Headaches, Bulgaria, and the Beach

While we haven't had anyone specifically come to church because of handing out the tracts last weekend, this has still been a good week. We've had a few rough spots with the kids, namely Christopher, but we're now keeping a headache journal to see why he's getting so many headaches and by looking at when he gets them. The heat may be part of it: the heat is currently brutal. It gets worse every day--from the beginning of the day until about eleven o'clock it stays in the nineties. It's also muggy. Nevertheless, good things are happening: a lady came from six hours away to be prayed for for salvation yesterday, it looks like I may be able to start my Bible study in two/three weeks, and I may end up going to Bulgaria for a conference. Now, Egypt would have been great, but Valbona wasn't sure if Egypt was possible, so if we get to go to Bulgaria, it will be a break from teaching and chance to have fun, hopefully. We'll see exactly what happens.

I'm also falling in love with the sea. We went swimming last night and the water was SO warm. We just walked right in, and it stayed warm all the way out (and we were able to go out reasonably far). Going at night, I didn't have to worry so much about reapplying sunblock, I just put it on once and went. Honestly, it was wonderful.

And that's about it for now!

Conference Week

Another busy week in Albania has gone by since we've had another seminar, which was very good, but not particularly well attended. What was encouraging, though, was that a lot of the teenagers and young people (my age) came. We went out on Saturday and went to houses surrounding the church in Spitall, handing out tracts and talking to people about Jesus. We had about 20-25 people in all and though no one prayed to accept Jesus we had some very good discussions with Muslims in the area and a few people who said they might come check out the church, so pray that they do!

New Pictures in Tim's Gallery Added

New pictures are added to Tim's gallery! Go to http://www.timtucker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7640 to see them. They are mainly of Children's Day, which was June first, Christopher's birthday, and the trip to the beach last weekend.

Been a good week thus far.

Christopher's Birthday

I am finally sitting down for the first time today with nothing to do but go to bed. YAAAY! It was a good day, but I am definitely worn out. We had school the first part of the day, but then after lunch was all about getting ready for the party this afternoon--making pizzas, taking pictures, opening presents, cooking more food, going to the playplace, doing dinner, reading new books, and cleaning up. It was a bit crazy. The playplace at the mall was entirely my responsibility since I was alone with the kids except for a two mall workers, but thankfully it went better than expected. Our kids were the only ones there, and we only had a few bumps and scrapes and one genuine scare (do not stick your face on the giant inflatable castle kids, you can't breathe when you do), but even then everything was ok without need for medical treatment. A few things to deal with, but all in all it wasn't bad, and I was allowed in the playscape since there weren't any other kids. Water was a bit tricky, but my little translators helped out and it all worked out. Christopher (and Kimberley, and Valbona, and David) all liked Connect Four--I'm saving the other part of what I was going to give the kids for an early Christmas gift so that I don't need to send something from America. I honestly think Valbona was just as excited about Connect Four as Christopher, so that's good, because it will give them something to do together.

Had a good talk with David tonight while cleaning up, so that was good: hopefully I managed to be encouraging. Boiler leaked again this afternoon, but its shutoff valve now works, so not as much water went crazy.

Going to bed now because I'm tired!! Hope all is well with all of you.

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

An otherwise uneventful weekend has been rather interesting. I know I said I would get my update done this weekend, however we've had some interesting difficulties that rendered me rather busy. Last night, we came home from service in Spital and I was going to go wash my dishes, do my update, and go to bed early since I wasn't feeling well. None of that happened, however.
When I came in the building I could hear the sound of water rushing in the church, which would seem odd except the boiler had broken there the other day and water gushed out all over the place when it happened, so I assumed that was the problem again. When I got to my room, water had apparently been rushing for awhile--my entire bathroom and bedroom were covered in water about a half an inch deep. I frantically pulled everything off the floor, and most of it is dry now. It took us quite some time to get the water out of my room and into the bathroom, and then once it was fixed the boiler had leaked again, so we had more to clean. But, finally all of the floor was dry and I managed to get my room into some semblance of order. So, yes, it's an excuse, but it was a pretty busy night. And, this is the second time it's done it--Thursday night the same thing happened, just with less water.