On June 4, 2012 we all worked together to clean the Old Beach in Vlore.  This was designated a "Helping Hands" Service Project and was sponsored by the Church Humanitarian Services Department.



                                                      Most of the volunteers were from our branch in Vlore.  We had about
52 who came to help, including some of the neighborhood boys who live there.  You would not believe the kind of clutter and garbage that literally covered the beach. 

                             It was a day of really hard work, but it was great to see the results. 

After the work was finished, our boys had a really fun game of soccer, or Football as it is called here.  It was wonderful to see the beach clean and safe for families and kids to use.  We'll do this again--

May 4, 2012- Our 10th Wedding Anniversary

 Our 10th anniversary was different and special because we celebrated it here in Albania.  We decided to spend the whole day together, and that was easier said than done!  Our seminary age youth had other ideas.  They had planned an elaborate surprise for us, but didn't think to ask if we would be available to come!  We talked about this for awhile, and finally decided that on this day, we just wanted to celebrate our anniversary together.  We made arrangements to be with the kids the next day for their surprise.

We chose a restaurant in Fier-just about 45 minutes drive north of Vlore.  We had heard that they could serve a real steak!  We were really looking forward to that!  Mishe Vici, or Beef Meat, is really veal here.  The calves are butchered very young and it just doesn't taste the same.  So--on to Fier!

We started our meal with a Greek Salad and Bruschetta.  The vegetables are fresh and so tasty here.  The beginning of the meal was all that we'd hoped for.  The service was great, and since we came early-we had the whole restaurant to ourselves!  Everything was going according to plan, but we were both waiting for the steak--would it be like the steaks at home in America?
It wasn't long before we knew the truth.  The steak was attached to a bone, which was promising, but the steak was only about 3/8" thick.  After only one bite I felt sure that this steak had come from a very old milk cow, not the yummy beef we enjoy at home. Oh, well.  It was a great night anyway!

 

Once home, we enjoyed our nightly view from the balcony.  In the foreground you can see the idle port area.  Across the bay, the lights and the cars moving slowly along are always beautiful.  All the light reflects on the water and we have a stunning view.  On this night,  a full moon made it especially nice.  Our 10th anniversary was one we'll long remember.

April 20,2012 Personal Day At The Beach

 This is about one of those activities that is repeated on an 'as needed' basis.  The beach is called 'Zvernec' as far as we can determine.  The Smith's shared this location with us before they left us in Vlore.  We have returned many times for a peaceful break from the work.  For our missionaries this has also become a favorite spot.  We usually take a P-day out of each transfer to go to the beach.  The young missionaries are not able to go into the water, according to mission rules-but we find other fun things to do there.

 We were so happy when we saw this grill on our apartment balcony!  It may look a little bit worn and old, but it is wonderful to have it for cooking out at the beach or at home.  On this day, it was hot dogs over a charcoal/wood fire.  We all loved it, and it reminded me of home and so many wonderful occasions with family gathered around us.  We especially love doing this at our cabin when the kids all come for a weekend.  For now, these are the kids we have near us and we love them too.  They keep us young (er).

 This is our district for April-June.  From left to right you'll see Motra Gebhard from Colorado, Elder Knight from Texas,  Motra Atkin from Idaho, Motra Volz from Michigan (me) and Elder Barnard from Idaho also.  Elder Volz is the camera man.  (someone has to do it!)  We had a great time with this group. They are wonderful, dedicated missionaries.  On July 3rd, 3 of them were transferred to other areas.  Elder Knight remains with us in Vlore, while Motra Gebhard moved to Tirana, Motra Atkin to Durres and Elder Barnard to Macedonia.  We miss them, but stay in touch by email and at meetings.

This was our Pday on April 30th and the weather was beautiful.  Elder Volz initiated a 'stone skipping' contest which has become a tradition.  He almost always wins!  We draw a scoreboard in the sand, and everyone counts the number of 'skips'.  We add them up and declare a winner each time.  Albania is a hard mission, and sometimes a little break helps us keep our cheery nature!  Traditions are good, and memories like these will stay with us long after our 'boys' and 'girls' have gone on to other areas or home.

 We'll try to catch up on some of the many experiences we've been having while we've been here in Albania on our mission.  These pictures are from a Couples Conference that we attended in Budva, Montenegro.  There is a good chance we would never have seen these sights if it were not for this conference, organized by Ian and Sue Preston, who returned home from their mission about 2 weeks after the conference.  We drove up from Vlore with our friends, the Casady's, who are serving their mission in Fier-the next major town north of Vlore.


The picture above is the view from the top of Kotor Castle in Kotor, Montenegro.  This city boasts the oldest, inhabited walled city in Europe.  We don't know if that is true or not, but we do know that it is beautiful.  Clark hiked to the top of the mountain with Elder and Sister Eliason, Elder Casady and others, and brought back some amazing photos.  Nora stayed behind with Sr. Casady and Sr. Stacey, and thoroughly enjoyed shopping and exploring the shops and businesses within the walled town.


When we first arrived in Kotor, the parking lot designated for the castle

 was right next to the marina, so of course we had to investigate and see
all of the boats.  This was our first opportunity to see boats like
this, so we were in 7th heaven and remembered our many walks by the marinas at Lake Michigan.  The boats were beautiful and the harbor is amazing.  It is not deep enough for cruise ships, apparently, as we saw one approach and then turn around and leave.  They were probably just giving the passengers a moment to view the amazing walled city, which sprawls up the mountain from bottom to top, with the castle at the top.

 This picture to the left shows all the couples at the conference.  These have become our dearest friends while serving here.  It is just great when we get together for a conference like this.  We always share news of our families, and everyone is aware and concerned about everyone else's family--does that  make sense?  in English?  The longer we're here the more I worry about my English!  Anyway--it's a great group.  Missing from the picture are the Willis's from northern England.  They were in the middle of an Humanitarian project and could not be with us.

This is Clark and Nora in Budva, Montenegro on our last day there.  It is hard to imagine being cold enough to need a jacket! This was in April.  Now, in July, temperatures linger near 100 degrees every day in Albania, and the humidity ensures that you are always moist, if you know what I mean! 

We treasure this time on our mission.  We are grateful for our family's support and we miss them so much-but these are experiences that we would never have had any other way.   Our friends who are also serving here are a great support and wonderful examples to us.  What a wonderful blessing it is to be here.

Hello to our beloved friends and family,

We hope all is well with you and yours!  We are sorry for the long delay between our newsletters.  As time progresses, we seem to have less and less free time.  This is not so much because the work load is increasing, but that we are becoming more and more aware of all the work that needs to be done. 

We  mentioned in our last letter that we have two sons who are facing serious challenges to their health.  We had received permission to return home to be with them, and we made that trip from March 28^th-April 10^th. While we were there, we learned that Corey is improving, and since our return home, the news is even better.   We are grateful for his progress and thankful to God for good doctors.  Although Josh was not able to see us while we were home, we understand that he is also improving.  Thanks to all who offered prayers for our sons.  We sure appreciate it.

One of the things that we are learning here has to do with human character in the face of adversity.  We will probably never fully understand, because we didn’t experience the same things firsthand.  We realize that, because Albania was under Communist rule for 50 years, the mindset of the people is a bit different from what we are used to.  We’ve listened to long stories about what life was like for individuals and families during this time in their history.  It is unimaginable, to us, that a government would impose some of the restrictions and punishments that the people suffered here.  There were also wars, invasions and revolutions.  Modern day America has not experienced such a time. In Albania, we see and hear the residual impact of those collective experiences.  Everyone knows someone who was imprisoned for their religious or political views.  Some were executed.  The result was a profound fear in the hearts of the people, and a healthy distrust for anyone they didn’t know well. 

We have a little (little meaning really short) sister who was baptized in

December.  Her name is Luciana.  She is about 57, divorced, and lives at

home with her parents.  As a young schoolgirl, she found a Bible somewhere.  She took it home and read it, a lot.  She apparently carried the Bible to school, or spoke of it there.  Her teacher reported this to the authorities and her father was put in jail. 

Luciana said she threw the Bible away and didn't read it again until freedom came to Albania.  Try to imagine how this would have impacted your life.....just to be restricted in your belief in God.

We’ve wondered about the work ethic here.  At times, we see them as extremely hard working.  At other times, we see a crew of 3 digging a ditch.  One man has a shovel and is using it-two men stand by and watch him work.  We suspect that the roots of this behavior would be found in the mindset of the days of communism, when ‘helping’ someone with their work meant you were taking their opportunity to work away from them.  Similarly, those who throw trash on the sidewalk feel justified because that insures that another person will have work-the work of picking up the trash.  With unemployment at 40% or so, there are many waiting whenever an opening comes up.  So we have our friend, Gazi.  He has 3 children, and was out of work when we met him in November.  He and his family were baptized in December.  They have never asked for anything from the church, and we’ve felt that the extended family has helped with the day to day needs.  His wife, Lindita, has work, but they are paid so little that one income is never enough.  Gazi was finally able to find work in a distant town.      Lindita, Kleo, Erjon & Gazi His workday includes a long furgon ride just to get there, and he is required to be there 7 days a week.  When he asked if he could have Sunday off to attend church, he was told that if he took even one day off he didn’t need to return to work-he would be automatically fired.  So their jobs are close to slavery, in many ways.  We wish we could help, but it’s complicated here. When we offer suggestions to individuals about finding work, or preparing to better your career skills, we get the same answer.  You can’t get a job here unless you know someone.  When we talk to them about starting their own business, we get blank stares.  They have absolutely no faith that they could ever pull that off.  One of the things that will be offered this summer is a Self Employment Workshop-and we hope it will be well attended.  The class is sponsored and authored by the Church.  Here is a quote from the Introduction:   “To get the most out of this workshop, remember that you are responsible for your own spiritual and temporal well-being.  Blessed with the gift of agency, you have the privilege of setting your own course, solving your own problems, and striving to become self-reliant.  This can be accomplished under the inspiration of the Lord and through the labor of your own hands.  Others stand ready to assist you in your efforts to become self-reliant.” We are grateful for the careful, steady, inspired leadership of the Church and its programs.  We hope that by offering these resources to the people here, that change can come to Albania, one person at a time.  It will take time and patience, but there is hope. Each morning we observe boats of many sizes moving about in the port area.  They range in size from big freighters and huge ferries to small fishing boats manned by a single fisherman.  These men brave the waters of Vlore bay almost every day, and fish for food and for income.  Last week we had heavy winds here, and we were surprised to see one of the fishermen out in the water.  He was wearing his hip waders, standing up in the wooden boat, and rowing with all of his strength to move the boat only a few inches into the wind.  The waves were bashing the bow of his boat, but he pressed on.  We watched for a few minutes and we could see that he was making progress, slowly but surely.  He had a job to do, and bad weather was not going to stop him from doing it.  This morning we saw the same man in calm waters, still in the same waders, still standing up to row his craft-but much more relaxed.  We hope he has a good catch today.  We know that he has a family at home depending on him. For many of the Albanians, America is the “Promised Land”.   Some of the young ones have dreams of coming to America.  They think they will be able to find work there and that the wages will be much better than they are here.  They think that it is a land flowing with milk and honey.  When we try to explain that there is also poverty and unemployment in America, they do not believe us.  It helped me remember a story from my own family, one about my grandparents in the 1950’s. It was about 1950 when my Grandfather, Arthur Johnson, was diagnosed with diabetes.  Prior to his illness, he had worked hard to provide for his family on the farm that he’d inherited from his parents.  During the Great Depression, the Johnson family was blessed by God and their own labor, with eggs and milk, meat and garden produce, as well as wild berries from the woods and fish from the river.  As Grandpa’s health continued to decline his ability to work ended.  Faced with insufficient income, they took stock of their resources and came up with a plan.  The farm land was rented out to a neighboring farmer, and this brought in some income annually.  My grandmother had never learned to drive, and had never worked outside her home, but she was not without resources.  My Dad with his parents, Ruth and Arthur Johnson The farm was near a chain of lakes, and the fishermen would pay for fishing bait.  My grandparents had an old manure pile, loaded with redworms.  It was here that my Grandmother found an answer for their predicament.  whe placed an old stool next to the pile, and began packaging redworms, 50 to a box, for sale to the nearby bait shops.  My uncle drove her around to make her deliveries.   When I think of her humility, and her determination to provide for her family in any way she could, my heart is filled with gratitude.  Perhaps you have stories of ‘can do’ thinking in your family as well.  We owe our grandparents a lot for the attitudes that we have about work and about possibilities. So, what does this have to do with Albania, and the lessons that we are learning here?  While visiting with a new member of the church this week, I asked her about the attitudes toward work and opportunity here in Albania.  Her response was this.  ‘They say that it has been 22 years since the end of communism here, but the first 12 years were chaos.  We have only had, really, about 10 years of democracy here.’  She and I both agreed that it is early in the history of democracy for Albania.  Many of them have already left for America or other countries, seeking the same independence and opportunity that our ancestors were looking for when they first migrated to America.  It is our hope that opportunity will come to Albania-for all Albanian people, so they can stay here and build up the land that they all love so much.  May God help them to do it.  May we stand ready to assist in any way that we can. We love this mission!  There are challenging days and circumstances, of course.  We miss our family every day, of course-but, overall, this is a great, growing experience for us.   We are thankful for these good people and all we are learning by being here. We mentioned in our last letter that the Mission has undergone a name and area change.  We started to give you our new mailing address, but didn’t finish it.  It is the same as before, except for the name: Elder and Sister Volz,Adriatic South Mission,P.O. Box 2984 Rr. Qemal Stafa, Vila 1,Perballe Postes Nr. 22, Tirana, Albania We would love to hear from any of you, either by regular mail or by email.  The letters are one of the high points of our day.  Take care and have a wonderful day!  Clark and Nora Volz

    

Settling in-October, 2011

For the rest of the month, we began to settle into a routine.  Wednesdays and Saturdays were focused on Institute and Home Evening at the Center for Young Adults, which we have responsibility for.  The Institute teacher is Marsel Hoxha, and he does a great job every time.  One of the challenges for him has been the lack of teaching materials in Albanian.  Fortunately, he also speaks Italian and English, which has made it possible for him to prepare.

'First we'll be jack-o-lanterns, then pie!'

The Institute program is for young adults ages 18-30.  At this important time in their lives, the church provides educational programs to help them succeed in their lives.  The Center provides a wholesome place to gather, learn and grow together.  It was Elder Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who championed this cause.  He had a dream/vision that made him realize that the future of the Church in Europe is with the Young Single Adults.  His focus has become our focus.  These are great young people, and they have a great desire to do good and be good.  When they are taught, they usually begin to implement those teachings right away.  Their discussions on gospel principles are frank and honest, and we love being here to watch them learn and grow.  They are an inspiration.

Activity night at the Center

After the lesson time, we always have the center open for games and fun activities, along with a home baked treat from the kitchen.  It gives everyone time to relax and strengthen their friendships.  It gives us time to get to know each one of them better.  With all of our boys grown up and living on their own, it is fun to see that we have almost all young men here!  We have a few girls, but mostly boys and we are right at home.  Been there, done that!  We love it.  Clark especially loves playing ping pong or dominoes with the kids.  They love it too!




We also began going to visit the orphanage in October, on Thursday mornings.  The children there are so cute!  The range in age from babies to about 4 years old, and there are more children who attend school during the day.  Some of the babies have parents who are not able to care for them, but still visit.  These are the lucky ones, as these mothers are working hard to be able to take their child home again.  Most of them fall into the other category, and we do not know how the adoption process works here.  But the children are wonderful and love to be played with, read to and held just like any other kids.  We love visiting the orphanage.

Fresh Mandarin Oranges-Yumm!

On Sunday, October 29th we attended the District Conference in Tirana.  The whole branch traveled by bus, and the ride was much smoother over the bumpy roads because we did.  We had about 55 people on the bus when we left Vlore.  We were a little surprised that not all of them attended conference, though.  Some thought it was a great way to get a free ride to Tirana, and went shopping or visiting family instead.  We'll work on that some more-I understand this is not a new problem ;o)

Elders Street Teaching

Another great start in October was our English Class.  On the first night, we had 32 people who came and registered for the class.  Many of these would later become members of the church.  It was exciting to see so many new faces.

October ended on a Monday with a Family Home Evening for the missionaries at our house.  We love being with them, working with them, and feel that our association with them helps us to be better.  We see them working all the time, and we know the Lord is grateful for their strong testimonies of His Son, and the great desire they have to share that with everyone who will listen.

On our own! Our First Week in Albania-October 17-23,2011

Our Monday evening was spent at the branch.  A Home Evening event had been planned to say good-bye to the Smith's.  The great love that the member's had for them was evident.  There were lots of hugs, and kisses on the cheeks, and tears.  This couple had been not only the senior missionaries here, but also the Branch President and wife-so their hearts are forever entwined with the great members here in Vlore.  It was a happy/sad occasion for all of them.

We looked at all the new faces and wondered how we would ever learn their names?  It seemed like an insurmountable task to me then, but now, looking back only five months, their hearts are forever entwined with mine, and I know all of their names.  If we had to leave our mission today, I would never forget these wonderful people and the love they have extended to us already.  This is just a wonderful assignment.

Our first week started off just like it would at home if we had just moved into a new place.  We looked it all over, moved the furniture around, did some cleaning and organizing and by the end of the week we were pretty comfortable.  We had district meeting at our house on Tuesday with the young elders and sisters and our first Institute/activity night on Wednesday.  I didn't know what to do for refreshments, so I baked banana bread-since there is someone selling bananas on every corner in Vlore.  I think they enjoyed it-they ate it all up!  (Now I know they will eat anything-all up!  They are always hungry!)

Antonetta on her baptism day

On Wednesday, Oct 19th I went with the sister missionaries to teach a woman named Antonetta at her bookstore near the church.  We also attended her baptism on Saturday, October 22nd-the first of many since we arrived here in Vlore.  Antonetta had been studying with the missionaries for some time, and had made the decision to be baptized.  She described a night when she was struggling with doubts and fears, which she attributed to the adversary trying to discourage her from making this important covenant with her Father in Heaven.  She said that when she would wake up worrying, she would get out of bed and kneel beside the bed and pray until she felt peace again.  Then she would get back into bed and try to sleep-only to wake up again worrying.  She repeated this process over and over through the night.  She said her husband thought she had gone crazy or something-getting up over and over again to kneel in prayer.  But, she announced, the struggle is over-I am ready to be baptized!  It was great to get to know her and she is now a dear friend to us.

On Thursday, October 20th, we had the opportunity to drive the car (makine) up to Fier.  There we met the Casady's, the couple serving there, for the first time.  We hitched a ride with them to Durres for a Couples Conference being held at 1 PM that day.  It was great to hear their story.  Pres. Casady is serving as the branch president in Fier.  He had been a dentist in southern California, and they have a large family.  I think 7 or 8 kids?  Sister Casady is really fun, and we loved getting to know her.  I remember hearing that little voice that sometimes whispers in my ear, saying "This woman will be one of your dearest friends while you are here".  I can tell you that the little voice was right.  I just love Sister Casady and she is already one of my dearest friends here.  We and they both volunteered for 23 month missions, so we will have a good long time to develop our relationship and to add more fond memories to our experience together.

On Friday, our District Leader, Elder Ireland, invited us to "District Lunch".  We'd never heard of a District Lunch before, but it sounded like fun so we said "Sure!"  We all gathered at a
restaurant right on the Bay of Vlore called "Sunset".  It had a beautiful view of the water, and we
were able to eat outside under the awnings, which was really nice.  We took some nice pictures there which we'll share.




Sunday was our first Sacrament meeting in Vlore and we were both looking forward to it so much.  But, I ended up sick in bed and could not attend.  It was a bummer, but I could not move.  I have a way of catching any flu or cold bug in the vicinity, and I caught a doozie that weekend.  I stayed in bed all day, and Clark went to meet the Albanians all on his own.  It's a good thing they're so friendly ;o) !