Driving in Albania

Now that I've gotten up my nerve to drive in Albania, I thought you might like to know what it's like.

• We drive a Volkswagen Sharan Minivan (not sold in the U.S.) in a country where the automobile of choice is a Mercedes. (Click on underlined words to read more about it. This is interesting!)

• The top speed limit is 80 kilometers--about 50 miles per hour.

• There are sudden speed limit reductions to 40 kilometers, usually near gas stations or small towns, and policemen with radar are always lurking there.

• When we are stopped for speeding, the police recognize we are Americans. They salute, shake hands, and send us on our way, sometimes motioning for us to reduce speed. Some smile and say "Obama!" or "Bush!" and give a thumbs up sign.

• Except for the main highway, roads are poorly maintained, often unpaved. Guardrails? What are those?

• You have to watch for missing manhole covers and drainage grates that are stolen for scrap metal redemption and take months to get replaced, if ever. Missionaries have walked into these in the dark, narrowly escaping serious injury.

• There are no "bump-outs" for left turns, so people going straight get stuck behind a left turn red light, then try to muscle their way into the lane to the right.

• Apparently it's o.k. to turn left or right from any lane!

• When the electricity goes out in a section of Tirana, so do the street lights. Policemen could use a lesson from the Americans on how to direct traffic.

• Young Albanian male drivers do not like to be behind a line at a stop light. They weave left into the lane of oncoming traffic and make their way to the front of the line and go through the red light. Or they pass on the right.

• The driver in the next lane does not understand the concept of his blind spot. Do not drive in it!

• Drivers see a friend walking on the street, and stop mid-street to visit with them. Apparently, you can double park and leave your makinë (car) in the street to go into a shop.

• Normally friendly, helpful, happy Albanian people become maniacal when behind the wheel of a car. So do some Americans I know--intimately.

• Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Pedestrians do not use crosswalks. Pedestrians do not watch street lights. Family and friends hold hands and cross together, thinking there is safety in numbers.

• Large intersections are free-for-all traffic circles. Beware!

• This is Europe. All cars use diesel, and most cars have not recently had their smog check. ;-)

July Zone Conferences

We held two terrific zone conferences this week. The groups seemed small, as we now have 38 missionaries and only two couples. The topic was "Attributes of Christ," Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. My talk was about pioneers and the attributes they exhibited in making their incredible sacrifices, and I showed clips from "Trail of Hope," and a You Tube clip of President Hinckley speaking about the three men who lifted and carried the weakened handcart saints across the freezing Sweetwater River. I also spoke about my pioneer ancestors. Marty's subjects were "Obedience" and a clarification of mission rules, and in the second half, "How to Develop Attributes of Christ." We had previously visited Brother Vogli's workshop and obtained a small block of marble. Marty used our sculpture of Christ and told how Brother Vogli works it into the finished product, softening it first with water. He likened that to the Spirit working on our hearts, softening them so we are open to change.

I cooked for the inside zone--taco salad, with Rudi's ice cream and homemade hot fudge for dessert. The outside zone ate pizza, but did get my cinnamon rolls for snack, and Sister Snow's handcart brownie dessert. That consisted of a square brownie, with mini round cookies for wheels, a thin breadstick for a handle, topped with a scoop of ice cream and fudge sauce. Creative!

Aftermath of a Lunch

Mission Council lunch.  It was fajitas for 13.

Goings and Comings

This last week we said goodbye to 11 missionaries (Elders Wilde and Whittier left a week earlier). Pictured are Sisters Fronk, Langford, and Slack; and (back) Elders Hanson, Sewell, Mattox, Smith; and (front) Elders Humphries, Flora, Leonard, and Hunt. This picture is taken at the Monument to the Martyrs overlooking Tirana.

At their goodbye dinner in our apartment, I told the elders they could take off their ties, and they lined them up on the sofa, which made a great picture. Albania imports a lot of ties from Italy, and the elders take great pride in their tie collections. They refuse to pay more than $10 for one. Even the President (Marty) is getting interested after receiving three new ties for Father's Day--chosen by Elder Turley and Elder Mattox, our two office elders. The orange striped tie on the left is his.
The new missionaries are Sister Bentley from Sandy, UT., and Elder Swenson from Alpine, UT. We're very excited to have them. We currently have only 38 missionaries, as missions are being "balanced" around the world and most European missions are losing missionaries.

We had just finished up training the new missionaries when Marty had to fly off to Cypress (via Vienna) to attend meetings with Elder Wondra and the new mission president of Greece. While he was gone I caught up on some mending and ironing, and spent Saturday morning with the Young Adults and missionaries at a retirement home in Tirana. I took my guitar and we sang a few fun songs as well as "I Am a Child of God" and "Count Your Many Blessings" in Shqip (Albanian). "Count Your Many Blessings" is a favorite with the Albanian saints, and we sing it often! Sister Bentley is pictured here with Jeffrey, an investigator, and two men of the retirement home. These two gentlemen were really getting into the music, clapping and singing along (the man in the blue shirt has no teeth), and the other was a musician (accordian) and singer. He sang for us and still has a terrific voice!

Also, for the first time in the year since we've been here, I braved the traffic and drove the van to a shopping center that is just outside Tirana. I think I can do this. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... I went to the shopping center for my first trip because it has a large underground parking lot. Parking on the streets of Tirana is very difficult and is what has kept me from behind the wheel--that and the crazy drivers in this country. I also deliberately went out at 3:00 when many people are off the streets for lunch and naps. My return trip was at 5:00 and the traffic was busier and the traffic circles were jammed with cars and trucks all trying to muscle their way into position for the desired exit. Scary!

One Year!

Marty and I have been here one year now! We arrived last year on Sunday, June 29. As they say, time flies when you're having fun!

When our visitors or missionaries fly home to the states, their flights are usually at 5 or 6 a.m. which means we have to arise between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. to get them to the airport in ample time for their international flights. In the last five days, we've made the early morning airport run three times.

Friday, June, 26, we took Sadush Malku, who was leaving for the Provo MTC before going to the Italy Milano mission, and Elder Vail, who sadly, had to leave to go home to Alpine, Utah because he was experiencing an eye problem that couldn't be treated here in Albania. Fortunately, Elder Vail and Elder Malku were able to travel together. We hope Elder Vail will recover and be able to be reassigned to finish the remaining six months of his mission in the states.

Saturday we took Emily, Peter, and their children to the airport to go home to San Diego.

This morning, we took Elders Wilde and Whittier to the airport as they left their missions one week ahead of their normal release date so each could attend family events.

Also today, we said a sad goodbye (another airport run--but this time at noon) to Elder and Sister Chatfield, who served an 18-month mission as a proselyting couple in Vlorë. Elder Chatfield was branch president in Vlorë, and also gave patriarchal blessings to English-speaking members throughout the country. The Chatfield's are returning home to the Boston area. We will greatly miss them. There are only two couples besides ourselves left in the mission.

Five Very Important Visitors

Emily, Peter, and their three children, Jack (7), Andrew (6), and Eliza (2 1/2--the 1/2 is important!) visited us for almost two weeks June 14-27. We had a wonderful time together and managed to fit in some great sight-seeing despite some unseasonable rainy weather. We took a day trip to Kruje, and another day trip up Mt. Dajti, taking the long gondola ride up, eating at a nice restaurant on the mountain, exploring, and kicking balls around the meadow.

We attend church in the little branch in Fier, where the children joined one other child for Primary. Then we continued on from Fier to Gjirokaster where, alas, we ended up having to spend the night in the Relax Hotel where in April, Marty and I had spent a sleepless night on a rock-hard bed listening to bar music all night. Marty found it ironic and funny. I was not amused, but our stay was a bit more "relaxing" this time. The bar closed earlier this time, but we were awakened at midnight by the most fantastic half-hour thunder and lightning show we have ever heard and seen, with the noise ricocheting off the slate roofs, streets, and mountainside of Gjirokaster. Amazingly, the children slept through the storm. In the morning, the boys (big and small) loved exploring the underground rooms of the huge fortress. Emily was amazed at the openness of the castle. Unlike any other castle in Europe, tourists are free to roam the ancient stone tunnels and rooms, which are not restored. There are WW I cannons and armaments in the main hall. We ran into 13 missionaries at the castle, who were on their two-day "senior" trip (they call it their "dying" trip that they earned by finished the progression program in a year's time.) After exiting the castle, we drove on to the site of the "blue eye", a deep natural spring and grove, and continued on to Saranda, a picturesque bayside town on the Ionian Sea. There we found a very nice hotel for the night and toured the ancient Roman ruins in Butrint the next day. The kids didn't swim on the Ionian but had a great time skipping rocks. The beaches in Saranda are gravel and rock.

The kids were real troupers throughout the long drive and were happy as long as the snacks kept coming.

On the 19th of June, Emily and Peter celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary by going off by themselves to a nice restaurant while we babysat.

Some other activities of the visit included a Family Home Evening with a young convert family; walks through town; ice cream at Rudi's; Peter going with the missionaries to contact (and finding three interested investigators); the movie "Night at the Museum 2" at the new Krystal Center Theater (in English, with Albanian sub-titles); a visit to the Monument to the Martyrs, where Elder Oaks dedicated Albania for preaching the gospel in 1993; game playing; trying out my new Wii Fit they brought as a birthday gift from all our children; more ice cream; Emily and Eliza having a dress and skirt for Greg's August wedding, custom-made for them by a seamstress in one of our branches; and drinking lots and lots of Ivi Orange and Lemon soda.

Eliza and I were best friends, and as her mom was packing to go home, she kept saying, "We have to leave. Grandma will be so sad. She will miss me!" Indeed I do.


Jack and Andrew loved visiting Hassan, a shopkeeper across the street who gave them free Snicker's, and all three children had their cheeks pinched and kissed many times by complete strangers. Here are Jack and Andrew keeping Marty company in his office.

Elder Christofferson's Visit

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, and his wife Kathy visited us from May 28-31. Our Area Seventy, Elder Wondra and his wife Ursula were also visiting. After their arrival in Tirana on Friday afternoon, we whisked them off to the U.S. Ambassador's office for a half-hour visit, then went to the opening of a Roma (gypsy) pre-school where the Snow's had arranged some LDS Humanitarian Services aid of kitchen appliances, desks, chairs, and supplies. It was a colorful cultural event! That evening we hosted a dinner at the Tirana Sheraton so Elder Christofferson could meet several people here in Albania who work on goverment religious committees, the diplomat Michael Gray, from the U.S. Embassy who deals with religious affairs, and our attorney here in Albania.



At the Roma school, Sister Christofferson was drawn into the traditional line dancing and we were treated to dancing by the Roma children.

I had been concerned that I had not purchased flowers for the conference meetings in Elbasan and Durres on Saturday and Sunday, but the Roma people gave us three large bouquets of flowers. Problem solved!

We left the mission home early Saturday morning for the exciting and beautiful drive to Elbasan where we held an all-mission conference in the brand new Elbasan chapel. This was the first all-mission conference we've held since we've arrived. It was thrilling to be all together and had a wonderful two-hour session. I arranged a small choir of missionaries who sang an arrangement of "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands" by David Naylor. Elder and Sister Christofferson loved the music and requested that they sing it again for our closing song.

After the mission conference, we sent the missionaries into the streets of Elbasan to find lunch and investigators, while we drove our guests to a Greek restaurant where we were the only diners and the owners rushed to serve us a delicious lunch. Then we returned to the chapel for two afternoon sessions with members of the district. At the end of the afternoon session, Elder Christofferson dedicated the new Elbasan chapel. We now have two church-owned chapels in Albania. The other is in the city of Durres. In Tirana where missionary work began in the early 90's, we still do not have a church-owned building. The four branches meet in three leased buildings. Back home that evening in Tirana, the Baird's (Marty's counselor and diplomat of military affairs at the U.S. Embassy) hosted a reception so the branch presidents and district presidency could meet and mingle with Elder Christofferson.



There were two sessions of conference in Durres on Sunday, and Elder Christofferson was the featured speaker at an evening meeting with the Young Single Adults in Tirana where he gave them an Apostolic Blessing. Throughout the conferences, Elder Christofferson was very generous with his time and shook every person's hand who wanted to meet him, and posed with several for pictures. The Albanian members were thrilled to have an apostle visit Albania. It has been five years since the visit of Elder Nelson.

Marty was able to arrange a meeting with the Albanian President, Bamir Topi, on Monday morning, and then we said goodbye to our guests. They took our personal mission van with a professional driver to Macedonia to visit with a few saints who live there, and after a night's stay, the Christofferson's headed back home to Salt Lake City, and the Wondra's to Vienna. Our van arrived back on Tuesday morning. We were also supposed to have gone with them to Macedonia in our larger mission van, but the clutch on that van burned out last week and was in the shop. We were so tired by Monday morning (I don't know how they kept up their busy schedule on this two-week tour!) that we were grateful to be staying behind.

We barely had time to catch our breath and then we held our two zone conferences Thursday and Friday. It was quite an exhilarating week!