Monday, June 16, 2008

Wayland Mission Team in Kosova


The Wayland Balkan Mission Team has arrived in Kosova, after a blessed nine days in Macedonia. The cold weather of this mountainous new country has surprised our students, prepared for a sunny, sultry climate. I ask you to pray for Taylor Phillips, who has been ill today.


Our work in a Macedonian village has ended. This work included teaching English as a Foreign Language (Melanie Vasquez, Micah Evans, Taylor Phillips, and Amber "Desiree" Hamilton), sports camp (Kevin Burrow), and art class (Khrystyne Eckerd). Our young men also dug the foundation of the English Language Library. The director of the primary school (K-8) in the village was especially delighted to see such well-behaved young men and women care so deeply about forgotten, abandoned children and youth in a Muslim context. As I sat with this Albanian woman, engaged in conversation about these six young people, and their callings from God, I realized that this middle-aged principal was attempting to communicate something to me. While our conversation continued, the woman told me, "Une jam njohur me krejt ata qe punojne neper kisha evangjeliste ne shkup" (I know all of those people that work in evangelical churches in Skopje.) She listed their names, and I realized that all of the evangelical pastors and church leaders were well-known by this woman. We were having a conversation in a room with other people listening, and the woman was hesitant to go into great detail about her knowledge and relationships. However, she continued to give hints about her faith and her connections to the churches.








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