Spring is here and it is a lovely time in Albania. The sunshine is warm and welcoming and many trees are in full bloom and beautiful. It has been one year since we arrived in Albania and during that time we have grown to love the people and the beauty of the country. We still don’t like the driving but that is another story! Time has gone quickly and in another five months we will be planning to handover the work to another couple.

Another senior couple, Elder & Sister Stacey, have joined our ranks and it is nice to meet together and share experiences. The look after the out reach center for young adults here in Tirana. Elder and Sister Matthews arrived and will be serving in Kosovo. We picked them up at the airport and quickly realized we had served in Nigeria at the same time and they attended one of our handover ceremonies in the Enugu Mission. We had a wonderful evening sharing stories and experiences of Nigeria. After violence in the country they we sent from Nigeria and finished their mission in Malta. Eight new young elders and sisters arrived a couple of weeks ago so the ranks are swelling and it is wonderful to see their warmth and enthusiasm. Two LDS families have arrived at the American Embassy and are welcomed by all the members in our small branch. With so many new faces it has been an exciting time.

Our humanitarian work in the month of March and beginning of April consisted of spending a great deal of time and travel delivering wheelchairs Roma communities in different parts of the country. We 32 delivered wheelchairs in 8 different cities around the country. We traveled from Shkoder in the north, Fier and Baltez in the central part of the country and Korca in the southeast. We are warmly welcomed at each home and usually invited into every home for a drink and snack. After seven deliveries in one day we are certainly full of drinks and have pockets filled with candy or other things we don’t care to eat! That is the typical hospitality of the Albanian people. These donations can greatly assist in a better quality of life for the recipients and we are grateful to have the opportunity to serve.

This week we delivered project items to the Missionaries of Charity soup kitchen and male’s seniors home here in Tirana. The sisters are very humble and never want to ask for any luxury items but we are happy to assist them because they do wonderful work for the poor and needy. I like this quote from Mother Teresa. ““Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” Mother Teresa

One of the pictures is of a District Mormon Helping Hands service project at a home for seniors.