Sunday - A Day of Rest?

This morning started out warm and overcast. Church worship began at 10:00 a.m. but that's Albanian time so that means everyone starts to arrive around that time and as each person enters the sanctuary they hug and kiss everyone who arrived before them - service actually began around 10:20 a.m. This morning's service took place inside, not outside like last week, and the small sanctuary was full with about 70 people - a lot of them were the young adults who are on staff at the camp. We sang Albanian praise songs (it was fun to recognize some of the tunes and to sing along in English), an offering was taken, the sermon was given by Eric Grundy, Mark's right-hand man, and we took communion. The entire service was in Albanian except the sermon which was delivered in English and translated to Albanian. The service was very simple and informal, and even though I didn't understand any of the Albanian, it was very worshipful. To help you imagine what Mark's church looks like I've included some pictures I took at last week's service.

As I sat in worship I recalled a conversation in which Mark explained that 20 years ago his church could not have existed as there were no churches in Albania at that time. During communist rule religion was outlawed. Churches and mosques were closed or destroyed and those found to be practicing their faith were either imprisoned or killed. In fact, in 1967 the communist declared Albania the first atheist state in the world and it remained so until late 1990. Can you imagine the freedom of religion not existing in your life? I can't.

After some fellowship time in the church's backyard (thanks again to all those who sent Kool-Aid as it's the beverage of choice), the kids and I walked across the street to their home. The washing machine has been running non-stop as I try to get all the bed linens washed. European machines are quite small and the wash cycle takes two hours so the process is slow. In addition God added his sense of humor as three loads were drying on the clothes line when all of a sudden there was a roar of thunder and it started to pour. Oh well, so much for dry linens. The sun came out, I hung up another load, and again God chuckled and provided more rain. When the next load is done it will have to be hung around the house as there is no more room on the clothes line. This afternoon the kids and I cleaned - the boys cleaned their room and Becca sweep the entire house (lots of tile flooring) while I cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some dry linens so I can start making beds for the Hollywood Presbyterian team that arrives Monday afternoon.