Ladies UNIKE Conference in Albania part 2

Well the girls arrived last night in Tirana and were through immigration and collected their luggage in record time. Then by minibus to our hotel and were checked in very efficiently. They all felt like something to eat but too much and after their travelling didn't want to walk too far so we ate our evening meal in the hotel.

I think most slept like logs. They ought to. One can have a choice of pillow here. Spelt pillow, pure new wool pillow, horsehair pillow, neck supporting pillow, thoracic support pillow or a body pillow as well as normal ones. Breakfast was an easy affair this morning, and then time for a stroll round the centre of Tirana. We saw the Presidential Palace, then went to an Orthodox Cathedral before coming to the National Historical Museum with its huge mosaic mural above the entrance. It depicts victorious Albanians from different parts of their past and is an example of triumphalist art of 1981.

Then we walked to the Opera House,where Tomor and Miranda hold their church meetings, saw the main 18th century mosque in Tirana across the road, that is noted for its colourful external decoration. It was kept as a cultural monument during the atheism campaign of the 1960's.

The mosque of Et'hem Bey with Skanderbeg Square in the background.

12 noon, and it was time to have coffee with Mira, Ida's sister and George her fiance. Here is Penny chatting with Mira who gets married a week on Saturday.

Like many a bride to be, Mira is excited, busy and tired all at the same time. She is working this week but has holiday next week leading up to her wedding. After walking a while in the increasing warmth it was most enjoyable as Esther discovered, to sit in a comfy chair and have a drink.

She was not alone. We all needed a break. Here are Sarah, Lesley and Catriona...

and Iris

Time to wander back to the hotel for lunch. A set menu of the day. Cabbage salad with orange or pumpkin soup, then pork fillet with ratatouille and finishing with a small fresh fruit plate or cake, bottled water included all for £4 each.

Just to show that I am here with my wife, here is Ann with Penny, Catriona and Esther.

Should you think it is all relaxing, as I write this Catrina and Sarah are finalising the programme with Miranda in the hotel lobby and then the girls are preparing gift bags for the 400 women coming to the conference before we eat yet again this evening!

I think they all like Albania!

Ken

 

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Ladies UNIKE Conference in Albania 1,2 Maj

At last years Ladies REAL Conference in the Kerith centre, Miranda Ajeti, below, knew straightaway in her heart that she wanted a Ladies Conference in Albania. This put together with Catrina Benham's desire to speak overseas, and the Ladies UNIKE Conference in Tirana, Albania was born.

Just over 350 Albanian ladies are booked into the Conference that will be held in the Qender e Khristare, Tirana. (Christain Centre). Miranda lives with her phone glued to her ear tallking to church leaders, women who want to come but not yet booked in, people who will provide the drinks and seemingly countless others.

For Ann and me it has been a day to check out the Centre and the seating, (comfortable red chairs like the Kerith) where registration will take place, how drinks will be provided, how the building will be cleaned during the day, who will be there to operate the sound system as well as choosing the pastries that will be eaten during the breaks!

We are all delighted not only at the numbers of ladies coming, but also the number of churches represented. As is usual most are coming through personal contact with churches from Korca, Librazhd, Elbasan, Kajan, Fier, Gjirokastra, Vlora, Kruja, Lac and many from Tirana.

So we are almost there! Tomorrow, things begin in earnest as Catrina and 8 of our ladies from Kerith will arrive at the Mother Teresa airport, Tirana. From there they go straight to their hotel as they get their first glimpse of Albania. We have built in time for them to adjust by looking round the centre of Tirana and then the following day taking a trip to Elbasan. This will give them chance to see the countryside, taste the food, and the yummy Italian ice cream, visit one or two people houses, go to a pazaar,(market) and see some shops. We will go to an Orthodox Cathedral and a mosque (xhami) and have lunch in the remains of a Turkish fort, a reminder of the Ottoman Empire that ruled here for 400 years.

The Bible says that we make our plans but God directs our steps. We have made our plans, but we so want God to do what only He can do,and that is to move in peoples hearts. Please pray for this to happen and we look forward to what God will do.

Ken and Ann

 

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Conference in Macedonia

My last blog just a couple of months ago, was when Simon, the leader of our Kerith Church, and I were here in Macedonia. The flag in the photo is the Macedonian flag. The colours representing Macedonia have always been red and yellow, and it was adopted as their flag on 5th October 1995.

This time Ann and I are here for a Newfrontiers Conference in Skopje. Every couple of years the churches in the Balkans affiliated to Newfrontiers and the guys from the UK who support them get together. So a group photo of us all looks like this.

Here are church leaders from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania with folks from the UK. As is true for many conferences, the key times often are not the spoken sessions, (though they were good) but the coffee breaks, meal times and free times when friendships are renewed and new friendships made. Key too are the times when we pray for each other and the nations they represent. We also catch up with people from the UK who we only meet in the Balkans!

We hear how hard it is for many of them in their home setting. Often the towns and cities where they live are very strongly Roman Catholic or Orthodox or Muslim. And therein lies one of the causes for the terrible history in this part of the world.

One couple Ann and I met are Tony and Geri from Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. We got on well, and are looking at inviting Geri to our Ladies Conference REAL, in June. Blagoevgrad is a university city about the size of Bracknell.

We took the time of course, to catch up with Sasha and Marija, who lead a church in Skopje, and to have fish and chips again. Remember the photos from the last blog? Well here is Marija and Ann de-boning her fish.

And not only are the fish and chips wonderful, the salads in Macedonia are the best I have anywhere. Already the lettuce,cucumbers and tomatoes are fresh from the local fields, grown under plastic.

 

Soon it was time to say our farewells to Vlada and Ivan from Serbia who we met with Simon 2 months ago, and Sasha and Marija, and all the others, (Farewells in this part of the world take a long time) and head back to Albania with Ilir and Rudina Koci who lead a church in Elbasan where we are now.

Journeys in this part of the world are not always easy. We took a taxi to the bus station in Skopje, then a 3 hour bus ride to Struga in the south of Macedonia, another taxi ride to the border with Albania, walk across the border to be met by a friend of Ilir's who brought us to Elbasan. And we only needed 3 currencies to do this journey, Macedonian Dinars, Euros and Albanian Leke...oh and British Pounds in the first place to convert. Six hours all told which was pretty good going!

Now we are in Elbasan at a gathering, yesterday evening and today Saturday, of the Newfrontiers leaders from Albania. I spoke on OT Theology last night and will speak at the church here on Sunday morning. But already I have been speaking to Miranda Ajeti in Tirana who has been organizing the Ladies Conference UNIKE that Catrina Benham and some of our ladies come to next week. Miranda phoned "We already have 360 ladies booked in and still some more want to come. Is that okay?" "Yes of course it is as long as we space to take them," was my reply. Wow! I can see that next week is going to very exciting!!

Please pray for Catrina and Sarah Farley who will speak at UNIKE and for the other girls who are coming with them, Lesley, Lisa, Esther, Penny, Catriona, Iris and Glynne and for all the last minute things to get sorted, such as "How are we going to serve coffee to everyone?"

Love to you all from Ann and Ken

 

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Macedonia and Serbia

I have recently returned from these two land locked countries in southern Europe *having spent 7 days there with Simon Benham. Simon had not been to the churches we have contact with there, so hence the visit to see what it is like on the ground. *(Greece is to the south, Albania and Montenegro to the west and Bulgaria to the east).

We flew with WIZZ air, a budget Hungarian airline from Luton to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, arriving at midnight on the Wednesday evening. Our good friend Sasha (short for Aleksander...many men are called Aleksander after Alexander the Great, the national hero) was there to greet us and take us to our very welcome hotel by the Vardar river.

Next morning after breakfast Sasha and Marija took us to their home where over coffee we caught up with life in their church and how they are themselves. Their church meets in the hotel we were staying in and they gather people from a part of the city called Aerodrom (not where the present airport is). Marija came to REAL a few years ago and Sasha came to the Willow Leadership Summit in 2013 and visited us again in February 2014.

Then for a bit of sight seeing. So here we are looking up into the sky...

looking at this...yes, a rather large cross. This is the Millenium Cross 66 metres high, built on the highest point on the Vodno mountain at a place that has been known since the time of the Ottoman Empire as Krstovar, meaning Place of the cross. It overlooks the city of Skopje and is floodlight at night.

In case you are wondering, no we didn't walk up the mountain, we took the gondola.

From this vantage point we could see the whole city stretched out before us in the Vardar valley, a city of just over half a million people. Skopje has through history been an important intersection of two trade routes. It is at the crossroads of the east-west route from Constantinople (Istanbul) to Rome and the north-south route from northern Europe to Thessaloniki on the Greek coast.

Holiday makers in the summer from central Europe drive south through Skopje headed for the Greek coast, and trucks from Turkey find their way into Europe and the EU countries heading west.

Time for a late lunch. Surprisingly maybe, for a land locked country, they pride themselves on fish and chips. But I can heartily recommend it. The fish is salmon trout, cooked to perfection

and the chips are golden crisp. I eat here every time I come!

We had lunch with their 3 children, Tamara, Luka and Naomi. Tamara came to our REAL confernce with her mother not wishing to leave her side, but within 10 minutes she had been grabbed by Natalie Jones and Amy Mehta and she was happily serving tea and coffee. That day she came to faith in Christ and has never looked back.

Tamara with her younger sister Naomi.

Sasha, Marija, Naomi and Luka.

By the time our late lunch was finished it was time to walk round the now dark but well lit city centre. This is the 214 metre,13 stone arch flagstone bridge built in the 15ct that has withstood the earthquakes of 1535 and 1963. It connects the old Turkish quarter on the right with the more modern Macedonian area on the left.

The Macedonian Government have spent huge sums in just the last few years constructing many new buildings, art galleries, museums, Government offices, and statues on new bridges.

Time for home and to say our farewells. The next morning Sasha with his mother took Simon and me, in their car north into Serbia to Niš, Serbia's 3rd largest city of about 250,000 people. (Sasha's mother has a brother living in Niš and this was a good excuse to come along and see him).

What links Macedonia and Serbia, along with several other Balkan countries, is that as a people they are Slavs and therefore have a great similarity in their language and they are also both Orthodox in their faith. Macedonians, Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins, Bosnians and Bulgarians all understand one another and are predominantly Orthodox.

A bit of history. In the 9th century two Greek Orthodox brothers who were priests, St Cyril and St. Methodius from Thessalonica, wanted to take the Orthodox faith to the illiterate heathen Slav people in the Balkans. They became the two key missionaries and invented the Glagolithic alphabet a forerunner of the present Cyrillic alphabet which is used in these countries today. They became known as the Apostles to the Slavs and in the Orthodox church they are venerated as saints with the title "equal to apostles."

The Orthodox church is intertwined with the State so to be Serbian means you are Orthodox in your belief and it is considered unthinkable to be anything else other than Orthodox. How could you be Serbian and not be Orthodox??!! So any other church is seen as a sect.

So, we met up with Vlada and Sonja, below, at their home and caught up on all their news. Vlada came to the Willow Creek Leadership Conference In Bracknell in October 2013 and Sonja came to the Willow Conference last year. After that it was time for an evening meal so we went to a traditional Serbian restaurant.

So this means our meal is accompanied by musicians and singers,

and lots of meat; sausages, bacon, smoked chicken and smoked pork with salad, beans, potatoes and bread.

Then back to our hotel and ready for the next morning when Simon spoke at the Mens Breakfast. No, not your full English with eggs and bacon but cakes and coffee.

But dont think small Danish pastries, these are huge, twice the size of anything you see in a coffee shop or patisserie here. They are MEN sized!

And after food, Simon gave the guys food for thought.

and time to pray with people.

Then time for lunch. Just to prove I do eat healthily sometimes here is my lunch, chicken risotto.

Saturdaay evening was time for a youth musicians meeting. Most people who came have no faith in God but have been invited along by the churched youth to improve their singing and playing skills. It seemed to be a succesfuland enjoyableway to gather youngpeople. One of the things that struck me was that most of the guitarists were young women, sodifferent from our church where nearly all the musicians are guys. They were led by Karolina and Milos both of whom have been to Bracknell.

 

Lunch had been so good that we didn't eat an evning meal but rather "made do" with just a desert and coffee.

Sunday morrning and on our way to Vlada's church we went into an Orthodox Cathedral. Simon had never been in one before and the building and service can be quite a sight. There are significant differences with our own traditions. People cross themselves on entering and leaving the building, you stand during the meeting but their are like half seats by the walls to sit on for elderly or infirm. People come and go quite freely. They enter, buy some candles, light them, say their prayers, cross themselves and leave. Others will stay the whole service through which can be quite lengthy. The walls of the cathedral or church are covered with colourful paintings of venerated saints. These may be the apostles, Mary, and people recognised by the Orthodox Church over the years as saints. There are many icons and on this occasion incense was being burnt.

Here they have processed tound the church building and the bishop,with the gold crown in the doorway, is leading them back into the building.

Then time for Simon to speak at the church we went to.

Sunday lunch was at Vlada and Sonja's apartment with their 2 teenage children. They have a compact 2 bedroom apartment so that means Vlada and Sonja sleep on a pull out bed in the lounge every night! After lunch it was time for us to give the family time to themselves.

On Monday morning, we met again at Sonja and Vlada's apartment, but this time with Karolina and Milos totalk through how the weekend went, Vlada'splans for the future, Simon's thoughts on things and where to from here. It was a very good and usefultime together.

Then off again. We went to Buget car hire firm, hired a small car and made our way to Kragujevac, Serbia's 4th largest city with a population of about 150,000. Here we met Ivan, married to Andrijana, with their 3 daughters 13, 11 and 5. Again all living in a very compact apartment. Andrijana was still working at the Fiat car factory, the towns major employer where the Fiat 500 is made. Some of you will remember the Yugo car produced by Zastava Automobiles. Well they still exist and are to be seen on the roads in Serbia but mainly round Kragujevac where they were produced before NATO severly damaged the plant when it was bombed in 1999 during the Kosovo war. Now Fiat produce some 330,000 units per year.

Again we were presented with a hearty Serbian meal. You cannot avoid it. This time it was wonderfully cooked smoked bacon joints with mashed potato that was sprinkled with paprika pepper and cold sliced beetroot.

After that we had a meeting in a really nicely furbished basement under one of the apartment blocs.

Here are Karolina and the two Milos's getting ready beforehand,

and here Simon about to speak.

Time to have good conversations with some of those who had come, some Christians, many not.

The blond lady on the right of the photo had only 100 dinar in her purse, 60p, for the taxi to come to the meeting, but she really wanted to come. She thought I will go as far as 100 dinar will take me, and then walk the rest. Amazingly the taxi meter stuck on 100 dinar, so the taxi driver bought her all the way.

Ivan and Vlada think that there maybe only one other gathering of Christians in the whole of the city of Kragujevac. The need is enormous. So we are asking ourselves "What part would God have us to play?"

Please pray for Sasha and Marija in Skopje, Vlada and Sonja in Nis and Ivan and Andrijana in Kragujevac, and for us too as we take decisions on how best to be involved.

With much love,

Ken

 

 

 

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November in Albania.

Whenever we come to this time of year I think of Thomas Hood's poem we learnt at school.

No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon,

No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day.......

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,

November!

But it is different in Albania. Ann and I arrived to blue skies and trees laden with Sharon fruit (Persimmon) , pomegranates and mandarins. Here is one large pomegranate and some persimmon,

 

and flowers in abundance.

 

We we stayed with Tomor and Miranda Ajeti who run Victory Church in Tirana. Miranda and Tomor came to our womens REAL conference in June, and Miranda was blown away by it. She said straightaway to Ann, "I want to do this in Albania". And when Catrina Benham said that one of her dreams is to speak in a foreign country, Ann nudged Miranda and said "Now is your chance". Catrina agreed, and now we are looking at holding a Women's conference in Tirana on the 1st and 2nd May 2015.

So the next day was spent talking this through, looking at possible venues and considering all the things that have to be done to make a conference happen.

As a people, Victory church, come together on Saturday afternoons at 4pm in the Opera House in central Tirana. Here are some of their young people before the meeting leafleting people on the street.

We had invited some of their young people to our summer Youth Camp and they in turn gave Ann some flowers to say "Thank you."

Sunday morning saw us up early and off to Elbasan to the church we often go to and their morning meeting where I spoke on vision.

We had a midday meeting over coffee with Tomor and Miranda, Ilir and Rudina from Elbasan and Arta and Edi from Korca and Ann and me, to talk through all the detail of the planned Womens Conference in Tirana.

The next day Miranda took us to her home village of Kajan to meet her father and mother.

Here are Miranda's brother, Ermir, me, Tomor, Ann, her mother Flutura and her sister Ornela with Ermir's son David.

Now Ann, Miranda, Flutura, David and her father Kadri, drinking coffee and eating fruit in the sunshine.

This is Ermir (Miri) Miranda's brother, his wife Nazmie (Naku) and their 3 children, Elesia, twins David and Erisa. Naku is a schoolteacher and Miri an electrician. Miri brought some of their young people to our youth camp last August. We taught the twins the nursery rhyme "Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear, one step, two step, tickle me under there" They liked that!

During the week Ann and I spent time with Ilir and Rudina Koci who run the church in Elbasan. Our conversations cover all manner of things from how they are as a couple to childrens and youth work, pastoral issues and how theey see the future.

Elbasan is a good centre for quite an area and they have good church facilities. So come the end of the week church leaders from 5 Newfrontiers churches and their younger leaders gather for training in Elbasan.

Here are Edia, Jorida, Megi and Mirjana from Bethel Church, Tirana

Ilir from Elbasan, Edi from Korca and Roberti from Lezhe.

And now 4 girls from Burrel, the town I first went to In Albania.

And some of the guys from Edi's church in Korca.

I spoke on the Saturday morning on "Male and Female" and how this impacts church leadership and pastoral responsibilities and care.

On Saturday afternoon it was then off to Librazhd to meet the young people there who nearly all come to our Youth camp. They are a great bunch to be with. Again I spoke on vision and their plans for the next 10 years, always mindful that "man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" Proverbs 16v9

 

Back to Elbasan and a Greek meal in the evening with the leaders of the Elbasan church Ilir and Rudina, with also Arjan and his wife Blerina, Ilir and Donika and Ron and Sue who come from a Newfrontiers church in Bedford.

Sunday saw a round table meeting with Miranda seeking the thoughts and ideas of Ilr and Rudina from Elbasan, Edi and Arta from Korca and Ann and me. I won't show the photos as we all look VERY serious!

Then Monday and it was time for farewells and back to Tirana and a final lunch with Miranda and Tomor as we pondered over our thoughts for the conference whilst we ate lunch together.

I think Miranda is ideal to make the Womens Conference happen.Two of her strengths are Communication and WOO,winning others over.

And then onto a bus for Lezhe and the evening and over night with Robert and Mira Cook who lead a church in Lezhe. Mira is pregnant with their second child and has now finished full time work and Robert teaches English full time in a local American College. Time to catch up and talk through Albanian cultural issues. Rob is English and Mira Albanian so it is always good picking their brains and experience on cultural matters, life in Albania and life in the local church.

Do please pray for Miranda who is organising the Women's Conference for about 250 women next May, and for Catrina Benham who will speak at it. This will Catrina's first time speaking overseas into a very different culture but one where is God is still present and able to move in power.

We are already planning and have indeed set the dates for next years Youth Camp in Albania at the end of July. We will take a team and Liam our youth pastor will speak. Please pray for Liam and that many lives will be changed through the Camp.

With much love from Ann and me.

 

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