Thursday, February 22, 2024

Official Albanian Residents!

Hi Friends,

I have a really exciting update to share. We are all 5 officially legal residents of Albania! Woohoo!



We got a tip last Friday from our local immigration officer in Berat that they MIGHT have coupons at the Vlore Post Office on Monday. James sent her a message at 8:00 Monday morning, and the reply was YES! But they had a limited amount and might run out. We got everyone in the car as quickly as possible and drove the hour and a half to Vlore. Amazingly, although the post office was packed, we were able to buy the coupons for Lydia and Gideon. Then, the second miracle was that the immigration office that was typically only open for 4 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays was open on Monday and we were able to go directly there and get their cards made! When we walked into the packed office with people from all over the world, they looked up at us and said, "Are you the family from Berat?" Haha. I think we've taken a lesson from the persistent widow story and been REALLY tenacious over the months. Then, I think they retook Gid's photo 9 times because they didn't like his hair on his forehead and thought he looked like he was scowling. Poor kid. At the same time we picked up Clara's card that had been made in November but has been sitting in their vault since then. I was really curious to see when it expired (more on that in a moment). Afterwards, we celebrated our Albanian residency by going out to eat some American fast food that we can't buy in Berat (Clara actually requested Albanian food, but was voted down). Then we walked back by a playground and the lovely warm weather encouraged our kids to swing, and slide, and climb, and everything was beautiful.


The VERY next day we had an appointment to meet with someone to talk us through RENEWING our residency because James' and my residency permits expire on March 17! Clara's (and possibly the kids') expire on April 26! It's a little bit of a bummer to have so little of a reprieve from the process. We are going to have to pick up the kids' cards and immediately turn around and submit paperwork for new residency permits for the family. Hopefully, this one will be for two or three years. Please pray with us that there are no hiccups, and we can get things done in time. I'm not sure what the consequences are for being late, but I really like to stay on the good side of the law.


In the midst of all of this, our family has been dealing with a nasty cold/flu that has been knocking us out one by one for several weeks and has a lot of uncomfortable symptoms like fevers and irritated eyes and ear pain and incredibly sore throats. I know it did us ALL good to sit in the sunshine in Vlore as we've mostly been inside with the chilly weather. James has been able to preach a few times and helped set up a kids' movie outreach at the church building while I was sick in bed. We also celebrated Clara turning 15 and had a little family Valentine exchange.





I hope you will join us in praising God for taking care of things in His own timing.

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Alaska

We have arrived safely in Alaska without too much incident.

James will be sharing photos and stories of our work in Albania on Wednesday night at the Valley Church of Christ in Wasilla. We are also looking into traveling the state a bit to talk to people, but we are still trying to iron out details.

It is CRAZY to me how much we have on our to-do list from medical care, homeschool needs, financial logistics, storage issues, and items replenished for our day to day life in Albania. This doesn't include catching up with people, putting together camp lessons and presentations, and doing (and eating) fun things that we have missed. July 22 and flying back to Albania will be here before we know it.

Please keep our family in prayer. I hope we get to see lots of you in the coming weeks!




Friday, June 16, 2023

First Furlough

by Andrea

This is a quick update to let you all know we will be traveling back to Alaska next week for my brother's wedding. We will be staying a month so that the kids can reconnect with friends at camp, and we can get some important details squared away.
We have been in Albania for 8 months next week. It seems like a very brief time. I was thinking about it though, 8 months is nearly 1/10th of Gideon's life. Lydia asked me yesterday if one of the drinks we enjoy regularly here (Fanta Exotic) is in Alaska, and I was surprised as we didn't even know it existed until we came here.
We are looking forward to some things very much: seeing family and friends, worshipping with the church in English, being able to shop for and eat foods we've missed, driving a car, etc. But we know that things might feel strange too, especially to our children. I'm not sure what will be difficult and what will feel like stepping into our old life. We've had anxiety and tears from our children at the idea of driving past our old house, for example.
We would appreciate prayers as we navigate travel logistics, as we reunite with family and friends, for our month in Alaska, and for coming back to our home in Albania. God is so good to give us this opportunity to be with my brother on his special day, I trust He will take care of the details, but prayers are appreciated. Also, if you see us, please be patient with us.
(The photos are of our well loved "Egg Chair." Lydia on her 12th Birthday; Clara, enjoying a book, and Gideon, who can nap anywhere asleep while waiting for his sisters to get ready to go out.)










Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Preacher James


Last week James taught five different lessons to five different gatherings of Christians.
Each lesson is a challenge. First he has to write the lesson in English, translate it to Albanian, then translate it back to English to make sure it didn't get garbled in translation. Then he creates his PowerPoint slides, then writes notes in English so that he doesn't forget what his PowerPoint says. It's a long process. We appreciate online translation apps, and James is learning Albanian faster than all of us. But it's a ton of work and dedication to detail.

After all this, his lesson has to be translated verbally as he speaks. He is working with some teenage translators who are gaining experience from translating and so he will give them some terms and phrases in advance and encourage them to read the key scriptures in English.

The church in Berat is unique in that most members are very elderly and also new Christians. Arthritis and eyesight make turning pages in a Bible difficult, so every verse is shared on the large screen.
This last weekend, he also taught the youth and Sunday service in Durrës. The Durrës church of Christ is a lot more established with many young people. It's always a breath of fresh air to worship with them.

He also teaches youth classes. Many of the youth know English, which is a blessing to us and our kids, but we also have those lessons translated for everyone.

It's a big shift for someone who is used to speaking off the cuff and from his heart to put so much time into preparing for just one lesson, I'm so proud of him for dedicating so much time and attention to it.

His current series are on the people of Faith from Hebrews 11 (Thursdays) and Spiritual Gifts (Sundays) and The Story of the Bible (teens). I always love to hear him teach. He inspires me so much.








 

Sunday, May 14, 2023

Mother's Day 2023

 Happy Mother's Day!

Today is not an Albanian holiday, but these sweet girls from the youth group showed up on my doorstep today with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a sweet card for me. I know this speaks to their hearts more than my influence, but I'm so deeply touched.
Today is Albania's election day. Please be in prayer for that.




Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Laundry

 Thoughts on life without a dryer...

No matter how industriously I keep filling the washing machine and immediately hang it to dry, actually having clean, wearable clothing completely depends on atmospheric conditions out of my control.

Drying clothes in the summer is miraculous. I have hung and dried 3 washer loads of clothing one after another and had them dry in a day. Drying clothes in the winter can take FOREVER. The combo of heavier, thicker clothes and cool weather is impossible. A drying rack by a running heater feels like cheating, but is often our only option.

The heat of a dryer is somewhat sanitizing and so is the sun, but what about when you have neither, for MONTHS?

What do you do with lint on clothing if the dryer never tumbles them off? Also discovered this issue after cutting hair.

Cardboard towels. At least they are exfoliating!

Outside factors. Today there was bird poop on Lydia's clean pants. I'm so scared of losing something important to a breezy day. I'm constantly watching for rain and trying to guess how MUCH rain we are likely to get on our weather app! I didn't realize how much my life was conveniently climate controlled for convenience until moving here.

Sheets! My clotheslines hang 3 feet off the ground. How do I hang sheets? Currently one at a time over several lines at once, but that feels unsustainable.

Our washer has been broken for a while and was fixed yesterday. Thank you, God! This morning I got up quickly to start washing clothes to catch up with the laundry piles, but the electricity was out all morning. When the electricity came back on, I started washing small loads of laundry in case I had caused the problem by overfilling the machine, but now the sky is dark with rain clouds. With a family of 5, I just may never be caught up on laundry again.

Laundry detergent is very heavily scented. There is no such thing as unscented laundry detergent here. I finally found a baby detergent at the German beauty store that is very subtle.

I now have favorite clothespins. I've never had favorite clothespins before.

Sometimes I wish I had an Albanian mama to teach me all the subtleties of doing life here.


Benches

 

There is a nice courtyard outside where the church meets in Berat. There are maybe five benches in a little paved circle where old ladies sit and watch birds and children cut through kicking a ball from time to time. But the whole space is in a bit of disrepair and several of the benches are unfortunately unusable. This became more of a concern as the weather has become warm. Christians do not want to hang out inside our hot meeting room after we are finished, and there is nowhere for them to sit once they get outside, so they disappear rather quickly.

So, one of the church members volunteered to find materials and serve the church and the community by fixing up the benches. I came to help out, but aside from getting my hands covered in yellow paint, and squawking in a weird language, I don't know if I did anything of use. So, I also finger painted my phone yellow and took some pictures to document this simple, but enormous, act of service.

I'm excited to see this courtyard in use soon. I already have some other ideas of ways that we can fix it up to make it more comfortable. I realized while helping with the bench that people were watching and many approached and asked questions. Who are you? Why are you doing this? And the answer was always, "We are Christians and we are doing this for you." People were very appreciative. Several stayed and talked for a long time and were invited to visit us on Sunday. Some children came and practiced speaking English with me, and I called my girls to come to meet them.

Community service is tricky in a former communist country that had so many years of forced public labor. There are still stigmas and fears. But sacrifice is always noticed, and a city on a hill can not be hidden.









Wednesday, May 03, 2023

Albania Christian Retreat

 The future is stronger than the present because of the strength of the past.



Saturday, April 22, 2023

April

 Wins: Gideon walked down the street and bought a banana on his own.

Losses: Heating the baptistry popped the circuit so badly that the extension cord plug melted.
Can't lose: Today a new Sister in Christ will be joining God's family!




Saturday, April 08, 2023

Easter 2023

Today we had the Berat Teens over to our apartment to share some fun American Easter traditions. We busted out some American treats we'd been saving or picked up in Germany: Paas egg dye, Jello, Tapioca, and Easter candy. While frantically trying to unpack the kitchen AND straighten the house, Clara and I boiled 60 eggs, made sweet tea and lemonade, prepared jello and pudding, and then friends arrived. We dyed eggs, made resurrection rolls, and for an impromptu egg hunt at the insistance of Gideon, hid and re-hid wrapped peanut butter chocolate eggs all around the house and balcony. We read Matthew 28 together and wrote Bible verses in English and Albanian on our eggs. It was a blast, and I'm utterly wiped out. It was a real family effort, and I'm proud of all 4 of my teammates.

James is preaching on the resurrection tomorrow, and we're celebrating a little extra with the church with a little sweet table. When living in a primarily Muslim country, it's fun for Christians to come together and be a family for each other.

God bless you. Celebrating Jesus' Resurrection with Thankfulness! He is Risen!