What is worship?
Ever since February of last year, I have been thinking about this question. And I still have not come to a conclusion. It is something that is so highly held in today's Christian culture. There are worship nights, worship concerts, lessons on worship, worship bands, everything. But what does it all mean? I am not saying that it is a bad thing at all. It is throughout the Bible but I just want to dig deeper and really figure out what the Bible says about it. When I was in Germany, at bible school last year, we would worship on Sunday mornings but it was really different than I have experienced before. We had an acoustic guitar, piano, a cajon and singers. We would sing a lot of hymns and older songs. I really began to think about the words I was singing and well in love with those older songs. I liked how it wasn't a production but something that was from the heart. Then when I came back to the states, the first week I experienced worship again at another church. I felt awkward. I didn't know what to do. I felt as though that everything was about "feeling" the presence of God. I heard people speak in tongues. There were a lot of lights. It felt like a production. And since that point, I have been really skeptical about worship. I started thinking about the words I sang. It was hard for me to do this thing called worship. And it has been that way ever since. Since then, when someone prays or sings a song, I really think about what they are saying, taking it into my mind and mulling it over, comparing it to the knowledge that I have and seeing if it was correct. This would happen everywhere. And it wasn't till this morning that I realized something. I realized how big my pride is. I think my way is right and everyone should pray the way that I think is theologically correct. All of the songs that are sung should be correct also. I am wrong in doing that. I should look at the heart of those words, knowing that the person who is praying or singing them means them. I need prayer. I need guidance but most of all, I need Jesus. Look what happens when I think my way is better than God's. I am still seeking what it means to worship but I have found something, I need to get my own pride out of the way to do so.
"I can't- He never said I could, but He can and said He always would."
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Faith like Abraham
I got an email right now and in the body, it said this:
-I have been studying the story of Abram and Sarai this week. This is a story with which many of us are familiar. God makes many promises to Abram….promises that seem impossible to keep (a man fathering at child when he is 100 years old…..really?) But Abram is a man of incredible faith. He walks out in faith to a foreign land….as the Lord had told him. He waited and waited for a child….a child the Lord had promised would be born. And after waiting so long for this child to be born, he was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac….as the Lord asked him. Through all of this, Abram was faithful and God fulfilled His promises to Abram. Paul has this to say about Abraham in the book of Romans: Romans 4:20: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.”-
In Hebrews 4:12, it says this, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." This verse in Romans did that to me. Looking back onto the life of Abraham and how God did bring him into a foreign land, made these promises and then came through with them when, at times, it did not look like He would. This really got me thinking about my own life. How God brought me into a foreign land. He brought me here to Albania, and looking back, it was only because of Him that I am here. He has always made promised to me, through the Bible, and will always keep them. But there is a way that I am nothing like Abraham. After God came through in giving Abraham a son, Abraham was willing to sacrifice Him. Looking into my own life, there are so many things that I am not willing to sacrifice. Why? Why can't I believe that God's way is better and just gives these things up in my life that are hindering my walk with God? If you could pray for me. Pray that I can find sufficiency in the person of Christ, knowing what I have IN Him and then appropriating that to my own life. I have EVERYTHING in Him! But I still think I need the things of this world. Pray that my faith cannot be MY faith but His faith. Pray that I may truly believe that His ways are better than mine.
There have not been a lot of times when a verse has brought me to tears, but tonight was one of them. I now truly believe that verse in Hebrews and have personally experienced it. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort." 2 Corinthians 1:3
-I have been studying the story of Abram and Sarai this week. This is a story with which many of us are familiar. God makes many promises to Abram….promises that seem impossible to keep (a man fathering at child when he is 100 years old…..really?) But Abram is a man of incredible faith. He walks out in faith to a foreign land….as the Lord had told him. He waited and waited for a child….a child the Lord had promised would be born. And after waiting so long for this child to be born, he was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac….as the Lord asked him. Through all of this, Abram was faithful and God fulfilled His promises to Abram. Paul has this to say about Abraham in the book of Romans: Romans 4:20: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.”-
In Hebrews 4:12, it says this, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." This verse in Romans did that to me. Looking back onto the life of Abraham and how God did bring him into a foreign land, made these promises and then came through with them when, at times, it did not look like He would. This really got me thinking about my own life. How God brought me into a foreign land. He brought me here to Albania, and looking back, it was only because of Him that I am here. He has always made promised to me, through the Bible, and will always keep them. But there is a way that I am nothing like Abraham. After God came through in giving Abraham a son, Abraham was willing to sacrifice Him. Looking into my own life, there are so many things that I am not willing to sacrifice. Why? Why can't I believe that God's way is better and just gives these things up in my life that are hindering my walk with God? If you could pray for me. Pray that I can find sufficiency in the person of Christ, knowing what I have IN Him and then appropriating that to my own life. I have EVERYTHING in Him! But I still think I need the things of this world. Pray that my faith cannot be MY faith but His faith. Pray that I may truly believe that His ways are better than mine.
There have not been a lot of times when a verse has brought me to tears, but tonight was one of them. I now truly believe that verse in Hebrews and have personally experienced it. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort." 2 Corinthians 1:3
Update: September 2009
Dear Brother’s and Sister’s in Christ,
As I am sitting here at my computer, thinking about how to start this letter, the only thought that comes to mind is, “The Christian life in an adventure.” As I look back to the last month of my life here in Albania, that is a theme that is very evident in everything that I did. Though it is not always enjoyable, God used every situation to bring me more understanding of who He is and how He works. Let me start with my time in the mountains for the Extreme and Wilderness camps.
The word “extreme” may be a little deceiving here. We were not like Bear Gryles living out in the wilderness, eating bugs, drinking our urine, and sleeping in dead animals to keep warm. We lived in tents, had amazing food made by Ruth Stoscher, had running water and were only a 40 minute walk away from civilization. But for the medical students who have never slept in a tent before, this was a little extreme. The land that Udhkryq owns is about an hour drive from the town of Erseka, on a winding, pot hole, make-you-sick road. Then, after this drive, you pull up to a dirt road and have to hike another 40 minutes up a mountain to the land that we own. When you look at pictures of Erseka, you see a brown, foothills of Colorado like landscape and coloring. When you enter the mountains here, it reminds me a lot of the black hills in South Dakota with a lot of pine trees and big gray rocks all over the place. But enough about the landscape. We has two weeks up here with two different groups. The first was a group of medical students from Tirana, half were Christian’s and half weren’t. There were a lot of discussions around the camp fire late at night about various controversial subjects, although I could not understand them because they were in Albanian. God did a lot of work in the lives of the students as well as mine. Most nights, I would stand out in the open valley and look up at the stars, the portrait that God has painted for us. While doing this, I would often listen to a lecture from this past year at Bodenseehof or ponder questions that come up in my mind. This was something that carried on into the next week with the other group of college-age students. Every night, while Doni was giving a message to the students in Albanian, I would go off on my own, lay on my back, and stare at these stars trying to, as Ravi Zacharias says, “Recapture the Wonder”, all the while being recaptured BY wonder. During these weeks, I was thinking about prayer, the fear of God and true wisdom. After listening to one of the lectures, I realized that prayer is a life long journey and something to be learned during this time. So with this, if anyone has any advice on the subject of prayer that they would like to pass along to me, I would love to hear it and apply it to my life here in Albania.
After those weeks, I had some down time here in Erseka. I ate a lot of food and played a lot of volleyball and soccer. When that week was done, I went to Tirana to visit some friends that I met the first week I was here during the High School camp. I stayed with a friend, Egli and his wife, and they were very welcoming and hospitable. The travel there was, once again, an adventure that is worth telling. I was to leave on Monday, August 31 at 3 AM. So on Sunday, I got all packed and ready, then decided to play soccer at 10 PM with the guys, not a good idea. We ended up playing till midnight, I got back home at 12:30 and didn’t get to bed until 12:45. Then, after rolling around in bed and not sleeping, my alarm went off at 2. I got up, grabbed my back and was at the place where I thought I was to be picked up at 2:20 (later found out that I was at the wrong place). After waiting for 40 minutes and seeing cars without license plates, the van finally showed up. I ran up to the van, asked if it was for Tirana then hopped in. It was packed and I was in the front seat. After driving for about ten minutes, there was a van pulled over in the dark ahead of us. We pulled over and the driver said something to me in Albanian then reached over me and opened my door. I didn’t know what to do so I got out and walked to this other taxi. The driver grabbed my stuff and threw it into the trunk of the van and motioned me into the front. Having no clue what was going on, I just followed. I squeezed into the front between the driving and passenger and we were off. During the drive, I was dozing off when we finally pulled over for a break. I got out and went to get an espresso inside. We were there for about 20 minutes then I saw the driver start heading back to the car. I followed and he said something to me as I was getting into the car but I did not know what he said. I told him, “I don’t understand” in Albanian. The guy standing next to me said, “You don’t speak Albanian? Do you speak English then?” I said yes and we started talking. He told me that they thought I was Albanian and just assumed that (I passed off as an Albanian!!!). He told me he was from Erseka and that he knows Mark and Ruthie and goes to the church here. That later helped because after getting to Tirana early, I was able to use his cell phone to call Egli and tell him I was there already.
So after getting no sleep that night and a long travel, I was finally in Tirana. It was a great week and I was able to connect with some friends and make those friendships better. I also got a cell phone while I was there so if you ever want to call, my number is +355694609299. I saw the sites around Tirana and had a relaxing time. After this, I went to Durres for a Missionary Conference with Mark and Ruthie. It was for three days and we were in a very nice hotel right on the beach of the Adriatic with a pool as well. I was really excited for this because I wanted a time to be still, listen to teachings and have some good fellowship with other missionaries. This is what I expected but once again, life is an adventure and the unexpected happened. I was asked to help out with the children's ministry. I did not like this idea but said yes because I couldn’t just say no. I was caught off guard because I did not expect this at all. At first, I was really bitter because I did not want to be busy the whole day with children. After the first day though, I realized that I was being really selfish. I wanted everything for me and was not thinking of these kids. So I changed my attitude and gave my all into these kids. There were 14 and 12 were boys. We wrestled, made crafts, sang songs, and played in the pool. I had a lot of fun but was getting tired by the last day. Although I may not have liked it at the time, I look back and it is satisfying knowing that I did God’s will and listened to Him when it would have been easy to say “no” and done my own thing.
While at the retreat, I met three of the students that will be here this year and Bob and Linda Osborne were there. Bob and Linda are the house parents here at the school for the year. They are from Fresno California and have been coming here to Albania for over ten years now. They are now my adopted grandparents because of the relationship we now have and how much they look after me. It has been great getting to know them these past couple weeks and am excited to see how much this relationship grows in the Lord. I will be working closely with them this whole year. I mentioned they look after me. After getting back from Durres, I got sick. It started with a sore throat then moved into my head and I thought I would only last for a couple days. Nope, it lasted for 10 days. Luckily, there were no students here at the school, we had a while before any got here and I was able to take it easy. Looking back, physically I was sick, and I was also sick spiritually. During this time, I tried to live on my own strength, the little I had. I wanted to get over this sickness so bad. I completely neglected God. I stopped having my quiet times, stopped praying, and stopped reading the Bible. Only did I realize this after the fact last Friday night. I was feeling down and in sort of a desert. I realized I needed to get back to Jesus. And that is what I am trying to do now. I would ask for prayer in this area. I want to completely depend on Him and bring my need to Him.
Well, the students come tomorrow and then the school year gets going. I am really excited for it to start. The students that are coming are: Ben from Chicago, Richard from Canada, Anthony from California, Klajdi from Albania, Skender from Albania, and Festim from Kosovo. The girls are: Jen from Omaha, Sarah from Germany, Gretchen from Japan, Ymrije and Hana from Kosovo and possibly Berta from here in Erseka. The staff I will be working with this year are Mark, Doni, Eric, Asimi, Beta, Monika, Bob and Linda. If you could keep these people in your prayers as the year goes on. I would also ask if you could pray for the staff. Pray that we can work together, be transparent with each other, and be Godly examples to these students. And as I am a new member, that I could fit in well with the others and be accepted, and I feel that I already am. Another, pray that I would not be intimidate by the other students. I am the youngest person here. Most of the students are at least two years older and one is 42. I want to live out what Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”
Once again, thank you for the support in prayer. And as I said before, I would love to start a correspondence with who ever wants and please send me prayer requests of your own and let me know what is going on in your life. What a great and indwelling Lord that we have! “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen” Philippians 4:20
In Him,
Luke Abrahamson
As I am sitting here at my computer, thinking about how to start this letter, the only thought that comes to mind is, “The Christian life in an adventure.” As I look back to the last month of my life here in Albania, that is a theme that is very evident in everything that I did. Though it is not always enjoyable, God used every situation to bring me more understanding of who He is and how He works. Let me start with my time in the mountains for the Extreme and Wilderness camps.
The word “extreme” may be a little deceiving here. We were not like Bear Gryles living out in the wilderness, eating bugs, drinking our urine, and sleeping in dead animals to keep warm. We lived in tents, had amazing food made by Ruth Stoscher, had running water and were only a 40 minute walk away from civilization. But for the medical students who have never slept in a tent before, this was a little extreme. The land that Udhkryq owns is about an hour drive from the town of Erseka, on a winding, pot hole, make-you-sick road. Then, after this drive, you pull up to a dirt road and have to hike another 40 minutes up a mountain to the land that we own. When you look at pictures of Erseka, you see a brown, foothills of Colorado like landscape and coloring. When you enter the mountains here, it reminds me a lot of the black hills in South Dakota with a lot of pine trees and big gray rocks all over the place. But enough about the landscape. We has two weeks up here with two different groups. The first was a group of medical students from Tirana, half were Christian’s and half weren’t. There were a lot of discussions around the camp fire late at night about various controversial subjects, although I could not understand them because they were in Albanian. God did a lot of work in the lives of the students as well as mine. Most nights, I would stand out in the open valley and look up at the stars, the portrait that God has painted for us. While doing this, I would often listen to a lecture from this past year at Bodenseehof or ponder questions that come up in my mind. This was something that carried on into the next week with the other group of college-age students. Every night, while Doni was giving a message to the students in Albanian, I would go off on my own, lay on my back, and stare at these stars trying to, as Ravi Zacharias says, “Recapture the Wonder”, all the while being recaptured BY wonder. During these weeks, I was thinking about prayer, the fear of God and true wisdom. After listening to one of the lectures, I realized that prayer is a life long journey and something to be learned during this time. So with this, if anyone has any advice on the subject of prayer that they would like to pass along to me, I would love to hear it and apply it to my life here in Albania.
After those weeks, I had some down time here in Erseka. I ate a lot of food and played a lot of volleyball and soccer. When that week was done, I went to Tirana to visit some friends that I met the first week I was here during the High School camp. I stayed with a friend, Egli and his wife, and they were very welcoming and hospitable. The travel there was, once again, an adventure that is worth telling. I was to leave on Monday, August 31 at 3 AM. So on Sunday, I got all packed and ready, then decided to play soccer at 10 PM with the guys, not a good idea. We ended up playing till midnight, I got back home at 12:30 and didn’t get to bed until 12:45. Then, after rolling around in bed and not sleeping, my alarm went off at 2. I got up, grabbed my back and was at the place where I thought I was to be picked up at 2:20 (later found out that I was at the wrong place). After waiting for 40 minutes and seeing cars without license plates, the van finally showed up. I ran up to the van, asked if it was for Tirana then hopped in. It was packed and I was in the front seat. After driving for about ten minutes, there was a van pulled over in the dark ahead of us. We pulled over and the driver said something to me in Albanian then reached over me and opened my door. I didn’t know what to do so I got out and walked to this other taxi. The driver grabbed my stuff and threw it into the trunk of the van and motioned me into the front. Having no clue what was going on, I just followed. I squeezed into the front between the driving and passenger and we were off. During the drive, I was dozing off when we finally pulled over for a break. I got out and went to get an espresso inside. We were there for about 20 minutes then I saw the driver start heading back to the car. I followed and he said something to me as I was getting into the car but I did not know what he said. I told him, “I don’t understand” in Albanian. The guy standing next to me said, “You don’t speak Albanian? Do you speak English then?” I said yes and we started talking. He told me that they thought I was Albanian and just assumed that (I passed off as an Albanian!!!). He told me he was from Erseka and that he knows Mark and Ruthie and goes to the church here. That later helped because after getting to Tirana early, I was able to use his cell phone to call Egli and tell him I was there already.
So after getting no sleep that night and a long travel, I was finally in Tirana. It was a great week and I was able to connect with some friends and make those friendships better. I also got a cell phone while I was there so if you ever want to call, my number is +355694609299. I saw the sites around Tirana and had a relaxing time. After this, I went to Durres for a Missionary Conference with Mark and Ruthie. It was for three days and we were in a very nice hotel right on the beach of the Adriatic with a pool as well. I was really excited for this because I wanted a time to be still, listen to teachings and have some good fellowship with other missionaries. This is what I expected but once again, life is an adventure and the unexpected happened. I was asked to help out with the children's ministry. I did not like this idea but said yes because I couldn’t just say no. I was caught off guard because I did not expect this at all. At first, I was really bitter because I did not want to be busy the whole day with children. After the first day though, I realized that I was being really selfish. I wanted everything for me and was not thinking of these kids. So I changed my attitude and gave my all into these kids. There were 14 and 12 were boys. We wrestled, made crafts, sang songs, and played in the pool. I had a lot of fun but was getting tired by the last day. Although I may not have liked it at the time, I look back and it is satisfying knowing that I did God’s will and listened to Him when it would have been easy to say “no” and done my own thing.
While at the retreat, I met three of the students that will be here this year and Bob and Linda Osborne were there. Bob and Linda are the house parents here at the school for the year. They are from Fresno California and have been coming here to Albania for over ten years now. They are now my adopted grandparents because of the relationship we now have and how much they look after me. It has been great getting to know them these past couple weeks and am excited to see how much this relationship grows in the Lord. I will be working closely with them this whole year. I mentioned they look after me. After getting back from Durres, I got sick. It started with a sore throat then moved into my head and I thought I would only last for a couple days. Nope, it lasted for 10 days. Luckily, there were no students here at the school, we had a while before any got here and I was able to take it easy. Looking back, physically I was sick, and I was also sick spiritually. During this time, I tried to live on my own strength, the little I had. I wanted to get over this sickness so bad. I completely neglected God. I stopped having my quiet times, stopped praying, and stopped reading the Bible. Only did I realize this after the fact last Friday night. I was feeling down and in sort of a desert. I realized I needed to get back to Jesus. And that is what I am trying to do now. I would ask for prayer in this area. I want to completely depend on Him and bring my need to Him.
Well, the students come tomorrow and then the school year gets going. I am really excited for it to start. The students that are coming are: Ben from Chicago, Richard from Canada, Anthony from California, Klajdi from Albania, Skender from Albania, and Festim from Kosovo. The girls are: Jen from Omaha, Sarah from Germany, Gretchen from Japan, Ymrije and Hana from Kosovo and possibly Berta from here in Erseka. The staff I will be working with this year are Mark, Doni, Eric, Asimi, Beta, Monika, Bob and Linda. If you could keep these people in your prayers as the year goes on. I would also ask if you could pray for the staff. Pray that we can work together, be transparent with each other, and be Godly examples to these students. And as I am a new member, that I could fit in well with the others and be accepted, and I feel that I already am. Another, pray that I would not be intimidate by the other students. I am the youngest person here. Most of the students are at least two years older and one is 42. I want to live out what Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”
Once again, thank you for the support in prayer. And as I said before, I would love to start a correspondence with who ever wants and please send me prayer requests of your own and let me know what is going on in your life. What a great and indwelling Lord that we have! “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen” Philippians 4:20
In Him,
Luke Abrahamson
Update: August 2009
Dear friends and family,
I ended my last letter that I wrote with the verse from 1 Thessolonians 5:24 “The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” I will start with that verse at the beginning of my first news letter. This is what I have experienced over the past months. Whether with relationships with friends and family, or finances, or travel, or prayers, God has been faithful through and through.
My departure date was July 8th, 2009, and it all went to plan. My parents left the same day as me and we arrived in Frankfurt three hours apart then made our way down to Friedrichshafen. That trip was interesting because we took a slight detour, which was my fault in not paying attention to the roads. The trip that should have taken us 4 hours took 6 hours. Whoops. But it was worth it because we got to go through the black forest, which was beautiful. The next two weeks, we had a vacation, but this one was different because we didn’t plan anything so it was a lot of relaxing and resting. My parents left July 21st. I spent another couple days in Germany at Bodenseehof after they left. At this point, I had not purchased my ticket to Tirana, Albania yet. I had been looking but finally decided to get the ticket the week before. This caused a little problem because when I finally sat down to get my ticket for 9:30 AM Friday July 24, that ticket was sold out. So I looked for Saturday the 25th. The cheapest ticket that day was the earliest flight, 7 AM from Stuttgart. So I thought I would save money and just get that ticket. I would then stay with a friend there, who so graciously offered his house to me, and leave in the morning. Well, the earliest train from his house to the airport left at 5:17 and I needed to be there by 5. I would get there almost an hour late. I was just trusting God that everything would work out. One Friday, I was getting ready to leave to Stuttgart for the night when I thought I would look at my e-ticket again. Right before this, I had prayed that God would work everything out for getting there on time. When I checked my e-ticket again, it said that my flight left at 9:30 AM instead of 7. I don’t know how this worked out, and still don’t, because when I was looking at those flights, that flight was more expensive and I purchased the cheaper one. Once again, God is faithful in unknown ways.
On Saturday morning, I was brought to the airport early and everything worked out there, thankfully. I checked in my bags, which was a hassle with two big bags when they only allowed one bag, and made my way to the gate. While I was waiting there, I saw a big group of people saying goodbye and thought I would walk by because I was curious. I listened carefully when I passed and heard that they were speaking English. I thought this would be a great opportunity to talked to some people so I asked a young man what they were doing here in Germany. He was caught off guard but told me they were on a student exchange program from Michigan for three weeks and are on their way home. Then he asked if I was on the flight going to Budapest (I had a transfer there). I told him I was and he said that one of his friends was also on that flight. He called him over and introduced himself and asked if I was going to Tirana after that. I thought this was perfect and said I was. He was very thankful that another person who spoke English was on the same two flights as him. All I could think about was what a great opportunity God presented me with to show this boy God’s love. We talked for a while waiting for our plane and I found out he grew up in Tirana and spoke Albanian and was going back to visit family. It was nice having someone to talk with during the flights and during our layover. I was able to tell him about what I was doing here and what I did last year in Germany. His name was Rasheed.
We finally made it to Tirana at 3 PM Saturday. After getting my bags, I walked out and a guy was holding a sign with my name on it. He took my bags and brought them to his car. He introduced himself as Luli and we tried to talk with him not knowing English and me not knowing a single word of Albanian. This did not work so well but it was fun. I was able to talk to Mark (the director of the school I am working at) at this time and he told me that this guy would bring me to another taxi who will bring me to his house 5 hours away. Luli drove me through Tirana while we tried to communicate. He was showing me different buildings and we came to this sketchy street by a soccer stadium. He pulled down the street and parked in the parking lot asking me to get out. We both got out and he started walking towards this building. I did not know what was going on, and for the first time I was a little nervous as to what would happen to me. I blocked out those thoughts and prayed, telling God how awesome it was that if something were to happen to me, it would be His will and if I were to get killed, I would be with Him. A sense of peace came over me and I was fine with what ever we did. We walked to this building and it was a cafe. He orders coffee and we sit there for 30 minutes just hanging out. Finally, he got up and I followed him to a van, where he put my bags in the trunk. He told me to get in and I just sat there, in 100 degree weather, in the sun, with three other people who did not speak English, waiting, for another 30 minutes. I was sweating profusely. I realized then what the driver was doing, getting as many people as he could to make the trip more worth it. We finally got going and I sat tight against the window with my bag pack on my lap. After dozing off for about 2 hours, we made a pit stop to use the bathroom then were on our way again. We came to this bigger town as it was dusk and the van stopped. The driver got out and started taking my bags out. I was confused but just sat there not going what was going on. A girl motioned to me asking if I was getting out. So I just got out and the driver took my bags and gave them to another guy who put them in this taxi. The driver of that taxi told me to get in. The peace that I had was some what wearing off but I kept reminding myself that what ever happens, happens for a reason. With this driver, he took out his cell phone and I was able to talk to Mark once again who assured me everything was under control and I would be there in an hour. This helped and I was able to relax, kinda. The Albanian roads are pretty turny through the hills and are very narrow, and at night, they are very dark because they do not have lights. Well, we were driving at night. Every turn we made, I was sure that we were going off the side. After an hour of these turns, we got to Erseka and to Mark’s house. This was quite the adventure but worth it because it makes a good story.
Now, I am here. These past two weeks have been different from what I expected, mainly cause I didn’t know what to expect. The first week, we has a high school camp here with about 100 high school students. It was big but I am really glad I showed up for the camp first. The kids were great. Even though they were wild at times, a lot of them spoke English and I was able to connect with them. I worked the ropes course in the morning and the climbing wall in the afternoon/evening. I was able to make some good friends this week and will be visiting them later this month in Tirana.
This past week, we had a junior high camp. Before it started, I was told that it would be a harder week because 70 of the 80 came from an organization called World Vision, therefore, a lot did not know Christ or anything to do with church. And a lot would be coming from Muslim backgrounds. I thought about it and thought this would be a great time to connect with these kids through activities and show them Christ through my actions. When they first arrived, I did this. We played soccer, basketball and volleyball and I tried to give these kids attention and show affection towards the boys, meaning giving them high fives and hugs. They loved this, a little too much. It was a growing week for me because I was trying to find a line between showing them Christ’s love and getting time for myself because they would constantly be calling my name and the other Americans names. At times, it was overwhelming because they were constantly hanging on us and calling our names. My job for that week was a little different, instead of doing the ropes course, I was the camp photographer and in charge of making the slideshow for the end of the week. I was super excited about this because I love taking pictures and using iMovie to make videos on my computer. This also made things overwhelming because I would always have a camera and the kids knew this and would be asking me to takes pictures of them at all times. All together, this was a week where I really sought out God’s strength to get me through each day. But I really enjoy taking pictures and hanging with the kids.
These next two weeks, I will be at what we call Wilderness Camp. It is located on another piece of land the camp owns about an hour away in the forest. I have not seen it but I guess the area is beautiful and since we have been getting a lot of rain, it is really green. We will be having a group of about twenty medical students from Tirana at the camp so they will be college age, most being older than me. I am excited for this because it will be a good chance to connect with some of those people since most speak English. After this week, we will have another group there for Extreme Camp. I do not know what this entails but I will find out soon enough. It will be a great time to be still and witness God’s beauty all around me.
Right now I am reading a book called Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. It is a really good and thought provoking book in which everyone should read. It has made me rethink my view of the American Empire in which I was born and raised in. All my life, through school, tv, movies and many other things, I have been made to believe that America is the best thing on earth, that patriotism and great and we should have pride in our country. I was taught to say the pledge of allegiance at an early age without thinking of what it really meant. I thought it was great that our money said “In God we trust” and we had political leaders and presidents that said “God bless America”. But after reading this book and being in another country, a poorer country, I have began to realize that I was mislead as a child and up until I got here. How can I pledge allegiance to the american flag and the american empire and say that I give me all to Jesus, that I pledge my allegiance to Him? How can I serve two masters like that? How can I support a country that takes so much pride in killing people to “make them free”? There are a lot more questions that have come to my mind as I have been reading this book and then looking at the Bible and reading it with new eyes. I realized that I have read the Bible through the eyes of the America rather than read America through the eyes of the Bible. This may be hard for a lot of you to hear but I am really beginning to rethink who I am pledging my allegiance to.
My heart broke in an experience I had last week. We were having the high school camp and at the end of the week, someone pulled me aside and wanted to tell me something. It was hard for her to get the words in English but this is basically the idea of what she said. She told me that a lot of Albanians see Americans and think, “I want to be like them. They have everything and are perfect. We Albanians feel less than you and have messed so many things up in our history.” I almost broke down in tears when I heard this. People see America and think it is amazing. Is that not what happened with Rome back in Jesus’ time? And how many times did He warm not be of this world, meaning Rome, but only in it. I don’t want to be seen as something better than these people. I want to be seen as Christ! As a little Christ, being clothed in Him and imitating Him. Not an American.
Here is something very interesting that I read and it is my prayer request. Although it is concerning the empire of Constantine, it can still be applied today with the American empire. “ During the reign of Constantine, another movement developed in Christianity- an underground of sorts. People left the centers of power and wealth and headed to the desert. Some of these monks described their society as a shipwreck, and folks swam into the desert to find God. They began to rethink what it means to be Christian, and their life on the margins called everything relevant into question. The desert became a place where clusters of people rethought their faith and culture. Some of them wrote that there was such an exodus of imperial misfits, the desert became a city filled with criminals and saints, none of whom saw the empire as a good place for the saints. They were not just fleeing society; they were going to the desert to save society, or at least themselves.” This is my prayer. That while I am here in Albania, some of the time being in the margins, that this would be my desert, where I can rethink what it means to be a Christian in the Empire that is called America. There is a better way to live, there is a better way to love, it is clearly spelled out in God’s word but I have been reading it through the eyes of America and have been blind to it. It will not be easy, I will have to give things up that are comfortable to me, but that is something that will have to happen.
Another prayer request is this: during the past couple weeks, during my quiet times and devotional, something God has really stuck out to me is the fear of the Lord. I have not really known what this means and have really been seeking wisdom and knowledge in the Bible about this. I would ask that you pray that I will find out what it really means to fear God, because that is the beginning of knowledge. Also, pray that I will be able to learn the language quickly so I am able to communicate with more people around here, and pray for the students for the Bible School this year, that God will prepare their hearts and also my heart.
Thank you for supporting me with your prayers and I hope this will help you know what I am doing here in Albania. I would ask that this is not just a one way communication though. While I am here, I will have a lot of time to pray and talk with God. Please send me prayer requests and updates on life at home. I want this to be a start of a correspondence with who ever wants to participate with me. I would greatly appreciate this.
In Him,
Luke Abrahamson
Here is an address where you can send mail:
Qendra Udhekryq
7 Rruga e Rehoves
Erseka, Albania
“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.” Psalm 31:19
I ended my last letter that I wrote with the verse from 1 Thessolonians 5:24 “The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” I will start with that verse at the beginning of my first news letter. This is what I have experienced over the past months. Whether with relationships with friends and family, or finances, or travel, or prayers, God has been faithful through and through.
My departure date was July 8th, 2009, and it all went to plan. My parents left the same day as me and we arrived in Frankfurt three hours apart then made our way down to Friedrichshafen. That trip was interesting because we took a slight detour, which was my fault in not paying attention to the roads. The trip that should have taken us 4 hours took 6 hours. Whoops. But it was worth it because we got to go through the black forest, which was beautiful. The next two weeks, we had a vacation, but this one was different because we didn’t plan anything so it was a lot of relaxing and resting. My parents left July 21st. I spent another couple days in Germany at Bodenseehof after they left. At this point, I had not purchased my ticket to Tirana, Albania yet. I had been looking but finally decided to get the ticket the week before. This caused a little problem because when I finally sat down to get my ticket for 9:30 AM Friday July 24, that ticket was sold out. So I looked for Saturday the 25th. The cheapest ticket that day was the earliest flight, 7 AM from Stuttgart. So I thought I would save money and just get that ticket. I would then stay with a friend there, who so graciously offered his house to me, and leave in the morning. Well, the earliest train from his house to the airport left at 5:17 and I needed to be there by 5. I would get there almost an hour late. I was just trusting God that everything would work out. One Friday, I was getting ready to leave to Stuttgart for the night when I thought I would look at my e-ticket again. Right before this, I had prayed that God would work everything out for getting there on time. When I checked my e-ticket again, it said that my flight left at 9:30 AM instead of 7. I don’t know how this worked out, and still don’t, because when I was looking at those flights, that flight was more expensive and I purchased the cheaper one. Once again, God is faithful in unknown ways.
On Saturday morning, I was brought to the airport early and everything worked out there, thankfully. I checked in my bags, which was a hassle with two big bags when they only allowed one bag, and made my way to the gate. While I was waiting there, I saw a big group of people saying goodbye and thought I would walk by because I was curious. I listened carefully when I passed and heard that they were speaking English. I thought this would be a great opportunity to talked to some people so I asked a young man what they were doing here in Germany. He was caught off guard but told me they were on a student exchange program from Michigan for three weeks and are on their way home. Then he asked if I was on the flight going to Budapest (I had a transfer there). I told him I was and he said that one of his friends was also on that flight. He called him over and introduced himself and asked if I was going to Tirana after that. I thought this was perfect and said I was. He was very thankful that another person who spoke English was on the same two flights as him. All I could think about was what a great opportunity God presented me with to show this boy God’s love. We talked for a while waiting for our plane and I found out he grew up in Tirana and spoke Albanian and was going back to visit family. It was nice having someone to talk with during the flights and during our layover. I was able to tell him about what I was doing here and what I did last year in Germany. His name was Rasheed.
We finally made it to Tirana at 3 PM Saturday. After getting my bags, I walked out and a guy was holding a sign with my name on it. He took my bags and brought them to his car. He introduced himself as Luli and we tried to talk with him not knowing English and me not knowing a single word of Albanian. This did not work so well but it was fun. I was able to talk to Mark (the director of the school I am working at) at this time and he told me that this guy would bring me to another taxi who will bring me to his house 5 hours away. Luli drove me through Tirana while we tried to communicate. He was showing me different buildings and we came to this sketchy street by a soccer stadium. He pulled down the street and parked in the parking lot asking me to get out. We both got out and he started walking towards this building. I did not know what was going on, and for the first time I was a little nervous as to what would happen to me. I blocked out those thoughts and prayed, telling God how awesome it was that if something were to happen to me, it would be His will and if I were to get killed, I would be with Him. A sense of peace came over me and I was fine with what ever we did. We walked to this building and it was a cafe. He orders coffee and we sit there for 30 minutes just hanging out. Finally, he got up and I followed him to a van, where he put my bags in the trunk. He told me to get in and I just sat there, in 100 degree weather, in the sun, with three other people who did not speak English, waiting, for another 30 minutes. I was sweating profusely. I realized then what the driver was doing, getting as many people as he could to make the trip more worth it. We finally got going and I sat tight against the window with my bag pack on my lap. After dozing off for about 2 hours, we made a pit stop to use the bathroom then were on our way again. We came to this bigger town as it was dusk and the van stopped. The driver got out and started taking my bags out. I was confused but just sat there not going what was going on. A girl motioned to me asking if I was getting out. So I just got out and the driver took my bags and gave them to another guy who put them in this taxi. The driver of that taxi told me to get in. The peace that I had was some what wearing off but I kept reminding myself that what ever happens, happens for a reason. With this driver, he took out his cell phone and I was able to talk to Mark once again who assured me everything was under control and I would be there in an hour. This helped and I was able to relax, kinda. The Albanian roads are pretty turny through the hills and are very narrow, and at night, they are very dark because they do not have lights. Well, we were driving at night. Every turn we made, I was sure that we were going off the side. After an hour of these turns, we got to Erseka and to Mark’s house. This was quite the adventure but worth it because it makes a good story.
Now, I am here. These past two weeks have been different from what I expected, mainly cause I didn’t know what to expect. The first week, we has a high school camp here with about 100 high school students. It was big but I am really glad I showed up for the camp first. The kids were great. Even though they were wild at times, a lot of them spoke English and I was able to connect with them. I worked the ropes course in the morning and the climbing wall in the afternoon/evening. I was able to make some good friends this week and will be visiting them later this month in Tirana.
This past week, we had a junior high camp. Before it started, I was told that it would be a harder week because 70 of the 80 came from an organization called World Vision, therefore, a lot did not know Christ or anything to do with church. And a lot would be coming from Muslim backgrounds. I thought about it and thought this would be a great time to connect with these kids through activities and show them Christ through my actions. When they first arrived, I did this. We played soccer, basketball and volleyball and I tried to give these kids attention and show affection towards the boys, meaning giving them high fives and hugs. They loved this, a little too much. It was a growing week for me because I was trying to find a line between showing them Christ’s love and getting time for myself because they would constantly be calling my name and the other Americans names. At times, it was overwhelming because they were constantly hanging on us and calling our names. My job for that week was a little different, instead of doing the ropes course, I was the camp photographer and in charge of making the slideshow for the end of the week. I was super excited about this because I love taking pictures and using iMovie to make videos on my computer. This also made things overwhelming because I would always have a camera and the kids knew this and would be asking me to takes pictures of them at all times. All together, this was a week where I really sought out God’s strength to get me through each day. But I really enjoy taking pictures and hanging with the kids.
These next two weeks, I will be at what we call Wilderness Camp. It is located on another piece of land the camp owns about an hour away in the forest. I have not seen it but I guess the area is beautiful and since we have been getting a lot of rain, it is really green. We will be having a group of about twenty medical students from Tirana at the camp so they will be college age, most being older than me. I am excited for this because it will be a good chance to connect with some of those people since most speak English. After this week, we will have another group there for Extreme Camp. I do not know what this entails but I will find out soon enough. It will be a great time to be still and witness God’s beauty all around me.
Right now I am reading a book called Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. It is a really good and thought provoking book in which everyone should read. It has made me rethink my view of the American Empire in which I was born and raised in. All my life, through school, tv, movies and many other things, I have been made to believe that America is the best thing on earth, that patriotism and great and we should have pride in our country. I was taught to say the pledge of allegiance at an early age without thinking of what it really meant. I thought it was great that our money said “In God we trust” and we had political leaders and presidents that said “God bless America”. But after reading this book and being in another country, a poorer country, I have began to realize that I was mislead as a child and up until I got here. How can I pledge allegiance to the american flag and the american empire and say that I give me all to Jesus, that I pledge my allegiance to Him? How can I serve two masters like that? How can I support a country that takes so much pride in killing people to “make them free”? There are a lot more questions that have come to my mind as I have been reading this book and then looking at the Bible and reading it with new eyes. I realized that I have read the Bible through the eyes of the America rather than read America through the eyes of the Bible. This may be hard for a lot of you to hear but I am really beginning to rethink who I am pledging my allegiance to.
My heart broke in an experience I had last week. We were having the high school camp and at the end of the week, someone pulled me aside and wanted to tell me something. It was hard for her to get the words in English but this is basically the idea of what she said. She told me that a lot of Albanians see Americans and think, “I want to be like them. They have everything and are perfect. We Albanians feel less than you and have messed so many things up in our history.” I almost broke down in tears when I heard this. People see America and think it is amazing. Is that not what happened with Rome back in Jesus’ time? And how many times did He warm not be of this world, meaning Rome, but only in it. I don’t want to be seen as something better than these people. I want to be seen as Christ! As a little Christ, being clothed in Him and imitating Him. Not an American.
Here is something very interesting that I read and it is my prayer request. Although it is concerning the empire of Constantine, it can still be applied today with the American empire. “ During the reign of Constantine, another movement developed in Christianity- an underground of sorts. People left the centers of power and wealth and headed to the desert. Some of these monks described their society as a shipwreck, and folks swam into the desert to find God. They began to rethink what it means to be Christian, and their life on the margins called everything relevant into question. The desert became a place where clusters of people rethought their faith and culture. Some of them wrote that there was such an exodus of imperial misfits, the desert became a city filled with criminals and saints, none of whom saw the empire as a good place for the saints. They were not just fleeing society; they were going to the desert to save society, or at least themselves.” This is my prayer. That while I am here in Albania, some of the time being in the margins, that this would be my desert, where I can rethink what it means to be a Christian in the Empire that is called America. There is a better way to live, there is a better way to love, it is clearly spelled out in God’s word but I have been reading it through the eyes of America and have been blind to it. It will not be easy, I will have to give things up that are comfortable to me, but that is something that will have to happen.
Another prayer request is this: during the past couple weeks, during my quiet times and devotional, something God has really stuck out to me is the fear of the Lord. I have not really known what this means and have really been seeking wisdom and knowledge in the Bible about this. I would ask that you pray that I will find out what it really means to fear God, because that is the beginning of knowledge. Also, pray that I will be able to learn the language quickly so I am able to communicate with more people around here, and pray for the students for the Bible School this year, that God will prepare their hearts and also my heart.
Thank you for supporting me with your prayers and I hope this will help you know what I am doing here in Albania. I would ask that this is not just a one way communication though. While I am here, I will have a lot of time to pray and talk with God. Please send me prayer requests and updates on life at home. I want this to be a start of a correspondence with who ever wants to participate with me. I would greatly appreciate this.
In Him,
Luke Abrahamson
Here is an address where you can send mail:
Qendra Udhekryq
7 Rruga e Rehoves
Erseka, Albania
“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.” Psalm 31:19
This Past Year and After: June 2009
June 2009
Dear friends and family,
As many of you know, I have spent the duration of this past year in Germany. While I was there, I was attending a Bible School called Bodenseehof, which was in a town called Friedrichshafen in southern Germany. The past six months have been the best time of my life thus far. I learned so much about myself, but most of all, I learned a lot about God and the person of Christ. The time was also one of the hardest times of my life, mostly because of the convictions that were put on my heart; every individual day challenged me in my faith. I will give you an idea of what my average day was like: this school is a lot different than any university or college that students would normally go to. We didn’t have classes for math or science, but only lectures. Every week, we would have a new lecturer come in from around the world to talk about a different topic such as a book of the Bible, Matthew or Proverbs, or on a more general subject like the Holy Spirit or Abiding in Christ. Each week, we would then have about five lectures a day. Each lecture was a sermon in itself; so everyday we would leave having been challenged in some way. We would also have some homework, such as reading the whole Old Testament, writing a Bible Study on one chapter in the Bible, or reading different books and writing papers on those. This would keep us busy during our free time in the afternoons and if we weren’t doing that, we would hang out and get to know each other better. We also had sing teams and drama teams which were formed at the beginning of the year. With these teams, we would go on outreaches around Germany and other areas. In the fall, we had an all-school outreach for one week. During this time, every person at the school either went somewhere for an outreach or stayed at the school and held different camps there. There was one team that had the opportunity to go to Serbia. My sing team and I had the opportunity to go on this outreach.
Serbia was one of the highlights of my year, so when someone asks me what the most memorable experience was; this is the first thing that pops into my mind. To put it simply, it was life changing. For the first three days that we were there, we helped put on a retreat for Gypsies that lived in or around Belgrade. The Gypsies are the “untouchables” of Europe. They are the poorest of the poor and are spat on by most of the people that live in the countries where they are from. This was the best thing to do first because we were able to see the kids for who they were, not for where they lived. Even though we did not speak a word of their language and they only spoke a little English, we were still able to communicate through simple sign language and through love. This was only possible because of God. It showed me that you don’t need to talk to be able to love people and get to know them. During this retreat, we played games, songs, and activities. Also, we would have two messages a day that Heinz Spindler, who is the director of Bodenseehof, did with a translator. Everytime I say this, I have a smile on my face because all of the kids who were there gave their lives to Christ. It is amazing how God works.
After this retreat, we went to Belgrade. When we were there, we went to three different settlements. The first was an area about a half an hour outside of Belgrade. At this place, there was a little building where there was help available for schoolwork. In this little building, there were about 30 people packed in there seeking help. Outside of the building was a sports court with basketball and soccer. There a bunch of kids were playing so some others and I went to play with them. Right away, there was this connection between all of us. We were able to get to know each other so much in that half hour even though we didn’t speak the same language. This just shows how much these kids need the love of others. When we left, everyone left with tears in our eyes because we had to go so fast. This was really hard for me to see.
The next place that we went was about an hour away. This was where the pastor, who helped put on the retreat, started the church he pastors. After that, we went to the settlement where most of the kids were from. This was almost in downtown Belgrade. When we got there, we parked in the parking lot of really nice theatre and right across the street was the poorest place I have ever seen. This was crazy to see how great the contrast was from rich to poor. The settlement was put together under a bridge and the houses were made from scraps of wood, sheetrock, metal or anything else that was available to them. As we were walking through, my emotions were everywhere. I didn’t know what to think or feel. Seeing these kids in their home was hard for me. Seeing the living conditions was even harder. But what made things better was seeing how happy they were. They didn’t care that they lived there because that is all they knew. So they grabbed our hands and showed us around with smiles on their faces. They took us to their homes and lastly, their church. This church that they met in was no bigger than the living room in my home. It was put together by scraps of sheetrock and had holes everywhere in it, along with a dirt floor. Later that night, we put on the service there. Our sing team did a couple songs and Heinz spoke again. While we were worshiping with them, I was able to look out on the crowd because I was facing them. This was the most joyful sight that I have ever seen. These people lived in scrap metal houses, didn’t have much food or clothing, many didn’t have jobs, and they are hated by society, but none of this mattered to them at that moment. They were praising God for what they did have and for loving them. I couldn’t help but smile as my eyes welled up with tears. I learned so much from them. So often, I complain about what I don’t have, I don’t have the new phone or ipod, new clothes, a computer, and so often I complain about how I am hungry and yet I go to church and try to praise God but can’t, simply because of all these things that are on my mind. I have no clue what it is like to be hungry; they do. I have no idea what it is like to only have one pair of clothes for months; they do. I have no idea what it is like to live in these uncomfortable conditions; they do. Yet they praise God with more joy than I ever have. This night will be with me for the rest of my life and whenever I complain that we have no food in our fridge, I will think of these kids.
Before I left to Germany last September, I had no clue what I was going to do the following year. All I knew was that I did not want to go to school right away and I told myself that I would figure things out around Christmas time. Christmas came quickly and I had to make a decision. When I first got to school, I wanted to work at Bodenseehof or another Torchbearer’s center the next year such as Holsby Brun, in Sweden, or Tauerhof, in Austria, or Capernwray Hall, in England. After Serbia, I really wanted to work with Eastern European kids, but I didn’t know how I was going to do that. As Christmas came closer, I decided that I would have Peter Reid, my uncle and the principal of Bodenseehof, email different directors to see if they would need any help for the next year. When I asked him, he asked me if I ever thought of going to Albania or Romania to work at one of those centers because they needed a lot of help. I thought about it, then quickly dropped the idea because I didn’t want to go to one of those countries. After a lot of thought and prayer, that idea grew on me more and more. I realized that God was calling me to be uncomfortable and go somewhere where they needed a lot of help and these two countries fit that. So I decided to have him email those directors. Both responded quickly but the Albanian school seemed to interest me more and after a lot of prayer, I thought that one would be best for me. I emailed the director back and he told me I had the job there at the school. In the summer, I would help out with camps and when school started, I would be a RA (resident assistant). But before I went out there, I wanted to come back home and work for the summer to earn money and see family.
I got back home on April 2nd. It was wonderful to see my family and friends. When people at school would ask me if I was nervous and scared about going home, I would always say no because of the family and friends that I have there to support me and be there for me as I adjusted back to life in the states. I thought that coming back, I would just jump back into my group of friends, get involved in a church and do a bunch of outreaches around the cities that I really wanted to do. I wish it were that easy. The first two weeks being back were probably two of the hardest weeks of my life. From culture shock to seeing friends change. It was really hard for me. When I left to Germany, I jumped off the merry-go-round that was life at home and went onto different things while friends back home stayed on, which was not necessarily a bad thing. When I came back, a lot of them were still doing the same thing. Once again, not a bad thing. But since I changed so much while I was gone and learned a lot and grew in my faith, I figured that everyone would have done the same. A lot of people grew in their faith but some went different ways and this was hard for me to see and come back to. The staff at Bodenseehof told us when we left not to go home expecting things to be as they were at school. Well, I should have listened because I wanted things to be back to what I was used to. I felt myself trying to get things to go back to how I knew them and I kept catching myself judging people, which was not right of me. This is what made life coming back too difficult, but as the weeks go on, things get better and better. I realize that those friends that I have are there for me and have helped me so much in coming back.
When I left Germany, I had a job lined up and a bunch of outreaches in mind to do around the cities. I am now painting houses again like I have been doing for the past three summers and did my first outreach that I had in mind a couple weeks ago. The Lord has blessed my life back at home and will continue to bless it as I get ready to leave once again on July 8th to go to Albania. I am still challenged everyday in my faith and continue to grow, as well.
One verse that I read as I was getting ready to leave was Philippians 1:3-11. It reads: “3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
This reminded me of the people that I met a school and the way I feel toward them. As I was sitting in church this morning, the pastor said that Philippians is sort of Paul’s support letter to the church of Philippi. Then I realized that this is a great verse for my letter, as well. This is my support letter and I ask that if you feel led, to support me in prayer as I embark on this next journey in my life. It is going to be an adventure and will have lots of great times, as well as times where I may feel alone and down. It will be those times during which I will need prayer the most. So I ask that you would pray for me as I am getting ready to leave and as I am in Albania serving our Lord. Paul is thanking the Philippians every time he thinks of them and I do the same when I think of you, my friends and family. Some prayer requests that I have right now are: That I can trust in God to provide funds for this next year, that I can make myself available to Him everyday to do with me what He wants, that I can take advantage of this time I have now at home to build those relationships with friends and family, and that God would give me self-control and wisdom in how I spend my money because I have had a problem with that in my past.
Thank you so much for everything that you have done for me, whether it be prayers or listening to me. I am blessed so much by God and that is so that I may be a blessing to others, which is what I am trying to do in Albania. I want start a newsletter while I am there and do that by means of email. If you want to be apart of that, email me (abes08@aim.com) and I will add you to the list. This way you can see specifics in what I am doing and what I will need prayer for. One more thing that I learned this past year was how important it is to be a good receiver. This is something that has been hard for me in the past but something that I am working on. If God has put it on your heart to give financially to this experience that I am about to embark on, I would be more than happy to receive support in that area also. Thank you again for everything and hope to be in contact.
In Him,
Luke Abrahamson
Address:
4110 W 145th St.
Savage, MN 55378
“The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24
Dear friends and family,
As many of you know, I have spent the duration of this past year in Germany. While I was there, I was attending a Bible School called Bodenseehof, which was in a town called Friedrichshafen in southern Germany. The past six months have been the best time of my life thus far. I learned so much about myself, but most of all, I learned a lot about God and the person of Christ. The time was also one of the hardest times of my life, mostly because of the convictions that were put on my heart; every individual day challenged me in my faith. I will give you an idea of what my average day was like: this school is a lot different than any university or college that students would normally go to. We didn’t have classes for math or science, but only lectures. Every week, we would have a new lecturer come in from around the world to talk about a different topic such as a book of the Bible, Matthew or Proverbs, or on a more general subject like the Holy Spirit or Abiding in Christ. Each week, we would then have about five lectures a day. Each lecture was a sermon in itself; so everyday we would leave having been challenged in some way. We would also have some homework, such as reading the whole Old Testament, writing a Bible Study on one chapter in the Bible, or reading different books and writing papers on those. This would keep us busy during our free time in the afternoons and if we weren’t doing that, we would hang out and get to know each other better. We also had sing teams and drama teams which were formed at the beginning of the year. With these teams, we would go on outreaches around Germany and other areas. In the fall, we had an all-school outreach for one week. During this time, every person at the school either went somewhere for an outreach or stayed at the school and held different camps there. There was one team that had the opportunity to go to Serbia. My sing team and I had the opportunity to go on this outreach.
Serbia was one of the highlights of my year, so when someone asks me what the most memorable experience was; this is the first thing that pops into my mind. To put it simply, it was life changing. For the first three days that we were there, we helped put on a retreat for Gypsies that lived in or around Belgrade. The Gypsies are the “untouchables” of Europe. They are the poorest of the poor and are spat on by most of the people that live in the countries where they are from. This was the best thing to do first because we were able to see the kids for who they were, not for where they lived. Even though we did not speak a word of their language and they only spoke a little English, we were still able to communicate through simple sign language and through love. This was only possible because of God. It showed me that you don’t need to talk to be able to love people and get to know them. During this retreat, we played games, songs, and activities. Also, we would have two messages a day that Heinz Spindler, who is the director of Bodenseehof, did with a translator. Everytime I say this, I have a smile on my face because all of the kids who were there gave their lives to Christ. It is amazing how God works.
After this retreat, we went to Belgrade. When we were there, we went to three different settlements. The first was an area about a half an hour outside of Belgrade. At this place, there was a little building where there was help available for schoolwork. In this little building, there were about 30 people packed in there seeking help. Outside of the building was a sports court with basketball and soccer. There a bunch of kids were playing so some others and I went to play with them. Right away, there was this connection between all of us. We were able to get to know each other so much in that half hour even though we didn’t speak the same language. This just shows how much these kids need the love of others. When we left, everyone left with tears in our eyes because we had to go so fast. This was really hard for me to see.
The next place that we went was about an hour away. This was where the pastor, who helped put on the retreat, started the church he pastors. After that, we went to the settlement where most of the kids were from. This was almost in downtown Belgrade. When we got there, we parked in the parking lot of really nice theatre and right across the street was the poorest place I have ever seen. This was crazy to see how great the contrast was from rich to poor. The settlement was put together under a bridge and the houses were made from scraps of wood, sheetrock, metal or anything else that was available to them. As we were walking through, my emotions were everywhere. I didn’t know what to think or feel. Seeing these kids in their home was hard for me. Seeing the living conditions was even harder. But what made things better was seeing how happy they were. They didn’t care that they lived there because that is all they knew. So they grabbed our hands and showed us around with smiles on their faces. They took us to their homes and lastly, their church. This church that they met in was no bigger than the living room in my home. It was put together by scraps of sheetrock and had holes everywhere in it, along with a dirt floor. Later that night, we put on the service there. Our sing team did a couple songs and Heinz spoke again. While we were worshiping with them, I was able to look out on the crowd because I was facing them. This was the most joyful sight that I have ever seen. These people lived in scrap metal houses, didn’t have much food or clothing, many didn’t have jobs, and they are hated by society, but none of this mattered to them at that moment. They were praising God for what they did have and for loving them. I couldn’t help but smile as my eyes welled up with tears. I learned so much from them. So often, I complain about what I don’t have, I don’t have the new phone or ipod, new clothes, a computer, and so often I complain about how I am hungry and yet I go to church and try to praise God but can’t, simply because of all these things that are on my mind. I have no clue what it is like to be hungry; they do. I have no idea what it is like to only have one pair of clothes for months; they do. I have no idea what it is like to live in these uncomfortable conditions; they do. Yet they praise God with more joy than I ever have. This night will be with me for the rest of my life and whenever I complain that we have no food in our fridge, I will think of these kids.
Before I left to Germany last September, I had no clue what I was going to do the following year. All I knew was that I did not want to go to school right away and I told myself that I would figure things out around Christmas time. Christmas came quickly and I had to make a decision. When I first got to school, I wanted to work at Bodenseehof or another Torchbearer’s center the next year such as Holsby Brun, in Sweden, or Tauerhof, in Austria, or Capernwray Hall, in England. After Serbia, I really wanted to work with Eastern European kids, but I didn’t know how I was going to do that. As Christmas came closer, I decided that I would have Peter Reid, my uncle and the principal of Bodenseehof, email different directors to see if they would need any help for the next year. When I asked him, he asked me if I ever thought of going to Albania or Romania to work at one of those centers because they needed a lot of help. I thought about it, then quickly dropped the idea because I didn’t want to go to one of those countries. After a lot of thought and prayer, that idea grew on me more and more. I realized that God was calling me to be uncomfortable and go somewhere where they needed a lot of help and these two countries fit that. So I decided to have him email those directors. Both responded quickly but the Albanian school seemed to interest me more and after a lot of prayer, I thought that one would be best for me. I emailed the director back and he told me I had the job there at the school. In the summer, I would help out with camps and when school started, I would be a RA (resident assistant). But before I went out there, I wanted to come back home and work for the summer to earn money and see family.
I got back home on April 2nd. It was wonderful to see my family and friends. When people at school would ask me if I was nervous and scared about going home, I would always say no because of the family and friends that I have there to support me and be there for me as I adjusted back to life in the states. I thought that coming back, I would just jump back into my group of friends, get involved in a church and do a bunch of outreaches around the cities that I really wanted to do. I wish it were that easy. The first two weeks being back were probably two of the hardest weeks of my life. From culture shock to seeing friends change. It was really hard for me. When I left to Germany, I jumped off the merry-go-round that was life at home and went onto different things while friends back home stayed on, which was not necessarily a bad thing. When I came back, a lot of them were still doing the same thing. Once again, not a bad thing. But since I changed so much while I was gone and learned a lot and grew in my faith, I figured that everyone would have done the same. A lot of people grew in their faith but some went different ways and this was hard for me to see and come back to. The staff at Bodenseehof told us when we left not to go home expecting things to be as they were at school. Well, I should have listened because I wanted things to be back to what I was used to. I felt myself trying to get things to go back to how I knew them and I kept catching myself judging people, which was not right of me. This is what made life coming back too difficult, but as the weeks go on, things get better and better. I realize that those friends that I have are there for me and have helped me so much in coming back.
When I left Germany, I had a job lined up and a bunch of outreaches in mind to do around the cities. I am now painting houses again like I have been doing for the past three summers and did my first outreach that I had in mind a couple weeks ago. The Lord has blessed my life back at home and will continue to bless it as I get ready to leave once again on July 8th to go to Albania. I am still challenged everyday in my faith and continue to grow, as well.
One verse that I read as I was getting ready to leave was Philippians 1:3-11. It reads: “3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
This reminded me of the people that I met a school and the way I feel toward them. As I was sitting in church this morning, the pastor said that Philippians is sort of Paul’s support letter to the church of Philippi. Then I realized that this is a great verse for my letter, as well. This is my support letter and I ask that if you feel led, to support me in prayer as I embark on this next journey in my life. It is going to be an adventure and will have lots of great times, as well as times where I may feel alone and down. It will be those times during which I will need prayer the most. So I ask that you would pray for me as I am getting ready to leave and as I am in Albania serving our Lord. Paul is thanking the Philippians every time he thinks of them and I do the same when I think of you, my friends and family. Some prayer requests that I have right now are: That I can trust in God to provide funds for this next year, that I can make myself available to Him everyday to do with me what He wants, that I can take advantage of this time I have now at home to build those relationships with friends and family, and that God would give me self-control and wisdom in how I spend my money because I have had a problem with that in my past.
Thank you so much for everything that you have done for me, whether it be prayers or listening to me. I am blessed so much by God and that is so that I may be a blessing to others, which is what I am trying to do in Albania. I want start a newsletter while I am there and do that by means of email. If you want to be apart of that, email me (abes08@aim.com) and I will add you to the list. This way you can see specifics in what I am doing and what I will need prayer for. One more thing that I learned this past year was how important it is to be a good receiver. This is something that has been hard for me in the past but something that I am working on. If God has put it on your heart to give financially to this experience that I am about to embark on, I would be more than happy to receive support in that area also. Thank you again for everything and hope to be in contact.
In Him,
Luke Abrahamson
Address:
4110 W 145th St.
Savage, MN 55378
“The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24
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