This weekend was a record weekend for baptisms. We held four services for seven persons in Tirana, and the really terrific thing is that there were two families baptized! We have 25 baptismal dates through the 9th of October. Of course, it's not really about the numbers, but about the happiness and joy of those new members who have taken upon themselves the gospel of Jesus Christ and His church. We rejoice with them! Urime to Elona, Sonja, Erodita, Bona, Xhesi, Sara, and Maksim. Maksim's wife will be taking the lessons now.
Little Sara bore her testimony in Albanian--no easy task for her, since she was born in the United States where her family spent ten years before returning to Albania. Now she's having to learn the language of her mother and father. I was astonished when I heard her speaking English with the sisters.
Last week we took the office missionaries and the assistants to the Rogner Hotel for a nice lunch, to thank them for their outstanding service. L.to R.: Elder Smith (Office), Elder Foulk (Asst.), Elder Klein (Office), me and the Prez, and Elder Swenson (Asst.) Elder Klein has served six months in the office and will be leaving us the first week in Oct. when we have transfers, and Elder Foulk is returning home after serving his two-year mission. The Rogner is, perhaps, the nicest place to dine in Tirana. Definitely the nicest hotel! The missionaries don't like to think that they'll have to spend six months of their missions in the office, but they do find that it has it perks, not the least of which are my cookies/cinnamon rolls and occasional meals, and the same from the Wilson's who live upstairs and do their part to keep the office elders happy. The office elders also have a car to drive, something no other missionaries in our mission currently have, as the four couples have the four cars other than our office van.
SEVENTH flat tire! Monday, September 6, we were headed away from the mission home to Durrës to spend FHE at the YSA Conference. The traffic was very bad, and we were stopped less than three blocks from home. When we started moving again, we heard a terrible noise and Marty pulled over to investigate. He found the left rear tire completely flat. We looked up to see a man motioning for us to pull slightly forward into his shop area. We had discovered the flat right in front of a Gomisteri--a tire shop! The tire was shredded and unfixable, so he sold us a reconditioned tire, installed it, filled the other tires with air, and we were back on our way in 20 minutes. We were so grateful that we were not out on the main highway when it happened! As my sister Charlotte said, there were "angels on board!"
The good news is that we've been approved (after Marty's very fine appeal) for an SUV, a Chevy Captiva, which we hope will be a sturdier vehicle for the tough roads in Albania. Once you're off the main roads in Tirana or other cities, the roads are unpaved and rough. The extra road clearance of the Captiva will be good, and we hope we'll have fewer flats, too.
