Tony, Emily, Adam & ShaRon Invade Albania

The long awaited last post

2005-02-21T16:19:00.000+13:00

Hey peoples,
I know this is unpardonably late, and my only lame excuse is busyness so you'll have to forgive me and get over it. I'm sorry!
Well, in conclusion of our trip I'll tell you about what I noticed, learnt and the impressions I came away with as you all know what we did in our last wee while from Adams (long) post.
It was kind of weird going back to Albania after so long away, some deja vu moments and some wow that's different ones as well. Overall I had a great time and it was really cool to be able to give a little back. From what I could tell the locals appreciated having us, and from what Will told us our being there made it possible for both the Fier and Patos churches to have a really good Christmas. So, based on the responses I'd definitely say the trip was a success from the Albanian point of view. I also really enjoyed getting to know some new people and especially catching up with old friends who I hadn't seen for three years! So many had grown up so much, not just in size etc but in maturity and faith particularly. It's so cool to see people who were relatively new when I left now really involved and committed to God and working with other Christians to share about Him etc. Sharing my testimony was really cool. I found it totally nerve-racking the first time and got all emotional as I was speaking, but I think it really connected with people (half the church - the female half - had tears in their eyes) so it was worth my nerves!
For me, the trip taught me a few things. It reminded me that I need to rely on God and not on my own strength, and being thrown in the deep end usually in the area of language was one way that happened! Leading studies and prayer meetings was also a bit of a challenge as we tried to understand and figure out how to respond to the way Albanians responded to the way we led studies etc (does that make any sense?). I also learnt a bit more about working with a team and how to deal with the dynamics of it.
So there you have it. Albania was cool and I think it was one of mutual blessing for us and the local churches.
When the three of us were in Paris I also caught up with the family I worked for and lived with when I was there for 6 months as a nanny. It was great to see them all grown up and I had a chance to have a good chat with the Mum about how things went when I lived with them. They were really pleased when I told them I'd love to go back to live one day!!
Anyway, I'm sure you've had enough by now. If you would like to know more just ask!
Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Emily

Home Sweet Home

2005-01-22T13:50:00.000+13:00

Hey there people,
Well I guess its time I give a final post for the Albania trip. I not going to give you an account of what happen in the last few days in Albania cause others have done enough of that.

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their support. For those who supported financially, those through prayer, those through encouragement, those who showed an interest, and of course the ever-faithful blog readers. The other thank you that needs to be said it to the Murray and Fey Cotter. Thank you so much for making this opportunity available to us. Thanks for all the hard work you put into the trip both prior to leaving and while we were over there. You did an amazing job of keeping us all together and in one piece. So a big THANKS all round!!

The trip to Albania was an amazing experience and heaps of fun. I guess one of the things I liked about it was the incite it gave me on missions. Going onto the mission field is something I would like to do in the future, in what context I am not sure, but this trip gave me some ideas on what it is like, what it involves and what I could expect.
One of the key things I learnt in my time over there was realising God’s control over things and learning to rely on him. We can do everything we can to make things work but in the end God is the one who makes things happen. We may have some idea of how we think things should work, but God’s ways are much higher than ours. He has everything so perfectly moulded and planned that the best thing we can do is it try get in line with this plan. The analogy that comes to mind is the potter and the clay. God is the amazing artist who knows how the clay should be and how it should be put together. The best thing we can do is to be ‘good clay’ and let us, our plans, and our ways, be moulded by God.
Some of you will know that I had to come home early for my sisters wedding. Well that was an awesome time and well worth coming home early for. It was a very special but relaxed day, with a great dance party after the reception. Now I officially have a brother in-law. Rachel came back from Oz for the wedding and a 10 day holiday which was great. She did really well meeting all of my rather large extended family in one day. We had a really good few days here in the Bay, pity the weather wasn’t what it has been the last week though. Now I am at working here for Opus in Tauranga. I am coming to the end of my second week and I can say it has been really good so far. I wasn’t looking forward to going back to much, but it have enjoyed.
Well, that’s about all for me. For those of you how are coming to my North Island 21st celebration/Albania report back on the 5th February, I look forward to seeing you there. For the rest of you, I’ll either being seeing you in Christchurch in February or whenever we meet again. Until next time….

God Bless,
Tony

All Good Things Must Come To An End....

2005-01-18T17:55:00.000+13:00

Seems I’ve begun the last few posts apologising for the lack of recent postage – however none of the breaks have been as long as this one!

So much has happened obviously since that last post. I will try to summarise some of it, and then maybe summarise my experience overall. I think I’m going to struggle a bit though, because I’ve found that no matter how many people ask me “so how was Albania?” I still don’t really know what to say.

Anyway. When I last left you we had just had Christmas in Albania. Things really started winding up for us after that. We had another couple of bible studies to do. Tony and I went to Lushnje to lead the last one on Purpose – which went amazingly well. It was quite disorganised, and for various reasons we hadn’t been able to actually go over the study until we were in the van on the way there. However we were sort of struggling to see where the study was going, and didn’t really understand much, so I was kinda worried. We got there though and started leading it, and it was going alright, but just sort of average. We didn’t have our usual translator, who is really good, and the guy we had was good, just not the same. So we were sort of struggling through, there were a couple of younger guys in one corner sort of giggling away, obviously not paying much attention. Then getting towards the end, I just felt like I knew where we were heading. It seemed like Tony and I sorta clicked, as he started sharing some stuff from his life – we were talking about a familiar concept in Navs, of how our faith can impact our everyday lives – how serving God can occur anywhere, anytime. Anyway, it just seemed to be making sense, and obviously some of the people there were starting to get interested. Just as Tony was about to ask the guys to stop disrupting the group, one of the girls there did it instead, according to our translator telling them in no uncertain terms that she wanted to learn more, and that they were distracting her. So that was kinda cool. Well the cool thing was how God spoke to her. She came up to us afterwards and thanked us profusely; it was just obvious that something had clicked for her. It was awesome to see how God can work, how we felt to unorganised and ill-prepared, and yet it was the most clear example I saw while there of someone really having a revelation or something opening up that really impacted them. So yeah, definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip for me – just to see how God can work in peoples lives – in spite of our inadequacies – our un-preparedness and lack of direction.

To be honest I’m struggling a little to remember everything else that went on. We had a time of worship and prayer with the Patos church every morning from about the 27^th until we left, which was great. ShaRon, Tony and I also got to share a devotion each at these.

We managed to get a bit of shopping done before we left, souvenirs and gifts to bring back home etc. It also rained quite a lot during this week, so that made things slighty more difficult, but it was amazing how good the weather was while we were there overall!

On the 29^th most of us headed up to Tirana and the airport, where Emily, Christine, Tony and I left for Viena. We’d said goodbye to most of the people that morning at the church, which was kinda sad. It was quite weird how much I missed them all after we left, seeing as we hadn’t really know them for long. After eating our last Sufflaqe at the airport we departed.

We split at Vienna, with Tony heading back to NZ via Singapore, while E, C, and I flew via Munich to Paris.

Paris

Paris was great. Pretty much everything I expected it to be, the place just has an atmosphere, a feeling, its just Paris. We arrived at night, to be met by E’s host dad, who very kindly took us to our lodgings. We were so amazing blessed to have the use of an apartment in Nanterre during our time there. It belonged to relatives of the Cotters, who are missionaries there. It was empty though for most of our stay, and it was brilliant to be able to come back to our own we place each night.

I’d bore you to tears I’m sure if I recounted everything we did in detail, so suffice it to say we visited Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, Musee Grevin, French shops, the Arc de Triomphe, La Defense, numerous Metro stations, French bakeries, a French movie (on the Champs Elysse,) and a movie about the history of Paris. Other highlights included me climbing the Eiffel Tower on the most amazing of days – awesome views, and visiting Musee D’Orsay, where we got to see real original paintings by the likes of Renior, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet etc etc. That was very cool. We also went out to a delightful (never mind the slightly surly waiter (but that’s another story)) French restaurant, where we had a great (if slightly expensive) 3 course meal. We drank coffees in numerous cafes around the city, and welcomed in the New Year standing by the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up quite spectacularly (although slightly disappointed at the lack of big fireworks!)

(I apologise for the spelling errors, particularly in the French words – please correct me Emily)

So yeah, a pretty excellent time

We then unfortunately had to depart, but this was balanced I spose by meeting up with the others in Frankfurt, from where we flew to Singapore.

Singapore was another experience altogether. It’s a funny wee place – its to Asian, and yet so western. Pretty much everyone can speak English, and all the signs etc are in English. However it still manages to maintain its Eastern culture. We visited Little India, and China Town, and a few food courts around the place. They have excellent food courts with heaps of different shops and foods to try, all at really god prices. We also went shopping – with plenty of selection in the electronic goods area. I was kinda keen to get a new pair of shoes, seeing as they were much less expensive than in NZ, however finding size 12 shoes in Singaporean shops proved too difficult for me!

We then flew Singapore Airlines (13kg overweight) back to Christchurch – minus ShaRon, who flew AirNZ to Auckland. Hate to say this ShaRon, but Singapore Airlines were great; far and away the best I have experienced. Mainly due to the personal entertainment system (including GameBoy games!) the nicer food, and I think slightly more leg room.

And that’s about that!

Overall impressions? Still not really sure. It was an amazing experience. For someone who had never left the country before – everything was new, and a lot of it eye opening and mind expanding. Getting out of my comfort zone caused me to think about a lot of different things, or perhaps to think differently about the same things would be more accurate. God was so faithful throughout the whole time - really everything went so smoothly, so few problems, and when things did go wrong they worked out so well (think about Christine and I missing our very first flights!). He also taught me heaps, which I think I now am going to have to record so I don’t forget it all. Most of it about myself probably, as I was saying, the different context, or being out of ones comfort zone made me realise a lot about myself in particular. Another highlight was getting to know the rest of the team pretty well. It was an amazing bunch of people, I think quite diverse and different, but we got along really well I thought. I know I learnt so much by learning more about them, and seeing different perspectives on things. I also loved to chance to do some reading. I read heaps of books while I was over there, which was great, ranging from novels, to autobiographies to a book on spiritual disciplines, and many more.

So hopefully that about wraps it up from me. If I think of anything else to add I might, and I should also try and get T, E and S to post with a bit of a summary from them if I can. Thanks to everyone to took the time to follow what we were up to. Thanks especially to those who prayed for us – it is so so much appreciated, and I know it helped.

Mirupafshim, au revior and zoti ju bekofte!

Adam

Christmas in Albania

2004-12-29T01:50:00.000+13:00

Hello all
Sorry about the lack of blogging lately. Its been a while since we've been in Fier, plus i guess we've been pretty busy.
I write a post on the laptop the other night to bring in and put on here, but then if course i forgot to bring it today!
So i'll see what i can remember.

Christmas eve was spent in the morning preparing for the afternoon with youth from Patos on 'the meaning of christmas' which went quite well i think. Then we all headed to Lushnje for a dinner with the church there. That was great, with good food, company and some Albanian dancing. Emily and ShaRon in particular were a real hit with the guys there..... Unfortunately for Tony and I the culture is not one where girls ask guys to dance - but we had enough fun videoing and phtographing E and S with their numerous guys :)
On christmas morning there was a service at 9 for kids, which had over 180 kids in attendance. Packed out the church, was very cool. T, E & S all stood around the edge like hall monitors trying to keep them all quiet - worked fairly well i think.

Then it was the adults service, which was really cool. Its great hearing the christmas carols sung in a different language. The uni students who study in Vlore also did a really cool drama kinda thing.
After this all of us except Murray went for a drive to Vlore. Its a nice ('almost looks like a real city') city on the coast. Its the closest port to italy so apparently the most popular port for sumgglers.
We saw one of Hoxha's old houses, and then had pizza and coffee at a restaurant overlooking the sea (wouldnt recommend the restaurant)

Tony and i then went for a swim. I thought it was pretty cool swimming by moonlight on christmas day in the Adriatic Sea. Actually surprisingly warm for the middle of winter.

Since then we have gone visiting again, to Berat yesterday - the oldest city in Albania, older even than London. Quite a nice place. got a few good photos, particularly of a huge old castle up above the town.
Today M,F,E and S were all invited out for lunch, and Tony and i are in Fier before M picks us up to take us to Lushnje for our last study there (on Purpose)

On the health front, F,E & S are all crook at the moment. Hopefully everyone is well again before we head off to Paris.

Crazy to think that we only have 2 days left here, it has all gone so fast.
Well i should head off
Hope everyone is well, and had a great christmas
Have a Happy New Year
Zoti ju bekofte

It's Tony....for once

2004-12-17T01:02:00.000+13:00

Hey hey,
Yes, thats right! Tony has made a post. I know you are all shocked and horrified but dont worry i'll try not to make a habit of it ;)
I dont know what the others have just posted so sorry if i repeat stuff.
Things have been going really well over here. Like usual, never quite to plan but thats all good. It would be boring otherwise.
I preached my first sermon since being here last Sunday. It went reasonably well i think. Thank goodness the chruches are relatively small so i wasn't too nervous. I had some good comments about it from different people which was really encouraging. On Sunday avo we went into a old people's home which was full of surprises. With about 20min notice Adam was asked to share a testimony and i was asked to share a quick message (but dont worry they said, only 10min long!!!). That was too bad, but when they told everyone that the people from NZ would now be sharing a song, now that was something else. Did we know about this? NO! Well not really anyway. Thankfully i could remember a song on the guitar (by the way, they didn't know i played the guitar) and Sharon can sing, so we managed....just.
The last few days we have been doing alot of work around the house to get it up to a nice standard. It's actually been quite nice to do some physical work. Speaking of physical, Murray and I had a bit of a play fight yesterday and he managed to hurt my back some more and sprain my finger. But i reckon i still won :) My finger is a bit swollen and bruised so it strapped to the other finger which is making typing more gammy than it usually is.
Well i gotta go. The bus for Patos is leaving.
God Bless,
Tony

Half way there

2004-12-16T23:25:00.000+13:00

Hey everybody,
We're about at the half way mark here so I guess we should update you on how things are going here. We've all been keeping busy with English schools, bible studies and preaching/testimonies etc. When we don't have those we play Uno with people who come visiting or do various jobs that need doing round the house (such as scrubbing tiles, laying carpet, cleaning skirting boards ready for varnishing etc).
I have my own little English class, there are only three of them (and they are so cute) and they are total beginners, yesterday we learnt the numbers from 11 to 20. They're good fun though they sometimes have trouble with my accent.
We've had two bible studies so far and done one of them three times and the other one twice. The Gospel study went really well, we had a lot less time than we thought though so Tony did really well to compact it on the spot. The discussion method seems to be a little new to them so we didn't get as much response as we were hoping for but we are trying to work around that. In Patos there were quite a big group of non-Christians which was really encouraging. The second study was on Grace, Hope, Peace and Love (by ShaRon). We spent two hours on it in Patos and the other one in Lushnje went really well too (though unfortunately the numbers weren't the same as at the first study).
On Sunday Tony preached in Lushnje (with very good reviews from the Pastor there). I gave a brief testimony thing during which I got emotional (it was quite a touching incident for me that I was sharing about) and consequently half the people present (ie almost every female, including my Mum) had tears in their eyes by the end of it. Christine was dry eyed as she didn't understand what I was saying - actually I'm surprised everyone else did, my Albanian goes rapidly downhill when I'm nervous - so I told her on the way home and got her waterworks going too! If you're really curious ask me when I get back and I'll tell you all about it!
Anyway, this post is long enough. Hope things are well in New Zealand and wherever else you may be reading this from.
If you want to pray for us (and we hope you do):
- Thank God for a good response to what we've been sharing so far
- Pray that the things we have yet to share will be well received
- Pray for health (especially Adam who has been attacked by a cold)
- Pray for more opportunities to share with people
Thanks for the prayer and support so far guys (Rachael the printing money is being well used).
Love Emily

PS Is it okay if it's purple?

2004-12-16T23:00:00.000+13:00

Hello All.
A while since the last post im afraid. We are restricted to whenever we can get into Fier and use an internet cafe.
Things have bee going well. The house is taking shape - got carpet down in the lounge and M & F's room yesterday. And the work in the churches and English schools is also going well. We have done the fundamentals (grace, hope, peace and love) study with 2 groups now, which have gone really well. Emily and I led one with 5 of the older students in Patos which i really enjoyed. The people are great. ShaRon and Tony led the group in Lushnje which by all accounts also went well.

This week one of the english school teachers is away at ABI for the week, so we have been taking her classes. They run from 1 - 6 so we have pretty much split them up amongst ourselves. I am taking an 'advanced' class from 5-6, which i think is going alright. I'm finding it quite difficult to explain to them why what they write is wrong though. I've mainly learnt english just by hearing and speaking it, so i know what's right and wrong, but i dont know the rules to explain to them why. Its working out though. We have some interesting discussions around the dinner table after our lessons at night.

We have also borrowed the TV from the English school after much cajoling from Fey. Her and Tony spent a while yesterday hooking up the arial so now we can satisfy her cravings and watch rediculous Albanian TV programmes. We also borrowed several movies from Will (i've managed to miss both of the movies shown so far - the first looked poor and i wanted to read my book, and i have a cold at the moment so last night i went to bed earlier)
What else?
ShaRon has become our morning breakfast angel - with her smiley friendly self moving around the kitchen/lounge like a blur cooking toast in the oven, making drinks (its amazing how much some people need their coffee in the morning!), taking away plates mere seconds after they have been cleared etc etc etc.
Emily also really likes mornings :P But to get back to the truth... is incredibly helpful with her knowledge of Albanian, and has we think broken new ground in leading the Patos church prayer meeting the other day (all in Albanian of course) and did a great job.
Tony has been dosing up on Neurofen for his back, and is currently sporting an injury (surprise surprise..) after rumbling with Muzza yesterday :) He is also copping an inordinate amount of teasing about a certain you know who - but seems to be coping well. Oh yeah - he is reading a book!!! And enjoying it!!! He has read one particular passage out to us at least 3 times. It is worth it though.

We went to Apollonia on monday for our 'day off' with Will, Doreta and their kids Esther and Lydia. This is the site of ancient Roman ruins - where in fact Paul may well have visited - and was pretty cool. The history here is just so much richer? than NZ. The views werent bad either. Funny though, since the Cotters were here previously they have started charging to visit. 150 lek - unless you are a foreigner when it becomes 500 lek!! We had 1 Albanian, so she and the other Albanian speakers managed to talk the guy down to 250. Guess they figure foreigners can afford more - which is probably true.

The internet place we are in now is not actually a cafe like the one we normally visit, and is filled with kids (all guys) playing internet computer games. There were not enough computers, so Emily and ShaRon have headed off to the other one. From what im seeing they arent very good at the games :)

Well i hope thats enough information to satisfy people. Feel free to ask any questions and someone may try to answer them :)
Hope all is well in NZ (or wherever else you may be)
Mirupafshim

Mire se erdhet ne Shqiperi

2004-12-10T04:00:00.000+13:00

Hey guys,
Sorry about the impossibility of deciphering my last post. I will change the yellow to readable black and will conform to pressure and leave this one as it is.
It's a little weird being back in Albania but so far I am enjoying it, especially being able to use my
Albanian. Our first bible study went really well. Tony did a great job in leading it, especially as it was effectively chopped in half by time restrictions and he still managed to cover all his material though in less detail than we would have liked. The older Christians in the group were really positive about it, there were several people new to the church there and it was good for the older Christians to be reminded of the basics of the Gospel. Afterwards we had a drink for one of the girl's birthdays which was really good for us to get to meet and talk to people.
I have been quite challenged by having to use my Albanian up the front (at church) and praying aloud - I had never done either before! I make way more mistakes when I'm nervous but I still got the point across and people seem to appreciate that I can speak (ish) the language anyway. "Teaching" an English class yesterday was also a first for me.
Anyway, I have three people standing over me because we have to go.
Zoti ju bekofte,
Emilia

Unreliable Albanian internet cafes

2004-12-10T03:33:00.000+13:00

Noooooo...

Just lost all of my last post - somehow it didnt work.

Will try to give a quick summary.,

In an internet cafe in Fier now, but have settled into the Cotter's old house in Patos. Yesterday was spent mainly cleaning and washing and unblocking drains. Things are going well, i think everyone is fine, although Tony's back could be better (hint - prayer would be great :) )

Today we start our 'real work', with Christine taking a parenting course, TEAS with some youth, and i think that Murray and Fey are starting a marriage course this afternoon as well.

Its all very exciting and new, particularly for me i spose. Its great walking around town with Muray, Fey and Emily. So many people they know come up to greet them - a lot of connections here, and they are obviously very well thought of.

I'm just blown away by pretty much everything, but am working through it all. It really is a mind expanding experience.

Well i should keep moving. Have been on here an hour now and need to get off.

I hope everyone is well, thanks so much to those that are commenting and emailing us - great to hear from you. Feel quite out of touch with the world in many respects, but have enjoyed catching up a little today

Mirupafshim
Adam

TEAS finally hits Albania!!

2004-12-05T05:22:00.000+13:00

Hi Everybody!!

We are currently in Durres - port city of Albania!! After a few flights that seemed to go on for almost forever we finally arrived in Tirana yesterday!
Our last day in Singapore was full of excitement! Millions of photos of us holding snakes at a snake farm :-) and then dinner at a restaurant with HOT Thai food and drama as we rode in a taxi (6 of us!) to the airport...got a wee way away from the restaurant and ems discovered her handbag was still at the restaurant! Could in no way communicate our predicament to the taxi driver so ended up calling Tim (friend of the Cotters bringing our bags to the airport)on the cabbie's phone and telling him the problem. Got to the airport and after a few minutes mad searching Tim, Christine and the bags arrived!! Then Tim sped off to rescue Em's bag and we rushed around checking in etc. Was a VERY tight thing in the end but we all (including the handbag) made it safely on the flight! Yay! Then a wait in Frankfurt airport...long enough to have a slide show on the computer of the HUNDREDS of photos taken by the boys (proper tourists that they are!!) On another plane, change at Vienna then arrive in Tirana :-) We were met by Will (ECM missionary also), had coffee, went out for a pre-dinner munch with he and his wife and another, then back to ABI (Albanian Bible Istitute) where we are staying and all in bed and asleep by 8ish! Rather tired! Spent today in Tirana meeting with another ECMer and the autism care place people - VERY lovely people.....saw the main square.....sat in traffic for ages! Had lovely sufllaqe for lunch and are now back in Durres at an internet cafe where we mostly can't access our emails! So a big SORRY from us to you for the lack of emails and/or replies!!
Overall an amazing first whole day experienceing more of what makes Albania what it is, learning a few more words and settling in! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS! We should have net access again soon and will be in touch then!
this was posted by sharon by the way :-)
Sorry it's not pretty - this computer is pretty archaic....net access anyways!

Durres!!!

2004-12-05T05:01:00.000+13:00

Kia Ora Everyone.
We are currently in an internet cafe in Durres, Albania. The internet is incredible slow so this is a quick note to say we can't access our email at the moment so sorry about the lack of communication. Hopefully by Monday we will have acces to it but who knows. One thing about Albania is this rarely go to plan!!! Please keep praying for us as we will be starting our work here on Tuesday i think. Better go, time is up.
God Bless

Emily in Bangkok - couldn't think of a more inventive title...

2004-12-01T15:59:00.002+13:00

Hey people,
This is going to be a colourful post because Bangkok is definitely colourful. I won't go over the same stuff as Adam so here is a short account of the things I have noted about the capital of Thailand...
The people are very polite and modest. The first time we went out yesterday I wore a singlet (a decent one too) and felt slightly underdressed! Everyone else had their shoulders covered! Interesting. Not sure if it is because it is their winter here or a cultural thing.
The language has less sounds than ours (no fs or ws) but it is tonal. So they say one word about 6 times - sounds the same to me - but is actually in 6 different tones and therefore 6 different words.
Their architectural design is amazing, especially the western-thai blend of style. King Rama 5 who introduced it is viewed as a sort of demi-god and the present king - Rama 8 is loved to bits - pictures of him everywhere! Especially because it's his birthday (77) in a few day.
Everything is very cheap. If you want a cheap cheap wedding ring go to the best gem shop in the world - here in Bangkok. If you like the bling bling this is where to get it. Some of it incredibly detailed and ornate too! Almost looks tacky except for the fact it's real.
Anyway, before I get you bored I will sign off. We're having a great time so far.
:) Emily

PS Will try a post a picture of Adam sometime - quite the tourist. Imagine (until the photo arrives) Adam with a camera, video camera and camera bag around his neck chewing gum while gazing at the sights in amazement and you have Adam the rookie tourist!

Emily in Bangkok - couldn't think of a more inventive title...

2004-12-01T15:59:00.000+13:00

Bangkok

2004-12-01T03:15:00.000+13:00

Wow! I'm in Thailand!!

Hi to everyone reading this. Adam here, sitting in am intenet place in Bangkok a 9:17 pm where i am paying 1 baht / minute. Crazily cheap really, considering 50 baht = NZ$1.80 The others are back at the hotel, probably all sleeping after a tiring day, but i guess i must have slept quite well last night (plus some on the plane) so im out exploring :)

So much has happened in less than 2 days that i couldnt possibly type it all, but i will try to summarise some of it.

Christine and I started by missing our flight to Auckland! ShaRon at the counter next to us made it, but we were apparently too late. So that was pretty exciting. Emily apparently nearly had kittens when we didn't make it on to the plane after her! The wonderful man at the Air NZ counter though got us on the next plane without too much hassle. When we finally made it to Auckland it was great to see Jo at the airport.

We did discover there that despite us never being told, we were travelling via Sydney. So i can now tick off another country - unfortunately though no stamp in my passport to prove it.

The flight to Bangkok was fairly long, but went alright. Then arrived at our hotel here last night at about 11pm local time (5am NZ)

This morning was up bright and early for breakfast and then a team meeting. We booked a tour for the afternoon, then headed down the road to look around. Bangkok is awesome. Crazily different from anything i've experienced before (duh!) but cool. Its great experiencing being the 'different one' although its not a problem or anything, there are heaps of tourists. I dont think anyone bought anything from the shops or from the numerous stalls on the footpaths - i'm still looking for my rolex! Lots of stuff is cheap - food for one, suits (fitted suits, silk shirts, tie for US$60!) and label clothing as well. Also went for a swim on the hotel pool - very nice - on top of the 14th floor.

This afternoon we took a tour to the Grand Palace which was amazing. It is apparently the greatest temple in Bangkok (if not Thailand) and also there was the Kings' Residence. The gold plated building, all built with such intricacy are amazing, almost overwhelming. Will try to get some pictures up at some stage, but of course they can never do the real thing justice! But yeah, was brilliant. Also interesting were the people trying to sell stuff, from post cards to silt paintings to food. They are incredibly persistent. Its also hard to know what is a reasonable price for things - one guy tried to sell me some postcards for 850 baht, when our tour guide had told us 50 would be an acceptable price.

After a mammoth trip back in rush hour Bangkok traffic (honestly, the lights in one direction were green for almost 10 minutes continuously) T, E, S, A, M & F found a nice Thai/Italian resturant for tea. I had fried rice with chicken - very nice - for the grand total of NZ$3.60. Hmm, perhaps im getting a tad too detailed here.

Anyway, i should get back to the hotel. Thanks so much to everyone praying for us. Things are going great so far (although understandably a lot of tiredness)
Don't know when i'll post again, but i'll try and bug the others to do so :)
Love to all
Adam

What?? Me?? Excited?? : )

2004-11-28T23:04:00.000+13:00

Hannah i hope you read this - the title is a tribute to you

Oh yeah! We leave tomorrow (nearly today) at the time of writing we will be departing NZ in 15 hours, 23 minutes and 42 secs!!!!! Yes!!!

And i'm wearing my new TEAS hoodie - which looks absolutely fantastic thanks to Leah. We will have to post a pic when we all are together.

I dont have anything more to say really - should go and finish packing. Funny really, there's no one at uni now! Goodbye to everyone i didn't manage to see before i left. Next time i post i'll hopefully be in some exotic location :) :)

EAS Meeting

2004-11-25T13:21:00.000+13:00

Minutes of the EAS McCafe Meeting
24 November 2004

Present: E, A, S

Apologies: T (Emily pointed out it was quite appropriate that we missed our T on our day of fasting!)

To summarise:
We met, we ate, we drank, we prayed, had a language lesson & went home to bed

Points of interest:
Hoodies are progressing nicely, have been purchased, and are currently being screen printed - Thanks very much Leah!

Hmmm, i'm sure there was more, but at the moment this'll have to do.

Thanks for those who are commenting - keep it up :)

TEAS Meeting Minutes #2

2004-11-19T16:14:00.000+13:00

Minutes of the 2nd ever TEAS McCafe™ Meeting.
18 November 2004

Present: T, E, A, S

Apologies: None

Agenda:
Drinks
Spending of money given, resources required
Update of progress on Studies
Objectives
Hoodies
Scripture Passage
Prayer
Language Lesson

Meeting commenced approximately 20:00, this time in a booth with padded backs (Emily did try to encourage us all to sit on the one bench, however the maturity of the others prevailed)

Once again drinks were purchased, and again 5 ‘McCafe™ Dollars’ were obtained for Kelly.

Bible study progress was discussed, and looks to be going well. We also discussed objectives for each of the studies, to help us get a bit of direction and focus – what are we aiming for, what do we want people to get out of them?

It was decided to go ahead with the hoodies if possible. S to talk with her friend about ideas on Friday, and report back on Saturday, hopefully they can be done within one week and for a reasonable cost (prayer would be great)

TEAS would like to have a particular verse we can hold on to as a bit of a theme etc of the trip, also it will be put (hopefully) on the hoodie.

So far options are as follows.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

2 Thessalonians 2:16,17
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Ephesians 4:11-16
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

John 20:21
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

1 Peter 4:10
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:2-5
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Isaiah 42:1, 6-7
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.
"I, the LORD , have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Philemon 1:6
I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Isaiah 41:8-10
"But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,
I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

John 16:3-15
They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.
"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Romans 15:14
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

John 8:31
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

There are quite a few there, but our plan is to going to meditate on these verses and see if any really stand out, but any thoughts or comments you have would be most appreciated.

Time was then spent in prayer, followed by something of a lesson in Albanian from Emily. It was decided that having a girlfriend proficient in Albanian was a distinct advantage!

Next meeting to occur at 09:00 at E’s place, this Saturday – T will be back home by then though. Also this coming wednesday will be a day of fasting for the team.

Meeting closed approximately 22:30

What a heavenly bunch

2004-11-16T17:28:00.000+13:00

And who can guess the animals?

TEAS Meeting Minutes

2004-11-16T15:05:00.000+13:00

We thought that perhaps posting the minutes of our meeting on here would allow people to get a good idea of what we are up to, so here goes.

Also, Adam would like to apologise for the lengths of his previous posts, this having been commented on by many people. He does however point out that the column is very narrow, adding considerably to the impression that that posts are longer than they really are!

Minutes of the 1st ever TEAS McCafe™ Meeting. 15 November 2004

Present: T, E, A, S

Apologies: None

Agenda:
Drinks
Prayer Points
Prayer
Bible Studies – Progress reports and structure
Team t-shirts / hoodies.
Team photo
Items not on schedule

Meeting commenced with E very generously supplying soft serves (sundae for T) for the team :)

Drinks were then purchased from McCafe™ and 5 ‘McCafe™ Dollars’ obtained for Kelly. T provided much amusement to us all (particularly to himself!!!) by discovering that blowing through his straw into his Frappė created remarkably realistic mud pool bubbling effects (including coffee spurting over his face) :)

A summary of prayer points was developed for distribution to anyone interested, particularly churches, as well as for the Blog.

Thanks so much to everybody who is praying for us, we really appreciate it. Below we have listed some things we would love prayer for, including thanking God for what he has done so far.

Praise Points:
- The opportunity to go on this trip
- Passports, paperwork, tickets, accommodation etc all sorted
- Finances so far
- Jobs that have been provided to fit in incredibly well with the trip
- The opportunity to go on this trip
- The bringing together of the team, the way that God has shaped it
- The opportunity to meet as a whole team in Nelson for a very enjoyable and informative weekend

Prayer Requests:
- For team unity
- That financial aspects would continue to work out
- Communication with Albania is difficult
- That God would be preparing the hearts of those in Albania for the messages the team are going to bring
- Safe travel for the team on the way there and back, as well as while in Albania
- That God will continue to prepare us for the trip
- Help with preparation of the bible studies, sermons and testimonies to be completed before we leave
- Our organisation with regards to preparing to go, that everything we need to get done will happen
- Health of all team members
- For Murray and Fėy and for all the organisation they are doing
- For Christine who will be taking parenting courses over there

The Bible studies were also discussed, and are looking really good! Things discussed with regards to the structure were that they will be quite general to allow for the various ages, ie different responses to the same questions would be expected from different aged people. Also cover more than we actually expect to get through on the days and encourage independent work on the remainder. Also include footnotes and additional readings at the bottom of the studies to again encourage further study. To use minimal English but to use Bible references primarily. To include a summary/introduction/justification at the start along with a few verses, then into the study itself.

It was decided to obtain team TEAS hoodies. Ideas with regards content and layout for the hoodies were discussed. A to call some businesses to find out more about costs and options.

TEAS to also consider a sort of summary Bible verse for the team. Ideas to be reported back at the next meeting.
If any of our valued readers have any suggestions in this area we would love to hear from you. Actually we would love to hear from you suggestions or not! Please leave comments at the end of our posts. Any thoughts or suggestions or ideas on what we could post on etc would be welcomed.

Agreed to meet again 20:00 at the same venue on Thursday 18 November.

Meeting concluded approximately 22:30 with prayer.

Followed by travelling home to respective flats via Northlands Mall for team photo shoot.

14 Sleeps!

2004-11-16T01:27:00.000+13:00

Just thought it was about time I contributed to our lovely blog! I haven't had the chance to look for a while and that photo is not very lovely Adam! Hopefully you can swap it for one of the newer ones? :-)
This is all so exciting!! We had our second official meeting since the Nelson trip tonight and it was really exciting to see where all the studies are heading and people's ideas and what we have been finding in the Bible and all.
Big thanks to Luuk, Annette, Ayley, Tim and Lynton for the opportunity to join you on the weekend in prayer and chats. It was so encouraging to have your input, prayers, verses and words!
Must away to sleep! Have just done email update for my peeps :-) and let them all know about our blog! I hope you all check it out.

Later.
Sharon

Further Extracts :-)

2004-11-05T16:15:00.000+13:00

I have now finished the first book, was very interesting. Have just been out to get a family portrait taken, hours of fun for all :)

Anyway, here are some more extracts that I found quite interesting. This guy had a crazy old time of it, going to places Westerners had not been for a long time, and conversing very candidly with a wide range of Albanians.

I’m quite interested to know if you agree with some of these conclusions Emily, particularly this first one. I guess we will know after having worked in the schools perhaps J

Pp 124

Albanian education, both at school and in the home, relies on learning a set of formula by rote, and being able to read this word perfect. The pupil is not expected to question, analyse or challenge any of this information. To doubt or question what one’s school teacher or father told was a sign of disrespect, rebellion and disobedience, casting shame on all involved. As a result, most Albanians could not, in the Western sense, think critically about, or even evaluate for accuracy information that differed from what they had been taught to believe, or what was in their family interest to support.

The following passage refers to the author’s journey from Gjirokastra up to Durres. It includes travelling through Fier, which is the only reference to the area in which we will be staying.

Pp 139 – 140

The houses now were small whitewashed cottages with red tiles roofs in the southers Italian style, with little kitchen gardens and well-tended vegetable patches, vines growing over trellises. It was a relief to see something being cultivated after the devastation of the south. In a five-and-a-half hour journey we had passed just two tractors, both towing trailers, one with a load of bricks, the other a load of hay. Mechanised agriculture in Albania was dead.

Around us were the ruins of industry: stilled and rusting oil derricks; broken, abandoned plants and buildings; a huge glass factory with its courtyard a mountain of smashed crystal shards. The devastation was complete: everything had been destroyed. As an election platform the Socialists had said some of the old state enterprises should have money pumped back into them before they were privatised, but I could see this was an absurdity. The industrial word the communist regime had created over forty-five years through oppression, exploitation and enforced discipline had been destroyed utterly.

At Fier there were signs of agriculture: maize and wheat growing, women hoeing fields of lettuce and tomatoes by hand, oxen pulling carts with wooden wheels, small boys on donkeys with wooden saddles.

In the small ruinous towns of broken, filthy houses we passed through, crowds of listless people stood hanging round hopelessly in the streets; there were no shops, no kiosks, no cafes, nothing. A few mosques and medressehs were being built, each with a prominent sign outside, proclaiming that it was being paid for by either the Saudis or the Iranians. President Berisha had taken Albania into the Conference of Islamic States in a bid to get aid. ‘We are a predominantly Islam country, but the Christian morality’, he had said to his Western friends, his tongue no doubt firmly in both cheeks alternately. Tek ёshtё khorde ёshtё besa – ‘The faith follows the sword’ – was a traditional Albanian proverb.

Pp 138

She continued her confession as if I hadn’t spoken. She could speak to me like this because I was a foreigner and would soon be leaving the country. So many Albanians I met made their confessions like this to me, alone, hurriedly, on buses or walking in the country where no one could hear us. Albania was a land of desperate secrets locked up behind smiling masks.

Pp 129

Timo insisted in taking me out for a drive in his car, an elderly BMW which he apologised for. Albania was a wash with brand-new expensive Mercedes. How could people afford them, I asked.

‘In the beginning, when Albanians were allowed out to the West for the first time, they bought old wrecks for a few hundred dollars. Then they realised cars were so easy to steal in Europe, that the owners received insurance money and the police didn’t care. So the mafia organises this now as big business. Owners of new Mercedes in Italy, Switzerland and Germany are contacted in person and told to leave the keys and the papers in the cars. If they do this they are given a thousand dollars in cash. If they do not they are shot, their houses firebombed and the car stolen anyway. They always do as they are told. Who is going to risk dying to save the insurance premium from going up? The cars are then driven to Brindisi, the Italian police bribed, and the Albanian police bribed at Durrёs and new papers issued. Albania has the lowest per capita income in Europe, comparable to the Central African Republic, and the highest per capita ownership of Mercedes Benzes. This is what the democrats have done for us – given us a republic of thieves and brigands.’

The next one comes from an interview with an English General in Tirana with NATO.

Pp 173

General Johnny was very matey indeed, and alarmingly frank about conditions in Albania.

‘The corruption goes right up to the highest levels, including the President. Nothing can be done without bribes at every point. It’s entirely oriental – no one tells you the truth by design. Everything you do or say is observed, recorded and interpreted. I scraped a car last week in my official Land Rover. A mob formed immediately, the policeman with me vanished into the crowd never to reappear, and several hundred dollars were demanded as compensation by obvious mobsters. The car I’d scratched was evidently owned by a mafia capo. I had no dollars on me. Gave the mobster my card through a crack in my window and drove away, pushing the bodies aside as I went. Angry mob. Had I stopped, they’d have smashed the windows. What a mess, I’d have had to shoot my way out. Not what NATO pays me for at all, no. Next day a group of thugs came to the front door here demanding cash. Had to buy ‘em off with $200 via the armed guard out front. Even in the Congo you don’t get that.’

What did the General think of the recent election results?

‘They were fixed, obviously, by the democrats, no doubt. There was police intimidation, vote-rigging and the stuffing of ballots. I saw it and so did every other foreign observer.’

And the author had a reasonable amount of contact with the missionaries in the northern part of Albania. Once they realized he was who he said he was they helped him a lot, as did pretty much all the Albanians. Their hospitality is quite amazing.

Pp 188.

Trimble began to relax, seeing I was not immediately hostile to the missionary standpoint. He was a pleasant, open Texan from Dallas, in his thirties, dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. He had taught at an evangelical college in the States, before serving abroad in various administration posts. He had a private aeroplane pilot’s licence and had been instrumental in setting up the Albanian branch of MAF, the world-wide organisation established by evangelical missionaries after the Second World War. This cut the jeep journeys of two and three days over imposible mountain tracks to the far north down to forty-five minutes by air. These flights were used to get people with chronic maladies out, as well as to get missionaries and their supplies in.

Neither the Communists or the Democrats had ever done anything like this for the remote north. All the money they had ever got from foreign aid was spent on themselves and their cronies in the cities. The evidence was before my eyes; Tirana had everything, the villages had nothing. Anyone trying to understand the revolt of March 1997 should use that simple fact as a starting point.

Now this one is perhaps my favourite :)

Rustem was the first Albanian I had spoken to who dealt with the concrete [gotta love that concrete, comes up everywhere!], without a confusing conversational cloud of rhetoric or woolly abstraction. When I asked him how many animals he owned he told me exactly: 100 sheep, 4 cows and his hound. His herd produced between 100 and 110 lambs a year, most of which he sold, except those that replaced the dead in his own flock. He grew beans, maize, potatoes, and plums for raki. It was too high for grapes. What about onions, I asked. Rustem looked disgusted: ‘Those are for the Germans’, he replied with contempt [this man deserves a DB - Ed].

The book finishes thus:

In dealing with the Land of the Eagle and its undeniably proud and warlike Sons, that anarchic mix of smiling murders and honourable kidnappers, hospitable rapists and elegant torturers, welcoming robbers and wife-beating family men, kindly blood feuders and generous headhunters, sophisticated forgers and multilingual embezzlers, perhaps the best words of guidance come in the form of two traditional Albanian proverbs: ‘First buy the horse, then the saddle’ and ‘Only the owner can pull his donkey from the mire.’

Perhaps someone can explain those proverbs to me??

Oh yeah, and as far as new words go, do you know what Mut means?

The Accursed Mountains

2004-11-04T19:58:00.000+13:00

Well the frequency of posting certainly has died down. As of the time of writing this we have 24 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes and 12 seconds until departure!! Not long at all. Woohoo.

I am currently back home in Balclutha, having a bit of a break and seeing the family again. Meanwhile mum has been to the library down here and found two books about Albania. I’m working my way through the first of these, entitled The Accursed Mountains, by Robert Carver.

It’s pretty interesting, so I’ve included a few passages below. The first is (sort of) about Enver Hoxha, the Communist leader of Albania from the end of WWII until 1985.

Pp 96 - 97

Hoxha’s cult of the personality exceeded any in the Communist world, save perhaps that of Kim Il Sung of North Korea, who had a gold statue made of himself which people had to bow down to in the central square of the capital. The one thing Hoxha never did, though, was have his face put on the banknotes. This was for fear of defacement by his enemies, or worse, for the use of his image for cursing him or any other occult sabotage.

Hoxha was superstitious and, like many Albanians, gave great credence to the power of dreams. He never travelled if he had had a bad dream, for fear of an accident. For this purpose, and to deflect assassins, he employed a sosi, or double. Originally a dentist from the Ghen north, this man had been discovered by the Sigurimi and brought to Tirana, where he was given plastic surgery and taught to walk and talk exactly like Hoxha. The surgeons and his trainers were then put in a bus and pushed over a cliff into the Adriatic, to secure the secret. This double often used to impersonate Hoxha in public, opening stadia, visiting factories, making speeches, being filmed as the Great Leader. He was kept in a villa in the Block in Tirana when not needed; he had no clothes of his own, nor indeed any identity save that as Hoxha’s double. He had to read what Hoxha read and develop similar tastes in French literature and Marxist dialectics so he could perform convincingly. Even his food was measured to keep him the same weight as the great Comrade.

Only the memory of his wife and two little daughters keep this exalted prisoner sane. He was even taught how to perform if ever shot by an assassin, to look optimistic and hopeful for the cameras, just in case he survived; as of course he necessarily would, for Hoxha would not have been the one actually stopping the bullet.

When Hoxha finally died, this sosi was given some clothes by his guards and told to disappear. His wife and daughters, of course, had been shot by the Sigurimi in the first week of his training. They now told him apologetically. Devastated, he escaped from Tirana, but was of course a marked man, Everywhere he went people fled at the sight of him: the spirit of the monster come back to haunt them. He was attacked and beaten, shouted at and insulted, spat on and screamed at. Even small children fled from him in tears.

Finally, in deep anguish and despair, he found refuge in one of the gulag camps of the exiles of the south, where they had never seen films or TV, and so did not know what Hoxha looked like. Here Hoxha’s double lived on in obscurity until the fall of Communism in 1991. Then, like everyone else, he tried to escape to the West. He returned to Tirana and climbed over the wall into the West German Embassy. The other refugees screamed and attacked this ghost of the dictator who had followed them even here.

In deep depression the double attacked his own face with a knife, putting out one of his eyes and disfiguring himself appallingly, so he would no longer resemble Hoxha. He gave up all attempts to escape to the West and went back to the gulag camp, where he died shortly afterwards.

And this one is cool, I want to drive this road!! Unfortunately it’s between Korca and Gjirokastra which is probably not in our travel plans – a day trip perhaps?? :) (although the book was published in 1998, so things may have changed?).

Pp 79-80

‘The Communists never repaired the roads’, Dhori told me. ‘They didn’t want people to travel around. They themselves had planes and helicopters to move about it, or strong Benzes which could cope with the roads, This one is as the Italians left it. When there is a landslide, the villagers just fill it in with loose earth, and it soon goes again. In winter it’s often closed for weeks, or impassable with snow. A truck slipped of last week in heavy rain – everyone on board killed – one whole family riding on the top of the sacks. It just rolled over and over…’

We passed wreck after wreck below us, trucks, buses, cars that had slid off the road and tumbled down thousands of feet. I had never been on such a ghastly road before. I could not bring myself to look over the edge of cliffs we crept round so cautiously. I gripped the metal bar in front of me in futile terror much of the time and compulsively sucked boiled sweets from Syria…..

…All the books warn about this one road, but the reality was far, far worse than I imagined. I really did not give us more than a 50% chance of arriving in Gjirokastra. Every 10 minutes or so we would oh-so-nearly slide off the edge, the wheels grasping desperately with such thin purchase on the crumbling soil. I lit cigarette after cigarette and tried to keep looking up, up at the spectacular crags above us.

I have also learned a new word:

Skata

If it means what I’m pretty sure it means then I’m sure I wont ever be using it, but always handy to know these things :)

Perhaps these passages have a slightly negative sound about them, so here’s one to balance things :)

Pp 91 -92

The arrangement was that I would pay $10 a day, without food; but Angelika was and old-fashioned Albanian lady, and having a man in the house was an excuse for her to cook, and cook and cook… All those frustrated family meals she had never been able to prepare she now made for me. Fried eggs, fried cheese, burek, chips, fried goat’s meat with yoghurt, giblets with macaroni, great mounds of food were all prepared while I sat with coffee, raki and cigarettes, waited on hand and foot. ‘You could be pressed to death slowly by loukimia and female attention’, I wrote in my journal; ‘they would wash your feet and dry them with their hair if you let them.’ The strongest contrast with the West was this devotion, this completely uncomplaining and delighted attention the Albanian women paid their men inside the home. Coming from the abrasively post-feminist world of London, these attentions were both touching and embarrassing.

Right, well the roast mum is cooking is smelling pretty darned good about now, so I should go and have some :) Hope everyone else is going well – all the best for the exams ShaRon and Tony.

So where is that Albania place?

2004-10-25T16:45:00.000+13:00

Thought it was about time someone posted on here.

Many people have asked me "so where exactly is Albania?" To which my response is typically, "I'll tell you when I find out" But seriously, here are some wee pictures that explain more clearly than I can in words.

Fairly self explanatory I hope, but this one shows where

Albania belongs in the greater scheme of things.

While this one has just a tad more detail :)

(If you click on it it should become a little larger)

I hope that is of some use. Back to the study!

Itinerary

2004-10-20T09:10:00.000+13:00

What a great way to start off a morning - with procrastination! Here is a brief itinerary of our trip, just to make everyone jealous....

(everyone makes their way to Aucks in dribs and drabs - probably not that interesting)
Nov 29 Auckland to Bankok (14 hours)

Dec 2 Bankok to Frankfurt (about 12 hours I think....will confirm)
(don't be fooled by dates, we don't have a stopover, the days just run together)

Dec 3 Frankfurt to Vienna to Tirana (1 1/2 hours & 2 hours)
We've arrived in Albania YAY!!! Lots of busyness ensues....

Dec 29 Tirana to Vienna to Frankfurt
(Emily, Tony, Christine & Adam only)

Dec 30 Frankfurt to Singapore to Auckland (will add up hours later)
(just Tony - arrives 1st January)

Dec 30 Frankfurt to Paris
(Emily, Christine & Adam)

Jan 3 Paris to Frankfurt
(Emily Christine & Adam)

Jan 3 Tirana to Vienna to Frankfurt
(Murray, Fey & ShaRon)

Jan 3 Frankfurt to Singapore (11 hours???)

Jan 5 Singapore to Auckland
(Murray, Fey, Christine & ShaRon)

Jan 5 Singapore to Christchurch (10 hours)
(Emily & Adam)

And we arrive home (hopefully safe and sound) on the 6th of January.
Hope this is satisfactory. I will defer the Albania itinerary until my next procrastination session. Actually, it will be later as it is not yet confirmed anyway. Neither is the price for our tickets... I will get back in touch with Mum again. :)

41 Days To Go !!

2004-10-19T09:30:00.000+13:00

42 Days To Go!!

2004-10-18T16:39:00.000+13:00

It's getting closer......
(all i need is for a nerdy friend to write some sort of countdown thingimadoofee program. But then i spose it would remove the fun of me posting...)
Also, any chance we could get an itinerary posted up here Emily?

And this line here is just for Chad :-)

All systems are go!

2004-10-12T11:43:00.000+13:00

Hey peoples, I talked to Mum last night and our flights are all confirmed through Bankok! Woohoo!!! Mine and Adams flights to Auckland aren't definite yet - they may cost more. And unfortunately the travel agent hasn't confirmed the prices of our tickets either so hopefully we're not in for a shock... we don't have to pay a deposit, just the whole thing when the price is confirmed. We three Paris travellers will also be overnighting in Frankfurt on our way there. So our next step is to find out about accommodation in all three cities (Bankok, Frankfurt and Paris). I'm working on Paris - I have an email half completed to my cousin who lives there and I've written to the family I lived with while over there but haven't heard back yet.
Mum has also emailed our themes etc to Will so we'll hear about that sometime too.
I think that's all from me so far. :)

A meeting of great minds

2004-10-10T18:03:00.000+13:00

Sounds like you guys had a great meeting - I hope you held your own Emz and didn't let them give you too much stick! All the topics etc. you guys came up with look good as! Section in Takaka is hard out - I just finished writing four Year 10 Englis lessons and am starting the Maori lessons ( what a mish!). Cool though :-) Got to share about our Albania trip at church this morning = more prayer cover - YAY! It's at St Andrew's in the Bay a Pressie church...
Unfortunately I have yet to master the skill of making this go pretty colours so it will be boring and black-typey writing. Oh well....hope all the study and end of semester assignments are ripping along nicely and I'll catch up with you all in November. Thanks for the email keeping me in the loop Emily :-)

Obedience

2004-10-10T17:56:00.000+13:00

Well, Emily this afternoon put the hard word on me, and i am required to have submitted something to this site by 11 am tomorrow. Now one of my initial thoughts was to simply refuse - after all, who is she to tell me what to do? [No offense intended of course] And then i thought, "well, it is tue that i haven't actually written a post yet myself, and i would quite like to" and this was quickly followed by "are you crazy boy? you have a 100% assignment due next week plus 3 others and you have a lot of work yet to do!!" this thought was followed by.... "EUREKA!!! my procrastination problems are solved, this could take ages - lets do it!!"

Now of course i have to decide what to write about. I asked Emily for inspiration, but i am sad to say she failed to provide any. ShaRon or Tony [do we have any other readers?], if you would like to inspire me i would be much obliged. I then spent a little time browsing the web looking for inspirational wee quotes or stories. There are an awful lot of them! Most of them not particularly amazing, but some alright. I will insert below my favourite one so far. I'm not entirely sure why it touched me so much, but nonetheless it did. Perhaps it is because it is to do with inspiring others rather than focussing on ourselves as is so easy to do.

The Christmas Envelope
Author Unknown

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas -- oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it -- overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma -- the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing that he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.

As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.

Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly. "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."

Mike loved kids -- all kids -- and he knew them, having coached youth league football, baseball, and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.

On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year, and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition -- one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, their toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there.

You see, we lost Mike last year to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.

Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown, and someday will expand even further, with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation, watching as their fathers take down the envelope.

Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit, this year and always.

Well there we have it. What do you think?
I have another one tucked away up my sleeve for another rainly day (don't worry, its a lot shorter Tony!) :-)

Guess i should get back to the work. Hope Takaka is going well ShaRon! Enjoying the sun and surf? Fairly miserable day here today. Although it is Sunday, which is always good.

Mirupafshim

The preparations begin...

2004-10-10T16:00:00.000+13:00

Here's what we have got so far in our 'preparations for the preparation' I guess you could call it. Feel free to tell us what you think...

Here's a summary of our ideas about subjects we could cover in Albania. We think that if the youth and young adults thing is going to be run at the same time then we will split them into two groups and take them separately as the issues they will be facing will be quite different. We will run the topics past Berti (Albanian pastor) and Will (ECM missionary in Albania) to give us an indication as to which topics would be most beneficial and for which groups, that would be great. Here is what we came up with:

PURPOSE: Based on themes from the book 'A Purpose-driven life' especially encouragement. What we are here for, realising our potential for God, God's long term purpose (ie spiritual generations), insidership.
DECISION MAKING
GOSPEL: The basic principles of it and practical applications of it. Emphasis on having a relationship with Christ.
INDEPENDANT BIBLE STUDY: How to get stuff out of the bible on your own.
FRIENDSHIP: The importance of it.
FUNDAMENTALS: God's love, Grace, Hope, Peace.
DISCIPLINES: Bible study etc, independant bible study could come under this one along with prayer, fellowship etc.

Secondly, for the Kids we'll prepare one or two talks or stories etc.

Thirdly, for the English schools we will prepare our testimonies for sharing with the more advanced groups, and maybe a very basic one for the beginners. We'll also work on some other activities, talks etc that would suit all levels of competence. We'll probably do something about New Zealand.

Finally, the boys have decided what they would like to preach on. Obviously if these topics aren't appropriate then they will change them. So far this is what they have:
TONY: Insidership (this is very much a Navs concept of living out our faith in everyday, normal situations and being a witness by doing so)
ADAM: Decision-making and obeying the will of God.

Obviously, we have a lot of work to do before we go!!!

"Trazy has entered the building!!" oppps, i mean blogg

2004-10-10T15:11:00.000+13:00

We'll, since Emily and Adam complained so much i thought i should login. If you want to know about the sign in name, ask Rachel.

First Blog Ever!!!

2004-10-06T15:10:00.000+13:00

Hey guys, new experiences are fun!!! Oooooo pretty colours and everything.
I was talking to Adam last night and we thought it might be an interesting (possibly even effective) way to communicate about Albania ideas etc. I'm going to send an ordinary old boring email also to get the ball rolling on Dad's email thingee.
Anyway, it was fun trying this out. See you all soon hopefully :)
Emily (are you supposed to sign off on a blog or just stop writing???)