hefley

Alright, so I’d been warned beforehand that the Kosovar people celebrate 4th of July even more so than the Americans themselves and it seems my husband could have been right in his assessment of the celebration here. The following is my experience this year as we celebrated the US Independence day in Kosovo, or rather; celebrated freedom with the Kosovar people as they praised the US for bringing a stop to the ethnic cleansing they all were victims of only a few years back.

The official Kosova flag next to the US one. Time to celebrate!

Most of the Kosovar people we celebrated with had dressed more in honor of the US than any of us Westerners; red, white and blue! I myself; pink! =)

I have to admit that I still don’t understand the full story of what happened during the time of the genocide, but I’ll share some of the stories I’ve been told to give you a better understanding of why the Albanians in this country would celebrate their rescuers so much.

An old grandma living next door to us told me how the Serbs came and forced them all to WALK all the way to Albania. The Serbs took their passports and all documents they had and destroyed them. They also forced them to give up everything they had of value, or else face death. It took this old lady I met a week to walk to Albania. The ones that couldn’t make the walk got killed along the way.

A Norwegian named Josef Martinsen was sent to Kosovo after the war to help clean up wells for the Albanians living in the villages around this country. The Serbs had killed the men of the villages and thrown them into the wells, making sure the rest of the people would struggle for survival as well.

The village we work in, Tushile, had most of it’s people survive because the Serbs had an old map of the area, not showing one of the fields. The night the Serbs came through to kill and the destroy 600 Albanians were quietly standing in the field hoping to survive – and they did!

Most of the people I’ve met have lived in foreign countries; places they went to try to escape the genocide. One of our translator’s family was split up : mom and 2 children in one country, dad and 3 children still in Kosova. They all got reunited eventually and now all live here in Kosova again.

One family I’ve met are only here on a visit this summer. They moved to Norway during the war. Now they no longer have Kosova citizenship, due to Norway not allowing dual citizenship. Now obviously Norway is a rich country, possibly now their choice of place to live, but still as a person that have lived many years already as a stranger in a foreign country I have to say it would hurt if I had to give up my citizenship to my home country – the one thing that kind of defines best who I am.

There are lots of stories, and I’ve only heard a few. Regardless, this is how our 4th of July experience was in Kosova:

It all started last night (July 3rd) as I was lying outside on our balcony enjoying the fresh evening air. All of a sudden the shooting begun. Loud, cracking sounds, echoing all over town. And yes I could see the yellow blasts of the guns as well. Where do they fire their guns you might ask. I tell you; into the air! INSANE! What happened to the philosophy…no; correction: the proven theory that everything that goes up also comes down?!

July 4th started out with loud local music blaring all over town. Sitting inside the apartment I could clearly hear the music and festivities, but at 7.30 am I was not quite ready yet to enter the outside world and check it out first hand.

Later in the day I realized that the celebrations might not have been quite as dramatic here as I’d first pictured, but we did enjoy a whole wonderful afternoon celebrating together with Americans and Kosovar friends in Pristina, the capital of Kosova.

One of the elderly Albanian men held a speech and made a toast to the US for their continues work for human right.

Our kids enjoying the party together with American and Kosovar friends.

Bedtime for our kids is before most of the festivities started here, so we dropped one of our team mates off to go celebrating with local friends at a restaurant and then later a concert held in celebration of July 4th.

Heading down Pristina’s main street towards home, we see…

...a statue in honor of Bill Clinton...

...several stores named after Hillary Clinton...

...and the main street itself is called Bill Clinton Avenue.

Bill Clinton might not have done everything right, but to the people of Kosova he sure was an angel of life.

I thought you all might like to hear about Kosovo from a 6 year old’s point of view, so here is a short interview with Calem:

Yes, this is the boy who's prespective on life in Kosovo you'll soon get to read. Be prepared!

Me: “What do you like about being in Kosovo?”

Calem: “Well, I like it when I get to work a lot! It’s real fun, it’s been my dream! It’s fun when I get to do my dream.”

Calem getting to help move a well "ring" that accidentally got delivered to the wrong house...

Me: “What kind of work do you get to do?”

Calem clearing the area around the well so that we can put down a cement skirt to keep rainwater from washing dirt back into the well. Mind you, we are not forcing the boy to work, he's very much choosing it himself. This is something else than the city life he's used to!

Calem: “I get to smooth out the cement, and I get to help fix wells. And I get to walk around in the city, and yesterday I got a fishing pole so I got to go fishing.”

(Editors note; his “fishing pole” is a long stick he found laying around with a fishing line attached to it. A local guy formed a hook for him from some wire he cut off a fence, and voila; Calem got a fishing pole like the other boys in the village. One very satisfied boy!)

Calem and the village boys with their fishing poles. Seriously I hope no one eats anything caught in this filthy stream! That seriously can not be very safe!

Me: “Have you made any friends here?”

Calem: “Yes, I have made quite a few friends.”

(Editor’s note; yes, that’s right. This boy sure does not have any trouble making new friends! He is one social little dude!)

Two boys Calem became friends with during the two days we worked on their well.

Calem met a guy with an energy level to match his own! I don't think I've ever seen so much action before!

Me: “What is the most fun thing you’ve done in Kosovo so far?”

Calem: “1st – that I got to work, 2nd – that I got a fishing pole and that I got to try fishing yesterday”

I think half the fun for Calem is that he gets to ride the rental car with the team when they go to work in the mornings. He gets to sit up front, as it is the only seat with a seat belt, and to a boy that's been in the back of the car in a child safety seat his whole life that's a big deal! =)

Me: “We’ve only got 2 more weeks here. Do think you want to come back here in the future?”

Calem: “Yes. My dad will come back here soon, but me and my mom and Emma and Mikayla I don’t think will come back here soon, but pappa will, ‘cause he works here and he’s made friends here.”

(Editor’s note; yes, pappa will be back here for a couple of weeks towards the end of the summer while the rest of us are with my family in Norway. Our next chance at coming back here as a family will probably be next summer.)

The first well Calem got to go help the team repair. Only thing left to do is shock the water with bleach and put the lid on. The pump is installed so there is now no more need to use the old bucket hanging on the post behind the well.

Me: “How was your day today?”

Calem: “It was good. We got to go to church, and it was pretty fun. I met my old friend, and it was pretty fun.”

(Editor’s note; we go to church in a city an hour away from where we live and work. Where we are at there are no churches. Calem has made friends with an English speaking boy at church, and thoroughly enjoys his Sundays when he can meet up with him again.)

So I thought I’d let you all in on how our day in the village was today. We’re helping a family of 5 get their well repaired, and today was the last day of the project.

Down this lane live the Murati family that from today on will have a safe water source.

1st part of the project, completed yesterday: a trench dug from the well to the house, where electric cord for the pump will be burried as well as a pipe leading the water into a plastic storage tank we've installed in their attic.

Mikayla and Daniel surveying the almost finished trench... =)

The next part of the project was getting the pump installed. A local plumber “master” as he’s called here put the pump together while Daniel and the rest of the team tried to pay as close attention as possible so they could learn the master’s tricks. =) The trench then got back filled, and we got a good nights sleep before we started tackling the rebar and the cement this morning.

The rebar needed to make a skirt around the well was layed down this morning. The purpose of the skirt is to hinder rain water from seeping into the well along with any kind of dirt it brings along from the surface. With a big cement skirt around the well we hinder new contamination of the water after we've got it shocked (with bleach) and the germs killed.

The local cement "master" at work on the cement skirt around the well.

The finished product! All we're waiting on now is for the lid we ordered to be delivered this afternoon. Then we'll shock the water with bleach and the family is good to go! Imagine safe water being pumped directly into their house for the very first time!

The Albanian housewives! =) They've started calling me Albanian because of the fact that I've already got 3 kids, and well, after having spent as much time as I have dealing with water related issues, or rather LACK of water issues the last week, I feel like I'm starting to relate. Regardless, sweet Mrs. Murati will forever more NOT have to go haul unsafe water out of her well for their daily day needs.

Sweet Mrs. Murati and her daugther made us a tasty lunch as a thank you today. YUM!

In the process of making lunch the Murati daugther let Emma Joy try her hand at baking with an old, outdoor wood stove.

What a feast!! Mikayla absolutely loved the Albanian dish we got served!

As always; thank you for following our journey and supporting us as we try to help one family at the time getting both a safe water source and the news of how to get the springs of living water the Bible talks about.

Love, the Hefleys

We’ve now been in the country of Kosovo for one whole week, and it is time to update you all and let you in on our first impressions of this beautiful country and it’s lovely people.

Our welcome to Kosovo last Wednesday.

As we arrived Skenderaj, our team of three interns from the States welcomed us into our new home that we’ll be sharing for the weeks to come. We have a two bedroom apartment on the 6th floor of a new apartment building, about 15 min drive from the village we work in. The Hefley’s get one bedroom, the two girl interns one, and our male student get to camp out in the living room at night together with our male translator. So far it’s working out great. We’re learning to live with limited access to water and electricity as they both get turned off at odd hours, and there is no telling when it gets turned back on. We’ve already experience having to buy bottled water just to wash our hands, but definitely see ourselves blessed that have the finances to be able to do just that. I don’t doubt a minute that the people in the village would not be able to afford such luxurity, and wouldn’t have that possibility anyways as they live too far away from the stores. They do have their own personal wells that as far as I understand was dug by some aid organization that came to help them right after the war. The only problem is that the wells were never completely finished and thus the water is unsafe, and also some of the wells run dry 3 months of the year which leaves the people at a place where their only water source left is the polluted stream running through the village. This stream I’ve now seen with my own eyes, and my kids have been strictly forbidden to go anywhere near it. It’s the dumping place for the villages trash, and also where a lot of their sewage is piped to.

All the bottles and buckets we had filled with tap water before the water got shut off. Now empty, and we're on to using store bought water to wash in. =)

We’ve had a few days in the village this past week, though most of this week has been more of a prep time for the coming month, and a time of settling in for me and the kids. Our team of students had a long weekend off to go see Greece, thus we only yesterday started getting a full days work in at the village (since our arrival). Calem got to help repair a well today, and I’m so bummed I didn’t have my camera so I could have taken a picture to show you how cute he was smoothing out the cement apron/skirt they were making around the well so the rain wouldn’t wash more contamination into the water. I’m saying “they” when sharing about who does the actual cement work and such, referring to the men. Women in this culture are not doing such physical labor, and thus I get to hang out with the women and the kids, drink tea and try to communicate as best as I can while the men suffer under the burning sun outside trying to secure a safe water source for the families.

Just to give you a visual of how things look like here. This is the view from our apartment in the big town.

Well, I think that’s going to have to be all for now, our you’ll get so tired of reading you won’t even want to open my next blog entries…

As always; we’d love to hear from you! Let us know you’re following our journey, and share yours so we can be a part of your lives too!

Much love from Signy Margrete and the rest of the Hefley crew.

Alright. We’re now on our way on to Kosovo. Denmark was a blast! That is, the Vineyard Nordic Leadership Conference was! It turned out that they had excellent facilities that made it possible for me to attend quite a bit of the meetings while either me or Daniel watched the kids in a nursery room with view of the auditorium and loudspeakers so we could hear. An extra special blessing was that a group of Vineyard Copenhagen young adults had programs for the kids all day Friday! What a blessing for a mom that thought I’d miss out on all the opportunities to network with the Vineyard family in this part of the world!

We definitely seem to get our fair share of complications trying to steal away our focus, so keep praying for us. As we’ve tried to be involved at this conference as much as possible one kid after the other has gotten sick, there was a huge mix up with our room at the hostel (read; lots of frustration), and conflicts in Kosovo that Daniel had to deal with.

The conference is now in the past and we’ve already had one night in a beautiful little town in Germany, and are now at a little hotel in Austria getting ready for our second night on the road. Tomorrow we’ll conquer another 3 countries; Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia and 656 km of driving…whatever that is in miles (just divide it by 1.6 and you’ve got your answer). We’ll have our last overnight stay in Serbia, and then we’ll be in Kosovo with our students that are waiting for us there the day after tomorrow, what ever day that is. I’ve totally lost track of days and time, so yes, I actually don’t know what day it is today…hehe

NOW SOME OF MY “TRAVELING WITH KIDS” OBSERVATIONS:

1: ALWAYS take the bus/metro if you can, especially when you don’t have a stroller. Don’t walk even if it’s only ½ km (1/3 of a mile). Believe me, it’s worth the money!

2: Be prepared to answer some interesting questions traveling in this part of the world. Thankfully I don’t think the kids noticed the kissing men we passed the other day, but I guess it’s only a matter of time until they do.

3: Bribing kids with candy is not a bad thing! Neither is letting the kids see movies in the car. It helps us all stay sane!

4: Don’t even for a moment think that you’ll make it through a road trip without needing to deep clean the car afterward.

5: Oh yeah…Hostel rooms without an attached bathroom is not a good idea. Especially when the kids are too young to wander the hallways of the hostel on their own and you’ve got two other kids you need to watch besides the one you have to follow to the bathroom. Of course they always decide they have to use the loo right when Daniel has left the room and I’ve got three kids on my own. What’s up with that?!

I apologize for not having any photos in this post, making it more interesting for visual people (like myself). My computer has a full “start up disc” (can anyone tell me what that means?) that makes it impossible to download more photos from my camera. Sorry! =(

Lots of love from Signy Margrete and the crew

We are embarking on a new adventure; 2 ½ months on the road with our 3 little kids. This ought to get interesting! =) If you want to follow our adventure be sure to RSS our blog so you can get our updates. The RSS button is at the bottom of this page.

How old are these kids we'll be hauling around, you might ask...The answer is they are 2, 4 and 6. We're insane, I know!!

Now, why on earth are we spending that much time on the road? Well, here is the low down. In September we got asked to start praying about taking over leadership of Trondheim Vineyard, here in Norway. That was 12 days after God had spoken clearly to both Daniel and myself about moving back to Trondheim. Thus we’ve been spending time with the congregation here as much as possible this spring, and they’re bringing us along for a leader/pastor conference in Kopenhagen, Denmark in June, and then later in July for a Summer camp for Vineyard Norden (Norway, Denmark and Sweden) somewhere in the Swedish forests. But before that we’re heading back to Trondheim for a couple of weeks to fellowship with the church in their home city.

Trøndelag, my future home. The city of Trondheim should be along the fjord somewhere, but don't ask me to pin point it for you yet...I need some more time getting used to things here before I get that good.

Right now the kids and I are at my parents place while Daniel is finishing up his second trip to Kosovo this spring. He’ll be back in a few days, and by then the kids and I hope to have our road trip started. We’ll go spend time with some friends and let him meet up with us en route to Trondheim. Between our two Vineyard events this summer we are taking our family for the first ever trip to Kosovo together! Only Daniel has been there so far, and it’s time for us all to go. For those of you that don’t know what we’re presently doing check out the website of the ministry we’re part of www.waterforlife.org.

One of the wells Daniel and his university inters have helped the locals in Kosovo to restore and seal off with now safe drinking water.

Right now we’re helping a small village of 800 in Kosovo to get safe water. Presently they are drinking contaminated water from open wells that run dry 3 months out of the year. We’re helping raise the money for the work, and then training them in how to cover their wells, put in pumps to avoid the dirty bucket being dropped into the water, and how to build water storage tanks they can collect rainwater in and save up for the dry season. For years the kids and I have been part of this from the sideline, sitting at home either at our place in Colorado or at my parents place in Norway while Daniel’s been there on his own working with the people in Kosovo. But it’s time for us all to go. It’ll be an adventure for sure! Am I a little nervous; yes, but do I think it’s the wrong thing to do hauling my kids with me to a (to me) completely foreign country; no.

Some of the village boys we'll hopefully get to know this summer.

I’d love to share our adventure with you. Keep your eyes posted for the next update! I think one of the first updates will have to be the miracle of how our car in the States sold so we could have a down payment for the car we’ll now be driving all over Europe this summer. I am so thankful to God for this car. Imagine us trying to haul 3 kids and luggage for all these different events/situations on public transportation! I get sweaty just thinking about it…

Friends; a card in the mail and a fun update is what I wish I’d sent you for Christmas, but this year I chose not to stress, and try to simply focus on what Christmas really is about. The Christmas shopping has been minimal, and I knew myself well enough to know that a Christmas letter would be stressful and definitely steal from the real Christmas joy, thus I decided upon not even trying to do one. But Daniel and I live such rich lives, blessed tremendously by what God is letting us be part of,  so I really wanted to share some of it with you. Thus comes a year in review on blog. =)

JANUARY:

Daniel started school! When we first moved from Hawaii to Fort Collins to continue the work with Water For Life, Daniel was wondering about going back to school to learn more about water, and to connect with the water professionals in this town. God totally worked a miracle, and landed Daniel a chance at studying, tuition covered, through some random guy we met at a store. Well, obviously it wasn’t random, because only God could be behind such a crazy story, and the outcome was that Daniel got to start his masters degree this month. It all started a year back when Daniel chewed the kids out in Norwegian at the store, and a guy sitting close by asked him what language he was speaking. Little did we know that he was a professor at CSU that later would take Daniel on as his student and pay his tuition! God, You are just fun!

Celebrated our surprise baby's (Mikayla) first birthday at Great Grammy's house in Grand Junction, and a few days thereafter Mikayla finally started crawling!

At the end of the month, just as we celebrated Signy Margrete’s 29th birthday started a journey for her that felt like hell, but ended up with a good outcome. She started having panic attacks, and anxiety to a level never before experienced, and started a long journey of discovering lies of the enemy she’s started believing about herself, and how tiredness and sleep deprivation had gotten her eyes off of God and onto the stresses of life. The next 1/2 year was hard, but God provided a way out, and today she can say that she’s free and restored.

FEBRUARY:

Our preschool! School year 2009/2010 four moms got together and ran a preschool/discipleship group for our kids. On this particular day I was teaching the kids about the armor of God. Can't you tell? =)

Signy Margrete finally took a step of obedience and got baptized. Yes, she was baptized as an infant, but had for years been convicted that she needed to make a public declaration of her faith like the early Christians did in their baptism. Thus, finally at age 29 she got it done. =)

Calem and Emma Joy...do I need say more?

Still can't walk, but I'm trying...really I am!

Calem is quite the little artist! He does have quite a talent and interest in drawing.

MARCH:

March weather in Colorado is a little easier to handle then the Norwegian March weather...

APRIL:

Let the celebrations begin!! Calem turned 5 on April 14th, and with Emma Joy having her birthday a month later she got celebrated as well. Our kids sure didn’t lack attention for their big days. =)

Grandpa and Great Grammy came to help celebrate Calem and Emma Joy!

Then Nana (Grandma) arrived with cakes...

...and cake overload, but what fun cakes she had made for the kids!

…oh, and yes (!) Mikayla started walking this month! =)

MAY:

We celebrated Emma Joy's 3rd birthday and the last day of preschool together at a fun bouncy castle place. What a fun celebration for a little girl!

Then we turned right around and started getting ready for our trip to Norway. Suitcases sure are fun to play in! Daniel had his finals at school, and 5 days later we were flying across the Atlantic!

We love morfar (grandpa) and the tasty Norwegian waffles. M-m-m!

JUNE:

Beautiful Norway!

As Daniel and I got ready for our trip to Norway this spring a very strange and powerful homesickness for Norway filled us both. This has never happened before in all our travels to and from Norway, and we decided we’d better pray and ask God if this was His doing. As we were praying with some friends both us and them got clear direction from God about us moving back to Norway, timing being sometime spring 2012. WOW! This is definitely something we had not anticipated!

As I (Signy) was enjoying this beatuy one night (yes, this is summer night in Norway) God spoke clearly to me and challenged me to lift my eyes to Him and look at Him for who He is, not for what He can do for me. That became the end of a long journey of dealing with almost constant anxiety as it showed me the path to freedom! Read more about all of this in previous blogs if you wish.

Calem with a real life reindeer! That's exciting for a 5 year old!

Calem on his very first row-boat experience! We love having uncles and aunts that can take us on fun outings!

JUNE/JULY:

While mamma and the kids enjoyed the Norwegian summer with family, pappa and a bunch of university students from the States made their way to Kosovo to help a village of about 800 people get safe water.

One of the "before" drinking sources in the village - full of contaminated water.

Daniel and the crew working on a new and safe water source. It's hard work, both with the actual hands on part and the fund raising part that takes place beforehand, but oh how rewarding when people's lives can be changed!

Hehe. =) Daniel checking out the storage tank they built to hold water for the 3 months their wells run dry.

Daniel and part of the crew inside one of the water tanks they were building together with the locals.

JULY:

The family gathered back in Norway, this time visiting Signy's sister in Bergen. "Roadtripping" was the word for the summer, and we got to spend time with so many of our close friends there. Some we hadn't seen since our wedding! Priceless to be able to connect again!

Trying to get a decent photo of our kids together, but that's not easy as I'm sure most of you with multiple kids already know. =)

The kids enjoying the summer temperatures (meaning freezing water) at the lake where mamma grew up. Isn't it just gorgeous?!

AUGUST:

I (Signy) got my very first night away alone since the kids were born almost 5 1/2 years ago! The 2nd night of my school reunion Daniel came to join me for our very first night away together for equally as long a time. Way overdue vacation! =)

On our way home from Norway we had a one week stop in Pennsylvania. Our friends, the Rissler family, invited us to come help out at a Discipleship weekend at their church. We absolutely loved our time there, and honestly I think they just used the weekend at the church as an excuse to get us out there so they could spoil us with some vacation time! They arranged for us to spend time with an Amish family, something Signy Margrete had secretly been hoping would happen in her lifetime, and they took us to Valley Forge to learn more of the American history, of course on top of much fun time with our friends whom we haven’t seen since the Discipleship Training School we lead back in 2006.

Mikayla checking out the Amish rides.

George Washington's room at Valley Forge.

This is what it looks like when a family of 5 lives out of the suitcase for 3 months.

Back in Colorado we started the new phase of our lives – educating our kids! God spoke clearly to Signy Margrete about keeping the kids home this year and strengthening their foundation in Him. He also promised her that He would take care of the academics, and He’s definitely kept His promise. Calem is doing math from 1st grade work books, and is starting to read. All with minimal effort from mamma’s side. He is very quick at learning, and remembers things like no other. It’s been a joy to be on this journey, but also humbling as I recognize how much work a parent take on when they choose to home school their kids! Phew!

Emma Joy - so proud to be big enough to start school!

Calem - so excited!

SEPTEMBER:

At the end of August Grammy (Daniel’s grandma) announced that she would be moving to Alaska to be close to her oldest son, thus we spent the next month and a half driving back and forth between her place and ours to help with what we could and to spend as much time as possible with her while we still had a chance. The drive is over 5 hours, not counting the numerous breaks needed with kids, but by the end the kids had gotten quite professional at long distance survival in the backseat of a van. =) A plus about spending so much time on the Western Slope is that we finally got Mikayla dedicated at our friends’ church over that way.

Mikayla's dedication Sept 5th! Pastor Dave and Marilyn have now dedicated all three of our children =)

September 10th, Daniel and I sat down and prayed about where in Norway God wanted us to settle. The answer was very clear; Trondheim. It was so clear in fact that we both realized that there had to be a very specific reason for God to want us to be there, something more than running our part of Water For Life from there. Thus we started asking God about this. 12 days later we got THE BOMB, right in our email inbox; Our pastor from Trondheim Vineyard asked us to start praying about becoming the senior pastors of the church as he was moving on to do another church plant. SERIOUSLY?!! The church members are praying over this with us at present time, but thoughts that have been going through our minds a lot the reminder of this fall have been ‘CRAZY’ and ‘INSANE!’ =)

Calem also started his running career this month. He has run 3 one mile races this fall, his very first one ticking in at 8 min 32 sec. His good friend Jade also runs the races, and they do their best to beat each other. =)

We got our very first pet! Not sure how excited we are really, but it was a neccecary distraction to try to get Calem to forget about wanting a dog. Dogs and our lifestyle do not go well together! Neither does a fish for that matter, but it's easier to pawn off on some friend when we go traveling. This poor dude has been transferred so many times over the last few months I'm afraid he's going to have a heart attack one of these days. =(

OCTOBER:

Seeing Grammy (Great Grandma) one last time before she moves to Alaska. (Her brother, Uncle Marv, in the background)

Then life returned to normal for a while (whatever ‘normal’ means). Daniel busy studying, Signy Margrete and the kids doing school, play dates, leading a small group of women at a church bible study etc.

Emma posing for the camera...

...Mikayla attempting to do the same.

Our three little treasures! Aren't they cute?!

NOVEMBER:

Fall is here, and we've been raking leaves! Mikayla is a little unsure about getting thrown in the leaves with the other two. =)

The kindergarten/pre-K group at church that mamma has been volunteering at this fall. Calem is the tallest guy (blue shirt) in the middle of the photo. =)

DECEMBER:

As we were heading into Advent this year it was becoming more and more apparent to us how God has put a lot of people in our lives this fall that are struggling financially and/or are in a difficult situation somehow. Christmas this year has gotten a new focus as we’ve spent much of our time and resources on helping people in need in various ways God has shown us, and we eventually ended up hosting a family of 4 in our little 2 bedroom apartment while they were hunting for a new home. It was tight quarters, but we’re used to it from all of our travels, and what a joy it was to be able to help a family that was in a desperate situation.

This has been a year of so many blessings. We are very excited about the fun things God is letting us be part of, and the many blessings given to us by friends around the world. We love you! We thank God for you! You are a joy to us, and we can’t wait to see each one of you again! Thank you for sharing this God-journey with us!

Much love (and some silliness) form us to you! We love you!

It all started a few nights ago. We have a washing machine in the house, but it doesn’t work, so me and  my faithful friend and translator Arben and one of the students (Caleb), got in the Land Cruiser in search of our landlord’s house to get a newish washing machine.  We finally found it after getting lost three times.

We were invited in for tea (par for the course), and were led into this room that looked straight out of the middle ages. We sat on pillows on the floor, and the whole room was decorated with this extravagantly designed wood. Now to be honest, I wasn’t at all impressed, but when Arben sort of sucked in his breath, and told me how much had been spent, I sucked in my breath as well.  They went on to tell us that this room was only for the men, women weren’t allowed in it. So then I realized that this was the Albanian version of a “man-cave”.

Oh, just so you know, our landlord is the brother to the mayor of this municipality.  So we get headed back in the Land Cruiser. To paint a little picture for you, this is an old land cruiser that belongs to the RED CROSS and has a big red cross symbol on the front and back.  Our land lord works for the Red Cross.  He’s a sweet guy, who owns much of Skenderaj (city of 25,000 or so), and is hugely connected because of his brother the mayor. So he is an important person in this part of the world.

So we loaded up the new machine, and took it back to our apartment building which is right on the main street going through the city. I parked halfway on the road and halfway on the sidewalk so we could unload this monstrosity of a washing machine. I turned on the emergency lights and the main lights so everyone could see us and then we started packing this monster up 4 flights of stairs. We hooked up the machine and went to bed.

Now the fun begins. Fast forward to almost 9am.  Arben gets a call from our landlord: “Hey, why is land cruiser in the middle of the street? The blood left my body as I suddenly remembered my “awesome” parking job downstairs. Of course the battery was dead. The landlord was down there, thankfully with a smile on his face, but shaking his head. We tried to push start it, but ended up having to have it pulled to a mechanic so he could switch out batteries to start it, and then put the old battery back in. That was my early morning, and diplomacy mistake number 1.

Later on in the morning, I had been out in the village and came back with Arben and one of the men from Tushile . We were out pricing everything so we could have a firm cost of a system, and so I could tell the first family how much their 10% would cost them for their system. We were getting ready to head back, I pulled the land cruiser on the street. We were all in the front seat. I had on my seat belt, but the other two did not. We drove, I kid you not, maybe 100 meters, when I saw the cops and remembered that I was supposed to drive with my lights on. So I flipped them on, but they pulled me over anyway.  He walks up, and instead of look at him, I sort of angle myself towards Arben, who is sitting in the middle, so he can translate. The guy starts talking, and Arben starts jabbering back, and then I hear “OHHH, AMERIKANER”. This is what he said to me before. “I am ready to give you two tickets. One your lights weren’t on, and two they don’t have seatbelts on. I’m going to do this, and you can’t even look me in the eyes?”   I didn’t get a ticket, but that was mistake number 2 for the day.

So needless to say, I was kind of flustered at this point. I made them buckle up, flipped on my lights, and we drove back to the downtown area so we could have coffee and plan out the second home we will help. We will not only repair their well, but also build a large water storage cistern to store rainwater. I parked the car (legally), and then we walked to a little café. We had been there 20 minutes when Arben’s phone rang. It was our landlord, AGAIN.  I had apparently left my lights on, AGAIN!!! The level of embarrassment I was feeling was unbearable. I felt like puking, and then crawling into a deep dark hole. Unfortunately, I had to hurry up and turn off the lights before I drained our already fragile battery. I came back and our landlord walked up. He patted me on the back in a real “man-love” sort of way. He then had Arben translate this to me: “For this, you buy all the coffee’s today. Do this again tomorrow, and you buy all the lunches!” =)  I think I have learned my lessons!

Again, I’m so sad I don’t have any photos to show you, but being in Norway reporting to you what I’ve been told on the phone by Daniel, I just don’t have photos…So I’m sorry, but you’re all going to have to suffer through plain text again.

It’s really exciting to get to report to you tonight as Daniel had some good reports after a days work in the village. He told me he is really encouraged to see the men of Tushile plunging themselves into the work of getting safe water. They are actually getting so involved in this that the only thing he’s been having to do is to help guide them in what things they need in order to finish the project!

Let me tell you about the family that has been chosen as the ones to first get help. This family consists of a hard working husband who supports his mother, his wife and his four children without access to enough safe water. He only has a small garden plot because he doesn’t have a water supply high enough to plant any more. This family lives at the outskirt of the village and therefore they are too far away from the river to be able to get any extra water from it during the dry season, so helping this family get access to more water is vital for their chances at a better life. Right now they are being helped at getting their well covered, and the water pumped into the house where they will get a 50 liter holding tank so that they will have water on hand even when the electricity goes out, which it tends to do fairly often. Today the husband and several other men that were helping him about finished digging the trench that will hold the water pipes and electrical wires leading from the well to the house. Daniel got to spend a few hours with the husband giving him advice on water issues and agricultural issues, and he’s hoping to spend more time with him in the days to come to see if he can help him get started with rainwater collection as well.

Another thing that happened today was that student number three arrived; a girl that will stay on in Kosovo all through the fall. Daniel and his three students and our translator are now crammed into a one bedroom apartment in a town near Tushile, the village we’re working in. The funny (and challenging) thing is that all four of the team members are people who regain their energy by getting time away from other people. That is obviously not happening when even the living room is turned into a bedroom in order to accommodate them all, so you can all pray with me for the team that they will be able to function well together, grow spiritually during this outreach, and that they will be able to process the new impressions and challenges they face even in the midst of crowded spaces.

Thank you again for following our journey in our quest to help this village!

I don’t have any photos to show you, but I thought a few words to let you in on the process in Kosovo would be helpful. Daniel is in Kosovo on his second trip this summer already. His first trip down was to do all the prep work for bringing his university students there to work with him this summer. After having a little time with the rest of us back in Norway and a week of introductory teaching for the students at our home base here he went back to Kosovo to start the work last Monday.

In reality “starting the work” is not all that easy in Tushile. We are working with a village of Muslims and former communists. Their way of thinking is just so foreign to the democratic thinking we all have grown up with, and we’re facing a lot of challenges in the planning stage of this project. Just the fact that we require the people from the village to pay 10% of the cost themselves to secure that they take ownership of the project is a huge stumbling block for them. They are used to the communistic thinking of the state taking care of what is needing to be done, and keeping people from taking charge on their own. Now they are learning what it means to live with their new found democracy, and in the process of this project Daniel gets to be the one teaching them what that really means; freedom comes with responsibility, the need of loving your neighbor as your self etc.

Yesterday Daniel and his crew had another meeting with the village. Over the years we’ve been working with the people of Tushile to get to the point where we can actually start the hands-on, physical work of restoring their wells there have been quite a few community meetings. The people have to decide for themselves to do this, as we refuse to be another group that bring aid to people who won’t actually take ownership of it themselves. We want to be involved with the people, not simply doing the work for them. For us to require them to pay 10% on their own is a big deal for a group of mostly unemployed people. That amongst other reasons have made the decision hard to take for the villagers, but yesterday they finally got to the point where they decided to actually start the work!!

After what Daniel described as a pretty discouraging start of the community meeting yesterday, with very few present, God somehow changed something in the spirit and they ended up with a decision on which well to start working on this morning. In fact the villagers started the digging work last night after Daniel and the students left the village to go back to their apartment in a nearby town. This morning they will locate a second well to start working on, and the actual work of restoring the wells will begin.

For those of you that might not be up to date on what we are trying to do, here is a recap of the project: Tushile has about 800 inhabitants. Most families have their own family well, though open and contaminated. Also the well runs dry about 3 months of the year. The first step in our quest to help these villagers is to shock their well water to make it safe to drink, permanently cover the wells and install electric pumps (their preference) and to build a cement skirt on the ground around the tank to keep future rainwater, which gets contaminated on the ground, from seeping into the well. Alongside the physical work Daniel and his crew gets to share Gods love with these people, and get to train them in biblical truths.

Thank you for following us in our quest to bring Jesus to people in need!