the one about Christmas

I am right now in a trio with the elders in the other area. My companion, Elder Fisher, went home early because his whole group decided to do that so they could catch the next semester of school. So until next Tuesday I'm working with these other guys in their area and staying at their house, which is cool, because it's a nice house and they're awesome. We're having a great time.

On Wednesday we had the branch Christmas party. It was pretty good, but of course the primary was the best. They sang Jingle Bells and Feliz Navidad. We missionaries sang a rendition of The First Noel, and I'm happy to say it didn't sound half bad. Then, on Thursday, the whole district had their Christmas party at the national museum. It was great seeing members from all over Albania, some of them I knew. There were a LOT of musical pieces done by different branches, and then at the end all of the missionaries sang a really cool song called "Peace, Peace" (if you can find it, give it a listen). Then I got kind of worried when they gave everyone on the stand sparklers and lit them and had us all sing "Joy to the World". Luckily the place didn't burn down (because concrete isn't flammable, despite my many attempts to make it such), and the sprinkler system didn't go off. In all, it was a good experience.

My first Christmas in Albania was spent well, thankfully. The first and third branch missionaries were invited to the mission president's house and they fed us breakfast. There was scrambled eggs, sweet rolls, Cinnamon rolls, BACON, orange juice and hot chocolate. Haven't eaten that well in a little while. And then there was a little white elephant gift exchange, and I ended up with a really nice Albania Tirana mission tie pin, with the double-headed Albanian eagle on it.

Also, we visited members. Hermes (hair-mess) here is going to be one of the next branch presidents when he gets older. He's dang smart.

He's only 13 but he knows nearly as much as I do.

And then we went to the Vogli (vogue-lee) family. I got all three of their kids in front of the Christmas tree. From left to right is Sara, Jozef, and Ester.

These kids are super smart. Jozef has memorized all 13 articles of faith, and he's only six.

That's about all. I hope you all had a good Christmas filled with family and memories!

Elder Weaver