Today we are in Albania. I never thought that we would get to visit Albania, but God has graciously opened the door, and here we are. Albania is one of the most interesting countries that we have visited. Probably most people know that under communism, Albania was one of the most closed countries that there was. As one person put it, Albania under communism was a sister to North Korea today. Now that it has been open for almost 20
years, it is still a very third world country, and quite interesting to visit.
We came to Albania from Macedonia. When we crossed the border int
o Albania, it was on a lonely border crossing high on a mountain. We approached the border and were greeted by friendly Albanian border guards. After they finished practicing their English with us, chatting about our huge family size and stamping our passports, we crossed into Albania. We usually like to exchange money right away when we cross into a country so this time, Rick decided to go into the official bank right there at the customs office. He stepped into the dingy "bank" with broken windows and looked around but there was no one to be seen so an official led him into another room where a bank teller was asleep on a sofa. He woke him up so we could exchange money. Rick asked what the exchange rate was for Albanian money versus the U.S. dollar. He said that he didn't know but he thought it was 1,000 to 1. Then a few seconds later, he changed his mind and said, "No, I t
hink it's 100 to 1." Considering that was such a big difference in money, Rick thanked him and went on our way without changing money! Later we found out that it is about 90 to 1. 
As we crossed the border into Albania we immediately began descending deep into a balley. The road was a very winding road deep into the valley. It looked very similar to descending into the grand canyon. One of the first things we noticed was that we had just dropped off into a different world as we descended into the valley. Immediately we saw countless numbers of circular bunkers all over the place. These bunkers were built to withstand heavy bombing and they are literally everywhere over the countryside. Lots of places there are more bunkers than there are houses. When we entered the main town that we were staying in, between each
building in town, there was a bomb shelter built into the ground with a little chimney sticking up. The pastor here told us that the dictator built 600,000 bunkers and I can believe it by just how many we have seen.
There are literally miles and miles of terraced mountains that the people were required to dig out to make way for the communist fruit farms. Last night on our way to a church in an outlying town, I had a hard time imagining the amount of work (slavery) that was r
equired of the people to literally use hand tools and terrace the mountains in order to plant these huge fruit farms. When communism finally fell, the people were so angry over the slavery that had been subjected to that they destroyed these fruit farms--also causing great hunger for themselves. Now there are just terraced hill sides left with very few trees or else very young trees growing randomly. Another reason that their mountain sides are without old growth vegetation is because when communism fell, the western countries (most notably Italy--a neighbor), came in and cleared the forests of old growth trees and gave the people almost nothing for the trees. For example, the Albanians who were unbelievably poor after years under a despotic communist leader, were given about five dollars for an old growth oak tree. Five dollars was a huge amount to them, but it seems terribly wrong for them to have been cheated just because they didn't know the value of the trees. Now they have beautiful mountains that have almost no trees.
Most of our time here in Albania we are spending at a church and christian radio station in one of the most beautiful area of Albania. If you look on a map and see the eastern border of Albania, you will see a very large lake. We are at the southern end of the lake, not too far from Greece. As we have travelled to churches at night, it has been some of the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. There are towering mountains with this very large lake below surrounded by the cities of both Albania and Macedonia. Last night, Christian, our four year old stated it very well. He was sitting behind me in the van as we descended the mountain toward the lake. The sun was setting and the lights of the city were beautiful. He said, "Mom, this is a nice view." I said that it was. A few seconds later, he said, "This is a nice view (and then with his characteristic North Carolina drawl, he said with great emphasis, 'MAN!'"
years, it is still a very third world country, and quite interesting to visit.We came to Albania from Macedonia. When we crossed the border int
o Albania, it was on a lonely border crossing high on a mountain. We approached the border and were greeted by friendly Albanian border guards. After they finished practicing their English with us, chatting about our huge family size and stamping our passports, we crossed into Albania. We usually like to exchange money right away when we cross into a country so this time, Rick decided to go into the official bank right there at the customs office. He stepped into the dingy "bank" with broken windows and looked around but there was no one to be seen so an official led him into another room where a bank teller was asleep on a sofa. He woke him up so we could exchange money. Rick asked what the exchange rate was for Albanian money versus the U.S. dollar. He said that he didn't know but he thought it was 1,000 to 1. Then a few seconds later, he changed his mind and said, "No, I t
hink it's 100 to 1." Considering that was such a big difference in money, Rick thanked him and went on our way without changing money! Later we found out that it is about 90 to 1. 
As we crossed the border into Albania we immediately began descending deep into a balley. The road was a very winding road deep into the valley. It looked very similar to descending into the grand canyon. One of the first things we noticed was that we had just dropped off into a different world as we descended into the valley. Immediately we saw countless numbers of circular bunkers all over the place. These bunkers were built to withstand heavy bombing and they are literally everywhere over the countryside. Lots of places there are more bunkers than there are houses. When we entered the main town that we were staying in, between each
building in town, there was a bomb shelter built into the ground with a little chimney sticking up. The pastor here told us that the dictator built 600,000 bunkers and I can believe it by just how many we have seen. There are literally miles and miles of terraced mountains that the people were required to dig out to make way for the communist fruit farms. Last night on our way to a church in an outlying town, I had a hard time imagining the amount of work (slavery) that was r
equired of the people to literally use hand tools and terrace the mountains in order to plant these huge fruit farms. When communism finally fell, the people were so angry over the slavery that had been subjected to that they destroyed these fruit farms--also causing great hunger for themselves. Now there are just terraced hill sides left with very few trees or else very young trees growing randomly. Another reason that their mountain sides are without old growth vegetation is because when communism fell, the western countries (most notably Italy--a neighbor), came in and cleared the forests of old growth trees and gave the people almost nothing for the trees. For example, the Albanians who were unbelievably poor after years under a despotic communist leader, were given about five dollars for an old growth oak tree. Five dollars was a huge amount to them, but it seems terribly wrong for them to have been cheated just because they didn't know the value of the trees. Now they have beautiful mountains that have almost no trees. Most of our time here in Albania we are spending at a church and christian radio station in one of the most beautiful area of Albania. If you look on a map and see the eastern border of Albania, you will see a very large lake. We are at the southern end of the lake, not too far from Greece. As we have travelled to churches at night, it has been some of the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. There are towering mountains with this very large lake below surrounded by the cities of both Albania and Macedonia. Last night, Christian, our four year old stated it very well. He was sitting behind me in the van as we descended the mountain toward the lake. The sun was setting and the lights of the city were beautiful. He said, "Mom, this is a nice view." I said that it was. A few seconds later, he said, "This is a nice view (and then with his characteristic North Carolina drawl, he said with great emphasis, 'MAN!'"
During our time here in Albania, we have enjoyed the beautiful Mediterranean temperature and lifestyle. Last night we went out late after church with the pastor and his wife. We walked along the beach here in perfect cool weather and ate outside at a little restaurant along the shore of the lake. We had typical mediterranean food of meat, cheese and salad. The restaurant is owned by a neighbor to the pastor. Years ago when the pastor came here, he was preaching on the street when the owner of this restaurant hurled a rock at him. He thanked him for throwing the rock and later the two became neighbors. The man is still not overly friendly, but the pastor thought it would be a nice gesture to take our family to his restaurant and give him some business. This man was jailed a while back for human trafficking so it's not like he is your m
odel business man, but the food was delicious. This picture is Paul with the wife of the human trafficker. I was sitting very close by...Then tonight we enjoyed pizza also near the beach. We ate inside, but the restaurant was had large open windows where we could here the albanian music outside. The music is live and you can walk along the beach from restaurant to restaurant (almost all outdoor seating) and see people playing accordians, or singing opera or playing other instruments.
odel business man, but the food was delicious. This picture is Paul with the wife of the human trafficker. I was sitting very close by...Then tonight we enjoyed pizza also near the beach. We ate inside, but the restaurant was had large open windows where we could here the albanian music outside. The music is live and you can walk along the beach from restaurant to restaurant (almost all outdoor seating) and see people playing accordians, or singing opera or playing other instruments. Albania still has many physical needs that we take for granted. The city we are in tonight is only one of two cities that has water all day every day. The rest of the country has it when it comes on. Electricity can be sporadic. It has only gone off once since we have been here, so that's probably doing pretty well. As many third world countries are, environmental carefulness does not seem to exist. I have been appalled to see how much litter and garbage is left sitting around, especially in the rivers and streams. There seems to be a mentality here that they lived so many years with a dictator telling them what to do so now they don't want anyone to tell them what to do. I can understand how they would get that mind set, but it seems a no littering law couldn't hurt much! Wages and prices are also still quite low here. Today the six men in our family got haircuts for a grand total of nine dollars! A man who does manual labor here makes ten dollars a day and today we were told that a "pricey" hotel in this city goes for twenty dollars a night.
Albania is a beautiful country in spite of all the difficulties they have endured. Today we drove just a few miles and had a picnic at what used to be the private park of the former dictator. It is a beautiful park with waterways and swans and nice walkways. As with most of Albania, it needs a lot of maintenance and repair, but it was a beautiful place to walk around in (don't fall through the foot bridges over the river--repairs desperately needed here).
We passed out tracts at the gypsy market on Saturday. Many received the tracts cheerfully, several asked us for them, and several threw them on the ground or tore them up. Overall I think the reception was quite good considering that a big percentage of the people that were given the tracts were muslim.
Our time here in Albania has been one of the most rewarding of our whole time here in Europe, and we are so thankful that the Lord allowed us to come. The people here appreciate being able to hear the Gospel and they are enjoying their freedom. Two stories that we heard here made us realize the depth of slavery they had here just a few years ago and made us rejoice with them that those days are past for them. One man here complained about the lack of concrete available for building his house. He made the comment that the government had plenty of concrete to make all the bunkers they were making so they should have enough for him to build his house. He received TEN YEARS in prison for his lack of appreciation to the communist Albanian government. Another man made a similar complaint when he saw Macedonia from a distance and commented about how much greener it looked over there. He also received a harsh penalty.
Now the church is growing as the former regime very successfully destroyed practically all churches and religion. Most of the believers here are young people and seem very sincere. The church we are staying in has a Christian radio station that broadcasts over a large part of Albania as well as Macedonia. They are now playing Rick's program also so we are glad about that! Their antenna is made from some strong pipes welded together, and we are sleeping in one of their studios which is soundproof by being covered with cardboard egg cartons!
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