Zone Conference

Thursday was our first Zone Conference.  It was held in Tirana which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from where we are.  We picked up a couple of elders here in Vlore at7:00am and they directed us right to the mission home.  When we saw the meeting agenda we realized that the meeting would not be over before we would have to leave to get back for a Pathway meeting here in Vlore.  We decided to leave early anyway and let the elders that rode with us go home with the other missionaries from Vlore (they all took a bus).  Needless to say our greatest worry was knowing the way out of Tirana and back to Vlore.  Tirana is a very large city and the Mission Home is smack dab in the middle.  We took several wrong turns, ended up on some very small streets, turned around, thought we recognized a few things and finally saw a sign that indicated Durres was to the right.  What a relief.  Words cannot describe the driving, and traffic conditions in Tirana.  There are simply no English words to describe it but mayhem comes fairly close. 

So we are on our way to Durres we follow the signs there and find ourselves downtown Durres.  The road to Vlore does not go into Durres.  We missed our turn and now we have to fight our way out of Durres and hopefully again find the main road south to Vlore.  A few wrong turns, a couple of prayers and a complete turn around we see a Bus with "Fier" in big bold letters in the back window (Fier is the name of the next big town South just before Vlore).  "Why send an angel to show us the way when a big ol' bus will do."  The bus leads us out of Durres back to the main road to Vlore.   So here we are back on the highway heading south.  But we just keep going and going and I get worried that we are really not on the right road and we are probably getting pretty close to Greece right now.  We see a couple of Police guys at a gas stations so we decide to ask them which way to Vlore.   OOPS!  We don't speak Shqip.  So I search my memory for words and come up with three, "Ku esht Vlore?"  The cop points down the road and we jump back in the car satisfied that we are going in the right direction. 

So 3 1/2 hours from Tirana we finally get back home just 15 minutes before our Pathway meeting was to begin. 

What an exciting day!   I think we'll take a road map with us next time but since what's on the map does not match what's on the ground it may not solve all our problems.

We'll take a few pictures of the traffic in Tirana next week when we travel there to do some work on our visas.  This time we were so intent on finding our way out we never even thought of taking a picture for you guys.