Back in Macedonia

We are back in Macedonia after an extended Off-Field Assignment in the US. Shelia had eye surgery in December and our return to Skopje was delayed because she could not fly on a plane until the end of February. We returned on March 1.

We are back in full-swing though. Our colleagues, Darrell and Kathy Smith, returned the month before we did and are now settled into their new location, as well. We have enjoyed having face-to-face contact with them after such a long time (they were in the states on an 18 month off-field assignment).

This first month back, we have gotten our feet on the ground again, gotten the apartment back in order, made contacts with folks, registered the car, and started our visa process over again. Yes, things have changed once again. Every time that people change – the whole system of getting visas changes, as well. So, it is back to the drawing board with the whole process.

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful hospitality while we were in the US. Wilshire Baptist Church allowed us to stay in their mission house for several brief periods of time when we were not “on the road” speaking. Thank you very much. Many churches hosted us and allowed us to share our journey with them. As a result, we have several new partners in ministry to our part of the world, as well as, to Albanians in the US. We are excited about our partnership together – both in Macedonia and the US.

A group of teachers-educators will be coming at the end of May and the beginning of June to help us make some assessments about what can be done to meet the needs of the families we work with in Skopje. We will also have a student (Mary Beth Gilbert) working with us in the summer months to train tutors for our afterschool program, meet with students to get to know how we can best minister to them, and to outline a program for addressing those needs in specific ways. We are very excited about what Mary Beth is going to contribute.