2012 October 22nd email

What is up, family?  Ok, first of all, before I start, a big shoutout to Jeremy Moore (friend in our stake) for being called to serve in Armenia!  That is legit!  Yeah, he definitely has the coolest call in the stake now, no questions there.  I actually saw an Armenian Book of Mormon in the MTC, that language looks legit.  In all honesty, I was thinking that if I was called to learn an oriental language, I would probably want to learn Armenian.  Congratulations to him for that.

Oh yeah, happy birthday Andrea (13) and Jake (16)!  I hope you like whatever presents mom assigned me to give you!


Ok, Elbasan,  It's a cool little city, it's pretty small.  There is like a fortress right in the middle of the city, we are next to it every night because that's where we go street contacting.  There's this road right next to it where the city blocks it up so drivers can't drive through it at night, so that people can take walks on it.  Taking walks is like a past time in Albania. I think people are aware that we are there every night, so when they see us they try to walk around us, but we've been trying to stand at different places now.  But yeah, we actually have a legit church building too. 

Yeah, syflaqes, they are good. (See picture from October 15th, 2012)  We get them a few times a week, they're pretty cheap too.  Fruit, we eat apples, I usually try to eat quite a few a week.  If possible, can you send me a fat bottle of like Centrum or something, I have a bottle of like 60 vitamins, and that'll run out real quick.

Yeah, I am trying to get all the flags of my mission.  Today I saw on the street an Albania and Kosovo flag, so I'm gonna try to get them next week.  Montenegro is gonna be tough, because our mission is going to be getting Serbian speaking Elders in January I think, so I doubt I'll go to Montenegro at all.

That's cool that Jake's about to become a priest, that's kinda weird though.  We're old.  How's Bishop Holdaway doing?  I am assuming he is dominating the ward, like usual?  That's awesome though.

Andrea, good luck at the Pep rally, you'll do fine, just dominate at the piano like always.  Jake, have a fun birthday, and enjoy those 5 or 6 dates I know you already have setup.

Ok, dad, you're questions:

1: Pershendetje (this keyboard does not have albanian letters with it, dangit) is not the most common greeting.  We say c'kemi (what have we? (literal translation) or what's up?) usually.  Pershendetje and Tungjatjeta both mean 'greetings' and are used when talking to old people, as respect. 

2:Yeah, it would probably be great if you can send an adaptor where I can plug it into a computer (like where you can plug in a flash drive), and on the other end you can insert the SD card.  I know those exist, because I used them in the MTC.  If that is possible, that would be great, and that can be my Christmas and birthday present if need be.  I am using the wolverine to back everything up.

3:  Shopping?  Yeah, they have supermarkets.  We go to this one store called 'roadhouse.'  It's just a supermarket, not a barbeque place or anything, and they got what we need.  I haven't really gotten anything else as far as souvenirs, but this past weekend the zone leaders went to Elbasan for exchanges, and they brought us back Dominos!  Macedonia has a Dominos, a couple McDonalds, and a couple Burger Kings.  It was so good!

So, yeah, the election.  People here keep up with what's going on with elections. 

So, Taken 2 was pretty good, eh? (a movie Mark saw)   Even if it was bad, I'd still watch it when I get back, probably just for translation.  So you saw Tirana and some countryside?  (online video-linked on this blog)  Yeah, the countryside is pretty cool here.

Yeah, I got Lek and Denar when I used the ATM.  Stupid fee, well at least I know now. (Scott used the ATM twice for small amounts of cash and was then charged a fee.  Lesson learned.)

Yeah, college football sounds awful, luckily I don't really care, at least the Jazz are sounding good?  When does the season start?  Next Tuesday?  That'll be weird, but what can you do? 

So, just before I got here and started emailing,  Elder Knight and I were walking over, and we saw a guy walking with a bear.  A legit bear.  So, I got a picture with it.  He had a chain leash, and I held that leash.  I got a picture next to a grizzly bear, (probably not a grizzly bear but a brown bear) holding the leash.  Only in Albania.

So, yeah, this week we got a new investigator named Armanda, she was found through the English course we do every Tuesday and Thursday.  She knows a bit about the church.   And then we have Meriglen and Sylvia, a couple who have investigated and want to be baptized.  But they are awesome. 

Well, I think that's everything I got this week.  Hope things are well, things are good over here.

Ju dua!

Elder Palmer