The Church in Albania 1992-1999

I recently read (online) "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Enters Albania, 1992-1999," a 2008 master's degree thesis by Nathan Pali, whose grandfather was an Albanian immigrant to the U.S. and later joined the Church. The paper helped me appreciate the difficulties of the early missionary couples, the first members in the country, and the first young missionaries who were sent from the Austrian Mission and had to learn a new language. It also includes fascinating details of the two, harrowing missionary evacuations in '97 and '98. The first evacuation was by helicopter from the embassy compound to the aircraft carrier USS Nassau. I loved this excerpt in the thesis, from an article in The Boston Herald about that evacuation of U.S. citizens:

There are some things that you can always count on, even in the midst of anarchy and chaos in Albania. Like the neatness of Mormon missionaries. U.S. Navy Commander Gary Burchill, supply officer aboard the USS Nassau, helped take care of Albanian evacuees. He describes the people that came on the boat. "The first group included 60 or 70 Peace Corps workers. They were haggard and dirty, carrying backpacks. Then there were about five families with children, who were very distressed and tired. Then they brought in 30 to 40 freshly minted Mormon missionaries. It was the damndest thing. They were as brightly dressed and chipper as you would expect in your own neighborhood. They were wearing white shirts, ties, and pressed suits, like they were walking through downtown Arlington."