Making something useful out of something old

The property that we recently acquired has some old buildings and mainly an old village house. Our plan will be to someday just remove all the buildings and start a new structure. But in the meanwhile, since the village kindergarten building has not been repaired from the explosion, they asked to relocate in the old house. They are using two rooms in the house. And then, we received another request to use the other two rooms in the house for a hairdressing salon. Djusha, who took hairdressing at the Planters training center, wants to open up her own salon in the village. We can't wait to show you pictures of this new enterprise in the village. It really pleases us to see her desire to use her new skills.

Women's Meeting

It was a great time getting to share with several of the ladies in the village who recently have accepted Christ. Just to understand and to learn what struggles they are dealing with in their "new life" is so special. They commented that the peace and joy they have experienced in their walk is something they never have had before. I think we could have talked all day if we had the time. The picture doesn't include Noci who left early to take care of her little boy who was at home.

Monday News

Today was a day off for most business and schools. It is a muslim feast day and so we thought it best not to do any home visits when families are getting together for a special day. We took the opportunity to get some more paper work done and meeting with friends for coffee.

Notes of Interest

Saturday morning during our children's meeting, this little guy, Kevi, came with his homemade bow. Arjan, the leader of Vlashi village, is so great with these little ones. He has been working with Planters for 10 years. This is such a blessing!

We were able to visit Vera in her shop last evening. She loves to have people stop in and just chat with her. She is doing great but like so many of the rest of us would enjoy having business a little bit more healthy. Her shop carries a wide array of merchandise but her main focus is to carry American made products. (don't we all wish that to be the case when we are shopping) Getting the merchandise into her shop is one of her biggest challenges.

Albania at its Finest

There is seldom a visitor that comes to Albania that doesn't say home visits are the highlight. We just got back to our computer after two days in the village where we were visiting everyone again. We just want to share with you some photos of our hosts. David sure seems to have a way with the "elder" group in the village. The baby, Pamela, was just born in August and was considered to be in danger and was delivered early. She looks and acts very healthy now. Djusha who is in the picture with both of us has just accepted Christ. She has been attending our girls' training center classes. There is more to tell of this story in a later blog post. The rain showers have followed us everywhere since we came. Thankfully, it isn't a bone chillin' rain. In fact, the air is more balmy than not.

Thursday is Kasalle Village Meeting

We were about to lose heart after working 5 hours and 3 techs to get our internet going. It was a joyous time to see "Google" again. We really don't want to know what happened to the cable line from here to there. It was something like "community sharing" I think.
This morning we had a staff meeting with Genti and Shpresa and then this afternoon we took off for the village with Arjan's team to Kasalle. Today's story was Nicodemus. The children were very attentive listening but what really touched my heart was their singing that rang out from the building. I just stepped out to take a picture of the view from the balcony of the building where we meet. With the background sound of music of "Oh Be Careful Little Ears What you Hear", I couldn't help but reflect of the contrast of worlds as I snapped a picture of a mosque and a Catholic church just within a good throwing distance from us to them. Will these little minds someday be able to understand the meaning of all of this? Just like Nicodemus...hopefully they will ask the question of what it means to be "born again".