Trip to Pick up Ryan - Tirana, Albania

On Wednesday we woke up, checked out of our eclectic hotel in Amsterdam and excitedly headed to the airport. Luckily we didn’t have to pay for our 27 Euro a night parking garage because they wouldn’t accept American credit cards or Euro cash. We still made it to the airport in time. On our flight before take off the pilot came on and said that we had gotten bumped and that we would be waiting on the tarmac for 50 minutes. Our hearts sunk. That meant we would be missing our connecting flight in Vienna. I drafted an email to the mission office saying we would likely not be arriving and just before I sent it the plane started to move. They had been given unexpected clearance and it was a tender mercy. Chris had looked into later flights and found nothing. I was so grateful for this little miracle that I started to cry.

Hopping on our flight from Vienna to Tirana I noticed that there were missionaries on our flight. 4 Elders and 4 sisters. I wondered if we might see any since that was where Ryan had had a layover and then I became a little hopeful that we just might see Ryan at the airport if he came with President to pick up the new recruits. We talked to the missionaries as we stood in line for customs and then picked up our luggage. Chris got the video camera ready just in case. As we walked through the gate we spotted him and Chris started recording as I started crying.

Boy was it great to see him. He knew he would be at the airport but wanted to surprise us. It was fun to meet President and Sister Anderson. They gave us a hug and commended us for raising such a great son. And then they said goodbye and turned their attention to their new missionaries.

We picked up Ryan’s luggage from the mission van and loaded it in our little rental and then headed for Hotel Colosseo in Tirana. We checked in and Ryan started talking Albania to the lady at the front desk - surprising her that his Albanian was so good. It was the first of many times that would happen as we traveled around and it never got old. So fun to be here in HIS country. We got settled in our room at 4:00 and immediately facetimed the kids and then Katie at BYU, which was so fun. Then at 5:00 we face-timed President Rogers and Ryan spoke to him, shared a story and his testimony and was released. I think it was a hard transition.

This sequence of pictures make me smile. Chris ‘helping’ Ryan take off his missionary tag. It’s official.

We took some pictures and then changed clothes to go get some dinner and walk around the city. Fun to take it all in and see and listen to all his stories and answers to our many questions. We went to get some Albanian money and then ate at one of his favorite restaurants… a Greek place. The best suflaqe! It was SOOOO good. Before we started Ryan held up his water and said, “gëzuar’ which means ‘cheers’ and is commonplace at the beginning of meals. As we finished, a little Albanian girl approached and asked for money. Then when she saw he had a half a suflaqe left she asked if she could have it and he said ‘po’. She put ketchup on it and headed on her way. It was kind of unreal but Ryan reacted like it happened every day. Because it did. Besides the girl, there was a stray cat hanging around wanting food as well. Love this picture of Ryan and Chris. So great to be reunited.

It was so fun to walk around the city. Ryan talked about several buildings as we walked through the newly organized Skanderbeg Square. He was pretty excited to show us the Skanderbeg Monument which commemorates Skaderbeg, national hero in Albania for resisting the Ottomans. In his two years in Albania, Ryan had learned much about Albanian history and adopted admiration for this great war hero.

It was neat to see the older worn down buildings throughout the city and notice the brand new buildings going up as this country continues to rebuild after so many years of communism. Even in just two years Ryan was able to see drastic changes in this city.

We picked up some fruit at the market for breakfast and then wandered into the cutest square. A group of old ladies hanging out together, kids playing and lots of people gathered talking to each other and watching THE OFFICE with Albanian subtitles. So interesting.

Also, so fun to take pictures of Father and Son together again.

Fun to see some of the streets where Elder Xhansën walked around talking to people about the gospel. Also fun to see and take pictures of the big Tirana sign in the park — since he had sent home so many pictures from this exact spot. We took a few of our own and then headed across the street to a cool lit piece of art.

Back at the hotel, Ryan went through his luggage and divided it into things he would need for the next week and things he wouldn’t. And then we chatted for hours. Love being here.