APPROACHING ERSEKE

It has been a week since I posted anything on this blog. That is not because there has been nothing to share, there has been much. But I have been teaching a class on the Parables of Jesus in a rather remote part of Albania and internet connectivity that would allow sharing of photos has been non-existent. Now I am back in Tirana and have that access, so here we go again—back on the blog!
Udhekryq means Crosssroads in Albanian, and it is the name of the school at which I was teaching. The school is one of several Torchbearers centers scattered around the world. The mission of Torchbearers is to create an environment in which people, mostly young people, can be part of a community for six to nine months and learn about the Bible and how to apply it in their lives. Founding one in Erseke, with the hope of training and equipping Albanian young people, was the dream of one of the missionaries there—and it has come true.
FRONT VIEW OF THE SCHOOL
The main building of Udhekryq was built during the communist era and used as a store-house. When the Balkan War erupted many Kosovars (who are most commonly ethnic Albanians) fled to Albania and the British began to convert the store house into housing for these refugees. However, the war ended before the work was done, and the Kosovars returned to their homeland, never occupying the housing. Through hard work and by the grace of God the property and building were purchased, radically renovated, and made into the comfortable and utilitarian center the school is now.

SCHOOL FROM THE BACK

The class I taught was attended by the nine full-time students at the school and other part-timers. The regular regimen for students is five hours of class daily, Monday-Friday, then outreach on Saturday and worship at the local church on Sunday. Other activities are part of the schedule for students, community life is a daily reality, and there is lots of fun on the way!
Among the students at the school are two Belgians, two Canadians, one American, one Dutch and three Albanians. The staff is Albanian, German, American and English. The first week I was there the other instructor was Irish. The second week a Canadian-American who lived and worked in Germany was the other teacher… In other words, the school is wonderfully multi-national! Different ages, languages, cultures and places in life were present—and all bound together by a single factor, a commitment to Jesus Christ and a desire to know and serve him more.

ERSEKE VISTA

In the next couple days I will add more about Erseke and a note on a trip we made to the closest town, Korce. But for today I will stop with just one point, a point made long ago by the apostle Paul in his letter to the believers in Ephesus, Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household. (Ephesians 2:19). The message is simply that we are part of an amazing family, one made up of people from every tribe and language under heaven, a family that includes all ages and races, a family that in a deep sense does not belong to any nation or state but belongs to each other. The family of God transcends boundaries and ethnic differences, it brings people together from the far corners of the earth and makes them one in him—and that unity within diversity is its wonder and its witness. There is nothing like it, and never has been. And it is an amazing privilege to experience it first-hand!
ALBANIAN LINE DANCING