June has come and gone and our heads are spinning from how fast it went. It was a very full month with the highlight being able to go to the Frankfurt Temple. The Church has a Temple Patron Fund which basically allows those attending for the first time in nations where temples are not easy to get to, to attend the temple free of charge. They make whatever contribution they can, and the fund covers the rest. This is a great blessing in the lives of struggling nations where attendance at a temple would be an impossibility otherwise. We took ten new endowees and five returns, plus two children. Nineteen in all including us. It was a wonderful experience and will be one of the highlights of our mission. Getting Albanians anywhere is always interesting, but taking them into airports, changing planes, and all that goes with it, was quite stress related. One sister, Prendë, just could not understand that her luggage would be with her when we landed in Frankfurt. She wanted to go back up in the plane and find her luggage. We had to physically pull her along so she wouldn't miss the connection. The Rome airport is a nightmare. We know the Lord was blessing us because we made it from point A to point B. There will be many stories to tell about this. The real blessings came at the Temple.
Many had prepared family names (thanks to Sister Volz) to take, and these were the main focus during the week. Tears came readily when they walked in the first time and saw the beauty of the temple. The temple workers were wonderful to our little group, and the Temple Presidency couldn't have been more patient and loving. Believe me it is always a worry when you take Albanians anywhere, they are a very different breed. But they were on their best behavior and except for a few mishaps, the week went well. Saturday we had a 2 1/2 sealing session with the temple president, where the family names were sealed. It was a very spiritual sealing and many were overcome with emotion.
The Asplunds, a couple over all the Centers in Europe, came and took us siteseeing Thursday. We played hooky (with permission), and it was a wonderful day. We ate ribs and real salad, saw the Rhine River with little villages along it, even shopped in one of the villages. The countryside was beautiful and it was a day to remember. We will be forever grateful to the Asplunds for their kindness that day and the whole time we have been on our mission. They have always encouraged us to find a new Center and have visited Albania four times, so we feel quite close to them.
Today is Fast Sunday and, as always, we have the missionaries in our district over for dinner. Today was a special occasion because one of the Elders (Anderson) will be leaving for home on Tuesday. We also had Elder Holmes (from Woodruff) who is also leaving Tuesday and his companion. That made eight elders to feed. They know how to eat. We had a 4th of July lunch with homemade ice cream and cookies after. They were all holding their stomachs and moaning. Why they eat so much, I don't know, but they do love home cooked meals.
We just had apartment inspections (which we do quarterly before transfers) and in one of the apartments I asked the elders what color their drapes were supposed to be. They said grey. I said I don't think so. We told them how to wash the curtains and hang them back up in case they felt the need to do so. At 10:00 p.m. that night we got a call, telling us "yep, we were right, the curtains were white". These elders are wonderful and we learn to love them. It is always hard because we lose so many, but there is always room to love those who come to us.
Time is going fast. First we wondered how we were going to fill our time, now we are wondering how we are going to get everything done we want to do. But that is how things go. We are still very grateful for the opportunities we are having and can feel the Lord's hand guiding us as we go. We are not enjoying the weather (today real feel 106), but we love those whom we serve and will have great memories when we get home.
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