Two Humanitarian Aid Projects

Monday, March 2, we visited a preschool for Roma (gypsy) children. This is a picture of RuthLynne Snow, who is almost overwhelmed by children as they rush in to see their pictures on her digital camera. The Snow's, our Humanitarian Aid missionaries, arranged to have tables, chairs, teacher tables and cupboards, blackboards, balls, toys, and a stove and refrigerator donated to the school from our church. The chairs and tables were built by Roma people who donated their time. The teachers waited until Marty came so he could plug in the stove and refrigerator. Ilir, one of the directors at the school is a Roma who grew up on the streets of Tirana begging. A Christian organization taught him Albanian and English, gave him discipline and an education, and helped him lift himself into a better life. Now he gives back by helping with this little school. He told us that we do not help his ethnic group when we give money to them when they beg on the streets. (We've told our missionaries that they should not give, as they'll get followed home and pestered for more. Wearing a missionary tag makes you pretty identifiable.) When the little children, dirty, ragged, hungry, and wearing shoes five times their size come up to your car window with their big, beautiful brown eyes, it breaks your heart and it's difficult not to give. This preschool takes 50 children off the streets, cleans them up, teaches them the Albanian language so they can get into public schools (the Roma have their own language), and feeds them two good meals a day. The Roma are discriminated against so the odds against them getting into school and staying are very low.

Last month Marty went with the Snow's to Vlora, our southern-most city where we have missionaries. He was there for the installation of blood analyzer machines in the major hospital there. This hospital serves an area of 200,000 people and did not even have a blood analyzer, so this was a most welcome donation.

By the way, if you click on a word in a blog post that is underlined, you will be directed to a new link with more information about that subject--if you're interested. This article on the Roma is fascinating. We have thousands living in the southern United States.

"YMCA?" Not!

This is not a picture of me trying to sing and dance "YMCA"! Unfortunately, I have developed frozen shoulder syndrome, and this is as far as I can lift my left arm as compared to my right arm. I've had a lot of pain and lack of range of motion the last month, and after seeing the "best orthopedic man" in Albania, and consulting with our mission doctor in Germany and an orthopedist in Salt Lake City, they've decided this is what I've got. This is one of the diagnostic pictures I sent Dr. Larson in Salt Lake. I hope to work through this with stretching exercises three times a day, heat packs preceding, and ice packs afterward. Should take three or more months to work it out. I hope to be able to do this on my own without having to go home for surgery. Cortisone shots in Albania are not an option, and there is no such thing as arthroscopic surgery here. Medical care in Albania is many years behind the U.S.--one of the legacies of a mad communist dictator who closed off his country from the rest of the world so his people wouldn't know how bad their lives were.

Macaroni and Cheese

Yesterday for Mission Council lunch I made two big casserole dishes of macaroni and cheese with REAL Cheddar--a rare find here in Tirana. The EuroMax Supermarket had several big 3 kilo blocks of cheddar, so we bought a whole block. Mac and cheese for lunch yesterday, taco salad with real cheddar for zone conference next week. Little pleasures for our hard-working missionaries.

It All Depends on What "Crisis" Means

I picked up these two English language newspapers on the same day. Guess which one is friendly toward Prime Minister Berisha's government?

Elder DeCelle

After extending his mission by six weeks (the longest a missionary can extend), Elder DeCelle left us this week to go home to Kansas City.  We will miss him, and are grateful to him as he helped us keep an even number of elders.  Now we have a group of three elders in the city of Fier.  After April transfers, we'll be back to an even number.  

We never appreciated before we came here, how difficult it must be for the Missionary Department to send out missionaries to the various missions of the world.  We see how inspiration is key in that process.  If a missionary has to go home early for health reasons, it can leave the mission with a "hole" and the missionaries aren't really keen to work in groups of three.  Apparently there are fewer couples going on missions now also, probably due to the downturn in the economy and people retiring at an older age.  We haven't heard yet if we have a couple coming to replace Ron and Judy Newhouse, who are our excellent office couple leaving in May, and we're worried about it.  Any takers?  You get to see a corner of world seldom seen by westerners, and participate in the most rewarding work you'll ever do!  

District Conference

This weekend was a whirlwind of meetings with our visitors, Elder and Sister Weidman from Bern, Switzerland. Elder Weidman is an Area Seventy and was assigned to Albania for this conference. After picking them up at the airport, we whisked them home to Tirana to three different meetings, finally arriving home around 8:30 p.m. for a quick meal--our first since breakfast. Our Sunday meetings were held at the Durrës chapel, in two different sessions. There were 520 attendees, including 80 members who had been baptized in the last year. They had been invited to a special meeting with Elder Weidman after the two different sessions. We arrived home at 5:00 and wolfed down a roast beef meal that I had partly prepared on Friday and Sister Newhouse had finished for me as the Newhouse' arrived home before we did. Then we were off to a fireside with the Young Single Adults. Whew! The Weidman's left on Monday at noon, so we had time in the morning to have breakfast at the "American Cafe," a cafe run by some American evangelical missionaries, and a visit to the monument where Pres. Oaks dedicated the mission.

A Day to Remember

Have to quickly write before I forget the feelings. We drove to Vlorë today to attend church, an almost six-hour round trip from home. The little chapel began filling and filling until almost every seat was occupied. There were 54 people in attendance--a new record for the little branch. It was Fast Sunday, first Sunday of the month, and the day we skip some meals, and contribute what those meals would have cost to help those in our congregations who are in need. Then in the worship service, members voluntarily speak of their feelings about the gospel of Jesus Christ, or "bear their testimony." The meeting simply flowed past as so many wanted to speak, especially the young people, and there was a strong spirit in the room. The four missionaries and the Chatfield's, the missionary couple who reside in Vlorë, are so excited to see the growth of their their branch and they are so filled with love for the members they serve. On the way back home we stopped in Fier to deliver two wheelchairs that the Snow's have arranged to be donated, and then arrived back in Tirana twenty minutes before the first of two absolutely packed baptismal services this evening. Each service was for three new converts. There were two more people from Shkodër being baptized, and that branch has almost outgrown it's little rented room. One woman from Tirana getting baptized was a young wife whose husband joined a few months ago and he was just beaming to be able to baptize her.

The new Yamaha electronic piano in the Tirana 2nd Branch is a huge improvement over the old keyboard. I happily played for both baptisms and started prelude music fifteen minutes before the meeting so people could settle down and experience the peace and quiet that invites the Spirit. I am sooo excited about the new instrument.

We are blessed to be here and witness the blessings that the Lord is pouring down on His people of Albania. -Liz