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Matt 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
NIV
John 20:10-16
10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside
the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and
saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the
head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they
have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him
away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means
Teacher).
NIV
NIV
Learn More
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Kevin and Allison Morrill have moved to Korca. |
The church in Korca began in the summer of
1993
When a couple came to Korca and baptized three people who had studied WEI
lessons. In 1994 James and Barbara Jones, of Nashville, TN., came to Korca
and stayed about three months before returning to the USA. They returned
after a short period. During 1994 and 1995 an unknown number of others
were baptized. Their names are unknown. James and Barbara left Korca in
Dec. '95. In Sept. 1995 Bill and
Nancy came to Korca and have lived there since. In June and July
of 1996, three girls were baptized of which two are now out of Albania.
The third, Bruna, is still active with the church. She has helped Nancy
with the children's classes. Bruna says a school to teach the Bible needs
to be started. To do that we would need more money and more teachers, but
it is a good idea. Bill and Nancy stayed in Korca during all the trouble
of 1997, and because they stayed many people called the Saltsman
heroes. This has also helped in their teaching. Roger Michael has worked
with Bill in Korca. Roger has worked in Eastern Europe for several years.
He was in Korca in the summer of 1995. His home is in the Nashville area. |
Feb 08
Mar 08
June 08
July 08
Aug 08
Sept 08
Nov 08
Jan 09
Feb 09
To view
photos of the church in Korca.
Korca Archive |
|
Mission contact:
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Kutia Postare Nr. 11
Korca, Albania, Europe
Our email: morrills@fastmail.us
Website:
www.churchesofchrist.org/gallery.html
Sponsoring Congregation:
Maryville Church of Christ
611 Sherwood Dr.
P.O. Box 5293
Maryville, TN 37802-5293
Tom England (Chair Missions Committee)
Email: tpengland@comcast.net
Phone: 865-856-0731
Website:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/myalbum.html
|
February 2008
This month has flown by. It is hard to believe that it is the middle of
March already. We have been very busy with our normal daily schedule, but we
also welcomed two new sisters into Christ, welcomed
Roger Michael back from the United States, and celebrated
Kevin’s birthday.
Aurora’s Baptism:
We understood the idea of reaping where we have not sown this month with the
baptism of Kevin’s student Aurora on
February 22. Kevin has been teaching Aurora for about five months now. They
are working through the Advanced World English Institute course. Aurora
studied the basic course with Bill and Nancey
Saltsman and Roger Michael.
She lives in the dormitory of one the high schools in Korca. The best and
brightest of the students in the villages surrounding Korca are invited to
live in the dormitory and attend the city’s high schools. Aurora is a senior
in high school from the village of Erseika about two hours from Korca. She
goes home every weekend to her village, so she will have difficulty
attending worship. She had been interested in baptism and had been talking
about it for a couple of months, but she needed to get permission from her
parents. Aurora’s family is Muslim, so this was a big decision for the whole
family. Aurora’s parents gave their permission after seeing some pictures of
other baptisms and understanding what it entailed. Unfortunately, they could
not attend because of the distance. One of Aurora’s friends was able to
attend so Kevin explained what was going
to happen in Albanian. He asked Aurora if she believed that Jesus was the
Son of God, still speaking in Albanian. She looked at Kevin and in English
said, “If I didn’t believe I would not be here.” We smiled to have such a
heartfelt and blunt confession of her faith. Please pray for Aurora because
it is difficult to be a new Christian without the possibility to worship
with a body of believers. We will do everything we can to make it possible
for her to attend when she is here on Sundays.
Diana’s Baptism:
Diana Zhuleku,
Allison’s student, was baptized into Christ on Women’s Day March
8. Diana and Allison have been studying
and translating a book about baptism, and she surprised us with the news
this last week. Diana told Allison a couple of weeks ago
that she had a surprise for Women’s Day, and we were so happy that this was
her surprise. Diana wanted to be baptized on this day because it was on this
day last year that a long-time boyfriend told her that she would have to
make the decision between him or Jesus. She chose Jesus and wanted to be
“married with Christ” and baptized into His name on the same day she chose
to follow Him last year. It was very meaningful. Diana has been attending
worship for many months now. She is the cousin of
Altin Plasa.
Car Registration:
One small victory we had this month was getting our vehicle registered. This
is a short process in the States, but in Albania it is a day long process
including a vehicle inspection, pictures, and lots of documents. We were
grateful to have Altin here at the beginning of the month to help with this.
We can do some things ourselves, but a native speaker really helps, and
Altin knew some of the officers who do the
vehicle inspections and paper work. We hope that future inspections will be
easier since we have gone through the first.
Welcoming Roger Michael Back:
Roger Michael is an invaluable asset to
the work of the church in Korca. He had been working with the
Saltsmans for many years and will now
continue to help us. Roger returned to Korca in the beginning of the month
and will be working with us until August. He usually spends about six months
in the States and six months in Albania every year. Roger has many
connections in the city of Korca, and it has been nice to hear his insights
about the work.
Albanian Lessons:
We have begun our Albanian classes five days a week. It is both a joy and
challenge. The joy is that we have an amazing teacher that is kind and
gentle, but serious about our learning. She wants to have a class where we
can talk as colleagues and does not talk down to us. The challenge is
homework every night that sometimes takes hours. Please pray that we have
the stamina to continue with these lessons. The church members and our
friends are noticing our improvements. It will be a slow process, because
the Albanian language is very difficult and we need to re-learn and unlearn
lots of things. Our teacher’s name is Mira
and she told us before that she is an atheist married to an atheist, but
today she said she believes in God just not in ceremonies. She also has her
doctorate in Philosophy. Sometimes we digress in our lessons and talk about
our faith, which is good practice for us. She is interesting to listen to
and has a somewhat open mind. She says she has respect for all faiths they
are simply not for her. She brought home a children’s bible for her
granddaughter. We hope that spending this much time together will be a
benefit to her as well.
Thank you again for your continued prayers for this work. We ask that you
keep Aurora and Diana in your prayers this month.
Thank you so much to those who have already been praying for Diana.
In Christ,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
March 2008
Greetings in Christ from Korca, Albania. This month went as normal. The
beginning of the month was busy with activities most of which were talked
about in our February newsletter. We are sorry for the lateness of this
newsletter; we promise that our April report will come in a more timely
fashion.
Book Opening:
This month we went to the book opening of Mira
Meminaj. Mira was the teacher who was electrocuted in late May of
last year. She had been a translator, helper and member of the church in
Korca. After her death, Mira's mother Rosa
collected all her poetry, members of the church put the book together, and
it was published. It is a tradition in Korca to celebrate new books with an
opening party. Rosa invited Roger and us
to this party. It was a special but very sad time. There were speeches, some
people read from Mira's poetry, while others shared memories of Mira. Roger
spoke for the church in Korca. We sat next to Rosa and supported her. Mira
was a teacher in a village nearby and some of her students came to the
opening party, which took place the day before the national teacher's day,
March 7. This is a big day for both students and teachers. Mira opened her
heart in her poetry. This book will allow others to learn about her faith in
God and her love for people.
Rosa:
We have started the tradition of eating with Rosa,
Mira's mother, at her home every Sunday after church. This is a
benefit to both Rosa and us. We practice our Albanian and we get a chance to
have some Albanian home cooking. In the two to three hours we stay there;
there is at least half an hour of bible study, and
Kevin began to share his lesson from church. As is to be
expected, Rosa is still having a real hard time, but she says that we are an
encouragement. Rosa's son, Edi, had the
possibility of being released from prison this month, but it did not happen.
He will be released in August, and we are praying that we can have a good
relationship with him.
Ridvan:
Thank you for your prayers for Ridvan.
He has been attending church every Sunday and coming over to our home for a
coffee every week. He has helped with the Lord's Supper, led prayers and
done Bible reading. It is wonderful to see his growth. We visited his home
and met his wife and children this month. Ridvan's
wife was very welcoming and excited we new some Albanian. We
spoke Albanian most of the time we were at their home. In the second hour of
the visit, she had some questions
about faith and why we believe what we do. We have plans to go on a picnic
together when the weather gets better, and they have invited us to walk with
them on evenings in the summer. We hope that this will be the beginning of a
friendship. Ridvan's wife is very busy
like many Albanian women: she is responsible for house work, taking care if
their two boys and is a full-time nursing student at the university here in
Korca. We are encouraging Ridvan to encourage his family to attend with him.
Road Construction:
The road between Pogradec and Korca is under construction. This has made our
biweekly trip to Pogradec very interesting. The landscape is very beautiful
and we can really notice it as we travel at speeds between 5 and 35 miles
per hour. Our new
vehicle has proved itself very sturdy, it has "off-roaded" many times and
gone through foot high water. The road changes every time we drive it.
Allison has not gotten behind the wheel yet, but Kevin is getting very good
at dodging potholes, watching for new construction, and above all driving
slower than most other motorists. In all honesty, the road between Elbasan
and Pogradec was this bad a few years ago and now it is perfect. This part
of the construction is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2009.
Prayer Requests:
Thank you again for your continued prayers for the work and the Christians
here. God has been blessing us as we work for Him here. Please continue to
pray for Ridvan, Diana and Aurora as
they are new Christians and are growing. Please pray for the continued
growth of the body here. We are excited about the growth and want so much
for it to continue and to be contagious. Also, pray for us. We are on the
other side of the country from most of the churches and it is easy to feel
isolated. In Korca, we are as close to Thessalonica as we are to Durres or
Tirana. We are working to get the church in Korca connected to the rest of
the body of Christ in Albania, and
this is a challenge.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some pictures of March go to: (click the link)
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html
We are sorry that we have not been as good as we would like to about keeping
up the website. Our internet connection is a great blessing when it works,
but it has only worked about two weeks this month.
In Christ,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
Newsletter April 2008
Summer Campaign:
We will be having a campaign this summer, and we still have many open weeks. If
you are interested in working with us this summer, we would love for you to
come. If you are interested please reply to this e-mail and we will be more than
happy to give you information or answer any questions. If this summer is not an
option please think about the summer of 2009.
Aurora Attended Worship:
We were so excited to have Aurora in worship this month. She did not go home for
one weekend, so she was able to attend worship. She loved it and wanted to make
it a habit when she is in college next year. She hopes to “win university” in
Tirana the capital and we promised to attend with her, if this happens, and
introduce her to the Christians there. The amazing thing is that there are
churches in all of the cities where she may go as a student. Please continue to
pray for her as she grows in her faith.
Kid’s Class:
This month we had many more kids attending Sunday morning bible class. During
the winter, we had about four children, but on the second weekend in April we
had fourteen. This was a real encouragement. On the next weekend we were down to
eight, but this is still a doubling of our numbers. This core group seems a
though they will continue coming. Most of the kids are from the neighborhood or
are relatives of our landlord, but some of them attend beginner’s classes for
WEI. We hope that this is a sign of larger numbers for the summer. We were also
blessed with another translator for this class. We can speak to adults Albanian,
but with children, we use a
translator. Adults can understand and correct our mistakes, but because children
are learning the language themselves, they cannot understand us as easily. The
interesting thing is that both of Allison's translators are Muslim. We hope they
are learning along with the children.
Trip to Greece:
This month we visited Greece with Roger Michael.
Roger treated us to two nights in a hotel in Kastoria, Greece. This is a small
city close to the boarder of Albania. We were very blessed to have a couple of
nights in this city. Kevin was able to find
shoes (It is hard to find his size in Albania), and we also found corn syrup
something else that is not used in Albania. The city reminded us of Albania and
Macedonia. It has a lake and lots of walking paths. It was peaceful because we
were not in tourist season. Allison looked
for a new winter coat, but has some “sticker shock” when the coat she tried on
was about 1000 dollars. Needless to say, we did not find a coat. This city is
known worldwide for furs and leather jackets and there was nothing like a Walmart
or a Kohl’s. We have heard for furs it is really cheap, but far outside our
price range.
Youth Day:
The National Youth Day was April 26 in Tirana, Albania. We went with a group of
16 teens from Pogradec and Korca. It was a blessed but very tiring day. The
“teens” ranged in age from 22 to 11. We are practicing being flexible because
some of the
teens have never learned about deadlines and sign up sheets. We thought that it
would be a good introduction to the church for the teens and a way to peak
interest in a youth class we hope to start this summer.
Kevin drove seven of the teens, 6 coming from Pogradec, in our car
and Allison rode in a van we rented with the
rest of the crew. We are learning how to organize vans and did not pay any above
the normal fare for the trip. This was a real outreach opportunity. The teens
from Pogradec were children of Christians there and cousins, none of these teen
attend on a regular basis, and some not at all. We wanted to show them that
there are kids there age who believe. Out of the group from Korca, none of the
teens is a Christian yet. Only Ola, a Muslim high school student who helps
translate for kids class, attends church regularly.
Easter:
There is a challenge in Albania to decide how and when to observe Easter. This
year Catholic Easter was at the end of March and Orthodox Easter was on April
27. We decided to observe this holiday this year on April 27 because on this
date most of the people of Korca were thinking about Jesus. We remember Jesus’
death and resurrection every Sunday with the Lord’s Supper, but we wanted to
recognize the celebration with the people of the city and welcome our visitors,
so we had a small party after worship. We had visitors from the church in
Athens. Sonila Leka, wife of
Beni Leka, and their son were able to attend
on Sunday. Koseta was also here because she
was back from Tirana for the weekend. One of the teens
Armando, who attends the kids class, also stayed for worship which
was encouraging. We had 13 in attendance, and it was a lot of fun to have that
many voices singing and praising God.
Songbook:
Our long awaited songbook is finally finished. This is a combination book that
has songs from Korca, Durres, and Tirana. It was a lot of work because Kevin had
to re-type the songs from the Korca book in order to bring these books together.
We are so happy to have all of these songs in one place.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some of our April pictures just click on:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.htmlPrayer Requests:
This has been a blessed month and we are certain that is because of your
continued prayers for our work. Thank you so much.
-We ask that you keep our Albanian language study in your prayers. Our teacher
wanted to teach us for about another month or so. She wants us to get through
the second grade. We hope to encourage her to continue, but she is really busy.
It does seem like we are taking one step forward and two steps back sometimes,
but we know we are improving.
-Please pray that we will have an impact on the community and see ways we can
help.
-Pray for Rosa and the church on May 24th because that is the one year
anniversary of Mira’s death.
In Christ,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Contact Information:
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
Newsletter May 2008
Greetings, in the name of Jesus, from the workers and church in Korca, Albania!
We are so thankful for your thoughts and prayers. The month of May was long, yet
it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Here are just the highlights of our
month.
Pogradec:
This certainly cannot qualify as a highlight, but it is a major event. The month
of May saw the end of our scheduled teaching time in Pogradec. This is a
decision that has come through great wrestling in prayer and many tears on our
part. We did not believe that either Pogradec or Korca was receiving a full
portion of our time or abilities, and thus we were not giving the best that we
could to God. Based on this we have consolidated or efforts and are now focusing
on the work in Korca.
We will be continuing to work with some of our WEI students who live in
Pogradec. The plan is for them to work on their own and call us when they either
have finished a book or need to have some things explained in more detail. We
will then plan a time to meet together so we can help them.
The church in Pogradec plans to continue meeting on a regular basis. They have
decided to worship in the building that we were using for WEI lessons at least
until the end of this year. We will continue to make visits to Pogradec and meet
with the Christians there.
Lee and Artan Visit:
This was a great encouragement to the church as well as the workers here in
Korca. Lee Allen, a member of the Maryville
Church of Christ, told us he and Artan Xhaferi
would visit Korca and that we should “plan a get together”. We set about telling
our students and the church that he would visit and that he would like to meet
as many of them as possible. We figured on twenty to forty people at the most.
Imagine our surprise when between eighty and ninety people arrived to meet Lee
and share pizza with us.
Lee addressed the crowd and we made several
announcements about worship and WEI classes. In fact, one of the Christians,
Alket, made an announcement about worship.
This made us feel very good as Alket, though willing to lead singing and help
with worship, is generally shy and quiet around large groups.
We want to extend a special thank you to Lee and Artan
for their visit and encouragement. We especially want to lift Artan up as he
jumped in and helped to ensure that everything ran as smoothly as possible.
Without a doubt, he demonstrated his servant nature and loving heart.
Anniversary of Mira’s Death:
Mira Meminaj was a member of the church here
in Korca; she also worked as a translator and WEI teacher with
Roger Michale and the Saltsmans. She was an
amazing young lady that we had greatly anticipated working with. Tragically, she
was accidentally electrocuted as she warmed up dinner at her home just a few
months before we moved to Korca. We spend about three hours every Sunday with
her mother Rosa, she seems to have taken us
on as children and feels that we are a bright spot in her life.
Mira did a wonderful job teaching her mother
about Jesus, we only pray that she will find the power to act on what she knows
to be true.
On Saturday the twenty-fourth of May we observed the one year anniversary of
Mira’s death. This entailed making a visit
to her mother’s home and sharing some time with her family. On Sunday the
twenty-fifth of May there was a memorial meal in Mira’s honor. We sat at the
same table with the family, a place of honor that made us feel a little
uncomfortable, as we had only met Mira a few times. However, it was a comfort
for Rosa to have us close by, and since we
know that Mira is in a much better place now we were there mainly for Rosa.
Preparing for Campaign:
We have begun running an advertisement to fill the schedules of the teachers who
will be working with us this summer. It is hard to believe that our first
teachers will be arriving in just a little more than three days. We are very
excited about the coming campaign as are the members of the church here in
Korca.
We still have opportunities for those who would like to come and teach with us.
If you would like to make a trip to work with us here in Korca and have a more
flexible schedule we encourage you to consider coming to work with us in the
fall or early spring, traditionally times when airfares tend to be lower. We are
open to having fellow workers throughout the year, so if you are interested
please let us know and we can begin working together to plan your time here in
Korca.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some of our pictures just click on:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.htmlPrayer
Requests:
Please keep in your prayers:
1. Our continued growth in the Albanian language. We will be continuing with our
teacher indefinitely, though we are cutting back to three lessons a week for the
summer.
2. Growth for the church, both spiritual and numerical.
3. Safe travel for all who will be coming to visit and work with us here in
Korca this summer.
4. An Albanian minister to work with us here in Korca.
We thank you again for your support. It is comforting to know that you have read
this letter and spent just a small part of your day thinking about us. We pray
that you have been encouraged by what the Lord is doing through our hands in
Korca.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Pictures: http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html
Our email: morrills@fastmail.us
|
July 2008
This was a very eventful month. Every day was filled with activity.
The 4th of July:
It is hard to be away from home on holidays and the fourth was no exception. We
decided to celebrate the fourth with a small party and fireworks.
Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson, who were here
on campaign, came over as well as Roger Michael.
We had hamburgers, baked beans, American potato salad and watched a movie
about baseball. We lit off some fireworks that we had saved from New Years Eve.
Diana Xhuleku, one of the Christians here,
came over for the fireworks. She had never seen them set-off before or bought
them for herself, so she was really excited. We also got to talk to our families
back home. It made us feel a little less homesick.
Sarah and Ginger:
Sarah Day and Ginger Hodson also worked
with us for the first two weeks of this month. They were great with their
students and made some wonderful bonds with them. It was wonderful to have 5
workers teaching at one time. This was one of our goals for the campaign: to
reach as many families as possible and to make real connections with them. The
week that Sarah and Ginger departed we had a small going away party for them and
those that attended seem to really enjoy themselves.
Danah Nelson's Arrival:
Danah Nelson arrived in Korca on July 13th.
We were blessed that she chose to come our way. This was her eighth visit to
Albania, but her first time on this side of the country. She is very familiar
with the WEI materials. She also knows some Albanian from her visits which add
up to almost a year in country.
Artan Xhaferi and family:
On Saturday July 19th, Artan Xhaferi, a
Christian working with the church in Tirana, came to Korca to visit his wife's
family and the church. We were truly blessed on Sunday the 20th when Artan
preached. He also brought over 10 visitors. This would be an amazing number for
any small church, but since we are averaging anywhere from 4-10 on a Sunday it
was even more amazing. We love to hear preaching in Albanian by an Albanian
preacher. We are praying for an Albanian preacher to work with us.
Lizz Schaller’s Arrival:
Lizz Schallert came to Korca with the
Xhaferi family. She is a 20-year-old college student who loves getting to know
people. This is her first time in Albania so many things are new. It has been
nice to have someone to help us work with the youth
and of course to help us teach WEI.
Two visits:
Because our campaigners are here for a short time we wanted them to get to see
some of the beauty and tourist attractions around us. Two of the most famous
villages around us are Voskopoja (Vo-sko-poi-a) and Dardha (Dar-tha). Both
villages are about an hour away from Korca, but in different directions. They
are famous for different reasons: Voskopoja is famous for having churches with
murals from the 13-18 centuries and Dardha famous for unspoiled beauty and slate
roofed houses. Allison has students from both of these villages, so we thought
we could kill two birds with one stone: see the villages and visit these
families. We visited Voskopoja two times, the first time was with
Sarah, Ginger, Kevin’s student
Sedat and his wife Natasha. The next time
was with Danah Nelson. On both trips to
Voskopoja, we were able to see Allison’s students and eat at their family’s
hotel. This was the first time we were able to meet their parents because they
do not leave the hotel often.
On July 26th, we visited Dardha with Lizz.
Allison’s student Florjana worked as a tour
guide, taking us through the hills and showing us important attractions. We also
got to pick rigon (wild marjoram) which is used a lot in Albanian cuisine. Both
trips were so much fun because we got to spend time talking with our students’
families and see where they live.
Our dog:
On July 10, we decided to take in a stray puppy, who had been sleeping under our
vehicle for about a week. We named him Samwise
after the character in the Lord of the Rings. You may be wondering why we would
put getting a dog in a newsletter
about our work. In fact, this dog has had an interesting impact. He has worked
as a bridge to talk to people on the street including many of our neighbors who
we see everyday but have never talked with. In addition, our students have loved
playing with him. He had helped us to settle a little more in the community.
Unfortunately, he got sick. He had a malignant tumor that could not be cured by
surgery. Then, he developed epilepsy from an infection that went to his brain.
We had to put him to sleep on August 14th. We are grateful that God blessed us
with him for a short time.
Teen Class:
We keep trying to see what will work in Korca. In the past, people have not been
very interested in coming to extra classes. We decided to try a teen class
again. Every year the church in Durres has a bible bowl and we thought that
working and studying for this might be a good way to try to start the teen class
again. Eri Pellumbi, a student from the
Bible school in Durres has been a big help with this class. The
first class had 10 in attendance. We will see what will happen over time. The
ten has dwindled down to 2 because of vacations and commitments but we hope this
number will grow again.
Pictures:
We have made some changes to our gallery this month (http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/gallery.html).
We will be posting the old photos again. However, we wanted some input on the
format. If you like the new look let us know, if you think it needs to be
improved please give us some ideas of programs that you like. We want this to be
an easy and fun way to “see” the work.
Prayer Requests:
-Rosa and Edi- We have been visiting Rosa as
often as we can, and she always wants to hear Kevin’s Sunday lesson. Her son
Edi has also enjoyed hearing it. Please pray
that we can impact them through our relationship.
-Other classes: We have really found it
difficult to start Bible classes that are above and beyond our WEI lessons.
Please pray that we will have wisdom in this.
-Students: Please pray that the contacts
that we are making will be good for the kingdom.
Praise:
Thank you for your prayers for Diana and Ridvan. Diana is growing by leaps and
bounds. She wants to read everything we have, and she is a great example, and
encouragement to us. Ridvan has been attending consistently, but it is difficult
because his father-in-law is dying of lung cancer. We keep praying that his wife
will want to attend.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
Kutia Postare Nr. 11
Korca, Albania, Europe
morrills@fastmail.us
|
August 2008
This was a very eventful month. Every day was filled with students and every
weekend filled with activities. Many of these activities seem like so long ago.
We are sorry it has taken so long to share, but our first two weeks in September
were very busy with transition from campaign. Now we have made the transition
from our summer to our school schedules and have a bit more time. Everyone here
is preparing for the winter: getting wood, buying onions, making pasta, pickling
vegetables, and making jam. Although these events seem so long ago, we are happy
to see and wanted to share how God blessed us through the month of August.
Roger Michael:
Roger Michael left Albania to return to the US on August 2nd . He is always such
a great help to us and we will miss him. He knows so many people in Korca as he
has been working here for more than ten years. We are always blessed when he is
here to work with us. He will be returning to Albania in January of 2009. He
usually spends about six months of the year in the states and six months in
Albania.
Movie Night:
On August 7th we had a movie night for our WEI students. We projected the Veggie
Tale movie “Jonah” on one of the walls of our school. We were getting a bit
nervous that day because we had a power outage all day (in fact, our power
situation has greatly improved and this outage was a real surprise), but
wonderfully the power came back in time for the movie. There were about 20
students in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Mother Daughter Tea:
Lizz Schallert and Danah Nelson organized a
mother daughter tea for our students. We had food, games, and a devotional
thought from Lizz. The evening was very successful and there were about 30 in
attendance. We hope that is the beginning of further parent child activities. We
really want to get to know the parents as well as their children.
Kamela:
About a month ago Diana and Allison began
working with Kamela, a little girl from the
neighborhood, who is going into third grade and is illiterate. Kamela had been
attending Sunday morning kids’ class, and really needed some help. Our hope was
to help the family and to encourage Kamela’s family to learn more about God as
well. Kamela’s mother and sister attended ladies bible class on Wednesday August
20th and we hope that this can become a habit. Kamela’s mother is very busy, but
she seemed to really like it. We do not know if Kamela will continue learning,
but we will put forth our best effort.
Tom and Pat:
We were blessed to have a visit from Tom and Pat
England during the last two weeks of this month. They are such
wonderful people from our sponsoring church in Maryville, Tennessee. Pat and Tom
were that final teachers for our summer campaign. We enjoyed spending time with
them and they were a big help with students.
Bible Bowl:
On August 29, a group of three students from the church traveled to the annual
bible bowl in Durres. Interestingly, of the three only one professes to be a
Christian, Eri Pellumbi, and the other two
are Muslims who are searching, Bruna Coti, and Ola
Semija. Eri Pellumbi is a student at the Bible Institute of Albania
and was home on summer vacation. Ola and Bruna have been attending church
regularly and Ola has been translating for children’s class for over a year. The
group went a day early so we could get settled and spend so time with the church
in Durres. We met them in Durres because we were in Tirana dropping Pat and Tom
off at the airport. We attended the teen class together and the students stayed
at the home of Suela Kurti, a wonderful
Christian from the church in Durres, who works as a secretary and teacher there.
We have the opportunity to spend the night at Cimi and
Anila Kafexhiu's home and meet with some other Christians from the
church.
The team from Korca took first place in the team competition which
was really encouraging for the group and Eri Pellumbi
tied for first in the individual competition.
We were very proud of this group. They worked very hard including multiple
four-hour study sessions during the week before the competition. They are self
starters so we did not need to help much in their studies.
Lizz had illustrated the chapters of Luke to have some pictures to
remember and place with each chapter, and Kevin
found bible quizzes on the internet and we helped the students study and
translate them. Allison worked as a fourth
member of the team in competition, but she was only really there for moral
support; every other team had four members and we had three. The students
answered the questions so quickly Allison couldn’t always keep up on the
Albanian. We pray that Ola and Bruna will
make the decision to become Christians. They are very hard workers and have
wonderful hearts.
Prayer Requests:
Transition from Campaign- It is always a challenge to transition from teacher to
teacher and summer to school schedules. Please pray that this transition
continues to be a smooth one.
Church Growth/ Male Leadership - Please continue to pray for the church
to grow in faith and numbers. We will loose another male member this month,
Alket will be leaving Korca to pursue a
master’s degree in Business. He will find out this week if he will be studying
in the capital Tirana or in Italy. This is a big blow to the church because
Alket was the only male Albanian Christian who was able to meet with us on
Sunday mornings. This puts many of the leadership responsibilities on Kevin’s
shoulders.
Edi- Edi (Rosa’s son pronounced Eddie) got
married at the end of this month. We hope that this will begin a new chapter of
his life since his release from prison in June. He has talked to us about his
struggle to remain drug free in the midst of many temptations. We have continued
our weekly visits to Rosa’s home. Rosa has
told Edi and Elena (Edi's new wife) that all
she wants is for them to follow God’s way. Elena has been attending worship and
helping with children’s classes for the past three weeks. We hope that this will
continue and that Edi will want to come with her. Unfortunately, we have trouble
getting entire families to attend together. Right now we have three wives that
are attending without their husbands.
Eva- Eva is a teacher who helps us teach beginning students. She is not a
Christian and is not currently attending worship. She is very interested in new
ideas and is currently studying through a book that we had on the gospel of
John. She is a real student. We were blessed have so many wonderful campaigners
who shared their faith with her. This made a real impact. It was nice to her to
meet Christians of various ages and walks of life. We pray that she will
continue to grow in her interest and knowledge of God’s word.
Pictures:
We have made more changes to our website. We hope you like them. You can access
pictures at:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/picturesIf you click on the word
“details” above the picture, there is more information on many of the pictures.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
|
September 2008
This month saw the end of summer vacation and the beginning of the new school
year. Our summer campaign was over so we took on new students from the summer.
The first two weeks of the month were quite busy because we were teaching our
old and new students and everyone wanted to get as many hours in as they could
before the school year began. We are actually the opposite of our students: when
they are in school, we have more free time. When school began on September 15,
most of our teaching hours moved to the afternoon, which gave us time to catch
up on things we had neglected around the house. Because most activities just
take longer here, it was nice to have some time again to run errands, pay bills
and cook meals. We make everything from scratch by necessity, so it is not
uncommon to spend two or three hours in the kitchen for a meal.
The weather is getting colder so we, like most people in Korca, have winter on
our minds. We brought our wood stove in from the balcony and have prepared for
our wood to be delivered. The days are getting shorter. When it gets cold, many
families stay in around the fire and do not venture out after dark.
Movie Night:
We had a movie night to celebrate the end of the summer holiday with our
students. We wanted to watch another Veggie Tale but all of them seemed to have
the same problem of pixilation when projected, so we watched “Nanny McPhee”
instead. The students all seemed to like it. We hope to continue activities even
during the winter months.
Albanian Leaders/Workers’ meeting:
On September 13, Kevin and Virgil Mitka from
the church in Pogradec, attended a meeting in Lushnje. It was a wonderful
meeting with preachers and members from many churches in Albania. The meeting
focused on James chapter 4 and talked about possibilities for starting a new
youth camp in Albania. These meetings are a real blessing and encouragement for
us to see fellow workers from all over Albania. There was added an blessing for
Kevin to get to spend time with
Virgil and talk about the work in Pogradec.
Allison usually attends with Kevin but was
recovering from a bad cold, so she stayed home.
Vacation:
After an action packed summer and the first two weeks of September, we were
exhausted. We thought it was best to take a few days and
celebrate our wedding anniversary and Allison’s 30th birthday, so we went to
Greece. We took a bus to Thessalonica. This was made a little
interesting by a strike of the Greek boarder police, but we did finally get
across the boarder and to Thessalonica. This is usually a four-hour bus trip but
took about 8 hours. We saw a lot of the Greek countryside because the bus was by
no means direct. After spending the night in Thessalonica, we took a bus to
Kavala. The Apostle Paul entered this port when
he visited Philippi. We stayed three days in Kavala before returning to Albania.
The weather was nice and we were blessed with sunshine. We had time to relax and
spent a day at the archeological site of Philippi about 45 minutes from Kavala.
This was very interesting. Living in Albania, we have seen many ancient walls,
amphitheaters, Roman baths etc. but it was truly amazing to be in a place
described in the Bible. On our return to Albania, we took a few hours to look
around Thessalonica before our bus left. This new city is built over the old
city so there are not as many visible ruins. We were able to see a Roman bath,
amphitheater, and some other building. We also got to eat at a Chinese buffet.
It was a nice change of pace. Over all it was a nice and relaxing trip and we
returned to Albania refreshed. The boarder police strike had ended the day
before we left to return home, so we spent only an hour at the boarder that
time.
Prayer Requests:
Students- Please continue to pray for the
summer/school year transition for students. Also pray that our students will
have the desire to attend worship.
Rosa- Rosa was given notice at her job. She
had been working as a dishwasher at the local university. The kitchen was
privatized an all of the workers lost there jobs. Please pray for the family as
she is looking for a new job.
Albanian Language- Pray for us in the month
of October, as we will begin Albanian language study again after a summer off.
We have learned so much but still have so much to learn.
Thank you so much for continuing to read our newsletters we really appreciate
your partnership in our work. Your prayer helps us so much.
Campaign:
If you are interested in helping us with our work, we always love fellow
workers. It is not too early to start thinking about next summer. Extra teachers
are great anytime of the year. If you are interested in working with us next
summer or another time of the year, please send us an e-mail and we can give you
further information.
Pictures:
If you would like to see some pictures from this month. You can access pictures
at:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures
If you click on the word “details” above the picture, there is more
information on many of the pictures.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
November 2008
This was a beautiful month. The weather got a bit colder, but not really that
cold. As the days grew shorter more and more of our students where focused on
staying in.
Come Before Winter:
We traveled to Tirana in the beginning of the month, because
Allison was given another opportunity to
participate in “Come Before Winter.” This was the Bible training and
encouragement program she attended in Bosnia earlier this year. Allison joined a
group from Tirana and had the pleasure of studying Philippians from
Katherine Alexander for three days on Mount
Dajti. It was such a blessing to review methods of exegesis and to spend time in
the word of God with some amazing ladies. The weather was so warm it felt like
spring, not like the beginning of winter. The ladies studied a weeks worth of
materials in three long days. It was exhausting and refreshing
the same time. The idea was to teach these methods to native speakers so they
can teach other women about in-depth bible study. Allison felt so blessed to
have had the chance to go, and she has begun a class on the book of Mark to
teach some of the ladies, who are attending worship, what she learned.
Movie Night:
We had originally planned to have the WEI Challenge (a competition using
materials from the WEI basic course) on Saturday, November 28, but this is a
national holiday and many of our students were traveling with there families. If
a national holiday falls on the weekend in Albania, Monday is a day off school.
We decided instead to have a movie night. We watched “The Ultimate Gift,” a
movie based on a novel by Jim Stovall. It turned out to be a very
successful night. There were about thirty in attendance. The interesting part
came when we started the movie and the power went out. We had copied Christmas
songs in Albanian and English in case this would happen, so we passed them out
and taught three songs. Then we played charades. After forty-five minutes the
power came on and we began the movie. It was a big hit.
Thanksgiving:
We invited some of those who attend church over to our home for Thanksgiving
dinner. It was a really blessed time. We made chickens (turkeys are too skinny
and too expensive), stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies and pumpkin pie
(this was from a
squash that looked like a pumpkin and tasted the same). The nicest part of the
evening was when we all shared what we were thankful for and had a prayer of
thanksgiving. It is easy to get so caught up in the food preparations that this
part is
left out. All of our students kept asking what this holiday was all about, and
we explained that it was a time to thank God for all he had blessed us with. It
was a good day and we felt a bit less homesick.
Our Travels:
On December 19, we will be traveling to the US for a month long world wind tour.
This will include stops in Wisconsin and California to visit our families. We
will also be visiting our sponsoring congregation in Maryville, Tennessee and
one of our supporting congregations in Killen, Alabama. Lastly, we will be
attending the Albania-Romania Workshop in Virginia. If you would like
more information about specific dates we will be happy to share our schedule
with you.
Prayer Request:
Our Travels: Please pray for our travels and more importantly the group that
meets in Korca. We will have preachers visiting from other parts of Albania in
our absence.
Rosa: Continue to
keep Rosa in your prayers. She has been struggling a lot lately.
Ritvan: His father in law passed away this
month with means that he did not attend for a couple of weeks. He is still a new
Christian and is struggling with sharing his faith with others.
Alket: Alket is a longtime Christian in the
church in Korca, but when he went to pursue his masters in Tirana, he has not
been attending there. He did come to worship and lead songs when he was on
college break. Please pray that his school work does not get in the way of his
spiritual life.
To see new pictures from this month go to:
Pictures:
http://www.korcachurchesofchrist.com/pictures.html/
May God Richly Bless you,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
December 2008/ January 2009
We are sorry for not sending a newsletter for December. We traveled to the US at
the end of the month and got caught up in visiting with our family and friends.
The past few months have really flown by. It is hard to believe that it is
already February.
Prayers Answered:
After many years of prayer, God has truly blessed us. Allison is pregnant. She
is in her 5th month (19 weeks) and will deliver in the US. Her due date is July
5, but she will be returning on April 7. She plans to be in Wisconsin close to
family. Kevin will be in Albania until the second week in June. This is a real
blessing for us. It has been a little hard logistically though (plane tickets,
travel, passports, etc.) We plan to return to Albania in early September. Please
pray that Allison will continue to have a healthy pregnancy. We still do not
know if it is a boy or a girl because we were unable to tell due to the position
of the baby during our ultra sound on February 9. The doctor was able to see
that the baby is healthy. Lord willing, teaching will continue while we are gone
because Roger Michael, our fellow teacher will be in Korca during these months.
Summer Campaign:
We need your help. This is going to be a somewhat different summer for us and we
need your help now more than ever. We have had many interviews of those who can
speak and understand English without any kind of translation (5 just this week),
and we just don’t have the time in our schedules to accommodate them. Although
Allison will not be here this summer, Kevin will be for the start and Roger for
the rest of the campaign Lord willing. We have students who want to study on
there summer break. If you would like to be a teacher in this summer’s campaign
please e-mail us and we can give you further information.
Pot Luck:
The women who attend services organized a meal for the church the last Sunday
before we left. The food was delicious and we were really encouraged by the
participation of all of the ladies young and old. They did not want us to bring
anything. It was such a blessing for this group to organize a party and take the
initiative for everything. Since there is only one Christian attending morning
worship, most of those who participated are Muslim, but searching.
Worship:
While we were gone, Christian men from various cities led worship. This was such
a blessing to us because we do not have any males attending morning worship
right now. One of the men, Beni Leka, is a preacher in Athens and is originally
from
Korca. He preached while on a visit to his parents here. It was such a blessing
for the church members to hear so many different perspectives, and we are
so grateful to those who came to preach.
Our Trip to the States:
We left on December 19th from Tirana and travel by plane to Chicago. Then we got
on a two hour bus to Waukesha where Allison’s mother and her husband picked us
up. Kevin felt like he was back in Albania; due to the bad weather the driver
actually let some men stand up in the isle of the coach bus.
This was a real blessing because we would have had to wait
about two hours to find another one headed to Wisconsin. The
snow had shut down the airport in Milwaukee. We were grateful
that we had planned to ride the bus because there was not a
rental car to be found. We had the pleasure of spending a
little over a week in Wisconsin with Allison’s family. It was
so nice to see them and to celebrate Christmas together. It
was wonderful to see family that we had not seen in a year and
a half. We also had the privilege of worshiping with the
Southside Church of Christ in Milwaukee on the Sunday we were
there.
Then it was off to California. We flew to San Francisco which
is about two hours south of Kevin's parents' home in Upper
Lake. We spent a couple of days adjusting to the time change
and relaxing from our trip and then we went to the Pacific
coast. Kevin’s parents had rented a house for a few days so we
could have family time. We were met by Kevin’s aunt and uncle
from southern California and a close family friend and her
daughter. We celebrated New Years there. When we got home
Kevin had the privilege of speaking to the church in Lucerne.
Kevin was taught about the gospel by the members in Lucerne
and was baptized there. This congregation holds a special
place in his heart. It was nice to see so many familiar faces.
From California we flew to Maryville, Tennessee. In fact, we
flew into the Knoxville Airport, but it is only about 10
minutes from Maryville. We were able to make a visit to
Wednesday night bible class in Maryville before heading out
to Virginia on Friday for the Albania Romania workshop. We
were so blessed to attend this event. This was only the second
time we have had the chance to go and the last time there was
an ice storm that prevented most of the participants from
coming. At the workshop we were able to meet many new people,
but were surprised to see so many familiar faces. One of the
biggest blessings was meeting Xhumert Nuro, who was the
preacher in Pogradec before he moved to the US with his wife
and daughter in 2007.
From the Conference we flew to Nashville, TN and drove with
Pat and Tom England to Killen, Alabama (only a few hours). We
attended Sunday morning service there and met with the elders.
We always feel so welcome. From Killen we drove back to
Maryville. We spent the last week of our trip in Maryville,TN.
Kevin spoke at evening services that Sunday.
Home Again:
On Thursday January 22, we arrived back in Korca, after some
errands in Tirana including a trip to the US Embassy to get
our passports renewed. We were so happy to be home. We spent
our first days back making visits and having coffees. We have
also met many people on the street. The transition has been a
smooth one except for the plumbing in our bathroom which left
us without water in the house for a few days. It reminded us
of the old days, and made us so grateful that Korca has 24
hours running water and 24 hours electricity. The plumbing
problems are fixed and everything is going great. Now most of
the pipes in our bathroom have been replaced so we should not
have any more problems. We have been teaching our WEI and
other bible lessons for a few weeks now and are happy to be
back on a normal schedule again.
Prayer requests:
Campaign: We would still like to have a summer campaign
because this has been shown to be a real benefit to our work.
Please pray that there will be those who are willing to help
out this summer. If you would like more information, just let
us know.
Allison's Pregnancy: Pray that it will continue to go well.
Male Students and Members: This is our constant prayer.
In His Service,
Kevin and Allison Morrill
|
February 2009
The weather has been very wintry this month which met that we made a fire in our
wood stove at the school every morning and kept it going all day long. Many of
our students have suffered from terrible colds and one of Allison’s students
even went to the hospital due to a cold. She did not need to be hospitalized. We
are grateful to have stayed in good health.
Lots of Students:
Usually our fall and winter schedule is to teach classes in the afternoons and
evenings, but this year we have been very busy with morning students as well.
Both of us are teaching a large number of morning and afternoon students. One of
the biggest reasons for this change is that one of the high schools and one of
the elementary schools (grades 1-9) have been reconstructed and refurbished this
year, so these students are going to school in the afternoon instead of the
mornings. The plan was that the students would return to morning classes in
January, but the schools were too damp and cold so this did not happen. So many
morning students have been good and a little hard. It has helped clear up spots
for new students in our afternoon, but since our mornings were when we got
things done: studying, paying bills, shopping etc. It has been a challenge.
Campaign:
Please consider our campaign. Albania is one of the most interesting places we
have ever visited and the Albanian people are so welcoming. We love living here
and teaching the Bible is such a joy. The materials we use are not difficult to
teach and are used for correspondence in many parts of the world. We have
learned, though, that the one-on-one personal interactions have really helped
bring these materials to life for our students, and even the most reluctant
students are excited about reading the Bible after a few lessons. This is also
very important for those who are attending worship and the Christians here
because it gives them another Christian example. We are in need of teachers
for this year’s campaign, and we ask that you prayerfully consider being a part
of this work.
Eva Bala:
For those of you who have been praying for Eva Bala
we have good news. She attended worship for the first time this month. It was a
good step in the right direction. She has been studying with us for a year and
this was the first time she has attended. We did not want to force her, but have
encouraged her. She is very interested in the book of Hebrews and Kevin is
preaching on this book right now. She has been asking a lot of questions. We
hope and pray that this is just the beginning.
Visiting Tirana and Durres:
We needed to renew our passports because they were due to expire this year,
so we thought we would make the 4.5 hour trip worth the gas: scheduling a
doctors appointment for Allison, stopping by a factory that sells English books
and Bible materials, and various other activities that can only be done in the
capital. We had the pleasure of staying with Ellen
Walker, a missionary in Tirana for the night, and we visited Durres
on the way home. In Durres, which is about an hour away from Tirana, we got to
have lunch and catch up with Cimi and Anila Kafaxhiu.
They are good friends that we do not get to see often and it is so nice to see
them when we are in that part of the country.
Prayer Requests:
Continued health of Allison and the baby:
Allison is currently 22 weeks pregnant and she and the baby have been in good
health thus far.
Rosa and Eddie:
We are still visiting Rosa and her son Eddie
every week after morning worship. Rosa seems to understand and really loves
studying the Bible, but is not ready to make any life changes right now. She is
still really struggling with the grief of loosing her daughter Mira about a year
and a half ago. Eddie, 32, has really been struggling with drugs, friendships, a
lack of desire to work, and his marriage falling apart. For a couple of weeks
this month, he listened and participated in the Bible lesson at his home, but he
runs hot and cold. We are continuing to pray for his growth. The family has
really been struggling because Rosa and Eddie
are both out of work. Rosa received some news this week though that she may be
getting her old job back when one of the employees retires.
Church growth and Male interest:
Please continue to pray for this because we have really not had much male
interest at all either from students or from others. This has made our work
difficult. Kevin is still preaching, leading prayers and singing in Albanian,
but we would love to have more males to help. There is a group of three ladies
who have been attending for about a year or more and understand about baptism
and have talked about it, but have not made this commitment yet.
Please pray for these ladies: Klotilda, Bruna, and Ola.
Thank you for your continued interest in our work,
Kevin and Allison Morrill |
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