You know you're...

The day following Tim's departure we left the village around 10:30 am and drove north.  We stopped for lunch before the border, then crossed into the neighboring country of Montenegro.

You know you're in the Balkans (where nationalities are not necessarily defined by borders) when in the first 30 minutes of our drive we passed school kids walking home from school giving us the occasional fist bump to the chest and a hand gesture of solidarity upon seeing our Albanian license plates.

Meanwhile, as prevailing religious affiliations began to blend, our kids made up their own tally game which they coined "M*sques vs. Churches".  Castles were worth 10 bonus points.  Only in this part of the world...

It's the first conference or training we've attended since arriving in Albania 13 months ago and the timing couldn't have been better.

We are two months into village life and we've never been more aware of just how much we don't know.

But at the conference we are with folks like us -- folks who are engaged in many of the same work, who face the same challenges and struggles that we do, challenges that are unique to this particular context.  Many have been working since 'the beginning' (~1992), others have come since the Kosovo crisis in '99, then there are those like us who arrived in the last few years.

They hailed from countries like Brazil, the UK, S Korea, Germany, Belgium, Paraguay, the Netherlands, and Albania itself. Despite our diversity of languages and skin tones, we have one thing in common: we love the people of Albania. Our meetings were conducted in English and Albanian, our worship and our prayer were in English and Albanian.  It was really, really beautiful.

The group isn't especially large, but we are scattered all over the country. In addition to encouragement through devotional messages, various individuals shared about the groups they represent and the ministries in which they are engaged.  We're learning about resources like solar radios (great for our neighbors who work in fields all day!), Albanian Bible reading apps for smart phones, audio Bibles online, discipleship curriculums, Scripture verse calendars in Shqip that have hung in many a m*slim home (because they like the photographs of Albania) ... I could go on and on.  I think before I was on this side of the ocean, I was at worst skeptical (just an excuse for a 'break', I thought) and at the least unaware of the benefits of conferences like this.

On the last day of the conference there was a 2 hour break built in which allowed us to visit a neighboring city and enjoy ice cream with some new friends!

The first night the chairman of the organization discussed the definition of the word 'synergy'.  Synergy happens when forces are combined and generate more power than if they were simply added together-- where 1 + 1 = 3, not just 2.  We are seeing that taking place here as we learn about resources available at our disposal. We're also getting understanding and insights into the culture from more seasoned veterans that are helping shape our cultural understanding.

On the last night, the children shared a few songs they learned during their program led by volunteers from the UK and youth from an Albanian church in the south.

It's a nice little break, but I wouldn't really call this a vacation.  Europeans eat dinner late.  Which means that we weren't released from our evening sessions until around 10PM (way late for two kids who are already pretty tired from a long day).  One morning we had to shake Reni awake in time for 8AM breakfast.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back.  The hotel where we stayed provided sack lunches for us to take upon check out Saturday morning.  Shortly after we crossed the border back into Albania, we found a picnic spot on the shores of a riverbank with a view of the ever-spectacular Rozafa Castle.

Then it was off to home-sweet-home!