There is a concept called “Intentional Community,” in the United States.  That is one of the ideas behind Life Groups at All Saints Church.  It is a great concept which was the brain-child of Ed Harowicz and a few others about 6 years ago.  They don’t have that concept here in Albania.

This evening I called out the window to Bruna as she was getting into the school van to take about a dozen people into town.  Asking for two minutes, I ran upstairs to my apartment, then down to the bottom floor and into the van.  One of the people we were going to town with needed to stay behind, so six of us stayed.  We added two more to our party to walk into town together.  Following an uneven and unlit dirt path through the farm-land which constitutes our back yard; we spoke in pairs about our days and the evening air.  I thought we were going out to eat somewhere, but that was a result of my ignorance of the language and custom here.  Soon we were walking back from town, each with between one and three small bags of groceries.  Hana was going to fix pizza.

After a good deal of time in the kuzhinë, Hana emerged carrying the first, hand-made, tray-sized treat.  Soon she was out with another.  The people from our group had put out place settings for the eight of us.  Before the fourth pizza was served, Hana’s efforts had fed at least fourteen people, including Chimee the security guard.  It was wonderful sitting and talking together, literally breaking bread in the form of pizza.  My foreign perspective may have heightened my enjoyment of it all by just a little bit.  Monday night, nothing planned, no phone calls made; just friends delighting in each-other the way friends do.