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

Finding Zone Conference

Actually, Zone Conference was never lost, but the theme for our conference this time was "Finding by the Spirit." It's the second step in our climb to Korab that Marty detailed a few posts back. Various missionaries gave creative examples of ways to find investigators, many of which were developed themselves. For example the Shupe's, our Outreach couple, have been teaching English to large groups and their course is called "Better Than English" because it incorporates teaching about the gospel in many of the lessons. They teach members of the class to pray in English and by the third lesson some of the members of the class are saying the opening and closing prayers. Several progressing investigators have come from the classes.

The Zone Leaders, Elders Maddox and Hamilton, wrote a 12-lesson Bible study course that they're going to teach. Other elders spoke of the Stop Smoking program that they taught with great success. Sisters Slack and Waldron planned and held a musical fireside for investigators and new members that was lovely. We learned about movie nights using LDS videos (the few we have translated), Family Home Evenings, improved street boards, musical contacting, and ended the afternoon by showing a partial video the Assistants are developing of Albanian saints bearing their testimonies set to music. Our hope is to post the video on YouTube.com so we can tell contacts about it, as the Albanian people love the internet. The missionaries loved the video and are excited about the new ideas.

My assignment was to speak about the Emergency Action Plan for our mission and pass out revised Emergency Information Cards. (Did I tell you how proficient I have become on the laminating machine?!) All missions are required to have plans for any sort of emergency. Albanian missionaries have been evacuated twice, in 1997 and again in 1998, due to civil unrest so having a plan is essential. Later during the training I also spoke about baptismal services and the opportunity for investigators to feel the Spirit at a well-planned and reverent service. We have a new Yamaha Clavinova (electronic piano) in the chapel in Tirana where we hold our baptisms and I'm hoping to encourage better use of music in our services. I'm very excited about the new piano as the keyboards in Albania are in really bad condition.

He Loves Me

Whooee! Seven bags of marshmallows--made in the U.S. marshmallows! Marty brought 'em home from Germany in his suitcase, along with five pounds of powdered sugar, 10 lb. superfine sugar, and other goodies for me. His carry-on bag weighed 20 kg! What am I going to do with seven bags of marshmallows? What else--make lots and lots of Rice Krispie Treats for Zone Conference lunch dessert. Should make 50 missionaries verrry happy!

Code Regulations Needed

Frying dozens of pork chops Monday evening and patting myself on the back for my early preparation for Zone Conference, the electric cooktop and oven stopped working. I didn't realize it at first, just eventually noticed that the chops were not sizzling like they should. I checked the breakers to see if I had tripped one, but they were fine. I hurried and gathered up my meat and cooking supplies and finished the frying and baking upstairs in the Newhouse' apt. and got the food in my freezer for heating up next week. Today is Wednesday and the electricians have been here for a few hours. They discovered a severely burned plug and melted outlet when they pulled out the oven. Apparently when the oven was installed years ago, the workman cut corners, as the oven should have been wired into the system, not just plugged in. I'm very grateful for concrete walls, as this burn-out and another we had a month ago in the laundry/bathroom could have easily started a fire in a wood-frame house. The electricians completely re-wired the oven, and put the washer and dryer on their own circuit, so I can now do my laundry and run the heaters in the apt. at the same time! On to baking the cinnamon rolls now. Marty's gone to Germany to a Mission President's Seminar. He'll be back Sunday. The MP wives weren't invited this time. OK with me--it's cold there! As he left a day early because of flight schedules, I told him to look around the shops in Friedricksdorf and see what he can bring back in his luggage that we can't get here! Do they have marshmallows in Germany?

The Korab Project

The mission has embarked on a multi-year initiative with the overall goal of being ready to form a Stake in the country by the end of 2011. We're calling it "Project Korab". Korab is the highest mountain in Albania, and is on the border with Macedonia, due east and a little north of Tirana. The metaphor is that the faith, endurance, planning, and courage to climb a mountain is exactly what is needed to establish the first stake in the Balkans here in Albania. There is much to accomplish if we're to do this before the end of 2011!! We launched Korab at the last Zone Conferences, following meetings with all the District Leaders and others in creating a vision of the future: church owned buildings in Tirana; faithful members who take and magnify callings; better member/missionary teamwork; more focus on working with members to retain and reactivate; sending out 10 missionaries every year from Albania; and helping our young people find jobs that pay enough to enable marriage and the formation of families.

The missionaries are committing to teach-to-find, teach-to-teach, 3 lessons per week, daily contacting, baptismal calendars, progress records, and a minimum of 1 hour per day teach-to-find tracting, 1 hour per day of teach-to-find street contacting, and 1 hour per day of reactivation work. Since we're averaging about 18 lessons per week per companionship, fitting in more finding activity will be a challenge for them, but they're excited to do it. We've shared the Korab Project with the District Presidency, all the branch presidents, and now with all the members as we're going about doing branch conferences. It's very exciting! (I'm trying to see if actually climbing Korab is something that we could do---perhaps a few districts at a time....) Marty