ALBANIA ADVENTURES

It was a bit of a rocky arrival day, but God was definitely in control. The 2 vans with 3 occupants driving from Germany had to change plans at the last minute when they found out the ferry they were planning to take to shave kilometers off the drive changed schedules in October and would not get them here in time. That meant a 3-day drive, getting the equipment through unplanned border crossings and ending with the last few hours at night in rain on treacherous roads. But they pulled in at 10:45 pm in good spirits. 
The last flight in was to arrive at 5:00 pm, but that flight was cancelled and replaced with one arriving at 11:00 pm.  The bright spot in that was the long drive to and from the airport with hardly any traffic instead of at rush hour.  And rush hour in Tirana is something you have to experience to believe!


If there's one item of baggage that doesn't make it, it will most likely be a large instrument that requires special handling.  Yep, the bass was nowhere in sight when we arrived at noon Monday.  At the 11:00pm airport run . . . still nothing.  But it was here the next morning before the first note needed to be played. Big sigh of relief!


Then there was the guy on a motor cycle who pulled out unexpectedly right in the path of our van resulting in an unavoidable hit and a trip to the hospital for the biker. In God's sovereignty there was an English speaking witness to the accident who assured officers that our driver was not responsible in any way for the incident. The whole thing, although distressing, was wrapped up in a very short time and we were on our way again. 


God loves to keep us aware that this is his tour. Before we had any idea we would be in this place for this ministry He knew every challenge that would be faced.  No doubt there will be many more as we go through the next couple weeks. 


Thank God for the reminder that we are totally dependent on -- and can have complete confidence in -- his care and provision for every situation.  Please continue to pray for our alertness to see and boldness to seize every opportunity that God gives us. 

New Life Christian Center - our home in Tirana