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Starting to warm up!

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In a communist museum / cafe March is upon us and the weather is gradually getting warmer.  We still have some cold spells now and then, but we are seeing a lot more sunshine lately and we are really enjoying it! On the last Sunday in January, Kathy finally spoke in Sacrament Meeting. Pretty much all of Bardhi’s family came to support her. Kathy was a little nervous, but gave an excellent talk about forgiving others and not holding grudges. When she finished, the young girls were so proud of her that they started clapping! It was so sweet for them to come.  After church, we had them over to our house for lunch.  Kathy gave Klara, the one who helped her the most, a necklace to thank her.  We also gave Bardhi’s wife a flower, and the family a Book of Mormon. The young girls were given copies of the Friend magazine and they loved it! Kathy is also teaching piano lessons to the girls. As we have mentioned before, most people in Korçë heat their homes with wood-burning stoves. We have a mem
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Until We Meet Again

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  Dear Family and Friends, We started another letter weeks ago, but have put it on the back burner for a bit. This will be the most different letter we have ever written. It is real life with no sugar coating or holding back. We have had a month of tears, heartache, and sacrifice—and definitely our hardest and most humbling month here. Yet, we know we are supposed to be here and we are finding peace. When you start to get a little older, you have to say goodbye for a season to friends that you love, although some of our friends were so young. Four dear friends have passed away unexpectedly within the last 6 weeks, and also the young sister of another friend. Two of those friends were very young with young families—they just didn’t wake up one morning. We are so heartbroken for their amazing spouses, and their beautiful children. We are so far away—we feel helpless, and we are unable to serve any of them. In the words of one of the obituaries, “you didn’t know that the last time you saw
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A New Year

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Kanine Castle Dear Family and Friends, It is hard to believe that January is over.  Time is flying by. We have been in Albania for over four months! We continue to enjoy our time here. Winter has arrived with a vengeance!  The first few weeks of winter were quite mild, and we were beginning to wonder if we would have much snow this year. Well, a big storm came through three weeks ago, and we now have lots of snow, and even more ice! We’ll talk a little more about that below. For the last Sunday in December, we were both asked to speak in church. We only had 3 days to prepare.  Speaking through a translator is difficult because we have to speak in short phrases and it makes the talk take twice as long, but speaking in Albanian is also difficult because we have to read every word, some of which we don’t really understand, and it is difficult to really express our feelings. One of our Elders in Korçë is very good at translating, but we both decided that we should give our talks in Albania
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Catching up after the Holidays

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  Dear Family and Friends, The month of December was very busy and before we knew it the New Year arrived.  We will try to catch up with everything that happened. First, we want to tell you about our trip to the Rome Temple at the end of November. The stake and district sponsored a temple trip for all youth and young single adults in Albania. It was held during the last week in November when Albania celebrates Independence Day and Liberation Day so there were fewer issues with missing school and/or work. We were not planning on going, but just a couple of weeks before the scheduled trip, we were asked to go and help with the food, and also help with the youth from our branch. Another senior missionary couple from Tirana was asked to be in charge of the food and they asked us to help. Three young women and two young men from our branch signed up to go with two young women leaders. Unfortunately, one of the young men got sick just hours before we left, so he was not able to go. None of t
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We are thankful

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Dear Family and Friends, To start with, we would like to tell you more about some of the friends we have made here. Ylmer, our 80-year-old friend, has met twice with the missionaries. He says he is a Muslim, but he doesn’t believe in God.  He lived through the communist times here in Albania, when belief in God was forbidden.  He is pretty stubborn about it, but his niece’s 11-year-old daughter has participated in those discussions and she wants to learn more. Her mother said she would talk to her husband about that.  We will just have to see where this goes. Kathy is devasted and has shed many tears for her friend. Ylmer won’t even consider life after death. He is so sad and angry about losing his wife six years ago, that he won’t even consider that there is a God. He said his wife is gone and buried and he will never see her again. If we truly believed this life was the end, there would be no purpose for anything! Kamela, the lady who collects the money at the produce shop, accepted
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