Last Sunday Glen and I were to assigned to speak in Elbasan. To get to Elbasan from Tirana we have to drive over the mountain. It winds back and forth all the way up and down. Of course in Albania there is not much to protect you from going over the edge and it is a sheer drop-off. Riding on the passenger side, I can hardly stand to look down. The road is very narrow and cars travel at top speed going around the bends. Glen went to pass a truck when a dog darted out in front of us. He slammed on the brakes and the dog ran back which was a good thing because we couldn't get back to the right side of the road, we had to go forward to pass the truck. We made it without having a head-on, but it was scary. Of course, Glen thrives on roads like this. It was much, much worse than driving on the road to Hana. I never thought I would be excited to be back on the roads in Tirana, but I was that day. My heart started beating normally again. On our way home, Glen stopped to take a picture of the valley below and met a women from Bulgaria. She saw his name tag and of course a conversation ensued. As he was explaining about our church, and living prophets again on the earth, she wanted to know if they had been reborn. Glen said no, then she asked how we knew he was a real prophet. Unfortunately we didn't have any pass along cards with us, but as Glen was looking through his scriptures for a card, she got excited thinking they had gold on them. Anyway she and her husband drove off, but we hope someday they will see the missionaries and talk to them.
We were asked to speak on the topics forgiveness and choose not to be offended. Albanians get very offended and need this talk every week. There is a branch is Fier which used to be the strongest branch is Albania. The RS Pres. and YW Pres. got into an argument and the branch took sides. Then a new branch president was called, but because he was missing part of his arm, the members decided he wasn't whole, so he couldn't be called of God to preside over the branch. An apostacy took place and the branch went inactive. There are only between five and 15 members that are active or semi-active to this day. They even had a piece of property to build a chapel on. So sad. I took my thoughts from Elder Bednar's conference talk in 2006 where he addressed this very subject. It is hard to understand how people can be willing to give up their eternal salvation for such little things.
Yesterday we met our new mission president. Both he and his wife are wonderful. They are like a breath of fresh air. Elder Ford was an Area Authority, lives in England and has a law practice. They are only in their fifties, which makes us feel really old, but they are very sharp and fun. They both have a great sense of humor and are going to be a real blessing to this mission. They met with our zone yesterday, and today met with the outer zone. The missionaries were a little apprehensive at changing mission presidents, but I think they are very pleased with the Fords. We lose 13 missionaries on the 12th of July. This is a big group and most of our leadership, so the others will have to work very hard to fill in the blanks. Pres. Ford is actually going to interview the couples, so we are really looking forward to our interview.
Since our last post where we were told we could not have a new center, things have changed. Now we are to try and find someplace, not very expensive, that could be used as a center. So we are looking again. It seems two other places in Europe need a stand alone center, and if they are looking at doing it for them, then they will have to do it for us also. Kind of sad, if you ask me, but we will take what we can get. This has been a very frustrating four months for us. We feel we have been hitting brick walls everywhere we go. We can understand why couples struggle with going on missions. We don't expect things to be perfect, nothing is, but we do expect a little cooperation with meeting our needs. There are so many different departments in the Church, and so much protection over each department, they have forgotten how to work together for the common good of the Church. We are all members and we all want to see the gospel move forward, that means we all need to work together for this to happen. Someone forgot to tell that to Germany. Anyway, we are pleased with their decision and now need to find the right place.
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