Hey kids!  

Just a follow up—I’ve NEVER been homesick a day in my life but I have to say….. After talking to Ya’ll on your birthdays and knowing that Annique  and George were not only flying in once, but twice—I was still doing fine until I the great BURN OUT!

The Great Burn OUT!  

..mother teresa....

 Had a GREAT GREAT lesson for Personal Progress! We had an amazing 11 women turn out!  The spirit was so great!  I bought an Oriental lantern in Tirana and had the girls try to pick it up off the table alone with a straw.  Then I gave them all a straw and asked them to pick it up together and suggested they would do better if they were not above or below each other but just standing were they were.  It went off PERFECT!  We read the story from Elder Uchdorft “ Stand, lift where you are”  We talked about women who have to sometimes take care of many things in their family—sometimes no father in the houser.  One of the girls brought up how women had to be strong during the recent wars here in Albanian. (politically right now--things are getting sketchy here in Albanian—much political turmoil) They never talk about the war and this was the first time I heard anyone bring it up.  There is an over lying… Taboo to talk about it or it might return.   We had 25 come to church this Sunday —Your dad invited the YSA age group to dinner to break our fast so I hurried to get a soup on and ready.  We had stayed up so late the night before, i let your dad sleep in and I hurried to get the house in shape and that soup going.    Well, as we were leaving I went back to check to make sure I turned off the stove.  Your dad thought I had turned off the stove…. I do not know how this happened, but the stove was left on even after I went back to check it!!!  

We came home to a complete electrical burn —house full of smoke and the button on the stove melted out.   Oh and your dad had turned the propane tank in our kitchen on and left it on too. ……..All our clothes the rugs, the furniture, the NEW  MATTRESS topper we had just purchase in Tirana the night before every room in the house smelled electoral burn out..   We had just come back from the MOST delightful 5 star hotel in Tirana where I got to have an ENTIRE MORNING TO MYSELF DOING WHAT I WANTED TO DO  and then I do this!!!!!  UUUGH!    It is JUST INCREDIBLE that the the propane tank didn’t ignite!  We live on the bottom floor of a 7 story building and this could have burnt a bunch of peoples apartments ALL who have stacks and stacks and stacks of wood for their wood burning stoves—all but us freezers down here in the dungeon (the smokey electrical dungeon)  I was just getting settled in with our cute new (now smoke filled rugs ) UUUGH!!!

my stove was brand new! I am so bummed I can’t even tell you how bummed I am!    Now it is a melted mess!  I feel like you kids will need to send me to an old folks home extra early because my brain is falling apart trying to keep up with everything.  Your dad wants me to set up Visiting teaching this week and quite frankly… I am on over load preparing four separate  English classes, Personal Progress every week, Family home Evening, YSA “burnt" dinners,  a testimony in Shqip for testimony meeting and now he went to a meeting that suggested  to start Seminary, and Institute classes!  Its too much too fast!  I am sitting here typing you with broken glasses that I accidentally broke cleaning them, in a smokey room that I just about burnt the house down, and just took off the broken necklace ( a cute one that goes with all my outfits) that I broke hurrying and put my 10 thousand pound purse on and it clipped the necklace with too much weight….this is the second necklace that I have broken by the way!!!!  UUGH! 

 Our neighbors give me strange looks and now they really look at me strangely as we have smoke billowing out our door and our windows.  I just found out that it cost barely nothing to get to the Greek islands from here and I am ready to pack my smoky bags and get out of town!  How is that for a smokey woman MELT DOWN!   I swear I never had this on my first mission!  I just learned the language smiled and taught people.  I had cold days, freezing days that we would get to warm up in our apartments at night .  This mission in a lot of ways is so much more fun, more freedom, get to travel and go to hotels and shopping , but it seems way more demanding (by our own doing)…   

I cannot compare this mission to my others because they are completely different and I am having soooooo much trouble with the language … No senior companion to correct me.  EVERYTHING IS HARDER WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW THE LANGUAGE.   

When I was in Tirana I heard English!!  I scooted over to two boys jabbering american with their mom.  Of course, you know I just had to know everything!  She was a Pastor's wife who was stationed in Tirana Albania…. They have been here for 11 YEARS!!!  SO I GUESS I HAVE JUST ABOUT NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT.  She is here with no sight of an end.  She is raising her two children here and from what I can see, she is still struggling with the language.  I have nothing but LOVE for this blond who  looks like she could be my best friend and neighbor in Salt Lake.  Coming home to this crazy apartment with knobs that say they are off when they are on. 

 I should count my blessings that I don’t have to transfer or change companions and that I really do love the people here.  Spring is coming and they are cleaning the place up and the beach is getting all cleaned up and the branches here are starting to have buds on them and I will be able to stay outside all day every day and not even worry about electrical outlets or plugs because I am now going to buy everything at the local cafe takeout and bring it home HA!  Gone are the days of washing all our food in clorox rinse and rerinse! Gone or the days of going to the grocery store and having your father buy every kind of gross sausage and salami that I don’t want to eat!  I am just going to live on Greek salads for a year and lose all my pounds of fat So there! you stupid buttonless stove!!! HA!   Is this mission easier than motherhood?  YES!

This is the end of my pity party but … Next week is stake conference and we are piling our little congregation in a van (furgon) and we are headed across the country to Dures —Ill let you know how it goes.....

Love mom