Sunday in Elbasan

We had a wonderful day in Elbasan this Sunday...Liz and I were the featured speakers, but it was really Liz that everyone came to hear (we had attendance of 70, which is the highest this year!). Liz did a talk on the inspiring music of Christmas, and passed out short Christmas song sheets that she had made (and had stitched together using her sewing machine...couldn't find a long reach stapler!!). So she'd talk a little about the song, and then we'd sing a few verses. There aren't many Christmas carols translated into Albanian, and even those can be very difficult to sing (something about "prosody"). Then for the finale, she talked about Silent Night (the carol that all the members know well), and then she led the congregation in singing it, and she sang the first verse in English, and accompanied herself on guitar. It was wonderful. After Sacrament meeting, many members came up and said that it was something they'd never forget. And one young woman came up to me and said in English--"You have a beautiful woman!" (I said, "I know".)

After Sacrament, the primary was practicing a song for their branch Christmas program...you'll see about 20 kids in this picture, but only 3 of them are members. The rest are neighborhood kids, and they've been attending primary for many months, ever since the building opened. They can sometimes be a handful, but they love the primary!! -Marty

Brrrrr!

After a month of drenching rains and terrible flooding in the north around Shkodra, the weather has turned freezing cold and we've had snow twice this week. Not enough to stay on the ground for long, but as I write at 9:30AM, the snowflakes are large and coming down steadily. We may get enough to build a snowman today! Well, someone else can build the snowman and I'll watch from my window.
Down the street there are some rooftop squatters, who surround their small room with plastic. It's a difficult life for many Albanians. Unemployment is very high and salaries, for those fortunate enough to work, are very low. Apartment leases are beyond the reach of many.

Across the street from the mission home, our friend Hassan stands from 7AM to 9PM in his small, unheated shop, dressed in only a parka with a hood, but no gloves. Perhaps they impede his work. I took him some of my disposable hand warmers this morning and he was happy to get them! He gets a few hours of break at lunch when someone else comes to run the shop.

10 in White

This is only one of several baptisms we've had recently, but it was especially notable because it was a mother and her four children.--the Lami family in the 4th Branch. The missionaries who had taught the family and were asked to help with the baptisms were Elders Johnson, Seevers, Frederickson, Miller, and Moyes.

In other news: Albania has had a long month of heavy rains, with only a few dry days. The hydropower dams became overloaded and water had to be released, causing the already full rivers to overflow. Low-lying agricultural areas and villages are flooded, and parts of many cities are also covered with water. When a quarter of the northern city of Shkodra became covered in water, we decided to evacuate the four elders to Tirana. They were able to take a furgon (private van) to Tirana, which took a long and bumpy alternate route that was still navigable. The national highway is flooded. The weather report shows four days of sunshine before the rains begin again.