Life when you live a German that has made her home in Albania...

Yesterday I awoke to the sound of repeated banging outside my window. I was unsure about it but it is not uncommon to hear strange noises outside, so I started to get ready for church. The last couple Sundays I had gotten ready, I had a hard time and a hard attitude. It just was not fun getting ready, when I could not feel my toes. Thanks to Steve and Rachael this Sunday was a wonderful morning. They got me a heater, and I truly, have cherished it. Needless to say my attitude was much warmer and I felt ready for the day. Before church started I was reminded of the noises from the street, I asked Elke and Ilir about it and they were quick to tell me what was going on. Today Muslims celebrate "Eid al-Adha" which is "the Festival of Sacrifice". If you were not aware there are many muslims here in Albania, some practicing, some sort of practice, and some just follow the tradition of things. I am not sure why but yesterday part of the tradition to get ready for "Eid al Adha" is for poor men to go up and down the street banging on a drum like thing (anything they can find that makes a real loud noise). As the man passes if you want to help him you give him money. I am not sure all the reasons of how this got started and where it comes from in the Muslim faith, but it was an odd feeling yesterday as we prepared to worship and heard the distant banging at the same time. It opened up many thoughts in my head. I felt bad that I hardly could concentrate during church because my thoughts were on this. I have always lived in a place where Christianity is the tradition. Its what we are based on, "In God we trust". Yes many people in America do not believe in God or Christianity. But when the traditions you have are ones that were based on what you believe, life is a little easier. What came to my mind in comparison is Christmas. As Christians we know the true meaning, and during the season we honor that time and remember God giving the world his son. We take the holiday and respect it for all it is. Then there are some in America that know it is about Christ, but also know they like getting presents. Then there are the people in America who only know Christmas for the presents and kid like fun. With "Eid al Adha" people treat it the same. Other then the poor walking the streets, the next day everyone has a huge feast. So no matter if you are a practicing Muslim or not here you most likely will be having a huge meal to celebrate today. The only people I know that are not involved are Christians. Anyways, all of that to say Traditions here feel so strange to me because they are based not on truth. So I was thinking how do you truly teach these people what they have know for years is completely false. I know missionaries have been doing this with people for many years all around the world, I know through God it can be done. It just made me realize yesterday wow this is not an easy job. But God can use everyone if they are willing, and I just pray somehow I can plant some kind of seed in this strange garden.

So I did not plan on writing any of the above when I sat down to write this post, interesting how things come out sometimes. That is the reason why the title of this post will not make since until now. Yesterday after church me and Elke headed to Tirana for the night. We went by bus which I was unaware of until we started walking down the road, and quickly wished I would have asked since my shoes were not good walking shoes. I have to remember to always, always ask things while I am here! When we got to Tirana we headed to new Methodist church that has opened in the center of town. Elke is originally from the Methodist church, and still in some ways works for them so her boss likes her to come and visit different church's sometimes. another reason she wanted to go was a group from Germany had come for the week to give "Operation Christmas Child" boxes to different schools here. So we all headed to the small church. It was small, but nice. Most everyone new German, even the Albanians because they have been involved with this German Methodist church for many years. It was probably the most unique service I have ever been to. It was preached in Albanian, translated in German then translated into English for me. It was not overly long, but it was kind of neat to be with such a mixture of people. After the service everyone headed to a restaurant. It was a very very nice restaurant for Albania. I had not seen anything like it since I have been here. Me and Elke both were a tad worried that the price would make us end the night washing the dishes. We both let out a sigh of relief when the prices were not high at all, and we were even more thank full when the food was AMAZING! I ordered fried chicken. They said it was fried, so I was curious if they new what real friend chicken was like. I wanted to order in a real southern accent, but I chose to go with the basic American it was all that was needed at that time. Sadly, they did not know what fried chicken really was, but it still was very good. All the Germans were very nice and most of them spoke English so that was neat to actually converse while eating (I don't do that a lot.) We ended the night and headed to The Beilers house for the night.

Today is the feast day, so everyone is out of school and off of work. But my prayers are with them all and I hope to somehow spread God's love today even when I don't know how.