Transition and Stories

We have officially completed our English classes! Our students started school on September 3rd, and their school is very difficult and time consuming, so we did not want to take the focus away from their "real" studies. Without our teaching job, we have had a lot of downtime, which also meant more time to hang out with the friends we have made. However, the amount of downtime we have had was just too much, so we are working on a couple new ideas to help with our ministry here. So this is definitely a time of transition for us, just in time for our half way mark!

Some families from Grace have volunteered to host two Albanian students for three weeks! It has been so much fun having students apply and interviewing them and picking out the groups who will be going to Snellville. Erin and Jenna, two amazing women from Grace, got here this Wednesday to help Berat work out some of the technicalities of the travelling and school documents. We've been able to visit almost all the families to tell them the news that their students were picked to come study in America. It's incredible how honored and thankful the families are, it is so surreal how proud they are! It has been such a blessing to be a part of bringing such good news to them.

Erin and Jenna are playing a huge role in our transition time. They have been so encouraging and uplifting. Their wisdom and insight from their own experiences has been incredible and reassuring. We so appreciate their husbands letting them come stay with us for a week! It's been so cool showing them around "our city" and teaching them about this culture that we love so much. They've been able to experience so many unique Albanian traditions. 

Tonight, we went to a family who has been extremely close to Berat and Valdete for a long time, the grandfather actually played a huge role in their engagement (which is such a long story, but definitely a part of the culture that I will blog about later). The daughter was one of our friends and is also one of the students who was chosen to go study in America! She lives with her mother and father, his parents, and her older brother and younger sister. Her brother went to a high school where the curriculum is focused on only studying the Qur'an and learning to be an imam. He was top in his class for the written Arabic language and for speaking, we actually got to listen to him pray for our meal and read the Al-Fatihah (Sura One). It was so great getting to honor the family by listening to that, and it was one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard. His sister, our friend, could say the prayer in Albanian, and Berat translated that to English for us. The prayer was thanking God for His mercy and His blessings being poured out on the hands of the people who made it and who were there to share it and thanking God for all His creation and praising God. It was so beautiful! 

After one of the best meals I have ever eaten in my entire life, we sat down with the family for Russian Tea (its delicious, and not actually Russian, I can make it for you when I get home). It was so interesting to talk to the brother more about his studies. He is actually going to begin teaching Berat Arabic which will be an amazing opportunity for Berat to minister to him about Jesus! Definitely be praying for that, because this family is so close to the Kingdom, we can all sense the peace of God illuminating each of them. The mother and grandmother, who are both so beautiful, were wonderful hosts who were so easy to laugh with and be around. The grandfather and father have such captivating personalities. They both shared some very intimate and personal stories about the hardships their family faced during the war. I won't tell all of their stories because I know my explanations of them won't give them justice.... 

The Serbs burnt their entire village, and the families who survived escaped into some nearby mountains where they hid from Serbian soldiers for three months. Eventually they were all found, and the Serbs arrested every young man and took them to a prison simply for being Albanian. The older men fled to Albania as refugees with the women and children. The father was one of the men arrested, and he was held captive in that Serbian prison for 18 months. (His younger brother joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, even though he was technically too young, and was killed in battle by a Serbian sniper. He is recognized as a national hero for his level of extreme service, they have a picture of him in his uniform from just before he died hanging on their wall.) The father said that he was beaten in prison three times everyday, and if we could see his body we would see horrible scars of where the Serbs literally cut chunks of his skin off. When NATO forces attacked the prison, the Serbian soldiers shot every prisoner in order to kill them all. But the father and a handful of other prisoners were able to hide among the dead bodies. He said that he had to stay still for several hours to avoid being shot in the head by a Serbian sniper looking for prisoners moving. He and the other survivors were rescued by NATO troops and immediately taken to hospitals obviously for having severe traumatic injuries. Even after the NATO rescue, the grandfather had to pay 15,000 German marks to get his son back. When I asked him how he survived, his immediate answer was "Zot" (the Albanian word for God) along with a huge smile. The grandfather said that everyday while the rest of the family was living as refugees they would all pray for God to strengthen their hearts against the extreme trials they were facing. 

Meanwhile, I was sitting on the couch balling my eyes out attempting to keep some of my composure. Listening to these stories sitting next to my friend who had witness all of this as a 2 year old and watching her mother crying as she had to reminisce on life without her husband for 18 months was the most surreal setting. I was blown away by their willingness to share such personal stories with us. They were so honored that we were interested in their lives, and they have so much respect for us just because we are Americans and American troops played  huge role in rescuing the Albanians here. Their faith was astounding too. I am still in a state of shock honestly. 

I am so thankful that the Lord gave us the opportunity to be around this family and get to know them so intimately. I feel so blessed.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, and continue praying for our time of transition! Blessings from Suhareke (: