Tuesday, July 7, 2009
HOME!
1) Sunday we had church and Pastor Eddie asked me to share. The Lord was with me and though I felt tired and weak, was able to share from Is 55 and the Spirit truly moved in me as I spoke. It may have been the most intense time I ever had teaching from the Word. Truly not just head knowledge but I felt a demonstration of the Spirit's power. I can only just thank God...THere were some at church from the street evangelism times and I pled with them to be reconciled to God while I taught. I believe God moved in their hearts!
2) Sunday afternoon was filled with packing and cleaning...but in between that time we spent a sweet time to thank/encourage one another. It was a tear-filled but joyous occasion spent thanking, remembering, exhorting one another. These times are always memorable.
3) Drove to Tirana, got on the plane. Saying goodbye to Tim and Jamie was hard for me. I love those guys. The about a 3 hr journey to London, a bus ride to Heathrow, and then a 9 hr layover in Heathrow!!! Many of us slept, I did not. I stayed up all night talking to a Swedish guy and was able to share Jesus with him. It was cool...but I was tired. I slept about half of the 9 hr flight to Miami and we landed approx. 2:20 in Miami. We got through customs, met Jeff our bus driver, and settled in for the ride home....
Praise God for the things He has done! I want to thank all of our supporters in prayer and financially for enabling us to go. Be assured...God's kingdom was advanced and strengthened during this trip, I know this first hand...and that treasure will last forever. I hope to be able to say hi to you sometime soon. ALSO, be aware that there will be a dinner/presentation on the trip at Grace Fellowship on the last Sunday of this month at approx 6:30pm. We'll post details soon. I love you all!!!
--STEVE
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sunday, sunday, sunday!!!!!
Today, we went to church and Steve preached a God inspired message on really understanding the word and not taking it for granted. It was a message on being thirsty for God from Isaiah 55...God really used him as a vessel of truth for believers and non-believers. Several people attended church that we invited from street evangelism the previous night. So praise God for that! We pray even more people will come that we met while on the streets.
Awwh man! We have to actually get packed now and get ready to leave for America. We are excited to be returning, for we really have missed you all! Please pray for our safety and for opportunities to talk to others about Christ on the way home.
God bless and see you soon!
Kasey & The Team
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Last Call to Dushk & Luna Park
The team visited the Village of Dushk for the last time this afternoon. I was able to give my bible to Yona (a young Albanian girl who speaks English--also a new believer in Christ) and I've never seen someone be so appreciative towards receiving a bible. She is very excited to share the love of Christ to others and I'm glad she has a bible to help her understand God's word. I pray God continues to fill her with His Holy Spirit, as she is still confused, but appears to be seeking the truth. Steve, Louis, Annette, Cisco, and Julie also met up with a few of their Dushk friends and we all said our goodbyes, but we know we will see them in heaven b/c God has a grip on their hearts!
This evening was our last evangelism outreach in Lushnje at Luna Park. We saw a lot of the same faces from two nights ago. We are praying that the drama, the testimonies, and preaching sunk into their hearts and that they continue seeking truth. It is extremely hard to think of leaving these people, but Jamie and Tim and the rest of the OM organization will be here to continue inviting the city of Lushnje to church. The people have been in the dark for so long, it is hard to think that we made even a dint....but God can and will make a difference....God will not let His words be void. It only takes one light to create a path in a dark place. God could instantly stir up hearts and this city of darkness could become a city of God's lights. We must be faithful in our prayers in praying for them.
Love, Kasey & the Team
Here is a little line from Kiiiiiscoooooo! (Cisco)
Morave with the Kids!
With love,
Kasey & the Team
Friday, July 3, 2009
Dave
Titus? God!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The beach/park
Hey Cisco here!
And yeah, i kinda forgot to write something last night so i am doing it now. So yesterday we headed to the beach early in the morning with a bus load of children well about 35 children to about 50! so when we got there we started to settle down, the beach was pretty small, like a really small landing strip to if really small planes wants to randomly land on that part of the beach the can. Someone complained so we had to move, we walked on the private side, and walked and walked. We stopped about three times because it was "private beach". well on the third try the y were going to tell us to move again but when they found out we were american they said "oh please stay here don't move again, american good now!" Well then so we settled then and stated to play Futbal, which was. . . well let's just say i am a beast now! The children were amazing! They were great, some knew english a little, and knew a little spanish (surprising i know), so i kinda got by a little, but still they spoke well in albanian so i kept a translator close to me though that was good! some of the children asked me if i was coming back to albania, and i said "yes! why not, i love this place" The people are hurt spiritually here and God loves the people of Albania therefore I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF ALBANIA! Well back to the topic, so the time passed and the children stayed at the beach because they just wanted too. lol Us the team had to go because we had to some Street Evangelism.
Street Evangelism, The Set up was this, Cisco dance, then couple of worship song, then drama, then testimony, then another drama then the message. After that go out and talk to people and pass out tracks.
The Cisco Dance (tecktonik) was argh awesome! Well everyone said i did really good! So i guess i did good! I was nervous but to stop the nervousness i prayed "God calm my soul, and Glorify through me and through this team" and i stopped being nervous! Then i bust a move! a crowd developed it was amazing after that tim, steve and jaime started to play there songs. Then the Drama came around, the drama is called Fallen humanity and i this you saw some pictures already. but anyways that went well then david's testimony which was really deep and good, then the chair drama which was funny but with a huge message! Then Tim spoke the Gospel!!! and we had a lot of people listening, God was among the crowd that were listening! It was amazing! Well after we arrived at the OM (back at the place we are all saying at) and ate pizza.
When were here let's just say the girls had a surprise, A SURPRISE! So they had us sit down on the front steps and then out of nowhere water balloons appeared out of nowhere, i was the smart one and had the video camera and taped everything and i stood nice and dry! lol Everyone had a beast time! lol Well that was my side of that, by me Cisco lol
Well ttyl peace and God bless!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Please pray for us..
- that we would be unified and show the love of Christ to one another.
-The next three nights we are doing street evangelism. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel. That we would have boldness, courage,and a burden for the lost people of Albania
-That we would find gifts or words to say to encourage each of the missionaries here who have hosted us.
-Also, thursday and saturday we will be working with kids. Pray that we would plant seeds in their lives.
We are so thankful to God for all of you who are praying !!!!!!! It is greatly appreciated and needed :)
The Past 3 Days...by JD
Saturday we went to the Emanuel Center, it's a place for gypsy kids to come and learn about God. I reminded me a lot of the Belle Glade ministry back home. We played some games and taught them the gospel through a skit that Kasey wrote herself and edited by the team. It went well. Meanwhile, Cisco was picking up our 11th member David in Tirane with one of our translators Ilir (which we found out means Freedom in Shquip/Albanian). That night we had an awesome night of prayer and worship as God was showing His Glory and Power through a mighty rain and thunderstorm. I really felt the Holy Spirit with us that night.
Sunday we went to church here at the OM (Operation Mobilization) house and later an Albanian bbq. I helped Ilir with the meat and man did I get a workout cooking. They fan the fire to cook the meat quicker but we had to fan it manually. It was a good time though. Different but none the less fun.
Monady we packed early and headed out to the beach southwest of us. It was amazing. we saw some mountain goats. Which we have pics of and a video of. When we had finally arrived after a 4 hr journey. It was one of the most amazing places I'd ever seen. It's one of those places you think you can only see on the Travel Channel.
We jumped off the dock which was cool and I got to share the gospel with this Albanian kid named Nestor who lived in Greece. By the way, the beach itself wasn't sand it was more like gravel, but that didn't matter due to the view and the nice cool water, not like home.
That night we had a worship night on the beach it was so cool. We saw a 1/2 moon and it's light coming off the ocean and the stars are amazing too. I took the gravel in my hands and started shaking it like an egg shaker to the beat of the worship music. Tim and Steve thought that was creative, but hey ya'll know me give me something long enough and I'll find a good use for it.
Tuesday we went to the beach had lunch and stopped in Vlor which is a touristy town and that is where our friends Yulie and Ella stay. We met them in the Gatwick airport on our here. They are so nice. I was so glad to see them I had bugged Steve and Tim about hooking up with them. Anyways, it's a cool town. I'd love to live there but it's expensive. It kinda reminded me of Palm Beach.
So here we are finally back home...
Take care and God bless,
JD
3 day Summary by Steve
Saturday night, we had a late night prayer/worship time, interceding for the gypsy children, who sometimes get sold into sexual slavery...as we prayed a giant thunder storm began to rage around us and God's power was manifest in a very real way!! It was cool.
Sunday was church and we fellow shipped with the people from church with a worship/bbq night later on. Great albanian bbq with shishkababs, sausages, all kinds of meat type thingys. Mgeper! (I ate a lot!). Then came Monday....
We went to a southern small beach location where we had to drive through breathtaking mtns and valley's. ALbania is beautiful!!! Pictures later... The beach was great, turquoise water, rocks to jump off, wonderful landscape/olive trees/wildlife...great stuff. Ate at a restaurant where we at whole BBQ'ed fish. Cisco at the eyes and tried the head, but couldn't finish it. The rocks to jump off ranged from 10 to 30 feet. Most people jumped the high one...i did not because I'm to cool for that. But seriously, I have broken toes so I couldn't climb the cliff (from soccer). We met a greek boy who we shared the gospel with and gave him a Bible. He was a nice kid. (Name = Nestor). We also got to share with our Muslim bus driver. He was an awesome man and thanked us much for clearing up his view of Christ and helping him understand the Gospel. He said he would think about Christ and I told him I would pray for him. We bought wild honey from roadside vendors, and the honeycomb is still in it! Good stuff! Besides that, it was just a great time. Think Meditteranean climate, beautiful! White stone houses on cliffs near the sea, and majestic mtns that rise straight up into the sky. It was one night/2days there to relax and prepare for the final 3-4 days of the trip.
Today the women did an outreach in a village that they can blog about, although I will say that they were able to counsel and pray with many women, and at least one woman prayed to follow Christ, and the next 2-3 days we will be doing street outreach evangelism as well as VBS for gypsy kids. We also saw a castle near the village today called Berat. Awesome! Pictures to come! Then...we come home. Can't wait to see everyone..specifically..Allie and Judah. Love you guys! Talk to ya later...Steve
Friday, June 26, 2009
Last Official Day at Dushk: by Kasey!
Today we spent some time “cleansing” Lushnje of their trash. Unlike America, Albania does not have any laws against throwing trash on the ground. They do have garbage dumpsters, but the dumpsters are not emptied regularly, resulting in tremendous overflow into the streets, public places, and pretty much EVERYWHERE around town. The whole time we were picking up dirty trash and throwing it away, it reminded me of how God throws away all the dirt in our lives and purifies us with His precious blood. Jesus took on flesh, humbled himself by taking on the nature of a servant, and basically threw all of our own “personal dirt and trash” away by taking it all upon Himself when he died on the cross for our sins. So although today’s “trash” time was dirty and gross, it was humbling and a good reminder of how much Christ hates our dirt and is willing to throw it away if we allow him to purify us. Amen?? Amen!
In the afternoon, we also had the opportunity to split the team up into a guys’ mission and girls’ mission. The ladies of the team hosted a women’s meeting for the young single women in Albania and the men of the team got to play football (Albanian soccer) against some young, ferocious Albanian guys! We said a lot of prayers before we got started…concerning the women we would be meeting and also for the American guys’ protection….for them not to get slaughtered during the Albanian soccer game and also for opportunities to share the gospel!
God definitely heard our prayers, and we were able to talk freely about Jesus and the Albanian women were responsive. In order to gain trust from any Albanian, a close relationship must be formed before they trust you. We played several “ice-breaker” games and taught the ladies a craft to help build their trust. Then Jessica shared her testimony, which was filled with the gospel! It was our hope and prayer that we may have planted a seed. We hope that it may also help build closer relationships with some of the women in Lushnje, so that Tim and Jamie may continue sharing the Bible and Jesus’ love with them.
God also answered our prayers with the guys’ soccer game too. No one was hurt too badly, maybe just their pride…hehe! The Albanian guys seemed to respond well and male-bonding occurred, which was what we were praying for! A few of the guys went for coffee afterwards, as a casual segue way to share the gospel.
Anyways, it was another awesome day in Albania. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and for your prayers! We all love and miss you…whoever is reading this!
In Him I put my trust,
Kasey & the Albanian team
Thursday, June 25, 2009
This is Steve and I want to update you on what happened today with our team. I am very proud of this team, many on their first mission trip, and to see how they are allowing God to use them, it is aaaaamazing!!! Shum mire!!! ("very good" in Shqip, or Albanian as we call it...)
Today was exciting, we spent the morning and early afternoon perfecting our drama, discussing how our evening outreach would go. I took a good chunk of time to prepare a message, because I was preaching tonight...The girls also took some time to prepare for tomorrows outreach to the teenage girls of the village of Dushk. Tomorrow, when we go, the girls will meet with Albanian girls to share testimonies and do a craft together (making bracelets). The guys are going to get destroyed by the teenage men of Dushk when we play soccer with them tomorrow. Afterwards we will share kafe together (coffee). One thing I am learning here is the refreshing respect Albanian's have for others. It is an honor culture. When someone has a message, they listen, and you respect them and listen to them as well. There is a mutual give and take. This is in contrast to our society where most people will not even give you the time of day to listen to your message when you mention Jesus. Mustual respect is a refreshing aspect of Albanian society.
Let me explain what happens when you visit an Albanian home. After a quick greeting outside the door, the guest takes off his shoes and enters into the living room. Once you have sat down, the host will often come and greet you again, at which time you will stand up again and say something like "si jeni" or "how are you?". Then the host will offer you drinks (juice, raki...a homemade Albanian liquor, or turkish coffee) and food (often cookies, cakes, etc). Then will ensue conversation that will include anything and everything. Albanians do not mind personal questions, like, how old are you, how much money do you think, etc. They will also talk about themselves. They love to talk of God, even though they do not quite understand the message of Christ all the time. They listen respectfully, and then you listen to them. This can go on for an hour or more. THe hospitality blows me away, and challenges me to open up my life more to others when I come back to US. To focus on relationships as a priority and respect and honor others.
Let me get back to today. In the village of Dushk, we rented out a Cafe where we set up a sound system and led an outreach service with ALbanian Christians. ABout 75 people total were there (including our team and Albanian/OM Christians). We started with 4 songs in Albanian sung by ALbanians and a missionary with OM. Then came a testimony by Julie. Then we got our drama going and it was awesome! More about that later... Finally, I preached a message from Rev 20:11-15 about God's judgement due to our sin, and what God did to provide a way to be saved: Jesus! It went well, by God's grace...
Afterwards there were some cool stories of how the drama and message impacted Dushk villagers. I will tell you one story: On wednesday, a group from our team visited the house of a muslim lady. They were accepted well, but any mention of Jesus caused the lady to simply say she was Muslim and she seemed more closed than other Albanians we had met. They invited her to the outreach today and she came! Afterwards, she told the girls who had come to her house that the drama impacted her greatly. She then asked for a Bible and recieved an Albanian New Testament, then she asked us to come visit her again! Praise God! Once again, relationship is so important here. The love shown in spending time with her the day before, brought her to the outreach where God's Spirit moved on her heart. Pray for her salvation!
Afterwards I got to hang out for awhile with many of the youth that will be back tomorrow to play soccer with us and go out for coffee. Pray that the youths who come would open up when we go out for coffee and that we would be able to minister to them effectively.
I do like Albania...I joke with Tim and Jamie by saying that I was prepared for Albania by living in Oregon: Long gray rainy winters, mountainous landscape, and.......A COFFEE SHOP ON EVERY CORNER!!! Ha ha... Albania may not be perfect, as every country has its major problems...but, it is a wonderful place to experience with many redeemable qualities embedded in its culture, as I explained some above. The landscape is also beeyootiful, green mountainous, oregon-like....
Is this a long blog? I hope I haven't bored you!!!!! I know Cisco's posts are much more funny than mine...hahahaha. Oh well, I am the "team leader" and I have to pretend to be mature...
I love you guys...Naten e mire (goodnight!)...
-Steve
Progressive Dinner
Hey, this is my first blog...lol...and I was asked to write it yesterday (Wednesday, June 24), but there wasn't quite enough time...anyway...here it goes...
We've only been here a few days and just listening to the birds chirping all day long reminds me of the wonderful creation that God has made and I love it!
All is well...it's been raining quite a bit and it has cooled off the weather, so it's been beautiful! ;o) Actually, speaking of yesterday...it started to rain in the afternoon as we were leaving the village called Dushk (the same one we went to on Tues). We visited a few different families in that village to spend time with the people there.
Then we had another special adventure for dinner! There are many different countries represented here on the Albania Team that we are working with. So, for dinner we were able to learn about these different countries.
It was pouring while we traveled to the 1st house representing Paraguay and Equador. We heard traditional music from Paraguay and played a traditional game from Equador called, "Do you like your neighbors?" (which is a musical chairs type game where we scramble around to find a different seat). They served us 2 mini empanadas (which is a meat filled pastry)...delicioso!
It was still raining, but not quite as hard when we went to the 2nd house representing South Korea. We had to compete in a traditional game that I can't remember the name of, but its like "hacky sack," you have to keep the object (kind of like a small ball with tinsel) off the floor and see how many times you can kick it). Several of us couldn’t even do 2, but the winner did it 9 times and received a prize…I’ll keep that name a secret in case that person would like to share himself/herself ;o) Then we had a buffet style Korean meal. White rice with your choice of carrots, squashes, lettuce, peppers, and fried egg. Sweet & sour chicken and seaweed soup were also served for the main course.
The rain lightened up for our last stop representing Australia. We were given a quiz of different Aussie sayings to see how much we really knew. (So, don’t be a piker and you won’t cause a kafuffle…lol) For dessert, we were served a cake that was covered in chocolate and coconut along with coffee and hot tea to drink (she had peppermint…yummy!).
So, our progressive dinner took us to 3 different continents and I’ve been able to learn about more countries than I ever expected. ;o)
I wanted to thank all of you who’ve been praying for me. I have diabetes and I was concerned about how the food that we would be eating would affect my sugar levels and they have been just fine. Also, I have to take my medicine at the same time that I do at home so, if I take it at 8am and 8pm at home, means that I have to take it at 2pm and 2am here. It’s been hard, but please keep praying because I know that it’s only God who is able to guide me through this situation. <>< - Jennifer
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
WEDNESDAY-? day


This whole experience was so we could find our way around the city by ourselves. Things that you can pray for...tonight we are going into a village to share the gospel with people, also tomorrow we are helping with their church service. Pray for boldness and us to depend soley on the Lord and not our own abilities !! Also, that we would each find ways to bless and encourage the missionaries here. Also Also, that the people of the Lushjne population would recognize that they are sinful. Most of them seem to like the christian faith and are interested in it but it seems the thing holding them back is that they don't really recognize that they need a savior or are sinful.
I MISS EVERYONE FROM HOME A LOT !!
-Jess
Cisco here! What is up! Today was amazing!!!! The Group was spliten up in groups, For me it was Jennifer, Annette and me (cisco). We were on a scavenger hunt, and it was sooooo fun!! We got lost! I know it was soooo cool, being lost in a foreign country is the best part! There was music in the towns square and i was dancing passing the park! lol It was a wonderful experience! We visited a home and we were talking to a little old lady, and we were sharing Chist Jesus, she was so kind and nice, and treated us like she was our mommy. There were bridal shops all around! soooo many!! Oh another this was the bunkers everywhere due to the communist past, really interesting. I wish ya'll were here!!! next time i come to Albania everyone will come with me! well we are heading to the albania homes and will write more later! Peace and God bless
-Cisco
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Good morning!!!!!! Tuesday

Great day

Good Morning
Well, the night was great well to me, I am a heavy sleeper and I am really easy to wake up. So we were going to bed around 7 o’clock American time but really it was like 1 or 2 in the morning. Good thing I slept in the plane. The ride from the airport was pretty interesting; there were no street light, and a lot of unfinished buildings. By unfinished I mean the structure of the buildings were there but that is about it of the building. They way people drive is really different, everyone speeds like they are late for something. On the ride back, I found out that the Albanians love Americans!! Isn’t that exciting and they are really nice and humbling towards us, that is their culture. This morning we woke up around 5, well JD woke up around 5 and then woke me (Cisco) around 6 I think. We spent the morning in prayer and taking pictures of the morning. The weather here is abnormally different as in its nice and cool, which is not normal. Usually it’s really hot! I guess the Albanian weather was like, “Oh the Americans are coming so I will cool down so they are comfy.” . . . . Yup that is exactly what the weather said. We are currently without power and its 1:56 am (American time). All the guys are in the kitchen trying to figure out what to eat while the girls are somewhere. .
Shout out – I Cisco wants to give and shout out to Jenni and wants to thank you for following us, I am taking plenty of pictures! I do want to thank everyone for following us friends and family of all the team members here on this trip!
-Cisco




























