Typical Mission Week

The following is some of what happens on our mission here in Albania.  This is not everything but will give you a small sample.

This week in Albania it has been busy as usual.  Sunday we had a great Sacrament meeting and President Smith had interviews both before and after meeting.  We still have only two hours of meetings due to the Albanian members.  The meetings we skip is Sunday School we just do not have enough who say for Priesthood and Relief Society let alone a third hour.  The finances were done by Elder Buys and President Smith.  We then visited Branch families with the missionaries.  One family did not have a bath room and I have arraigned with a group who donate money to help and we went to see how the work was progressing.

Monday, Preparation Day, President Smith did the bank deposit with Brother Lusho the First Councilor.  The banks are not open on Sunday and they don’t use a drop box, mainly because the country only deals in cash.  The banking system in Albania would be very hard for you to imagine but just think of what it was like 50 years ago in the United States and you will be close.  We then did our shopping, cloths washing and hanging out to dry (no we do not have a cloths dryer), ironing cloths and cleaning the house.  President Smith also answered many emails and phone calls from Germany and around Albania.

Tuesday is our missionary district meeting at our house.  We have three sets of missionaries (two Elders and one Motras) and President and Motra Smith.  We then had English class and President Smith met with members of the branch.

Wednesday we went to the plazh to look for a place to hold a baptism and found a wonderful spot.  We then held our Young Single Adult Council.   Then we had institute, Brother Hodaj teaches and had we had seven young adults attend.   They and a few other young adults who came late played games for the next 2 plus hours.  It is so much fun watching them as they interact with each other doing uplifting things and not indulging in worldly activities.

Thursday we started the day with the Motras and the Smiths going to the orphanage to play with the children.  We do this every Thursday and it is just wonderful to play with the children and the little babies.  The hard thing to do each week is to leave with them crying to have us stay and continue to play.  President Smith then had the Vlorë Branch Presidency meeting and this was the best and most productive meeting since arriving in Albania.  More visits with Albanian branch families, phone calls and emails.

Friday was working with one of our young single adults who received his mission call to Albania.  His father will not let him serve in Albania due to the political unrest here in Albania.  This young adult was picked up by the police and taken in for questioning for twelve hours and then let go without any charges being filed.  What he told us was that they just wanted him to stop working for one of the political parties and come to work for them.   This is one of the reasons why his father does not want him to serve in Albania.  This problem has now went to the Area Presidency (Gérald Caussé) to help resolve.  We are praying that he will be able to be transferred into another mission and be able to serve.  We then had English class.

Saturday we worked out some Branch business with the Mission President (Neil) and the District President (Kashari).  The older investigator who was scheduled for baptism became ill and we had to postpone his baptism for another day.  The young single adults have Family Home Evening on Saturday night and this one was a cultural night like the others we have done from countries around the world.  Our Albanian young single adults wanted to do one on their country and it went well with everyone participating, eating and playing games from Albania.  We then had one of the Senior Couples (Staceys) from Tirana come down to Vlore.  They were scheduled to speak in the Vlore Sacrament meeting.  We went out to eat at the Sunset Restaurant and had a good time.

Sunday our Sacrament meeting speakers were a young man from the Deacons Quorum (Aldo Ruçaj) (The Holy Ghost) spoke then the first councilor from the Stake Young Womens Presidency (Dress and Modesty) and then the Staceys (Making Spiritual Decisions).  It was a spiritual uplifting meeting.  President Smith has been trying to get an Elders Quorum President called for a year and the District President Kashari came down from Tirana and called a new Elders Quorum President (Rrokaj).  This will make it much easier to call an Albanian to be the Branch President, hopefully before the Smith leave the mission.