Life Just Around the Corner

In the very south of Albania, on the coast of the azure Ionian Sea, stretches the beautiful town of Sarande. During summertime, the city bursts with tourists. Yet few venture beyond the tall newly built hotels and alluring beaches. However, the begging children on the streets remain a palpable reminder of another, perhaps less decorated and sparkly reality that exists just next door.

The road through the Cuka village is dirty and bumpy. An abandoned bus marks the end of the suburb. Unsurprisingly it serves as a playground for a bunch of Gypsy kids. As the car of church aid workers pulls up, they come out running and shouting, smiles adorning their precious little faces.

An extended family of forty or so Gypsies lives in the village. As the little ones grow up, life doesn’t seem to bring many changes. At first sight, the community seems to be entrapped by the merciless laws of poverty and ostracization. Sadly, Albanian society commonly nourishes racist beliefs. The Caucasian majority more often than not considers itself of “more noble blood” (echoing notions that less than a century ago brought much misery to the whole Europe) and unscrupulously looks down on the darker skinned Gypsies. Unfortunately, segregation starts from an early age; children are ridiculed in the public schools, thus the parents often pull them out and entrust them to “street school.” Unable to receive education, later on in life they struggle to find a vocation in a country where jobs are not readily available. Without a job and with a family to feed, alternative sources of income are being sought, such as sending children to beg on the streets. And more children are being born into the cycle of destitution. One can only wonder – is there a way to break the clutches of poverty?

There are a handful of faithful Albanians and expatriates who have been faithfully visiting Cuka and implementing educational and aid programmes. It would be easy to get frustrated when an irresponsible father sells a donated stove for booze; it would be natural to get disappointed when the people request prescription after prescription to be filled in order to get unneeded medications; it would be natural to quit when today appears to be exactly like yesterday, yet they persevere.

Saranda is in no way unique – most cities in the world have poor neighbourhoods. The question is whether we dare to look at what’s just around the corner.

A 1000 or A 100?

When I first came to Albania, I was warned not to be deceived when shopping at the market - they might tell you a kilo of grapes costs 1000 lek, but actually it is only 100 lek. The Albanians still talk the "old lek", I was told. Naturally it takes time to get used to the new kind of money after revaluation of a currency and crossing off of a zero at the end, I thought. The same happened in Lithuania at the dawn of independence in the 90s. Just one minor detail: the lek was revalued in 1965. Surprisingly, even those born after the 60's also talk about the prices using old lek. They truly uniquely stick to their old ways! Sounds confusing to a foreign ear? I heard a story of an Albanian lady, who mistakenly thought the coffee at a nice resort restaurant was ten times more expensive and therefore was warding off the potential customers! Yet the explanation "new or old lek" is most often omitted. Why bother?

Seasons Greetings With A Snowy View From Our Balcony

Ancient Wisdom

A few weeks ago, on our way back from the mountains we passed a man carrying a hedgehog over his shoulder. And we learnt that a cooked hedgehog's meat helps heal the rheumatism. Invaluable.

Happy Independence Day(s), Albania!

As it happens with many small countries, Albania has several days to commemorate the end of an oppressive regime. However, due to historical disputes, only one day of due celebration might remain.

Albania had been occupied and plundered by neighbours from near and far throughout most of its history; the occupation of then Illyrian lands by the Roman Empire was followed by the invasions of barbarians and Slavs, and a half millennium of Ottoman rule. But for a brief period in 1400s, the Albanians did not enjoy freedom until 1912, when on November 28th they declared independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Many nations came and went during the soon to come World War I and later in the century during the World War II. Finally, in 1944, the Albanian partisans liberated the country from the nazis. (It is noteworthy that Albania was the only Eastern European country to drive out the nazis without Russia's help.) Once again, the freedom was gained on November 28th. Or was it November 29th?

For years, November 28th was celebrated as the Day of Independence and November 29th - as the Day of Liberation. However, a few years ago some started doubting the historic correctness of November 29th. Yet who could now tell with certainty when exactly the last German soldier crossed the border?

Leaving the disagreements and arguments aside, a unique conglomerate - November 28-29 - is being celebrated in a proper manner; flags with the two-headed eagle are flown, fireworks fired, and a well deserved holiday enjoyed. I say, the more days to celebrate, the better. Despite the many centuries of oppression, the Albanians preserved their unique language and culture, and that alone is worth good two days of festivities.

So Happy Independence Day(s), Albania! And may the liberty be enjoyed for many more years to come!

October 2008 Newsletter

married and finally back in Albania!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Over the past 6+ months I have been away from Albania (the longest I have ever been away). But, as most of you know, there was a very good reason for my absence- I got married! The wedding was on June 28th, which happened to be the hottest day Oregon had seen in years. We prayed that it would not rain but never thought we would need to pray about the heat! I guess know we know to be more specific! Anyway, after a great wedding we had a wonderful honeymoon in Alaska. The tropical beaches of the Caribbean are nice and all, but we much more prefer the mountains and wilderness. After the honeymoon, we departed for Vita's homeland (Lithuania). There we had a small wedding party with her family and friends, changed her surname, got all her documents in order, purchased a vehicle and packed her belongings. Thankfully since she has been living on the mission field in recent years she doesn't own very much! We hit the road for Albania and after 3 days of driving, arrived here in Tirane late Sunday evening.

Tomorrow we will make the journey to our final destination in Korce. There we will begin the search for a home of our own (or apartment), and then begin to furnish it. As of now we have nothing but 2 sleeping bags and backpacking mattresses, so we figure they will get some use until we can find a bed. Oh, we even have a tent and a backpacking stove and pot.....so why do we need to look for a house?

We are both excited and happy to finally be here. We look forward to resume pastoring the church in Korce and working with our friends and "family" there to serve and love Southeastern Albania.


Thank you for your continued prayers and support!


Muchlove,

Sean & Vita


p.s. We hope to have a more official newsletter out soon!

February Newsletter

(NOTE: click on the images and you will be redirected to the Flickr website. Above each image click on "all sizes" and you will find the large image so you can more easily read the newsletter.)

july/august newsletter

It is great to be back in Albania after my visit in the States. I just wish I had been able to visit with those of you that I wasn’t able to. My time in the States is always somewhat bitter sweet if not borderline strange. Allow me to attempt to explain. On one hand I long to be with my family and you and on the other hand I love being here in Albania. Being in Albania almost six years, it has definitely become a home for me. And with Albania becoming a home for me, I have in many ways adapted to a different way of life and culture and trying to switch between the two cultures is not always easy. Now that I am back in Albania it has taken a bit to get make into the “mode” of things. Now that I have been back for almost two months, things seem to be more or less back to normal. As normal as normal can be that is!

As most of you should remember, towards the beginning of the year, I was placed as the interim pastor of the church here in Korce. Initially I thought that in order to fully focus on leading the church I would stop my involvement in leading the Family Care project. Upon my return I found out that they had not yet hired another director to fill the position, thus I am still working with the project until they can find a replacement. This has meant that I have been quite busy catching up on reports and office work and have not been able to devote as much time as I would have liked to the church.

Pastoring has definitely been a huge challenge. I am realizing more and that we are all filled with problems and issues in life that we are dealing with, thus where any of “us” are there is usually challenges and for lack of a better word there is often drama! But that is part of life and part of leading people! I often do not feel adept for such a task, or am unsure how to go about things but I am confident that for however long I will be involved in leading this church God will give me the grace and wisdom needed. I truly have found a deep passion and love for the people and we have grown considerably close. I have seen great potential as well, and desiring to be purposeful in training new leaders within the church, I hope to give as many as possible, opportunity to serve and get involved. After all they are the ones who will be most effective in leading the church and reaching the community. I desire as well to see people worship and love Jesus in the most genuine and purest of intent as possible. I desire that we as the church become people who don’t just paint a nice “Christian” picture of our lives, but who live in a way that shows we are real people with real problems, hurts and pains while at the same time are passionate about loving Jesus and knowing Him more and loving others. I believe the world more than ever before needs to see Christians who are real and genuine people that they can relate to.

During the first couple weeks I was blessed to see several new faces come and join us for our Sunday worship service. The majority of these faces were ladies who are part of a new project associated with the church that reaches out to single mothers or mothers who have given their children up to social services. These ladies, most of who are very young, have been joining us on a regular basis and it has truly been amazing to see their desire for God grow. Last Sunday we didn’t have the usual transportation service that help many who live far away get to church. Two of these new ladies, walked over an hour just to come to service!

Please pray for the church. Pray that people would take responsibility and desire to get involved. Pray that leaders will be raised up. Pray for those of us who are currently leading will have God’s wisdom in doing so.

Please know that your support, prayers and belief in what I am involved in here in Albania is humbling and a huge blessing!

Much Love.

february newsletter

Several months have passed since my last newsletter and so much has been changing!

In December, I was assigned as the interim pastor of our church in Korce, Emanuel Mission. Although I had been speaking in the church and helping lead on a regular basis, there was an increasing awareness among all of us leading, that someone needed to take the role as lead-pastor. Our continual hope and prayer is that an Albanian will eventually be placed as pastor of the church. In the meantime we are confident that this new season for the church is God’s plan. For me personally it is definitely a new season which I at look at humbly, fully realizing my need for God’s wisdom and direction. Please pray for us during this season!

Come March I will have fulfilled my one-year commitment directing the Family Care project. I have certainly loved working with the needy people throughout the Southeastern region and have learned a great deal during this past year. Since my responsibilities with the church have obviously risen significantly, I have decided to step down from directing the project. I plan to volunteer when I have time but feel I need to be free to focus more clearly on leading Emanuel Mission, as well as assisting with the needs of our other churches throughout Albania. Please pray that the Lord will send the right person to lead the project!

After spending a year in Albania I usually try to make it back to the States for a month or so to visit. It’s that time again! The decision to return to the States at this time was not an easy one, due to the fact that I am so fresh into leading the church in Korce. However, knowing that summer is fast approaching when we enter our busy season, I believe that March is the right time to visit family and friends who support me and the work here in Albania. I look forward to seeing you and sharing more about this past year!

Much Love!

september/october newsletter

PRAYER UPDATE
Do you remember me asking you to pray for Violca, the widow with two children who is part of the Family Care
project I am involved in? Well, Violca with her children have been regularly joining us for Sunday church services,
our midweek Bible study and weekly women’s meetings. It has been great to watch her and her daughters becoming an active part in the church family here. A beautiful transformation has been seen in Violca and her daughters as they are finding true hope and joy in Christ. Thank you to those who committed to pray for them!

SUMMER IN BRIEF
This summer has been quite different from all the others I have spent in Albania. Now that I have moved here to Korce, my time is primarily focused on the church and ministry here, whereas in previous years I regularly helped all of our churches throughout the country. I have also been “learning the ropes” of leading the Family Care project. During the summer months we focus on the much needed house repairs for the families in the project.
I would like to share with you a special story of one particular family, which we started working with this summer. The mother, who is mentally ill, abandoned her 2 children because she no longer wanted to care for them. The father, because of the difficulty in finding employment, took a job as a shepherd and lives almost full time in the mountains, thus leaving the children to care for themselves. The son, Sokol (15 yrs old) and his sister, Vasilika (12 yrs old) were living in the remains of their burnt down house. Because of the severe abuse they endured from their sick mother, the children are now mentally ill themselves. They speak but a few words, and both were living in conditions and acting in ways most westerners would not wish for their pet dog. Through the help of a missions team from Holland, a wonderful work was done for this needy family.


They helped tear down the remains of the old house, the property was cleaned of enormous amounts of trash that surrounded it and the foundation for a new house was prepared. We then hired some workers and built a one-room house for the family, which is almost completed.

Vasilika (more ill than her brother) has since been accepted into a home for special needs children, which is run by Catholic nuns, where she will receive the special care and love she needs. The father will soon return from the mountains to live and care for his son, Sokol. More than all the physical work that was accomplished for this family, it was beautiful to see the spiritual and emotional work that took place with the children. When we arrived they were very closed and afraid to associate with people. They would shake, make noises like animals and behave bizarrely. In just about a week’s time they changed dramatically and began to calm down and respond with great joy to the love and care shown them. Sokol has changed so much; now each time we go and visit him it is like meeting an entirely new child! He leaps with joy and excitement when he sees us drive up in the vehicle. He is also more responsive and focused. Working with this family showed the awesome effect the love that Jesus places in our hearts can have on people. As Christians our command from Jesus is to love Him and love people. True and genuine love, which is birthed through a life of knowing Jesus Christ, changes people and brings healing.

The story doesn’t stop there! Members from our church (the majority of whom are poor and struggle themselves) have taken it upon themselves to care for this family. Each week members of the church take food and clothes and spend time with Sokol. This is what Christianity is about!

A DEEPER LOOK
It has been about six months since I moved here to Korce and it has been an awesome experience and time of learning. As is true with most new seasons or transitions in life, I have been faced with new challenges but also
with many newfound joys. In a practical sense, the work has been difficult, as I do not have much experience in leading or organizing such a project. In addition, constantly being surrounded by such great need can be quite emotionally draining. I have been learning to balance the high and low emotions involved in such work, and the importance of understanding when it is appropriate and how to respond to those emotions. On the other hand there is great joy and satisfaction in working with these needy people. I have a great passion for the poor and am thankful for this opportunity to reach out to a small portion of those here in the Korce region. I also have found great joy living with the Baraku Family. They have brought me in and shown me love as if I was one of the family, not to mention I get to eat great home cooked meals! They are my “Albanian” family. Preaching and teaching, although very challenging, have also been a great joy for me. Often when I speak, I am blessed by the positive response I get from the people. I am humbled to think that the King uses me as his instrument to impart His love and life to others!

The stories and tales of my experiences, challenges and joys will continue – and I hope that this short newsletter is an encouragement to you.

Thank you for your commitment to pray and support Albania Missions!

Much love!

misc. fotos from the project i am involved with

MAY 2006 NEWSLETTER

MAY 2006

What is your preferred sound or song to wake up to in the morning? Since 2001 I have been living in the predominately Muslim capital city of Tirane where the sounds of the Muslim call to prayer ring out over loudspeakers all over the city 5 times each day. You never really get used to hearing this call to prayer especially at sunrise each morning!

Now that I have moved to the predominately Orthodox city of Korce, I am delighted to wake up to the sound of church bells (and they don’t start as soon as the sun rises either!), although, they are quite loud, as they are literally about 50 feet away from my bedroom window (our house is located on the side of one of the major Orthodox churches in the city).

Upon returning to Albania in mid-March I immediately moved to Korce (located in southeast Albania) and began my new job as director of our church ministry that sponsors 200 of the “poorest of the poor” in the Korce region. Each day I visit many families, bringing them food, clothes and I PRAY a little more hope to live each day. Although this job has great joys and satisfaction, it has proven to be quite emotionally draining as well. It is not easy to visit these extremely poor families day in and day out and not be affected by their condition.

In just the short time that I have been involved with this ministry, there are numerous stories I could tell you. One in particular that has blessed me greatly is about a widow named Violca, and her two young daughters, Panorea and Blisena (see picture in blog post BELOW). Less than a year ago, Violca’s husband passed away. As I was visiting her and her daughters I asked if they go to church. She proceeded to explain to me that she and her family were Muslim but don’t practice it much. I explained to her about Jesus Christ and how our church was not just another “religious service,” but a place where she could come and be encouraged and find real hope and a reason to live. I invited them to church and to my surprise they have been coming for 2 weeks! Please PRAY for Violca that she will realize all that Jesus has done for her and that she will choose to live for Him and lead her children to Him.

Making the move to Korce has proven to be a great experience and new place of learning and training. In addition to leading this project I also am regularly involved in helping lead our church, the Emanuel Mission. I have joined 3 of the other church leaders and we each take a turn preaching once a month.

We just celebrated Easter, held one week after the date in which the West celebrates Easter (we follow the Orthodox calendar in Albania). We had the extreme joy of seeing 3 new people accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior! In Albania, choosing to follow Jesus is usually a very slow process, thus each time a person makes this decision it is an extremely treasured moment for us.

Please continue to PRAY for me in this time of adjustment and learning to work in a new area. PRAY that I will have wisdom to make proper decisions in regards to the project I am leading as well as wisdom in how to team-lead the church here!

Thanks to each of you for your commitment to Albania and the work I am involved in.

Much Love!

some pics from the project "family care" i am now involved with in Korce

Rushan Doko and I. Rushan Doko and his wife live in a tiny single room house with no bathroom. He is literally one of the most loving thankful persons I have ever encountered, even though his has almost nothing and struggles to even feed himself and his wife. He says he loves the Bible and tries to read as much as possible but does not know how to read very well.

sometimes you just cant help yourself. the villagers love seeing a foreigner get on a horse, donkey or in this case a mule. we had and have many good laughs with the people we meet each day in our project. joy is a must. so many of the families we minister to in the Family Care Project suffer from great depression and stress. Village life is very hard in Albania.

The Hoxha brothers are great to spend time with. They are very poor and physically ill but each time we visit with them a great time is had and we all are encouraged. The Hoxha brothers only income is by making the brooms you see in this picture and selling them in the city. They literally don't make more than 3-400$ per year.

Violca, and her two young daughters, Panorea and Blisena. You can read her story in the newsletter posted ABOVE!

the great return (march newsletter)

MARCH 2006

After an amazing Christmas with my family and lots of traveling, I am now preparing to return to Albania. I would like to share with you where God is leading me in this next season of my service in Albania as well as some of the goals and plans for the future.

My prayer is that you will join me with your prayers and support in this journey of following God as He leads me in a new area of love and service to the Albanian people.

A TIME OF TRANSITION & TRUST

Beginning in March I will be moving from the bustling capital city of Tirane to a small mountain town in Southeastern Albania known as Korce. Korce is home to one of our churches (Mission Emanuel) as well as our Christian radio station (Radio Emanuel).

I have been asked to direct a ministry of the church known as “Family Care.” This project is a social ministry reaching out to the poorest of the poor in the Korce region. Currently this ministry sponsors 200 families. Apart from the business duties of managing the ministry’s finances, seeking for new sponsors as well as families to be sponsored, my job will be to visit the families in the project on a regular basis, bringing them much needed food and clothes as well as simply coming to visit them and lend them a listening ear, a prayer, a hug, or much needed friendship. So many of the people in this project live in isolated villages or have children or family members who are handicapped or ill and very often are in need of not just practical help but someone to show them they are loved and not forgotten.

Directing this project is an answer to prayer for me. I have been praying that God would bring me into a place of more focused ministry within one church or area. This sort of social ministry has always been a passion of mine and I look forward to loving
and serving this particular people who are in great need.

In addition to directing the Family Care ministry, I will help lead the Mission Emanuel Church in Korce. The church is still without
a full-time pastor, thus I will be there helping to train leaders within the church. The Korce church’s sister church, located 45 minutes away in Erseke, is also going through a time of pastoral transition. The Erseke Church is in a very small isolated village and the pastor and church members are in need of much encouragement and are very hungry to be mentored and trained. I look forward to being able to serve the Erseke church as well and help lead them.

As I venture into this new season, a lot of which is still unclear and unknown, I am filled with much excitement and anticipation for what is ahead. I covet your prayers for confidence, trust, clarity and wisdom to lead and go about these new challenges.

THE FUTURE

Talking about the future is difficult for me as it often is unclear and changing. Let me share with you a bit of what is brewing in my heart. I have been serving in Albania for 4+ years now and I believe this last year was a major turning point in my service there. Over the past 4 years I have been involved in a wide array of ministries, which has allowed me to get to know all the people who are associated with the Stephen Center and its ministries as well as the Albanian culture and language overall. In the past I have committed on a year-by-year basis which I believe has not allowed me to fully commit myself due to the fact that as the end of each year would approach my mindset would switch to trying to figure out where I was headed next, Albania or not, rather than pressing on with the commitment a long term vision/goal brings. Thus, I believe not only for my own sake but also for those I work with, I need to commit to a longer term. I believe the investment I have made in Albania thus far is a very significant one and that God is calling me to trust Him on a deeper level by committing to Albania long-term. I am not sure if that means for another 5 years, 10 years or a lifetime, but I can say I am committed to Albania and to trust God to lead me. I believe also that God is positioning me in a place to better focus on all of our Albanian churches for the purpose of assisting these pastors to better raise up leadership within their churches.

I am excited for the future and I hope you are as well! I thank each of you for your awesome support and commitment to reach out to the country of Albania with me! I pray you will understand your importance in this ministry!

Much Love,
Sean

november newsletter

In this newsletter I would like to share with you some things that I’ve recently been learning, and been challenged with spiritually. My hope is that you will be challenged to reflect on these things and how they affect your own life so that you would be drawn into a deeper love and passion for Jesus Christ.

I am being challenged to fully depend and believe what God says in the Bible—to hang my very life on it; also to believe that God is truly God, that His ways are far above my ways and that He is far greater than I can perceive or imagine. He wants to work on my behalf and be so much more involved in my life than I can ever imagine and will do so, if I will simply TRUST Him and have FAITH in Him. He doesn’t think or act in the same manner that I do. He is not motivated by selfishness. He is not capricious. I often think my perception of God is colored by my negative experiences with people; thus I wrongly assume that God will act or relate to me in a similar way. However, God can be trusted and what He says in the Bible is to be believed and lived out.

I have also been challenged in the area of giving more of myself, time, and finances to others. I am blessed to see how God has provided for my needs, especially since I began ministering in Albania. Regardless, I am being challenged to give more, and to give not just “within my ability” or to the point where I still have a financial “safety cushion,” but to give whenever there is a need to the point that it causes me to rely fully on God’s provision. It is so easy to give when assured that it will not have a great impact on my financial status, but I must give out of obedience, believing God to provide.

This issue of giving relates directly to my trust in God. Do I trust God to provide for my every need? When I truly believe what God says in the Bible, I can give without reservation because I am confident He will fulfill His word. My desire is to not just say I believe and trust God, but to live in a way that shows that faith and trust that is genuine and strong and that makes a difference in my life and the lives of others.

To explain everything I am learning and to make myself fully understood would take many pages of writing. Here are some of the Bible verses that blessed me; I hope they will bless you also and bring more clarity: Book of Job; Proverbs 3:9-10; Isaiah 29:13-14; Isaiah 55:8-9; Malachi 3:10; Mark 12:41-44; Luke 6:35; Luke 12:22-34; John 10:10; Romans 12:10-12; 2 Cor. 9:6-8; Ephesians 1:15-23; Colossians 4:2; Hebrews 10:23; James 2:8, 5:16.

THE FAST APPROACHING NEW YEAR

This year I have decided to return to the States for the Christmas season. My brother Miles, who many of you know has been stationed in Iraq with the US Army over the past two years, as well as my other brother and his family who live in California, will all be coming to Oregon so we can spend Christmas together as an entire family—this will be a first in a very long time! Although I was home at the end of May to attend Foursquare Convention, I was not able to visit the majority of my friends, family and supporters. I look forward to spending a couple of months visiting you who I haven’t seen in over a year and a half.

While in the States I also plan to raise financial support for my continued service in Albania. Would you consider continuing your support even during the months that I am back in the US? I more or less live on a month-to-month financial basis, so making such a trip, although essential, can be quite difficult.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Muchlove

Sean

british team to erseke - september 2005

On September 12, the U.K. Foursquare National leader, Kenn Baird, along with 5 other men and youth from the church he pastors, came to serve our church in the small town of Erseke. I drove the group of guys down to Erseke and for about one week they served the church and community in many ways. Erseke is a small town with a population of about 5000. Our church there is small in number as well, but its members are extremely loving and very passionate about showing their community and the surrounding villages with the love of Jesus Christ.
I highly anticipated this groups coming to serve the church because prior to this groups arrival, no short-term missions team has come to Albania to specifically serve and work with the church in Erseke. Often when a church is small in number the people can feel inferior to other churches or may often feel like they are overlooked. The team that came from England purposed to bless the people and serve them in anyway possible; I can confidently say they did much more for the church then I think any of us expected. The people of the church were very encouraged that a group of people would come all the way from England and give of their time, money and energy to bless them.
In addition to the various activities the team were involved in, they blessed the church with 2 brand new guitars (one of which the church decided to gift our church in Erseke), overhead projector, printer, and a significant amount of financial support for the pastor, church youth group as well as funds to be used specifically for poor families within the church who are struggling to support themselves. The fact that the team was able to give so much blessed tremendously both the church in Erseke and the team itself. The team comes from an area in England where unemployment is very high and a majority of the people have very low income. Because of this, their church in England does not have a lot of money to spare. The team continually spoke of God's faithfulness to provide more then any of them ever imagined. Through this teams coming, God's blessing and provision was seen in a major way and proclaimed from Hastings, England all the way to Erseke, Albania!
Below you will see some pictures from the time we spent in Erseke as well as some short descriptions of what we were involved in.

PAINTING THE CHURCH BUILDING

This was a great time when both the team and members of the church could work together and be encouraged by one anothers company.

CLEANING AND PAINTING ONE OF THE HOME OF ONE OF THE CITIES POOR FAMILIES
A very special day was spent cleaning and painting one of the poorest families in the town of Erseke. This poor family (a couple and their 15 year old son) lives in undescribably poor condidions. The father, which was not present when we visited, makes about $80 salary per month for the entire family to live on. Both the mother and father are mentally disabled, thus leaving an unhealthy situation for their son to be raised up in. Besides cleaning and painting there house, new kitchen ware was given to the family as well as a new bed and matress for the mother and father. We are working on getting a bicycle for the boy as well as getting him back into school. It was great to see the joy that a simple act of love brought this mother and son while we were there.

VILLAGE EVANGELISM
The church in Erseke for many years has been holding Bible studies and bringing aid to a small villaged called Taq which is located just a few minutes out of town. This particular day the team from England along with members of the church visited many families, delivering books for the children, Bibles for those who wanted them, as well as praying for those who wanted prayer. One girl made the decision to begin living her life for Jesus Christ and many other people heard of Jesus' love for them!

GUITAR LESSONS AND COMPUTER REPAIR/TRAINING
Jason, a very talented guitar player, had the opportunity to spend time teaching one of the boys (Ervin) who is one of the musicians on the churches worship team.
Two other guys from the team helped repair the church computers as well as taught a few computer courses to some of the youth of the community.

TRAINING FOR CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Pastor Kenn has many years of working with and training other pastors. The leadership of the the church had a great time of learning leadership principles from him as well as times of question and answer.



SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICES
For Sunday's church service, the team split up sending 3 of its members to our church in Korce, which is about 1 hour away, where one preached and the other two shared testimonies. The other 3 team members stayed in Erseke and led part of the worship time, shared testimonies and Pastor Kenn spoke for the main message time. It was beautiful to hear worship to the King being sung in two languages simultaneously! Below are some pics from the service in Erseke:

EVENINGS OF FUN AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE CHURCH MEMBERS
Two very large parts of Albania culture is food and dancing. The team from England on two evenings joined members of the church for full-on Albanian cuisine and cultural dancing. I got my Albanian dance on a little bit as well!

INTERVIEW AT RADIO EMANUEL
As many of you already know, our church in Korce runs a Christian radio station which broadcasts to the entire region of Korce (which includes the town of Erseke) which has an estimated population of about 275,000. The team from england shared their personal testimonies of how they each came to decide to live their lives for Jesus, as well as shared about their time spent in Erseke, and their thoughts about Albania.



VARIOUS PICS FROM ERSEKE

summer camp - august 2005

In August Bledi (works at the Stephen Center, I teach him English, hopefully you remember who he is...) and I cruised down south to join our Tirane church for their youth summer camp. It was Bledi's first time leaving the Tirane region more or less. So brilliant it was to see his reaction to seeing and enjoying a part of his country he had never seen before. Bledi and I spent about 6 days at the 10-day camp. The day after we returned back to Tirane from camp, Bledi told me the entire trip was like a dream for him. I was really stoked to enjoy this experience with him and see him so happy. Bledi has recently made the decision to put his faith in Jesus Christ. This camp was not only lots of fun, but a time that Bledi was introduced to guys his age who also have decided to live their lives for Jesus Christ.

Here are some pics from camp....enjoy!

this is me and some of the boys from our tirane church. good times and laughs are always had.


is a caption needed?


myself, bledi and andi with the other kids from camp on a fishing boat heading to a nearby beach which is home of one of the most beautiful canyons in Albania (in my opinion).


the boat


redi, arti, sean


the canyon - gjipe, albania


bledi and i in the canyon. every time we travel to the canyon in gjipe we make the adventure of climbing up through the canyon.

On our way back from camp, Bledi and I along with two other friends stopped in the outskirts of the city of vlore. We swam at the private beach of the villa of former dictator Enver Hoxha.

bledi with the city of vlore in the background


bledi and i


bledi


bledi, noel, drini and i