Across the Adriatic sea from Albania, 8 hours by ferry boat, is Italy. Paul preached in both of these parts of the world while spreading the message of Jesus during the first years of the Church’s existence. The Church in Albania was all but eradicated over a 500 year persecution by Ottoman authorities. Christianity fared little better during the reign of the Communists who took control after the Turks quit their empire. Although the nation has been open to missionaries since the early 90s, it wasn’t until 2005 that the first missionaries from the Italian Church started seeking ways to serve the Lord here.
Last week the Bible School in Sauk hosted a team of 13 missionaries from Rome. Among them were Norman and Leda, two amazing people with golden hearts and bright, bright spirits. The rest of the team was excellent as well, but these two quickly took up the work of translating my words to the group and through that we formed fast friendships. Norman lived for 4 years in England. Leda is fluent or near as such in Albanian, English, Italian and Spanish. My heart is full with admiration for the two of them. Their group left to return to Italy on Monday.
Monday evening I was invited to attend a dinner with another small contingent of Italian Christians. Pastor Gezim from Durres has a gift for networking. He and his wife have sown the seeds of friendship with countless members of the Evangelical Church in Italy. Yester-evening we broke bread at a restaurant/hotel in Durres; Albania’s largest coastal city. I sat across the table from Davidi. I didn’t catch the names of the other two men. Davidi was kind enough to teach me how to say some basic words in Italian: bicchiere, cucchiaio, forcella, acqua. He has a good spirit as well and always seemed to be smiling.
Also joining us from Italy were Terry and Marsha Peretti. These two have been serving in Italy for 36 years (as I typed that out just now it occurred to me that I will be 36 years old this coming December). They are from the Seattle area originally and got their start in ministry by planting a church in Vashon Island in the early 70s. It made for interesting conversation over dinner as some people, like me, are only fluent in one language where as most of the people I was with are fluent in two. Not a single person there spoke all three, however.
It is an honor to sit at any table which has been set by God. This strange combination of fellow Christians, these many faces of God’s children; who can say what God has in store for them today or in a year? Who but God would host a dinner such as this?
albaniacalling 