Kosova Journal: Week 2, 8 July - 14 July

8 July

Today went much better. I shared my concern(s) of yesterday with the group, and Bonita prayed for me. Later, Dan and Dave prayed with me and we all honestly admitted our struggles and concerns - and it felt great to just get them "out there" as it were and to understand these men as my brothers. My 2nd visit was cancelled today and I had no idea what to do, so I went to the BLC to see who was there. Well, I ended up talking wtih Milan, a serbian transator on staff at the center. Well, we talked for about 2 hours about all kinds of stuff: Americans, American traditions, girls (showed him pics of JSB), dating, and eventually led to me throwing in some solid Christian beliefs into the conversation here and there. Xhevat also came in and added to it. Even though Milan seemed to pretty concretely claim and hold true to his Serbian Orthodox beliefs, I was still encouraged by the fact that I was able to open my mouth a little more and practice talking about God more. Later, at debrief [with the blue church...long story] I shared the same thing.

9 July

Sunday! Worship this morning was splendid - good 'sermon' by Bob, the assistant pastor at the Blue church. The singing was, once again, great. After that, Sam, Dan, Kerry, and I went to Roma's for lunch. This was borderline dissapointing because the restaurant wasn't serving any of our first choices that day [even though they were on the menu.] So, we all had to order something else and being limited in time, I order the most basic, smallest cheese pizza - it wasn't that great. So, after lunch we boarded the Kombis and went to the HUGE cave about 15 minutes away. The cave was pretty interesting and I enjoyed the walk through it. My headlamped helped when the electricity went out in the cave [much to the dismay of those who had made fun of me for wearing it.] Once we were back in Lipjan, I took a knap, listened to music, hung out with the family, and taught the kids "go fish." They don't *really* get it, but I tink they that they were happy to have learned it. Later, I went to dinner with David and, having delicious food, got to know him better. David is a very neat guy, poor, artsy; we share a love for creative words, musicals, the occasional romantic comedy, and cheap humor. He also has a daughter whom he talks about often. He's the first man I've met who carries a single vanilla folder with him everywhere. the folder contains poetry, songs, and essays - some that he loves, some that he's written, some that his daughter has written. He has a knack for recognizing brilliant style when I overlook it. He has recommended the movie, "I went up a hill and came down a mountain." I hope to see it sometime when I return, before NPU, in August.

I wish I knew where my blue pen is...

I don't remember the name of this cave, but golly, was it massive.

Here are David [middle] and Dan. They're good fellas.

10 July

After a brief scare of rain in the morning, the day became beautiful,. Almost too hot. Mondays are market days and the town is packed with people from villages all coming to the market to buy or sell. I went three times today. On the 3rd time, with Amanda after our visit, I purhaces some music and Dolce and Gabbana shirt [a trendy European brand.] The visit with Labinota was pleasant and short. Her mom is a tailor and she showed us some of her creations and her shop. After dinner I found little to do, so Mark kindly invited me out for a coffee. Our conversation was honest and real and very encouraging. I guess that, in a way, it could've felt like it was just a team leader taking one of his members out to chat, but this was more than that. But, because I knew Mark well and that I knew his family and that knew me, it was more personally pleasurable. We talked about all kinds of things, and he particularly encouraged me in that I don't have to try to act like or be a "super christian" but rather, to just live a God-pleasing life. I asked him several questions about camp, this and the next one, and I was impressed with his thoughts. I look forward to seeing them [Mark and Trish] more often.

Labinota[right] with a beautiful wedding dress her mother made.
Her sister attended camp the second week.

11 July

Finally, the last day of camp 1. It’s a culmination of hard work and personal relationship-building. I knew this day would be long and busy, and it turned out to be just that. The morning progressed fairly quickly and it was pleasant. My kids were still too dumb to understand the game. Oh well. After lunch, I went back to the center to clean up. It turns out, however, that we played basketball and hung out together for a while. Well, I felt guilty about that, so I went outside to pick up trash on the ground [there was a lot of it.] Two kids joined me, Ervis and Gresa, whom I was visiting later today. They were persistent and very selfless; it was wonderful. When I was finished with that, I went inside and talked with Arbana and Roza a bit. They're neat girls, I hope that they will become believers. Roza wrote a very mature monologue entitled, "why?" - questions about poverty, the world, etc... I was very impressed. They're also pretty cute, shucks. After that, Deb recruited me for bathroom cleaning. Fun. Finally, it was time to go to Gresa's house for a visit. Laura [the translator] and Dan came with me. The first thing I learned was that Gresa's name was actually Diellza - it was a pretty hilarious discussion actually. After that, the visit was quite enjoyable. Also, after Diellza revealed her real name whe was so much crazier and outgoing. Seriously, like a new person. It was neat to see - all this energy bottled up, ready to come out. After dinner, we headed to the BLC for the parents' program. Overall, it went well and was warmly recieved. The only downside was during Mark's "Message" [basically, a light explanation of Chrisitanity] - it was super noisy and I doubt people understood, but there is hope. The noise was satan's manipulative doing, I'm sure. Afterwards, we had our last group togetherness time - we also had a good prayer time. Exhausted, the boy and I came home fairly early to spend time with the Olluri's.

Gresa/Diellza, Laura, and I. There were so
many family members there, they all kept pouring in.

Here's an example of the energy they had [the Albanian National Anthem]:

12 July

The first team left. A number of us went to Prishtina to tour, hang out and see the them off. Prishtina was fairly pleasant, but short-lived at the same time. Hopefully, I can see it again sometime before I go. After Prishstina I found Josh and we hung ouat the Edwards' apartment while we awaited the pizza dinner with language helpers. Once again, I let teenage boy hormones get the best of me and let the fact that I was seperated from the people I wanted to to the most disstract me from the pleasurable company I was sitting by. What a shame. That night I attended an intern meeting. We [I'm not an intern, techincally] were reminded that we need to be mindful of our actions and make the flirtaciousness nill. Other things we discussed, but this obviously hit me the hardest. Josh andI then had a good brotherly discussion. Josh: what a guy! We went home shortly thereafter and got rest. Because I had to get up at 6:40 AM!

Me with the Skanderbeg statue in Pristina, as seen on Wikipedia

13 July

SKOPJE!!! Today, Trish led a group of 6 of us to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. We traveled on the train for 2 hours - I learned the Norwegian game, "idiot." Skopje was much fun. I generally stuck with Kerry, as the women stuck together. We went shopping, a lot. The coffee, as I recall, was much stronger. I finished it nonetheless. The mall was nice, but I enjoyed the "old" part of the city much more. The restaurant Kerry and I ate out was superb - seriously, some of the best chicken that I've had in a long time. Kerr and I enjoyed a hike around the fortress/castle thing and got some sweet shots of the city and different structures. It started to rain as we were walking bacak to the mall and train station - so, we opted for a taxi instead. That night I went to Rozafa's with the interns and enjoyed their pleasant company - it got extremely chilly, as I recall. Bonita challenged me about going to Urbana and being open to long-term ministry. Matthew shared a personal concern of his regarding living in Australia or not. I engaged in a very long, heated chess match with Kerry at the guys' house. I won. :-)

My coffee in Skopje, Macedonia

The Stone Bridge

Some statue within the "fortess/castle thing"

Perhaps evidence of war in the "fortress/castle thing?"

More cool "fortress/castle thing"

Kerry and Trish in the train on the way back to Lypjan. We had a splendid time.

14 July

Today I slept in, relaxed, rejuvenated, and spent some more time with my host family - it was bliss! So, we got some lunch somewhere and then had a meeting. I think. Yeah, a review of last camp. I gave a suggestion which was warmly welcomed: the "begin-at-3-make 'em earn-5-points" system [like music competitions]. They liked it and we're using it! Again, Josh and I hung out at the guys' house after our dinner [reunited with Skender, our chef] and I again beat Kerry in chess.

Natyra and Flutra. By meer appearance, you wouldn't think they're only 17 and 18.
Nor would you by their maturiy, peace of mind, and interactions. Wow.