the one about moldy chicken

"Numr q keni kerkuar sht e pa-" Then I hang up. That's what the automated voice says when someone's phone isn't going to answer. It's either because the phone is off, or they've changed numbers. We don't know which one it is, so we keep trying. None of our investigators answered their phones at all this week. The only lessons we got were with a retention of Hermes (hair-mess), the awesome future-branch-president 13-year old, and a fireside we had on Saturday. We invited the whole branch and told them to bring a friend, too. We started in the chapel, then went to the second floor and watched "Finding Faith in Christ" (dubbed in Albanian, of course), then back downstairs for refreshments, ping-pong, and Uno. Only a handful of people came, and only about 5 weren't members, but it was still a spiritual, fun experience for everyone, so I consider it a big success.

There wasn't anymore political excitement like last week. There was another rally-thing, but it was a big funeral service for the three people killed on the 21st. I've noticed that here in Albania, maybe it's because they're 70% Muslim here, but they make it a huge, HUGE deal when someone dies. You've probably seen women in some Arabic countries lamenting and crying for someone who died. It isn't quite that intense here, but they had a couple thousand people go to the square and they had portraits of the victims blown up to about 3 stories high. Also, when a person passes away, there's 40 days of mourning. And then multiple anniversary mournings. I'm so grateful that we have knowledge of life after this earth. When I die, I want my funeral to be about 10 minutes long, with my voice at the end saying, "See you all in a couple of years!"

Also, yesterday we made the usual pasta lunch. But when we bit into a chunk of chicken, we tasted mold. It was pretty nasty. It took awhile to determine the taste was from the chicken and not the sauce or noodles. The problem was, only one of the chicken breasts had the mold in it, so we smelled every piece before we ate it. We're not dead, so it must've been harmless mold.

I hope everyone back home is healthy and happy.

Elder Weaver