The last day

Well, it's Saturday about 3:45 in the afternoon. We leave at 4:30 in the morning, about 12 hours from now, and already are talking of returning. The weather for the last few days has been very hot... 40 degrees Celsius, or about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Whew! Add to that the humidity and it is tough for these Central Coasters!

Alban loves to drive - I'm so glad, because he again chauffered us back to Tirana yesterday. What a wonderful time we had at the Pashos, but understand that Daniel was in the hospital this morning. Please continue to pray. When we left, it looked like the worst was over, but now we are concerned that it may not yet be over. So, we have been praying for them, and have yet to hear more news. Please keep them in your prayers.

Last evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal with Pellumb and Elli and their two children. Joni, their five year old son, aspires to be an artist and showed me his portfolio. He carefully explained everything about the drawings - in Albanian. But, what a sweet and quiet spirit he had last night. Estella, their 13 month old daughter, was easily entertained by passing a pamphlet back and forth between her mother and me. All the while, we "solved the problems of the world," sharing our differing visions for evangelism.

This morning we had the first opportunity to present our quilt to unbelievers, and what a blessing it was. As you know, our purpose has been to equip the church with a tool for evangelism, so we have limited the meetings to believers (although a few unbelievers have slipped in). But, today we were asked to give our witness. So, we discussed quilting, the unique aspects of American quilting and then the story told by the quilt we brought. Most of the group were from the orphanage, and have been mentored by Genta, Flori's wife, for some time. Even so, there were a few adults who apparently have not accepted God's wonderful gift. So, we discussed the blocks, the stories behind them, then worked on the first block - creation. While Genta (and others) were preparing lunch, we "reviewed" the story represented by the quilt, I gave my testimony, and asked who had accepted Jesus' gift. It was a wonderful moment for me as the girls almost universally raised their hands. There is so much more to loving those orphans, but perhaps we have played a small part for them. Plus.... one of the adults Genta had invited expressly to hear the Gospel message asked her if she could go to church with her. Oh, that God would be so kind as to harvest another. At any rate, we finished telling them that the stars in the cornerstone fabric (between the blocks) were believers, joined together by the blood represented by the red fabric in the sashing (I'll show a block, its the red and black fabric between the blocks), and even though I was returning to America, we would be joined in the same family.

Tomorrow, hopefully on the plane, I'll try to organize my memories of this whirlwind trip, but I believe we have met with well over 100 women, and shared our vision with leaders from the church, missionaries to various parts of the Albanian world (including Macedonia), and Christian workers in prison ministries and to unwed mothers. It is our hope and prayer, and I hope you will join us, that this quest will bear fruit; that we will be in a position to support from the US, and that if God wishes, we will return again to these wonderful people. So, this will be our last post from Albania. But, we will be so happy to share this adventure with you after we return.

It's Thursday, about 10:50 pm here in Vlora. We have been out of internet range for the last few days, so haven't added any posts since our first day or so here.

We have enjoyed spending time with the Pashos - when we arrived it was warm, but now we have "African Air," and it's really warm (90s at times, humidity about the same). There was no water in Vlora for the last two days - but thankfully we were south of here in a city called Soranto. While there we visited Butrint - a castle/city with 2500 years of history. It was fascinating to view the amphitheater (Roman and Greek) and the second largest baptristry, built after Christianization.

Tomorrow we return to Tirana, will have one more group on Saturday, then we leave this wonderful land. It is reminiscent of home - with large craggy cliffs next to a coast studded with rocky coves interspersed with sandy beaches. We even saw the submarine base established during the Communist times. Interesting.

Please pray for the Pashos - all of their children have the GI "whatevers." It's hard when one after the other requires cleaning. But, Dori is a champ - and hopefully, we are not too much of a burden.

Will be able to blog from Tirana, so will fill in with pictures of Vlora and south then. Right now, we must go.

It's Sunday evening - about 10:30 pm - and we just finished dinner. There has been no internet for the last couple of days.

Today we are in Vlora with Dori and Alban, Daniel, Rueben, and Cindy. Today we gave a presentation at the International Baptist Church here, and had about eight women. They were determined to finish a block, so you can see that they did the Coronation Crown. We attended church there this morning - it was a challenging sermon. The pastor spoke on Amos and Hosea. Interesting... Hosea hasn't been the most understandable book over the years - and he made it, in some ways, come alive.

We arrived here yesterday (Saturday); Alban was kind enough to pick us up in Spille and the

n stop for a couple of hours in Lushnje. In Lushnje, we met with Erna and Esther along with two women from Esther's village. What a wonderful campus they have (except that someone is knowingly building on their land; it looks like they may have to go to court to clear it up). The building itself used to be the courthouse - interesting. The villagers seemed especially interested - with the colors and patterns. It really felt good to have such an enthusiastic response - I'm glad we were able to stop.

On Friday, we left Tirane and went to Spille where we presented the concept of quilting bees and piecing blocks to the wives of the pastors at the conference - the meeting included others, I think, as there were women of all ages. The older women were particularly interested in the technique and were ready to start sewing on a new project right there. Due to sp

ace, etc., we just gave a demonstration and were unable to have the women actually sew. There was a contingency from a city near Elbasan (I think it was Bejan) who desperately wanted us to have a quilt class at their church. Unfortunately, we won't be able to stop, due to time constraints and lack of tools, but we expressed our hope that we could be at their church next year - God willing.

We did have a couple of hours off and read - otherwise it's been busy. We estimate we have presented to a out 100 women so far, and we have two more presentations at the end of the week. Almost every group has been enthusiastic - unless they are great at pretending. So, it seems that we have been successful at introducing this technique and have extracted promises that it will be used for evangelism. Only God knows what will happen - and how.

Thanks for following our adventure. We will be resting for a couple of days, then back to Tirane Friday, and then we leave this wonderful land on Sunday.

It is 8:30 in the morning on Friday (I think the blog times my missives in Pacific Coast Time - 9 hours behind the time here). There is definitely a problem with the internet in the evenings. So, it's morning and I have little time to write. Today, we go to Spille and the sea for a pastors' conference so I can present the idea of quilting as an evangelistic tool to them. Perhaps we will have a little time to relax with Pellumb and Eli. So far, it's been very busy - but that is good.

Yesterday we went to Gerdec - a small town close to Tirana where there is a church plant. They have classes in sewing, and the teacher was there along with about 12 or 13 women. It was very hot, and the sewing machine was very tempermental. But, we got one block almost finished, and left a quilt top there.

The nearby mosque is still praying at 4:15 am or so, but we are doing better regarding sleep. Food is delicious - no problems so far. Must go - breakfast is over and we must leave. The pictures are of Gerdec.

It is definitely easier to upload images in the morning. Here are some images from the village yesterday. Bill says it is very much like the villages he visited, but closer to Tirana with roads allowing a car to travel there.

Smells like it might rain today - it's definitely cooler, at least now (7:30 am). We are watching the area prepare for the day. A couple of vans with oodles of eggs loading to take somewhere, the farmer's market awakening across the street, cars driving by. Next door is a pet store, it looks like, with cages filled with little finches, and pet supplies stacked next to the door.

Just down the street is a crumbling building, sort of "picturesque" until you realize that people live there. Beyond that is a multistory building which looks relatively new.

Traffic laws are a little different here - although I've seen cars stop for pedestrians (they haven't hit me yet), when dealing with other cars, it seems to be whatever you can get away with... a left turn in front of you (it happened last night as we were coming home, almost didn't see the car), running red lights, and so on seem common. Driving in the city is fraught with challenges, and progress is very slow, even slower than in LA.

Well, breakfast is here, and will try to write something this evening. I'm wondering how everything is at home.

Back from Ibe

What a wonderful village! The people are so friendly, and curious. We went to Ibe today with Luisa, a friend of Eli. Luisa and her husband, Memli, have been visiting this village for a number of years and have developed a group of new Christians there and have built a church. It was deliciously cool with its cement floor today, as we arrived in the humid heat. None of the women spoke English, but all were excited to do their first block! So, we set about doing it in teams, and they seemed to catch on. Children wandered in, so did a cat. It was all so friendly, and easy-going. The other residents are ethnically Muslim; perhaps they will share piecing, then quilting, with them. Luisa has told me she will see if she can use quilting as a tool for evangelism - and will send pictures of anything that comes of our visit.

Genta was unbelievably helpful - working hard to help the ladies with the tools. The pictures from this morning were from yesterday; the pictures with this post are from today. Tomorrow we go to Gerdec with Adi - google it and you will find it is the site of a disastrous munitions dump explosion in March, 2008. So, it will be interesting to meet the ladies there. The pictures don't seem to be downloading. Could it be that there is a glitch in the system during the late hours of the day? I'll try to send the pictures tomorrow.

It seems that there might be a future for quilting in Albania - wouldn't that just be wonderful?

sharon

Off to Ibe in the mountains today. It is still humid, so different from the coast. Please pray that we have enough fabric and quilting tools today. Also, pray that the women are receptive and quilting is attractive to the ladies there. We will take Genta, at least, and she will bring a sewing machine. We're adapting the format, I hope, to be a little more efficient.

Bill is having problems sleeping - I'm concerned for him today. Otherwise, we are doing OK with food, etc. We (I) are having a wonderful time learning about this country and its people - our brothers and sisters are so ardent for our Abba. It is encouraging to watch and help them with it.

We have met a missionary from Shkroder (I'm not sure of the spelling) which is in the north. She will take the idea of quilting to the mountain villages in the north. Since during the winters, the women are often home alone and looking for things to do, this may be a good tool to introduce the Gospel for the women there. I'm excited. Hopefully, I'll get a picture of her and include it with our next post as we are with her now.

Please remember us today as we go to the village of Ibe. This is really a step of faith as we are going with a woman who is a friend of Edi; we don't know if she speaks English, or how many women there will be, or what the conditions are. Hopefully, will make another post this evening.

We are remembering you in our prayers.

Our first quilting group

We had a wonderful morning walking around Tirana - visiting the National Museum of History, and remembering Albania's history. Then, lunch and off to Campus Crusade to join a group of women to present quilting as a potential evangelistic tool. Adi had hand-picked this group as being strategic for potential use of this tool, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.

Adi chose the fabric last night, we had a set of tools for almost everyone. According to Adi, a 2 to 2 1/2 hour meeting is about the limit... they were there five hours! We almost finished the first block, and we had the opportunity to teach some of the techniques of quilting. What a blessing these women are - and, hopefully, they will be able to use quilting in their evangelism.

Well, I'm totally wiped out, so I'm heading to bed right now. Tomorrow we go to the mountains with a lady I have not met. Genta will go, and if there is room, so will Flori and Bill. We get home, then dinner with the Berhamis.

For reasons unknown, the blog doesn't seem to want to accept the photos. I'll try again in the am.

G'night

First Day

After breakfast, Genta and Flori helped us unload the cartons, reorganize everything (we don't have to worry about each carton containing less than 70# now), cut fabric and assembled our needs for our this afternoon with Genta's young girls. They were fascinated by the construction of the quilt - so it is good they are not all quilted so they can see the work. We checked out fabric stores while Genta took care of some business at her job - and finally found some fabric that could be used for quilting. The "shops" here are a little different - we went to a market with small stalls.

Then lunch with Flori and Genta and a taxi ride to pick up the young girls. When we arrived, one of the girls had her new parents there - they are a Christian couple from Nashville and are adopting an energetic young 15 year old. They have much experience with fostering kids, and saw this young girl's profile on the Bethany site. So, they came here to adopt her. There was much going on, and the girls we were to take with us to Genta's house were swimming, so we ended up taking a much needed nap back at the Stephen Center.

This evening we are finalizing plans with Adi and Berti for tomorrow and Thursday. Tomorrow we will see the young ladies, and then see Adi's group at her church. It promises to be a busy day.

We are HERE!!! It was so good to see a familiar face last night at the airport... Bertie picked us up. What an interesting adventure our trip. It was so good to see all of our luggage after so many hours and miles. The customs official saw our luggage, too, and his eyes got big, but more about that later.

We are in the coffee shop at Stephen Center, listening to familiar music, waiting for Flori and Genta. This afternoon we see Genta's "orphans," this evening dinner with Berti and Adi. Genta, Adi and I will try to figure out how to divide the fabric, etc.

We awoke at 4 - around 4:30 the sky lightened with a beautiful dawn. Now, it's raining, and the rain is becoming more persistent. Every so often we have the thunder, and we know we are in a different place.

How exciting to see the people at the airport, as they progressively became less and less American. First, Americans with a smattering of European languages but mostly Far Eastern languages in LA, then German and French spoken by tall men with shaved heads discussing business fervently over a beer and pretzel in Munich, then darker and shorter people speaking a new language.

Here are Flori and Genta! Later.

En route

Paul and Abbey Rainey were kind enough to take us to the airport yesterday, and helped transfer the 400 pounds of checked luggage. Although we had six bags, the computer did not charge us, and the supervisor told the passenger agent she didn't have to do so. So, God went before us - each "bag" was less than 70 pounds (one by 1/2 pound). We had a little lunch, then joined the other 2 passengers on our flight (it was a good thing because of all our luggage) and left and arrived early to LA, only to wait for 5 1/2 hours there. Trekked to the international terminal (United is the farthest away), had to go through security again (how many of you can get a month's worth of "liquids" in a quart size Ziplock bag?), and found our way to the gate. There, we waited.

The flight from LA to Munich was uneventful, but we were so grateful that our "miles" required the Business Class seats. We had plenty of room, good food, and we actually slept (sort of). Now we are waiting in the Munich lounge for the last leg - to Tirana. The trip seems kind of like a dream... we've talked about this for so long, prepared, and now we are actually almost there! It's 6 pm here, 9 am at home, so our bodies don't know what to do. It's warm, about 80, and muggy.

But, we are here in one piece, and excited. Thanks to all that have partnered with us. More when we get to Albania.

It’s Friday... 24 hours to go. We have finished the last errands, and will repack our checked luggage today, making sure each meets weight requirements. It looks like we may have more women participating than I had dreamed - we bought extra cutters and mats on faith, planning to have one for each participant. But, now it doesn’t appear that we will have one for everyone; we’ll let strategic friends decide who gets what. Pray for wisdom as they do that - and for stamina for everyone involved.

I think we have all we need for ourselves; we may have to use a shoe horn to pack our things in our carry-ons. Since we have some required needs - e.g., a cervical pillow - that means less room for toothpaste. This is a new adventure for me - am hoping to take just what I need and nothing superfluous.

The second block is above - called Garden of Eden - and is a traditional pattern. We all tried to put flowered fabric in this block, since it isn’t an obvious garden.

Three days left

Wow, have we been busy! We’ve been trying to gather the supplies, cross all the “T’s,” and anticipate potential problems. Anticipating every problem is impossible, but we’re trying to reduce them to a minimum. We’ve “packed” so that we know weights and sizes for our checked bags, and will need to take extras. Please pray our scale is accurate!

We’ve included the first quilt block or “square” - the one we will teach first to our groups. This one is titled Creation and is coupled to Genesis 1. Can you see day and night - or perhaps the heavens and the earth? Hopefully, it will provide a platform for discussing the story of creation when “quilting bees” are formed with un-churched neighbors.