tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-169164822024-03-23T18:48:15.464+01:00Matt's MusingsReflections of a life in the process of surrender.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-16818062187075722752013-09-11T20:12:00.000+02:002013-09-11T20:12:00.138+02:009/11 and Jonah<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today is September 11<sup>th</sup>. Twelve years ago the worst act of terrorism
in history against the United States took place. Most of us can remember vividly where we
were, what we were doing when we heard what had happened. Many of us spent the day glued to our
television sets watching it all unfold.
As we look back on it now, even after 12 years, it evokes a significant
emotional response.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was horrible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was tragic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Incredible heroism and despicable terrorism were both on
display, and are forever etched into our minds.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I reflect on that day, and as I look at the various
postings on the internet I can’t help but wonder…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Have we, as those who say we are followers of Christ, fallen
into the sin of Jonah? We often tell the
story of “the reluctant prophet”. I
loved the story when I was a little kid.
Jonah is commanded by God to take the news of impending judgment to the
city of Nineveh. Instead he runs the
other way, ends up being swallowed by a great fish and then spit out on dry
land. He repents, goes to Nineveh and
preaches God’s message and everyone repents and we all live happily ever after,
right? Not quite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you look more closely at the story, it is a little
darker, a little harder than the version we teach our first graders in Sunday
School. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Ninevites, part of the Assyrian Empire, were the
terrorists of their day. They cut out
tongues, they skinned people alive, they stacked heads outside of conquered
cities, they slashed open the wombs of pregnant women. By definition they were terrorists – using
terror to further their goals. When
Jonah was told to take a message of imminent judgment to them he refused. He ran the opposite direction and eventually
decided it would be better to die (by being thrown overboard in the middle of a
storm) than to deliver the message.<o:p></o:p></div>
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God did not let Jonah off that easily. Instead, He sent a large fish to swallow him
and make a course correction. Jonah
prays in the belly of the fish and finally says, “What I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jonah 2:9b)
In other words, “Ok Lord, I’ll go. You have the right to save whoever
you want.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jonah then goes and preaches to the people of Nineveh – one
of the largest cities of his day – and a miracle occurs. The people believe God! (Jonah 3:5-9) The king calls for a fast in hopes that God
will relent and let them live. And God
hears their prayers and does not send the judgment on the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You would think that Jonah would be overjoyed! Thousands of people have just turned their
hearts to the one true God as a result of his message. Instead, Jonah is angry. We find out the real reason why Jonah did not
want to go to Nineveh. He tells God, “I
told you this was why I didn't want to go in the first place. You are too nice; you’ll forgive
anybody! Just kill me now!” (My
paraphrase of Jonah 4:1-3.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I wonder if that is not where we in the American church are
now. We have been commanded to take the
Gospel into every nation. EVERY NATION --
not just the easy ones, not just the ones who want us there. “Every nation” even means those who hate us,
those who commit terrorist acts against us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are on the other side of the cross from Jonah. We know that Christ came into the world to
seek and to save that which was lost. We
know that when the sins of the world were put on Christ on the cross, it
included the sins of terrorists and Muslims (the two terms are NOT synonymous!)
as well as ours. But do we really,
sincerely want to see them come to know Jesus?
Do we really want them to find forgiveness for their sins? Maybe we have not been as serious about
reaching them because subconsciously, we don’t think they deserve
salvation. They are ruthless killers
after all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes it seems like many here in the US are smugly
pleased to see the turmoil in the Middle East.
Egypt and Syria are imploding. “Serves ‘em right, the bunch of
terrorists…” Really? REALLY?
I know that that sentiment may not be spoken out loud, but if we are
brutally honest with ourselves, isn't that kind of how we think? “Well, at least if they are killing each
other, they aren't killing us.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The solution for 9/11 is not more wars, it is not more
bombing, it is certainly not hatred. We, as people who call ourselves
Christians, should be falling on our faces in prayer for those who are our
enemies. Isn't that what Jesus commands us to do? We should be begging God to
send out more laborers into the harvest – people who are willing to go to the
hard places and shine God’s light. We
should be redoubling our efforts to penetrate the countries that harbor
terrorists, not with more military, but with Christian businessmen, with
teachers, and yes, with missionaries. We
should be taking the message of Salvation to them. Terrorism is at its root a heart issue. The only One I know who can truly change
hearts is Jesus. Those who espouse
terror to communicate their message are willing to die for it. Are we?<o:p></o:p></div>
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On this anniversary of terror, would you join with me in
praying for the millions who are blinded by a false religion? Will you pray with me that God would forgive
us for the hatred, however subtle it might be, that we have harbored against
those in the Muslim world? Would you ask
God to use every means at His disposal to draw people to Himself? Can we all
ask God to protect us from the sin of Jonah – that of being so filled with
hatred for a people group that we would rather die than see them come to find
salvation? Can we all agree that in the
place of hatred and terror we need God’s love and forgiveness?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-51022200232177109542012-08-05T21:08:00.000+02:002012-08-05T21:08:19.818+02:00Dear Emily<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">(I wrote this to </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Emily</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> a few days ago, just before Emily left for the US and I share it with her permission)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Dear Emily,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I write
this, you are still asleep in your room.
In less than 24 hours, you will be on a plane headed back to the US and
into a whole new chapter of all of our lives. Yesterday, when you were out with
your friends and mom and I were packing your things, the reality of your
impending departure really hit home, and now waves of sadness have begun to hit
me. Yeah – your “tough” Marine daddy was
crying yesterday, and I am crying as I write this. I guess I didn’t expect it to hit me quite
like this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL23e3-a3IZusLxbgbB18w_BNyVjNhDXPsMhNS77YCrNX-KMVwfjYl8C_27UXDr2rJS-g90M-Wy6iQg-91u62HhuXdDj1Gb_djP8C-uHO_WcgNT5mPM6hehtXifrVuJaZP3Ef0bA/s1600/Kruja+018-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL23e3-a3IZusLxbgbB18w_BNyVjNhDXPsMhNS77YCrNX-KMVwfjYl8C_27UXDr2rJS-g90M-Wy6iQg-91u62HhuXdDj1Gb_djP8C-uHO_WcgNT5mPM6hehtXifrVuJaZP3Ef0bA/s320/Kruja+018-1.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Your mother
and I have known since God gave you to us that our time with you in our home
would be limited. We have tried to be
good parents, tried to teach you the things and skills you would need for the
day when you would leave our house and go out on your own. Now that the day is almost upon us, I have to
admit that I am wishing we could push back the clock a bit. You know that we have been joking about “when
the nest is empty, the party will start” – but now, as you stand on the edge of
the nest, about to try out your wings, I find myself filled with a mixture of
pride and sadness. Your brother and
sister have both “made the leap” just fine, and I know that you will be fine
too – our Heavenly Father will be watching over you and caring for you in ways
that this earthly dad never could.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You are an
incredible young lady. I know that you
are going to do well at school and that you will have fun – eventually. After the first few weeks of uncertainty, you
will settle into the routine of classes, with new friends and all sorts of new
experiences – some will be fun, others perhaps not so much. As you step out on your own and find that
your wings have more strength than you realize, we will be watching, and
praying, and bragging about what fabulous kids God has given to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKyNSz_ZJHTJSTdNimjuPURUJg-ffByWfUbNXxOfPVbIQQ0eYcWtZXDj6PLXbmldEMxEUToAzBWe78Qk_5-X8BHcnuXo7IUAnMEycAEa8fr7X0F7pfB1xc3EKjDk7aLiAf3T43A/s1600/Kruja+187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKyNSz_ZJHTJSTdNimjuPURUJg-ffByWfUbNXxOfPVbIQQ0eYcWtZXDj6PLXbmldEMxEUToAzBWe78Qk_5-X8BHcnuXo7IUAnMEycAEa8fr7X0F7pfB1xc3EKjDk7aLiAf3T43A/s320/Kruja+187.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I love
you.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I hope you understand that. Nothing
you could ever do will change that. Nothing. Your mom and I will ALWAYS be here
for you no matter what.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You may make
some decisions in the future that we might not fully agree with, but we will
always be here for you to talk through things.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As much as I love you (and there are not words in any language to fully
capture how much that is), I know that God loves you more.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And so, as we did shortly after your birth, I
am giving you to Him once again.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am
praying that He will make his presence known to you as you step out into some
unfamiliar territory.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am praying that
He will provide for you all of the things that your mom and I didn’t, or
couldn’t.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am praying that someday (not
too soon!) He will lead you to a Godly young man who will love you as much as
Christ loves the church – and as much as I have tried to model loving your mom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It helps to
know that in a couple of months we will be back in the US too – that we will
see you for the holidays. I’d really be
a basket case if we didn’t have that already planned. By the time you read this, you will be back
in the US. As you head off into unknown
territory, your mom and I will be back in territory we have not traveled
through in over 21 years – a house with no kids in it. It will take some getting used to on our part
too. I will miss hearing you out on the
piano. I will really miss being able to kiss you goodnight. I will miss seeing you in the worship
team. But just like closing out one
chapter in a good book, I know that the next chapter will have some pretty cool
stuff in it too. Let’s turn the page and see where it goes from here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Love,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Your Babi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(photos courtesy of Kirlique Photography copyright 2012)</span></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-77988426850259993982012-07-10T13:36:00.001+02:002012-07-10T13:36:09.097+02:00Hot stuff!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No - I am not referring to myself in the title - at least not in the way some of you probably thought. It has been quite hot here in Tirana so far this summer with no sign of letting up. We have not had any rain since June 5th and the forecast ahead is still hot and dry. This morning when the alarm went off at 6:45 it was once again 87 F in our bedroom. That seems to be about average for us over the last couple of weeks. The exterior wall of our apartment soaks up all of the afternoon sun and then just radiates it back out all night long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other than the heat, things are chugging along as normal here. Work at AEP slows down a bit during the summer since a lot of the workers here leave the country for one reason or another. This week we will be interviewing candidates for a temporary position to provide maternity leave for our Office Assistant, Ornela. We are continuing to work on the plans for the AEP Annual Conference in October as well. We finally got the terrace of the office looking about how I wanted it to, thanks to the donation of two large umbrellas from Vodafone. Once the temperatures moderate a bit we will have a nice place for people to come and relax and visit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is not much to report on the "631 Solution" front - things are not moving along quite as fast as we would like, so prayers are appreciated. We have not lost the vision or the desire - we are just trying to figure out next steps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are now into the last three weeks with our girls! It is hard to believe it. On August 2nd Erin and Emily will board a plane to go back to the US. Once there, they will rest a bit before splitting and going to visit friends - Erin in Oregon and Emily in Montana. Caleb will be finishing up his time at Winshape Camps somewhere in there and then all three will head to Bryan College to start school before the end of August. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last night Emily gave her Senior Recital to a small group of friends in our home. Her cello teacher said that in 3 years, Emily had done about 9 years worth of progress. It was great to hear Emily play a couple of cello duets with her teacher. She then sang 3 numbers and performed 3 piano pieces. I am very proud of the musical abilities of all of my kids!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That about updates you from the Wright house - I am sure that I will be posting something sad, or touching, or reflective not long after the girls depart and leave Cindy and I with an empty nest - just in time for our 25th Wedding anniversary. Until then - stay cool! I know that is what I will be trying to do!</span></div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-65607108897693671452012-06-04T20:57:00.000+02:002012-06-04T20:57:01.518+02:00It's June Already?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Some of you are probably wondering if I forgot that I had a
blog. Well, I didn’t, I have just not gotten around to writing on it lately.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you have been able to see any international news, you may
have seen that Greece recently had an election in which no single party was
strong enough to form a government.
There were several days of talks
between the various parties with several attempts at forming a coalition
government, but they all failed to do so, and now new elections have been
called for mid-June. Without going into
a whole lot of detail, people are angry at the way the previous government
tried to deal with the economic crisis so they voted for their opponents. These
opponents are also opposed to the terms of the bailout that have been dictated
by the stronger governments in Europe and have caused a lot of grief for people
in Greece. What this has led to is a
general uncertainty about whether Greece should or will stay in the “Eurozone”
– the large bloc of countries currently using the Euro as their currency. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While all of this gets sorted out , we are hoping to get a
US based 501c3 (charity) set up so that we have a structure over us to receive
donations and to keep us clear in the eyes of the governments involved. As mentioned previously, we will be calling
our organization “The 631 Solution” in reference to Jesus’ words to his
disciples in Mark 6:31. <b>Please be praying with us as we seek to get
this set up this summer. </b>We’d really like to have it in place by the end of
the summer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are continuing to work here in Tirana – Matt at AEP and
Cindy in the home. We are thrilled to
have Erin home with us for the summer.
Her college requires students to do an internship before graduation and
God opened doors for her to do hers here.
She is working this summer as a volunteer intern with World Vision, and
it is giving her some great opportunities!
So far she loves it. Caleb is
currently in the US working at Winshape Camps in Georgia. He was chosen to be on their worship team all
summer. So far he is playing keyboard
and some electric guitar, but he told us he will also play back-up for several
instruments as needed. Emily is
relishing her last few weeks here in Albania before heading back to Tennessee
to start college in August. By August 3<sup>rd</sup>,
Cindy and I will be “empty nesters”, so there are more big changes ahead for us
as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We do appreciate your prayers as we move forward from
here. Sometimes the pace seems glacial,
but we are trusting that God has a purpose in everything. Oh – one last thing. We have two Albanian “daughters” that will be
getting married this summer. We have
started doing some premarital counseling with one of them and will start with
the second one soon. Would you pray for
us as we try to help these two young couples get off to a good start, and then
as we participate in the weddings later this summer?<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-22284542589633340012012-04-09T15:16:00.002+02:002012-04-09T15:16:58.055+02:00Lasts, firsts, and transitions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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OK – so there is a whole raft of emotions going through me
right now and I really just need to sit down and get some of them written down. Tomorrow morning, very early, I will be head to
the airport with Caleb. We are headed
back to the US – but his ticket is a one way ticket. I’ll be there for 3 weeks then I will leave
him behind and return to Albania.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Folks have been asking me for the last several weeks how I
feel about our kids growing up and moving away from home. Honestly, we are very proud of our kids and believe
that they are reaching that point in life where they are ready to head out into
the “big bad world” on their own – at least into the still somewhat sheltered
world of college. I am especially sure
that Caleb is ready for the transition.
I am so proud of the young man he has become!<o:p></o:p></div>
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God has blessed Caleb with some pretty incredible musical
talent (if I may say so myself). He
plays guitar and piano and percussion, he sings, and he is writing his own
instrumental pieces. His walk with God
is solid. He has his head screwed on pretty well. He loves people, has an infectious
laugh, and is quite athletic too. He
loves climbing, cycling, swimming, and just about anything else that involves
sports and being with friends.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">I love my son. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">I am proud of my son</span>.</b>
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I can’t wait to see what God is going to do with him in the
days ahead.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But I sit here at my computer, eyes filling with tears,
because he is headed out on his own now.
I am not worried about him, but I can’t approach this milestone without being
at least a little sad. The next time we
play on the Xbox together it will be through the internet using Xbox live – not
sitting together on the loveseat in our living room. Our chats will no longer
be at our favorite “man meal” spot here in Tirana, but over skype. Our lives are changing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As a missionary, I am used to life changing. It seems like something is always changing –
in fact I have often said that the only constant in our lives is change. But this one hits pretty close to home. Erin has already ventured off to school. Caleb is setting out on his own now. By the end of this summer, Emily will be out
of the house and in college too. That is
a lot of really big change in a relatively short amount of time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I sit here, sad, excited, curious, and yes, a bit
tearful. I know that God will take care of my kids. He has been taking care of me since before I
was even born, so I know I can trust him with my children. As a dad, I know the transitions ahead will be
challenging for all of us. But I am
confident that Caleb is up to the challenges ahead. I’ve been watching this last week as he has gone
through a series of “lasts”-- the last worship team meeting, the last church
service, the last coffee with the guys in the youth ministry, etc. Next up is the series of “firsts” he will be
experiencing on the other side of the pond.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwO9beO25rZX3iclhdMkSTUojNrbsuVNdHaSgyc96MH8Ux4ii-o-e4DeDygvCJd-XZd7OAkSilhIU6J3QJVtVAMokFP_MOvBX9-rmWfud1mONBnRhpnS5ac-Es-fygA4xyV1TnQ/s1600/Caleb+Portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwO9beO25rZX3iclhdMkSTUojNrbsuVNdHaSgyc96MH8Ux4ii-o-e4DeDygvCJd-XZd7OAkSilhIU6J3QJVtVAMokFP_MOvBX9-rmWfud1mONBnRhpnS5ac-Es-fygA4xyV1TnQ/s320/Caleb+Portrait.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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(<span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo by Joanna Linderman)</span></div>
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<i><b>Caleb, 19+ years ago, when God gave you to us, your mother
and I dedicated you to Him. It has been
an incredible privilege watching you grow into a man. I love being your dad. I
love being your friend. God gave us the
awesome responsibility and privilege of raising you, nurturing you, training
you, and loving you. It has been an honor. Walk with Him daily. Remember His
love for you in every situation. Follow hard after Him with your whole heart. Never forget that we are here for you no
matter what. Nothing will ever diminish
the love I have for you. At the risk of
sounding corny (but when has that ever stopped me- right?) – GO FORTH AND
CONQUER! I’ll be cheering for you from
this side of the pond, or wherever God moves us in the future.</b></i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-84118221856197045272012-03-22T17:17:00.000+01:002012-03-22T17:17:00.265+01:00Help?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hi folks! I am trying to plan a trip back to the US for April - most likely April 10 through May 1 or so. <br />
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I am doing this for several reasons -<br />
1) we need to get our US Based Non-profit set up - or at least get the ball rolling fully on it.<br />
2) We need to start doing some fundraising so we can move closer towards purchasing the future home of "The 631 Solution"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgqz_Fw2NmCMThZIfmrXNaw-gLALK9mAyVV7rvH40OqNt8vAUpNDDk6oRFLwZSJjf7Aum9IzHz_O0D9CnQ29BECjwsK5hZ-uVaEvsIXUaPQ147luBglhHNEDWhpruz1dcc_ucWAA/s1600/631+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgqz_Fw2NmCMThZIfmrXNaw-gLALK9mAyVV7rvH40OqNt8vAUpNDDk6oRFLwZSJjf7Aum9IzHz_O0D9CnQ29BECjwsK5hZ-uVaEvsIXUaPQ147luBglhHNEDWhpruz1dcc_ucWAA/s320/631+Logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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3) It will enable me to accompany Caleb back to the US and help him get some of his stuff back. He will be working this summer at a camp and then starting college in the fall.</div>
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In an effort to maximize my time I am trying to set-up meetings with people before I return. We have gotten some great emails and encouragement from folks who have read this blog and believe in what we are doing. The next phase will be for us to put down some "earnest money" to show our seriousness to the owners of the property and to enable them to begin the legalization process. Until the house is legalized, there can be no sale.<br />
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<b>Here's how you can help: </b><br />
1) If you know of Christian investors or family foundations who would possibly support this type of ministry by giving toward the purchase of this house, I would love to be able to talk to them and share the vision.<br />
2) I will most likely fly into Chattanooga, TN and will need to borrow a car in order to do the traveling I need. If you know anyone who has a spare vehicle that they would let me use for a couple (or 3) weeks, that would be incredible!<br />
3) PRAY!!! Every step of this journey needs to be covered in prayer! As I told someone else the other day, we believe that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the hills themselves, and all the oil and mineral rights to anything under the hills! This is not a daunting task for God, but we want to be sure that we are following Him each step of the way.<br />
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If you have any contacts you can send them to me at <a href="mailto:mattalbman@gmail.com">mattalbman@gmail.com</a><br />
<br /></div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-81918350188423833612012-02-20T11:50:00.000+01:002012-02-20T11:50:16.852+01:00Here's what is going on!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I figured it was time
to put something up on the blog again since it has been a little while. I have to say we are very encouraged by the
positive responses we have gotten from those of you who have read it. To say that this process is a bit out of our
depth would be a major understatement! Cindy and I have never owned a home, and
the biggest thing we have ever purchased is our vehicle here in Albania! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Just to catch you up on recent activities regarding the
house – we had a Civil Engineer do an inspection of the house (something that
is required in Greece, apparently) and found out a few things. First of all, as it stands now, the house is
not legal and cannot be legally sold.
Apparently when they built the house, they did a few things “off plan” –
made some additions that were not in the blueprints and were not approved. All of these things can be legalized so that
the house can be legally sold, but it involves some significant costs (about
10,000 Euros or $14,000). Additionally, according to the engineer’s evaluation, there
is significant work needed on the house itself to bring it up to where it would
be livable. We expected this, since the
house has been empty for a long time.
The costs for updating and repairs fell into the range we were
expecting. When we made a counteroffer
to the seller deducting the costs of legalization and the costs of repairs,
they offered to pay for the legalization and a slight decrease in the asking
price of the house.</div>
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<b>Your prayers for this
process are greatly appreciated! </b>We know
that things will go back and forth a bit while we nail down prices and who pays
for what. We are also closely watching
the situation with the Greek economy. Close
friends who know more than we do are predicting that Greece will be kicked out
of the Euro Zone and if that happens the price on the house could very well go
down significantly. <b>With lots of variables in play, we really need wisdom on how to
proceed. </b>The good news in all of this has been that the current asking price is well below the estimated real value of the house. It looks like we would be getting a real bargain, even factoring in the cost of repairs.</div>
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In other news, our oldest daughter, Erin, will be coming
home for her Spring break!! We are very
excited to be able to have her come back for a visit. During her time here we will go back down to
Corfu and let the kids see this place we are asking the Lord to give to
us. None of them have seen it yet, and
since they will all be off in college when we make the move we thought it would
be good for them to see first-hand the house we hope to use for ministry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We bought Caleb’s plane ticket last week. He will return to the US on April 10. He’s already got lots of plans for his first
month back, hopefully including him getting his driver’s license! Since driving here in Albania is a little bit
different – ok, A LOT different – from driving in the US, he has not yet gotten
his license. Pray with us that he will
be able to take care of this before he starts his summer job. Lord willing, he will be working at a camp
again this summer prior to starting school at Bryan College in the fall.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are praying through the details of how and when the rest
of us will return to the US later in the summer. Emily will also be starting college in the
fall, and our hopes are for all of us to be back in the US for a while. Cindy
and I will be sharing the new ministry direction with our current (and
hopefully some new) supporters. This
will mean lots of travel. If we are able
to spend Christmas 2012 with the kids in the US, it would be the first time
since 2004 that we would celebrate with our families in the US. As the Lord provides the funds for the
purchase of the property in Corfu, we would then return to get started in the
work there. Erin will graduate in May
2013, so we are trying to figure out how to best manage time and finances and
still be able to be there for her. <b>Again, your prayers are appreciated!!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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If it sounds like we are on a wild ride, it is because it is
true! We are always encouraged when we
hear that friends are praying for us, so don’t be afraid to comment on this
blog. Feel free to spread the word as well.
If you have other friends who are mission-minded let them know about our
ministry. We want to be a blessing to as many Christian workers as we can, and
for that to happen, we've got to get the word out. We’ve seen it all through our ministry – <b>when
God’s people pray, amazing things happen!</b><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-91322395584557632642012-02-02T13:56:00.000+01:002012-02-02T13:56:32.119+01:00Could this be the place?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Now that we have kind of laid out the whole case for the
need for the ministry and the reasons we have chosen Corfu let me share with
you some info on a specific place we have found and tell you why we think it
would be perfect for our needs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmCYOkU3kQ_gluRIbm-jOmbMbfits3DiG5TbIsD3oL4h_tsT3HerDMk7n7XHpGEUUCABDTa56g1F4eMBvU8O0eN9XxAT_LP4uvV3Sm01lrTqM12ju4aQwuCzKxw6P5N_3MNNyqyA/s1600/IMG_02022012_133631.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmCYOkU3kQ_gluRIbm-jOmbMbfits3DiG5TbIsD3oL4h_tsT3HerDMk7n7XHpGEUUCABDTa56g1F4eMBvU8O0eN9XxAT_LP4uvV3Sm01lrTqM12ju4aQwuCzKxw6P5N_3MNNyqyA/s320/IMG_02022012_133631.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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We are looking at a house (over here they call them Villas)
on the southwestern coast of Corfu. The 30
year old house sits on a lot that is 4000 square meters (about 1 acre). The
western border of the property is the Ionian Sea. It is perched on a bluff that looks out over
its own private waterfront. There is a
path down to the sea, but it is very overgrown so we have not yet been able to
get down to it, but it looks like there is a small pebbly beach.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVU4RbsLmRhL_PTpCApzl12MMrX-EIh2xEX4DnZKItZHqxwzWqjCzNLliAeVUpJHL17cBrN_gCJ1I52x9KJcLp37wBz8rLpNZJ3AikCNqDXsUV-EhRF759KLLNl3wXfCZ8rMt3qw/s1600/IMG_1095%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVU4RbsLmRhL_PTpCApzl12MMrX-EIh2xEX4DnZKItZHqxwzWqjCzNLliAeVUpJHL17cBrN_gCJ1I52x9KJcLp37wBz8rLpNZJ3AikCNqDXsUV-EhRF759KLLNl3wXfCZ8rMt3qw/s200/IMG_1095%5B1%5D.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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The Villa itself is quite large – the upper portion has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a good-sized kitchen, and a large open room that has dining room, living room and a sunken area in front of a fireplace. Below this main portion of the house are two self-contained apartments and a large central common area.</div>
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This house sits at the end of a narrow road, and to get to
it you have to drive through some magnificent old olive groves and past an old
fortress. It is about 40 minutes from
Corfu Town (driving gently) and about 30 minutes from the airport. About a 15 minute walk to the south is a long
(about 5 KM) sandy beach and a saltwater lake.
To the north are more rocky outcroppings and small pebbly beaches.<br />
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It is <i><b>quiet.</b></i> </div>
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It is
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It is spacious enough for us
to have multiple families at the same time, if necessary. It offers privacy both to us and to our
guests, yet is homey enough for great fellowship and encouragement.</div>
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The asking price is 400,000 Euros (currently about $525,000). We are told that a year ago it was listed at
800,000 Euros but the price has fallen due to the economic crisis in
Greece. We currently have a lawyer and
realtor checking out the property to ensure that all of the legal documents are
in order and have a civil engineer look at the property to determine what
repairs will need to be done. The house
has been sitting empty for about 4 years now, so there will be some “fixin’ up”
that will need to be done.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just to offer some comparisons for you, here in Tirana our 3
bedroom apartment (1200 sq ft) on the 4<sup>th</sup> floor of a building near
the center of town would probably sell for about 200,000 Euros. A 300 square meter villa (3 bedrooms only) outside
of Tirana towards the mountain is listed at 400,000 Euros, an empty piece of
land in the south of Albania, near Saranda, is listed at 450,000 Euros for only
3000 square meters. Those are Albanian
prices and not on the sea! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Everything that we have seen tells us that the price on this
property we are looking at is excellent.
The house itself would allow us to live on site and have room to host up
to three families at the same time in a peaceful environment that still offers
activities for all ages. <b>Will you join with us in praying that God
will give us this property? </b>We have
a burden and now we have a potential place where we can see that burden met. Now we need prayer partners and donors!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-49408378256671307852012-01-31T12:40:00.000+01:002012-01-31T12:40:05.417+01:00SO WHY CORFU??<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of you
may be asking that question right about now.
“Why not stay in Albania and do this retreat center there?” We have a few reasons for that, so let me
share them with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVclXWqClr2g1o6P_85Vrvk1p5hcaOt6ZGU2jQ-I5y2gtoE6_QSnRXqYYnWaCU1NkWaVsC8sI4UuVqiammRG-kc4JRyyI9mV6LyR_-jA1a5zjeT7Ljl117Lgxq7q7ZC2oPft6dFw/s1600/Corfu+House+631+Solution+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVclXWqClr2g1o6P_85Vrvk1p5hcaOt6ZGU2jQ-I5y2gtoE6_QSnRXqYYnWaCU1NkWaVsC8sI4UuVqiammRG-kc4JRyyI9mV6LyR_-jA1a5zjeT7Ljl117Lgxq7q7ZC2oPft6dFw/s400/Corfu+House+631+Solution+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you hear the waves?</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reason #1 – We wanted to be near the sea.
</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In order for our
refuge to be as restful as possible we tried to think of what helps <u>us</u> to rest
and relax. We found that being near the
sea – or some other body of water – was very relaxing. In fact, just watching the water is
peaceful. As we took breaks we caught
ourselves just sitting on the balcony watching the water. Now think about it – when you reflect on your
most restful vacations or retreats, how many of them were near water? See what I mean? We thought about trying to find something
along the Albanian coastline, preferably down in the south of Albania as the
water there is much cleaner and it is less developed. Ideally we wanted something that was easily
accessible from anywhere in Albania (since our primary experience has been with
workers here). But the more we learned
about buying property here the more we heard that…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reason #2 –Buying land in Albania can
be very difficult! </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buying land or buildings here in
Albania can be a real challenge. First of
all, it is hard to find out who actually has the title to the land. You see, when the communists took power after
WW2, they wanted to make some “adjustments” to the class structure, so they
confiscated land from the wealthy and forced them to work in communal farms. Then they took poor villagers and placed them
in the properties that belonged to the wealthy.
Once the communist system collapsed 50 years later, it is hard to
determine who actually owned the land.
That puts us into a situation where multiple people have “claim” on the
property making negotiations very difficult.
Add to that a system that is so corrupt that it is possible for several
people to have “legal” documents for the same piece of property. I heard of one instance in Durres where as
many as 7 different people have “fully legal” documents showing they were the
owners of one plot of land. We had no
desire to get involved in something that messed up, which led us to realize…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reason #3 We needed to look outside
of Albania. </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We
talked and thought and talked some more.
We have had the pleasure of hosting the AEP Conference the last several
years and a couple of those have been held in Montenegro. Montenegro has a stunning coastline with
incredible clear water and gorgeous mountain ranges. It is one of the most
beautiful countries I have ever visited. However, prices there are really high –
they are pushing it as a big tourist destination and the prices reflect
that. Additionally, we would, more than
likely, have to learn another language – Serbian/Montenegrin – in order to
fully function there. You can understand
how the thought of learning another language was less than thrilling to us. So we started looking south instead. When we did we saw that…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reason #4 Corfu speaks English! </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because of its history, and because
it is also a major tourist destination, almost everyone on Corfu speaks at
least some English. English nobility has
had a presence there for generations and English tourism is a large part of the
island’s economy. We will probably still
need to pick up some Greek since that is the primary language, but we will
still be able to get along nicely without it.
That also means that those who come to visit will not have any issues
getting around on the island using only English. Ask any missionary what contributes to
culture stress and they will tell you that one of the factors is language. When you don’t know the language, can’t read
the signs, can’t ask for help, etc, the stress level rises pretty quickly. Being able to get around easily in English
will help make this retreat center more restful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reason #5 The Greek Economic Crisis.</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
Just in case you missed it in the news, Greece is experiencing a major
economic crisis. Rather than go into
detail here, suffice it to say that this is creating a large market for
properties as people are trying to get rid of tax liabilities or are facing
personal financial difficulties and need to liquidate their property
holdings. We have heard stories that
many foreigners who had retired to Corfu have found that they could no longer
afford to maintain multiple residences and have decided to leave the
island. Because of this it is somewhat
of a buyer’s market for properties right now.
Cindy has been diligently searching online listings for properties and
flagging those that looked like possibilities and we recently made a quick trip
down to look at 3 of them. Before we
tell you about that though we need to point out that…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reason #6 Corfu is very accessible! </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Virtually anyone serving in Albania can get to Corfu in less
than a day. Particularly in the middle
months of the year (April through October) there are budget airlines that fly
into Corfu from all over Europe and the Mediterranean basin opening up the
possibility to serve literally thousands of Christian workers. Now not everyone will need a place like ours,
but for those who do need it, it will be pretty easy for them to get to us. Even in the winter months there are daily
ferries from Italy or the Greek mainland as well as flights from Athens and
other parts of Europe, just not quite as often.
For those who come from places that are less developed, Corfu has great
infrastructure – good roads, good electricity, and some American restaurants
(McDonalds and Pizza Hut) for a little taste of “home”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hopefully,
this will help you to understand more of our reasoning for choosing Corfu. In the next post, I will tell you about a
particular property we are looking into – we don’t know everything we need to know
about it yet, but we are in the process of finding out what we can. Even if this does not end up being the property
we are able to purchase, it can serve as sort of a model for what we would like
to have and how it could be used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-65944569612922793482012-01-23T15:22:00.001+01:002012-01-23T17:57:10.521+01:00“What’s in a name?”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Like I said,
we have been thinking about what to name this ministry. I never really thought about what all is
involved in choosing a name for something like this, but in today’s
internet-connected world there is a lot you have to think about. How will it show up in search engines? Does anyone else use the name? Is the name
licensed or registered? Etc., etc., etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Cindy came
up with the name we will use for our ministry (yes, we are going to start a charitable organization, but I’ll come back to that in a bit) after reading another great
Bible passage that often gets overlooked because of its surroundings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In Mark 6
there is a ton of stuff happening. In
verse 7 Jesus sent out the 12 on a “mission trip” of sorts, in verses 14-29 we
have the account of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptiser being killed, then in
verse 30 the disciples come back and tell Jesus all about their trip. In verse 34 we have the beginning of the
story of the feeding of the 5000 men.
All of these are great and important stories but tucked in there in
verse 31 is a verse that often is overlooked, practically speaking if not
theologically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After the
disciples reported back to Jesus all they had done and taught (a debriefing ,
if you will), Jesus says to them, <span style="color: red;">“Come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get
some rest.”</span> That verse also notes that there were so many people coming
and going that the team (Jesus and his disciples) didn’t even have time to
eat. So in verse 32, they get in a boat
and go to a “solitary place”. Unfortunately for them, the crowd figured out
where they were headed and followed them, so they did not exactly get the rest
they were looking for – I think the same thing happens to many workers today.
However I still think that Jesus’ invitation to His disciples, His co-workers,
echoes across the years, “Come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and
get some rest!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We need to
be reminded that God’s first and primary call to us is to BE WITH HIM. As we are with Him, He then puts work before
us to do, but we do that work WITH HIM as well.
Too often though, we get all caught up in the work, and then the burden
becomes heavy and the work becomes hard. We
forget that in the middle of the busy-ness, from time to time Jesus calls us to “come away… and
get some rest.” Our desire is that this
place would be a place where those involved in full-time ministry would be able
to do just that. It will be a place
where Christian workers can get away to a quiet place for some “alone time”
with Jesus and to get some rest. And so
we will call our organization (drum roll please...) <b>“The 631
Solution”</b> – a solution to the situation found in Mark 6:31.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We are
beginning the process of registering as a charitable organization and will pursue tax exempt
status in the US in order to receive gifts and donations. We’ll keep you updated on our progress. In order for us to purchase the place we
want, we are going to have to see God work in pretty powerful ways. We are talking about more money than we could
ever come up with on our own, so it will have to be God doing the providing. We need prayer warriors to join with us in
covering this whole project in prayer. As we talk to missionaries and other
Christian workers, the need for such a place is obvious to us. As we share this vision, almost everyone says
“When will you be open? When can we
come?” Just as God is Lord over the
finances, He is also Lord over the timing.
<b>Will you pray with us that we
will see this vision become a reality sooner, rather than later? Will you share this vision with others and
ask them to join with us in prayer too?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the next
post, I’ll tell you a bit more about the place where we believe we should open this
refuge, and why we feel like it is the right place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-34611124083295050502012-01-19T08:45:00.000+01:002012-01-19T08:46:01.102+01:00Sounds great - but is it really needed?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the last post I talked in general about the vision. This time around I want to share a little bit
about our rationale for doing this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Though I don’t know for sure, I doubt too many missionaries
are familiar with the lyrics from an old Def Leppard song (I probably shouldn’t
be familiar with them either, but I wasn’t always a missionary, you know…), but
many of them are ministering like they have heard them – “Better to burn out,
than to fade away”. It is almost like it
is expected that you go to the mission field and burn yourself out for
God, going out like Elijah in a blaze
of glory. The problem with that is that
it was Elijah’s chariot that was on fire, not Elijah! In fact, when I look at Elijah’s life I see a
different story that serves as a bit of a basis for some of what we want to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1 Kings 18 you have that awesome story of Elijah’s
“showdown” with the prophets of Baal up on Mt Carmel. I have always loved that story!! Then in chapter 19 you have this incredible
man of God running for his life because of Jezebel’s threats. He literally runs out in to the middle of the
desert, sits down under a tree and asks God to kill him. Isn’t it great that
James tells us that Elijah was a man with a nature like us (James 5:17) - not
some Biblical superhero, just a man like us that God used in a mighty way? But I digress… <o:p></o:p></div>
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In chapter 19, when Elijah goes and lays down under a tree
asking God to kill him (suicide by Deity?) what is God’s response? Does He send Gabriel with a flaming sword to
carry out Elijah’s wishes? Not
quite. He sends an angel alright, but
that angel wakes Elijah from his sleep and gives him some fresh baked bread
(can you smell it?) and a jug of water, then lets Elijah sleep some more before
doing it all over again. Two hot meals,
something refreshing to drink, and an encouragement that God is not done with
Elijah (by telling him he needed to eat again or the journey would be too much
for him, it is implied that God still had work for Elijah to do). This is how God responds to His tired,
dejected, depressed servant. Not
judgment. Not punishment. A hot meal.
A good night’s rest.
Encouragement. Then, in the mouth
of an isolated cave, in another desolate place – new instructions for ministry. Wow.
Who’d a thunk it? <o:p></o:p><img alt="Cooking Bread on a Stick" src="http://www.camptrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Bread_m-300x300.jpg" /></div>
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We have met so many missionaries who are tired, worn out,
dejected, and depressed. They don’t need
to be judged – they need a rest and a reassignment. We have been there ourselves! We want our “place” to be a place of refuge. A place where some good sleep and some good
hot meals can lead to a refocusing and reassignment and refreshing which in turn will lead into
a new period of successful ministry for those who come. We want to be those ministering angels who
are able to come alongside workers who are weary and pray with them. We want to see them revitalized and redeployed
by God, instead of burned out and cast aside.
I have a feeling that this is what God wants too. God met Elijah in a deserted place – just not in
the way Elijah expected. But when Elijah
got away from the “noise” and the threats and then stopped looking for God to
speak through bigger means (the wind, the fire and the earthquake) he heard
God’s gentle whisper telling him what the next phase of ministry would hold.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We toyed with the idea of calling our new ministry “The
Broom Tree” or “The Juniper Tree” in reference to this story, but there are
other ministries who have already used those names. Instead we have decided on a name that comes
from another great Biblical passage showing the need for God’s disciples to
take a break. More on that in the next
post…<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-34725229247431057302012-01-17T11:25:00.000+01:002012-01-17T11:25:31.215+01:00New Year - New Direction Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">See what I did there? I tried to leave you hanging a bit so that you would come back for more! How ingenious is that? I go for months without any activity on the blog and then when I finally write something, I leave you hanging for a bit. Now I am writing a second post on the same day. See, I told you I am not good at this…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Back to the reactions</b> – <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Almost every missionary we talked to said something along these lines: “Oh. My. Goodness. That is so needed – when will you be open so we can come down?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Most of our supporters said: “Wow! That sounds so much like you and Cindy! It would be great for you guys to do something like that! A Greek island huh? Can we come visit?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Our mission leaders said: “This is great – you guys should move forward with this!!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We both saw all of this positivity as confirmation that we were onto something. Let me pause here to interject something. From the very beginning of our missionary lives, Cindy and I have been involved in helping others see their visions come to pass. Every ministry we have worked with, every Bible study we have led, virtually everything we have done has been in response to and support of someone else’s vision. <b>This</b> is something that we feel is uniquely our vision, and it looks big and scary, and virtually impossible to pull off, but we really, truly believe this is a God thing.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So now we are starting off a new year. This year will be a year of huge transitions for our family. Emily and Caleb will transition back to life in the US of A as college students. Cindy and I will transition into life as “empty nesters”. I will leave AEP, where I have truly enjoyed working for the last several years. We are beginning to pursue this new vision, which means we will have to spend some significant time back in the US for fundraising too. Lots of big changes.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Truthfully, we have never been great at fundraising. Since our return to Albania back in 2005, we have consistently been under-supported (at least, according to the standards of most mission agencies). We came back with less than half of the monthly support we had when we came to Albania the first time back in 1999. Our monthly donations are still about $1000-$1500/month <b>less</b> than what we received almost 13 years ago. This past year we received about $8000 less than we did the year before. I hate talking about this kind of stuff because it often comes across as if we are whining or begging or something, but if people don't know about it, they can't do anything about it, right? It is our reality - and I know that it is also the reality of lots of folks around the world due to the current economic situation. It gives us yet another point of contact/point of reference for those we are hoping to help encourage. We can truly empathize with where they are.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now we are on the verge of trying to raise what for us (and pretty much everyone we know) is a huge amount of money to purchase a property in Greece. We must be nuts, right? Wrong. We are firm believers that if this is truly God’s project, then God has the provision out there for it. Even though the financial pressure on our family has never really let off, we have always been provided for – and we have learned that God is always faithful! <b>We are expectantly looking forward to seeing how God is going to pull this one off!</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So now we are asking you to pray. And to give. And to connect us to other folks who might share this vision of seeing missionaries stay on the field and be successful. And to connect us with people of substantial means who might want to partner with us in this vision. And to pray some more. While the giving is important, we know that the praying is the key!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We believe we have found a property that will serve our purposes very well. With the current financial crisis in Greece, and the Eurozone we think it is a bargain. I’ll tell you more about it in the next post.<o:p></o:p></div></div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-19813448522528058702012-01-17T09:39:00.002+01:002012-01-17T10:11:43.850+01:00New Year - new direction Part 1Those of you who check this blog for daily updates have been sorely disappointed over the life of the blog, I know. I just am not one of those guys who sits down at the end of each day and blogs about every little thing that goes on. However when something big is afoot, it does generally strike me as "blogworthy" so I am dusting off the interface here (who knew there was so much dust in cyberspace??) and sending a post out into the ether.<br /><br />If you have gotten our email updates, or snail mail prayer letters over the last year, you should have noticed the hints we have been dropping about something big in our future. For the last 6 years, my work at the AEP has been a form of what is now known as "Member Care" - caring for the emotional, spiritual, and sometimes physical needs of Christian workers serving overseas. In our particular context, that means folks working here in Albania or in the countries nearby. As we have done this, we have noticed just how many workers are burning out or are already burnt out. Smarter people than me have done lots of research into the causes of missionary attrition, and they are many, but the biggies seem to be conflict with teammates, financial pressures, cultural shock/burn out, and family issues.<div><br /></div><div>Pretty much all of these things can be dealt with. What we have seen first-hand is that most of the folks going through these things KNOW what the answers are, but sometimes they just need someone to listen to them vent, or they need to hear the answers in someone else's voice. In some situations there is a need for real counseling from real counselors, but more often than not a pair of sympathetic listening ears and a shoulder to cry on are the main things that are needed. We have felt that this is the direction God has been leading us for some time, but our physical context has not been as conducive to this as we would like. We have felt the need to physically get people out of their surroundings so they can get some perspective. Haven't we all experienced that at one time or another when we have gone to a camp or conference or retreat? I mean, seriously - why is it that our pastors can give us great teaching week after week, but when we go to a conference and hear the same things in a different voice, all of the sudden we have an "AHA!" moment and it clicks?</div><div><br /></div><div>Cindy and I have been talking about this for a long time now and last spring we kind of decided that "the place" should be Corfu. Corfu is an island that belongs to Greece and is situated just off the southern coast of Albania. We have gone there a couple of times for family vacations and found it to be very relaxing. It has a McDonald's and a Pizza Hut where we can get our comfort food fixes. It is an island, so that means a beach is never more than a couple of miles away. Just sitting and watching the water has done us a world of good, so we thought, "It should do the same for other folks too!" The problem is that Corfu can be very expensive - especially for a family, so we started thinking about how we could do something about that.</div><div><br /></div><div>A vision began to take shape in both our hearts. What if we had a place where we could use Cindy's gift of hospitality and both of our desires to encourage folks going through hard times? What if that place was big enough for us to live and also to host a couple of families or singles or couples at the same time? What if it was a quiet place, but had a view of the water, and was private enough that if serious counseling was necessary it could be done out of the public view? What if we could provide such a place at little or no cost to the missionary? What if...? What if...? What if...? Could this possibly be something that God would allow us to do? Really?</div><div><br /></div><div>We figured this would be a hard sell to our supporters. I mean, seriously - we are looking at relocating to a GREEK ISLAND! Hello!! Can you say, "Suffering for Jesus!"? I think you can. Who would not want to do that, right? So last summer as we were back in the US, we began to share this vision with a few folks and ask them to pray with us about it. And you know what? We were pleasantly surprised by the reactions.</div><div><br /></div><div>What is your reaction?</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-45066147488527444032011-04-11T11:03:00.002+02:002011-04-11T11:08:49.470+02:00Watch this space!For the last 15 years that we have had some sort of involvement in missions in Albania we have been helping others to achieve the visions God has given them. It has been great - nearly all of the time! :-) Now we feel like God has given Cindy and I a vision of what He wants us to do. It is big. It is exciting. It is scary. It is pretty much impossible unless God is in it and orchestrating it all. <br /><br />Details will follow...Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-9502417389251175542010-07-15T18:01:00.003+02:002010-07-15T18:21:53.598+02:00new musingsSo - I have been told that I have not been musing enough. One of the reasons for that is that I have been lazy and have been doing most of my updating of things via Facebook. Another reason is that I have just been busy. The busy-ness is leading to tiredness and tiredness does not produce much in the way of musings. In fact it tends to make me look for "a-musements".<br /><br />If you have been reading my facebook comments and statuses you know that I have been running around a lot. My "portfolio" of job titles seems to have grown a good bit so that means more stress as I branch out into areas that I do not feel as competent to handle. Recently an authority on Leadership was here in Albania and spoke to our members. (Well, he has published a book or two on leadership so I guess that makes him an authority, right?) Anyway, he said that much of leadership involves doing those things you don't really like to do or feel as competent to do, so I guess that means my leadership skills are growing - right? I hope so as I am being thrust into more situations where I need to lead. <br /><br />So right now, to be entirely honest, I find myself tired, ready for a vacation (which will not happen for about 6 more weeks), and seriously in need of some face down in the water time (i.e. snorkeling - one of my favorite pastimes). There are transitions ahead for which I am not sure I am ready. There are situations in which I will be called upon to lead, yet if I could I would turn the other direction and run away. I will be making decisions that could have serious effects in the lives of others. I will be asked to set aside many of the things I really want to be working on in order to accomplish the desires of others. I see some really cool things, so great possibilities in the future, but when it seems like I am getting closer to them, I crest the top of the hill only to find another valley which must be traversed in order to get to them. Such is life though, right?<br /><br />These are my musings - such as they are. In a few minutes I am going to walk out of the house with my incredible wife and eat a wonderful dinner with some good friends. In the middle of all of the challenges of life, God still gives us great friends, incredible sunsets, the view of the Adriatic off the coast of Montenegro (we were there earlier this week for a short day trip) and I still would not trade this life for anything else. God never said the trip would be easy, but He did promise His presence along the way.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-80777838944287963462009-09-11T10:41:00.003+02:002009-09-11T10:58:58.269+02:00Life continues...Erin is now settled into school at Bryan College and seems to really be enjoying things there. She still needs to figure out how to do all she wants to do, needs to do and still be able to sleep, but that will come with time I guess. It was fun to get a phone call from her last night as we were all sitting at the supper table. She called our Skype-in number which then forwarded to my cell phone, so we were able to put it on speaker mode and all of us talk to her as we finished up supper. Technology is so much improved since I was in school!<br /><br />Ministry continues at a brisk pace here in Tirana. At the AEP we are gearing up for our annual conference to be held once again in Struga, Macedonia. Lots of details have to come together to make it work well, so we are busy trying to coordinate everything. Krahët e Shqiponjës, the transitional home I am working with, is also at a busy time. After a summer in which we found out what some of our strengths and weaknesses are, we are trying to improve where we need to and build on what we did well. We also received word yesterday that one of the girls we have had in our minds and our prayers since the founding of the ministry has decided that she wants to come and live in the home! Praise God! We were able to submit the final documents necessary for our licensing as well, so things are moving along nicely. The Albanian Youth Ministry Network is also planning a weekend training retreat for this fall, so there will be some traveling to various churches around Albania to publicize that event. Now that we have a vehicle we can actually get out and make these visits!<br /><br />Cindy and the kids have started back into home schooling for the year. With our "math teacher" (Erin) gone, the kids are finding things a bit different this year. Caleb is developing his musical abilities and plans to have guitar lessons and drum lessons in addition to his piano lessons from mom. Emily continues with her cello lessons and is loving it. Just today she learned another hand position so she is moving along. Cindy has well over a dozen piano students as well so between that, home schooling, worship ministry in the church, and keeping us all taken care of, she is also very busy.<br /><br />Maybe someday soon I'll blog about a typical day... if I ever have a typical day. But then, that is one of the things I love about our life and ministry here. We do get lots of variety in life.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-40701204748471052992009-08-14T00:41:00.002+02:002009-08-14T00:43:55.517+02:00Erin's GoneTonight I drove the family to the airport and put my wife and oldest daughter on an airplane. Since we are missionaries and travel a lot that may not seem like much, but this trip will be very different from any we have made to the airport before. Only one of them has a return ticket. Erin will not be coming back – at least not for a long time. <br /><br />Erin is about to open a new and exciting chapter in her life and I am very excited about it for her. But I am also finding that I am getting increasingly emotional as we approach her departure. I guess it is a natural thing for a dad to do. Last weekend was her last service at church, so the leaders prayed over her to send her off with a blessing. As I stood there behind her I was taken back to that day, nearly 19 years ago that her mother and I stood before our church in Chattanooga and dedicated our little baby girl to the Lord. At that time it was me that was headed out. My reserve unit had been activated and I was off to Saudi Arabia to go to war. I am so thankful to God that “my” war was so easy and that I came back and had the last 18 years with my little girl.<br /><br />I look ahead and know that the next four years or so are going to be filled with such great experiences for her. I also realize that our relationship is forever going to be changed by these next four years. Erin is an incredible young woman and I am so proud of her. When she next comes home she will be different though – changed by virtue of having been more independent, by having been responsible for her own decisions, by standing firmly on her own two feet with mom and dad half a world away. She will be fine – God has shaped her into a true woman of God. She has a spiritual depth that I never had at her age. I am so proud of her.<br /><br />I keep telling myself that this is all part of her growing up, all a natural part of life. I know that and accept that, but it still has a bittersweet pain to it. I can’t help but look back at my own life and the changes that came once I left for college. I am so thankful for the internet and skype and things like that which will make communication so much easier than it was when I was in school. Maybe that will help some. I guess right now my heart if filled with excitement and joy for her, yet with sadness for myself. I am so gonna miss my little girl! I can’t really even put it into words. But life marches on. This is one change that is going to be more difficult for me than I had anticipated I think…Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-58041771968497557092008-12-10T20:48:00.003+01:002008-12-10T21:45:43.947+01:00Unloading...Blogging is supposed be a way to unload, to clear your mind, to get things off of your chest, right? Well, here goes...<br /><br />We do not own a vehicle. We had to sell our last vehicle before we went back to the US this summer in order to pay for the plane tickets. That worked out okay because we had experienced some mechanical difficulties with it anyway, but when it came right down to it, we needed to money to pay for plane tickets so we could go back and raise additional support. God gave us a great minivan to use while we were in the US and that was awesome. While we were back we also shared our need with a few folks and we have mentioned it in a couple of e-mails as well. God is good, and people have given and now we have about $8500 in our vehicle fund.<br /><br />You would think that you could find a decent vehicle for that amount, wouldn't you? Well, because of the large number of stolen vehicles or unreliable vehicles on the roads here in Albania, many people advise buying from outside of Albania. Germany is a popular place because of the high standards of maintenance there and because you can generally be assured that what you are buying has been correctly represented to you. The big hassle is that you either need to go to Germany yourself - which can be a daunting thought if you speak no German, know nothing about German cities/geography, know nothing about buying a vehicle there and what documents are necessary to transport it back across numerous international borders to finally arrive in Albania. This is the situation in which we find ourselves. Imagine then, my delight when a friend calls me and says he knows a believer here who is German and is going to go up to Germany to buy a vehicle for someone else and is willing to look for one for us too!<br /><br />Communication is a wonderful thing - when it happens. Apparently it did not happen well enough in our case. After a couple of lengthy meetings in which we looked online for vehicles that, a)meet our needs (must be a 7 seater), and b) is within our budget, we thought it would be a relatively easy thing to find us a vehicle. The last part was the sticky point. You see, knowing the vehicle market over here (somewhat) we decided back during the summer that we needed to raise at least 10,000 Euros in order to buy a vehicle that would be reliable. That translates to about $13,000 US. We do not have that kind of money at this time, but in our meetings it appeared that there were numerous possibilities and we would not have to wait until we had the full amount we had targeted.<br /><br />I ought to insert here that one complicating factor of buying a vehicle from Germany (or anywhere outside of Albania for that matter) and bringing it into Albania is that you have to pay a customs tax on top of the purchase price. This can be anywhere from as low as 1000 euros for a newer car, or over 4000 euros for an older model. The government is trying to discourage the import of older vehicle in an effort to cut down on air pollution from vehicle emissions, so the older the vehicle, the higher the taxes.<br /><br />Our $8500 converts to about 6200 euros, so we were looking for vehicles in the 5000 euro range to allow for the customs tax. While looking online it appeared that we would be able to find something - our hopes were for a Volkswagen Sharan minivan. Since the guys were headed up to Germany anyway, I also asked them to look for a suitable vehicle for a foundation I am working with - something newer, more expensive and also a 7 or 8 seat vehicle.<br /><br />Well, the first full day up in Germany our friends looked at several possibilities for the foundation - all of which were going to be more expensive than buying a brand new vehicle from a dealership here in Tirana. I never would have imagined that I could buy new for less than a similar model used vehicle, but that is the way it has turned out. So the Foundation decided to buy a new VW Caddy here in country. I contacted my guys in Germany and told them to only look for a personal vehicle for me. They were a bit perturbed with the decision not to buy for the foundation from Germany and began to look for a personal vehicle instead. It appears that they were only able to find one vehicle that was in our price range (5000 euros or less - this one was 4900 euros), and it was old enough that once we brought it back into Albania we would have to pay an additional 3000 Euros or more for the import duties. Another option they presented was a vehicle like we wanted (a VW Sharan) but the price was 7000 euros. They said they could go ahead and buy it and let me pay them the difference (plus the import duties of at least 1500-2000 Euros) within a couple of months. <br /><br />Obviously, neither option works for us. I cannot in good conscience spend more money than we have on hand in the hopes that it will come in. So we are stuck. I need to pay these guys something for their troubles - as it turns out they were NOT going up to buy for someone else, they made the trip just for me. I have managed to put another missionary in touch with them who IS going to buy a vehicle through them (either he had more money to begin with or his needs were easier to satisfy with less money). So now I feel obligated to pay them the equivalent of a few hundred dollars with absolutely nothing to show for it. Instead of progress, we have regressed because now we not only need to raise more money for a vehicle, we also need to replace the money we just spent in vain.<br /><br />I was so hoping to have a vehicle before Christmas. I want to be able to load the family up and go for a drive out of the city - maybe to one of the malls on the outskirts of Tirana - or even take a weekend and get away to refresh a bit without having to borrow a vehicle from one of our colleagues. I am bummed. Yes, even missionaries get bummed. I guess we will just have to keep waiting, praying, trusting until we see God's provision in this area. <br /><br />It just seemed like we were so close, and I am so tired of constantly feeling like every prayer update I write has to do with personal financial needs. I know so many people here - national missionaries, local ministries - that need funding and I want to be able to help raise funds for those things instead of constantly trying to raise more personal support. Yes we have serious needs, but so do most of the ministries and people I work with. If I don't let people know about the needs how will they know about them in order to meet them, yet if all I do is talk about finances, won't people get tired of it and just turn it off? I just want to see God provide. I hate feeling like I am begging.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-3529832842719786942008-12-07T01:12:00.000+01:002008-12-07T01:14:08.670+01:00Loss<p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I lost a friend today.<span style=""></span><span style=""> </span>We worked together in the youth ministry of our church for a while, and also worked together with our college aged ministry.<span style=""> </span>Most recently he was working on staff at the Center for Christian Leadership - the place where we started our ministry in Albania back in 1999.</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Genti has a beautiful wife, and darling daughter - and just this morning, just hours after his death, his son was born by C-section.<span style=""> </span>Genti never got to see his son. Not in this life.<span style=""> </span>Sometime last night, Genti apparently had a heart attack and died.<span style=""> </span>He was 35.<span style=""> </span>This is not the way things are supposed to happen.</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Our church is in shock.<span style=""> </span>I am in shock still.<span style=""> </span>As a colleague of our has noted in his blog : "<span style="color: blue;">He was wise. He “got it.” He had integrity. Real integrity. Right priorities that he really lived by. He was the man needed here in Albania. Today. In this situation. He was the kind that would have made a difference with wide ripples.</span>"<span style=""> </span>This is not the way things are supposed to happen.</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="en-US">I know the Scriptures.<span style=""> </span>I know that they say that our days<span style=""> </span>are written in God's book even before we are born.<span style=""> </span>I know that God knows every detail of our lives.<span style=""> </span>I know that God is ALWAYS good.<span style=""> </span>I know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who are the called, according to His purposes.<span style=""> </span>I know that "Blessed in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints".<span style=""> </span>I know lots of verses…<span style=""> </span>but this is not the way things are supposed to happen. I guess those verses are easier to accept when the person in question has lived a long life, when they are old and have lived to see their children marry and give them grandchildren.<span style=""> </span>It is just a bit more difficult when it is someone younger than me, just starting their family.<span style=""> </span>Does it change the truth of Scripture?<span style=""> </span>Not at all.<span style=""> </span>Is it perhaps a bit more of a test of our faith in those Scriptures?<span style=""> </span>Maybe.</span><span lang="sq"><span style=""> </span></span><span lang="en-US">Yet those Scripture for m the bedrock on which we stand in times like these.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I am so thankful that God knows our hearts, and our fears, and our weaknesses.<span style=""> </span>And that he loves us and forgives us anyway.<span style=""> </span>I am not a morbid person by nature, but some time back I started to think about what would happen if I were to go to sleep, and wake up in Heaven.<span style=""> </span>What would my last words to Cindy or to my children be?<span style=""> </span>I have tried to be sure to let the last thing out of my mouth be me telling Cindy how much I love her.<span style=""> </span>That is a thought that is more active in my mind now than ever before.</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Tomorrow we will lay Genti's body in the ground.<span style=""> </span>Things happen fast here because there is no embalming.<span style=""> </span>As a church body we mourn for our loss, for Milena's loss, for the children's loss, even for Albania's loss.<span style=""> </span>We know that God does all things well… and yet… we grieve.<span style=""> </span>Not as those who have no hope, because we know that we will see Genti again.<span style=""> </span>But the pain is still there.<span style=""> </span>"Why?" questions abound, but God says "I AM".<span style=""> </span>He is the answer to all of our questions. Tomorrow will be a difficult day.<span style=""> </span>We need your prayers.<span style=""> </span>Milena needs your prayers. </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">What if this were to happen to you?<span style=""> </span>Are you ready? What if today is the last day God has written in His book for you?</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="en-US">O Gento - </span><span lang="sq">ne marrim malli për ty - shumë në fakt.<span style=""> </span>Por ne jemi sigurt që do shohim perseri ne Parajsë. Do provojmë të kujdesemi për familjen tende gjithashtu. Thuaj Pershendetjë Teta Neta dhe tëtjerët qe kan shkuar para nesh. Do shihemi vellai, do shihemi. Bekuar qoftë Emrin e Zotit, edhe në të mirë, edhe në të vershtirë.</span></p>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-34408993636046776042008-11-21T13:41:00.000+01:002008-11-21T13:42:21.772+01:00Looking for Opportunities<p class="MsoNormal">I have had several conversations here lately that have “inspired” me to blog.<span style=""> </span>There is so much going on here in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Albania</st1:place></st1:country-region> right now that I could talk about that I really do not know where to begin.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I met this past week with a single lady missionary who is working in a coastal area to the north of Tirana.<span style=""> </span>She has been there for about 7 years with a good children’s ministry and has seen a large number of kids come through her program.<span style=""> </span>The problem is, once they finish her program at about age 10 or 11 there is nowhere else for them to go.<span style=""> </span>They do not have a church in their town, they have no youth ministry and the nearest town with a church is about 10 KM away.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I met this week with another missionary.<span style=""> </span>He pastors a good-sized church here in Tirana.<span style=""> </span>He told me there are very few real spiritual leaders in the church with which he can trust a ministry so it usually falls on him to get things done.<span style=""> </span>He was discouraged at the lack of leadership his youth guy was exhibiting and was thinking about “pulling the plug” on the youth program.<span style=""> </span>He asked me if I heard of anyone who was interested in youth ministry, could I please send them his way so he could have some help.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Last week we had a training session organized by the Albanian Youth Ministry network, which I have been a part of since its inception.<span style=""> </span>Several people came to receive training in how to start and maintain a small youth ministry and how to incorporate worship into your youth ministry in a way that will really minister to and attract teens.<span style=""> </span>At the end of the training, three ladies came up to me and said, “Would you please be sure to let us know when you do more things like this.<span style=""> </span>We have so few workers, no resources, and little experience.<span style=""> </span>We need all the help we can get!”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All of these conversations have been in the last 7 days.<span style=""> </span>All of them illustrate just the tip of the iceberg of need here in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Albania</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style=""> </span>This is all just in the area of youth work, and does not even touch the needs in other fields of ministry. And in all honesty, barely makes out of the area of Tirana where the highest concentration of missionaries is located.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have had so many opportunities for new types of ministry presented to me recently that I find myself saying no much more frequently than I can say yes.<span style=""> </span>All of these opportunities would likely have great impact in the community here and would bear fruit.<span style=""> </span>The most common need is for workers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> So we keep going… and praying... and asking the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers...Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-89851022752323138972008-11-03T18:31:00.003+01:002008-11-03T18:40:30.785+01:00Long time no seeGosh, it has been a long time since I posted anything here. We have been back to the US , traveled over 11,000 miles there (8500 by minivan), slept in over a dozen different beds, eaten seemingly endless amounts of fast food (with predictable results to my waistline), spoken in about 11 churches, seen old friends, made new friends, bought things, sold things, caught fish, told tales, heard tales, laughed, cried, and a few other things since my last post.<br /><br />We are now back in Albania, having returned in late September, and things are humming along nicely. We jumped right back into a full schedule and only now are things starting to slow down a little bit. Or maybe it is just that we are getting used to the schedule. I am never really sure. This week we will be hosting a couple from our mission agency, Jack and Carol Rothenflue. Each year CTEN sends someone over for a pastoral care visit to make sure we are doing okay. It is one of the things that we really like about CTEN. We are looking forward to being able to share with the Rothenflues this place and these people that we have come to love so much.<br /><br />Keep us in your prayers as we are still raising money to replace our vehicle. Praise the Lord, we were able to sell the old one just before we left for the US in June, but now we are on foot. It is not too bad since pretty much everything we need is within easy walking distance, but there is much more I could be doing in my ministry if we had a vehicle.<br /><br />I'll try to post again soon - some cool things have happened as a result of the Walk of Hope and I need to tell you about them.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-87614038041347701152008-04-28T13:55:00.002+02:002008-04-28T14:04:10.246+02:00Just some thoughts...Well, the Walk of Hope is over now, but the <em>WORK </em>of hope continues. Each year, thousands of girls and young women are trafficked around the world for various reasons, but usually for the sex trade. We as believers have something they do not have, and that is Hope. The Bible says that we are always to be ready to give an answer for the Hope we have within us. AS we go through this life we are to be Salt and light - light shines into darkness and brings hidden things into the open, salt makes us thirsty. We should be living our lives in such a way that we are shining out into the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">darkness</span>, exposing things that need to be exposed, but we should also be "salty" enough that people who know us will be thirsty for what we have. THEN, as they ask us questions, we can give an answer for the Hope we have within.<br /><br />It is my desire that this walk will have made some people thirsty and will have directed some light onto a subject that is very easy for us to leave "in the dark" so we do <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">not</span> have to deal with it. I hope that more people will get involved in reaching out to the victims of trafficking, to help them in practical ways to regain some hope in their lives, to love them the way God loves us - unconditionally. And I also pray that some of these ladies will find the real Hope that we have - life in Christ Jesus.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-18062145328614628672008-04-28T13:52:00.000+02:002008-04-28T13:54:37.365+02:00Day Eighteen - the Final DayToday is the last day of the walk. In the last 3 weeks there have been eighteen days of actual walking. I have walked 16 of them, Richard has walked them all. Jeremy Parks from the UK walked all of the first week with us, Steve Byrne walked the first couple of days before falling victim to some pretty sever blisters, Hervin Fushekati walked 4 and a half days. Tom Norton, from Cleveland OH drove most days and then on the two days I was not walking, he took my place, through the worst rain of the walk. Gary walked with us two days before needing to go home to the UK to bury his mother and Roy, our videographer, has been with us walking some (often backwards - trying to get just the right camera angle) since Llogora. Today Richard's wife, Linda, joined us for the last day of the walk.<br /><br />We started out the day in Richard and Linda's kitchen having a nice breakfast followed by devotions. Richard took us back to the beginning of the walk, once again reading from Micah 6:4-8. He then read some newspaper clippings related to trafficking. After a time of prayer, we set off to the starting point of our final day. As we got underway, I sent Cindy a quick text message, and just as I was hitting the "send" button, she phoned me. The headache she has been struggling with for het last three days has been so bad that she asked me to catch the very first bus home tonight, rather than waiting for the morning bus. It is hard to be so far away when she is suffering so much so I sent out an urgent request for prayer to many of our local friends. As I was entering this text, a fox crossed the road in front of us - something a bit unusual.<br /><br />Today's piece ended up being a bit longer than we thought it was going to be, and then as we neared the end something happened that was entirely fitting - and very Albanian! We had planned to go to the border crossing at a town called Konispol. Shaban, our loyal friend and support driver, has his mother-in-law living there, so he knows the area well. As we approached the village - perched on the side of a large hill - we saw a sign that said "Qaf bot - Dogan" with an arrow pointing straight and "Konispol Qender" with an arrow pointing to the left. Shaban told us to go left, up the hill to Konispol, and he would meet us in the center there. He also said it was only one to one and a half kilometers up the hill. We started on up the hill thinking that at last we were near the border crossing that would mark the end of our walk. As we walked up it started raining lightly and that kilometer stretched itself out until it was about 2 miles! In that time we climbed about 1000 feet vertically as well. The village itself is gorgeous with many very old houses (some over 250 years old) and an absolutely stunning view back to the sea and the island of Corfu. When we finally got to the top, we asked which way to the border and Shaban pointed us in the direction of the older houses and a huge radio antenna. "It is at the base of the antenna", said Shaban. As we get closer to the antenna, the road gets progressively worse and worse. I commented on that and Richard said that it used to be only a foot crossing over the border here. Well, when we finally get to the top, there is a huge old monument to some WW2 war heroes and a bar café - NO BORDER CROSSING!! We asked Shaban about it and he said, "There it is - down there!" and points to the crossing down at the bottom of the hill! We should have gone straight instead of turning up the hill to the village! Well, after a good chuckle about it (albeit a tired chuckle) we had a coffee, enjoyed the view, then drove back down to the bottom of the hill where we started off again - the right direction this time. Richard, Linda, and I walked the last couple of kilometers to the border crossing and the end of the Walk of Hope! The last two or three kilometers were in the rain, but we crossed the Albanian side of the border with pleasure!<br /><br />I walked up to one of the border guards and gave him greetings from the border police at Hani I Hotit and told him that we had walked all the way from there. He was pretty surprised and asked us why we had done it, so we were able to explain a bit. After that, Shaban wanted to go into the "no man's land" between the two borders and visit the Duty Free shop, so I went with him. After a few minutes there we headed back to the vehicles and drove up to Shaban's mother-in-law's house for a nice lunch of fish, homemade sheep cheese, salad with olives from her trees, fruit topped with honey and cinnamon, and then bread and honey from her own bees. Shaban kept telling us, "She looks like Mother Teresa, doesn't she?" and in fact she did a bit! It was a lunch to remember after a walk that I will never forget.<br /><br />We have walked the length of a country from north to south. As far as we know, no one has done it before us - certainly no other missionaries have done it as a prayer walk before. Along the way we have prayed, chatted with people, joked, laughed, limped, run, hurried, sweated, prayed some more, been awestruck by God's creation. It has been a tremendous three weeks and for me the only blemish is the two days I had to pull off the walk. Some day I want to go back and walk those two days, so that I too can have the complete walk under my belt. <br /><br /><strong>I think God has used us to accomplish the objectives of the walk. <br /></strong><br />We wanted to pray - and we did - praying for the girls and women who are caught up in the horrible business of Human Trafficking. We prayed for families that sell their own daughters out of their poverty and despair. We prayed for the traffickers - that God would cause them to be caught, that justice would prevail, and that believers would share the gospel with them so that, like John Newton, the slave trader turned hymn writer, they too can become trophies of God's amazing Grace. We prayed for honest police, judges, and border guards. We prayed for the church to stand up and be the hands and feet of Jesus, reaching out to these women who are fortunate enough to escape, so that they too can find the hope that we have in Christ. We prayed for many other things along the way too.<br /><br />We wanted to raise awareness in the churches. In Vlore we heard the church express a desire to work more closely with a women's shelter there that deals with women who have been trafficked. In Durres we heard the church praying fervently for the people involved. Daily we received text messages of encouragement from churches in the UK and from people here in Albania who were praying for us along the way. In each town that we held a meeting we were encouraged by the responses of the churches, and we are confident that more people are aware of the issue and have some concrete ideas of how they can help too. We continue to pray that there will be a ripple effect in the days ahead with other churches getting involved as well.<br /><br />We also wanted to raise money to help the women. While I have not raised any money personally, people in the UK have responded well. Time will tell just exactly how much money was raised, but I am certain that it will help here. Richard has said that we will meet at a future date to direct the funds raised to the best place. If anyone wants to contribute to the cause of helping bring hope to victims of trafficking I will be happy to give you information about how to give.<br /><br />It has been a challenge and a blessing the be a part of this walk. I am certain that it has changed me in ways that are probably yet to be fully seen. I hope you have enjoyed the walk vicariously as you have read this blog.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-17164409472183072282008-04-28T13:50:00.002+02:002008-04-28T13:52:44.496+02:00More Walk of Hope<strong>Day Fifteen<br /></strong><br />Day fifteen has been an interesting day. It dawned clear and beautiful here in Borsh so it was relatively easy to get up and get ready to walk. We went to one of the local cafes for our morning coffee and since Richard lived here for many years it was like being with a rock star! Lots of folks called out , "Richardi, Richardi !!" He greeted folks, we had our coffee, and then we went back out to our starting point. It was a wonderful day to walk and our first 4 miles went by very quickly. We passed back through Borsh then began the long climb out of the village on our way to Piqeras. When we reached the end of the climb, we found a nice spot for a picnic lunch. Tom had purchased supplies when we passed through Borsh, but without Shaban, it was a bit different from usual. Tom got us some nice bread and white cheese, but there were no cukes and the tomatoes were not the best we had found along the way. It was a good lunch anyway, and we washed it down with a Fanta Exotic. While we were there a family drove up and went to a shepherding shed up on the hill behind us. As they walked up the hill they fed their two dogs. A few moments before, Roy had cut his finger as he cut a tomato (the handle on the knife is broken and the blade kind of slides around a bit!). As he was standing there with blood dripping off of his finger, we told him to be careful because he would draw the wolves with the scent of his blood! We were joking, but only a couple of minutes later a couple of shepherds' dogs showed up on the crest of the hill opposite us, followed by their flock of goats. We said, "See - we told you you would draw the wolves!" <br /><br />Also while we were stopped for lunch, Gary got a call from his sister. His mother is very near death and the doctors had called the family and told them it would just be a matter of two or three hours now. Gary's mother has been fighting a losing battle with ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) for some time and he has been expecting this call since he arrived here. We prayed for him and his family and then set out walking again. As we walked he told us how his mother knew that he was coming to do the walk, and that she really wanted him to be here. After we wrapped up our walking for the day, Gary decided it was time for him to head home, so he is on his way to Saranda tonight, and from there to Corfu where he will catch a flight home tomorrow night. God Bless you and your family Gary! We will keep you in our prayers!<br /><br />We walked several miles beyond Borsh today. Our target was Piqeras but we reached it early and were still in the mood to walk, so we kept on another couple of miles. Once again the views have been spectacular all day. When we could not see the Ionian Sea we were walking through beautiful olive groves. As the region is quite mountainous, we are often winding down into a valley only to wind back up the other side and when we round that next hill we are high over the sea gazing down on impossibly blue waters and secluded coves (usually with the infamous Albanian bunkers!). Tomorrow we will start out a couple of miles the other side of Piqeras and walk the rest of the way into Saranda. Only three more days of walking until the finish line! Today we walked just over 15 miles over rolling hills and through major road construction sites. In a couple of years the roads here will be much better than they are now, and it is good to see the progress being made. If you could not tell from this blog, I am really enjoying the walk at this end of the country.<br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Day Sixteen</strong><br /><br />Today is day sixteen of the walk and we have finally left my beloved coastline behind - but only for a bit. After a bit of a climb out from Piqeras we kind of leveled off for a while but again today we passed through several construction areas. Since there has been no rain for a while it was quite dusty so we were pretty dirty when we finally stopped. After Piqeras there are only two more villages to pass through before reaching Saranda and we made pretty good time all day. One highlight was when Hervin decided to take a "shortcut" straight up a hill to try and cut off a corner (he was successful - he actually came out about 20 seconds ahead of me) at the village of Shen Vasil. The sun was pretty hot all day but as we were making good time we did not slow down much. After walking about 11 miles, we started looking for a shady spot to eat lunch but had no real success. We finally stopped a mile or so down the road at one of the many springs that we walked past and sat in the shade of the vehicles. While we were there eating and old lady came up and asked if she could fill her water bottles - she had two of the large 5 liter plastic bottles in her hands. We invited her in and she began to talk to us. As she was leaving, Shaban, our Albanian driver, collected up all of our leftovers and put them in a bag to take home with her. She was very happy about that - it was obvious that she was very poor - and blessed us repeatedly as she left. Richard called her "the woman at the well" and it was really a very cool thing to see.<br /><br />After lunch we walked the last few miles into Saranda, and I could once again see the water. We walked right down to the waterfront and along it a ways until we got to the "worker's camp"- and old communist era hotel that is now empty. We were reminded that today is Orthodox Good Friday and this weekend is Orthodox Easter. There were lots of cars passing us today with Greek license tags as folks take advantage of the holiday long weekend to come home to Albania. As I type this, the bells at the Orthodox church on the hill below us are ringing slowly - in fact they have been ringing since we arrived this afternoon. We got a shower, went up to Richard's house where his wife Linda had prepared a wonderful meal for us, then went out for a walk. Tom wanted to find an internet café, so once we got there I quickly browsed through my e-mails then Hervin and I went out in search of more blister plasters! Roy stayed behind with Tom, but apparently has wandered off a bit, and now Tom and Richard are going out looking for him. I hope they find him soon.<br /><br />Today's total was just over 17 miles. Two more walking day ahead of us before we see the Greek border. I told Richard today that when we get there, we need to give greetings to the border guards from the border guards at Hani I Hotit! Tomorrow's walk will take us past Butrint, and ancient city and a national park here in Albania. It is a place that I have wanted to visit for some time now.<br /><br />Also, on a sadder note, we found out that Gary's mother did indeed pass away - about 5:30 this morning. Please keep him and his family - his father in particular - in your prayers.<br /><br /><strong>Day Seventeen</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><br />What a difference a day makes! Today is day seventeen of the walk and it was very different from the last several days we have had. Today was cold and we watched as rain blew across the valley and finally caught us!. As we left Saranda and walked towards Butrint the road was pretty narrow most of the way. We were walking along Lake Butrint and it struck me - we started the walk on the shores of a lake (Lake Shkoder) and we are approaching the end of the walk along the shores of another lake! The walking was easy and after leaving the shores of the lake we went around behind a hill to where we could see the Ionian Sea again, and just across the way, Corfu. There were only a couple of villages that we went through today and then after we entered into the National Park of Butrint the traffic dropped off dramatically. We arrived at an old ferry - just a flat barge pulled across the channel by a cable - and as we waited there was a large flock of sheep and goats. I quickly spotted a little lamb - the shepherd told us it was born the day before yesterday. It was so cute! Also while we were there, waiting for our turn on the ferry, we took the time to pray over a little "lokalë" or coffee bar where he has seen indications of the trafficking trade.<br /><br />Walking today was much cooler than the last few days and we did get pretty wet at the end, but we think we have only about 10 miles or less left to walk. In the distance we could see the village of Konispol, but we needed to get back to Saranda for the meeting so we left it for tomorrow to finish things up. Hopefully the weather will be nicer tomorrow and we will go out on a sunny note. Unfortunately, Hervin will have to leave us tonight, so it will be Richard, Tom, Roy and myself crossing the line tomorrow to finish the walk. Today's total was about 11.5 miles - a very light day.<br /><br />Some cool things we saw today - while we were at the ferry there was a couple with two pack mules, a cow with her calf, and 3 dogs and a puppy. They boarded the ferry with the mules, cattle and the puppy and one dog, but the other two dogs were left on shore. As the ferry was going across the man was calling for the other two dogs to come on and after the ferry was almost across she finally jumped in and swam after it! We watched, silently (and not so silently) cheering her on. That water had to be cold! After a longer delay and more coaxing, the other dog also swam across. Also related to the faithfulness of our canine friends, this evening we had a meeting in the local Four Square church. Many of the kids from the local Christian orphanage came to the meeting. On the way there, we stopped at the orphanage to pick up an amplifier and there were two snarling dogs inside the gate, guarding the children. Richard and Linda told me about how the dog (Gina) was such a good guard dog, but was gentle as a lamb when she came to church. Sure enough, when the children came to the meeting, Gina came too, and she was just as sweet as could be - though she never left the kids out of her sight. You gotta love dogs!Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16916482.post-7818921704781960902008-04-28T13:45:00.002+02:002008-04-28T13:50:06.925+02:00Walk of Hope - Continued<strong>Day Thirteen</strong><br /><br />We slept in the church in Vlore again but before sleeping I was able to use the wireless internet at the Hotel Internacional and send of my blog updates that have been written to this point. I was also able to chat some with Cindy so that was pretty good too. Right now I am sitting in a rustic log cabin kind of place near the top of the Llogora Pass. When we stopped yesterday we were only a 1.4 miles from this place, so we started out this morning with a pretty steep climb to the top. In our first 3 miles we climbed about 1500 feet in altitude before topping out at 3315 feet above sea level. The great thing is that once you crest the top, you can see the sea right down below you! The scenery today and the last two days has got to be some of my favorites from the entire walk. On one side of the road you have steep, craggy mountains, on the other side a steep hill ending in the dazzling blue of the Ionian Sea. The initial climb today was pretty strenuous but after a coffee at the top we started the long descent into the Himara region. The road doubles back on itself multiple times as it drops down to near sea level. By the time we leveled out (briefly) before entering the village of Palase we had dropped 2400 feet in elevation. We had almost no traffic, especially in comparison with the days we were walking into Tirana, so most of the time is was very quiet as we walked. One highlight of the day was walking past a rather large herd of goats - maybe as many as 300 of them - with various melodious tones coming from assorted bells around the necks of a few. I think I could have sat and just listened to them and watched them for hours. Just gentle bleating and soft bells ringing - we are too high to hear the sea, though we are really close. It was really quite beautiful! At some point after I return from the walk I will try to post some of the photos from along the way. I am using my cell phone as a camera so I do not have real high quality images, but Richard has a nice camera and I am swiping his pictures whenever I can!<br /><br />We will rest here there remainder of the day and through tomorrow, then we have the last big push into Saranda and beyond to Konispol. Two others will join us tomorrow and go the rest of the way with us. Probably less than a week of walking left! Today's log - 12.25 miles (9 miles of which was downhill!). The feet and knee are doing well!<br /><br />Just had to add a postscript here - we went for supper to a little place across the road from where we are staying and had a great meal - grilled pork chops, salad, salce Kosi, and a greek salad. The meat was wonderful but what "made" the evening were the guys sitting on the other side of the room. There were four of them, eating and drinking and enjoying themselves, and they would occasionally break into the very distinctive music of Southern Albania. I don't quite know how to describe it. One man would sing the melody and the others would join in with various parts - not actually harmony, but complimentary. It was quite interesting to hear, especially from a just a group of guys in a little restaurant up on the mountain.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Rest Day at Llogora<br /></strong><br />Today has been a rest day. I have been laying around a bit reading, chatting with Tom and generally just recharging the batteries. Today we are joined by Gary and Roy from England. Gary is a pastor and Roy is a semi-retired videographer. They will join us for the final leg of the walk. Gary is a bit apprehensive it seems but will likely do fine with the walk. Roy will probably ride with Tom in the Nissan and stop for the occasional video shots. Shaban went home to be with his family during this break and will rejoin us tomorrow as we walk. It has been nice to rest, but I am ready to continue the walk and see this thing through to the end.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Day Fourteen</strong><br /><br />Today is day fourteen of actually walking. We had a decent breakfast at the hotel up on Llogora then headed out to the vehicle. Shaban was supposed to rejoin us at some point in the morning since he had gone home over the last two days. Since Roy is here as a videographer, we shot a little bit of video there at the hotel then started down the mountain where we paused for a couple more short video clips. As we were coming down the mountain, there were huge clouds going up it, and the view was fantastic. <br /><br />The sea below was an incredible turquoise blue and there was little haze today so we could actually see some of the Greek islands out in the distance. It was a pretty great way to start the day.<br /><br />We arrived at the starting point, put on our vests, then set out on the walk, now with Gary as one of the walkers. Since we have been doing this for a couple of weeks now, we kind of have a rhythm and it is a bit faster than what Gary is used to. The water stops are great equalizers though, and we actually encourage Gary to walk some then ride some in order to not let the first day wipe him out. Most of our walk toady is within eyesight of the coast and it is wonderful scenery. I love the mountains on one side and the sea on the other - it is the best of both worlds in my opinion. We faced some pretty long climbs and as the day wore on the temperature started climbing. I am developing a pretty significant "farmer's tan" on my neck and arms. I am very thankful for my ball cap too! Perhaps the most strenuous part of the day today was when we walked down a long downhill section where the road is under construction. The pitch was quite steep and the surface uneven so it worked our knees over pretty well. It was nice to get down to the bottom of that one, I can tell you.<br /><br />We passed through Himara, but stopped long enough to eat a nice picnic lunch (our usual - bread, white cheese, tomatoes, pickled red peppers and a Lemon Soda to wash it all down) in an old olive grove. We sat next to an olive tree that had to be a couple of hundred years old. This area is close to Greece, and is often claimed by Greece, so it is interesting to see the graffiti spray painted in Greek more often than in Shqip. We are also walking past many Orthodox churches, chapels or shrines. Many of the villages in this region are Greek Orthodox. Our ending point for the day was a high point, again in a construction zone, just around the corner from a top secret submarine base. I guess it is not so "top secret" anymore huh… Under the communist dictator, no one was allowed near the base. Now you drive right around the bay in which it is situated. There is an entrance into the hill and the end of the bay, and submarines and other ships can literally drive right into a big hollowed-out cavern. The area is still a military zone, so you cannot approach very close to it, but you can see that, in its day, it would have been quite a large military base. The bay is gorgeous too. As I walk all I can think about it how good the snorkeling must be down there! A little distracting from the task at hand.<br /><br />Tonight we are staying in Borsh, right behind the big springs here. I can hear the frogs right below our balcony and the rushing of the spring as well. Our hosts are friends of Richard's from when he lived and worked in Borsh. Often today Richard saw folks he knew as the drove by us, and usually they asked him why he was walking - was there no bus? Tomorrow we walk from the sub base along the coast and on through Borsh, but we will spend another night here before moving on to our final sleeping spot in Saranda! We really want to finish this thing by Sunday! Today's total is 15.75 miles and no new blisters! Tomorrow will be a good walk. As we approach Saranda, it is beginning to sink in just what we have done. We have almost walked the length of a country! Kind of cool!Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612804661465068200noreply@blogger.com0