Anyone reading this blog for the past 9 months knows our weekly routine pretty well, by now. As the seasons change though, so does the nature of our times in the village! This past weekend we spent three nights in Vlashaj due to some special events on Sunday evening that we were helping with. I'll just let the photos tell the story...
Below: In March the Asbury team planted an olive tree in our tiny backyard garden. We're pretty excited about our first-ever olive tree. They're one of my most favorite things here in Albania. I never get tired of admiring them! We're hoping this one makes it, though Nathan thinks there's some kind of fungus growing on the leaves. Any of you know an arborist?
We have a little community garden in the back. And by "community" I mean the produce is shared between the staff members. Arjan is weeding and staking the tomato plants here.
This spring has found us working to make the property a bit safer for everyone who uses it. Mandi had the bright idea to wrap fencing around the pavilion to keep stray balls from flying into the backyard (or neighbor's yard). Incidentally, it also keeps curious little boys out of the backyard too, and in the front yard where supervisors can see that they're not up to funny business! ;-)
Our grape arbor is filling in more each week! It's the only shade we have in the front, and so it's a popular place for folks to congregate. Just in time for the summer heat which descended this weekend with a vengeance! (And it's only early June!!! I'm starting to worry about July and August...)
Thanks SO much to Planters supporters who give faithfully. This spring we knocked a hole in the front wall and added a gate which permits us to park our vehicle (as well as up to two more) inside the walls overnight (a very important theft deterrent). We added the wrought-iron fencing around the top of the wall too as kids were jumping over and regularly walking around the top of it. We weren't worried about theft as much as injury and keeping peace with our neighbors. I know it's not glamorous, but it gives us peace of mind that someone won't be hurt falling off of it, whether we are around or not.
Below, the children are pictured with Miss Eta. Eta joined the team last year and teaches the Bible lesson at kids club. She has a wonderful heart for children and we are so blessed to have her help! She's getting married in two and a half weeks to a young man from her church in Tirana and we couldn't be happier for her!
An official school field trip day on Saturday depleted our numbers significantly at Kids Club, but that didn't keep us from having fun! Arjan pulled out the ping pong table in the coolness of the indoors.
I had grand plans for hospitality this past year with a whole list of folks I wanted to have over for lunch or coffee, but life here just takes a bit longer to accomplish the same things back home. We were told at our pre-field training to expect working at 60% of our usual competency and productivity levels, even after completing transition and adjustment to Albania -- so I'm trying to give myself a little bit of grace that I haven't met all my goals for this first year.
Our summer calendar is rapidly filling (oh yeah, we added 'summer school' to our schedule last week) so even though we wouldn't be at our 'Tirana home' this weekend, I was pleased when our friends, the K family from Germany, agreed to come for lunch out to the village!
Ellie loved playing with their 18-month-old daughter, "A".
Reni? "Babies stink, slobber and chew on my toys."
I assure you, Miss A did none of those things, but Reni could not be dissuaded to change his opinion.
A's dad, Johannes, is in our Shqip class. We've met his wife Kim in passing here and there but never for more than a few minutes. We had been anxious to have a more extended time to visit with them and hear about their journey to Albania as well as their ministry plans for the future (they came to Albania in September 2013 like us).
In class, we immediately connected with Johannes as he is a fellow missionary. But we also appreciated his heart and interest in using his social work profession in working with individuals with disabilities. As only God could orchestrate it, it's through Johannes that we learned of a German orthopedic team in Pogradec, Albania (on the border of Macedonia). This team has a prosthetist and prosthetics department which we are hoping to meet in July!!! Previously we had assumed that Reni's orthopedic care could only take place outside of Albania's borders so you can imagine what a blessing it would be to have something within a couple hours' drive! In spite of being in Albania these nine months and vastly expanding our network within the missionary and expatriate community, no one else has told us about this team in Pogradec! We would appreciate your prayers that this might work out to be a viable resource for Reni's needs and we will be sure to keep you posted.
Finally, Sunday evening Nathan drove a van full of folks from Vlashaj into Tirana for a joint Pentecost service (altogether 20 folks from the village came). There were churches from all over Albania, Macedonia, and Kosovo represented! Our village friends were so excited to see that they were part of a bigger body of believers in this part of the world. We are thankful to Genti and his leadership. He was part of a small team of pastors who had a vision to create this event that transcended denominational lines.
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| each of the torches represents a different congregation of believers |
Lots more to post, but we have a birthday coming in our family in a few days! Nathan's been slaving away in the kitchen watching 'cake pop' tutorials on You Tube and running the stand mixer on high-speed. The least I can do is help in the clean up! ;-)
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