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

COUNTDOWN TO ALBANIA OCTOBER 10-27

(Kathie) Was it just a week ago I was traveling back from Indiana?  My sister and I spent 4 days there staying at my dad's and seeing as many family members and friends as possible. 

The big event was a princess birthday party for the ultimate 4-year-old party princess! I am thankful for that short but intense time. Electronic communication is a wonderful convenience, but there's nothing like being there. 


In the week since, we have been focusing on all the final preparations for the tour in Albania where we'll be heading this Sunday, October 10.  We are overwhelmed with God's provision through many generous donations and now have over 95% of the support we need for our flights and tour expenses. It is such a confirmation to know these funds are here before we take off.

The timing was tight for the release of the new Proclaim CD -- Next Exit: Mercy Street, on which we were depending heavily as a tool for this tour. The finished product did make it in time to get a shipment out to Albania for use in promoting the concerts, and we will take over a quantity to get the content into the hands of concert goers. Click here to see more about the cd.  See these links to hear samples of all the cuts: 

iTunes          CDBaby            Amazon

Listen on Jango, rate our songs and help us expand our ministry.

Please pray for our 19-member team as we gather in Tirana. Here is the schedule:
OCTOBER 11  Monday - arrival
OCTOBER 12  Tuesday - rehearsal, Tirana
OCTOBER 13  Wednesday - rehearsal, Tirana
OCTOBER 14  Thursday - rehearsal, Tirana
OCTOBER 15  Friday - High School, New Life Institute (NLI), Tirana
OCTOBER 16  Saturday - Home Builders, NLI, Tirana
OCTOBER 17  Sunday - travel to Korca
OCTOBER 18  Monday - NLI University Ministry, Korca
OCTOBER 19  Tuesday - NLI University Ministry, Elbasan
OCTOBER 20  Wednesday - NLI University Ministry, Vlore
OCTOBER 21  Thursday - Day off, Vlore
OCTOBER 22  Friday - NLI Executive /Government, Tirana
OCTOBER 23  Saturday - Disciple's Church, Durres
OCTOBER 24  Sunday - Joint outreach of churches - Tirana
OCTOBER 25  Monday - NLI University Ministry, Shkoder
OCTOBER 26  Tuesday - NLI University Ministry, Tirana
OCTOBER 27  Wednesday - departure

Here are some things to pray about:

• Safe and timely arrival of all team members
• Team unity
• Physical stamina
• Boldness in witnessing
• Spiritual vigilance (The enemy doesn't want us there!)
• Electricity! This is a country that experiences frequent "brown-outs" to the power grid

SPASENIE BAND IN JACKSONVILLE

September 30 Proclaim hosted Spasenie (Salvation), a Christian band from Belarus that shares with us a conviction of the call to proclaim the gospel with creativity, humility and boldness.

For over 20 years these men have been pursuing music full-time in Belarus and across Europe. Their musical style has adapted to stay contemporary and relevant but the message remains constant.  In many places where Spasenie ministers there are restrictions on how and where the gospel can be preached. But their name recognition draws people to their concerts where personal testimonies and song lyrics point listeners to the Lord.  Audience members are then invited to visit churches and Bible studies. Through their ministry in their hometown of Brest, Belarus, a city of about 300,000 near the Polish border, hundreds have come to faith. A church planted in 1996 now has 700 members.  And in many other places believers have been encouraged and churches have been planted through their ministry. 

On this visit they shared the amazing opportunities they are having as they are increasingly being invited into schools. In fact, they began receiving too many invitations to personally fulfill, so they are sending other bands from their church to be involved. 

For some time Proclaim has been anticipating responding to the invitation of Spasenie to join them in an evangelism effort in Belarus. This is now scheduled to become a reality in February 2011. During their two days in Jacksonville we had a profitable time sharing together our common goals  for working together and coordinating plans. At the concert people caught the vision of how strategic this ministry is that we will be involved in.  On the tour our horn section will play with Spasenie, so on parts of this concert Jim joined them playing sax or percussion.

Please pray for Proclaim and Spasenie as we continue to plan for this ministry together in Belarus and Ukraine.  

HEADED FOR ALBANIA

Our family doesn't have anyone in school, but we still find our schedule ramping up as the school year gets underway. At the end of August we were both involved in Proclaim's International Council in Jacksonville. Then Jim has 2 men's groups that have started up again this week and he has been regularly scheduled for worship team in Sunday services.


Now a big focus for us is preparing for the Albania tour with Mercy Street band October 11-27. Most of the Proclaim-Jacksonville team will be part of that outreach as musicians or on service or tech teams. Jim is in the band, on tenor sax and clarinet. Kathie will help with administrative support and on the video team.

This will be Proclaim’s 4^th tour in Albania in recent years.  Mercy Street band toured in October 2006 and again in July, 2007.  Then Jim led the classical ensemble Virtuoso in the fall of 2007 concentrating in the city of Fier.  Proclaim has developed a strong and positive reputation among the churches and believers in the country.  They know that we want to serve them well and help them reach out with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Our tour in the capital city of Tirana includes 2 concerts with local churches.  Then 8 events are planned in partnership with New Life Institute (Campus Crusade) with a strategy of generating a national, long-term evangelism movement in the universities of Albania as the new academic year is gearing up. In past student concerts we have experienced significant numbers of students coming to faith in Christ.  Also, hundreds of response cards have been filled out by students, serving as the core group for follow up by NLI workers in the weeks and even months following a Mercy Street concert. In preparation Campus Crusade is publishing a magazine to distribute to all the students at their five campuses.  The concerts are the centerpiece of the magazine featuring five articles that were written by members of Mercy Street specifically for this publication.

A few days ago we put out an urgent prayer need for a sound tech for this tour -- now God has answered and that strategic position is filled!  

Please pray for all the details of preparation.  We also have a need of $3600 in special donations for airfare and tour funds for both of us. Because our regular support has not yet reached a level that covers ministry expenses, we are trusting God for additional provision for this tour. If you would like to have a part in helping with the funds for this ministry opportunity, you can respond through the donation link on this blog, or directly to Proclaim:

PO Box 56888

Jacksonville FL 32241

   

PROCLAIM TEAM IN UKRAINE -- END-OF-TOUR CHALLENGES

July 17: Our team with THE OUTLANDERS band was delayed most of Friday night at the border from Poland to Ukraine with issues regarding the equipment paperwork.  Bob McIntyre gave us a complete account of the border episode. Please pray for challenging weekend ahead:

It involved more than translating the carnet. The result was a whole new extensive document approved at higher levels and signed by us. The process required the full attention of 2 officials working their whole shift.


Besides the paperwork, they directed us to unload/unpack all vans and photograph each piece.  After opening the door of the larger van packed to the full - we only unloaded 5 pieces in the parking lot and the officials pronounced it "Enough!"


Through all this some of our team took turns waiting in the hallway of the office crowded with truckers while the others waited in hot vans wedged between large semis.  At 2:00 am the guy we most connected with showed mercy.  He said one passenger van could go on to L'Viv and the other two would stay in the process.  It was tempting!


We considered releasing one van, but in the end decided we all stay together.  It proved the right decision.  At the end of the 7-hour process  our final Ukrainian carnet was presented for the signature of Peter (B-house) who had signed the original carnet in Germany.  B-house had only decided at the last minute to join this tour, and he would have been in the van that was released 2 hours earlier had we decided to separate.


We had three very heroic but tired van drivers through the last lonely leg of the trip as most passengers crashed into silence and sleep from the stress and long wait.


A little after 4 am, as we approached L'viv, a large black SUV overtook us and waved us to the side of the road.  It was not the mafia, but rather Pastor Valerie who had been alerted of our arrival. His assistant had insisted that we text-message him upon our release from the border. The pastor personally led us to the hotel.


Back to reality - we begin set-up in the center of L'Viv at 2:30 this afternoon for a 7:30 concert tonight followed by two services on Sunday and an evening concert at church planting site 70 kilometers away.  Please continue to pray - this is not over yet!  Now the work and ministry begins for two intensive days.
AND - we must recross the border to Poland on Monday in order to make our flight connections in Krakow on Tuesday. A matter for continued PRAYER!


Russ Speiser's follow up
Recrossing of the border at the end of tour
Coming back through the Ukraine border God smiled upon us and we found that the same young official who had spent his whole shift doing the paperwork for us was again on duty.  Of course he remembered us, and we gave him a CD and some publicity for the concert, and he in turn not only waved us through after immediately signing our carnet, but radioed ahead to the other border guards which resulted in us getting VIP treatment right into Poland and on the road home.

SPARE ROD SPOILS CAR

On each of our last two big road trips in our well used old vehicle we have been detained for a major car repair before ever making it to our first destination. In an effort to avoid that headache and wear and tear on our own fragile car, we decided to rent a car for our trip to Indiana. We set out yesterday and it was smooth sailing through Florida and Georgia.

Then north of Atlanta Jim came up behind a pick up truck pulling a trailer in the passing lane. Noticing that the open trailer loaded with tools and equipment was swaying a bit from side to side he mentioned that it was going dangerously fast and moved to the next lane. Just at that moment an object flew off the trailer directly into our path. We braced ourselves as it loudly hit the front underside of our car. The car kept going and we didn't sense any damage, but headed for the next exit just to check and be sure everything was ok. When we were able to inspect the car we discovered a 2 foot long solid lead spike sticking straight out of our bumper. 

Fortunately there was no damage to the engine, so Jim pulled it out and we called our insurance agent to report it and get advice on how to procede. The claim is subject to our deductible and any additional charges by the rental company that aren't covered by our normal policy. We were able to get the license number from the truck but found out later that doesn't actually do any good unless the police are involved.


Our initial response as we were going through this process was a temptation to be impatient with yet another inconvenience and delay and expense, in spite of our attempt to take wise precautions. But as we continued back on our journey it occured to us how much worse this could have been. For example, a higher hit going through the windshield -- thank you God for your protection and reminding us that everything is in your hands. It also renews our thankfulness for the prayers for protection that are being made on our behalf. Thank you prayer warriors!


We continued on to Chattanooga and had a wonderful meal and evening with long time friends Wayne and Jewel Smith and Carole Adams who happens to live right around the corner. Now on to Indiana . . .

TRANSITIONS

Moving around is nothing new in Proclaim -- our ministry is based on coming and going as most of us travel regularly to other countries. But this seems to be a time of several changes in longer term location as well. Our US office in Jacksonville is feeling the effects of these changes.                                                  

Todd and Terri Smalley who have been back in Jacksonville for over a year are able to return to Germany the end of June to give leadership to our team in Kandern. We will miss them and Todd's computer expertise which has benefited all of us immensely.                                                                  

And Marty and Debbie Shilling, who have carried a lot of the responsibility in the office the last couple years, are following God's leading to return to Black Forest Academy in Germany to serve there as dorm parents.  So, these positive moves present a challenge.                                                  

Now we are in the process of redistributing office responsibilities to cover the needs. Jim is one of those who will be taking on some of the areas as he balances coming in to the office 2 or 3 times a week with continuing support raising activities, music, tour preparation and local discipleship/teaching.  Please pray for all of us as we adjust to new roles and processes. It's always exciting to see how God supplies the resources to meet the needs.                                                                                                

One of the positive changes that is giving momentum to many of our transitions is the movement of the US dollar to a stronger position. The recent and relatively sudden increase in the value of the dollar results in a substantial net decrease in the monthly support need of our Europe based missionaries, allowing them to raise their support more quickly or keep their ongoing support strong.  Those of us based in the US are positively affected too as our dollars go farther on the evangelism tours in which we participate and the administrative aspect of the overseas ministries that the US office helps fund.
   

We continue to have new monthly and special donors and are progressing toward our support goals. In spite of still being well short of our monthly support need, our deficit as of the end of last month is only $4750 -- less than half what it was at the highest point just a few months ago. Thank you to those who have joined our support team and to you who have given faithfully for many years.
             

We are looking forward to a quick trip to Indiana June 30-July 8 for a family event. One of the benefits of our US base is that it is possible to be with family for some of those significant times and at the same time see friends there and along the way.
                                                              

Jami will not be able to come this time as she has just recently been promoted to a full time position in seafood at her store -- an answer to prayer during the 2 years that she has been faithfully working the part time positions that were available. She and we are very thankful for God's provision. 

Thank you for your prayers during this busy summer of transitions.