Saturday, April 13, 2013, 1:00 PM
Meeramanjess!
Not sure how it’s spelled, but that’s how it’s pronounced. Good morning. Right
now I am in the thriving little country of Albania only a couple miles from
the Aegean coast and it is gorgeous here.
Currently,
our entire squad is together, all 43 of us with the exception of one of my
teammates, Daniel, who couldn’t get a visa because of political tension between
his home country and this one. We have joined up with Light Force Ministry, an
organization spearheaded by a director whom we all call Mr. George. Mr. George
is British. He’s a no-nonsense, driven, highly capable, hard working,
passionate teaching, and thought-provoking man who can be as he likes to put
it, “subtle as a brick.” And I have enjoyed being under his leadership (for
most of the time).
Currently,
we are working at an Albanian kid’s camp in its off-season. The kids won’t show
up for another few months, so the work we’ve been performing has all been to
‘smarten’ the place up a bit. We’ve been doing some landscaping work, painting,
tearing out and cleaning up buildings, organizing tool sheds, along with taking
care of sheep, pigs, and poultry, consolidating their excrement, and numerous
other character-building Jesus-loving activities.
It’s been
fairly rough for a lot of folk, but honestly, I’ve loved it. I love the switch
up from people ministry last month to manual labor this month. Not to mention,
it’s been a great opportunity to bond with people on the squad who I won’t see
for most of the year. The unity of our squad is growing, the time we’ve been
able to dig in the Word has been incredible, and the lessons Mr. George has
provided have been nourishing.
He is a man of sound wisdom with tremendous insight.
He has the experience of a sixty-year old hard-working Brit, the knowledge of a
man who has spent over thirty years as a minister in the church, and the energy
of a man in his twenties. He’s a pretty inspiring guy.
The community itself is really interesting. It’s
eastern Europe, but it has the feel of Soviet Russia, or at least how I always
imagined Soviet Russia. Many of the days are damp and overcast, though today
has been quite sunny and beautiful. The people here almost sound like they are
yelling at each other in normal conversation. They’re very direct and not a very
touchy feely kind of folk, though even the guys kiss each other on both cheeks.
They were actually under Soviet control up until
nearly twenty-years ago. It was time of extreme poverty, deception, distrust,
and suppression. Like Central America, every
home is walled-off from outsiders. But even walking into town, people will come
out to the streets and watch you as you walk by. They take no pain to hide
their wonder at the presence of outsiders. Likewise, the young men of the town
take no pains to hide their interest in the girls on our team. The first time
we went into town, I was on a high-strung protection mode the whole day. For
me, it did not feel safe. But since then George has assured me that it’s fine.
It’s difficult to find a restaurant that’s not also a
bar. If you order a drink, they give you an ash tray as well because everyone
smokes. Many of the kids in this town beg, and they are very aggressive at
times. They probably wouldn’t hesitate to take your wallet and run if they had
the opportunity. All the guys are clean shaven and most of the people wear
black. The buildings are big and fairly ugly with gray colors. The pollution is
pretty bad and the city not well maintained. I can’t put the name of the town
into Microsoft Word, but it’s long.
We’ve been here for about ten days and we have two
more good weeks of work before heading off to Bulgaria. I am thoroughly enjoying
my time here and am growing deeper in my relationship with the Lord. Please,
continue to pray for me and my squad. Lord knows we need it. He has been so
good to us.
Well, my laptop battery is about to die, but I will
try and get some pictures up on facebook. God bless Nebraska! Love ya’ll, and I’ll talkatcha
later.
-Seth
