More pictures from the Day Center...

Update from Becca

Ckemi! Me emrin e Becca.

Hello! My name is Becca. I was a part of the ministry team that worked at the Day Center. The Day Center works with at risk, gypsy children in Albania. The kids come from extreme poverty, and often face verbal, physical and intense sexual abuse. The kids come to the Day Center three days a week and they get to shower, receive clean clothes, eat a home-cooked meal and experience God’s unconditional love.

Our team week assignment at the Day Center was to spend time with the children. They loved to climb all over us and enjoyed playing Talaash (tag). The kids also fought over who got to give us the next hug and I don’t think I have every given so many piggybacks in my life, which is saying something because I worked at a Bible camp for two years. We also got to make crafts with them throughout the week. The kids got to make their own play dough, lava lamps and bracelets. At first, the kids didn’t know how to use the play dough, so they stuck it up their noses since they thought it smelled good.  The kids loved making the crafts and playing with us Americans.

Along with working at the Day Center, we also got to help paint some of the houses of the gypsies. In Albania, appearance is everything. Even when they live in poverty, they will always make sure that they look good and their house is presentable. By painting their house, we were allowing the families to gain a sense of pride in their homes. Most of the homes we painted were either abandoned communist apartments or neglected shacks. It was tough painting the walls since they often crumbled a part as we tried to cover them, but regardless of the quality, the families were so grateful for our work.

It was such a blessing to spend the week with the kids and I think leaving them will be the hardest part when we depart from Albania. I am excited to hear how God continues to work in Albania and I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Update from Torsten

Sheqeras Construction

My name is Torsten and I have been a part of the construction team this week along with Isaac, Allie, Meagan and Dr. E.  In the morning, we have been working in a village called Sheqeras (Shay-chair-ess) with a couple of the locals there.  The main builders name is Mondi and the two other guys are Zero and Theisty.  The project we worked on was building a wall for the new church plant in Sheqeras.  We have done everything from moving cement blocks to picking up bits of trash in the yard.  Our team leader, Amos, knows the locals very well and it was quite a treat to see him interacting with the workers so well.  On Wednesday I had the privilege of taking out the trash from the church yard.  This meant loading up a trailer full of garbage, which was hitched to a tractor that sounded as if it would explode any moment, and then driving with a local named Gleris to the outskirts of the village to dump the trash at a dump.  Well, we have finished the walls for the church and it has been such a great time working together, and seeing God work through us in Sheqeras.  In the afternoons, we help with the two ESL classes.  The ladies are working with the High School students with Ruth, Brynne and Dandan.  Isaac S. and I have volunteered with Alison, Alex and Salina. 

Update from Albania -- This update is being posted States side due to computer issues

First Impressions: Albania!
    After a long two days of traveling and one overnight stay in Tirana, Albania, the team is finally in Korce!  We arrived at our final destination on Saturday, and we are settling here in Korce nicely.  We all live together in a rented house inside Korce.  It's a nice gated house to the street (gated houses are incredibly common in Albania), and we are enjoying living here.  The team has taken advantage of Saturday and Sunday to bond through playing games such as "Catchphrase" and exploring Korce.
    On Sunday we all went to the church we were going to be helping.  The church has about three hundred people attending regularly, which is considered a mega church in Albania.  We are working with Amos who is one of the local missionaries and a Northwestern graduate. He told the team that there are about 12,000-14,000 believers (not even 1% of the country) in Albania, and most of the churches here are house churches.  Before communism fell, the state was declared an Atheistic state, and all religion was banned in the country.  When communism eventually fell, only five people in all of Korce, the second city in the country, were believers. 
    After church we had orientation, where a few of the local missionaries were able to tell us about the culture and what to expect during our stay in Albania.  For instance, Albania stresses relationships more important than time.  The team discovered this on Sunday, when Amos was talking with a friend downstairs and we waited to start orientation upstairs in one of the upstairs rooms.  During orientation, one of the missionaries told us that beggars are a common sight, but cautioned us that money is perhaps not the best way to show compassion.  Many times they are working for someone else, and they don't receive much of the money.  Instead, Amos suggested to pack a few snacks and to give food to them if we didn't have the heart to simply ignore them.
    Amos also talked about what we would be doing while we are here.  There will be three teams.  Two of them are working in Sheqeras, Albania, a village outside of Korce.  One team is building a wall around the property of a one-room church to help protect the building and mark the boundaries. The people working on the wall are: Michelle, Torsten, Allie, Meagan, and Isaac S.  The second team is English teaching, or ESL.  Those who are in that team will be using a coffee house and the church building to teach English to the students for a week.  They are teaching to Middle School students and High School students.  The students teaching English are: Ruth (team leader), Brynne, Selana, Alison, Dandan, Alex.  In the afternoon, Allie, Meagan, and Michelle will join them to help teach English.
    The third group is working at a day-center inside of Korce serving the needs of the poor.  This group will be helping kids who have been abused, neglected, and often unloved. Those who are working with the day-center would be: Becca, Moriah, Isaac G, and Nathanial.

Please pray for:
    1) Health.  We have a few members on the team who are coming down with the cold and who would love to get better. 
    2)  Team Unity as we do our work.  Please pray that we would all be become even     closer as we head out to do God's work.
    3) An effective ministry.  Please pray that the hearts of the Albanian people we come in contact with would start to see God's light and the work of the Holy Spirit as we work.
    4) Saturday meeting. This week we worked in a small village and taught 60+ children English (English as Second Language).  Please pray for our final community meeting today for families in the village through song, testimony (Dandan and Ruth) and an evangelistic message. 

Background Information on Ruth

Allow me to introduce myself.  As the female chaperone for the fall 2014 ICS trip, I (Ruth) am excited about the countries we will minister in and the amazing students on this trip.  God has opened up many opportunities for me in the past to be His hands and feet to serve others.   For the past six years I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to foreign born adults in Northfield and Bloomington, MN. During this time, I have taught beginners to advance English learners. 

God has used a series of events in my life to bring me to both teaching ESL and to chaperone this UNW ICS tour.   Some of those events were completing a MA in Linguistics.  As part of my MA research program, Afghan families read Dari and Pushtu (the two main Afghan languages) children’s books with their children to preserve their home language and culture.   Prior to my MA studies, I worked in South Asia (Pakistan and Afghanistan) for nearly 20 years with a Christian organization teaching Afghans about solar energy and health education.   Some of these cross-cultural experiences contributed to my qualifications and experience to chaperone the ICS students. 

Thank you for this privilege to travel with UNW students and Dr. E.  We are ready for the opportunities God has before us both during this trip and what God plans on doing in and through our live.  

More updates for the team and photos should arrive soon.  We do not always have internet access.