Members are good citizens in Albania
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Elder D. Todd Christofferson's six-country tour included a visit with Albania President Bamir Topi.
Elder Christofferson and his wife, Katherine, Elder Johann Wondra, Area Seventy, and his wife, Ursula, and President J. Martin Neil of the Albania Tirana Mission and his wife, Elizabeth, and senior missionaries Peter and Ruth Lynne Snow attended the opening of a school created to educate the Roma ethnic minority in Tirana.
The school is designed to teach the Albanian language to the local Roma children. Once they learn Albanian, they will be able to attend public Albanian schools and further integrate into Albanian society. The school accommodates 50 students. The Church provided the school with desks, chairs, carpets, curtains, toys, medical supplies, a refrigerator and a stove. Other local dignitaries attending the opening were members of the Roma community who will also benefit from the school.
Other Albanian dignitaries Elder Christofferson met included Krenar Loloci, one of the original drafters of the Albanian constitution; Rasim Hasanaj, chairman of the Albanian Committee of Cults; Halil Lalaj, former member of parliament; and Michael Gray, supervisor of Religious Affairs for the United States' embassy in Albania.
Albania is Europe's poorest nation and is recovering from 40 years of communism. The Church is not recognized as an official religion, but legislation is being considered to grant permission to register as a church. There are 11 branches in Albania and meetinghouses in Durres and Elbasan.
In Macedonia, where the Church does not enjoy official status, Elder Christofferson met in the home of Sam and Andrea Juncker in the city of Skopje. They had invited a number of friends and the handful of other members who live in the general area. Among those attending were Nico and Valentina Zdravkova and their two sons, the only known Macedonian citizen members. In these small, intimate gatherings, they spoke about basic beliefs for the benefit of those who were not members and endeavored to strengthen the devoted members in their faith as they keep alive the gospel flame in these outposts.
