Arriving in the mission:
On our way from the airport,with the Mission President and his wife, we stopped by the hospital to see an elder, from Austailia, who was there for a few days. He drank water that was not filtered.( We buy a lot of bottled water and have a filter on our kitchen sink for drinking.) So... we will not drink our of a well in the country side !!! It was 40 Degrees C ( I think that is 100 F ?????The mission office is very nice with air conditioning, the President and his wife have their home there, as well as several apartments (which we stayed in) up about 6 flights of stairs. The mission office couple also live here. The chapel for the area is also here.
Tirana is huge(500,000). The people are very poor ,unemployment is huge. Mostly only the young people 18-3o have jobs and they support their families. They earn $1.00 an hour and work 10 hour days, 7days a week. Some of the older people get a pension of $60.00 a month. When communism pulled out ,they just let the people own the apartments they lived in but..they have to pay utilities etc
It was about a 4-5 hour drive from Tirana, Albania to Pristina, Kosovo..
We are thrilled with our asignment in Pristina, Kosovo!! Sam is the Branch President. There are 10 members in our little branch, one preisthood holder, and two sets of elders.
It is ever daunting to know that there are only 6 of us as missionaries in this city of 250,000 or so....
The population is 70% Muslum, most are not traditional and are not practising Muslums. One of our strong members is 17, and her family are all Muslum. Her parents let her" choose the truth", her two younger brothers are strong Muslum they answer to the prayer call several times a day. She does not want her friends to know she is Christian.The Arab nations are concerned that they are loosing members so they are sending money to the Muslums here to get them to go to church.
Serbia,which was so cruel to them; are Christians....so, many Kosovoians when they see Jezu Krishtit want nothing to do with it.
Kosovo is a "step up" from Albania, maybe because of the American base here. Things seem to be very progressive. The weather is not as hot as Albania and usually a nice breeze. No AC but we do have a fan and windows that open and NO BUGS !!!
Our money system here in Kosovo is the Euro....it takes $1.35 or so, of our dollars to equal $1.00 Euro. Albania is on the Lek money system. Food is very inexpensive, including eating out. The main salad everywhere with every course, is cucumbers, tomatos and chunks of feta cheese with huge green olives .
DEDICATION OF KOSOVO
Elder Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles offered the Dedicatory Prayer Wednesday, September, 8, 2010 Pristina, Kosovo, in Germia Park.In part:
" .......on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon....we thank thee for the people of Kosovo...........In February 2008, the Assembly of Kosovo declared its independence as the Republic of Kosovo.........now.......we are authorised to bless this land and the people of Kosovo"
"We thank Thee for the resilience of its people who have known the brutality of hatred and the horrors of war. For years they have struggled for peace and prosperity........
Now the dawning of a new day has come for the people of Kosovo.....
Grant the people of Kosovo relief from suffering......replace their fear with faith inThee and Thy Beloved Son. Heal those with deep wounds inflicted by hatred and scorn...........
.......I hereby dedicate Kosovo for the preaching of the gospel and for the blessing of its people.......
........In this land are many people with the blood of Isreal. Bless them to be found, rescued,and gathered......to enjoy the fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ.......bless them with every needful thing that thy kingdom may prosper here............"
Attending the dedication was Johann Wondra and his wife, Ursula, they are over the Balkan area.... We all remember Grandma and Grandpa Tanner talking about them from their mission.....He was the temple president in the FrankFort temple when they were there !!!
DISTRICT MEETING
Tuesday we had a district meeting. The senior couple, humanitarian missionaries from North Ogden, came with two elders from Macedonia. The govenment is not very amiable to them; the elders cannot prosolite, they walk around hoping someone will stop to talk to them...there are no Macedonian members..they speak Serbian language...so these elders have had to learn another language besides albanian. The couple missionaries have not been permited to do anything either. They come over once a week...it is about a 1-2 hour drive.So we sat in a circle as a district of missionaies, two senior couples and 6 young elders. It was amazing.....such a strong spirit...these elders are shining..so full of the spirit..just glowing...many tears as we sang w/o accompaniment music, in English the hymns of the gospel and discussed gospel principals and their missisonary work.
One of these district leaders from Macedonia, Elder Barnard (not sure as albania writes it different) is a former seminary student of Tyler Tanner from Blackfoot Idaho. He is absolutely 'off-the-chart' (as Don Daugs would say)...amazing young man learning his second language out here so filled with the spirit...so SHINING.....I'll tell you these elders are just incredible..all of them they work so so hard..such dedication and their language is amazing !!
They remind me of what Elder Eric Tanner is/was...... AND of course no better missionaries than the ones that left the JONES Plantation !!!!!
