advice from the Albanian!

I have a little brother Matt who is serving his mission in Albania. I asked him about the challenges they face there.

"Probably the biggest challenges for marriages here in Albania is two things that I can think of.

1: The lack of common goals with their marriage, children, family (in this life and the next) it seems like people like a variety of religions here and don't feel its best to be unified as a family but rather to have two different religions in the family and let the kids decide which one they want. That also means scattered goals and lack of unification.

2: The lack of time spent with one's spouse and family. In this culture a couple will own a store and one spouse will work 12 hours while the other rests and the other spouse works the other 12 hours. Hence, practically zero time to spend with both of them and the kids. Practically zero time to develop relationships and memories with their family as a whole. It hasn't been since I've been on my mission until I have realized that the center to the Plan of Salvation and to us being happy forever is independently dependant on a forever family for everyone"

The apple for the day is: Be grateful. Write in your journal, say a prayer of gratitude, write your spouse a note or talk to your spouse about the things you are grateful for in your lives. All of us have our different challenges but lets express gratitude for the blessings we have!