Off to a slow start... sort of

As I mentioned in my last blog, the dreadful common cold made itself known to me in a very physical way (sore throat) on the first leg of my trip over here.  If I were home, I would traditionally just power through - so why is it different here?  Is it the time change?  Is it the atmospheric pressure?  Or the longitudinal meridian?  I am beginng to  think there is a lot of physical stress just making the trip and adjusting to the new time zone.  Whatever!  I was not ready to hit the ground running, like I had hoped (there were a couple of things I had hoped to do the day I got here), but have managed to stay on track, and will pick up the slack, I'm sure.

Did you know that there is a lottery to get an American citizenship here?

We had our first Quilt Leaders group on Saturday, with Adi and Dori as well as a missionary recently back from Turkey and Ela.  A funeral took precedence for a number of others, so we may repeat it in the next few weeks if we can get a group together.  We went over a few "facts" about quilting, and then started doing a couple of the squares.  There was a suggestion to change the format of the instructions - are there any computer nerds out there who could help me with graphics?  I can't seem to begin to make the changes they suggested, but I think theirs is a fabulous idea and would make the instructions so much easier!

I've been in touch with Adi & Berti, Sue & Blair, Dori & Alban, the Roma team, the prison ministry, the Bathore team (my friend Migena is currently the main speaker at an event in Greece), and some other special friends.  One never knows what God has in mind for you when you travel to Albania (or anywhere else for that matter).  It seems that my experiences over the years have uniquely qualified me to  help a friend over here, and we've spent some extended time together.  Praise God that He is such a good planner!

So, hopefully, the anticipated activities should begin in earnest this week.  I will be traveling to Bathore to meet up with the widows early in the week, review the last order we received and make sure it is completed, begin to teach the new project, and so on.  My plans for Bathore are ambitious - pray that we can involve enough people so that we can get all these things going and overcome the initial inertia,  grease the wheels, and then can pick up some momentum.  We have a little momentum at present, we just need to get the flywheel (does anyone know what that is?  OK, I hear my son say "Google it," so I have and it is an apt analogy) going a little faster.

Debbie has provided a project for the Roma women, and we have done it with the missionaries and they are enthusiastic.  Thanks, Debbie!!  That project may also find its way to Bathore and to a group of students taking English classes through CRU.  Thanks for the supplies, Melanie!

Oh, the call to prayer!  I was so tired last night that I went to bed at 8 (we are no longer on Daylight Savings Time here), only to wake up 7 hours later at 3 am.  So, I have managed to do a few things, but will lie down for a few minutes again before I get up "in earnest."  Who really wants to start the day at 3 in the morning?

I'll try to chronicle my day this evening - until then... Pafshim!