We had unseasonably warm weather at the end of December and first weeks of January, lots of rainfall, and unusually high tides. Those three things precipitated an early snowmelt, the necessary release of huge amounts of water from dams, and vast flooding in the delta areas surrounding the city of Shkodër. Many farm villages had to be evacuated, the national highway was under water in low places, and only vehicles with high clearance could get through to the city. Our four missionaries in Shkodër were safe on high ground, but as a precaution we asked them to purchase a few days of food and water, and make an evacuation plan if necessary. We gave them permission to watch the news in cafes or on the internet to check on the danger. They said that city life seemed normal and they saw no signs of all the emergency activity to the south.
Our Humanitarian Aid couple, Elder and Sister Snow, arranged for the Church to donate 19 tons of food worth $20,000 to the Albanian division of the Red Cross. The flooding has ruined farmland, killed animals, and damaged homes. The water in some of the low-lying places may take months to fully recede. The Red Cross wishes to supply food for 2200 people for six months, but so far has received donations for only about three months of aid. They were extremely grateful for the church's generous donation.
Today we took 10 of our Tirana missionaries to a factory to load a truck with bags of flour and pasta. It turned out that they were not needed to load the truck, but we were treated to a tour of their modern facility and watched macaroni being processed and packaged. The Red Cross warehouse was just outside of the main part of town, so we drove there and waited for the truck to arrive. On the way, some police stopped the truck and demanded the tax registration papers, which Elder Snow had not sent with the truck. The drivers were able to talk the police into letting them go, and the truck finally arrived at the warehouse where we had been waiting for an hour. The missionaries unloaded one truckload of 50 kilo bags of flour and boxes of pasta. Then the truck had to return to the city to pick up oil, sugar, beans, and rice.
The food suppliers wanted to be paid in cash so the office elders took the church's $20,000 check to the bank to exchange. The bank gave them the entire amount in 500 lek bills which are approximately equivalent to our $5.00 bills! Apparently the elders should have gone to the main office instead of a branch. So Elder Snow had to count out the payments with all those small bills!When the second truck arrived, it didn't include the rice, so after unloading the beans, sugar, and oil, six of the missionaries returned home with us to be able to meet their lesson appointments, and we left the office elders and assistants behind to wait for the last truckload. It was a much longer day than we had anticipated, but everyone was pleased to be a part of this wonderful humanitarian effort.
This is Elder Snow and Marty with Artur Katuçi, Secretary of the Albanian Red Cross. At a later time we will go to his office in Tirana for a formal meeting and official pictures with some Albanian political figures.
In other news, we had lunch Monday with David Colton, Birkena Kasmi and her husband Admir. Birkena is with the Albanian Justice Dept. and is working on the religious freedom legislation that we hope will make us a "religion" instead of the "cult" as we are now classified. Admir is personal legal counsel to Prime Minister Berisha. Also attending was Rasim Hasanaj, Minister of the Cult Committee. We discussed the pending legislation and how it might affect religion in the country. The legislators are wrestling with the definition of religion, so it has been delayed for many months. All three of these people were in Provo this last October to attend the BYU International Law and Religion Symposium. Birkena and Admir were personally hosted by David Colton and his wife, so they were happy to meet again. David is working on a name change for us. Since being in the country, the church has been registered as Fondacioni Liahona (Liahona Foundation), but soon we will be listed officially as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
Also, and sadly, we said a premature goodbye to Elder Daniel Turley who received a medical release and went home to Utah on Jan. 20 to see doctors and be treated for back problems and a hernia. He was a wonderful missionary and streamlined our office procedures when he served in the mission office for six months. We shall miss him but know he will be a blessing to the church wherever he serves.
1 comment:
Nice to hear that the Church could do something for the victims of the flooding. I hope word of the relief gets out so that the general population, and especially those affected directly, will know of the LDS support.
Growing up in the Northwest, before I joined the Church, the most common comment I would hear about the Mormons was that "They take care of their own." That statement was mostly made in a positive sense, but there may have been a little edge to it in the fact that (at that time) the perception was that the Mormons did nothing for the downtrodden and unfortunate who were not LDS.
I'm relieved to learn that no one hurt his back unloading supplies. I was almost expecting that as the punch line to the saga of the supplies project.
Naturally I'm prejudiced but tell Elder Turley that if he isn't satisfied with care in Utah, I have the World's Best Back Doctor here in Arlington, Dr. Raley.
It's the season. Our Ward Mission Leader, Richard Bergeron, who happens to be the highest-ranking Canadian military officer in the US (working with the Pentagon), hurt himself shoveling snow this week (in DC's Giant Blizzard #3) and is in extreme sciatic pain. It could be his spine but he feels that it's "just" his hamstring and all the other muscles in his right leg. Bro. Simmons and I gave him a priesthood blessing this morning so we trust that will help him out. Bro. Bergeron was trimming a tree some years ago and fell 28 feet to the ground; broke his back and two ribs (etc.). It's a miracle he's even alive. He has some ongoing back issues from that, but higher up the spine (close to where I broke mine).
In the miracles dept., Bro. Simmons told about how he had gotten caught on a turn skiing two weeks ago in Utah; went off flying headfirst on his back at about 40 mph through the forest, roughly a 50 ft trajectory until he came to a stop in deep snow. A non-member friend who was there at the time was amazed at how Bill followed the only possible safe path through the trees, without being able to control where he was going. "That was a testimony builder," the friend remarked - only half joking.
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