July 16

Hello Again,
On Saturday night after our day in Kruja Helen, Quinton, Darin, and two of our OC students installed new light bulbs in the church building -- 100 watt bulbs for 60 watt. In the evening they make a big difference. We also swept and mopped the floor as it was quite dirty from Friday night's fellowship night. (We also wanted to do this for Alfred and Adrianna since they do so much for the church and have done so much for us already. They live in Tirana and it is 45 minute to an hour drive for them to get to the church building.)
On Sunday morning Jill and I ventured to Durres city for worship services at the Durres church. Helen and Quinton stayed with our kids. To get to the Durres church we walked down to our bus stop about a quarter mile away. Well, to be more specific we almost made it to the bus stop. The bus was already leaving the stop so we flagged it down and jump aboard as it slowed to about 5 mph -- Jill really showed great skill as she vaulted on the bus without injuring herself. The bus ride was a bit crowded but not to bad. One young lady near us on the bus decided to vomit in a clear bag -- at least she had a bag. I chose not to look. I felt sorry for her. Once at the last bus stop in Durres we disembarked and walked the half mile or so the building.
The Durres church building is just a few paces off one of the main streets. We arrived about 15 minutes early for the 10:00 service. We chatted with Chimi, the minister, and his wife. I took a picture of his family with their baby, Samuel. We met an American woman who was in Durres for 5 weeks to teach English at the church. This is actually her 7th time to Durres. She is a school teacher in Humble, TX. For the 10:00 service, Edwart, a young man attending the Sunset Preaching School in Tirana, preached about the goals of the Christians. Chimi was kind enough to translate. For Bible class, Chimi spoke and a young lady from the congregation translated. Jill and I picked the right day to visit the Durres church as the A/C was actually working! The power was out (I have mentioned that most places in Albania have power about half the time) but their generator kicked in nicely. (Last week when the rest of our team visited the Durres church the generator wasn't working so they had zero A/C.)
Following services we chatted with the two AIMers who were in attendance. Two of the AIMers were enduring a bout of the stomach flu. We also chatted with a couple from OC who were in Durres to teach. For lunch, the two AIMers, our four OC students, and the teacher from TX went to eat suflaqes. Suflaqes are meat, cucumbers, french fries, lettuce, yogurt sauce, and ketchup (optional) wrapped in pita bread all for $1.00. Not too bad!
After lunch the OC students, Jill, and I went to the foremost supermarket in Durres. It was actually just a short walk from our bust stop and from our lunch spot. The supermarket is housed in a modern silver building named "Blue Star". The building has other stores as well but we didn't venture in these establishments. The supermarket was air conditioned, clean, and had the feel of Americana. We didn't find many products that we couldn't find in our area. The supermarket did have peanut butter though. For $6.00 we could have purchased a medium-sized jar of peanut butter that contained no sweetner -- we passed. We could also have bought a quart-sized ice cream for about $10.00 -- and it wasn't even Haagen-Dazs! We bought a few smaller items that we couldn't get at our grocery stores and headed for the bakery! After a quick dessert (chocolate cake and some type of flaky lemon thingy for less than a buck) we boarded the bus for the ride back to Durres Beach.
When we arrived back a the apartment we discoverd that Amelia was now the one with a cold. We're not sure if she has what Hallie had or has her own new bug; either way, she is not too excited to be sick. (When Amelia is sick the whole world knows. When Hallie is sick or hurting one would hardly know. Thankfully, Amelia responds well to ibuprofen. We give it to her for her benefit and ours.) So, since Amelia was feeling sick she and Jill didn't go to p.m. worship at our church meeting.
There were about 40 in attendance; this meant just about every seat was full. It was pretty warm in the building but I had access to a few passes of one of the oscillating fans. Hallie and Quin behaved well. Hallie actually fell asleep during the service but I wasn't going to fight her to keep her awake. Greg from Oregon preached and Alfred translated. We chatted awhile outside after services then I grabbed a fan, Quin, and Hallie and we headed back to the apartment.
I need to take a minute to tell you about Quinton's student -- I'll call him Rick. (I have writtes some about him previously.) Quinton is blessed with having the most interesting student of the bunch. I'm not exactly sure of Rick's age but I'd guess he's around 50. He is fit as a fiddle and always arrives to his 11:00 lesson in white pants and a tucked in white t-shirt. He has a shaved head and a black mustache. Rick is a former javelin thrower. Apparently he is from a somewhat wealthy family -- at least before communism they were wealthy. I think they were able to get back most of their assets after communism fell. Anyway, Rick combines several religions and philosophies to form his own faith. He dedicates six hours a day to yoga, meditation, and purification. Six hours! I have seen the benefits of his yoga as one day he streched on the sidewalk and buried his nose into his knee cap. If I tried this I'd pop a hamstring and have to go the the hospital in Durres. Rick takes a two-hour drive one day a week or so to the mountains past Tirana to collect natural spring water. He also fills jugs for friends. One time Rick ate nothing but grapes for either three months or three weeks (blame the misinformation on the language barrier); either way, that is quite a few grapes. And I don't think these were the seedless variety! Rick has spent 6-months in a Hindu monestary and claims to have not been to the doctor in several years. I believe it. He is a vegetarian and believes killing animals for food is a sin. (I don't think he'd fit in to well in Evening Shade, Arkansas.) To his credit he is very polite and always smiling -- I guess grapes will do that to you. I can't imagine processed food has passed over his lips since he was a child. Fried Twinkies must be a product Satan in Rick's eyes. I guess if we all could dedicate six hours a day to meditation, strechting, and purification we'd all feel better; but who has the time?
Besides our Bible studies, our group has some other projects this week. We are going to make final preparations for the VBS next week, plan for another fellowship night, and help Alfred get the church's projector mounted on the ceiling. Alfred used the projector on Sunday.
More later,
Darin