New Opportunities, Life, Light, Qualifications, and Guests!

April flew by in a flash with lots of wonderful memories!

Below, Ellie is living out her dream of teaching music by providing lessons for our friend, Z.  Thank you, Thompson piano books that haven't changed in over 40 years!  They still work!

The highlight of April is Easter and we were so pleased to share it with dear friends for the 5th time in 6 Easters!  After a special church service, we had lunch in our home.

We colored eggs, of course...

We played Ticket to Ride (the European version, of course).

We ate very well and ended the day with Argentine empanadas!  Yum!

Vlashaj was blessed this month with STREET LIGHTS!  What a difference they make!

Soccer school also resumed!  We added transportation service and we are busting at the seams with lots of students!

We were super proud of Luli for completing his first level of certification throught Futbol Federation of Albania and EUFA (the European federation).  He is now a certified assistant coach for youth!

Below, in case you were wondering what "American Cookies" look like...spotted at our local supermarket.

We were pleased to bring a small group from the village to a public Easter program in the central square in Tirana.

Thanks to the generosity of our partners, we were able to purchase and install outdoor lights for the volleyball/basketball court.  This space is used a lot, but especially on Wednesday nights for community volleyball!

On April 21 we were so pleased to welcome the McCues! They are long time farm friends from Michigan. 

They brought their 13-year-old grandson, Genesis, with them.  He and Reni seemed to get along quite well. Though they have been to Albania many times before, it was special to introduce them to a few new places!

Above, Reni and Genesis climb on a modern art sculpture in Tirana called "The Cloud."  Below, Ellie poses in the tunnel of the Roman-era amphitheater in Durres.

We try to have an element of personal response at the conclusion of each church service.  This helps bring the evening's message to a practical point.  This particular evening's message was about how we please God.  One of the ways we learned was through giving God thanks and praise for what he has done for us.  We each took turns writing our thanks to God on paper lanterns which we later released from the rooftop of the church!

One day we received a message from Mandi that the muncipality wanted to gift our center with some trees, while also holding a forum for the community to voice their thoughts and concerns.

Nathan and Luli pose next to this campaign sign -- "Never behind, only forward!" it claims.

The used our basketball court for their program which was complete with boisterous music and young women distributing pens and cigarette lighters with the majority party's campaign slogan on it.

Our neighbor and friend, Arjana, invited the McCues over for coffee.  We had a lovely time visiting together and enjoying her hospitality!

We showed Genesis that his name in the Albanian Bible is actually "Zanafilla" -- which Reni would occasionally call him for fun. :-)

Reni has become an AVID chess player and bought himself this olive wood chess board during our visit to Kruje.  Unfortunately, most folks don't enjoy playing him because the games conclude so quickly. :-)

Alas, our five days with the McCues flew by quickly and we were back at the airport to send them off!

While Reni got a chess board, in Kruja I bought a new rug for the guesthouse to maintain an Albanian vibe. :-) 

Just a week or so later, we would be welcoming our next set of guests!  Check back in a few weeks for a report on all we learned and did in May, including fantastic training in oral Bible story telling techniques!

P.S.  If you are receiving this post by e-mail, do not "reply" -- we will not receive your message.

 

Bouquets, Boots, Bubbles, Battles, Basketball, Birthdays, and (not) Beets | March 2023

 What a diverse collection of activities we took part in this month!  Let's jump right in!

When we returned from the USA, our church had a special time of honoring Nathan's mother.

They gifted us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Below, on the topic of perspective, Nathan had some fun with this science lesson at VT.  You can see a neat collection of poses (and give VT Albania a follow) on their instagram account. ;-)

March 8 is International Women's Day and a big occasion for celebration locally.

We hosted a special evening including games, dessert, a devotional message, and a craft.

Reni has took over this nook as his new 'hang-out zone' in our home this year, thanks to a shift to more online education.

At a recent education conference he made friends with other missionary kids living around the Balkans and other parts of Europe and spends lots of time each day in group chats with them. It's a different kind of socializing, than I experienced at his age for sure! 

We brought these "Bubble Balls" back from the USA and had fun inaugurating them with the kids from the Hope Center.

In addition to being a special activity for our local kids, we hope they might serve as a draw for potential party rentals of the soccer field.

Above, our neighbor laughs at Nathan's suggestion that they battle it out together with the balls.

We had promised the Alpha youth a raincheck when our funeral travels caused us to cancel the end-of-course party.  We ordered pizza, had a great last discussion (for now) and enjoyed probably the best nerf war I've had the pleasure of enjoying. :-)

March 21 is International Down Syndrome Day and in honor the Special Olympics hosted their first ever basketball scrimmage.

Nathan and Ellie attended to support our colleague, Luis, who was coaching the fledgling new team. It was held in a newly constructed sports arena.

A highlight of the month was Mom and Hannah's visit! 

Within hours of landing, they were attending a birthday party for our dear friend, Demir, who was turning 60. We celebrated with a barbecue no the rooftop of Jeta.

Mom's visit was a full one! Below, she greets the church.

Nathan performed good son-in-law duties which included taking down drapes for cleaning and rehanging them at the Planters guest apartment where she likes to stay :-)

Gigi performed her grandmotherly duty of taking Ellie out for waffles and bananas at a favorite sweet shop reserved for special occasions (like birthdays and international visitors).

Hannah enjoyed drinking Nathan's coffees which he usually makes twice per day... iced or hot!

On their layover to come to Albania, Mom and Hannah ran into longtime farmer friend, Gary Dumm (of Missouri) who was bringing a team from his church to serve in a mountain village.  The night before they were to leave, they stopped by Vlashaj for a visit.

The day before they left, we made chocolate cupcakes for church...

We iced them in Argentine blue icing to celebrate one year of the Artoni family serving with us!

We are so grateful for the gift of their presence with us and they love they show this community!

A big project this month was building the new website for KF Jeta (the name of the futbol club we are launching at Jeta). I took photos of Luli and Luis for the website.  Check it out here!

Finally, I had to close with the peculiar potato (above)... we had baked potatoes one evening for supper.  Mom had been tasked with sourcing them during the previous grocery shopping trip and chose red-skin potatoes as she said that's all the store had in stock.  Imagine our surprise when we cut into it discover it was purple!! Have you ever seen such a thing?

If so, don't hit reply to this e-mail -- we won't get the reply :-). But you can reach us by e-mail via the address listed in the margin of this blog. 

What a full month! And that only scratched the surface!
Happy Holy Week everyone!