The Old Year Passes

Christmas in the mission is always a busy season. Here, in pictures, are some of the activities of the month.

Tirana Womens International Group (TWIG) holds a charity bazaar early in December, and as last year, I made 40 ginger boy and girl cookies (with candy canes hooked in their arm) and 30 Christmas tree sugar cookies. The price went up to $3 (300 Lek) from $2 last year, and still they sold out in a hurry.

Sister Lindita Grimci, our District's PR Representative, arranged to have Marty interviewed by a radio station reporter just before Christmas. He was joined by Marjeta Ljarja, a famous Albanian actress, and member of the Church. The reporter asked Marty why we felt our church was important to the Albanian people, what a typical missionary day was like, and many questions about what we believe. Elder Swenson, one of the Assistants, translated. Sister Ljarja bore her testimony and quoted President Howard W. Hunter about Christmas. She is a wonderful missionary for the Church. We never did find out what station it was, but their intent was to play Mormon Tabernacle Choir music all Christmas morning, along with the interview.

With the reporter and Sister Ljarja

A television station decided they wanted an interview, also, so Marty assigned the Assistants to go to the studio and they were taped live on Christmas Day.

The district held a Christmas Concert at the National Museum in Tirana. Every branch participated with singing, skits, or stories. This is Motra Kashari directing the Tirana choir. There are men in the choir, but they are off to the left, out of the picture. The concert was two and a half hours long, and ended with fireworks as sparklers were handed out to singers and children on the stage as everyone sang "Joy to the World!" I was afraid a toddler's hair or clothing would catch fire, but all ended splendidly, and everyone was well-satisfied with the performances.

We had a missionary choir that sang "Peace, Peace," a lovely two-part song that partners at the end with "Silent Night." Four elders sang a rousing rendition of "Child of God." A couple of children joined us on stage.

We hosted the first and third districts of missionaries for Christmas Brunch, and invited the Wilsons, our humanitarian aid couple who lived upstairs from us. We had freshly-squeezed orange juice, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, muffins, etc., and then we had a White Elephant Gift exchange. We had to rush in order to attend the baptisms of two sisters--making the day into what the missionaries call a White Christmas!

Five wonderful missionaries went home to the United States and into the arms of their parents. L. to R., Elders Atkin Smedley, Nick Hagen, Jason Fisher, Nathan Hixson, and Sister Chelsea Hiland. We take returning missionaries to the Monument, where we took them at the beginning of their missions. This is the spot where Elder Oaks dedicated Albania for the preaching of the Gospel in 1993.

The turkey market at the Stephan Center circle. Turkey is the main dish of the big New Year's Day feast, and only the men come to haggle over the live turkeys. We see thousands of turkeys being fattened and herded throughout the countryside in the months leading up to the New Year holiday. Men grab the turkeys by the legs and throw them in the trunks of cars, or ride them home on bicycles, to a certain grisly fate. I prefer to purchase mine already packaged in cellophane.

The missionaries look forward for weeks to seeing the fireworks on New Year's Eve. Fireworks are legal for everyone, and all join in, shooting off their stash from rooftops and balconies throughout Albania. Young boys set off firecrackers for days before, finding the alleys between tall apartment buildings where the noise will be greatest. The Big Show begins warming up at 11:30, hitting a peak a few minutes after midnight, and tapering off at 12:30. I don't imagine I'll ever see anything like it again. Then for several nights afterwards, you'll see and hear fireworks. This country is crazy for them.

We welcomed two new missionaries on Wednesday, January 5: Elder Trason Carver, and Sister Kaitlin Hoxsie.
You may remember this picture I posted months ago, of Elder Dane Abley with pizza boxes (from lunches he had eaten), stacked high to the ceiling. Not to be outdone, Sister Hall, who spent 9 months in Vlora, sent me this picture taken before her transfer to Tirana. She and her companions have obviously been "nuts" about Nutella!

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.

Festive Feast!

The missionaries all came together on Thursday for our first zone conference in three months, and to have a Thanksgiving feast and movie--something that has been our tradition since we arrived in 2008. They all look forward to the day, and wonder what movie will be shown. Previous years we have watched "Remember the Titans" and "UP!". This year's selection was "Toy Story 3" which was released on DVD just a week or two before Thanksgiving.

We were not able to get frozen turkeys from the U.S. Embassy this year as we currently do not have a member of the church stationed there, and I was not about to purchase live turkeys at the outdoor markets--although I know a few missionaries who would have been willing to handle the slaughtering duties. Marty and I had lunch at the Stephen's Center Cafe two weeks ago and noticed they were advertising a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day. We asked the manager where he was getting the turkeys, and he said they had been ordered from Conad, the Italian supermarket. We called the number he gave us, and the meat buyer said there were three turkeys left. We reserved two of them--33 lb. each from Italy. Too big for my oven, the turkeys had to be cut in parts by the butcher.

My sister Virginia generously sent me the other fixin's I needed from the states, so we were able to cook and bake up a wonderful, traditional Thanksgiving Feast for 50 people. The Wilsons, Humanitarian Aide Missionaries who live upstairs from us, helped out considerably, as did the Prestons and Smiths, our other couples.

I have only one oven, so we had to utilize the two ovens in the apts. upstairs. Even so, we didn't have enough space to keep everything warm at once, so I baked up the stuffing/dressing and placed the hot pans surrounded by a towel in a large cooler. It kept the dishes really hot! Having all the ovens going at once overloaded the electrical system upstairs, and those two ovens and stoves went out for the last 45 minutes. Fortunately, the mashed potatoes were done and warming in a large electric roaster in the basement, and Sister Wilson was able to use the small basement oven to toast the marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole.

The office elders and Assistants set up the tables and chairs, the Tirana sister missionaries decorated the room and tables, and all the missionaries supplied the desserts. As part of the decorations, the sisters made a really cute turkey pinata. The desserts were excellent this year. One companionship went to a member's home and made four pies!

After dinner we watched the movie which had been purchased from iTunes and downloaded to my computer. We showed it using a multi-media projector. We had recently purchased some nice speakers for my computer, and they sounded great!

I was too busy to take photos, but if I am able to get some from a missionary, I'll post them. It was a grand event! Unfortunately, our mission photo (above) came out blurry.

Despite being very occupied with food preparation, I found time to spend several hours on three days last week at the new Hygeia Hospital where I saw an orthopedic surgeon and had an MRI on my left foot which is still inflamed and painful for walking, even though the injury was two months ago. The MRI machine quit halfway through the test on Monday so I had to come back Tuesday to finish it. Then I went back Wednesday to get the results. Marty was a sweetie and drove me there and waited during the very long tests. The MRI showed that there were no fractures, only lots of inflammation, but the CD digital files have been sent to a doctor in Salt Lake for final diagnosis. The doctor I saw in Tirana said that I must go on crutches and stay off the foot for at least two weeks. Because of pain and swelling, the only shoes that fit me are a pair of men's athletic shoes we purchased. Very stylish with my skirts!

After the MRI quit on Monday afternoon, we decided to go out to the CityPark Mall to purchase some groceries at the Mercator Store. It had been raining heavily, and when we came out of the mall, we found a completely flooded parking lot. Security men were directing people to move their cars to dry ground on the other side of the mall. Marty took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants, and waded out into the foot-high water to rescue the car. Because it was the river that overflowed into the lot, and because Albania doesn't have sewage treatment yet, he was not really excited about the wading, but he got the car, picked me and the groceries up from the sidewalk, and we went on our way. Ten minutes later, we arrived at a traffic jam on the overpass that leads into town. This is a common experience so we didn't think too much of it, until fifteen or twenty minutes later when traffic hadn't budged. Marty said to me, "Well, honey, there's nobody else I'd rather be stuck with!" Was that a compliment? Three hours later (it should have been a 20 minute drive), we finally arrived at home. Marty didn't waste any time hopping into the shower. The next day we read that this had been the worst traffic jam ever in Tirana. All the city streets had been horribly flooded and congested, and officials attributed it to the extreme weather and multiple road construction projects. The city is rebuilding the center plaza and has permanently closed off some of the big circle road around it. This has made a mess of traffic--even in good weather. We wonder about the wisdom of this project. It will be a grand plaza, but will also be a grand traffic mess.

Motra Hanci

The Church News published an article about Sister Topalli Hanci (pronounced Hantsee), written by one of our former missionaries, Brooke Larson who returned home in April. After hearing of Sister Hanci's conversion and faithfulness, we knew it would make a good feature article for the Church News, and knowing Sister Larson's writing abilities, Marty asked if she would interview Sister Hanci and write up an article for submission. It was finally published this week. Click on the underlined words to find the link.

Dresden, Germany

The morning view from our hotel!

We were in Dresden Germany from Oct. 18-23 for our final annual Mission President's Seminar and had an inspiring four days of instruction and fellowship with other mission presidents and wives. Elder Kevin Pearson, from the 1st Quorum of Seventy, was there to instruct us for one entire day. He spoke extensively of the Doctrine of Christ (from 2 Nephi 31) and other topics to help us teach our missionaries. Throughout the week, Elder Kopishke, our Area President, spoke about the church in East Germany when it was behind the "iron curtain." He told wonderful stories of President Monson's visits there and the blessings that were pronounced when as an apostle, he dedicated the land. On Thursday afternoon we took a bus ride out to the hill where the dedication took place and we gathered in close together under umbrellas and read the dedicatory prayer. Elder Manfred Schütze, the Area Seventy for Germany, told us many stories about the saints during that time as he served as a Stake President in East Germany for many years. He said it was difficult for the members who were living in very difficult conditions, to believe that the blessings promised in that prayer would ever come to pass. But all of the promised blessings have been fulfilled, and the Freiberg Temple was built even before the Berlin Wall and communism fell!

There was a joke among the saints at that time that if a woman left her purse on a church bench, it would still be there the next week. But if a person left his scriptures, they would be gone. Scriptures were next to impossible to obtain, and an older person might even be asked that if they died, they would get his or her scriptures.

Dresden was bombed at the end of World War II, and the old town is being reconstructed. The famous Lutheran Frauenkirche is beautifully rebuilt. The black stones in the walls are some of the original stones that were blackened by the fire bombing.

The Dresden Frauenkirche, (Church of Our Lady)

and the statue of Martin Luther that survived the 1945 bombing.

The Class of 2008, Europe Area

Top to bottom and l to r: Sally and Larry Anderson, Sweden Stockholm Mission;

David and Susan Brown, Finland Helsinki; Liz and Marty Neil, Albania Tirana;

David and Dana Hill, Slovenia/Croatia; Lisa & Kevin Ninow (partially hidden), Germany Frankfurt; (in front of the Ninows) David and Kathleen Bullock, England Manchester;

Front l to r: Don & Cynthia Staheli, France Paris; Linda & Robert Condie, Alpine German-Speaking;

Laurie and James Lundberg, Romania Bucharest.

Missing, because they had to leave earlier, were Michel and Danielle Carter, France Toulouse; and Joselito and Mafalda Neves, Cape Verde Praia Mission.

We arrived the evening before the Tuesday 3 PM start of the conference, so were able to walk around the Old Town and eat at McDonald's, which was quite a treat for us. Two Filet o' Fish Meals! Never thought I'd be happy to see a McDonald's! Our plane left the morning after everyone else's flights, so we had all of Friday afternoon to walk around and shop. I found Yankee Candles in a Body Shop, we had Starbuck's Hot Chocolate and a doughnut, purchased two suit jackets for me, and picked up a Dresden Christmas ornament.

Our new Chevrolet Captiva--a compact SUV. We are grateful to have a sturdier car for Albania's rough roads.