Outreach: Week 8

Our time in Elbasan flew by way too quickly!

Sunday was very similar to last Sunday, where we led the Roma church service again.  At 4, we had the kids program, where we did a skit, told a story and made a craft.  At 5, we had the adult service, where we did another skit, and shared testimonies.  It also happened to be one of our trainee’s birthday, as well as one of the attendees, so we prayed over them at the end of the service.

One of the local Roma women helped lead the church service

Skit

Praying for the birthday people

Crafts with the kids

Crafts with the kids

Monday to Friday morning was also very similar to last week, we opened the gate around 10:45, and the kids would play volleyball and other games until about 11:45, when they would brush their teeth and wash their hands before going inside for the Feeding Program.  They would all leave by about 1:00ish.  One day this week though, we decided to have some fun with them, and organized some games – it was organized chaos! But fun!

Playing volleyball

Trying to get the kids into 2 lines

Explaining the game

Blowing up the balloon until it pops!

Some kids wanted to learn some English, so one of our trainees taught them some words

Kids in the feeding program

Feeding program

One of the kids carrying the food in

Some of the kids

In the afternoons this week, we did some of the same stuff as last week.  One day, we went to a house owned by a local Christian university, played volleyball with the students and staff, shared testimonies, did a skit and shared a short message.  One two other occasions, we had the opportunity to go on home visits, meet some of the local families and hear their stories.  Home visits were one of my main highlights of my time in Elbasan! In one home we visited, there were 5 generations living there, and the great-grandmother was only 54!

Volleyball with the students

Explaining the skit

Sharing his testimony

One family I had the privilege to meet twice

They even prayed for me!

A mother we were able to meet - she has 6 kids, from a few months old up until 15!

Another family some of the trainees were able to meet

Just because we didn't slot a time to meet with families doesn't mean we still can't meet with them at any other time - on our way back from somewhere, we were able to have a chat with this boy's family (our neighbours) by the fire!

On Thursday we took the morning off from the kids program, and went on a hike up the ‘mountain’ (a really large hill!).  At the top, we were able to explore some former military tunnels, and spend some time looking around.

Going up!

The descent..

Emerging from the tunnel!

The group! We survived!

Lunch in the field

Friday evening we went out for dinner as a team in a former castle, and walked around the downtown area! Afterwards, we went to the base leader’s house to say our goodbyes and spend some time with them.  It was a nice last night in Elbasan!

Entering the castle

The group at dinner

Candy Floss on the main street! Super cheap for tons of it!

Saturday morning, we packed up, finished cleaning, and headed back to Durrës, and we’ll be there for 1 more week!

Last breakfast in Elbasan!

Prayer Requests:

• Energy! Elbasan was great, but took a lot out of us! We still have 3 more weeks of outreach (1 week here, 2 weeks in Cambridge), and need energy to keep going!
• Direction as to what to do with our remaining time in Albania, and the two weeks in Cambridge

Outreach: Week 7

One week in Elbasan down, one to go!

Playing darts at our house

On Sunday, we led the Roma church services.  At 4, we had an hour-long program for the children, and then at 5, we had another (slightly shorter because it rained) service for the adults.  We shared a story and did some crafts with the kids, and shared testimonies with the adults.

The children at the children's program

Singing songs

Crafts with the kids

Crafts with the kids

Every morning from Monday until Friday, we helped with the Feeding Program.  The gate was opened around 10:45, and we did various activities until about 11:45-12 (sports, face-painting, girls did hair and nails, trampoline, etc), then the food was brought to the base, and the kids all brushed their teeth and washed their hands before they came in to eat.  There are about 40 kids from age 3-15 that eat, but other kids do come just to play sports and games.

Trampoline

Parachute with the kids

Painting nails

Getting their faces painted

Face painting

Face painting

She was obsessed with my beard! Before she started crying that is...

One of the base leaders with some of the Roma kids

We play volleyball almost everyday!

Washing hands before lunch

Brushing teeth before lunch

Lunch! It's a loud and messy affair!

Lunch

Waiting for the last kid to leave - he's always a slow eater!

The Roma community has been a unique experience to live in so far!  The people are very friendly, kids run up to us when we walk down the street to hug us, and high-five us, parents wave to us, greet us – very friendly atmosphere! But very poor too – we are living in a very impoverished area, multiple generations of family live in one home, often grandparents, their children and grandchildren (sometimes even great-grandchildren).  Girls are often married by age 13, which they see as normal, and something to be desired (by some).  The children are also pretty wild at times, they hit each other on a regular basis when things don’t go their way – this is a common issue seen in all generations, parents and grandparents hit their children to correct them, to stop them from crying, etc.  But they are a very relationally based community, helping each other with construction and whatever needs they have! That’s the Roma way of life.

One of the nicer buildings in the area

Some members of the team with the Roma kids

One of the team members with Roma in the community

One of the Roma kids in the Feeding Program

Since we are living on our own as a team, we have to take care of the house just as a family would.  We have been divided into work duties to care for the place, meal prep and cleanup, and meal planning/buying the food.

Meals together as a team!

This week, we have also celebrated 4 birthdays, 3 trainees (mine!) and 1 staff member, so we’ve had lots of cake!

In the afternoons this week, we’ve spent our time on prayer walks, house visits (meeting the locals and having coffee with them – I got to try some Turkish coffee, so that was interesting!), intercession with the staff, prayer meetings with the Roma Christians, and went to a local Christian university to share testimonies and spend time with the young adults.

One of the grandmothers with her grandchild

Playing volleyball with the local Christian university

One of our prayer walks took us to the top of a mountain!

A random stray cow walking up the mountain

On Saturday, a group of us went into Macedonia (another country) to Ohrid for the day.  The drive through the mountains was pretty neat, and in Ohrid we ran into the DTS from the Durrës base, which was pretty amazing!  We also got the chance to climb up the hill to an old fortress, and I got to try some Turkish tea.  I was really glad to have the opportunity to explore a bit, since we haven’t had too much time to do that on this DTS!

Durrës DTS - it was great running into them!

This is an ancient bridge that used to be part of the ancient Roman road - it's very likely that the apostle Paul walked across it on his travels! Pretty neat to see!

Got to visit an old fortress!

On top of the fortress overlooking Lake Ohrid

The fortress from further down the hill

I accidentally made a friend by petting her - she followed me around the city for a good 15 minutes or so!

Prayer Requests:

• Grace within the team – living in close quarters brings out some stuff that wouldn’t normally be brought up!
• Grace with the Roma children – while they are fun, they can also be exhausting and demanding – pray that we have grace to continue to love them and not distance ourselves from them
• Continued guidance for the next two weeks that we still have here in Albania