We finally have internet!

We are five days into the trip and finally have internet.

Our flights over were uneventful. There was little to no sleep on the plane. Major frowny (nick face). Once we arrived we were immediately swept off to the country town of Lushnje two hours away. It proved to provide a bit of culture shock...mostly due to the driving. We took a small 30 minute rest and headed to a Church/retreat center. We worshipped with the youth and introduced ourselves. For some reason I was a nervous wreck about that ( maybe because we were working with a translator for the first time). The guys played soccer with the youth from the church. Guys will be guys and the competition was apparently fierce. Brian served as goalie and thoroughly enjoyed himself. The ladies played some group games which included concentration. My brain was fried and these did not go over too well for me. ;-). It was so nice forming relationships with the teens. When we returned the next day they liked calling us by name and acted like we were one of them.

My heart aches for the pastor(Koli) and his wife (Anita)in Lushnje. Their church is literally falling apart and full of mold. Teams from the US have come in trying to fix it, but they say it is impossible. Needless to say, people are leaving the church due to the conditions. They
run Sunday school out of their house. Pastor Koli also runs the Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child strictly on volunteer terms. Plus he does a prison ministry. I could see in their eyes that they were tired and discouraged. Hopefully we brought a bit of that to them.
Yesterday we made the two hour drive to The capital city of Tirana. It was the 4th of July and we found that the restaurant next to our hotel is AMERICAN. Cheeseburgers all around! Plus they did fireworks! We traveled to the next town over to help with their vacation bible school. They kids were ecstatic over the water balloons that we were filling up. The kids sang with such exuberance about Jesus. Although we can't understand a word they are saying, it is truly music to our ears. We will be taking them craft supplies to help with Sunday school at their church. It is amazing the things that they don't have here...like the water balloons. Things we take for granted.

My favorite part so far was praying with one of the girls in Lushnje. Someone translated our prayer requests to each other. I prayed for her and then hearing her pray for me in Albanian was beautiful. Our Father understands it all even if we do not. How amazing is He?!