Newsletter November 2008

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