From Daniela...and Papa

Hey everyone. I had a great time in Greece. Our last visit was on an island called Lefkada. We didn't actually stay right in the city of Lefkada but we did stay in a beautifull place just a few minutes away. Every day we either went for walks in different towns or we went down to the beaches.They are very steep and one time we had to climb down 380 steps to get to the beach.It was a goog work out. The weather was very warm and so we could jump in the ocean and ride the waves.The sand is so white and warm. It's beautiful. The host's son, Spartakus, and his dog Hercules were very nice.It helped because Spartakus told us where the best places were to go. We had a real good time here and I would have loved to stay longer, but unfortunately we had to leave Greece because some people from OM(Operation Mobilization) in Albania were expecting us.So we packed up our things and headed north. Here we are helping the O.M. team in a city called Lushnje. We have done many fun things with the group. We have gone for pizza, played games at one of the couples house, gone to lunch at a Canadian girls place and a man named Eddie,the pastor of this local church, took us out to play soccer. We played on a turf field, indoors.It was really fun.After the game he took us out to have a drink and a piece of cake.The cake was delicious.Later on in the day he took me,Alex, Stefan and Theresa to go watch Bayern Munich vs. Manchester United in a coffee bar. The game was very exciting and thankfully in the end Bayern won.Between The peopleall the fun we helped clean or fix things aruond the yard.Which also turned out to be fun sometimes to.The People here are very generousand we will miss them alot.Next we will be going to a city called Durres which is about an hour away to visst a friend of ours from Rock Creeek.His name is David Ponioer.It will be lot's of fun. I'm having a great time and I hope you are too.See you all in 2 mounths and days.


Now this is Daniela's Dad telling you a little about our time in Albania.
This country has changed so much since I was first here in 1994 with our daughter Rebecca. Then the old regime had just fallen and the people were very disoriented about what to do and the future in general. Today you can see smiles on many faces. These mediteranean poeple are very industrious today.
Despite being still quite isolated from other parts of the world they seem to have hope for the future. Prices for most things are lower then in the western world. Albanians have many products made in Albania and one has to adjust to different foods.Coming from an atheist dicatorship Albanians are looking for a new identity. Islam is the largest religious group, but not very strict. Orthodox Christianity is present mostly in the south. Our group is mostly motivated by showing
the love of Jesus to these people, helping gypsies through sport programms because they are a shunted minority in this country. Also women and children are traditionally having a harder time and the team tries to help out with practical and
emotional support, such as Kindergartens, visitations, practical help, advocacy and other things. The influence of consumerism and societal pressures becomes apparent when you see that young people spent money rather on classy closing than food. The unemployment rate among young people is very high and facilities for alternate activities only exist here and there. It is humbling for us to see individuals and couples from all over the world giving up their affluent lifestyle for many years to help this nation. This team here is comprised of people from South Korea, Canada, Australia,Ecuador,Paraguay, US and Albania. We as a family were able to help with practical things such as electrical and plumbing repairs. The girls cleaned the facility which is small and simple, but will house up to 35 people later in this year that come from other parts of the world to be involved. The boys played a lot of soccer and found the Albanians to be quite competetive! Janet was busy with sewing new bedsheats. The children weeded the garden and cleaned the yard. Alexander was able to be involved with music, playing his guitar at several occasions, which excited the young people the most. We are heading to Durres next, were we will meet David Pennoyer who has a ministry there. David is from the Rock Creek area. Later we plan to continue through Montenegro and into Kosovo to help build a summer camp for youth in the Mountains outside of Peja (Pec)
Everyone is in good spirit. The van is running ok. Please keep us in your prayers. Driving here is an adventure in itself!!