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Today Genti and Shpresa are moving from the big city of Tirana to the
village of Vlashi. Not unless you are an Albanian will you truly understand
the significance of what this means. In Albania, people don’t move from the
city to the village. It is almost always the other way around. Needless to
say, Genti and Shpresa are an anomaly to their new neighbors in the village.
Today’s move-in is the
beginning of a brand new chapter for Planters in the village. This day is
the beginning of a new walk of faith. The girls training center* is no
longer just an idea. It now will begin to take form and start to grow.
God has been leading this project step by step. There have been times when
we have wondered if this vision would ever move past the dreaming and
planning stages. It wasn’t until late this fall that we began to realize
that a training center might actually become a reality.
 In
November we seriously approached a young couple regarding their
participation in this project. Genti and Shpresa Proseku prayed about
their potential involvement and accepted the position in January.
Shpresa is going to begin the first phase of this endeavor by building trust
and relationships with the girls in the village in hopes of gaining their
families' approval. We are praying that we can begin offering courses
within a few months.
This project needs much prayer and support. Please keep it on your list.
We will do our best to keep you informed and up to date on the progress. Our
prayer is that God will be able to use this project to affect real change in
the lives of these girls and further His kingdom in this small area of
Albania.
*The girls training
center will be a place for learning life skills. Its main purpose is to
provide untrained young women with the skills to find employment so they can
become contributing members of their families and society. The target age
will be ages 14 to 23, targeting girls who have dropped out of school due to
parental pressure. Planters' goal is to give these girls a hope and an
opportunity for more personal development while showing them love and the
true plan that God has for their lives.
Some of the core classes
that we hope to provide include: English, computers, Bible, geography,
nutrition, and child care. There will also be vocational choices offered on
a rotating basis that may include: sewing, automobile driving, and
horticulture training for greenhouse growing of flowers and vegetables. |
