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Team Albania 24

Peter —  August 8, 2024

Team Albania 24 was a real success!  11 of us, including Aliyah, Joel and myself, travelled to Albania two weeks ago.  We spent 10/11 days working alongside the local church.  Five of the team were returning after being on the team last year, but six were first-timers.

 

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Arriving in Albania after an early start (we left Chippenham at 1am!)

What did we do?  Well, we led five church services, had four midweek meetings, ran a holiday club over five days, spent time with the children and youth outside of holiday club time, and spent time with local believers and missionaries to encourage them in their work.

It is encouraging to feel aligned with local workers and to feel the mutual trust building so well.  They risked sharing their relationships with locals with us and it was a real honour.  For example, the church in the village, which they have planted fifteen years or more ago, is doing well in its connection with women and children, but the men of the village are much more resistant.  We were invited to a gathering of 16 local men, all but one of whom would call themselves Muslim.  Three of us were able to share our testimonies and find out more about the challenges they face trying to provide for their families (essentially trying to farm with inadequate water supply!)  The gathering went well and hopefully it will be part of building a bridge to these men.

 

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The men’s gathering.

The children’s work went really well.  We definitely felt an increase in distraction and interruption on the day when we told the story of the cross, but other than that, they were very attentive and focused throughout the week.  It was really encouraging to see how the local women had grown spiritually during the last year.

 

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Our team with the children we served each morning!

 

One of the key roles we could have on this visit was to encourage the missionary family that we met on previous visits.  They are a wonderful family who are plugging away all year round.  We can come in and offer some energy and a week of activity, but they are the ones who are walking with the locals through all of life.  It was a blessing to be able to bring a Ukrainian speaker from our church who proved to be a huge encouragement to the Dad who doesn’t speak English and tends to miss out on so much of the fellowship as a result.

 

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Together with our missionary friends for an evening!

It was not all easy.  The temperatures were high, hitting 39 degrees C (102F) on the first day of the kids work.  Many on the team struggled to sleep well, even though we were blessed by the accommodation provided.  Some sort of cold/flu worked through several members of the team, taking them out of action for a day or so, one after another.  And sadly, on the Friday afternoon, we received the sad news that one team member’s grandmother had died unexpectedly.  Everyone’s heart broke for her , and we were able to get her on the next flight home, accompanied by another team member.  So there were challenges, but the team carried each other’s burdens and the ministry progressed even when one or two were missing at various times.

I (Peter) left the team on Saturday evening, to get back for church at TC on Sunday.  The rest of the team returned on Monday afternoon.  We are all tired, but thankful.  Please continue to pray for the church in Albania.  It is not an easy country to live in, but God is building his church and we were thankful to be able to contribute just a little bit to that work.  Thank you for praying for us.  We are grateful to be able to co-labour in ministry with you!

 

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Back on the plane to fly home . . .

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Summer news!

Melanie —  July 12, 2024

 

It’s been an eventful few months since we last updated our website.  We are thankful for God’s faithfulness and kindness to us.  We had Hannah’s husband Noah’s parents and brother come to visit us in April.  We had such a great month together, including a special week away together on the Devon coast.  It was a beautiful area and we made lots of memories.  Above you can see the 11 of us on Peter’s birthday. (We missed Aliyah of course!)

 

The sea was oh so cold! But it didn’t stop Peter and some of the kids from going in!

 

 

Some of us enjoyed it from a distance.

 

In May Peter and I were blessed with a special trip to Italy where we met my sister and her husband.

 

We are both celebrating our 25th wedding anniversaries this summer. We had such a sweet time together and a few adventures too (the big one being a fire in the place where we stayed. . . it’s a story . . . God really protected us!)

 

 

Here we are on our actual anniversary. We are so thankful for each other and for the last 25 years God has given us together.

 

All the girls are great at baking and Jessah’s now come into her own as a baker. Her specialty is snickerdoodles (an American cinnamon sugar cookie!).

 

Sisters! We are so thankful for the relationships our kids have with each other. Yes, of course at times they don’t get along, but they really do have strong bonds. The younger girls are going to miss Mariah so much when she goes to Bible college in a few weeks!

 

Aliyah came home from Bible college in June and Kaylah and Jessah have been loving it.

 

Me too!

 

A huge highlight of the summer has been having Aliyah’s boyfriend Michael visiting us. A few days after he arrived, he proposed to her!

 

Here is the moment at Lulworth Cove!

 

Mariah took some lovely photos!

 

 

 

Aliyah and Michael have been dating for a year and a half.  In that time, we have all grown to love Michael.  We had some time with him in the USA last year while we were there for Hannah’s wedding and then he spent a few weeks here in England last summer with us too.  He is a godly guy who loves the Lord and wants to serve Him.  We can’t wait to see what God is going to do with these two for His glory!  Lord willing, they will get married at the end of May next year.

 

It’s been such a joy for me to have all of my children home at the same time. It’s been a very busy house, but joyful!

 

At the end of June, TC had a youth weekend away. All our older kids plus Noah and Michael went as leaders and Joel and Kaylah as youth participants.

 

The next big event on the calendar is the arrival of Hannah and Noah’s baby, due in just a few weeks. We just had a baby shower for  them last weekend.  Please pray for the baby’s safe arrival.

 

God had such a beautiful idea when he created families!

We are so thankful to God for sustaining us these past months.  Peter and I have felt very maxed out at times in terms of ministry – preaching, life group, pastoral care, leadership and more, and of course parenting, our primary ministry.  There have been many moments of exhaustion but also many joyful ones.  We feel so privileged that the Lord gives us so many opportunities to serve him.  Our home has also been full, not only with our children, but also full of many visitors and we have more to come in the next few weeks.  Please keep praying for us to abide in Christ and draw all we need from him.  Also pray for Peter, Joel and Aliyah as they go to Albania with the TC team at the end of July.  God is so good and he is worth pouring ourselves out for!

 

 

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Our Trip to Albania!

Melanie —  March 7, 2024

Wow, we are so very grateful to the Lord for allowing us the privilege of serving him in Albania.  Last summer, some of the church leaders in the area invited Peter to come back and teach them again.  We decided to go all together as a family which was such a joy!  For me (Melanie), it was such a healthy step – getting out of my comfort zone, trusting God with fears and unknowns and actually putting my passion for missions into action.  For many years, my heart has been to spread the gospel to the nations which is of course what we’ve been doing here in the United Kingdom and beyond.  But Peter has mostly been the one doing the foreign trips and the upfront ministry. I’ve always believed that we are a team and I am just as much a part of the ministry as he is, even if I was holding down the fort at home, taking care of our growing family.  But it was a special joy for me to be able to join him and serve alongside him this time in a cross-cultural setting.  Perhaps it’s the beginning of a new season for our family as none of our children are tiny now, and they are gradually but steadily flying the nest. It’s always been our vision to serve as a family and be willing to go wherever God sends us.

Albania is an incredibly needy nation – both materially and spiritually.  About half the population are Muslim and half are Orthodox, though most people do not practice their religion.  Still, people consider their religion as part of their identity and are often not open to anything different. The church is very small and lacks resources (money and leaders and training).  There are many, many towns and villages without any evangelical witness and even where there are churches, they are struggling and often without leadership.

Our church, Trinity Chippenham, has started partnering with The Way of Peace church in the town of Lushnje that is led by Pastor Berti (you can read his amazing story in the book God’s Secret Listener).  We sent a team last year to help support them in their outreach in a small village and we’ll send another one this coming August, Lord willing. So one of our goals in this trip was to continue to strengthen the relationship between the churches and do what we could to bless them and especially, pour into the leaders.  There is a wonderful Ukranian missionary family (the L’s) who serve alongside Berti and his wife Tana so another of our goals was also to spend time with them and encourage them.

Here are some highlights and answered prayers from our time in Albania:

  1. Small (but big!) thing . . . I am so thankful that I had no migraines on this trip and our family stayed healthy! (Peter and the kids had colds and coughs right up until we left.)
  2. Peter found real joy in preaching in a prison (a very rough place) and meeting some Christian prisoners who were full of Jesus and actively sharing him with others.  One man’s story in particular was incredibly moving. He is in prison basically for life but says he actually doesn’t want to leave because he feels that is his mission field.
  3. We were delighted that our dear friend, Arber and his wife, Sara, surprised us and drove from another city to meet with us. Arber became a Christian himself in prison and is now in full time prison ministry. Their enthusiasm for the Lord and desire to start up a transitional house for released prisoners was so exciting.
  4. Peter was asked to do 2 seminars for church leaders and their wives on the topic of what is the church and how to encourage people to attend and value the fellowship of believers.  I shared with the wives and encouraged them from Matthew 6 that even though their service for the Lord may be hidden, the Lord sees it and he will reward them.  He also preached in 3 churches (Psalm 17 and Matthew 8) and I gave my testimony in 2 of them.  Again, a joy to see hungry hearts and be able to encourage these precious believers. I personally felt like the Lord helped me to trust him with the public speaking (not something I love).
  5. Peter and I were able to go into the school connected with the Way of Peace church and do conversational English with the children.  It was really fun! We got to go to six classes in 3 hours.  The school is an outreach to the community and doing a wonderful work.
  6. We and (especially) our children spent a lot of time with the L family and forged (or deepened) their friendships with their children.  This family is so full of Jesus and his love and we loved every minute we got to spend with them.  Their single-minded hearts to serve the Lord, live simply and persevere in planting seeds in the hard soil of Albania was inspiring to us.  They were so gracious to us and fed us many delicious meals! Time with this family was a huge highlight for us.
  7. It was also so encouraging to spend time with S, the pastor of the Mosaic Church in Lushnje.  He is full of energy and passion to share the gospel, especially among the outcasts and marginalised people of the city. The love and warmth in his church was tangible and the church is doing a wonderful work.
  8. The last night we were there, Berti and Tana invited us over to their house.  It was a wonderful evening and Pastor Berti shared with us about some of the challenges they face every day in ministry and the needs for church leaders. He also shared about some of the development projects they are faithfully working to implement in the village which is very impoverished.  I feel more determined than ever to continue to support them and the L family. They are faithful, hard-working servants of Jesus in a spiritually dark place. I have so much respect and love for them. We can put you in touch with them if you’d like to support what they are doing financially.
  9. Everyone we met was so generous and kind to us! We also very much enjoyed the Albanian food we were served.  The olives and goat/sheep cheese were amazing.  My family enjoyed the byrek (Lushnje is famous for this national favourite food – pastry with cheese or meat or spinach) and the dried fruits, fig jam, olive oil – everything is fresh and delicious.

Finally, for some photos:

Us with Sara and Arber

 

Speaking in the Way of Peace church

 

Giving my testimony . . .

 

Some of the believers from the Way of Peace church.

 

One of the seminars . . .

 

 

Joel, talking with a man at Mosaic Church. He’s been learning Albanian as his language in school this year so this trip was a great chance to practice!

 

Peter speaking at Mosaic church. I noticed the woman in front of me recorded his whole service in sections and was sending it to someone on WhatsApp!

 

Bitaj village church . . .

 

This church is almost all women. The men seem to have a barrier in coming to church or even showing any kind of interest in the gospel. Please pray for many men to be saved and added to this little church.

 

Kaylah and Jessah with some of the Bitaj girls. Kaylah was delighted to reconnect with a few of them that she met last summer.

 

And some of the village ladies.

 

Speaking English with the students in the school.

 

The first couple of days we were there, the weather was lovely and we went to a few beautiful places. I just drank in all the views of real mountains, like we have back in the Pacific NW in the USA.

 

We visited an old castle in the town of Berat which is more than 2,000 years old!

 

Berat is called the city of 10,000 windows.

 

We also had a walk in a resort area (Albania is really building its tourist industry) which in February was almost completely deserted and . . . brrrrr. . . very cold!

 

God blessed us with a beautiful sunset!

 

Here we are on our last night with the L family and Pastor Berti and Tana. They were so gracious and hospitable to us. We love their hearts for Jesus!

 

Mrs. L and me. The photo at the top of this post is us with their family after we did a globe puzzle together. Spot the “pray for the world” pose of people’s hands!

 

Please pray for Albania!l Pray for more workers – especially Albanian leaders and missionaries who are willing and able to serve in the smaller cities and villages. Pray for the Lord to shine the light of the gospel into hearts and open blind eyes to see his love and truth.  And pray for Trinity Chippenham as we send another team this summer and seek to keep supporting what God is doing in Lushnje and beyond!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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