Tuesday, June 12, 2007

We have arrived in the UK!

UK dates: Falmouth 4-19 June; St Helier, Jersey, 20-26 June; Portland 27 June-8 July




Arriving in Falmouth, UK
Lali (Georgia), Christy (USA), me!











Logos II in Falmouth

posted by Susan @ 8:35 pm 0 comments

Land team photos, Albania









Albanian countryside
















Praying for Albania














Children attend a program in one of the villages













More children, plus me!















A grandmother in one village

posted by Susan @ 8:06 pm 0 comments

Montenegro photos



View over Kotor, Montenegro, where Logos II was berthed for about 10 days in April.
















On break in Montenegro. Easter devotions in the hills above Budva.

















Hugo (Mex) and I, about to go to a refugee/gypsy camp in Kotor.

posted by Susan @ 7:56 pm 0 comments

God has not forgotten Albania

Every Saturday, Pastor P* makes the 1 ¼ hour journey by van from the small Albanian town of G* to an isolated village 30km away. The journey takes so long because most of the road is just a dirt track with potholes. The EC spent something like €80,000 to make part of it into a better road but even that is below the standards that you or I are used to. There is also a river to cross as you leave G*. The river bed is huge but only a small stream of water flowed while my land team was in G*, therefore our journey with Pastor P* took us driving along the river bed and through the ‘river’! Once back on the road, it winds around the mountains, crossing streams at hairpin bends… and would you believe there is actually a bus that does this journey too! In the winter months sometimes this village, like many others, can be virtually inaccessible by vehicle. We passed many people out working in their fields or riding side-saddle on donkeys.

V* village consists of a few extended families living in fairly basic housing. Some homes had indoor bathrooms though others had just a pit in a shed outside. Most of the people are unemployed in this region of Albania, living entirely off their own farmland. In V* village, one hardworking man has successfully set up a small-scale cheese factory, which is doing well. Life is very hard out in the villages and many people (especially the young) have left for the capital Tiranë in search of work.

Often people try to escape across the border into Greece. Some are caught and deported back although others have managed to build a life there. One man in V* village has just been sent back from Greece for the second time. He is immensely unhappy in Albania.

So this is just a glimpse of the world in which Pastor P* (and other church/OM workers in G* town) works to bring the gospel of hope. In V* village, we joined him in visiting the homes of believers – many of their family members are not Christians. We also joined the small Bible study the Pastor holds every Saturday on the front porch of an abandoned house. Six young village girls came that day, although there are others who normally come too. This is the only contact they get with Christians outside their village and the only fellowship they have in a week. I was touched to see how God is moving in these remote Albanian villages and to know that God has not forgotten them.

Isaiah 49:13-16 'Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.'

*names changed

posted by Susan @ 7:36 pm 0 comments