May is all but gone.  June and summer is rapidly approaching.  The month has gone by very quickly...I know that there is still 24 hours in every day but looking back I am puzzled by the blur.  Where did the month go?  If the speed of the passing months continues to accelerate as much as it has the past 5 months we will be finished with our mission before we have time to absorb it. 

I've noticed that the space between these blog entries keeps getting wider and wider.  I think it is because the available time to make an entry is getting thinner and thinner.  There is a compounding  problem with this:  with more and more happening and longer and longer time periods between entries there is more and more to blog about.  So, admittedly I am not going to be able to mention all we have experienced since the last entry. Here are just a few highlights.

On our way to Berat to interview an individual who wanted to be baptized we passed by this most unusual place.  Upon further investigation we found it to be a restaurant.  Maybe next time we go to Berat we will stop here for Dinner.

The other photos give you a glimpse of our trip to Gyjrokastra and Sarande.  We had the chance to tour a castle and an ancient town site.  When I say ancient I mean BC.  It has been partially excavated and is now a national historic site.  We hired a guide to show us through the place and were really fascinated by the antiquity and construction of the place.

Oh, and yes we are doing some missionary work.  I am on the stake high council, serving as the temporary elder's quorum, president, organizing home teaching, working with the bishops in the stake to complete their 2014 Tithing declaration report (So, Bishop you're  not as far behind as you thought you were).  Doing a weekly Pathway Meeting, Dixie gave a sacrament meeting talk last Sunday.  I taught both the Aaronic and Melchezedek priesthood lesson, we did a YSA stake conference last Saturday, and we're working with the young missionaries teaching investigators and attending district training meetings.  Plenty of work to go around.

Pretty fancy restaurant entrance

This is a picture of the court yard around the restaurant

This is the Baptistry.  Dating from about 200 AD



This theater was originally built by the Greeks 1st Century BC. but added to and improved by the Romans in the 2nd Century AD.  It was an unique thrill to set upon a 2000 year old stadium chair (Rock) and think about all who
sat there before I did.

I would guess the bigger stones weigh 1000-2000 pounds each.  They are piled up  15 feet high.
Can anyone explain how they did that without a crane? And then fit them together so tight
that you can't get a piece of paper in between them.

We stayed in a sea side motel in Sarande.  It was awesome to watch the sun sink into the sea.

Inside the castle at Gyjirokaster.  Yup, not just a small little bungalow on top of a hill.

Another shot inside the castle at Gyjirokaster.  Who hauled in all the rock and how did they get it all to the top of this very high and very steep hill?

Time for an Update

Orphanage Project - The humanitarian missionaries came to Vlore a few weeks ago and talked with the director of the orphanage.  They identified a few ways that we (the church) could be of assistance to the children.  Over the past week we have had a contractor install a nice parkquet floor over the top of their broken tile one in two different rooms.  We will be having a contractor paint a couple of rooms and a roofer patch some of the leaks in their roof.  We also were able to get some  money approved to buy some new toys and clothes for the children.  Last Saturday we gave our Young Adults some money and sent them out on the street to buy some clothing for the children.  I must say, they really enjoyed the activity and found some really great bargains.  They seemed so excited about what they bought and how well they did.  I am sure the little ones will enjoy the clothes too.

Teaching people the Gospel -  It has been our great privilege to teach with the full-time missionaries.  They are talking to some really great individuals.   So far only a few of them do not speak English so we have been able to share our feelings about Christ and his Gospel directly with them.  When the people don't speak English  the elders translate for us.  But it is a wonderful feeling to testify and witness of Christ and our relationship with God.  We had three people baptized this last week.  It is exciting to make friends with them and see them grow in their feelings toward God and the purpose of their mission on earth.

Teaching Lessons - As the High Councilman assigned to this ward and having no Elder's Quorum president it has fallen upon me to teach the lesson in Priesthood meeting.  As you know I love to teach but in this instance I don't speak their language.  How do you teach something to some one who doesn't know a lick of what you are saying and then when they do respond you have no idea what they just said.  Wow, what a challenge it has been.  Like the rest of the church we are studying President Benson's lessons.  So I decided to see if we could get the English and the Shqip translations of his lessons up on the TV monitor at the same time, side by side.  That way we could both be looking at the same ideas and lesson points.  That worked pretty well today as we talked about home teaching and finding the lost sheep.  I hope next week will be even better.

Service Projects - We've done a couple of service projects for members this past week.  The Relief Society president needed some bricks moved from the ground floor to the roof of her 3 story home.  So we (the 6 elders and I ) moved bricks one morning.  Another family needed some help putting in a terraced hillside.  So we spent some time digging dirt and placing rock.  They were pretty physical projects and I enjoyed the exercise.

So here are a few pictures to go along with some of our adventures this past two weeks.

Clothing for the kids at the orphanage

Young Adult Dance

Adriatic seashore

Service Project with the Elders.  Beautiful view of the bay