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