Marilyn (a.k.a. Motra Jones),
How wonderful to hear that we are going to be receiving a new senior missionary couple here in Albania! We need you! (I know that probably concerns you - I remember my wife and I being a little apprehensive about how enthusiastic the mission president and some of the members were when they learned a new American family was moving into the ward.) Janet has given you a pretty thorough introduction, but I'll just add that my wife and I have been in Albania since July 2011 and will be here until July 2013 working for the U.S. Embassy in Tirana.
Do you know what your assignment will be? We have a couple, the Prestons, that are leaving shortly that have been our CES missionaries. If that's what you'll be doing, you'll have lots of opportunities to work with the youth of Albania, and the youth of the church here are the best part. Overall, you are in for a great adventure here with the church. In Tirana there are four branches, all of them fairly small. You likely will not be in our branch with us - there is already a couple assigned to our branch, a sweet couple from England that are here on a humanitarian mission. Nevertheless, we see all the missionaries fairly often and we know most of the couple missionaries serving in the mission. That will change now that the mission includes two new countries that are just being opened to the gospel - we likely won't have a chance to meet the couples assigned there, but as long as you're in Tirana and if you're learning Albanian, we'll likely get to know you pretty well!
All of the branches are full of very new members. In our branch we have three children that we've been told are some of the first children born in the church. Most of the members have not been to the temple because it is so far away (Germany), and they lack the understanding of how the church is supposed to be organized and operate. Erin, my wife, is a counselor in the Primary Presidency. Our first Sunday she took our two girls to Primary along with about four other children. The Primary President came in, dropped off a 2-liter of Coca-Cola and a pile of Spider-Man coloring pages and then headed for Relief Society! So my wife has been teaching the Primary and the Primary President all about things like Sharing Time and Singing Time and the annual Primary Program.
I am the branch clerk and keep busy trying to help the Branch President organize our records. Albania is not yet connected to the church's electronic database, so all of our record keeping, including weekly donation reports on tithing have to be filled out by hand and then I bring them home and email them to the Area Offices in Frankfurt, Germany. This last year I discovered that my Branch President, a sweet man with a strong testimony, had no idea what tithing settlement was. We discovered this in January after the Area Offices contacted us and informed us we were a month late in our reports!! Needless to say, we work closely with the full time missionaries to teach the members and help them along. Unfortunately, the Church Handbooks have not been translated into Albanian yet. Fortunately, the members are wonderful and we have enjoyed being in our branch.Life in Albania will be a daily adventure for you and your husband. Albania is full of beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and you'll travel around the country quite a bit. The villages are quaint and the people very humble. On the other hand, traffic in Tirana will probably test your patience (and your heart) and 50+ years of communist rule has made for situations that you simply have to stop questioning and merely accept regardless of how illogical or inconvenient they are.
On the practical side, we'd love to help answer any questions you may have about life here. I'm sure President and Sister Ford will be/have been in touch with you along with some of the other missionaries. We absolutely adore President and Sister Ford. You will love serving with them - they are young and have a lot of energy and stalwart testimonies of the gospel. The Albanians are lucky to have them here!
We're looking forward to meeting you! Enjoy the MTC and we'll see you on the other side of the world!
Sincerely,
Jay Porter
jeporter02@gmail.com
How wonderful to hear that we are going to be receiving a new senior missionary couple here in Albania! We need you! (I know that probably concerns you - I remember my wife and I being a little apprehensive about how enthusiastic the mission president and some of the members were when they learned a new American family was moving into the ward.) Janet has given you a pretty thorough introduction, but I'll just add that my wife and I have been in Albania since July 2011 and will be here until July 2013 working for the U.S. Embassy in Tirana.
Do you know what your assignment will be? We have a couple, the Prestons, that are leaving shortly that have been our CES missionaries. If that's what you'll be doing, you'll have lots of opportunities to work with the youth of Albania, and the youth of the church here are the best part. Overall, you are in for a great adventure here with the church. In Tirana there are four branches, all of them fairly small. You likely will not be in our branch with us - there is already a couple assigned to our branch, a sweet couple from England that are here on a humanitarian mission. Nevertheless, we see all the missionaries fairly often and we know most of the couple missionaries serving in the mission. That will change now that the mission includes two new countries that are just being opened to the gospel - we likely won't have a chance to meet the couples assigned there, but as long as you're in Tirana and if you're learning Albanian, we'll likely get to know you pretty well!
All of the branches are full of very new members. In our branch we have three children that we've been told are some of the first children born in the church. Most of the members have not been to the temple because it is so far away (Germany), and they lack the understanding of how the church is supposed to be organized and operate. Erin, my wife, is a counselor in the Primary Presidency. Our first Sunday she took our two girls to Primary along with about four other children. The Primary President came in, dropped off a 2-liter of Coca-Cola and a pile of Spider-Man coloring pages and then headed for Relief Society! So my wife has been teaching the Primary and the Primary President all about things like Sharing Time and Singing Time and the annual Primary Program.
I am the branch clerk and keep busy trying to help the Branch President organize our records. Albania is not yet connected to the church's electronic database, so all of our record keeping, including weekly donation reports on tithing have to be filled out by hand and then I bring them home and email them to the Area Offices in Frankfurt, Germany. This last year I discovered that my Branch President, a sweet man with a strong testimony, had no idea what tithing settlement was. We discovered this in January after the Area Offices contacted us and informed us we were a month late in our reports!! Needless to say, we work closely with the full time missionaries to teach the members and help them along. Unfortunately, the Church Handbooks have not been translated into Albanian yet. Fortunately, the members are wonderful and we have enjoyed being in our branch.Life in Albania will be a daily adventure for you and your husband. Albania is full of beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and you'll travel around the country quite a bit. The villages are quaint and the people very humble. On the other hand, traffic in Tirana will probably test your patience (and your heart) and 50+ years of communist rule has made for situations that you simply have to stop questioning and merely accept regardless of how illogical or inconvenient they are.
On the practical side, we'd love to help answer any questions you may have about life here. I'm sure President and Sister Ford will be/have been in touch with you along with some of the other missionaries. We absolutely adore President and Sister Ford. You will love serving with them - they are young and have a lot of energy and stalwart testimonies of the gospel. The Albanians are lucky to have them here!
We're looking forward to meeting you! Enjoy the MTC and we'll see you on the other side of the world!
Sincerely,
Jay Porter
jeporter02@gmail.com
