Work as a missionary can seem slow at times. Missionaries are like office workers in that they are expected to keep busy or appear busy even when there is little work to do. Today I spent most of my time doing language study in Albanian, having conversations about the Albanian language with the people at the theological college, and trying to plan for the months ahead. Immersed in a foreign culture is where I live, and so I suppose no time is wasted while waiting for projects and plans to come together.
Now that I am back in Albania, I will be working under a new pastor. Pastor Barry leads the International Church in Tirana. Yesterday I visited his project to get a feel for where things are at and where he would like them to go. Pastor Barry, like so many pastors, is a man of vision. Pastor’s seem to have the ability to walk into a house, a city, or a nation and see all of the potential that that place has just waiting to be activated for the work of Jesus Christ. The International Church of Tirana is not unique, in that the space is poorly designed for the purposes of a church.
I have already met some of his team. The two puntors working to excavate the area involved for the forming of a new concrete slab are a pair of brothers named Mosi and Mustafa. Mustafa is the shovel man while Mosi does the wheelbarrow work. In this nation without unions, I find it surprising just how specialized the workers on a construction site become over the course of work. Ledi was the man running the grinder. Everyone is paid equally, and so the division of work must be the result of a simple understanding. Albania has its way.
albaniacalling 