First Full Day in Albania

Well, we've made it through our first full day. Good day. We began the day with breafkast at the Stephen Center--www.stephencenter.com. This place began early in the days after communism fell. It was around when Kristen and I were here in 1995. It's a very convenient place for us as it is minutes from Emanuel Church. Breakfast is included and makes a great start to the day.

Zef and Altin talked a little about their roles here in Albania--eg. their work with the national IFES college group (Zef), the Interconfessional Bible Society (Altin) and their co-pastoring of Emanuel Church. They are great friends to me and it's good to hear their laughs and smiles again. It's been two years.

We met Zef's wife Edita at the Lincoln Center today and received a schedule for classes. The next couple days our team will be helping out in English classes. Good experience talking with Albanians. You can read more about them at www.lincolnalbania.org

Fun evening going to a local village called Vaqarr and meeting some young people. A bunch of us played soccer (Albanians call it "football") at a lighted field about the size of indoor (for 7 on 7). A good time for our team to interact with those Albanians that speak English.

The team has been pretty tired with jet-lag. In fact it's after 10pm, I'm sitting down here in the cafe of the Stephen Center while the students and chaperones went up to bed. A bit tired myself, but energized to be back in Tirana with a team!

I'll try to keep some regular updates as the internet access is great here now. Thanks for all your prayers. Things are going really well.

Peace,

Jeff