Newsletter March/April/ May 2009

This has been a busy few months. We are both currently in the US preparing for the birth of our first child. Allison is 38 weeks pregnant which means that she has two weeks until the baby is due July 5th. Kevin arrived in the Wisconsin on June 11th and we have since attended a child birth class, prepared a baby registry, and toured the hospital. The doctor said that his timing was perfect, because a baby usually comes anywhere from two weeks before to two weeks after the due date.

We are sorry we have not sent a newsletter in the past few months. So many wonderful things have happened that we wanted to share, but we have been very busy. We hope that this letter will be informative and catch you up on the activities of the past few months. We promise to be better at sending our letters out in a more timely fashion. We apologize for its length.

Remember you can read our Newsletter online at http://www.korca-newsletter.blogspot.com/ . We can also send you the Newsletter as an attachment if you would like, just send us an email and we will add you to our list that receives the Newsletter as an attachment.

March

March was a month of holidays. We had a number of parties and festive occasions which included the national Teacher’s Day, March 7 and the national Ladies' Day, March 8. The most festive occasions occurred though on March 22 and March 30 when two of the ladies who have been attending worship were baptized into Christ.

A Wonderful Sunday:

Elvin’s Visit: Sunday, March 22 we had visitors from Durres. Elvin Xhimtiku, a college student that we have known since our time in Durres, came to visit the church here with his friend Enea. Elvin was a big help. He gave the Sunday morning lesson and shared the message for the Lord’s Supper. This was a nice break for Kevin and a good opportunity for the church to hear a different speaker.

Bruna’s Baptism:

Bruna Coti (pronounced Cho-tee) a 17 year old girl that has been studying with us for about a year was baptized on Sunday March 22 after the service. Bruna is currently Allison’s student, but she has studied with a variety of teachers over the year and a half that she has been coming. She has been attending worship for about 8 months, and we are very excited that she made the decision to put Christ on in baptism. Bruna loves the Bible and Diana Zhuleku has been mentoring her. Brunda’s sister was able to attend the baptism, but her mother was not there due to a death in the family.

Potluck:

After Bruna’s baptism, we shared in a fellowship meal. It was so nice to have 10 of us sitting around the same table and enjoying each other’s company. We also celebrated Roger Michael’s birthday, and Klotilda’s visa approval (Klotilda had been trying to move to the US to be closer to her son, daughter and grandchildren. She got the visa approval that week ). We had five cakes to celebrate the various occasions.

Klotilda’s Baptism:

Klotilda Petriti, 49, was baptized on March 30. She has been Kevin’s student since we moved to Korca in 2006, and she began attending worship when she began studying. We have written about her in many of our newsletters because she had expressed an interest in baptism. She wanted to be baptized before her move to Las Vegas in May. If you know anyone in the congregations in the Las Vegas area we would love to share this information with Klotilda. She is very interested in continuing to worship when she goes to America. She has stronger written English than spoken, but we think she will pick up more spoken English when she is immersed in the culture.

Women’s Day Party:

March 8th was a Sunday so the women who attend worship decided to have a party. We invited the mothers of our students and those who attend worship. In all there were about 15 ladies. We were impressed by the number, because this is a celebration day and many women were busy celebrating it in a restaurant with their friends.

Diana gave the lesson for the party. She shared some information about the women of the Bible and related it to problems that Albanian women face every day. Diana was baptized one year ago on March 8th. It was amazing to see her growth over the past year and her willingness to teach. There were a few interruptions in the lesson from women who did not agree with submitting to their husbands and to God (Diana had given the example of Sarah’s traveling with Abraham to a far away place), but Diana handled everything very well and all of the women seemed to really be paying attention. Diana has continued to teach some of the girls about women in the Bible and we hope to expand to their mothers in the future. We also hope to have other events for women that are more discussion based.

Praise God:

Klotilda and Bruna- Two of the three ladies that we had asked for you to pray for in previous newsletters have decided to take Christ on in baptism. This is a real testament to the power of prayer. Thank you for being so involved in our work. Prayer has no boarders.

April

Allison’s Arrival in the US:

Allison left for the US from Tirana on April 8 with a connection in Rome landing in Chicago the same day. Kevin’s parents made the journey from California so they could pick her up at the airport and visit for a few days. They were able to spend time catching up, shopping, and preparing Allison for life in the US. She arrived in Wisconsin on April 9, where she met with her family. It was so nice to see them. She is living with her grandparents in Oconomowoc, WI. She has a lot of family there and it is nice to be so close to all of them. Her mother lives about 5 minutes away so they get to see each other often.

Internet Teaching:

Before Allison left Korca, we set up a desktop computer as a communication station. When she arrived in the US, she began teaching classes over the internet with some of her students using Microsoft Messenger for 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. This started on April 14 and she taught through the first week in June. This has proved to be a successful tool. It was a good way to stay in contact with some of her students and church members. With messenger they could talk over the internet like a phone call. There are options to use a webcam too, but that usually affects the voice quality, so we have chosen not to use it. We were impressed by our students’ abilities and willingness to work with this system. It does not replace one-on-one interaction, but it does help our students with pronunciation and allows for chatting before and after the bible lessons. It is much easier than e-mailing lessons because most of our current students cannot type. Kevin was in charge of the Albanian side of our classes: setting up the computer, trouble shooting any problems, and grading tests. These classes were a blessing for both Allison and her students.

May

Klotilda’s Departure:

Klotilda has been an important part of the church in Korca for the past two years. She attended nearly every Sunday since she began to study with Kevin in 2007. We knew from the beginning of her studies that she wanted to move to the US to be closer to her children and grandchildren. She was always the first to volunteer for any church activity and loved to bake for all our parties. Klodi was baptized in March and moved to the US in early May. She and her husband are currently living with her daughter and son-in-law in Las Vegas, but hopes to find an apartment soon. She plans to find a church body to worship with them she gets settled. Please pray for her. This is a big move and a challenge for a new Christian. We miss her so much already.

Kevin’s New Class:

Kevin began to teach members of the local government in Korca. He was asked by one of his former students to teach members of the government in the county government building. He began with beginner’s English, but hopes that this will lead to Bible classes in the near future. We are always looking for new ways to meet members of the community. Kevin was able to have coffee with a group from his class after many of his classes. We have learned that conversation is an effective evangelistic tool.

May 2nd:

The first of May is Labor Day in Albania. It has a long tradition of having picnics in the most picturesque locations. We thought that this was a good day to have a fellowship time with some of our students but decided that Saturday May 2 was a better day. We walked to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Korca (only 2 hours), while Roger and another student drove up with a barbeque, meat, and other supplies. We spent the day in fellowship and returned to Korca in the evening.

Roger’s visit to the US:

Roger Michael returned to the US for the wedding of his son in early May. For about a month Kevin was the only American working in Korca. Kevin taught classes as normal and preached for the congregation. It was a successful, but busy time. Roger returned to Albania on June 5th to work in Korca while we are in the US. We are grateful for his continued work; he is a very valuable asset our to work.

National Youth Day May 16th:

Kevin took a group to the National Youth Day in Tirana again this year. We decided that it was best to have a smaller group of people who where already involved in other church activities. Of the 4 that came with Kevin 3 are non-Christians who are searching and one was Bruna Coti a new Christian baptized in March. These meetings are always an encouragement because we can see how God is working in other parts of the country.

Tom Langley’s Visit:

Tom Langley, a member of our sponsoring congregation in Maryville, TN, was the speaker for the national youth day in Tirana. Tom rode home with Kevin to Korca after the youth day. He was able to worship with the body in Korca on Sunday the 17th. We had a picnic on one of the mountains overlooking the city. It was a beautiful day.

June

Kevin spent the first week in June preparing for his departure and tying up loose ends. He had planned to finish teaching in the last week of May, but ended up teaching about half of his students the first week in June and working with Allison’s internet classes as well.

When you leave for a trip in Albania, long or short, everyone wants to have a coffee with you and spend some time before you go, so Kevin’s last week was also filled with meetings. It was a blessed and stressful time. On June 9th Kevin flew into Knoxville, TN and spent a couple of days catching up with our friends in Maryville, attending Bible class Wednesday night and getting over jetlag. He drove our vehicle from Maryville to Wisconsin on June 11. Since then he as been very busy. We had a two day speed child birth class, various family meals, Sunday worship, and a tour of the maternity ward.

Prayer Requests:

Our baby: Please pray that we have a successful delivery and a healthy baby. All of the appointments have gone well so far.

The church in Korca: We are constantly thinking about the work in Korca. Please pray for the workers in Korca in our absence. We will be returning to Albania on September 5th.

Thank you for your continued interest in our work,

Kevin and Allison Morrill

February 2009 Newsletter

The weather has been very wintery this month which met that we made a fire in our wood stove at the school every morning and kept it going all day long. Many of our students have suffered from terrible colds and one of Allison’s students even went to the hospital due to a cold. She did not need to be hospitalized. We are grateful to have stayed in good health.

Lots of Students:
Usually our fall and winter schedule is to teach classes in the afternoons and evenings, but this year we have been very busy with morning students as well. Both of us are teaching a large number of morning and afternoon students. One of the biggest reasons for this change is that one of the high schools and one of the elementary schools (grades 1-9) have been reconstructed and refurbished this year, so these students are going to school in the afternoon instead of the mornings. The plan was that the students would return to morning classes in January, but the schools were too damp and cold so this did not happen. So many morning students have been good and a little hard. It has helped clear up spots for new students in our afternoon, but since our mornings were when we got things done: studying, paying bills, shopping etc. It has been a challenge.

Campaign:
Please consider campaign. Albania is one of the most interesting places we have ever visited and the Albanian people are so welcoming. We love living here and teaching the Bible is such a joy. The materials we use are not difficult to teach and are used for correspondence in many parts of the world. We have learned, though, that the one-on-one personal interactions have really helped bring these materials to life for our students, and even the most reluctant students are excited about reading the Bible after a few lessons. This is also very important for those who are attending worship and the Christians here because it gives them another Christian example. We are in need of teachers for this year’s campaign, and we ask that you prayerfully consider being a part of this work.

Eva Bala:
For those of you who have been praying for Eva Bala we have good news. She attended worship for the first time this month. It was a good step in the right direction. She has been teaching with us for a year and this was the first time she has attended. We did not want to force her, but have encouraged her. She is very interested in the book of Hebrews and Kevin is preaching on this book right now. She has been asking a lot of questions. We hope and pray that this is just the beginning.

Visiting Tirana and Durres:
We needed to renew our passports because they were due to expire this year, so we thought we would make the 4.5 hour trip worth the gas: scheduling a doctors appointment for Allison, stopping by a factory that sells English books and Bible materials, and various other activities that can only be done in the capital. We had the pleasure of staying with Ellen Walker, a missionary in Tirana for the night, and we visited Durres on the way home. In Durres, which is about an hour away from Tirana, we got to have lunch and catch up with Cimi and Anila Kafagiu. They are good friends that we do not get to see often and it is so nice to see them when we are in that part of the country.

Prayer Requests:
Continued health of Allison and the baby: Allison is currently 22 weeks pregnant and she and the baby have been in good health thus far.

Rosa and Eddie: We are still visiting Rosa and her son Eddie every week after morning worship. Rosa seems to understand and really loves studying the Bible, but is not ready to make any life changes right now. She is still really struggling with the grief of loosing her daughter Mira about a year and a half ago. Eddie, 32, has really been struggling with drugs, friendships, a lack of desire to work, and his marriage falling apart. For a couple of weeks this month, he listened and participated in the Bible lesson at his home, but he runs hot and cold. We are continuing to pray for his growth. The family has really been struggling because Rosa and Eddie are both out of work. Rosa received some news this week though that she may be getting her old job back when one of the employees retires.

Church growth and Male interest: Please continue to pray for this because we have really not had much male interest at all either from students or from others. This has made our work difficult. Kevin is still preaching, leading prayers and singing in Albanian, but we would love to have more males to help. There is a group of three ladies who have been attending for about a year or more and understand about baptism and have talked about it, but have not made this commitment yet. Please pray for these ladies: Klotilda, Bruna, and Ola.

Thank you for your continued interest in our work,

Kevin and Allison Morrill

Newsletter December 2008/ January 2009

We are sorry for not sending a newsletter for December. We traveled to the US at the end of the month and got caught up in visiting with our family and friends. The past few months have really flown by. It is hard to believe that it is already February.

Prayers Answered:
After many years of prayer, God has truly blessed us. Allison is pregnant. She is in her 5th month (19 weeks) and will deliver in the US. Her due date is July 5, but she will be returning on April 7. She plans to be in Wisconsin close to family. Kevin will be in Albania until the second week in June. This is a real blessing for us. It has been a little hard logistically though (plane tickets, travel, passports, etc.) We plan to return to Albania in early September. Please pray that Allison will continue to have a healthy pregnancy. We still do not know if it is a boy or a girl because we were unable to tell due to the position of the baby during our ultra sound on February 9. The doctor was able to see that the baby is healthy. Lord willing, teaching will continue while we are gone because Roger Michael, our fellow teacher will be in Korca during these months.

Summer Campaign:
We need your help. This is going to be a somewhat different summer for us and we need your help now more than ever. We have had many interviews of those who can speak and understand English without any kind of translation (5 just this week), and we just don’t have the time in our schedules to accommodate them. Although Allison will not be here this summer, Kevin will be for the start and Roger for the rest of the campaign Lord willing. We have students who want to study on there summer break. If you would like to be a teacher in this summer’s campaign please e-mail us and we can give you
further information.

Pot Luck:
The women who attend services organized a meal for the church the last Sunday before we left. The food was delicious and we were really encouraged by the participation of all of the ladies young and old. They did not want us to bring anything. It was such a blessing for this group to organize a party and take the initiative for everything. Since there is only one Christian attending morning worship, most of those who participated are Muslim, but searching.

Worship:
While we were gone, Christian men from various cities led worship. This was such a blessing to us because we do not have any males attending morning worship right now. One of the men, Beni Leka, is a preacher in Athens and is originally from Korca. He preached while on a visit to his parents here. It was such a blessing for the church members to hear so many different perspectives, and we are so grateful to those who
came to preach.

Our Trip to the States:
We left on December 19th from Tirana and travel by plane to Chicago. Then we got on a two hour bus to Waukesha where Allison’s mother and her husband picked us up. Kevin felt like he was back in Albania; due to the bad weather the driver actually let some men stand up in the isle of the coach bus. This was a real blessing because we would have had to wait about two hours to find another one headed to Wisconsin. The snow had shut down the airport in Milwaukee. We were grateful that we had planned to ride the bus because there was not a rental car to be found. We had the pleasure of spending a little over a week in Wisconsin with Allison’s family. It was so nice to see them and to celebrate Christmas together. It was wonderful to see family that we had not seen in a year and a half. We also had the privilege of worshiping with the Southside Church of Christ in Milwaukee on the Sunday we were there.

Then it was off to California. We flew to San Francisco which is about two hours south of Kevin's parents' home in Upper Lake. We spent a couple of days adjusting to the time change and relaxing from our trip and then we went to the Pacific coast. Kevin’s parents had rented a house for a few days so we could have family time. We were met by Kevin’s aunt and uncle from southern California and a close family friend and her daughter. We celebrated New Years there. When we got home Kevin had the privilege of speaking to the church in Lucerne. Kevin was taught about the gospel by the members in Lucerne
and was baptized there. This congregation holds a special place in his heart. It was nice to see so many familiar faces.

From California we flew to Maryville, Tennessee. In fact, we flew into the Knoxville Airport, but it is only about 10 minutes from Maryville. We were able to make a visit to
Wednesday night bible class in Maryville before heading out to Virginia on Friday for the Albania Romania workshop. We were so blessed to attend this event. This was only the second time we have had the chance to go and the last time there was an ice storm that prevented most of the participants from coming. At the workshop we were able to meet many new people, but were surprised to see so many familiar faces. One of the biggest blessings was meeting Xhumert Nuro, who was the preacher in Pogradec before he moved to the US with his wife and daughter in 2007.

From the Conference we flew to Nashville, TN and drove with Pat and Tom England to Killen, Alabama (only a few hours). We attended Sunday morning service there and met with the elders. We always feel so welcome. From Killen we drove back to Maryville. We spent the last week of our trip in Maryville,TN. Kevin spoke at evening services that Sunday.

Home Again:
On Thursday January 22, we arrived back in Korca, after some errands in Tirana including a trip to the US Embassy to get our passports renewed. We were so happy to be home. We spent our first days back making visits and having coffees. We have also met many people on the street. The transition has been a smooth one except for the plumbing in our bathroom which left us without water in the house for a few days. It reminded us of the old days, and made us so grateful that Korca has 24 hours running water and 24 hours electricity. The plumbing problems are fixed and everything is going great. Now most of the pipes in our bathroom have been replaced so we should not have any more problems. We have been teaching our WEI and other bible lessons for a few weeks now and are happy to be back on a normal schedule again.

Prayer requests:
Campaign: We would still like to have a summer campaign because this has been shown to be a real benefit to our work. Please pray that there will be those who are willing to help out this summer. If you would like more information, just let us know.

Allison's Pregnancy: Pray that it will continue to go well.

Male Students and Members: This is our constant prayer.

In His Service,

Kevin and Allison Morrill