Saturday after a full week!

Well, so much for the regular posts huh? It's been a great week here. We've been all over the city.

We've been to Lincoln Center in two locations to sit into English classes for conversation. We've been to Kruja, the city of Skanderbeg, the national hero. We've been to GDQ to play with the kids and meet some of the high schoolers.

Last night we watched Amazing Grace with some people of Emanuel Church. Great movie! I was moved to tears once again.

This morning Betty and I will teach a few seminars on Prayer, Studying and Leading Bible Discussions, and Spiritual Leadership for a group of college staff workers and student leaders from campuses around the country.

Tomorrow I'll preach at Emanuel and some of our team will lead Bible study, then we'll go to Durres on the coast to sightsee. Hard to believe our time is almost at and end. It's been great.

If possible I'll try to get some other teammates to post some thoughts before we go.

Peace,

Jeff

Had a great day Tuesday. Team time in the morning. Then off to walk the streets of the city. We went to Lincoln 2 which is the newest location for the Lincoln center. It's in an area called to the "Block." The Block is the trendy area of town where all the young people like to go--nice shops, cafes, bars, etc. It's an interesting place because the Block used to be off limits to most Albanians under communism. In fact, Lincoln Center's building used to be Enver Hoxha's home. The Communist party leaders all had nice homes in the Block, and lived their extravagant lives, while the communist system drained the country of resources. What a picture of the depravity of communism as it is almost always practiced. The heart is corrupt, and greed lies at the center of it. Obvious no matter what culture we're in.

We spent time at Lincoln yesterday. Fun to engage teens in English classes. We'll back there again this afternoon and tomorrow.

Last night Manchester United beat A.C. Milan! Most of our Albanian friends were not happy. Of course, every Albanian has their favorite teams. You can't believe how important "futbol" is here in Europe.

Off to Kruja today, the famous citadel of Skanderbeg. He's the national hero of Albania who fought the Turks in the 13th century. Kruja is basically the main tourist city of Albania (other than the coastal towns). I'm sure the team will enjoy bartering for souvenirs there. Kruja is about an hour to the north and it will be good for the team to see some of the countryside.

Back to Lincoln this afternoon for more classes.

Zoti ju bekofte,

Jeff

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