Thank you to each of you who are "joining" us on our trip through your prayers. We have seen God do amazing things this week and we know that you are a huge part of that through your intercession. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about the trip in the words of the teens. Let me say here that they are amazing and you can be proud of each one of them. They are a reflection of the teaching that you, their parents, family, friends, and church body have poured into them. One of my favorite things each day is to hear them pray. In their prayers for the people and the work here in Kosova I can see how willing they are to let God use them and how He has given them a passion for these people to know Him.
As you read in previous posts, we had a great time our first three days at the camp. Due to the rainy weather we were not able to lay block on the second floor of the main building, but we were able to build a log pavilion from logs we retrieved from the mountains. It took eight guys to haul and raise some of the logs, so our help was much appreciated. The pavilion will be used as a covered feeding area in the upper area of the camp. Today a group of 80 people arrived at the camp and, with a temporary roof, the pavilion is already being used.
On Saturday we transitioned from construction at the camp in the mountains to evangelism in the city. At our first Kid's Club we had over 25 children. According to those who work with them on a regular basis, they were more attentive than usual. Skits, especially with costume, are not usual and so the children were really interested. Thank you to those of you who helped us plan our Kid's Club - you know who you are! You can see in the eyes of the children that it was worth every minute! They also enjoyed getting to make their own "book" and color it themselves. You can see the book in the pictures. They colored for longer than I have ever seen children color in any country I have been privileged to work. Many of these children come from poor families that live in shacks along the railroad tracks. They can relate to an outcast like Zachaeus.
On Sunday we attended an Albanian service. This is the same church that the three ladies from PBC worked with last year. There were about 35 people in attendance, plus our group.
In the afternoon we were blessed to meet with five families and about eight single workers from six different countries. I think Josiah already told you that we played volleyball and shot off fireworks in the evening.
At our Kid's Club today we drove to a poor village outside the city. These people are considered very low in the society here. The workers have been working in this village for at least a year that I am aware of, and I think longer than that. But it is still almost unbelievable to the villagers that a group of Americans would come to them.
We began club today by helping them make name tags for themselves. This was new to them and they were really excited. They've never had a name tag before. It was really great for us too because we could call them by their names - or at least attempt to pronounce them which gave the kids a great laugh. As Jacob said in his post, we misplaced our script for our Zachaeus skit, but after prayer we went ahead with the skit - a thanks to all our past Sunday School teachers who taught us about Zach! Once again they listened attentively. Josiah followed up the skit with an explanation of the Wordless Book, and again the children listened. We were told this group of kids would be a lot rowdier than the kid's at the center, but they were just as focused. They too loved working on their books. At this club we had a lot of older children and teens. Even a group of 16 year old guys colored their Zach books because coloring is not something they've done much of, if at all. We had separated into four groups of four-five each, with our team members and a translator in each. As the groups were finishig their Zach books, we discussed the wordless book. The group of 16 year old guys asked a lot of questions. In the group that I was in we asked them if they were bad people and at first they said no, but when we asked them about lying and hatred, they each changed their answers to yes, that they were not good people.
- Jennifer Edmunds