Thursday, September 18, 2008

Albania Tirana Mission

Albania Tirana Mission



"New Mission Presidents," (Paul Douglas Clayton) Church News [Saturday, 23 April 2005].



Articles
 Latter-day Saints aid in Northern Albania: Mormon members and missionaries help in aftermath of flooding, Church News [Tuesday, 23 February 2010].

"Country Information--Albania," Church News [Thursday, 15 October 2009].

Elder Lavar Leonhardt and Sister Frances Leonhardt , "New Outreach Center," Church News [Saturday, 31 March 2007].

Elder James Jurgens, "Albania Chapel," Church News [Saturday, 9 December 2006].

Barbara Jones Brown, “Noteworthy Service,” Ensign, Aug 2006, 16–19

Sister Jill Harrison, "Ground Broken for 1st Albanian Chapel," Church News [Saturday, 27 August 2005].

"Albania girls camp largest in 12-year history," Church News [Saturday, 28 August 2004].

"Visual Testimonies," (Elder Jeremy Winborg painting as missionary of girl and Book of Mormon) Church News [Saturday, 22 March 2003].

Colleen Whitley, "Dean Byrd's Journals of the Kosovo Refugee Camps," BYU Studies 039 No. 2, pp. 7-55.

Jeremy Winborg explains his painting

Thales and Charone Smith humanitarian mission in Albania

"Ambulance donated to Albania," (humanitarian missionaries LeGrand and Gwen Wooly procure) Church News [Saturday, 17 August 2002].

Mary Ellen W. Smoot, “Developing Inner Strength,” Liahona, Jul 2002, 13–15 (sends 1,000 quilts to members and missionaries in Albania)

Mary Ellen Smoot, "Developing Inner Strength," Church News [Saturday, 6 April 2002]. (sends 1,000 quilts to members and missionaries in Albania)

"Church continues sending aid to refugees of Kosovo," Church News [Saturday, 8 May 1999).

"Church reassigns missionaries serving in Albania," Church News [Saturday, 29 August 1998].

"New Mission Presidents," (Stephen Conrad Lenker Sr.) Church News [Saturday, 18 April 1998].

"How to Build a Strong Work Ethic in Children," (Elder Cameron L. Sessions) Church News [Saturday, 21 March 1998].

Posted by Dr. B at 9:07 AM
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8 comments:

Dr. B said...

In 1995 Charone H. Smith in To Rejoice As Women: Talks from 1994 Women's Conference wrote of her experience as a humanitarian missionary in Albania:

I am a registered nurse, and my husband, Thales, is a pediatrician. He and I had always hoped to use our medical skills in a third-world country, and our opportunity came in 1992 when the Church called us as humanitarian missionaries to Albania. Most people have trouble placing Albania on the map, which is not surprising considering its half-century of self-imposed isolation. This tiny Balkan state, about the size of Maryland, is bordered on the north and east by the former Yugoslavia and on the south by Greece. It was ruled for more than forty years by a ruthless Stalinist dictator, Enver Hoxha, who regularly employed terror, political purges, and paranoia to control his people. Citizens who dared, even remotely, to criticize his totalitarian regime were declared enemies of the people, removed from their jobs and homes, and either killed or, with their families, sentenced for life to labor camps. Eventually Hoxha severed links with Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and China, all former allies. In 1967 he outlawed all forms of religion and wrote atheism into the nation's constitution. Schoolbooks were altered to teach that there is no God.

Hoxha died in 1985, but his successor, Ramiz Alia, kept communism alive. A flood of refugees fleeing to Italy and student protests at home finally forced Alia to make some mild reforms. Then in 1989 the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime in Romania served as a catalyst for Albanian youth to begin their own relatively bloodless revolution. Albania started to open its doors to the outside world. At that time Elder Dallin H. Oaks and President Hans B. Ringger of the European Mission went to Tirana, the capital of Albania, to see if the country would accept LDS humanitarian service. The government was interested in receiving technical assistance in health care, business administration, and English language instruction. In the fall of 1991, my husband and I, along with Melvin and Randolyn Brady, were called as the first missionaries to Albania. We entered the communist nation in February 1992 as humanitarian missionaries. We were not to proselyte, though we were free to answer any questions about our religion.

When we arrived there, Albania's poverty had become pervasive and endemic. Over half the people were unemployed. Housing and food shortages had forced two and sometimes three generations of a family to live together in very small apartments. Those who were lucky enough to have jobs earned the equivalent of nineteen to thirty dollars a month. Shortages were rampant. The infrastructure of the country was dilapidated, especially in telecommunications, transportation, roads, industry, and agriculture. Many industrial plants were working at 5 percent capacity, struggling with outdated machinery and shortages of raw material.

The four of us rented a small apartment from Anastas and Sophia Suli. Fortunately, three family members spoke English, and the family was kind, friendly, and helpful. Even so, we felt very much like we were camping out. Electricity and water were available only erratically, food was quite scarce, and I got used to standing in bread lines. We adjusted, however, to the local routine. The Sulis had been very concerned that we arrive before the election, because there had been much rioting and some deaths during the April 1991 election. Thinking our stay would be short, they were astonished to learn that we intended to stay for eighteen months and at our own expense.

Melvin Brady taught free-market economy in the economics department at the University of Tirana, and Randolyn taught English. Thales and I were assigned to a dystrophy hospital, which dealt with cases of malnourishment in the very young. There we found about eighty infants and children, the oldest only two and a half. Most were ailing children of poor peasant families.

Conditions at the antiquated Russian-built hospital were horrendous. Windows were missing, and it was bitter cold. We found rooms of children swaddled like infants, even the ones who were two or older. Some could not sit or even hold up their heads. All of the children avoided eye contact, and I did not see one smile. Everything was gray-the faces, the clothes, the walls. We were overcome but didn't realize we were crying until the doctors showing us around said, "Please, don't cry." How could we not cry, seeing the complete lack of physical and emotional stimulation, human beings treated more like objects than precious little children?

We spent the first two weeks establishing trust with the doctors and staff (we were careful never to criticize), deciding where to begin, and praying for help and insight. Though we were overwhelmed, we began where we could. Thales worked on the skin diseases that were prevalent and made sure the children's formula provided adequate nourishment. I began working to improve the physical and emotional state of the ten children assigned to me. It soon became evident that I could serve most effectively working full time at the dystrophy hospital. Thales spent one day a week at the hospital, checking the sick children and lecturing the doctors on medical problems related to the children, such as skin diseases and developmental pediatrics. The rest of the week he spent at the pediatric hospital and the medical school, where his training and talents were desperately needed. At the medical school he consulted and presented lectures on what had happened in the field of pediatrics during the last quarter of a century. Their pediatric textbook was twenty-five years out of date.

Hardly knowing where to begin, I exercised the children, worked on their range of motion, talked and sang to them, held and loved them. The staff thought this kind of personal involvement was a little crazy, but when in time the children started to respond-began smiling, gaining weight, sitting up-the doctors were amazed. They had no idea that was what the children needed!

A scarcity of water in the hospital made difficult conditions even worse. Taps worked only two or three hours early each morning, and hospital workers hurried to fill containers for the wards, laundry, and kitchen. Consequently, baths were few and far between, and diapers were changed only on a schedule, regardless of need. Doctors and nurses couldn't believe I would hold and love a child who was soiled.

Diarrhea was rampant, especially in the summer months, as were hepatitis, salmonella, and giardia. Infrequent bathing resulted in constant skin infections, particularly scabies. Because soap as well as water was scarce, we had a continuing struggle to get nurses and doctors to wash their hands. Rats, flies, and cockroaches bred everywhere. There were no bottles; the babies were fed from metal cups because that's all there was.

I rejoiced when the Church humanitarian service sent truckloads of supplies to help in the dystrophy hospital as well as the pediatric and maternity hospitals. We received great quantities of hand and washing soap, insecticide, water containers, diapers, bottles and nipples, clothes, blankets, and much needed medical and cleaning equipment. Toys for the children came also, but most were quickly stolen by nurses whose own children needed toys too.

I tried to teach many things by example, and I did learn some Albanian so I could communicate. Most of the time, however, I worked alone. Four months after we arrived, young proselyting missionaries came to Albania and helped with the children once a week. Some of the staff responded to what I taught them; many did not. I was surrounded by apathy and exhaustion. The Albanian women worked very hard to earn about nineteen dollars a month in the hospital. They rose very early to get water for their cooking and washing at home; by the time they got to the hospital, they were already tired. One nurse said, "I know you're disappointed that we don't do more of what you've taught us, but we're so tired." Some of that exhaustion is depression. They see no way out of their circumstances.

The long years of political oppression (censorship of thought, expression, conscience, and individual liberties) plus the difficult economic situation have pushed most of the Albanian people into a spiritual numbness. Despite these problems, however, we were able to make a significant change in the physical appearance of the hospital and in the well-being of the children. When we left, many children were smiling and active. All but three of the first eighty had returned to their homes.

We formed close bonds with the Albanians during our stay. People at the hospital and the university were very aware of what we represented and showed us great respect. We learned to love and respect them also and had a difficult time leaving in August of 1993.

Now serving humanitarian missions in Albania are two nurses and a physician and his wife. The nurses are working at the dystrophy hospital, where wives of the senior missionaries also help.

A free election in March 1992 resulted in the nation's first democratically elected president, Sali Berisha. We have rejoiced to see the fledgling democracy develop and the economy gradually improve. But even with those positive changes, Albania has far to go. Unemployment is still estimated at 50 to 70 percent. Small, free-enterprise businesses are developing now, but there is still no major industry.

Perhaps most promising of all, religion is making a comeback. Because Albania was under the Ottoman Empire for five hundred years, it is about 70 percent Muslim. About 20 percent of Albanians are Greek Orthodox, 10 percent are Catholic, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a wonderful beginning-three branches with 130 members. The people need faith-faith in God, faith in themselves, and faith in their country.

We learned a great deal from our experience. We are now keenly aware of need and suffering and of opportunities for service all around us-even at home. Returning to the United States was a far bigger adjustment than leaving. We have so much, and the Albanians have so little.

I once met Mother Teresa, who is Albanian. She said to me, "We cannot love God and man and do nothing to lessen human suffering." To have had a chance to lessen some of the suffering of precious Albanian children has been a great blessing in our lives. This indeed was a labor of love.

Albania a Labor of Love Notes

1. Charone Hellberg Smith is a registered nurse who has been active in community affairs and state politics. She and her husband, Thales H. Smith, a pediatrician, are the parents of seven children. Together they served as two of the first LDS humanitarian missionaries in Albania.

September 25, 2008 at 4:57 AM
Dr. B said...

And to see what's taking place! Ten years ago we never would have dreamed that we'd be in some of the places we're in today. To think we'd have missionaries and congregations in Russia and Latvia and Albania and Mongolia, places of that kind! Most of us never knew that there was such a city on the whole face of the earth as Ulaanbaatar. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents Seminar, June 24, 1995.)

September 25, 2008 at 4:59 AM
Dr. B said...

Edwin B. Morrell in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism says about Albania:

Albania.

Located on the Balkan Peninsula, Albania was the last previously Communist-ruled nation in Eastern Europe to grant proselyting status to the LDS Church and missionaries. Between 1967 and 1990, the Communists banned all religious worship. Thereafter the three traditional religions—Muslim, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic—were reestablished.

The first Latter-day Saint contacts were for humanitarian aid: couple missionaries serving as doctors, nurses, and educators were invited into the country in 1992, following visits by Latter-day Saint general authorities. In that same year, young adult missionaries began proselyting activities under the Austria Vienna East Mission. Following government recognition, the Albania Tirana Mission was opened in July 1996.

Church membership grew rapidly to 500, and 6 branches were organized. After weeks of economic and political unrest, 31 missionaries were evacuated in March 1997, but many returned in September. Due to continuing civil strife, the remaining 24 missionaries were reassigned to other missions in August 1998.

At the beginning of the year 2000, Albania had 789 members in 7 branches.

Sources

"Church Reassigns Missionaries Serving in Albania." Church News, 29 August 1998, 5.

Mehr, Kahlile. "Frontier in the East." Manuscript history, Albania.

1999-2000 Church Almanac. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1998. 267.

EDWIN B. MORRELL

September 25, 2008 at 5:02 AM
Dr. B said...

In the Saturday, 12 June 1993 Church News, it was reported:

TIRANA, ALBANIA

A small mountainous country in southeastern Europe's Balkan Peninsula, Albania was dedicated April 23 by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Council of the Twelve.

Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander of the Seventy and a counselor in the Europe Area presidency and Austria Vienna Mission Pres. Kenneth D. Reber accompanied Elder Oaks to Albania. Elder Oaks' wife, June, and Pres. Reber's wife, Janet, also were present. Seventy-eight people were present, including 55 Albanian members, 18 missionaries, and the four people traveling with Elder Oaks.

The dedicatory service, which began at 7 a.m., was held on a hillside overlooking the capital city of Tirana near a national memorial, "The Monument of the Heroes."

Pres. Reber gave a brief history of the Church in Albania, a history that goes back only to 1991 when he visited the land with Elder Hans B. Ringger of the Seventy and president of the Europe Area. In June 1992, four full-time missionaries arrived in Albania: Elders Matthew Wirthlin, Mark Slabaugh, Paul McAlister and Jonathan Jarvis. In addition, Elder George Niedens and Sister Nancy Niedens were transferred from Austria to assist in agriculture.

Elder Neuenschwander, in addressing the group assembled for the dedication, said: "As Elder Oaks dedicates this land, may we all dedicate ourselves that the gospel may be full in our lives, that the fruits of the gospel will reach into future generations, and as many of you here are young, that this day may be bright in your memories. . . .

"As we pray that the gospel takes root in this wonderful country, may that gospel take root in our lives that it will grow to a full tree, unshakable, which brings forth much fruit, that your influence may have good influence wherever you are in this country, in your families, and in your schools, and in your work, and in your community."

In the dedicatory prayer, Elder Oaks asked for a blessing upon the land, its leaders and its citizens. He prayed that they would be blessed with "wisdom and strength that the light of freedom may be preserved in this land, that those who are hungry may be fed, that those who are suffering may be comforted." He asked that the land may produce an abundance for its people, that its industries may flourish.

"We pray that peace may be preserved in this land for the blessing of its people," Elder Oaks petitioned. "We pray that thou wilt forestall the forces of evil and frustrate every effort that would interrupt the peace and freedom and prosperity of this land."

Further, he prayed, "We bless this land that the spiritual gifts may be rich here, that the gifts of communication and understanding may be felt in abundance, and that the gifts of blessing and healing and translating may be here."

September 25, 2008 at 5:04 AM
Dr. B said...

In 1997 missionaries were temporarily evacuated due to civil unrest. The 22 March 1997 Church News reported:

Reluctant refugees. That's what Albania Mission Pres. Laurel L. Holman, his wife, Sister Louise Holman, and 33 other missionaries became March 14-15 as they were safely evacuated from Albania during the throes of civil unrest.

The Albanian capital of Tirana slid into chaos Thursday, March 13, after weeks of violence, sparked by the collapse of high-risk investment schemes of the government in which many families lost money. News reports described widespread looting and people with guns-many of them youngsters-who roamed the streets while firing wildly into the air with weapons stolen from abandoned military depots. Americans were ordered out of Albania on Friday, March 14. Missionaries in the Albania Tirana Mission were among refugees evacuated by military personnel.

The whole experience can be called nothing short of high drama: Missionaries heard weapons being fired; they were airlifted by helicopter from the U.S. embassy compound at Tirana and were transported aboard a U.S. Navy ship across the Adriatic Sea to Brindisi, Italy. Yet nothing was as powerful as the quiet assurance that the Lord had them in His watchful care throughout the whole ordeal. Of this, President Holman and his fellow missionaries testified Sunday morning, March 16, at a special sacrament meeting in a tourist hotel set among olive groves in Martina Franca, about 25 miles from Brindisi.

Two members of the Seventy went to Brindisi to meet with the missionaries and help smooth their abrupt "transfer" from Albania. Within hours after the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve called for the missionaries to leave Albania, Elder Neil L. Andersen, first counselor in the Europe West Area presidency, and Elder F. Enzio Busche, second counselor in the Europe East Area presidency, were en route from their areas' headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, to Brindisi. Matthew Mathias, who speaks fluent Italian, traveled with them to provide assistance.

Leopoldo Larcher, the Europe West Area service center manager in Italy, had been notified to anticipate the missionaries' arrival and to prepare necessary arrangements for accommodations and other needs. Details were sparse. At first, Church officials were told that the missionaries would be taken straight from Brindisi to Rome. Later, however, Elders Andersen and Busche learned that they were not required to continue to Rome.

"We were unable to contact the local members," Elder Andersen said, "but the Lord's hand was at work. Unknown to us, Lt. Col. Bill L. Cochran, a member of the Church from Hill Air Force Base in Utah who was in the area on temporary assignment, was directly involved in receiving those coming from Triana. He recognized the missionaries as they arrived at the Brindisi Airport by helicopter from the naval ship, and he and another military member of the Church immediately watched over them."

Elder Andersen said that Brother Larcher had arrived in Brindisi and went quickly to the port, believing that the missionaries would be coming in by sea. After waiting a while, he felt impressed to return to the airport, thinking that at least he would be there when Elders Andersen and Busche arrived. "He returned to the airport just as Col. Cochran was hoping for help in knowing what to do with the missionaries," Elder Andersen said. "Brother Larcher was joined by Carmels Vergari, president of the Brindisi Branch of the Puglia Italy Stake, and Vito Greco, the elders quorum president.

"Brother Larcher was able to relate that we did not want the missionaries continuing on to Rome. Col. Cochran suggested hotel arrangements near the airport, and the missionaries were transported there for a good night's rest."

When Elder Andersen and Elder Busche arrived in Brindisi at 11:30 p.m. March 14, they learned that the missionaries from Albania were safely in Brindisi-all except Pres. Holman and Elder Jozef Szamosfalvi. The fact that Elder Szamosfalvi, a Hungarian serving as Pres. Holman's assistant, did not have a U.S. passport caused them to remain at the embassy compound in Tirana after the other missionaries were evacuated. (See article on this page.)

Not until the next morning, Saturday, March 15, did anyone from the Church hear from Pres. Holman and Elder Szamosfalvi. Elders Andersen and Busche, on their way to meet with the missionaries at the hotel near the airport in Brindisi, received on a cellular phone a call from the Italy Catania Mission informing them that Pres. Holman had telephoned that office. He was at the airport in Brindisi. Elders Andersen and Busche instructed their taxi driver to go to the airport. "To our great delight, not only was Pres. Holman there, but so was the missionary from Hungary, Elder Szamosfalvi," Elder Andersen said. "You can only imagine the emotion of the next few minutes."

He said that the missionaries were gathered in a meeting room at the hotel. Told that two members of the Seventy had arrived, they began to sing "Called to Serve." They were happy to see the two General Authorities as they entered at the back of the room. As the missionaries stood and turned around, they then saw that their mission president and missionary colleague had arrived, also. Needless to say, everyone in the room was overcome with emotion. They struggled to complete the hymn.

"There were tears, hugs, smiles and prayers of thanksgiving," Elder Andersen said.

Elders Andersen and Busche feel that the timeliness of Pres. Holman's telephone call from the airport to the Italy Catania Mission headquarters was more than coincidence. "It was as if the Lord allowed His servants to deliver this miracle, though He had surely brought the miracle to pass," Elder Andersen said.

At the meeting with the reunited mission leader and missionaries, Elder Busche expressed the love and concern of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve and of all the Church. He quoted D&C 115:6, saying that the purpose of a stake was "for a defense and for a refuge from the storm." The Puglia Italy Stake, including the vicinity of Brindisi, had been created just one week earlier. Elder Busche told the missionaries that they were "safe in a stake of Zion."

The missionaries were relocated Saturday afternoon to the hotel at Martina Franca, which provided a tranquil setting for their special testimony meeting Sunday, March 16. On Saturday afternoon and evening, Elders Andersen and Busche met with the missionaries individually, listening to each tell of his or her thoughts, feelings or reflections on the events of the past few days.

"This was an 'emotional debriefing,' " Elder Busche said. "We weren't looking for facts and numbers. We wanted to know where their hearts were, how they felt about what had happened, what their own personal situation was."

What they found, Elder Busche said, were "33 missionaries who had a tremendous level of trust in the Lord. They demonstrated no fear, no panic. There was a reluctance to leave the country because they love the people so much."

The General Authorities listened to the missionaries express concern about "the wonderful people" of Albania. Several missionaries left behind investigators who had set baptismal dates.

At the meeting Sunday morning, missionary elders blessed and passed the sacrament; the hymn had been "In Humility Our Savior." Elder Andersen spoke about the missionary labors of Paul and the lessons for the missionaries coming from Albania. Elder Busche bore powerful testimony of the importance of the gospel in today's world. He traced the recent history of Albania and the noble effort of those very missionaries in bringing the truth of Jesus Christ to that country. "We each must experience the real, living Christ," he said. He told them of when missionaries were taken for a few weeks from his city when he was investigating the Church in Germany.

In bearing her testimony, Sister Holman said, "Our [mission] theme was 'Faith in Every Footstep,' but we didn't expect it to be so real."

Elder Dennis C. Hess, a doctor from Provo, Utah, serving a humanitarian mission in Albania with his wife, Sister Noreen A. Hess, said, "We get the idea that when we take the first step we know where we are going. Sometimes our path takes us through difficult steps."

Elder Mark Stringham of Provo, Utah, said, "I wouldn't care what happened to me, as long as I know that I have touched someone's life with the truth."

Throughout the weekend and the next few days, many missionaries expressed sorrow at having to leave their "beloved Albania."

On Monday, March 17, the missionaries were taken to Rome. Some left for new mission assignments that day, while others awaited assignments to missions elsewhere in Europe and the British Isles.

Being "split up" was a sorrowful event. It was more difficult, some said, than being in the midst of the turmoil in Albania. But one missionary seemed to express the underlying feeling of all the missionaries who had been serving in Albania. "I love the Albanians," said Sister Heather Corrigan of Orem, Utah, "but I am still the Lord's servant wherever I am sent. I can serve Him anywhere."

September 25, 2008 at 5:08 AM
Dr. B said...

Gerry Avant reported in the Saturday, 22 March 1997 Church News more about the evacuations in an article entitled "I Know We Had Protection of the Angels":

As troubles escalated in this Balkan nation, Albania Mission Pres. Laurel L. Holman began working on the logistics of evacuating the missionaries.

He was concerned about Elder Jozef Szamosfalvi, a native of Hungary, who was his assistant. Pres. Holman went with Elder Szamosfalvi to the Hungarian embassy, but while diplomats treated them with kindness, they expressed regret that they could not be of assistance.

When the call was issued for missionaries to leave, Pres. Holman sent word for them to gather at the mission home in Tirana. On Friday, March 14, they left the home in small groups, with some walking 20 minutes to the U.S. Embassy. Each was permitted to take one piece of luggage.

At the embassy, officials initially turned down Pres. Holman's appeal for Elder Szamosfalvi to be evacuated with the others. "I told them that he was part of our group, that if he couldn't go, then I wouldn't go. I wasn't going to leave him behind, all alone," Pres. Holman said in a Church News telephone interview from Rome.

He and Elder Szamosfalvi watched all the other missionaries, including Sister Louise Holman, board a bus for a helicopter staging area at the embassy's housing compound about five miles away, to be flown to a ship bound for Brindisi, Italy, 50 miles across the Adriatic Sea.

After a long while, an embassy official attached a note to Elder Szamosfalvi's passport: "Let him go." However, by the time their bus arrived at the compound, shooting had become so intense that helicopters returned to the ship without passengers. The LDS pair stayed at the compound overnight.

"We talked," Pres. Holman said. "Our feelings and concerns weren't for ourselves. We were safe. We were sure that we would be evacuated the next morning. Our concern was about the people in Albania. We had baptisms scheduled. We talked about how excited and happy the people were because they were going to be baptized, and the disappointment that was coming into their lives now that the missionaries had left."

At 5 a.m. Saturday, March 15, Pres. Holman and Elder Szamosfalvi boarded the helicopter that took them directly to Brindisi, where they had a tearful and joyful reunion with fellow missionaries.

Pres. Holman told the Church News that it was the "love, concern and prayers of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve and other General Authorities, and of the families and friends of the missionaries" that enabled them to escape unharmed. Those prayers, he said, were answered. "I know we had the protection of the angels."

September 25, 2008 at 5:11 AM
Dr. B said...

"New Mission Presidents," Church News [Saturday, 23 April 2005] 12:

Paul Douglas Clayton, 62; Albania Tirana Mission; Monument Park 13th Ward, Salt Lake Monument Park Stake; high councilor; former bishop and counselor and missionary in the German Central Mission. Chief medical informatics officer for IHC. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Sutherland Whipple and Mavis Greer Clayton. Married Mary Elizabeth Cowley, eight children.

A counselor in the ward Relief Society presidency, Sister Clayton is a former stake and ward Relief Society president and ward Young Women president. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Joseph Foss and Marian Bennion Cowley.

September 28, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Dr. B said...

“New Mission Presidents Now in Place,” Liahona, Aug. 2008, N4–N5:

Mission

Albania Tirana

New President


John Martin Neil

September 29, 2008 at 2:01 PM

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