On Wednesday I got into Fushekruje around 9AM, it takes me about 2 hours to get to there from Tirana. I spent the day with my work family: Ervis, Fatjon, Saymir, Agim, and Peirin. Yes, we are still moving in structural fill and heavy earth and placing concrete borders, but the end is in sight.
After this week we should have nearly all of the material placed to bring the land around the church to where it will be. This time on site with these men has brought the humor, kindness, generosity, and general loveliness out of everyone on the crew. I know I will miss this phase of my mission once it is over with.
I needed to get back to Tirana by 5PM to meet with an American missionary named Dan. Dan is from Illinois. He first met his wife in Kosovo on a missions trip and they have now been married for 8 years. Now they are living in Tirana with their four children Danielle, Relinda, Samuel and Katherine. I had thought that Dan and I were going to have a coffee and a private conversation, but he invited me over to his house for dinner which was a far better idea. Kids are busy and I am always amazed at how broad the swing of personalities can be from within the same genetic encoding.
Dan dropped me at the bus station near Skenderbeu Square, and soon I was back in the comfort of Sauk. I bought some hot dogs for my visit with Max and his friends. The dogs approach aggressively, but mostly each one just wants to be the first in line for a snack. I counted 8 in the pack last night. A woman walking past me and them said “You are not from Albania.”
“No m’am,” I replied. “Amerika.”
“These are dogs of the street,” she explained.
I know.
albaniacalling 
Crazy street dog feeding Amerikan!