6.4 Earthquake in Albania.

A 6.4 Earthquake hit Albania at 3:54am on Tuesday, November 26, 2019.  At lease 49 people have been killed and 2,000 have been injured.  There are at least 4,000 homeless.  The earthquake hit Durrës which is about 35 kilometres from Tirana, which is where our couple live.  Elder and Sister Jones felt the quake and have felt several after shocks since.  We were in Lisbon, Portugal when the earthquake occurred in Albania, but Gary was able to write an emergency response project.  

Below are just a few of pictures which we have received.  Elder and Sister Jones are not just getting their toes wet as they begin their mission, they are jumping in with both feet.  

We are thankful that all the missionaries are safe.  Some of their apartments were badly damaged, but they are all okay.

"Expecting a trouble-free life because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian."  Jeffrey R. Holland

Training Elder and Sister Jones in Tirana, Albania

On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 we flew to Tirana, Albania to train out new couple Elder Clifton and Sister Diane Jones.  Elder and Sister Jones are from Billings, Montana

After arriving at the Tirana Airport, E/S Jones took us to our hotel.  The hotel was about a 5 minute walk from their apartment.  They have a very nice apartment and one of the few larger cards that missionaries drive.  Most senior missionaries have Hyundai i30's (like ours).   They have a Hyundai Tucson, which is really good because they are both quite tall.

After dropping our things off at the hotel we made the five minute walk to their apartment where we worked to make sure their phones, computers and printers worked.  We also needed to activate and get a pin number for their humanitarian credit card which they will use for their work.   

Each day was spent reviewing their humanitarian projects, learning project since procedures and discussing how to submit a variety of reports.  Each evening we were out to dinner; nothing fancy, but after spending the whole day doing office work it was a welcome change.

We did take the opportunity to visit some of their humanitarian project partners as well as going to Durrës, the second largest city in Albania.   In Durrës, we met with a few potential organizations that perhaps E/S Jones will be able to do humanitarian projects with.