Humanitarian Missionary Conference

HUMANITARIAN MISSIONARY CONFERENCE

Our travels in November took us to Germany to attend a humanitarian missionary conference. It was held the small town of Friedrichdorf about 30 minutes by train from Frankfurt. We stayed in the temple patron housing next to the temple. It was a wonderful two day conference with other missionaries serving in Romania, Moldova, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovakia and Cape Verde. One couple was from Athens, Georgia, where I spent my teenage years so it was fun to compare notes. We enjoyed helpful instruction, sharing experiences and project ideas not to mention testing out some good restaurants together. On the Saturday we went on a 3 hour walking tour of downtown Frankfurt. We were just a week too early to really experience the Germany Christmas craft fair but got a flavor of the way Germany “does” Christmas and experience some cold weather. I liked hearing the church bells. One interesting site was The Jewish Holocaust Memorial Wall with a cast metal block for each deported Jew from Frankfurt. Of the over 11,000 only 600 survived. One of the blocks was for Anne Frank whose family left Frankfurt for Amsterdam. Our visit to Frankfurt wasn’t complete without a visit to Burger King and KFC. Tucked in our suitcases returning to Tirana were a few bricks of cheddar cheese. Yummy!

There have been heavy rains in Albania for the last few weeks, which have caused flooding in parts of the country. Still no temperatures below freezing in Tirana but we have seen snow on some of the mountains. There isn’t much insulation and heat in buildings here and it is often warmer outside than inside. To warm our bodies and souls we enjoyed a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner with all the missonaries in the mission. Living here in a 70% muslim country there isn't too much in the way of Christmas decorations but we do enjoy the few we see.

This past week we traveled to the city of Elbasan to visit the Missionaries of Charity (order of Mother Teresa) orphanage. We are impressed with the love and dedication of the nuns. When we were asking about their needs for a potential project we asked if they needed a washing machine or dryer but we were told they weren’t allowed. They do all the laundry for 26 infants and toddlers by hand. Now that is dedication and sacrifice. Even if we can’t provide a washer there are other things we will be able to do for them.

From Elbasan we drove another 2 ½ hours to the city of Korce in the eastern part of Albania near the borders of Greece and Macedonia. In Korce we visited a center for disabled people to access a potential project. We were told they usually have snow by this time but we lucked out and had windy but fairly mild weather. On our return trip were delayed a few times while roads were cleared because of mudslides caused by the heavy rain. After the 13 hours of travel we were happy to arrive home safely to our own warm apartment. Now we must press forward and work on projects. Keeping busy will help the thoughts of missing our family and Christmas.