Update: October 2009

Dear Saints,
The school year is well underway by now! Praise God that all of the students made it safe and some with adventures, but from personal experience, those stories will be with you forever. The students arrived on September 25th and right away we were into things. That first week was more of a get to know you week. We played games, did activities, climbed a mountain, rock climbed a couple times, went canoeing and went camping for a night; no big deal. Hearing from the students, it was a great week and well worth with all of the achievements, despite all of the pain for some. For many, summating Gramozi was the best part. It took just under 9 hours but it was a great battle for most in the group, including me.
That first week flew by! And the next week we jumped right into lectures starting with Doni Lilo, one of the principals, and Mark Stoscher, the director, teaching that week. This was my first week to really know what my schedule would be like for the year. It was pretty relaxed! I could go to any of the lectures I wanted or stay in my room and read or go to town. I had to make sure that the students did their jobs correctly and do some odd jobs here and there. Overall, everything was, and still is, really relaxed for me. The week after that, the third week, the students had a cross-cultural week, meaning each students went to a different host families house and spent the week there. The students would go to their families in the afternoon, have dinner there and sleep. Then come back after breakfast for lectures and lunch. During this time, Mark had discussions (I say this because we all sat in a circle and discussed the different ways we felt culture shock, the different stories, and everyone shared their thoughts) on cross-culture. From what I heard after, the students really enjoyed this and still keep in contact with their families. Last week, we had our first guest lecturer and even though we had been in school for three weeks already, this is when it really felt like we began.
That is the past couple weeks. They were filled with lots of laughter, some late nights, plenty of card games, a lot of sweat, tons of stories, and, of course, Christ. Now looking forward. We have our first travel weekend coming up this weekend and we are going to a city called Siranda. It is on the coast of Albania and really close to Greece. From what I hear, it is beautiful. Then two weeks after that, the students go on a week long outreach to Durres. And three weeks after that, it is Christmas Break!! Time is flying by and will only get faster.
As I said earlier, my schedule is really relaxed. Although I now have more responsibilities, I do have a lot of time to myself. Since I have already been through a whole year of lecturers, some of the subjects are repeats to me. During these times, I spend most of them in my room, on my bed, with a book in my hands. I have grown to love reading even more. I am almost done with all of Joel Rosenberg’s books and have loved all of them. I would highly suggest those books. I have also spent time in prayer and in the Bible, as well as listening to lectures, and at times postcasts from Paul Allen on KFAN. God has really used all of these, Paul Allen as an exception, to “rock my world”. As I have asked God to do, He has really shown me areas in my life that I need to get ride of and fully depend on Him. He has also begun to reveal to me the mystery of Christ in you. This is something that I heard a lot last year but is not starting to make sense until now. It gives such excitement, as much as a sense of peace, to know that Christ indwells me. With this, it makes me realize how much more I need to get ride of those areas in my life that are hindering me, such as pride, unbelief, impurity and many more. If you could be praying for this, that would mean a lot to me. One verse that struck me this week was 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 "We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." It has been in my head since and had begun to humble me greatly.
This year, we have a great group of students. Each students brings something different to the table. They all have connected really well and from what I can tell, no one is left out. What an answer to prayer! This makes my life really easy. Although I have to lay down the law late at night sometimes, so far, there have not been many issues. Once again, an answer to prayer. I personally have felt like I have gotten to know some of the students pretty well over the past weeks, although that is something that I would like to improve. As I may have mentioned before, we have 11 students this year. I would like to introduce you to a couple with each newsletter:

Ben: He is from Chicago and the nephew of Eric Gundy, one of the principals. Me and him have something in common in that way, I too was the nephew of a principal. He is 22 and has had a couple years in University. He has a great heart and is really after God owns heart. He has a gentle spirit but can also get pretty intense in the soccer cage, a great teammate to have there.

Skënder: He is 42 and from Belishti, Albania. Although he is old enough to be my dad, he still acts like a kid at times and loves to mess around and have fun. He has a wife and two kids back home and travels back there on the weekends where he is also very involved with his church. A lot of the other students really look up to him for wisdom and advice. He also has a great volleyball serve. Recent news with him. While he was home this weekend, he wife became ill. They went to the hospital and found out that she had a urinary tract infection. Along with the stomach pain, she also had a bad head ache. Two years ago, she had a very serious surgery to remove some tumors in her brain and the doctors are afraid that the head aches may be connected to that. On top of all this, Skënder’s two sisters are in the hospital as well. Keep their family in your prayers. That would mean a lot to me and him as well.

Gretchen: She is from all over the world. Gretchen is a missionary kid and was adopted from Japan at a young age. She lived there for a while, then moved back to the states, where her parents are from, and actually moved back to Minnesota! She lived near Cambridge for a couple years then went back into the mission field in the Philippines. After some years there, her family moved back to Japan last year. Gretchen is a great volleyball player and loves to get people involved in everything, whether volleyball or card games. It is great to have another person from Minnesota here!

On October 22, I went with some high school students from the church here in Erseka to a concert in Elbasan put on but two singers from Albania who have been traveling around doing these and sharing Christ with young people. Even though it was in Albanian, I will wanted to go to be with the students and to see what it was like. It was about a 4 hour drive there and even though the concert was only an hour, meaning I spent 8 hours traveling for an hour concert, but it was still worth it. I used this time to listen to music, think and listen to some lectures from last year. One of them was Peter Reid’s lecture on Colossians. I came to a realization during this time. In the past letters, I have asked for prayer about what it means to be a RA and what I should do in that. That is still a prayer of mine but when Paul prays for the Colossian church, he prays that they will first be in tune with the will of God, second, walk with the Lord, and then third, bear fruit with all works. The process goes: will, walk, work. While I have been here in Albania, I have been so concentrated on the third step, work, while forgetting the walk part continually. I got an email the other week that touched on this subject but I did not fully think about it till now. “I would always look for “my fruit” which is exactly what got me into searching for it even more and more and then forgetting either my own personal relationship to Christ or the main reason I was there. In other words, if you feel like you only up doors, get balls for students, and make small talk at meals with them… don’t worry… if you are doing what you are called to do and doing it in right relation to Christ… then the fruit, the usefulness and all that is in his responsibility. Or as someone once said: be yourself.” That is my prayer now. That I would focus on the person of Christ. I would let Him control my every move, thought, and word. That I would not focus on my fruit like I have been doing.
Once again, I would love to hear about what is going on in your life back home and hear about what God has been doing. I am sure you have a lot of advice that you want to share with me also. And if you have prayer requests, please send them. That is way that I can feel connected to friends and family all over the world and back home.

“To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen”

Grace be with you,
Luke Abrahamson