Greetings,
It is another hot day in Durres but we are hearing rumors of rain this evening...we'll see.
Jill and I both had studies yesterday. My two students on Monday are friends, both in their twenties. My first student actually stayed for my second student's lesson. This was not a problem. Neither of my students have much Bible knowledge so it is exciting to read with them as they learn truths for the first time. Right now both are studying about the nation of Israel, God's plan to bless the world through Abraham's seed, and the coming Messiah. Today's lesson is about David and Goliath.
Following the lessons my new friends took me to see the family business. We all rode in the student's father's 1977 Mercedez. Our drive was only about 2 miles from the church building. We first stopped by a bar/mini-restaurant and there picked up one fo the student's brother and cousin. The brother had actually lived in England for 5 years and spoke English very well. We then took a short drive toward the coast and arrived at the Tropical hotel. This hotel boasts the biggest pool in the Balkans. It is quite large and looks pretty clean. (We may have to try it out someday.) We sat in a pavilion area and had drinks. My students chose expresso and I had Fanta -- a popular drink in Albania. Before heading back to the church building we walked out to the Tropical's beach. The beach was not crowded and the Sea was very pretty.
Monday night we ate home-made goulash in our apartment -- ground beef, pasta, and ketchup. Our kids were sleepy so we put them to be earlier than usual. We had a pretty good night's sleep except for Quin getting up at 6:00. Jill and Quin made some French toast and pancakes and has some quality early morning time.
This morning as I arrived at the church building, one of our OC students was listening to an older Albanian man dressed in a full suit. There wasn't much of a conversation occuring since neither spoke the other's language. At the man's feet was a white trashbag containing a live sheep. The sheep was laying on the ground with its head poking out. We guess the man was trying to sell the sheep to our student. Needless to say, he didn't purchase the sheep -- although it would be nice to have a pet in the apartment.
I had to go back to the apartment this morning during the morning lesson time. Jill had stayed at home to clean the floors in our apartment. When I arrived back at the apartment Jill was in a converstation with two Jehovah Witness representatives. It appeared that the couple was a mother and daughter. Again, the language barrier saved Jill from having to be rude but we were offered some lovely JW Albanian literature.
For lunch today we went with the OC students to a "fast food" restaurant. We see the phrase "fast food" on many restaurant signs. I imagine the restaurant owners think that the more western phrases used the more likely they'll attract customers. The food was cheaper and of a lesser quality than normal -- so it was just like American fast food! I had a hamburger that was more like a SPAM burger. It was tolerable but I don't think I'll order it again.
This afternoon Quinton, Darin and Alfred plan on setting up the church's newly acquired projector -- straight from Adam's Boulevard Church of Christ in Bartlesville.
Later,
Darin