Dear family,

So last Saturday I got to go back to Fier for exchanges because my companion had a branch presidency meeting up in Tirana.  So once again, I found myself in Fier.  It's kind of funny.  For a missionary who has never been transferred to Fier, I have spent about half a transfer worth in Fier.  It's pretty cool.  Plus, I get some good food while I'm there.  So I got to go with Elder Norris, who now has 3 months in the country.  In 1 week, I will have 3 MTC groups here younger than me in the country.  It's cool.

I figured last week that I wouldn't add the details of the turtle killing because it would probably make people sick.  They were just living through half the process.  Luckily, we were able to persuade him to kill one quickly so it didn't have to suffer as much.  It had an interesting taste.  It was pretty good, but not too much meat in a turtle.

This week we got 2 mini-missionaries here in Vlorë, so for the next 2 weeks, there are as many sisters as there are elders.  This week, we are going to have special trainings in Fier on Wednesday and Thursday that will take up probably about half of each day.  That should be fun and exciting.  Also, this next Saturday we get transfer calls, and this time it will probably be pretty darn exciting because nobody has any idea what is happening.  This is the first transfer where President has not come down to do interviews with all of us because some things are changing with missions world-wide.  So really, I have no idea what's going to happen, unlike the past couple transfers.  And with these special trainings, the week is just going to fly by.

Being in Albania really shows the negative effect of communism.  There is a very similar mentality among many of the older generations that I think has got to be from being poor and communism.  Luckily, I think the younger generations are less effected by it, although it will take a couple generations for it to all wear off.  I have just learned that communism is not one of those things I will ever want.  It just seems like the older generations tell us they have a lot of faith, but then from what they say afterwards, it just doesn't seem like they understand what it is.  So that is sad.

I used to be really good at writing in my journal, but for a while I was slacking on it, and then I was like 2 weeks behind.  Last night, my companion was feeling a little sick, so we came in earlier and I caught up a bit.  So now I'm only a week behind.  Hopefully I can find time to make that all up.  It seems like in Vlorë that I have been way busier than any other area I've been.  I kind of think I'd like to go back to somewhere like Shkodër where there is only 1 or 2 sets of missionaries.  Sometimes, I don't really want to do district activities with the missionaries.  Most of the time, they are pretty fun though.

Anyways, I can't think of any other happenings for this week, so I will wrap it up here.

Love,
Elder Wallentine