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Fall 2002 E-journal Weeks 3 & 4
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Angelic Song
November 25 |
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The
sleepy village children were awakened by ambition.
There was a growing awareness in their curious eyes as they realized that
today, tryouts for the Christmas choir were being held.
Our challenge was in changing the small, slight and impatient voices into
an angelic song, novel and incredibly sweet.
Sarah
and the Bright Star team have been laying out the script for the village
Christmas services for some time. They
are organizing everything from chairs to Kool-Aid.
My job is to be in constant readiness balancing the remarkable
combination of distress and adulation. I
also have been given the title of puppet master.
The puppet show will measure all our skills.
Besides locking in a great proportion of the children’s interest, we
must theater shepherds, sheep, angels, heavenly lights and a multitude behind a
black sheet 6x4 feet held together by two battery terminal clamps.
More later on its production is forthcoming.
But
today, our favorite entertainers (pictured) are running through a vocal scale
directed by Klara. With passion
calculated, they all deserve a place among the choir.
Adding the ingredient of talent, we must brace ourselves for several more
practices and a special air of endurance!
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Acts, Ancona, Adriatic, Anxious
November 24
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Last
week we skimmed along the thin rim of land on the right side of Italy for three
days and were elated to have purchased the needed supplies for our village
construction. Seeking items not
available in Albania necessitated our trip, i.e. wood stoves, heaters, fixtures,
etc. The coast was flashing by and
changing every minute. Finally the
van turned the corner of the last rocky hill and we coasted into the seaport of
Ancona, Italy. Mandi,
Sarah and I were pleased with the way God had led us throughout this trip.
The
balmy sunset weather in the ancient town that has hosted vessels for 4000 years
quieted us down. We then began to
realize that strain and weakness were settling in our bodies.
The huge
ferry swallowed our minnow-sized van in seconds.
We stowed away our bags and walked the deck with a gentle breeze and the
backdrop of the moon wedge shaped in the night sky.
Sometime
after midnight, (at this point start reading Acts
27: 13-26) a wind of great proportion struck the sea from the left to the
right. That gale beat the waves to pieces against the boat.
We could feel ourselves being hurled against the sea in the Adriatic
darkness. When day rubbed night,
with just enough light, all on board strained to see a great tail of land along
the Italian coast. This was
somewhat reassuring but the morning quickly turned stormier causing the sea to
boil white all over. The shear
force of the wind made the flying spray go seven decks above sea level.
The Adriatic (Acts
27:27) had turned on us. All we
could do was to wait.
Finally,
13 hours later after sunrise the Albanian shore was reached, the first of our
goals. Our second goal, the gambit
of customs was completed in about 2 hours.
Our third goal has yet to be achieved.
Pepto Bismol anyone?
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Padlocked Heart
November 20
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Olive*
lives on the long street of the village in a common house.
Her home, a patchwork of broken stones and crooked tiles, is open for
public consumption on a very visible corner.
All together, it’s a friendly looking place.
But the
air inside is like frost! The very
nature of persecution is all about and the fog that rolls down from the wet
mountains behind the village brings with it more than its share of gloom.
For most of her
eighteen years in this house, she has been searching for the open side of life.
She told me that her spirit was padlocked, and concluded a heart could
die of neglect as well as of cold. So
for the last year she has developed a great taste for the world beyond the end
of the long street. Now, just
within weeks, a literal prodigal, she has come home.
Her heart that was once her master has turned against her.
Her misery gives her no rest. But
her comfort is in John 8: 3-11 and for her Jesus wrote in the sand.
*her
name has been changed to protect her privacy
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Treasure
the Christian Journey
November 19 |
It
was with great pain that Sarah and I listened to her latest story. Even today, two days later, we continue to wear a despairing
appearance.
Jana, pictured here with Sarah, has always been a delightful girl,
someone who we have known for four years, one capable of great things.
She has just started to undertake the Bible study (pictured) for advanced
students in Kasalle. Of all the
village children, comparatively few will reach or treasure the Christian journey
she would have made.
Jana informed us the day of these pictures that her parents had forbid
her any further schooling on her behalf. The
logical chain of events to follow will reduce her to a servant’s status, sold
to the highest male bidder.
Her role in Albanian life will be to work and to bear children.
What’s next? Enterprising
fathers sell them early before material defect can be noticed.
Benevolent fathers sell them defect and all.
Pray for Jana. |
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Thoroughly Answered
November 18 |
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The house of Medee ( pronounced Med-ee)
sits sufficiently on the highest point in the village of Vlashaj.
It is his highest position in life.
Medee is a
man who is thoroughly answered. There
is no question his eyes are half alive. There
is no question he is a man of lost opportunity.
There is no question he is a master of faults.
There are few lingering answers to such an open book.
His vocation
in life for the last thirty-two years (he’s forty-seven years of age) has been
in hard construction. Without any
hope for advancement, he toils daylight till four p.m. owning only a hammer and
a saw. His main passion is his
family and cigarettes, both he freely admits to missing when denied.
His tobacco habit is forty cents a day which is tolerable.
He said his family costs him somewhat more but this expense is matched
with more tolerance. Medee happily
shares the story of his two mile walk to mosque (jamile) three times a
year. With equal zest he shares about his priest (hoxha) who is Mr.
Shyqyri. His joy is proud when
sharing that Mohammad has allowed him to be a man able to choose his own
destiny. Medee believes his
spiritual grounding is adequate. The
Bible calls him a natural man.
I Corinthians 2:14: But a natural man does not accept the things of the
Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually appraised.
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