Orthodox Easter Weekend in Përmet

There's nothing better for a weary soul than a change of scenery and a break from regular life.  We are terrible at making plans for rest, so it's nice when someone takes the reins, makes the plans, and invites you to join, yes?

We had dear friends plan a special weekend for us in southern Albania, in and around the city of Permet.  

This was our second time to travel with them to Permet and I didn't think we could top the last time, two years ago, but I was wrong!

The trip took place the first weekend of May, which happened to be Orthodox Easter weekend.  We left after kids clubs on Saturday afternoon and returned Monday afternoon, before our weekly staff meeting and exercise class! 

The drive to Permet takes about 3 hours, thanks to Albania's ever-improving roads (especially now the by-pass around Fier).

Our accommodations for the weekend: Vila Permet.  Wow!  This was a school during communism (prior to that it was a private home) where Alvi's aunt served as the director!

Our room was on the top floor under this amazing vaulted ceiling.  And the hardwood floors felt luxurious!  Ironically, we were only here to sleep.  The weather was so nice, we ate every meal outdoors and only came back to the hotel in the evenings.

The kids' sleeping space in the dormer...

There are an abundance of Byzantine and Orthodox churches in this part of Albania.  These churches are QUITE old.  Sadly, this church experienced a flood and you can see the damage to the frescoes inside...

Jesus and the disciples

So many breathtaking details to take in...

If you are familiar with orthodox culture, at midnight on Easter Sunday, this Epitaph (below) is carried by the priests in a procession around the city while people celebrate with candles.  Because of Covid curfew, the tradition was again cancelled.

The only group photo I captured the entire weekend!

On Sunday our hosts lined up a van and driver to take us deep into a national park in the mountains.  We drove past a few tiny villages.  The roadsides were dotted with trees bearing purple blossoms.  It was so green and lovely!

The first stop was the location of an abandoned village with stunning views.  Why was the village abandoned?  SNAKES!

(we didn't see any, though)

Within the park we hiked to a terrifying rock outcropping.

It was just as scary in person as it looks in this photo...

This is as close as I got.

Nathan asked me to take some photos from the safety of the canyon's edge.

He stayed around and snapped pics with the kids. 

The kids can never say we didn't let them live adventurous lives...

I retreated and took Ellie back to the hilltop pasture to wait by the van.

We drove up the road, around the bend in the hills in the photo above into the forest to a spring.

There the water spurts out of the side of the mountain, cold and refreshing!  Everyone refilled empty water bottles.

We brought a picnic lunch that ended with cracking hardboiled eggs, dyed red, the traditional color for Orthodox Easter Eggs.

Albanian "safari"

This church was especially beautiful and quite old, dating back to the 12th century! 

A sweet treat:  locally bottled cherry juice!

We stumbled upon a local protest to protect the river valley from development by hydropower plants.  The cause apparently has caught the attention of Le0nardo DiCaprio who has lobbied to protect one of Europe's 'last wild rivers.' 

Our last morning before leaving, our friends arranged for us to raft on the river that runs through the beautiful valley. 

We were skeptical when they pulled out wetsuits and felt a little ridiculous pulling them on. But when we got to the river, no one was looking at us.

At one point, the river was was too strong for us to raft safely so we portaged along the rocky shore. 

We eventually got our teamwork down and successfully finished the course. 

Back at the campground office, Ellie made friends with the pet goat.  

The rest of us enjoyed a Turkish coffee, of course. 

On the way home we came across several farmers selling strawberries on the side of the highway.

Oh my goodness.  They were soooooo good.  I can still taste them.

A perfect way to end a truly sweet weekend.

April in Albania...

 Life has felt like a state of survival mode... Our days are packed from rising to sleeping.  The list of things to do grows daily.  I do not know how single parents do it! Many days I think longingly how nice it would be to have a personal assistant! :-) The silence on our end has not been for lack of material to report.  Quite the opposite in fact.  And this brief report will only share what I have photos of, but I figure it is better than nothing. :-)

Let's start with EASTER!

Easter weekend we rejoiced to worship in our new facility. Below, Ellie embarks on some 'music therapy' (that is, playing on the beautiful keyboard that came with the VT Albania program when they moved into the center). I posted this photo so you can see some of our seasonal decorations!

 

Below is a close-up of the garden tomb made by Pam and the kids in homeschool.  What you can't see is the flickering votive light that shines from inside the tomb!

It offered us substantially more space in which to social distance and shelter from the rain that chose to fall that morning.  The children had a separate lesson in the classroom -- this allowed us to better distribute attendees across more space as well.

Coloring eggs continues to be a fun activity we enjoy doing here!  Though most of the eggs are consumed before they make it home!

(Below) Nathan attended a forum in Tirana for organizations engaged in ministry to the Albanian disability community.  It was a time of strategy and mutual encouragement.

Some generous tourists from Germany heard about VT Albania, came and visited the program, and then returned with the gift of a printer!  This was MUCH needed and is being put to good use!

Below Nathan has it set up in the computer station designed into the classroom built-in cabinets, a gift from Wesley Community Fellowship in Conyers, Georgia.

Reni, hanging out with one of our neighbor friends.

Reni loves to try to pet this lone sheep that grazes in the orchard next to the future football field.

One Sunday the village kids wanted to take a hike in the hills above the village.  Nathan and Reni joined them!

April is Luli's birthday month.  We went out to lunch, then we enjoyed an impromptu jump on the trampoline in a rare moment without kids!  Luli is enjoying a jump with his sister. 

The wait for construction of the kalceto has been painfully slow.  But we got a glimmer of hope one morning when a truck showed up to unload the rubber pellets that will serve as the cushion below the turf carpet.

The picture below just because...

We continue to also slowly furnish the new facility.  Below is the reception desk for the facility.  

The kids took a week off of school after Easter for Spring Break.  We hosted our dear friends from Kosovo for a few days and went to the national park at Cape of Rodon for a morning hike one day.

And another because, my goodness, God's creation is stunning.

Back to Easter -- you're never too old to enjoy an egg hunt! Not pictured, the two families who joined us for lunch!  

A meaningful activity for me in the week leading up to Easter was coordinating the translation of the Season 2 premiere of The Chosen into Albanian. 

I was touched that Dallas read my FB post on the live stream before the premiere, spotlighting the translation efforts of many around the world.  You can watch that by clicking here.

Below, Eda and Nathan work to subtitle the trailer for Season 2 into Albanian.
You can click here to view that.

Shortly after the premiere of Season 2, the distributor of the series asked for my help in coordinating the teams of volunteer translators.  I recruited a co-leader and have since been in regular communication with the studio to create systems for funneling volunteers to language teams, facilitate communication between language team leaders, and report news between the teams and the studio.  We have more than sixty languages in process so far!

We were able to have some inexpensive LED lights installed around the wall of the rooftop terrace to provide light in the evening...

More updates to the new center... Nathan was finally able to start setting up the AV room in the back of the sanctuary.  That included setting up a television screen in the sanctuary (the brightness of the room in daylight makes projection a challenge).

Kids club!  Every Saturday morning :-)

The new facility has meant that kids get to do crafts at a TABLE instead of on their laps!  This is huge!  What a gift of space!  We don't take it for granted!

Reni shares some fun with his buddies...

It May Be Spring, But it Still Feels Like Winter... January ReCap

 So, when Cydil is in grad school... blogging suffers.  For the sake of our family journal, here's a few highlights from January.  Apparently, we had one major highlight -- the visit of Nathan's brother, Steve!  After a year of limited visitors, what a joy to entertain again! But first...

Putting my English teaching learning to use with some students at VT.  I now teach a small English class on Wednesday mornings.

Nathan's brother and our friends Cole and Joe came to provide valuable training in using sports in character development and discipleship.  Above, they reconnected with some of our dear neighbors they knew from previous visits.

They did training with a team who traveled down from Kosovo (above).  We also traveled to Korça!

Our hotel happened to be situated right next door to the first school for girls in Albania!

Watch Reni taking part in all the drills and training.

The first night in Korca, the kids and I explored the pedestrian street which had an ice rink set up at one end.  We couldn't convince Reni to don skates, but in his defense, changing shoes isn't quick and easy.

We also learned that Korca is called the Paris of Albania!  It certainly has a more European feel than most places in the country and beautiful lights in the winter!

Ellie and I at Lake Ohrid outside of Pogradec on the way to Korca...

Ellie's Piano Competition Performance

Due to COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings, Ellie's piano competition was forced to go "virtual" and her performance had to be recorded for the judges, but the bonus is that our family and friends abroad can view it too! 

Her duet (performed with her piano instructor, Luli Alizoti) was just 0.3 points from scoring at the highest level!  We were very proud of her performance here -- she has been working on the difficult fingering of this piece since December (see a few tricky runs around at 1:50).  The feedback she has received has given her such affirmation.  We are so grateful for all of you who have loved our girl and have supported and encouraged her along the way.  God has worked great miracles in her life to bring her this far!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6sbGrb9awg&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3svIebD2Wzybsa3jy5zHDUT2slxd_SnjaqXOho7DMQ59BV77WnI6BQ268