Participants:
Series Code: AFM
Program Code: AFM000005
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01:22 I think that God worked in my life.
01:26 I met, you know, some wonderful people. 01:29 When I first met Blerina, we'd just moved into our house 01:33 on Tokana. 01:34 I was in the second year of the university. 01:37 We got this knock on the gate, 01:39 and I went out there, and 01:41 it was this university girl, 01:43 and she said in fairly good 01:45 English for somebody who hadn't 01:47 really spoken to anyone. 01:49 Oh! Sorry, I want to come to your home, you know 01:53 to speak English. 01:55 And I said, "Well come on! Anytime you want, 01:58 come on in and visit. " 02:00 Really, not that I went, you know, to know God from them, 02:03 I said really, I went just to improve my English. 02:08 Before I knew it, she was at my house again, but she was 02:11 really depressed. I hadn't seen her for probably a week. 02:15 And she came by and talked to me again. 02:18 After just that one conversation where we, we became friends 02:23 almost instantly. She's a very friendly girl. 02:26 And the second time she came she was depressed and 02:30 she just said, "I want to die. " 02:33 And I thought, "Oh no! This girl is going to commit suicide, and 02:37 I'll never get to tell her about God!" 02:39 At that time is where I really started praying for Blerina, 02:43 that she would be able to know God, and know the peace that 02:47 He can give her. 03:15 In 1995, Adventist Frontier Missions launched a project 03:18 in Albania. 03:20 Our goal is to establish a self- sustaining church-planting 03:23 movement that can be carried on by Albanians and spread 03:27 exponentially throughout Albania and the Balkans. 03:33 Roughly the size of Massachusetts, 03:35 this small European country sits on the eastern shore of 03:39 the Adriatic Sea. 03:43 In English, Albania means, "land of the eagle. " 03:52 Albania is real varied, as far 03:54 as its terrain. It is mostly 03:56 mountainous, but the kind of 03:58 mountains you find vary from 04:00 different parts of Albania and 04:02 from region to region. 04:03 Here on the coast, the whole coastal plain in the south 04:07 is very arid and dry and rugged. 04:13 There are springs here and there in the mountains, 04:15 but for the most part, really arid and dry. 04:22 I particularly enjoy hiking above Vlore. There's a lot of 04:25 pasture land where they keep sheep up there. 04:28 It's real beautiful and quiet and peaceful. 04:34 I even went up and I took my sleeping bag to stay over night. 04:37 A shepherd insisted I sleep in his hut with him. 04:40 He said there was wolves, which I still don't believe. I know 04:43 there are further south on the border with Greece there's 04:46 wolves still, but I don't think we have them close to Vlore. 04:50 But he insisted, so I slept in the little shepherds hut, and he 04:53 fed me supper and then breakfast in the morning. 05:11 In 1945, communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, closed Albania's 05:16 doors on the world. 05:17 For nearly 50 years, the world heard little of Albania. 05:21 Oppressed and cut off from outside influences, 05:24 spiritual darkness settled on the country. 05:27 Entire generations grew up without knowing the Creator. 06:11 Like the mist covering its rugged mountains, 06:14 communist ideology and domination enshrouded Albania. 06:18 Religion of any kind was abolished. 06:23 Communist rule ended in 1991, making it the last east European 06:29 country to turn to democracy. 06:31 When communism fell and 06:34 the democracy began here in 06:37 Albania, it was like big 06:39 explosion with almost an immediate implosion. 06:42 Things falling back upon the Albanians. 06:45 One of the very difficult things that happened here in the 06:48 fledgling democracy was when the get-rich-quick schemes began 06:53 Millions of dollars disappeared. 06:55 People had sold their homes. While many of them had taken 06:58 back good percentages, a great many others lost everything. 07:07 They turned upon the government. 07:09 Arms depots were ransacked. Approximately 4 million arms 07:13 were released into the hands of the common people - 07:16 8 billion rounds of ammunition, 07:18 literally tens of tons of explosives. 07:23 The people just absolutely went wild for several months. 07:30 It was during the height of this that we were preparing to leave 07:34 America. For several weeks, we went into Yugoslavia to wait 07:38 until the situation calmed here in Albania. 07:50 We made a decision fairly early on 07:54 that we would seek to reach and work with adults 07:57 especially the adult male, for Stan and I 08:00 to really seek to figure out how can we, you know, really come 08:04 to the place in a relationship with them where we can really 08:07 grapple with spiritual issues and spiritual needs 08:09 in their lives. 08:18 Both of us have made some significant friendships, and 08:22 we're finding that the work takes a lot of patience, 08:26 takes a lot of friendship building, and we're learning 08:29 to spend a lot of time in prayer for the people that we're 08:32 working with. 08:43 Our prayer is that, as we reach and understand how to grapple 08:48 with the spiritual needs of the adult male, that will bring in 08:53 its wake a strong influence upon both their wives and families. 09:19 Albania today is a country where spiritual interest seems to be 09:23 stirring. And yet, as far as people grounded in a solid 09:27 faith, it just doesn't seem to be happening very rapidly. 09:30 Albania was, for about 50 years, almost totally isolated from the 09:34 rest of the world under the communist regime. 09:37 In 1967, religious observance was outlawed by the government. 09:43 Prior to that, there were about 5 centuries of Islamic 09:47 occupation as the Turks had come into the country. 09:53 Most Albanians today would tell you that, before the Turks, 09:57 we were almost all Christians. 09:59 And yet today, 70 percent of Albanians claim the Muslim 10:03 heritage, about 20 percent identify themselves as Orthodox, 10:08 roughly 8 percent or so as Roman Catholic, leaving 2-3 percent 10:12 a variety of different beliefs. 10:14 As far as Seventh-day Adventism, we find that most of them 10:18 don't know what an Adventist is. 10:29 We've had about 4 to 5 young 10:31 girls coming to study the Bible, 10:34 and they range from 17 to 27. 10:38 We've been studying together two times a week. 10:58 It's really been exciting for me because I feel like I'm able to 11:02 communicate something of God to someone who wants to hear, and 11:06 moving to that place with people takes a long time. 11:09 But these girls do want to hear, and I believe that the Lord is 11:14 working in their lives as a group and personally. 11:16 I've seen that. 11:43 To choose a single Albanian is, especially there, is difficult 11:47 because coming to love so many of them, 11:51 but I suppose perhaps one that is especially close 11:56 would be Zyke. 11:58 He's one of five brothers here in Albania and basically they 12:02 consider me the little brother in the family. 12:05 When we first came to Albania, we spoke very little Albanian. 12:08 He would often invite me to travel with him in his truck, 12:12 trips that would be 6-9 hours. 12:14 Each of those was like one long language lesson. 12:16 But I've learned far more than language from Zyke. 12:19 I've also learned things about the culture, things 12:22 about their worldview. 12:23 Sometimes he's a little harsh with me, and yet I know he cares 12:27 and when he tells me that we're doing something wrong or 12:31 why don't we do this, or why don't we do that, 12:33 generally it comes from a genuine concern on his part. 12:38 And I see that God is at work in his life. Even though he 12:41 teases me a lot, he loves to introduce me to his friends in a 12:45 variety of ways to embarrass me, it's all in good fun. 12:48 I enjoy his personality very much. 13:00 I'll tell you about Shpresa because, she's a lady of about 13:04 42, 40-something years old. 13:08 Her husband was a good friend of 13:11 my husband's, before he died, but last year he died suddenly 13:15 of a heart attack. We started visiting Shpresa because we felt 13:19 so sorry for her. 13:21 And she considered us to be her husband's friends. 13:25 He taught English, so there was a connection between he and my 13:29 husband. I wanted to communicate to her that I wanted to be 13:32 her friend, not just her husband's friend. 13:36 And it wasn't long after that, that we went to visit her one 13:40 day and she was very nervous, and so we walked in her house 13:45 and I could tell something was wrong, and she said, 13:50 "My blood pressure is high and my heart is just racing. I don't 13:54 know what's wrong. " So I took her blood pressure for her and 13:58 her pulse, and it was pretty wild, and I sat with her for a 14:03 while and we talked, and it was related to the stress that she 14:08 feels and the emotional stress she feels with her husband's 14:10 death. So, it was really neat because from that experience, 14:16 I said, "You know, Shpresa, you need someone to regularly 14:19 check your blood pressure daily until it gets figured out. " 14:24 And she said, "Well, I don't have anywhere to go. " 14:26 And I said, "Well, I'll come and check it for you. " 14:29 So I did. I started coming every morning to her house, 14:32 and it was during those times when I would come for the 14:36 blood pressure that we would talk, and she became very open 14:40 to me and open to express her sorrow about her husband and 14:44 open about sharing herself with me. 14:47 It was unexpected for me. It opened up opportunities 14:51 for me to talk to her about the Lord. And we had several 14:55 conversations like that. One time in particular, it was right 14:58 before we went on furlough, I was there and we were talking 15:02 about saying hello and reunions with your family, and she said, 15:05 "Yeah but, when you guys leave your family, it's going to be 15:07 really hard on you. " And I said, 15:09 "Yeah. Wouldn't it be neat if 15:11 there was a place where you never had to say goodbye?" 15:13 Which for her is a very tender issue, because of her husband 15:17 dying, and she said, "Oh wow. " And I said, "Shpresa, 15:22 maybe there is. " 15:24 There are a lot of barriers. She and her family suffered greatly 15:28 under communism, with family members being killed even, and 15:32 them being relegated out to a village and sort of quarantined 15:35 off. They had suffered a lot 15:37 under communism, and I think 15:39 that the suffering has made 15:41 it hard to believe that there is a God. 15:43 But her husband's death has made 15:45 her feel a need for something 15:47 besides this life. 15:49 Her name means hope. 16:07 Nana Maria is my, she's more like my grandmother to me, 16:13 because she does seem much older than she is. 16:18 She lived below us when we first came, and she's the mother 16:21 of our first landlord. And he and his brothers and the mother 16:25 have all taken us in like part of their family. 16:28 And so she's like our grandmother of the family. 16:33 She's taught me how to make borek and other yaprak and 16:38 different ethnic Albanian foods. 16:42 She loves me. 16:44 She loves it when I come. I just wish I could go visit her more. 16:48 I only understand two thirds of what she tells me. I wish I 16:52 could understand more, but she pours her heart out to me 16:57 many times. Often she's in tears, she misses her 17:01 daughter so much. 17:02 Her daughter lives in Greece. For some reason, they think I 17:07 look a bit like her. So she always says I'm her daughter. 17:13 Stan's her son, and I'm her daughter. Try that one. 17:22 The biggest need that I've seen that I've been interested in is 17:26 the increasing level of lifestyle-related diseases 17:31 that they didn't have so much when communism was in place 17:34 because their diet was a lot more simple, and they didn't 17:37 have as much meat. The food was different. 17:40 White bread was non-existent. 17:42 They ate beans and brown bread. They had a lot less diabetes. 17:47 They had a lot less heart trouble and hypertension. 17:50 Now they have the luxury of meat and white bread and 17:54 lots of stress in their lives. They are experiencing lots 17:57 of our western diseases, and they don't have any answers for 18:01 them except to suffer through them, to take some pills. I feel 18:06 that a real need is to provide them with some knowledge so that 18:10 their lifestyle could be improved and that would give 18:13 them, you know, a solution. But the problem is, they associate 18:18 brown bread and beans with poverty and communism. And meat 18:23 and white bread is luxury. 18:26 So, it's not a simple solution either. 18:35 Since our arrival in September of '97, things have calmed 18:38 considerably. We no longer see tanks patrolling the streets as 18:43 we did. The armed police are still out at checkpoints, but 18:47 the frequency of them being with masks over their faces is much 18:52 less. Order is being re-established here within 18:55 the country. 18:56 Nonetheless, there's a tremendous sense of cynicism 19:00 among the people. Many of the people are saying, "Well, if God 19:04 cared about us, He wouldn't have let this happen. " 19:07 Many other people say, "Well, we see an need for God, but we're 19:10 just too busy for Him. Where has He been for 19:13 the last 50 years? He's not been around for us. We're a little 19:16 too busy for Him right now. " 19:18 The greatest need is of course a spiritual need. 19:22 But unfortunately, as sinners, we don't always realize where 19:26 the greatest need lies. If you ask an Albanian what the 19:29 greatest need in Albania is, they will say, "We need public 19:33 order, and we need work. " 19:37 For example, you look at adult males. I don't know what the 19:41 exact percentage rates are, it's really hard to tell, but I've 19:45 heard figures of 70 and 80 percent unemployed. 19:49 Or if they have a job, it hardly brings in anything. 19:52 So, from their perspective, which is a valid perspective, 19:57 the greatest need is work. 20:05 The greatest need is for people to learn trust again. To learn 20:10 to trust others, to be able to trust the Bible and God. 20:14 They feel God has forsaken them. 20:16 They feel, you know, during communism, you couldn't trust 20:20 anyone. You didn't want to tell them the truth, because it could 20:24 be used against you. 20:28 One of the most effective ways to engage people in conversation 20:32 on spiritual things it just to spend a few minutes at a time 20:35 with them. 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there. 20:40 We have found as we travel around, there are far more 20:43 people than we can effectively work with on our own. 20:46 It's exciting to think ahead of what's in store for Albania. 20:50 We have see that there is definitely a spiritual 20:53 restlessness in the hearts of the people. Short-term mission 20:57 trips and projects have their place, but the beauty of what 21:00 AFM endeavors to do is that we want to work ourselves out 21:04 of a job. We'd like to see the church well established and 21:07 reproducing in an area, be able to move over and do it again in 21:10 another area, and we need more people willing to do the same. 21:14 We've had a very good working relationship with the AFM 21:17 missionaries who've been working in Vlore. And because 21:20 we've had that very good partnership with the AFM people 21:23 who are here, it seems that it would be a good avenue to find 21:26 more people to work in the country. 21:29 The greatest need in Albania is the need for people. We have a 21:33 number of young Albanian pastors here, and we've been able to 21:37 attract a number of student missionaries who've come and 21:39 spent 6 or 12 months working in Albania. But people is the real 21:44 need. Many cities have no Adventist presence. These are 21:48 cities with 30, 40, 60 thousand people, so people is what 21:52 we really need. 21:55 Although it sometimes is a horribly painful experience to 21:58 try to go from one culture to another and never completely 22:01 leave your own culture, but you're not completely, you're 22:04 sort of in the middle between two cultures. That's really 22:09 difficult for me. But on the other hand, in the short time 22:13 we've been here, I've had the opportunity to go into places 22:17 that I could never have gone. I would never know the mind or 22:22 the life of, say, Shpresa or my little Albanian grandmother. 22:26 I could never have entered her life if I hadn't been willing to 22:30 cross over the barriers and seek to learn how to speak to her and 22:35 to make those moves. There's a price to pay to seek to move 22:39 from one culture to another, but I really believe that that's the 22:44 call of the gospel. You know, I believe I have something very 22:47 valuable and precious, and I feel responsible to make the 22:51 effort to cross those hard things and to come after them 22:55 and not sit back waiting for them to come after me or to 22:59 come after what I have that's precious. For me to take the 23:03 initiative and to go. It's pricey, but it's also 23:06 really special. 23:20 She came up to me, and she was going through a time where she 23:25 was very discouraged and depressed. She told me that 23:29 she should die. And I asked her why she would say something 23:32 like that. And she said because she just wants to have a happy 23:35 family, she wants to have a simple life, she's not asking 23:39 for much, but she can't have it. 23:41 Not here in Albania. 23:44 After she asked me a few questions, I started telling her 23:46 about Jesus and how He had 23:50 sacrificed for us and how much 23:54 He loved us, and trying to tell 23:58 her, explain that to her. 24:00 I tried to use their - what I 24:03 have learned about their hukmaria here. 24:08 They have a revenge killing, that if I kill your 24:13 brother, then you come and kill my brother, and you try and kill 24:16 me. But then if you kill me, my brother tries to kill you, 24:20 and it goes on and on like that forever 24:22 until somebody says, "Stop!" 24:24 And they're willing to call it quits and offer a child 24:28 instead, you know, to the person who wants revenge. 24:33 I told her it would be as if I had a very good friend here who 24:39 had only one son. And they loved me so much that they 24:43 said that their son would die instead of me, 24:48 and that the hukmaria would no longer be against me. 24:53 That I would be forgiven. 24:55 So he dies. And then I'm free. 24:58 I don't have to hide. I don't 25:01 have to fear those people coming and killing me. I have 25:05 another day to live, I have life to live. Blerina came back at me 25:11 and she said, "So it's a sin to want to die!" And I thought, 25:14 "Wow! Where did she get that?" 25:17 She realized that when you're 25:20 given life, it's such a precious 25:23 thing, that every day, you should want to live the best, 25:28 the most for God because He's done so much for us. 25:31 And to me, after we talked on that, I think it hit me more 25:36 than it hit her. I was just taken 25:39 with that thought. I thought, 25:41 I need to not just go away in my housekeeping and 25:44 everything and just say, "Oh yeah, another day. 25:48 I've got to wash clothes, another day to wash dishes, 25:51 another day to whatever, but I need to joyfully do 25:54 whatever is given to me because I have life to live. " I have 25:59 so much to be thankful for because God gave His son for me. 26:08 That was her turning point, and she said, "I want to know God. " 26:12 And that's where she prayed, well she asked me to pray, and 26:16 she repeated the prayer, wanting to know God. But, even 26:21 more so, because for me, that was a real eye opener of what 26:27 God did for me. 26:29 And why I want to be here to serve Him, because 26:34 He gave me life. 26:42 What I want to say again is just to pray God will do His best 26:48 for me and do what is best for my people. I mean, Albania. 26:52 And I hope for them to know God. 26:57 Everything will be okay. 27:03 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the 27:06 everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will 27:10 not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. 27:14 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power 27:17 of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men 27:21 stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew 27:25 their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will 27:29 run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. 27:55 For more information on 27:57 how you can serve 27:58 or how you can support 27:59 frontier mission work, visit... 28:11 For the latest information on 28:13 the Albanian mission project 28:14 and Adventist Frontier Missions 28:16 or to order a copy of 28:18 Where Eagles Soar, visit... 28:25 When you call, please be 28:27 sure to mention where you 28:28 saw this program. |
Revised 2014-12-17