpe, Vance, Klein, Dittmer, Griffith.
Front L. to R.: Elder Fredrickson, Sister Hiland, Elders Mugleston, Loose, Roney, and Skousen.

First day: Interviews with Marty, trip to the Embassy to register, a bit of street contacting with seasoned missionaries, and then dinner and bed.

Second day: Breakfast, a trip to the Monument to the Martyrs overlooking Tirana, an hour of training, pizza lunch, and assignments to areas and a new companion/trainer.

This trip to the monument was particularly tender and memorable. The autumn morning was sunny and beautiful as we arrived up the hill above Tirana. As we fanned out into the large open space in front of the Mother Albania statue, we noticed two people lying down on the concrete wall that overlooks the city, heads together and chatting. We moved away from them into the shade and passed out copies of the hymn and Elder Oak's 1993 prayer, dedicating the land and people of Albania for the preaching of the gospel. Elder McGlothin noticed the two young people sit up and exclaimed, "That's Alma Osmëni!" Alma is a member of the church who has just received her call letter from Salt Lake to go on a full time mission. She has not opened the letter yet, as she's speaking at District Conference Sunday and wants to open it then. Marty invited her to join our group. She explained that she had come to the monument with a copy of Elder Oak's dedicatory prayer translated into Albanian , unbidden by us and unaware of our intentions to be there, to read it aloud and ponder her upcoming mission. Marty invited her and her friend to join our ceremony and after a hymn and prayer, we took turns reading aloud the dedicatory prayer. Alma then read aloud the prayer in her language and took a moment to thank the new missionaries for their sacrifice and service, and challenge them to work hard and bring more of her people to Christ. We gave the missionaries five to ten minutes to be by themselves to ponder the dedicatory prayer and consecrate themselves to help fulfill the promises Elder Oak's prophesied.

Departing Missionaries

Eight excellent missionaries, returning home to the states and England. L. to R.: Elder Kelley, Elder Bruneel, Elder Johnson, Elder Hewett, Elder Oakey, Elder Abley (England), Elder Tracy, Elder Harline.

Elba and Roni

L. to R. Elder Abley, Elder Scadden, Roni (12) and Elba Kapllani (19), Sister Bentley, and Sister Kennedy. Picture taken just before Elba and Roni's baptism Monday evening, October 5.

Elba Kapllani was taught the gospel lessons four years ago by a set of sisters and some elders. (See first comment on this post from Eliza Robinson Ruys.) One of the sisters who taught Elba later became a language instructor at the MTC for Elder Abley, pictured here. Circumstances prevented Elba from joining the church but she continued to see missionaries on the street because her grandmother's home is very near our 2nd Branch building where the missionaries teach English and hold discussions with investigators.

This summer Elba's brother Roni wandered into the 2nd Branch building because he saw other boys in the neighborhood going in to play Ping-Pong. Elder and Sister Shupe, who run the Center for Young Adults (CYA), had decided to let the young boys in the neighborhood come in to use the Ping-Pong table at a few selected times during the week.

One day Elba's mother sent her to get Roni at the church, and as she approached the building she was greeted by Elder Abley and his companion who were standing outside, and she was invited to "just go on in." Inside she was warmly greeted by several people including the Shupe's, and all the old feelings she had toward the church came to her memory. After that she was at the CYA several times a week attending Institute classes and activities, and the missionaries began teaching her and Roni the lessons . Roni enthusiastically accepted the teachings and wanted to be baptized, and his parents approved but did not want Elba to be baptized because she had "already been baptized in the Orthodox church." Elba introduced her parents to the missionaries and the Shupe's invited the Kapllani family over to their home, and it was only a short while before their hearts were softened because, as Elba's father said, "These are good people, and this must be good."

The parents, grandmother, and several of Elba's non-member friends attended the baptism, and the grandmother made some beautiful chocolate treats for everyone. Elba's father beamed as he watched his children bear their testimonies after their baptisms and confirmations.

The evening was especially sweet for Elder Abley, as he has completed his mission and is going home to England tomorrow. He told us at the testimony meeting we held in our apartment with just the departing missionaries, that Sister Rose who had gone home earlier this year, had written to him with the advice to work especially hard at the end of his mission because "that's where the miracles are hidden."

Elba was able to contact the missionaries who taught her four years ago to let them know of the fruit that had come from the seeds that they had helped to plant in her heart years ago (see Book of Mormon: Alma, Chapter 32).

How Beautiful Are the Feet

During the hot, sticky summer months, our sister missionaries are allowed to wear sturdy sandals. Four of them came to our apartment at 6:00 p.m. to watch the morning session of General Conference. Albanian tradition is to remove shoes in the house, and I noticed their missionary tan lines and took a snapshot. After today's transfer, we go back to hose/tights and closed-toe shoes. The weather changed over the weekend, so it's time.

Left to Right: Sisters Larson, Bentley, Kennedy, and Boyer.

Visitors at Church

We went to Sacrament Meeting in Kamez, a suburb of Tirana. It is a Wild West kind of town where many people are coming to the big city from their small villages in the mountains. There is one newly-paved four-lane road through the center and the city is rapidly and randomly expanding. Prime Minister Berisha campaigned there this Spring and said that he was going to make Kamez the most modern city in Albania--some of the boldest campaign rhetoric I've ever heard. It's a bit of a rough town for the two elders there, but the the work is going forward in Kamez and we have a very small branch there. Today there were eight members at church, including the two elders and Marty and me. And there were bees. Lots of bees. Hornets, actually, and they were coming in through a small window in the back, crawling on the floors and walls of the small room, and flying to the front trying to exit via the window there. We would open and close the front window to let them out, but as soon as one would exit, another one or two would be there. I decided to move to the safety of the back when I finished my talk, but found it much worse there. With my scripture bag I smashed five or six hornets that were crawling around my feet, but really caused a stir when I leaped out of my seat brushing away the one that was crawling on my blouse toward my face. I moved to the front again. The six Albanian saints just calmly sat through the meeting, unperturbed by the unwelcome visitors.

Theth or Bust!

The brave adventurers (or the six idiots!): Yours Truly, Elder Foulk, Elder Flack, Elder Turley, Elder Shupe (retired lawyer from Oceanside, CA, here with his wife as YSA Outreach missionaries--she opted out of the adventure), and Elder Oakey

Theth is a small village in Albania’s only national park, and I’ve wanted to see it ever since we arrived. Most Albanians have never been there, but I had read that it is spectacularly beautiful. It's in the Albanian Alps, in the remote northern section of the country. Religion survived in this part of Albania because people in the mountains were unreachable by the invaders, whether Muslim or Communist.

Knowing that Liz wouldn't be interested in the drive to get there (mainly for the lack of sit-down toilets), I thought I'd go while Liz was in the U.S. for Greg’s wedding and Erin and Jason’s baby. With me were Elder Shupe, the assistants, and the office elders. We left Monday morning, August 31, from Tirana at a little after 6AM according to plan. Our plan was 1.5 hours to Shkoder, 3 hours to Theth, a couple of hours exploring there, 3 hours back to Shkoder, then back to Tirana by 6PM. But nothing else on this trip went as planned. We arrived back at the mission offices the following morning around 3AM, minus the mission van. I'll explain.

Which is better for transportation to Theth?

We drove to Shkoder, the most northern city where we have missionaries, and made this our departure point. We decided that we would take a loop around Theth, since the excellent map we had showed that you could approach Theth from the south and return toward the west.

That way!

The roads were marked as "secondary" roads, so we assumed that a Volkswagon Sharan van would be able to use them. This turned out to not be true, as we just didn't have enough clearance to keep from scraping the undercarriage of the vehicle. There was a point shortly after our first encounter with a rough spot (where the other 5 got out of the car to let the car ride a little higher off the ground), when we briefly discussed turning around and trying another way. But, we figured that the roads had to get better, because someone had told us that there was a paved road all the way to Theth. We discovered that this was not true!

One of many roadside memorials marking the spot where people lost their lives on the road.

We drove for hours, and hours, and hours, never seeing another vehicle (should have been a clue), but we did see farmers along the road and young men playing in the small river we were driving along. We'd ask if we were on the right road to Theth, and they’d say that we were but that we were insane for thinking we could go in the van. I was driving very slowly and dodging the big rocks as much as possible.

Testing to see if this shallow puddle is what is looks like, and not a giant hole.

After about 5 hours of this we stopped for lunch and asked a young man “How far to Theth?” He told us it was another 5 hours! But since we were past the point of no return, we decided to keep going.

We stopped fairly often for pictures (amazingly beautiful mountains, and valleys), and for traversing ancient suspension bridges made of sticks and twigs over the river (scary!).

Then things started going a little wrong. We lost one hub cap, then another. Then we had a flat tire on the left front which took about 30 minutes to change. Fortunately, we had a spare! Someone (I think it was me) wrote in the dust collected on the rear window "Theth or bust". Then we asked Elder Shupe to offer a prayer to get us there and back home safely, which he did. But, I remember that he didn't bless the car to function well.

After more hours of driving we left the river and started going up switchbacks over the mountain. The road became rougher and rougher. We slowed down even more. The others got out to go over the roughest parts even more often. Some were just walking at this point. Around 6PM (I had been driving for 12 hours straight), I told everyone to get back in the car because we were down the mountain and things were looking better. Beside that we had just seen a monstrous wolf leap in front of the car and it nearly filled the entire field of view! We were doing well and we thought we saw paved road ahead (a mirage!). I was going a little too fast--maybe 15 miles per hour, and the oil pan took a direct hit from a boulder sticking up in the road. Immediately the engine started making an awful racket and I realized the oil pan was gone so I shut off the car. We figured we were about 10 miles from Theth so we pushed the car off the road and started hiking. We were in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, fortunately, fortunately--we had cell service, so we called the elders in Shkoder and asked them to hire a bus to come pick us up in Theth. They called back later and told us that it would take them a little over 3 hours to get there, but they were on their way.

Hiking by the light of the moon

The nearly full moon came up early, and we started hiking in the moonlight toward the town. Elder Shupe and I kept telling the elders to make sure the old people were in front as the wolves always eat the stragglers. After several hours of hiking we saw the village of Theth ahead. Off on our right, on the other side of the river we saw a stone kulla or tower. According the the ancient code of Kanun, someone involved in blood feud is safe if living inside a kulla, but may be killed anywhere else in the countryside. We saw a few stone houses, but no lights were on. We continued hiking for about an hour and a half and finally saw a few cars parked in a corral-like structure, and inside there were a few stick huts with small tables. We found the proprietor and bought some orange sodas.

Elder Turley then remembered that Sokol, a member of the church who lives in Shkoder during the winter, lives in Theth in the summer. We called Sokol and he said he would come to take us to his home. Sokol told us to start walking toward his house and he would meet us halfway. The owner of the outdoor Locale (bar, cafe), directed us where to go and we started off. I should now set the scene. Theth, the village, consists of just a few stone houses scattered randomly about a fairly large area, and none of them had lights on or seem to be inhabited. However, according to custom and the code of Kanun, we could have knocked on any door and would have been welcomed and invited to spend the night, as honoring the guest--even if he’s astranger--is the highest moral value in the code.

We found a path that was illuminated by the moon, and we began walking. There was total silence and stillness, except for the sound of the small river a few hundred yards away. As we walked by an ancient stone church, someone started throwing stones at a steel drum not too far from us and we got a little freaked out! We called out "Who's there?" But there was no answer. We wondered if it was just some funny boys trying to scare us Americans, but it happened several times. We walked back to investigate but no one appeared. We resumed walking in the direction we had been headed. Finally, after about a quarter of a mile we found Sokol. He's in his 30's and is wearing a traditional mountain man's white wool cap. He says it's a symbol for the kulla, and it's rather shaped like a tower. So in single file we followed Sokol as he led us to his house. The fences around the corn fields didn’t have gates but had steps that we climbed up and down to the other side. There were three or four of these fences to navigate over in the dark but the moonlight helped a lot. The corn in the fields was very high, and it was eerie to be walking through the towering corn in complete silence with the moonlight streaming through. I couldn't help but wonder if the wolves hunt at night. Since I was last in the line I wouldn't have been missed.

We finally arrived at Sokol's ancient stone house and he set up a couple of benches for us outside. We surmised that he was embarrassed to invite us in because it sounded as though there was a drunken party going on inside. Sokol's pretty, petite wife joined us, brought us something to drink, and we sat there talking and asking them questions. It was getting chilly and we started to shiver due to all the exertion from walking, and because we just had on thin short-sleeve shirts.

Sokol's family home and kulla

We were interested in the kulla right next to his house, and Sokol explained that it was for blood feuds and was built by his family about 800 years ago. We asked for a tour and he explained that there were no lights, but he was happy to take us so we used our cell phone lights to see our way. The Kulla is a three story tower with crude holes cut in two floors, and ladders attached to enable one to climb up to the other floors. On one wall of the first floor we saw a photograph of Sokol's father and grandparents. They looked just like him. We spent probably 30 minutes exploring the kulla, and by the time we had climbed down, the private van (with high clearance undercarriage) had arrived from Shkoder with two elders, and Toma and Adriana who are members from Shkoder and also are Sokol’s brother and sister-in-law.

The members had come to show the driver where Sokol lives. It was around 10PM. We enjoyed a fast and furious ride over terrible roads with switchbacks and hairpin curves, but no one really cared because we were too exhausted to worry about going over the side. We got to Shkoder after 3 hours, then had to talk the driver into driving us back to Tirana. He agreed--for a price--and picked up a friend to help him drive so he wouldn’t fall asleep. We arrived back home around 3AM, not knowing if we would ever see our wimpy VW Sharan van again.

Roan, our good friend in Tirana who takes care of facilities and keeps us out of trouble, is well connected and called the head of the Police Directorate in Tirana to ask for help. He in turn called the Police in Shkoder who sent a man out to guard our wimpy van overnight. The next day a tow truck driver from Shkoder made his way out to our van. He spent many hours and had trouble finding it but eventually did, and then towed it back to Shkoder. We then asked them to bring it to Tirana, whatever the price. The next day Roan and I drove to the Tirana police station and delivered $500 to cover all the towing. I had been told that our van was at the Porsche VW dealer here, but since I hadn’t seen it, I had to take it on faith that it was.

All in all, it was an amazing adventure not to be forgotten.

We'll do it again when you come and visit! I know the way now.

Marty

Mission Conference with Elder Caussé

While I was in the states, Marty hosted Elder Causse from the Area Presidency. They held an all-mission zone conference in Tirana at the First Branch Bldg. (and mission home). Marty said it was a wonderful, informative visit and the missionaries were trained on new ideas for teaching. Elder Causse is in front of Marty on the left. The eight elders in front are leaving us in October. Note the colorful ties the missionaries love to wear--they get out their best for zone conferences.

Preston, England

From August 19-22, Marty and were in Preston, England to attend the Mission Presidents' Seminar for the Europe Area. In our four days in England we had wonderful uplifting and spiritual meetings directed by our Area Presidency, took a walking tour of early church history sites in the Preston Area, and attended a session at the London Temple. We stayed in the Preston Marriott, which has been developed from a lovely old English manor house.

The River Ribble where the first nine British saints were baptized by Heber C. Kimball. In two years there were over 1500 converts.

Scenes in the village of Downham. Heber C. Kimball baptized many here and in the neighboring village Chatburn. This village is largely kept as it was in the 1800's, and the church has helped somewhat with the preservation. Elder Kimball had been advised not to go to these villages because he was told that the people had hard hearts and could not be persuaded. He felt the need to go there anyway and preached in a barn and on stone walls to large groups of people and baptized many--saying that in one night they were"engaged in this delightful duty until four o'clock the next morning." When Elder Kimball and his companions left the villages, they were followed out of the towns by many people who tearfully begged them to stay. Heber C. Kimball wrote in his mission journal, "While contemplating this seen (sic) we were induced to take off our hats, for we felt as if the place was holy ground--the spirit of the Lord rested down upon us, and I was constrained to bless that whole region of country, we were followed by a great number, a considerable distance from the villages who could hardly separate themselves from us. My heart was like unto theirs, and I thought my head was a fountain of tears, for I wept for several miles after I bid them adieu."