Portraits of our village

Our friends, the M family (photographed last night)

It's funny the ideas that come to me in the shower.

One morning last month I was suds-ing my hair, thinking about the events of a few nights earlier -- about how much our friends had enjoyed seeing some old photos of themselves and their neighbors, printed as canvas and hanging on the wall of the ministry center. And an idea came to my mind.  Then another.  I shared it with Nathan. Detail after detail, possibility after possibility sprang forth.  I contacted some friends with my 'vision' and asked them to pray about this idea, for discernment that it wasn't just "Cydil and Nathan's" plan, because if so, it wouldn't come to much.

While we don't have an exact date for Planters first visit to Vlashaj, we know it was sometime in the winter of 2000.  That means this winter will mark 15 years!  Since their first trip to Albania more than 21 years ago, Mom and Dad visited several different villages, but the work in Vlashaj was special.  It was one that continually bore fruit.  And thus over the course of time, out of stewardship, more and more resources were re-directed and poured into this community to the point where Vlashaj became the primary focus of Planters' attention.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could say 'thank you' to the community for this relationship?  But not with ink pens or coasters, not with mouse pads nor coffee mugs or whatever a print company will happily slap a logo on. No, something personal that won't eventually be thrown away.  I had just come from delivering some food to a family's home and seen some photos I had gifted them 5 years ago, still displayed in their living room, next to their TV. 

What if we could gift our neighbors with a family photo?  But not just a standard studio photo, taken in front of a generic cloth backdrop.  Rather, a portrait taken in front of their family home -- their most important possession, a place they have usually built with their own hands, surrounded in the image by the people they love most.  As a sidenote, I have long admired  the portraits from the book "Material World" -- which you may have also seen displayed in the International terminal at O'Hare several years ago -- if you're not familiar with these portraits, you need to look them up.  They're fascinating images of families from around the world!   Given my recent discovery of the cost-effectiveness of stretched canvas, I already knew the perfect way to give a ready-to-hang portrait piece!

I was bubbling with excitement (pardon the pun).  While such a task would surely take a lot of time, what better way could we meet the families we don't yet know (and for them to meet us)?  When walking through our village, we will know the names and faces of the people who live behind those gates and walls!  And each of those families will have received a personal invitation to the programs and services at the ministry center!

Then our thoughts went to our partners back home.  What if we could find partners that would agree to pray for a specific family from Vlashaj by name?  If a family here was willing, we could even share specific prayer requests! How different could this community look with prayers being sent to heaven, not just for the community of Vlashaj, but for the families and individuals that comprise it?  Each with their own sets of concerns and needs?  And how much better connected would our partners feel to the work in which they have invested?

It would also be good accountability for us, as missionaries, to be intentional in both sets of our relationships (because, believe me, if a family here knows that they have someone praying for them in America, they will ask us how you're doing, just as we hope you'll ask us how they are doing)!

If you (your small group, Sunday school class, family, etc.) are interested in being paired with a family in our village, please let us know by completing this online form.  

If you can contribute $15, great!  That will  cover the cost of the canvas print (about 16x24 inches on a thin frame). But prayer partners are what we need even more! We will send you a post card with your partner family's photo on one side, their names printed on the reverse, as well as any prayer requests that they might want to share with you.  We estimate that there may be anywhere from 110 to 120 families in our community, so you are welcome to request more than one family, if you like!

In our recent printed newsletter I introduced this project with the title "Changing the Look of Things".  We pray that this project will literally change the look of our community, tangibly demonstrating love, building new relationships. and breaking through strongholds through the power of prayer.  We hope you might jump on board with us!

This will be a family affair!  We're a team and minister together as a family!
Albi requested this photo with his friends, E & R.

Stay tuned for updates on this project.  We anticipate that it will take us several months to complete!