TThe Church has temporarily reassigned 20 single missionaries and two missionary couples who were serving in the Albania Tirana Mission to other missions in Europe because of anti-American threats in Albania, according to a statement Aug. 21 to the media through the Church's Public Affairs Department.
The reassignment is a "prudent security measure," the statement said.The missionaries left Albania the week of Aug. 17 and were assigned to serve in missions elsewhere in Europe until the situation is resolved, according to the statement.
This is the second time missionaries have been removed from Albania. In March 1997, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve removed 31 missionaries from Albania after weeks of violence when the government collapsed after the failure of a fraudulent pyramid scheme.
At that time, missionaries were evacuated by a military helicopter to a ship and were then taken to Italy. Full-time missionary work in Albania resumed in September 1997.
