A "Simple" Project...

We have officially survived our first week of the “summer project”! True to Albanian form, NOTHING turned out as planned! The original goal….

Along with a group from San Diego, the youth of the Libonik church was going to break into teams and either work at the church building a patio and play area, or, would go to a neighboring village and do evangelistic children’s programs, followed by open air evangelism in the afternoons.

Well….scratch the evangelism and the children’s programs! The patio/play area project demanded MUCH more time and people power than anybody was expecting. Had we been in America, this could have easily been done in two days, but Albanian culture presented many unexpected problems. A week later, and we’re still trying to get the “simple” project finished. Here are some of the building hardships…

- the land that was supposed to be leveled by a tractor, wound up being leveled by hand

- the second shipment of “dirt” turned out to be hard clay mixed with old trash (and the driver DEMANDED payment)

- bags of cement were left out in the rain

- The brand new, hand made, wood cover for the well was vandalized! Sigh….

Through this, we’re learning more about the Albanian culture. Most of the laborers we’ve dealt with (those outside of the church) take very little pride in their work. The first time they do a job, they do it well in order to get hired again, but the work quality quickly goes downhill from here.

Anyways, the project wasn’t really a loss. The youth spent time serving; the team built relationships, and there are the beginnings of an incredibly beautiful patio and play area behind the church! In the end, we all agreed that everything worked out for the best. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that sometimes we make the plans, but the Lord directs the steps. A big thanks to Shadow Mountain Church for providing the means to create this place of fellowship for our church! We’ll post before/after pictures soon!

The Best and Worst of It!

Still no luck on the jet lack front. I woke up promptly this morning at 3:00 am wide eyed and bushy tailed. Because we have a visitor staying in our living room, I was confined to my bedroom…which meant no sneaking into the kitchen for post midnight snacks and internet use…shucks. I read for 5 hours, which means I REALLY wasn’t tired because usually reading puts me fast to sleep.

Anyways, jet lag isn’t what I wanted this blog to be about! Rather I want to share with you the best and worst parts about greeting our Albanian friends after two and a half months away.

Albanians are very gracious in their greetings in that they always ask, MULTIPLE times, how you are doing, how your health is and how the trip was. This is followed by asking about the family. They ask specifically about each family member and literally go through a list, (How’s you mom, dad, brothers, sisters, grandparents, Steve’s mom, dad, brothers, sisters, etc….and if they know us real well, they even ask about the pets!) This is followed by asking specifically about everyone’s health as well! The entire ordeal takes quite a few minutes, and makes a simple errand take forever! (Please understand, this is not a complaint!)

But my FAVORITE part of reconnecting with our old friends (and sometimes acquaintances) is telling them that my sister is now engaged. This is inevitably followed by many congratulations and well wishes for her and her fiancé.

(For those of you reading this and just discovering this terrific news, Amber recently became engaged to Dave Dyson…a great man who was quite possibly, the perfect fit for her and our family! The two very considerately became engaged during our trip to the States so that we could personally share in their joy!)

Excited to hear good news, Albanians are always eager for more, and without missing a beat, inevitably ask if I have any good news myself (asking if I’m pregnant). I politely respond that I’m not. Disappointed, they wish me to have a boy. Somewhere in the conversation, they will have to mention that I’ve gained weight and that it was a mistake to cut my hair. So that’s the worst of it…not too bad.

But now comes the best part…meeting up with the kids! Yesterday we went to visit the girls at the Safe House. They weren’t home so wound up waiting for them for about fifteen minutes in the rain. But, the wet wait was well worth it when the two youngest girls saw us from a distance and ran with all of their might to give us our hugs, kisses and the roses they picked for us in the park. I barley recognized Delvina because her hair had grown much longer and Maria was just as playful and loving as ever. The older girls were equally excited about our arrival (and the gifts we brought back for them!) It really was a sweet reminder of why we’re here…to a make a loving difference in the lives of worthy kids like these!

Today, we made our way to the daily center, where Dani was they first see us. He was so thrilled to see Steve that his eyes literally welled with tears as they were hugging. Now, for those of you that have heard our “Dani stories,” you probably know that Dani can pull out tears on moments notice; but these were genuine, “I’ve missed you, my friend” tears.

Dani announced to the other kids that we were back and immediately the onslaught of hugs and kisses began. I was so touched by all the hugs that I forgot to worry about my head touching theirs and getting lice!! Toli (the youngest of the “Jungle Boys”) hung to me like a leach and wouldn’t’ let go for a good half hour. Steve was bombarded with all the rest as they fought for his attention. Ilka (the oldest) tried to play it cool when he saw us. However, he wolfed down his lunch much faster than any other kid so that he could (nonchalantly) get some special time with Steve while all the others finished their meal (smart kid!).

So that’s the best and worst of it! As hard as it was to say “goodbye” in America, saying “hello” in Albanian was so worth it!

Back to Albania

One tall Caramel Frappuccino, two bites of a stale bagel, six airplane meals, three packs of trail mix, 2 fun-size butterfingers, 1 bag of pizza bagel bites, 4 bottles of water, and we’re finally back in Albania! Our travels got off to a rough start, as they usually do. Although I think we are rather experienced world travels, we ARE NOT experienced world packers. Every trip we seem to make the same mistake…waiting till the last minute to pack (and by last minute, I mean staying up ALL NIGHT the night before to pack.) You would think that we’d have this down by now, but no matter what side of the world we are on, we cannot seem to get this right! At the beginning of each flight, I always seem to curse materialism and try to figure out how I do better the next time.

Anyways, with the little sleep and major post-packing stress, I was in no condition to express my true love and emotions to those who were waiting so lovingly to send us off. Cheerfully, and running completely off of adrenaline and caffeine, I casually hugged the fam., and hopped in the car. Steve, however, had the opposite problem, and broke down the minute he said goodbye to his beloved dog. In my defense (as to not look coldhearted) I had my break down about a week earlier before going to visit my grandpa. Regardless, saying goodbye to friends and family is easily one of the hardest parts for us of missionary life.

So, we get to the airport and we’re told to wait in the United line. Half an hour later, we’re at the check-in desk being told to wait in the Lufthansa line. We get to the Lufthansa check in desk, where they are experiencing problems with our check in. Without any explanation for what is going wrong, we wait, and wait, and wait. The girl helping us calls someone else to help her, who calls someone else to help him (big sigh). By this point, Steve and I are nervously checking our watches. Finally figuring out the problem, we get our tickets, but are informed that our seats are in the back of the plane. “Fine,” I thought, “who cares where our seats are as long as we’re on the plane!”

Little did I know, but seats on the back of the plane means that our seats have shorter leg space, don’t recline AT ALL and are next to the bathrooms (gross). Oh well. It didn’t seem to matter much anyways because both Steve and I slept almost the entirety of flight.

More sleeping in the airport in Germany, more trouble checking in, Steve suffering a bad ear ache and we arrive in Greece, where, no big surprise…our luggage isn’t on the conveyor belt. Fortunately, the bags were transferred to a different terminal (which always seems to happen at this airport, and we’re on our way, again. We catch a taxi to the train station, where we lug over 200 lbs. of luggage across a busy street to the bus station for Albania. The men, Albanian speakers, seemed tickled to death that two Albanian speaking Americans were using their bus. I was tickled that I still remembered Albanian and that my head instantaneously shook no when answering yes. (Albanians shake their heads the opposite of Americans). In all we made it from Vacaville California to Korce Albania in about 28 hours…not bad!

So having made it safely back, we just have one more traveling hurdle to cross…jet lag! After futilely trying to sleep, getting back up and watching City Slickers at 2:00 am., I am writing this to all of you at 5:00am! Hope you enjoyed my early morning ramblings!