We're Here - Part 2

Good Grief!


So, I pull up our blog page in order to begin this update and the whole screen...EVERYTHING was in Serbian.  You gotta love how technology likes to think it's smarter than you sometimes.  Just because I've moved to another country doesn't mean I already know they language!  So, after clicking on nearly every link of the page...tada!  English....oh how I love English...moving on...

Home Sweet Home

After about a week of looking at various possible places to call home, we found the place that, as Goldilocks would say, "...was juuust right."  We're staying on the top floor of a two story home with an Albanian family and their three children living on the first floor.  Our level has a foyer, two bedrooms, one bath, a large living room, beautiful kitchen and balcony with a great view of the surrounding mountains.

Lindsey's taken to the place like a duck to water.  She absolutely loves the kitchen, the big windows that let in plenty of sunlight...when the sun actually gets a chance to come out from behind these dark winter days.  The electricity is much more consistent than when we were in Mitrovice a few years ago.  In the almost two weeks we've been in our home we've only been without power for a couple of hours.

Introducing...Peje

You can find plenty of information on the city that Lindsey and I currently call home here.  Depending on who you ask (Albanians or Serbians), you'll get different pronunciations and spellings of not only Peje, but all of the towns, cities and the name of the country itself.

A few observations of the town...

• The only Catholic church here likes to compete with the local mosques to see who can be the loudest.  Each day at the prescribed times, the Muslim call to prayer sounds through the speakers atop the minarets.  A few seconds before, the church bells begin to ring and continue on through the duration of the call to prayer.

  

• You can't walk more than 10-20 feet without coming to a small market shop, then another, then another...you get the idea.  The closest shop is barely 30 seconds from our home.  I've become good friends with the owner, Beki.  He helps me with my entry level Albanian when I come into in, helps me find the best produce of what he has (Lindsey greatly appreciates that).

    

• Pedestrians are respected much more here than in the U.S.  I remember reading a news story not too long before we left that ranked Raleigh, NC as one of the most dangerous cities in the nation for pedestrians.  Having worked in downtown Raleigh for nearly six and a half years I would have to agree.  Here is a different story all together.  Drivers, for the most part, yield to pedestrians regardless when and where you step out into traffic.  One tip to keep in mind...you're just as likely to hit walking on the sidewalk as you are walking in the road.  Parking and driving up on the sidewalk for brief moments is rather common.
• Peje would be even more beautiful if the people could find a trashcan for their garbage other than the ground.  The rest of Kosova is certainly not immune to this.  After we were picked up from the airport we commented as we were driving how beautiful everything looked with all the snow.  Steve, one of our mentors agreed, but only because it hid all of the trash and garbage strewn about.

  

The People

If you'd like to have a visual representation of what the young men here look like...just look at me.  Everywhere we've gone people start speaking to me in Albanian then comment about how much I look like them when they find out I'm American.  Lindsey...not so much.  Her fair skin is the biggest giveaway that she's isn't from around here.  The people here are extremely hospitable, warm, friendly and affectionate.  The women greet one another with kisses on the cheek.  The men will usually embrace, touch cheek to cheek.  It's common to see the men here walking around arm in arm.

The Food

The food here is a mix of Mediterranean, Greek and Turkish.  Frozen dinners, mac-n-cheese, chain restaurants, etc... are now a thing of the past for us.  If you want to eat a good meal, you have to prepare it, rather than pull it out of a box and bake for 25-30 min @ 350 degrees.  Butcher shops, bakeries, small markets, cafes dot both sides of the main road outside our neighborhood.  There's a store called ETC that's as close to Wal-Mart as we're going to get for now and a few other medium sized grocery stores.  The biggest challenge with regards to food is Lindsey's dairy allergy.  So much of what is prepared here has either milk or cheese or both.  It's taking some getting used to when grocery shopping.  Most items that we could get a dairy free version of back in America don't exist here, but she's done quite well with finding recipes online to supplement a smaller selection of options.

Our plan through this website and Facebook is to bring to you as much of Peje, Kosova and the ministry work being done here; not just our work here, but the work that's being done by other organizations as well.  The concept of the unity of the body of Christ most certainly extends to missionaries and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  We do a disservice to our witness here if we refuse to work alongside our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord simply because the initials of our Christ-centered organizations don't match.  The people of Kosova, believers and unbelievers alike, are watching us closely, and our witness goes beyond the words spoken in our church services.

Lindsey and I are greatly appreciative of prayers, and will continually be in need of them.  The work to be done here is great indeed, but we are thankful to serve a God who will do more than we could ever ask for or imagine.  We love you all, and remember you in our prayers as the Spirit lays you on our hearts.  We love hearing from you.  Even a simple two line email is such an encouragement to us.

God bless you!