Albania Team 2003 -- Final Report From Albania

May 8th, 2003
1:43 PM

Dear Simi Covenant Church Family,

Here is the report...our final report from Albania...for Thursday May 8th

Tomorrow afternoon we begin our long trip home. We fly out of Tirana at 5:15 pm, have an overnight layover in Vienna, then a flight on Saturday to Washington DC and another flight to LAX arriving Saturday evening. We will be in church on Sunday! We are anxious to see you all. And we are very sad about leaving. This country, this country of miracles has touched our hearts in profound ways. We will have difficulty describing it, you will maybe tire of hearing from us about Albania, but we have been moved beyond words with a love for this country, its people and it burgeoning church, which is just over 10 years old.

Today was a wonderful day in this country. First we made a visit to the main mosque in Tirana, a mosque built in the 1700's that survived the communist period only because the Muslims convinced the government that this building could be used as a museum. We spoke with the Immam (the cleric, spiritual leader) of the mosque. He was gracious and very open to us. He explained Islam to us, as well as helped us to understand Islam in this country now, and during the communist period. He allowed us to take pictures...which you will see. It is a beautiful building. Seventy percent of Albania is Muslim--at least in name.

As our team was talking to the Immam, one of the mosque members tapped me on the shoulder, told me to grab my camera (using hand gestures) and said follow me. So I went. He took me up this narrow spiral staircase, up and up and up. When we finally hit daylight we were at the top of the mosque's minaret (the steeple of the mosque). I got a beautiful view of the city...and the man took my picture. As we were about to go back down the staircase, the man pointed to a 10 Euro bill on the steps (Euros are the currency of most of Europe now, One Euro is worth about 1 US dollar). I quickly realized that this view came with a price. I pulled out a 500 Leke bill (Albanian currency--worth about 4 US Dollars). He shook his head no (which is opposite from our head shaking gestures). So I opened up my wallet and said--Take what you want. He grabbed a 1000 Leke bill out of my wallet (about 8 dollars US) and we shook hands and down the stairs we went. As we left we exchanged words of departure --thank you, good-bye--in Albanian. It was a wonderful visit.

We next walked through another market located on a narrow street--people selling shoes, athletic supplies, and clothing. It was not a pedestrian street--cars and motorcycles would travel up and down this narrow street and people bought and sold their goods. It was fantastically crazy!

Next we visited an Orthodox church in Tirana--built within the past 10 years. The main Orthodox church was blown up during the communist period...and a 15-story hotel was built in its place. Stories were told both by the Islamic Immam and the Orthodox priest of clergy being imprisoned and killed for practicing their religion during the communist time. Quietly, during this period Orthodox Christians would go to the site of the hotel, seeing that site as still holy, and offer prayers. The Orthodox priest showed us around his church. Taught us about orthodox religion, showed us the icons that are used to help, through pictures, explain the stories of the Christian faith. We were blessed by the visit.

Next we visited a pottery factory that employed 700 people during the communist period. Today it is being rented by one man who employs six people. The pottery created is beautiful! The work is hard. During the day the power goes off unexpectedly, if the pottery is at the wrong stage of baking, all the work will be ruined. Imagine working in a factory or on a computer and unexpectedly losing power. Many restaurants and stores have generators that they turn on when the power goes off. The nationals call the hum of the generators the Albanian National Anthem.

In the afternoon Sue went back to the hospital to talk to patients and their families, Dave went back to the Every Home for Christ Albania office to help Eli with computer issues. Rebecca and I went back to the CCL--Center for Christian Leadership where I taught the ethics in the church class for a second time. The students invited me to return.

These students continue to impress me, they are bright, inquisitive, and they ask hard questions. Today we dealt with the ethics of being a Christian in a society that is built on corruption and bribes. We also talked about marriage and finding the right mate. It was a fascinating interaction all afternoon. Rebecca sat in the back of the room and had marvelous conversations with some of the female students about men, marriage, trusting God. These students are incredible.

Finally, Eli, Dave, Rebecca and I attended the Rotary Club of Tirana meeting at the Rogner Hotel. This is a group of people who are the movers and shakers of Tirana. My hope is that Eli will make good contacts with these people that will be of benefit to her work in the future. I told the club about my Simi Valley Rotary Club. I exchanged Rotary flags with the president of the club and gave him information about a wheelchair project and how my Rotary Club in Simi Valley is involved. (I will be in discussion with this Tirana club in the future about doing joint projects--the Tirana president is very excited about the possibility.)

Today was a full and rich day....I love this country.

Looking forward to seeing all of you soon. Blessings from the whole team

Kurt Fredrickson