September 2019 update

Hello and greetings from Albania!
After two months spent in the U.S., we are settling back into our life at home. We had a great time visiting family and friends, even meeting some we hadn’t seen in over a decade! The trip saw five states, multiple cities and (probably) hundreds of faces. One of the dearest was Sean’s grandmother, turning 98 in a few months and still doing great! (We loved seeing all the wildlife too; it’s so sparse in Albania, even sighting a chipmunk made us excited!) We always want to meet more people than we do, and we always wish we had more time to spend with everybody. We should know better by know. So if we didn’t see you (or see you enough), please know we wished we could. This time, we were also making new connections and looking for churches to partner with our Korca church. We had some good conversations with old and new friends, and are hopeful for what the future holds! It’s good to be back though, and see that the church has been doing great in our absence. During the English camp called Ice and Spice, eight youth became believers and continue spending time with the church youth. Please pray that their faith will grow and they’ll remain steadfast in it! In just over a week, the school year starts, and Eva and Oliver will be off to 4th grade and 2nd grade. We are also anticipating some exciting new things happening this fall, but we will keep that a secret for now! To everybody who we got to see – thanks for making the time, and to everybody who we didn’t – thanks for reading and staying connected!  The Masons P.S. we realize we are a little bit behind the times, but we have finally created a Facebook group where you can learn more about our ministry and Albania. We hope it’ll help us stay connected even better! It can be found by searching for “Masons in Albania” or by following this link and requesting to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1002500776766113/?ref=group_browse

What do you know about Albania?!?

Dear friends and family,

I wanted to ask a favor of you. We will be coming back from Albania for some break time in the States for a portion of the summer. Primarily we will be in the State Oregon.

While we are back we are hoping to make new partnerships specifically for the church (https://www.facebook.com/kishaemanuel/) we lead here in Korce, Albania.

If you know of a church and/or individual that would be interested to learn more about the work we are involved with in Albania would you send me a message or get them in contact with me?!? (feel free to share this post as well)

Thanks & much love!

The latest (news)!

	Hello!
	Even though you haven’t heard from us for a while – we are alive and well! At times, life flows like a slow river and there’s not much to tell, other times the currents of life carry us too fast to even remember the outside world exists… In mid-September, the school year started with Eva in 3rd and Oliver in 1st grade. Oliver still misses the fun he had in kindergarten, yet he’s excelling in school. Eva started having English classes, and there’s something new even for her, as they are taught British, not American, English. Eleonora (almost 4) still mixes all three languages in one sentence, and Zigmas (17 mos), who has become quite vocal in the past few months, entertains us with his Zigmish. For quite a few years now our church has participated in Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan’s Purse. We see the shoe boxes, which perhaps many of you joyfully and prayerfully have packed full with gifts, being received by gleeful kids in Albania. This year, we had the joy of distributing 400 boxes. Although proselytizing of any religion is illegal in Albanian schools, we were invited and accepted very warmly in 3 village schools in our region, even met with thankfulness for spreading the Good Christmas News in Muslim villages. The visit that stands out the most is to a school higher in the mountains, which has 3 teachers and 11 students in total! The school building stands above the village, yet it’s future is clear – soon it will be closed and students transferred to a bigger school in a nearby village. In Albania, there are many abandoned villages, because people have moved to bigger villages or cities in the lowlands. So we get surprised to still discover communities tucked deeper in the mountains. Last year, we rented a building for gatherings in the village of Goskova, and the Korca church youth have started regular meetings there. Now our presence is more noticeable and opportunities for spreading the Gospel are greater. To celebrate Christmas, three separate events were organized – for the children, for the youth, and for the adults – all seeing the building fill up! Our church youth leader Vilson has taken on the responsibility to lead the ministry in Goskova, and has been doing it with obvious dedication. We are praying – and ask you to join us – for a team that would work in the village exclusively, so that nobody would be stretched too thin while wearing too many hats.   And now the cherry to top off the cake… You might remember that a few years back we arranged for The Jesus Storybook Bible by S. Lloyd-Jones to be translated in Albanian. Even more so, I, Vita, have always dreamt of seeing it in my mother tongue, Lithuanian. With many years of translating experience up my sleeve, I initiated the project and translated this amazing children’s Bible. The dream of 8 years came true this January, when the translation reached the bookstores. I’m extremely excited (and proud too), and have been hearing great reports from fellow Lithuanians!    Thank you for reading – and partnering with us! Sean, Vita, Eva, Oliver, Eleonora, and Zigmas Mason