This was a beautiful month. The weather got a bit colder, but not really that cold. As the days grew shorter more and more of our students where focused on staying in.
Come Before Winter:
We traveled to Tirana in the beginning of the month, because Allison was given another opportunity to participate in “Come Before Winter.” This was the bible training and encouragement program she attended in Bosnia earlier this year. Allison joined a group from Tirana and had the pleasure of studying Philippians from Katherine Alexander for three days on Mount Dajti. It was such a blessing to review methods of exegesis and to spend time in the word of God with some amazing ladies. The weather was so warm it felt like spring, not like the beginning of winter. The ladies studied a weeks worth of materials in three long days. It was exhausting and refreshing the same time. The idea was to teach these methods to native speakers so they can teach other women about in-depth bible study. Allison felt so blessed to have had the chance to go, and she has begun a class on the book of Mark to teach some of the ladies, who are attending worship, what she learned.
Movie Night:
We had originally planned to have the WEI Challenge (a competition using materials from the WEI basic course) on Saturday, November 28, but this is a national holiday and many of our students were traveling with there families. If a national holiday falls on the weekend in Albania, Monday is a day off school. We decided instead to have a movie night. We watched “The Ultimate Gift,” a movie based on a novel by Jim Stovall. It turned out to be a very successful night. There were about thirty in attendance. The interesting part came when we started the movie and the power went out. We had copied Christmas songs in Albanian and English in case this would happen, so we passed them out and taught three songs. Then we played charades. After forty-five minutes the power came on and we began the movie. It was a big hit.
Thanksgiving:
We invited some of those who attend church over to our home for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a really blessed time. We made chickens (turkeys are too skinny and too expensive), stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies and pumpkin pie (this was from a squash that looked like a pumpkin and tasted the same). The nicest part of the evening was when we all shared what we were thankful for and had a prayer of thanksgiving. It is easy to get so caught up in the food preparations that this part is left out. All of our students kept asking what this holiday was all about, and we explained that it was a time to thank God for all he had blessed us with. It was a good day and we felt a bit less homesick.
Our travels:
On December 19 we will be traveling to the US for a month long world wind tour. This will include stops in Wisconsin and California to visit our families. We will also be visiting our sponsoring congregation in Maryville, Tennessee and one of our supporting congregations in Killen, Alabama. Lastly, we will be attending the Albania-Romania Workshop in Virginia. If you would like more information about specific dates we will be happy to share our schedule with you.
Prayer Request:
Our Travels: Please pray for our travels and more importantly the group that meets in Korca. We will have preachers visiting from other parts of Albania in our absence.
Rosa: Continue to keep Rosa in your prayers. She has been struggling a lot lately.
Ritvan: His father in law passed away this month with means that he did not attend for a couple of weeks. He is still a new Christian and is struggling with sharing his faith with others.
Alket: Alket is a longtime Christian in the church in Korca, but when he went to pursue his masters in Tirana, he has not been attending there. He did come to worship and lead songs when he was on college break. Please pray that his school work does not get in the way of his spiritual life.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Friday, December 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Newsletter October 2008
This month we got our wood for the winter and a wood stove for the school. With concrete walls and tile floors, it can get a bit chilly. We are grateful that the cold weather at the beginning of the month did not continue, and we have only had to light a few fires.
Men’s Day:
On Saturday, October 18, Kevin traveled with Virgil Mitka, from the church in Pogradec, to the National Men’s day in Durres. This year the Adriatic Church hosted the event. It was so nice to see brothers from many different cities and to renew friendships. These events are always a big blessing.
Visit to Tirana:
On Sunday October 19, we visited the church in Tirana. We had promised Aurora that we would visit the church with her and introduce her to some of the members. Aurora is now a college student in Tirana. She was baptized in February, but this was only the second service that she has attended because her home in Erseika is over an hour from Korca. She really seemed to enjoy herself. We also had a coffee with some of the members so that she could get to know them a bit better. We are praying that her family will allow her to attend. Aurora is now living with relatives in Tirana and cannot make many decisions for herself. Her family is Muslim, and she shared with us how difficult it was for her to become a Christian. Three Sundays have passed since our visit and she has not attended again. We are praying she is allowed to come and that she will not get to busy from school work to attend.
Visitors:
We were blessed by the visit of Ajald Celmata, Arlind and Besmir Veshti. These brothers traveled from Durres after the Men’s day to help with Sunday service on October 19. These men helped with preaching, song leading and other responsibilities in worship while we were in Tirana. They came Saturday night, and we had the pleasure of showing them around Korca before we left for Tirana Sunday morning. It is so nice to have visitors even for such a short time. We have known Ajald for six years; he was a member of the body in Durres when we moved to Durres in 2002. It has been wonderful to see him grow and mature in the Lord.
Fun Day:
Eva Balla, the English teacher who works with us, planned a fun day for her beginning English students. There were about 50 students who ranged in age from 11 to 18 (the older students were busy with family activities). Activities included a cooking contest, a quiz show, and various other games. This activity was so well received that we hope to have an activity like this for our students as well.
Prayer Requests:
Please keep Rosa in your prayers. She is having a very difficult time finding a job and this is making her very depressed. She has been working full-time since she was about 15 and it has become part of her identity. Losing her job was loosing part of herself. On a positive note, she spends some of her free time reading her bible. Also pray for her son Eddie. He has lost his will to work. Since he left prison in June, he has begun and left over five different jobs. Unfortunately, Eddie never got a college education, and he does not like manual labor. His new wife is supporting the family with her income as a seamstress, and it is causing a lot of stress in the family. Pray that Eddie will have a desire to work and to know more about God. His initial interest in spiritual matters has gone way. His wife Eleina is very interested and attends church when she is not working, but he has never attended.
Please also pray for church growth and male interest. In Albania like most places people want to join groups that are big. Also they like to come with friends. Because we have lost our two male members, who could attend in the morning, to moves we are having trouble encouraging other males to come to a church that is mostly female. We are very pleased with the ladies who are attending though, three of whom are Muslim but definitely on their way to becoming Christians.
Please pray for Ola, she is one of the young ladies who attends. Her family is Muslim, and she wants to become a Christian but her mother does not want her to change religions. She has been attending the church for years and has been Allison’s translator for children’s bible class for over a year. We do not want to create a road block between her and her parents. Please pray that her parents will consent.
Praise the Lord:
Our Albanian is improving, and we are feeling more comfortable using it. Some days are harder than others, but we are also having more “aha” moments. We know that there will always be people who cannot understand us, but more people are moving into the other category.
To see new pictures from this month go to:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures.html
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Men’s Day:
On Saturday, October 18, Kevin traveled with Virgil Mitka, from the church in Pogradec, to the National Men’s day in Durres. This year the Adriatic Church hosted the event. It was so nice to see brothers from many different cities and to renew friendships. These events are always a big blessing.
Visit to Tirana:
On Sunday October 19, we visited the church in Tirana. We had promised Aurora that we would visit the church with her and introduce her to some of the members. Aurora is now a college student in Tirana. She was baptized in February, but this was only the second service that she has attended because her home in Erseika is over an hour from Korca. She really seemed to enjoy herself. We also had a coffee with some of the members so that she could get to know them a bit better. We are praying that her family will allow her to attend. Aurora is now living with relatives in Tirana and cannot make many decisions for herself. Her family is Muslim, and she shared with us how difficult it was for her to become a Christian. Three Sundays have passed since our visit and she has not attended again. We are praying she is allowed to come and that she will not get to busy from school work to attend.
Visitors:
We were blessed by the visit of Ajald Celmata, Arlind and Besmir Veshti. These brothers traveled from Durres after the Men’s day to help with Sunday service on October 19. These men helped with preaching, song leading and other responsibilities in worship while we were in Tirana. They came Saturday night, and we had the pleasure of showing them around Korca before we left for Tirana Sunday morning. It is so nice to have visitors even for such a short time. We have known Ajald for six years; he was a member of the body in Durres when we moved to Durres in 2002. It has been wonderful to see him grow and mature in the Lord.
Fun Day:
Eva Balla, the English teacher who works with us, planned a fun day for her beginning English students. There were about 50 students who ranged in age from 11 to 18 (the older students were busy with family activities). Activities included a cooking contest, a quiz show, and various other games. This activity was so well received that we hope to have an activity like this for our students as well.
Prayer Requests:
Please keep Rosa in your prayers. She is having a very difficult time finding a job and this is making her very depressed. She has been working full-time since she was about 15 and it has become part of her identity. Losing her job was loosing part of herself. On a positive note, she spends some of her free time reading her bible. Also pray for her son Eddie. He has lost his will to work. Since he left prison in June, he has begun and left over five different jobs. Unfortunately, Eddie never got a college education, and he does not like manual labor. His new wife is supporting the family with her income as a seamstress, and it is causing a lot of stress in the family. Pray that Eddie will have a desire to work and to know more about God. His initial interest in spiritual matters has gone way. His wife Eleina is very interested and attends church when she is not working, but he has never attended.
Please also pray for church growth and male interest. In Albania like most places people want to join groups that are big. Also they like to come with friends. Because we have lost our two male members, who could attend in the morning, to moves we are having trouble encouraging other males to come to a church that is mostly female. We are very pleased with the ladies who are attending though, three of whom are Muslim but definitely on their way to becoming Christians.
Please pray for Ola, she is one of the young ladies who attends. Her family is Muslim, and she wants to become a Christian but her mother does not want her to change religions. She has been attending the church for years and has been Allison’s translator for children’s bible class for over a year. We do not want to create a road block between her and her parents. Please pray that her parents will consent.
Praise the Lord:
Our Albanian is improving, and we are feeling more comfortable using it. Some days are harder than others, but we are also having more “aha” moments. We know that there will always be people who cannot understand us, but more people are moving into the other category.
To see new pictures from this month go to:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures.html
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Newsletter September 2008
This month saw the end of summer vacation and the beginning of the new school year. Our summer campaign was over so we took on new students from the summer. The first two weeks of the month were quite busy because we were teaching our old and new students and everyone wanted to get as many hours in as they could before the school year began. We are actually the opposite of our students: when they are in school, we have more free time. When school began on September 15, most of our teaching hours moved to the afternoon, which gave us time to catch up on things we had neglected around the house. Because most activities just take longer here, it was nice to have some time again to run errands, pay bills and cook meals. We make everything from scratch by necessity, so it is not uncommon to spend two or three hours in the kitchen for a meal.
The weather is getting colder so we, like most people in Korca, have winter on our minds. We brought our wood stove in from the balcony and have prepared for our wood to be delivered. The days are getting shorter. When it gets cold, many families stay in around the fire and do not venture out after dark.
Movie Night:
We had a movie night to celebrate the end of the summer holiday with our students. We wanted to watch another Veggie Tale but all of them seemed to have the same problem of pixilation when projected, so we watched “Nanny McPhee” instead. The students all seemed to like it. We hope to continue activities even during the winter months.
Albanian Leaders/Workers’ meeting:
On September 13, Kevin and Virgil Mitka from the church in Pogradec, attended a meeting in Lushnje. It was a wonderful meeting with preachers and members from many churches in Albania. The meeting focused on James chapter 4 and talked about possibilities for starting a new youth camp in Albania. These meetings are a real blessing and encouragement for us to see fellow workers from all over Albania. There was added an blessing for Kevin to get to spend time with Virgil and talk about the work in Pogradec. Allison usually attends with Kevin but was recovering from a bad cold, so she stayed home.
Vacation:
After an action packed summer and the first two weeks of September, we were exhausted. We thought it was best to take a few days and celebrate our wedding anniversary and Allison’s 30th birthday, so we went to Greece. We took a bus to Thessalonica. This was made a little interesting by a strike of the Greek boarder police, but we did finally get across the boarder and to Thessalonica. This is usually a four-hour bus trip but took about 8 hours. We saw a lot of the Greek countryside because the bus was by no means direct. After spending the night in Thessalonica, we took a bus to Kavala. The Apostle Paul entered this port when he visited Philippi. We stayed three days in Kavala before returning to Albania. The weather was nice and we were blessed with sunshine. We had time to relax and spent a day at the archeological site of Philippi about 45 minutes from Kavala. This was very interesting. Living in Albania, we have seen many ancient walls, amphitheaters, Roman baths etc. but it was truly amazing to be in a place described in the Bible. On our return to Albania, we took a few hours to look around Thessalonica before our bus left. This new city is built over the old city so there are not as many visible ruins. We were able to see a Roman bath, amphitheater, and some other building. We also got to eat at a Chinese buffet. It was a nice change of pace. Over all it was a nice and relaxing trip and we returned to Albania refreshed. The boarder police strike had ended the day before we left to return home, so we spent only an hour at the boarder that time.
Prayer Requests:
Students- Please continue to pray for the summer/school year transition for students. Also pray that our students will have the desire to attend worship.
Rosa- Rosa was given notice at her job. She had been working as a dishwasher at the local university. The kitchen was privatized an all of the workers lost there jobs. Please pray for the family as she is looking for a new job.
Albanian Language- Pray for us in the month of October, as we will begin Albanian language study again after a summer off. We have learned so much but still have so much to learn.
Thank you so much for continuing to read our newsletters we really appreciate your partnership in our work. Your prayer helps us so much.
Campaign:
If you are interested in helping us with our work, we always love fellow workers. It is not too early to start thinking about next summer. Extra teachers are great anytime of the year. If you are interested in working with us next summer or another time of the year, please send us an e-mail and we can give you further information.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some pictures from this month. You can access pictures at: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures If you click on the word “details” above the picture, there is more information on many of the pictures.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
The weather is getting colder so we, like most people in Korca, have winter on our minds. We brought our wood stove in from the balcony and have prepared for our wood to be delivered. The days are getting shorter. When it gets cold, many families stay in around the fire and do not venture out after dark.
Movie Night:
We had a movie night to celebrate the end of the summer holiday with our students. We wanted to watch another Veggie Tale but all of them seemed to have the same problem of pixilation when projected, so we watched “Nanny McPhee” instead. The students all seemed to like it. We hope to continue activities even during the winter months.
Albanian Leaders/Workers’ meeting:
On September 13, Kevin and Virgil Mitka from the church in Pogradec, attended a meeting in Lushnje. It was a wonderful meeting with preachers and members from many churches in Albania. The meeting focused on James chapter 4 and talked about possibilities for starting a new youth camp in Albania. These meetings are a real blessing and encouragement for us to see fellow workers from all over Albania. There was added an blessing for Kevin to get to spend time with Virgil and talk about the work in Pogradec. Allison usually attends with Kevin but was recovering from a bad cold, so she stayed home.
Vacation:
After an action packed summer and the first two weeks of September, we were exhausted. We thought it was best to take a few days and celebrate our wedding anniversary and Allison’s 30th birthday, so we went to Greece. We took a bus to Thessalonica. This was made a little interesting by a strike of the Greek boarder police, but we did finally get across the boarder and to Thessalonica. This is usually a four-hour bus trip but took about 8 hours. We saw a lot of the Greek countryside because the bus was by no means direct. After spending the night in Thessalonica, we took a bus to Kavala. The Apostle Paul entered this port when he visited Philippi. We stayed three days in Kavala before returning to Albania. The weather was nice and we were blessed with sunshine. We had time to relax and spent a day at the archeological site of Philippi about 45 minutes from Kavala. This was very interesting. Living in Albania, we have seen many ancient walls, amphitheaters, Roman baths etc. but it was truly amazing to be in a place described in the Bible. On our return to Albania, we took a few hours to look around Thessalonica before our bus left. This new city is built over the old city so there are not as many visible ruins. We were able to see a Roman bath, amphitheater, and some other building. We also got to eat at a Chinese buffet. It was a nice change of pace. Over all it was a nice and relaxing trip and we returned to Albania refreshed. The boarder police strike had ended the day before we left to return home, so we spent only an hour at the boarder that time.
Prayer Requests:
Students- Please continue to pray for the summer/school year transition for students. Also pray that our students will have the desire to attend worship.
Rosa- Rosa was given notice at her job. She had been working as a dishwasher at the local university. The kitchen was privatized an all of the workers lost there jobs. Please pray for the family as she is looking for a new job.
Albanian Language- Pray for us in the month of October, as we will begin Albanian language study again after a summer off. We have learned so much but still have so much to learn.
Thank you so much for continuing to read our newsletters we really appreciate your partnership in our work. Your prayer helps us so much.
Campaign:
If you are interested in helping us with our work, we always love fellow workers. It is not too early to start thinking about next summer. Extra teachers are great anytime of the year. If you are interested in working with us next summer or another time of the year, please send us an e-mail and we can give you further information.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some pictures from this month. You can access pictures at: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures If you click on the word “details” above the picture, there is more information on many of the pictures.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Newsletter August 2008
This was a very eventful month. Every day was filled with students and every weekend filled with activities. Many of these activities seem like so long ago. We are sorry it has taken so long to share, but our first two weeks in September were very busy with transition from campaign. Now we have made the transition from our summer to our school schedules and have a bit more time. Everyone here is preparing for the winter: getting wood, buying onions, making pasta, pickling vegetables, and making jam. Although these events seem so long ago, we are happy to see and wanted to share how God blessed us through the month of August.
Roger Michael:
Roger Michael left Albania to return to the US on August 2nd . He is always such a great help to us and we will miss him. He knows so many people in Korca as he has been working here for more than ten years. We are always blessed when he is here to work with us. He will be returning to Albania in January of 2009. He usually spends about six months of the year in the states and six months in Albania.
Movie Night:
On August 7th we had a movie night for our WEI students. We projected the Veggie Tale movie “Jonah” on one of the walls of our school. We were getting a bit nervous that day because we had a power outage all day (in fact, our power situation has greatly improved and this outage was a real surprise), but wonderfully the power came back in time for the movie. There were about 20 students in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Mother Daughter Tea:
Lizz Schallert and Danah Nelson organized a mother daughter tea for our students. We had food, games, and a devotional thought from Lizz. The evening was very successful and there were about 30 in attendance. We hope that is the beginning of further parent child activities. We really want to get to know the parents as well as their children.
Kamela:
About a month ago Diana and Allison began working with Kamela, a little girl from the neighborhood, who is going into third grade and is illiterate. Kamela had been attending Sunday morning kids’ class, and really needed some help. Our hope was to help the family and to encourage Kamela’s family to learn more about God as well. Kamela’s mother and sister attended ladies bible class on Wednesday August 20th and we hope that this can become a habit. Kamela’s mother is very busy, but she seemed to really like it. We do not know if Kamela will continue learning, but we will put forth our best effort.
Tom and Pat:
We were blessed to have a visit from Tom and Pat England during the last two weeks of this month. They are such wonderful people from our sponsoring church in Maryville, Tennessee. Pat and Tom were that final teachers for our summer campaign. We enjoyed spending time with them and they were a big help with students.
Bible Bowl:
On August 29, a group of three students from the church traveled to the annual bible bowl in Durres. Interestingly, of the three only one professes to be a Christian, Eri Pellumbi, and the other two are Muslims who are searching, Bruna Coti, and Ola Semija. Eri Pellumbi is a student at the Bible Institute of Albania and was home on summer vacation. Ola and Bruna have been attending church regularly and Ola has been translating for children’s class for over a year. The group went a day early so we could get settled and spend so time with the church in Durres. We met them in Durres because we were in Tirana dropping Pat and Tom off at the airport. We attended the teen class together and the students stayed at the home of Suela Kurti, a wonderful Christian from the church in Durres, who works as a secretary and teacher there. We have the opportunity to spend the night at Cimi and Anila Kafexhiu's home and meet with some other Christians from the church.
The team from Korca took first place in the team competition which was really encouraging for the group and Eri Pellumbi tied for first in the individual competition.
We were very proud of this group. They worked very hard including multiple four-hour study sessions during the week before the competition. They are self starters so we did not need to help much in their studies. Lizz had illustrated the chapters of Luke to have some pictures to remember and place with each chapter, and Kevin found bible quizzes on the internet and we helped the students study and translate them. Allison worked as a fourth member of the team in competition, but she was only really there for moral support; every other team had four members and we had three. The students answered the questions so quickly Allison couldn’t always keep up on the Albanian. We pray that Ola and Bruna will make the decision to become Christians. They are very hard workers and have wonderful hearts.
Prayer Requests:
Transition from Campaign- It is always a challenge to transition from teacher to teacher and summer to school schedules. Please pray that this transition continues to be a smooth one.
Church Growth/ Male Leadership- Please continue to pray for the church to grow in faith and numbers. We will loose another male member this month, Alket will be leaving Korca to pursue a master’s degree in Business. He will find out this week if he will be studying in the capital Tirana or in Italy. This is a big blow to the church because Alket was the only male Albanian Christian who was able to meet with us on Sunday mornings. This puts many of the leadership responsibilities on Kevin’s shoulders.
Edi- Edi (Rosa’s son pronounced Eddie) got married at the end of this month. We hope that this will begin a new chapter of his life since his release from prison in June. He has talked to us about his struggle to remain drug free in the midst of many temptations. We have continued our weekly visits to Rosa’s home. Rosa has told Edi and Elena (Edi's new wife) that all she wants is for them to follow God’s way. Elena has been attending worship and helping with children’s classes for the past three weeks. We hope that this will continue and that Edi will want to come with her. Unfortunately, we have trouble getting entire families to attend together. Right now we have three wives that are attending without their husbands.
Eva- Eva is a teacher who helps us teach beginning students. She is not a Christian and is not currently attending worship. She is very interested in new ideas and is currently studying through a book that we had on the gospel of John. She is a real student. We were blessed have so many wonderful campaigners who shared their faith with her. This made a real impact. It was nice to her to meet Christians of various ages and walks of life. We pray that she will continue to grow in her interest and knowledge of God’s word.
Pictures:
We have made more changes to our website. We hope you like them. You can access pictures at: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures If you click on the word “details” above the picture, there is more information on many of the pictures.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Roger Michael:
Roger Michael left Albania to return to the US on August 2nd . He is always such a great help to us and we will miss him. He knows so many people in Korca as he has been working here for more than ten years. We are always blessed when he is here to work with us. He will be returning to Albania in January of 2009. He usually spends about six months of the year in the states and six months in Albania.
Movie Night:
On August 7th we had a movie night for our WEI students. We projected the Veggie Tale movie “Jonah” on one of the walls of our school. We were getting a bit nervous that day because we had a power outage all day (in fact, our power situation has greatly improved and this outage was a real surprise), but wonderfully the power came back in time for the movie. There were about 20 students in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Mother Daughter Tea:
Lizz Schallert and Danah Nelson organized a mother daughter tea for our students. We had food, games, and a devotional thought from Lizz. The evening was very successful and there were about 30 in attendance. We hope that is the beginning of further parent child activities. We really want to get to know the parents as well as their children.
Kamela:
About a month ago Diana and Allison began working with Kamela, a little girl from the neighborhood, who is going into third grade and is illiterate. Kamela had been attending Sunday morning kids’ class, and really needed some help. Our hope was to help the family and to encourage Kamela’s family to learn more about God as well. Kamela’s mother and sister attended ladies bible class on Wednesday August 20th and we hope that this can become a habit. Kamela’s mother is very busy, but she seemed to really like it. We do not know if Kamela will continue learning, but we will put forth our best effort.
Tom and Pat:
We were blessed to have a visit from Tom and Pat England during the last two weeks of this month. They are such wonderful people from our sponsoring church in Maryville, Tennessee. Pat and Tom were that final teachers for our summer campaign. We enjoyed spending time with them and they were a big help with students.
Bible Bowl:
On August 29, a group of three students from the church traveled to the annual bible bowl in Durres. Interestingly, of the three only one professes to be a Christian, Eri Pellumbi, and the other two are Muslims who are searching, Bruna Coti, and Ola Semija. Eri Pellumbi is a student at the Bible Institute of Albania and was home on summer vacation. Ola and Bruna have been attending church regularly and Ola has been translating for children’s class for over a year. The group went a day early so we could get settled and spend so time with the church in Durres. We met them in Durres because we were in Tirana dropping Pat and Tom off at the airport. We attended the teen class together and the students stayed at the home of Suela Kurti, a wonderful Christian from the church in Durres, who works as a secretary and teacher there. We have the opportunity to spend the night at Cimi and Anila Kafexhiu's home and meet with some other Christians from the church.
The team from Korca took first place in the team competition which was really encouraging for the group and Eri Pellumbi tied for first in the individual competition.
We were very proud of this group. They worked very hard including multiple four-hour study sessions during the week before the competition. They are self starters so we did not need to help much in their studies. Lizz had illustrated the chapters of Luke to have some pictures to remember and place with each chapter, and Kevin found bible quizzes on the internet and we helped the students study and translate them. Allison worked as a fourth member of the team in competition, but she was only really there for moral support; every other team had four members and we had three. The students answered the questions so quickly Allison couldn’t always keep up on the Albanian. We pray that Ola and Bruna will make the decision to become Christians. They are very hard workers and have wonderful hearts.
Prayer Requests:
Transition from Campaign- It is always a challenge to transition from teacher to teacher and summer to school schedules. Please pray that this transition continues to be a smooth one.
Church Growth/ Male Leadership- Please continue to pray for the church to grow in faith and numbers. We will loose another male member this month, Alket will be leaving Korca to pursue a master’s degree in Business. He will find out this week if he will be studying in the capital Tirana or in Italy. This is a big blow to the church because Alket was the only male Albanian Christian who was able to meet with us on Sunday mornings. This puts many of the leadership responsibilities on Kevin’s shoulders.
Edi- Edi (Rosa’s son pronounced Eddie) got married at the end of this month. We hope that this will begin a new chapter of his life since his release from prison in June. He has talked to us about his struggle to remain drug free in the midst of many temptations. We have continued our weekly visits to Rosa’s home. Rosa has told Edi and Elena (Edi's new wife) that all she wants is for them to follow God’s way. Elena has been attending worship and helping with children’s classes for the past three weeks. We hope that this will continue and that Edi will want to come with her. Unfortunately, we have trouble getting entire families to attend together. Right now we have three wives that are attending without their husbands.
Eva- Eva is a teacher who helps us teach beginning students. She is not a Christian and is not currently attending worship. She is very interested in new ideas and is currently studying through a book that we had on the gospel of John. She is a real student. We were blessed have so many wonderful campaigners who shared their faith with her. This made a real impact. It was nice to her to meet Christians of various ages and walks of life. We pray that she will continue to grow in her interest and knowledge of God’s word.
Pictures:
We have made more changes to our website. We hope you like them. You can access pictures at: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures If you click on the word “details” above the picture, there is more information on many of the pictures.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Friday, August 22, 2008
Newsletter July 2008
This was a very eventful month. Every day was filled with activity.
The 4th of July:
It is hard to be away from home on holidays and the fourth was no exception. We decided to celebrate the fourth with a small party and fireworks. Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson, who were here on campaign, came over as well as Roger Michael. We had hamburgers, baked beans, American potato salad and watched a movie about baseball. We lit off some fireworks that we had saved from New Years Eve. Diana Xhuleku, one of the Christians here, came over for the fireworks. She had never seen them set-off before or bought them for herself, so she was really excited. We also got to talk to our families back home. It made us feel a little less homesick.
Sarah and Ginger:
Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson also worked with us for the first two weeks of this month. They were great with their students and made some wonderful bonds with them. It was wonderful to have 5 workers teaching at one time. This was one of our goals for the campaign: to reach as many families as possible and to make real connections with them. The week that Sarah and Ginger departed we had a small going away party for them and those that attended seem to really enjoy themselves.
Danah Nelson's Arrival:
Danah Nelson arrived in Korca on July 13th. We were blessed that she chose to come our way. This was her eighth visit to Albania, but her first time on this side of the country. She is very familiar with the WEI materials. She also knows some Albanian from her visits which add up to almost a year in country.
Artan Xhaferi and family:
On Saturday July 19th, Artan Xhaferi, a Christian working with the church in Tirana, came to Korca to visit his wife's family and the church. We were truly blessed on Sunday the 20th when Artan preached. He also brought over 10 visitors. This would be an amazing number for any small church, but since we are averaging anywhere from 4-10 on a Sunday it was even more amazing. We love to hear preaching in Albanian by an Albanian preacher. We are praying for an Albanian preacher to work with us.
Lizz Schaller’s Arrival:
Lizz Schallert came to Korca with the Xhaferi family. She is a 20-year-old college student who loves getting to know people. This is her first time in Albania so many things are new. It has been nice to have someone to help us work with the youth and of course to help us teach WEI.
Two visits:
Because our campaigners are here for a short time we wanted them to get to see some of the beauty and tourist attractions around us. Two of the most famous villages around us are Voskopoja (Vo-sko-poi-a) and Dardha (Dar-tha). Both villages are about an hour away from Korca, but in different directions. They are famous for different reasons: Voskopoja is famous for having churches with murals from the 13-18 centuries and Dardha famous for unspoiled beauty and slate roofed houses. Allison has students from both of these villages, so we thought we could kill two birds with one stone: see the villages and visit these families. We visited Voskopoja two times, the first time was with Sarah, Ginger, Kevin’s student Sedat and his wife Natasha. The next time was with Danah Nelson. On both trips to Voskopoja, we were able to see Allison’s students and eat at their family’s hotel. This was the first time we were able to meet their parents because they do not leave the hotel often.
On July 26th, we visited Dardha with Lizz. Allison’s student Florjana worked as a tour guide, taking us through the hills and showing us important attractions. We also got to pick rigon (wild marjoram) which is used a lot in Albanian cuisine. Both trips were so much fun because we got to spend time talking with our students’ families and see where they live.
Our dog:
On July 10, we decided to take in a stray puppy, who had been sleeping under our vehicle for about a week. We named him Samwise after the character in the Lord of the Rings. You may be wondering why we would put getting a dog in a newsletter about our work. In fact, this dog has had an interesting impact. He has worked as a bridge to talk to people on the street including many of our neighbors who we see everyday but have never talked with. In addition, our students have loved playing with him. He had helped us to settle a little more in the community. Unfortunately, he got sick. He had a malignant tumor that could not be cured by surgery. Then, he developed epilepsy from an infection that went to his brain. We had to put him to sleep on August 14th. We are grateful that God blessed us with him for a short time.
Teen Class:
We keep trying to see what will work in Korca. In the past, people have not been very interested in coming to extra classes. We decided to try a teen class again. Every year the church in Durres has a bible bowl and we thought that working and studying for this might be a good way to try to start the teen class again. Eri Pellumbi, a student from the Bible school in Durres has been a big help with this class. The first class had 10 in attendance. We will see what will happen over time. The ten has dwindled down to 2 because of vacations and commitments but we hope this number will grow again.
Pictures:
We have made some changes to our gallery this month (http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html). We will be posting the old photos again. However, we wanted some input on the format. If you like the new look let us know, if you think it needs to be improved please give us some ideas of programs that you like. We want this to be an easy and fun way to “see” the work.
Prayer Requests:
-Rosa and Edi- We have been visiting Rosa as often as we can, and she always wants to hear Kevin’s Sunday lesson. Her son Edi has also enjoyed hearing it. Please pray that we can impact them through our relationship.
-Other classes- We have really found it difficult to start Bible classes that are above and beyond our WEI lessons. Please pray that we will have wisdom in this.
-Students- Please pray that the contacts that we are making will be good for the kingdom.
Praise:
Thank you for your prayers for Diana and Ridvan. Diana is growing by leaps and bounds. She wants to read everything we have, and she is a great example, and encouragement to us. Ridvan has been attending consistently, but it is difficult because his father-in-law is dying of lung cancer. We keep praying that his wife will want to attend.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
The 4th of July:
It is hard to be away from home on holidays and the fourth was no exception. We decided to celebrate the fourth with a small party and fireworks. Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson, who were here on campaign, came over as well as Roger Michael. We had hamburgers, baked beans, American potato salad and watched a movie about baseball. We lit off some fireworks that we had saved from New Years Eve. Diana Xhuleku, one of the Christians here, came over for the fireworks. She had never seen them set-off before or bought them for herself, so she was really excited. We also got to talk to our families back home. It made us feel a little less homesick.
Sarah and Ginger:
Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson also worked with us for the first two weeks of this month. They were great with their students and made some wonderful bonds with them. It was wonderful to have 5 workers teaching at one time. This was one of our goals for the campaign: to reach as many families as possible and to make real connections with them. The week that Sarah and Ginger departed we had a small going away party for them and those that attended seem to really enjoy themselves.
Danah Nelson's Arrival:
Danah Nelson arrived in Korca on July 13th. We were blessed that she chose to come our way. This was her eighth visit to Albania, but her first time on this side of the country. She is very familiar with the WEI materials. She also knows some Albanian from her visits which add up to almost a year in country.
Artan Xhaferi and family:
On Saturday July 19th, Artan Xhaferi, a Christian working with the church in Tirana, came to Korca to visit his wife's family and the church. We were truly blessed on Sunday the 20th when Artan preached. He also brought over 10 visitors. This would be an amazing number for any small church, but since we are averaging anywhere from 4-10 on a Sunday it was even more amazing. We love to hear preaching in Albanian by an Albanian preacher. We are praying for an Albanian preacher to work with us.
Lizz Schaller’s Arrival:
Lizz Schallert came to Korca with the Xhaferi family. She is a 20-year-old college student who loves getting to know people. This is her first time in Albania so many things are new. It has been nice to have someone to help us work with the youth and of course to help us teach WEI.
Two visits:
Because our campaigners are here for a short time we wanted them to get to see some of the beauty and tourist attractions around us. Two of the most famous villages around us are Voskopoja (Vo-sko-poi-a) and Dardha (Dar-tha). Both villages are about an hour away from Korca, but in different directions. They are famous for different reasons: Voskopoja is famous for having churches with murals from the 13-18 centuries and Dardha famous for unspoiled beauty and slate roofed houses. Allison has students from both of these villages, so we thought we could kill two birds with one stone: see the villages and visit these families. We visited Voskopoja two times, the first time was with Sarah, Ginger, Kevin’s student Sedat and his wife Natasha. The next time was with Danah Nelson. On both trips to Voskopoja, we were able to see Allison’s students and eat at their family’s hotel. This was the first time we were able to meet their parents because they do not leave the hotel often.
On July 26th, we visited Dardha with Lizz. Allison’s student Florjana worked as a tour guide, taking us through the hills and showing us important attractions. We also got to pick rigon (wild marjoram) which is used a lot in Albanian cuisine. Both trips were so much fun because we got to spend time talking with our students’ families and see where they live.
Our dog:
On July 10, we decided to take in a stray puppy, who had been sleeping under our vehicle for about a week. We named him Samwise after the character in the Lord of the Rings. You may be wondering why we would put getting a dog in a newsletter about our work. In fact, this dog has had an interesting impact. He has worked as a bridge to talk to people on the street including many of our neighbors who we see everyday but have never talked with. In addition, our students have loved playing with him. He had helped us to settle a little more in the community. Unfortunately, he got sick. He had a malignant tumor that could not be cured by surgery. Then, he developed epilepsy from an infection that went to his brain. We had to put him to sleep on August 14th. We are grateful that God blessed us with him for a short time.
Teen Class:
We keep trying to see what will work in Korca. In the past, people have not been very interested in coming to extra classes. We decided to try a teen class again. Every year the church in Durres has a bible bowl and we thought that working and studying for this might be a good way to try to start the teen class again. Eri Pellumbi, a student from the Bible school in Durres has been a big help with this class. The first class had 10 in attendance. We will see what will happen over time. The ten has dwindled down to 2 because of vacations and commitments but we hope this number will grow again.
Pictures:
We have made some changes to our gallery this month (http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html). We will be posting the old photos again. However, we wanted some input on the format. If you like the new look let us know, if you think it needs to be improved please give us some ideas of programs that you like. We want this to be an easy and fun way to “see” the work.
Prayer Requests:
-Rosa and Edi- We have been visiting Rosa as often as we can, and she always wants to hear Kevin’s Sunday lesson. Her son Edi has also enjoyed hearing it. Please pray that we can impact them through our relationship.
-Other classes- We have really found it difficult to start Bible classes that are above and beyond our WEI lessons. Please pray that we will have wisdom in this.
-Students- Please pray that the contacts that we are making will be good for the kingdom.
Praise:
Thank you for your prayers for Diana and Ridvan. Diana is growing by leaps and bounds. She wants to read everything we have, and she is a great example, and encouragement to us. Ridvan has been attending consistently, but it is difficult because his father-in-law is dying of lung cancer. We keep praying that his wife will want to attend.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Newsletter June 2008
This was a wonderful and busy month. It began with a week of travel and Bible study. Then, a great meeting and the beginning of our summer campaign. God has been so good to us this month. It was a month of answered prayers.
Trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina:
This trip was planned and unplanned. Allison was fortunate enough to be accepted to participate in a retreat for missionary ladies. The “Come Before Winter” program is a marvelous one that Allison was blessed to be a part of once before. In October of 2002, she took part in a meeting in Florence, Italy. In April, Allison began the process of applying to attend the Come Before Winter that was to be held in Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was excited because a group of 12 was planning to go from Albania (Allison, Ellen Walker (Tirana), Ruth Byrne (Fiere), Deborah Stematis (International Bible Institute of Albania), and eight Albanian ladies from Durres and Tirana).
Deborah and Ruth had planned to fly, but the remainder of the group had planned to travel by van. A driver was found, prices were agreed upon, and a travel route was selected. Then the waiting process began; Albanians, you see, must have visas to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The week before they were scheduled to leave things seemed to be falling into place then they fell apart. All the Albanians were denied their visas; this, of course, included the van driver who had been submitted as part of the group.
Flying was out of the question as it would have cost about $600 for the tickets, plus hotels so that Allison and Ellen could arrive on time for the meeting. So, Kevin set about securing all of the papers to take our car outside of Albania. With two trips to the Albanian equivalent of the D.M.V. he acquired a “passport” for our car. A short trip to the insurance agent and we had a month of international insurance as well.
On Sunday June 2, shortly after worship, we left for Tirana. We stayed in Tirana resting and doing last minute odds and ends. Then, at one in the morning, we loaded Ellen’s things in the car and headed off into the night.
The drive was blissfully uneventful, in a good way, and we arrived in Jahoraina at 2:30 in the afternoon, half an hour before Allison and Ellen needed to arrive. Allison and Ellen enjoyed a week of fellowship and Bible study with ladies from all over the world; while Kevin enjoyed exploring Sarajevo, and some quiet time to himself to study and pray.
If you want to know more about our experiences, and believe me there is more to tell, visit our blogs:
Kevin www.kevin-morrill.blogspot.com
Allison www.allison-morrill.blogspot.com
A Wonderful Meeting:
On Saturday June 14, preachers and missionaries from all over Albania came to our home for a meeting. These meetings began about 6 months ago and take place about every two months. We were able to attend the last meeting in Elbasan in April and volunteered to host the next event. We were so happy to have more than 20 visitors: representatives from over five different cities. The theme of the meeting was “What Works in Your City?” Another encouraging aspect was the singing and praying with the brothers who are working for God like us. At the end of the meeting we had a fellowship meal with some of the members of the church in Korca. It was a blessed day.
Visitors:
Ruth and Steve Byrne missionaries in Fier, Albania stayed with us the weekend of June 13-15. It was nice to be able to show them the work, and they were able to stay for worship on Sunday. It was such a blessing to have guests.
Eddie Released from Prison:
On June 11, Rosa’s son was released from prison. He has been serving a sentence for a drug related offence. We don’t know all the details and have heard conflicting stories about what exactly transpired, so we are enjoying getting to know Eddie with no expectations. He seems to be very nice, and we look forward to building our relationship with him.
This past Sunday we enjoyed lunch with Eddie and Rosa. It was nice to talk with Eddie and listen to his plans. He hopes to stay in Korca only as long as he has to for his probation then his hope is to live with his uncle in another city, Saranda, to start a new life. Eddie has been open to hearing about God and the Bible and we hope that we can encourage him to attend worship. Rosa said that if he attends she will come too.
Campaign Starts:
There was an overwhelming response this month to our television advertisement for the World English Institute Course. We were getting nervous when there was only one interview the first week but since then we have had interviews every day. It has been great to see the new faces. We are blessed to have two friends from college, Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson, here to work with us. Ginger and Sarah came in the middle of the month and will stay for three weeks. This has been great for our students and for us to have more workers. They have been an encouragement. It is so nice to have the building full with six teachers. There is so much energy. This has also been great because a few of the students come accompanied by parent and grandparents. This gives us a chance to make more contacts with people we do not know. Our Albanian has come in very handy.
Second Sunday Service:
We are trying to be flexible with our work and to listen to the specific needs of the members here. In fact, that was one of the major comments of the preacher’s meeting: don’t plan so much that there is no room for God to work. About a month ago, Ridvan one of the male members, had to take on a second job to make ends meet. This meant that he was going to have to work Sunday mornings. We did not have an evening service on Sunday, but we brought this idea up to him and he really liked it. His only request was that it be in English. So, on Sunday June 22, we began having two services: the morning service in Albanian and the evening in English. The members thought that this might also be a draw to bring some of our students to church for the first time. We will continue to be flexible to see who can come to each service and how that group as a whole can be best served.
Prayer Requests:
Thank you so much for being so diligent about praying for our specific requests. It is humbling to know so many people are praying for us as we serve God here. Our prayer requests for this month are:
Eddie- Pray that he will find a new life away from drugs and will not fall into old habits and that he will continue to be open to God’s word.
Rosa- Pray that she will be supportive of Eddie and that she will open her heart to God’s word.
Summer Campaign- We are being introduced to many students and their parents. Pray that we will have an impact on these new families and that some will want to know more about God.
Language Study- We do not want to seem like a broken record, but the more we know about the Albanian language the more we realize we need to learn. Your prayers have been helping. It is getting easier. We are taking the summer off from formal language study, but we have promised our Albanian teacher that we will write her essays for her to correct while we share coffee. This was the best for our summer schedule.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina:
This trip was planned and unplanned. Allison was fortunate enough to be accepted to participate in a retreat for missionary ladies. The “Come Before Winter” program is a marvelous one that Allison was blessed to be a part of once before. In October of 2002, she took part in a meeting in Florence, Italy. In April, Allison began the process of applying to attend the Come Before Winter that was to be held in Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was excited because a group of 12 was planning to go from Albania (Allison, Ellen Walker (Tirana), Ruth Byrne (Fiere), Deborah Stematis (International Bible Institute of Albania), and eight Albanian ladies from Durres and Tirana).
Deborah and Ruth had planned to fly, but the remainder of the group had planned to travel by van. A driver was found, prices were agreed upon, and a travel route was selected. Then the waiting process began; Albanians, you see, must have visas to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The week before they were scheduled to leave things seemed to be falling into place then they fell apart. All the Albanians were denied their visas; this, of course, included the van driver who had been submitted as part of the group.
Flying was out of the question as it would have cost about $600 for the tickets, plus hotels so that Allison and Ellen could arrive on time for the meeting. So, Kevin set about securing all of the papers to take our car outside of Albania. With two trips to the Albanian equivalent of the D.M.V. he acquired a “passport” for our car. A short trip to the insurance agent and we had a month of international insurance as well.
On Sunday June 2, shortly after worship, we left for Tirana. We stayed in Tirana resting and doing last minute odds and ends. Then, at one in the morning, we loaded Ellen’s things in the car and headed off into the night.
The drive was blissfully uneventful, in a good way, and we arrived in Jahoraina at 2:30 in the afternoon, half an hour before Allison and Ellen needed to arrive. Allison and Ellen enjoyed a week of fellowship and Bible study with ladies from all over the world; while Kevin enjoyed exploring Sarajevo, and some quiet time to himself to study and pray.
If you want to know more about our experiences, and believe me there is more to tell, visit our blogs:
Kevin www.kevin-morrill.blogspot.com
Allison www.allison-morrill.blogspot.com
A Wonderful Meeting:
On Saturday June 14, preachers and missionaries from all over Albania came to our home for a meeting. These meetings began about 6 months ago and take place about every two months. We were able to attend the last meeting in Elbasan in April and volunteered to host the next event. We were so happy to have more than 20 visitors: representatives from over five different cities. The theme of the meeting was “What Works in Your City?” Another encouraging aspect was the singing and praying with the brothers who are working for God like us. At the end of the meeting we had a fellowship meal with some of the members of the church in Korca. It was a blessed day.
Visitors:
Ruth and Steve Byrne missionaries in Fier, Albania stayed with us the weekend of June 13-15. It was nice to be able to show them the work, and they were able to stay for worship on Sunday. It was such a blessing to have guests.
Eddie Released from Prison:
On June 11, Rosa’s son was released from prison. He has been serving a sentence for a drug related offence. We don’t know all the details and have heard conflicting stories about what exactly transpired, so we are enjoying getting to know Eddie with no expectations. He seems to be very nice, and we look forward to building our relationship with him.
This past Sunday we enjoyed lunch with Eddie and Rosa. It was nice to talk with Eddie and listen to his plans. He hopes to stay in Korca only as long as he has to for his probation then his hope is to live with his uncle in another city, Saranda, to start a new life. Eddie has been open to hearing about God and the Bible and we hope that we can encourage him to attend worship. Rosa said that if he attends she will come too.
Campaign Starts:
There was an overwhelming response this month to our television advertisement for the World English Institute Course. We were getting nervous when there was only one interview the first week but since then we have had interviews every day. It has been great to see the new faces. We are blessed to have two friends from college, Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson, here to work with us. Ginger and Sarah came in the middle of the month and will stay for three weeks. This has been great for our students and for us to have more workers. They have been an encouragement. It is so nice to have the building full with six teachers. There is so much energy. This has also been great because a few of the students come accompanied by parent and grandparents. This gives us a chance to make more contacts with people we do not know. Our Albanian has come in very handy.
Second Sunday Service:
We are trying to be flexible with our work and to listen to the specific needs of the members here. In fact, that was one of the major comments of the preacher’s meeting: don’t plan so much that there is no room for God to work. About a month ago, Ridvan one of the male members, had to take on a second job to make ends meet. This meant that he was going to have to work Sunday mornings. We did not have an evening service on Sunday, but we brought this idea up to him and he really liked it. His only request was that it be in English. So, on Sunday June 22, we began having two services: the morning service in Albanian and the evening in English. The members thought that this might also be a draw to bring some of our students to church for the first time. We will continue to be flexible to see who can come to each service and how that group as a whole can be best served.
Prayer Requests:
Thank you so much for being so diligent about praying for our specific requests. It is humbling to know so many people are praying for us as we serve God here. Our prayer requests for this month are:
Eddie- Pray that he will find a new life away from drugs and will not fall into old habits and that he will continue to be open to God’s word.
Rosa- Pray that she will be supportive of Eddie and that she will open her heart to God’s word.
Summer Campaign- We are being introduced to many students and their parents. Pray that we will have an impact on these new families and that some will want to know more about God.
Language Study- We do not want to seem like a broken record, but the more we know about the Albanian language the more we realize we need to learn. Your prayers have been helping. It is getting easier. We are taking the summer off from formal language study, but we have promised our Albanian teacher that we will write her essays for her to correct while we share coffee. This was the best for our summer schedule.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Newsletter May 2008
Greetings, in the name of Jesus, from the workers and church in Korca, Albania! We are so thankful for your thoughts and prayers. The month of May was long, yet it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Here are just the highlights of our month.
Pogradec:
This certainly cannot qualify as a highlight, but it is a major event. The month of May saw the end of our scheduled teaching time in Pogradec. This is a decision that has come through great wrestling in prayer and many tears on our part.
We did not believe that either Pogradec or Korca was receiving a full portion of our time or abilities, and thus we were not giving the best that we could to God. Based on this we have consolidated or efforts and are now focusing on the work in Korca.
We will be continuing to work with some of our WEI students who live in Pogradec. The plan is for them to work on their own and call us when they either have finished a book or need to have some things explained in more detail. We will then plan a time to meet together so we can help them.
The church in Pogradec plans to continue meeting on a regular basis. They have decided to worship in the building that we were using for WEI lessons at least until the end of this year. We will continue to make visits to Pogradec and meet with the Christians there.
Lee and Artan Visit:
This was a great encouragement to the church as well as the workers here in Korca. Lee Allen, a member of the Maryville Church of Christ, told us he and Artan Xhaferi would visit Korca and that we should “plan a get together”. We set about telling our students and the church that he would visit and that he would like to meet as many of them as possible. We figured on twenty to forty people at the most. Imagine our surprise when between eighty and ninety people arrived to meet Lee and share pizza with us.
Lee addressed the crowd and we made several announcements about worship and WEI classes. In fact, one of the Christians, Alket, made an announcement about worship. This made us feel very good as Alket, though willing to lead singing and help with worship, is generally shy and quiet around large groups.
We want to extend a special thank you to Lee and Artan for their visit and encouragement. We especially want to lift Artan up as he jumped in and helped to ensure that everything ran as smoothly as possible. Without a doubt, he demonstrated his servant nature, and loving heart.
Anniversary of Mira’s Death:
Mira Meminaj was a member of the church here in Korca; she also worked as a translator and WEI teacher with Roger Michale and the Saltsmans. She was an amazing young lady that we had greatly anticipated working with. Tragically, she was accidentally electrocuted as she warmed up dinner at her home just a few months before we moved to Korca. We spend about three hours every Sunday with her mother Rosa, she seems to have taken us on as children and feels that we are a bright spot in her life. Mira did a wonderful job teaching her mother about Jesus, we only pray that she will find the power to act on what she knows to be true.
On Saturday the twenty-fourth of May we observed the one year anniversary of Mira’s death. This entailed making a visit to her mother’s home and sharing some time with her family. On Sunday the twenty-fifth of May there was a memorial meal in Mira’s honor. We sat at the same table with the family, a place of honor that made us feel a little uncomfortable, as we had only met Mira a few times. However, it was a comfort for Rosa to have us close by, and since we know that Mira is in a much better place now we were there mainly for Rosa.
Preparing for Campaign:
We have begun running an advertisement to fill the schedules of the teachers who will be working with us this summer. It is hard to believe that our first teachers will be arriving in just a little more than three days. We are very excited about the coming campaign as are the members of the church here in Korca.
We still have opportunities for those who would like to come and teach with us. If you would like to make a trip to work with us here in Korca and have a more flexible schedule we encourage you to consider coming to work with us in the fall or early spring, traditionally times when airfares tend to be lower. We are open to having fellow workers throughout the year, so if you are interested please let us know and we can begin working together to plan your time here in Korca.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some of our pictures just click on: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html
Prayer Requests:
Please keep in your prayers:
1. Our continued growth in the Albanian language. We will be continuing with our teacher indefinitely, though we are cutting back to three lessons a week for the summer.
2. Growth for the church, both spiritual and numerical.
3. Safe travel for all who will be coming to visit and work with us here in Korca this summer.
4. An Albanian minister to work with us here in Korca.
We thank you again for your support. It is comforting to know that you have read this letter and spent just a small part of your day thinking about us. We pray that you have been encouraged by what the Lord is doing through our hands in Korca.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Pogradec:
This certainly cannot qualify as a highlight, but it is a major event. The month of May saw the end of our scheduled teaching time in Pogradec. This is a decision that has come through great wrestling in prayer and many tears on our part.
We did not believe that either Pogradec or Korca was receiving a full portion of our time or abilities, and thus we were not giving the best that we could to God. Based on this we have consolidated or efforts and are now focusing on the work in Korca.
We will be continuing to work with some of our WEI students who live in Pogradec. The plan is for them to work on their own and call us when they either have finished a book or need to have some things explained in more detail. We will then plan a time to meet together so we can help them.
The church in Pogradec plans to continue meeting on a regular basis. They have decided to worship in the building that we were using for WEI lessons at least until the end of this year. We will continue to make visits to Pogradec and meet with the Christians there.
Lee and Artan Visit:
This was a great encouragement to the church as well as the workers here in Korca. Lee Allen, a member of the Maryville Church of Christ, told us he and Artan Xhaferi would visit Korca and that we should “plan a get together”. We set about telling our students and the church that he would visit and that he would like to meet as many of them as possible. We figured on twenty to forty people at the most. Imagine our surprise when between eighty and ninety people arrived to meet Lee and share pizza with us.
Lee addressed the crowd and we made several announcements about worship and WEI classes. In fact, one of the Christians, Alket, made an announcement about worship. This made us feel very good as Alket, though willing to lead singing and help with worship, is generally shy and quiet around large groups.
We want to extend a special thank you to Lee and Artan for their visit and encouragement. We especially want to lift Artan up as he jumped in and helped to ensure that everything ran as smoothly as possible. Without a doubt, he demonstrated his servant nature, and loving heart.
Anniversary of Mira’s Death:
Mira Meminaj was a member of the church here in Korca; she also worked as a translator and WEI teacher with Roger Michale and the Saltsmans. She was an amazing young lady that we had greatly anticipated working with. Tragically, she was accidentally electrocuted as she warmed up dinner at her home just a few months before we moved to Korca. We spend about three hours every Sunday with her mother Rosa, she seems to have taken us on as children and feels that we are a bright spot in her life. Mira did a wonderful job teaching her mother about Jesus, we only pray that she will find the power to act on what she knows to be true.
On Saturday the twenty-fourth of May we observed the one year anniversary of Mira’s death. This entailed making a visit to her mother’s home and sharing some time with her family. On Sunday the twenty-fifth of May there was a memorial meal in Mira’s honor. We sat at the same table with the family, a place of honor that made us feel a little uncomfortable, as we had only met Mira a few times. However, it was a comfort for Rosa to have us close by, and since we know that Mira is in a much better place now we were there mainly for Rosa.
Preparing for Campaign:
We have begun running an advertisement to fill the schedules of the teachers who will be working with us this summer. It is hard to believe that our first teachers will be arriving in just a little more than three days. We are very excited about the coming campaign as are the members of the church here in Korca.
We still have opportunities for those who would like to come and teach with us. If you would like to make a trip to work with us here in Korca and have a more flexible schedule we encourage you to consider coming to work with us in the fall or early spring, traditionally times when airfares tend to be lower. We are open to having fellow workers throughout the year, so if you are interested please let us know and we can begin working together to plan your time here in Korca.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some of our pictures just click on: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html
Prayer Requests:
Please keep in your prayers:
1. Our continued growth in the Albanian language. We will be continuing with our teacher indefinitely, though we are cutting back to three lessons a week for the summer.
2. Growth for the church, both spiritual and numerical.
3. Safe travel for all who will be coming to visit and work with us here in Korca this summer.
4. An Albanian minister to work with us here in Korca.
We thank you again for your support. It is comforting to know that you have read this letter and spent just a small part of your day thinking about us. We pray that you have been encouraged by what the Lord is doing through our hands in Korca.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Newsletter April 2008
Summer Campaign:
We will be having a campaign this summer, and we still have many open weeks. If you are interested in working with us this summer, we would love for you to come. If you are interested please reply to this e-mail and we will be more than happy to give you information or answer any questions. If this summer is not an option please think about the summer of 2009.
Aurora Attended Worship:
We were so excited to have Aurora (Kevin’s WEI student who was baptized in February) in worship this month. She did not go home for one weekend, so she was able to attend worship. She loved it and wanted to make it a habit when she is in college next year. She hopes to “win university” in Tirana the capital and we promised to attend with her, if this happens, and introduce her to the Christians there. The amazing thing is that there are churches in all of the cities where she may go as a student. Please continue to pray for her as she grows in her faith.
Kid’s Class:
This month we had many more kids attending Sunday morning bible class. During the winter, we had about four children, but on the second weekend in April we had fourteen. This was a real encouragement. On the next weekend we were down to eight, but this is still a doubling of our numbers. This core group seems a though they will continue coming. Most of the kids are from the neighborhood or are relatives of our landlord, but some of them attend beginner’s classes for WEI. We hope that this is a sign of larger numbers for the summer. We were also blessed with another translator for this class. We can speak to adults Albanian, but with children, we use a translator. Adults can understand and correct our mistakes, but because children are learning the language themselves, they cannot understand us as easily. The interesting thing is that both of Allison's translators are Muslim. We hope they are learning along with the children.
Trip to Greece:
This month we visited Greece with Roger Michael. Roger treated us to two nights in a hotel in Kastoria, Greece. This is a small city close to the boarder of Albania. We were very blessed to have a couple of nights in this city. Kevin was able to find shoes (It is hard to find his size in Albania), and we also found corn syrup something else that is not used in Albania. The city reminded us of Albania and Macedonia. It has a lake and lots of walking paths. It was peaceful because we were not in tourist season. Allison looked for a new winter coat, but has some “sticker shock” when the coat she tried on was about 1000 dollars. Needless to say, we did not find a coat. This city is known worldwide for furs and leather jackets and there was nothing like a Wal-mart or a Kohl’s. We have heard for furs it is really cheap, but far outside our price range.
Youth Day:
The National Youth Day was April 26 in Tirana, Albania. We went with a group of 16 teens from Pogradec and Korca. It was a blessed but very tiring day. The “teens” ranged in age from 22 to 11. We are practicing being flexible because some of the teens have never learned about deadlines and sign up sheets. We thought that it would be a good introduction to the church for the teens and a way to peak interest in a youth class we hope to start this summer. Kevin drove seven of the teens, 6 coming from Pogradec, in our car and Allison rode in a van we rented with the rest of the crew. We are learning how to organize vans and did not pay any above the normal fare for the trip. This was a real outreach opportunity. The teens from Pogradec were children of Christians there and cousins, none of these teen attend on a regular basis, and some not at all. We wanted to show them that there are kids there age who believe. Out of the group from Korca, none of the teens is a Christian yet. Only Ola, a Muslim high school student who helps translate for kids class, attends church regularly.
Easter:
There is a challenge in Albania to decide how and when to observe Easter. This year Catholic Easter was at the end of March and Orthodox Easter was on April 27. We decided to observe this holiday this year on April 27 because on this date most of the people of Korca were thinking about Jesus.
We remember Jesus’ death and resurrection every Sunday with the Lord’s Supper, but we wanted to recognize the celebration with the people of the city and welcome our visitors, so we had a small party after worship. We had visitors from the church in Athens. Sonila Leka, wife of Beni Leka, and their son were able to attend on Sunday. Kozeta was also here because she was back from Tirana for the weekend. One of the teens Armando, who attends the kids class, also stayed for worship which was encouraging. We had 13 in attendance, and it was a lot of fun to have that many voices singing and praising God.
Songbook:
Our long awaited songbook is finally finished. This is a combination book that has songs from Korca, Durres, and Tirana. It was a lot of work because Kevin had to re-type the songs from the Korca book in order to bring these books together. We are so happy to have all of these songs in one place.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some of our April pictures just click on: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html
Prayer Requests:
This has been a blessed month and we are certain that is because of your continued prayers for our work. Thank you so much.
-We ask that you keep our Albanian language study in your prayers. Our teacher wanted to teach us for about another month or so. She wants us to get through the second grade. We hope to encourage her to continue, but she is really busy. It does seem like we are taking one step forward and two steps back sometimes, but we know we are improving.
-Please pray that we will have an impact on the community and see ways we can help.
-Pray for Rosa and the church on May 24th because that is the one year anniversary of Mira’s death.
In Christ,Kevin and Allison Morrill
We will be having a campaign this summer, and we still have many open weeks. If you are interested in working with us this summer, we would love for you to come. If you are interested please reply to this e-mail and we will be more than happy to give you information or answer any questions. If this summer is not an option please think about the summer of 2009.
Aurora Attended Worship:
We were so excited to have Aurora (Kevin’s WEI student who was baptized in February) in worship this month. She did not go home for one weekend, so she was able to attend worship. She loved it and wanted to make it a habit when she is in college next year. She hopes to “win university” in Tirana the capital and we promised to attend with her, if this happens, and introduce her to the Christians there. The amazing thing is that there are churches in all of the cities where she may go as a student. Please continue to pray for her as she grows in her faith.
Kid’s Class:
This month we had many more kids attending Sunday morning bible class. During the winter, we had about four children, but on the second weekend in April we had fourteen. This was a real encouragement. On the next weekend we were down to eight, but this is still a doubling of our numbers. This core group seems a though they will continue coming. Most of the kids are from the neighborhood or are relatives of our landlord, but some of them attend beginner’s classes for WEI. We hope that this is a sign of larger numbers for the summer. We were also blessed with another translator for this class. We can speak to adults Albanian, but with children, we use a translator. Adults can understand and correct our mistakes, but because children are learning the language themselves, they cannot understand us as easily. The interesting thing is that both of Allison's translators are Muslim. We hope they are learning along with the children.
Trip to Greece:
This month we visited Greece with Roger Michael. Roger treated us to two nights in a hotel in Kastoria, Greece. This is a small city close to the boarder of Albania. We were very blessed to have a couple of nights in this city. Kevin was able to find shoes (It is hard to find his size in Albania), and we also found corn syrup something else that is not used in Albania. The city reminded us of Albania and Macedonia. It has a lake and lots of walking paths. It was peaceful because we were not in tourist season. Allison looked for a new winter coat, but has some “sticker shock” when the coat she tried on was about 1000 dollars. Needless to say, we did not find a coat. This city is known worldwide for furs and leather jackets and there was nothing like a Wal-mart or a Kohl’s. We have heard for furs it is really cheap, but far outside our price range.
Youth Day:
The National Youth Day was April 26 in Tirana, Albania. We went with a group of 16 teens from Pogradec and Korca. It was a blessed but very tiring day. The “teens” ranged in age from 22 to 11. We are practicing being flexible because some of the teens have never learned about deadlines and sign up sheets. We thought that it would be a good introduction to the church for the teens and a way to peak interest in a youth class we hope to start this summer. Kevin drove seven of the teens, 6 coming from Pogradec, in our car and Allison rode in a van we rented with the rest of the crew. We are learning how to organize vans and did not pay any above the normal fare for the trip. This was a real outreach opportunity. The teens from Pogradec were children of Christians there and cousins, none of these teen attend on a regular basis, and some not at all. We wanted to show them that there are kids there age who believe. Out of the group from Korca, none of the teens is a Christian yet. Only Ola, a Muslim high school student who helps translate for kids class, attends church regularly.
Easter:
There is a challenge in Albania to decide how and when to observe Easter. This year Catholic Easter was at the end of March and Orthodox Easter was on April 27. We decided to observe this holiday this year on April 27 because on this date most of the people of Korca were thinking about Jesus.
We remember Jesus’ death and resurrection every Sunday with the Lord’s Supper, but we wanted to recognize the celebration with the people of the city and welcome our visitors, so we had a small party after worship. We had visitors from the church in Athens. Sonila Leka, wife of Beni Leka, and their son were able to attend on Sunday. Kozeta was also here because she was back from Tirana for the weekend. One of the teens Armando, who attends the kids class, also stayed for worship which was encouraging. We had 13 in attendance, and it was a lot of fun to have that many voices singing and praising God.
Songbook:
Our long awaited songbook is finally finished. This is a combination book that has songs from Korca, Durres, and Tirana. It was a lot of work because Kevin had to re-type the songs from the Korca book in order to bring these books together. We are so happy to have all of these songs in one place.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some of our April pictures just click on: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html
Prayer Requests:
This has been a blessed month and we are certain that is because of your continued prayers for our work. Thank you so much.
-We ask that you keep our Albanian language study in your prayers. Our teacher wanted to teach us for about another month or so. She wants us to get through the second grade. We hope to encourage her to continue, but she is really busy. It does seem like we are taking one step forward and two steps back sometimes, but we know we are improving.
-Please pray that we will have an impact on the community and see ways we can help.
-Pray for Rosa and the church on May 24th because that is the one year anniversary of Mira’s death.
In Christ,Kevin and Allison Morrill
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