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".

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It is that time again. Tomorrow we will be leaving to return to Albania to mainly get end of the year business done. Sounds like no fun to me. Anyway, we are looking forward to seeing everyone once again. The main thing is to get lots of pictures taken for some new blog posts so that all of you can enjoy the latest news. Next entry will be written from Tirana.

Pastor's Meeting

This week the Pastor's Alliance of Tirana held their meeting at our center in Vlashi. It was a great opportunity to share our work with a group of leaders in a format that is difficult to just duplicate anytime. They were able to see firsthand what we do in the village.

School Time

It was just last month that Planters finally got the keys for the newly acquired property that has been in the works for over a year now. The family finished their new home and recently moved and so we have the key to use the property as we need. Little did we realize that the community kindergarten would be interested in using the facility for their classes. They previously have been meeting in our main building but now they can have more space and their "own place". Here are some pictures of the new tables and chairs the children will be using.

Summer Camp

Last week there were 6 youth from Vlashi that went to church camp in northern Albania. Genti and Shpresa organized these youth to attend the camp with other members from the church in Tirana plus with some visiting young people from Germany. Here are some pictures that Genti emailed today. Planters had a scholarship program for these youth so they would be able to stay for the week.

Summer Visit

Diane, from Florida, arrives with luggage missing.
packing gift bags for the home visits

on the village trails going to the home visits

Bukeria wouldn't let us leave without a gift of flowers from her front garden. She had a baby girl two days later.

having a Bible study with Bartha (center)

getting together with the girls from the girls training center

My intentions were to have this news sent while I was in Albania but there was trouble getting reconnected with the internet server. Also, most of my time was spent in the village and there is no internet in the village. I did arrive home in Illinois last night and so today I'm pretending it was last week and this is the news that I would have written then.