Click here for pictures of the Dintamans in Albania in 2004.

The Next Chapter

July 2004

Greetings to all our friends and supporters back home! We have already completed two school years at LCC, and are enjoying a busy summer in Lithuania. On May 1 LCC held its Commencement. It was a double celebration because it was also the day Lithuania and nine other countries joined the European Union. We said our goodbyes to the many grads we had gotten to know, and to several faculty who were leaving. In fact we said goodbye to the whole theology department, with only Steve remaining to provide continuity for next year! Thank God, we have been able to recruit new faculty for next year, and we look forward to them joining us.

Trip to Albania

We want to share with you about a wonderful opportunity we have had this month to travel to Albania for a few weeks. Albania, one of the poorest countries on the European continent, suffered under the most repressive, isolated communist dictatorship of the Cold War era. In 1967 all religion was banned, all churches and mosques closed and many clergy killed or imprisoned. It was an economically and spiritually devastated country, but remarkable things have been happening since independence in ’91. Several young Albanian believers have been students at LCC, and through them we have come to learn and care about Albania.

Our visit to Albania was a neat example of how Mennonite mission agencies work together. Steve was invited to teach at a summer Bible school by EMM missionary Paul Kropf. He and his wife, June, have been in Albania for 11 years and have been involved in chuch planting in Lezha, a city of 35,000 in northern Albania. Alan Umble, a Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions missionary, is involved in the same effort. Both Paul and Alan had been students of Steve’s at EMU. Norma Thomas, a VMBM missionary originally from Brazil is also in Lezha.

One of the real joys of this trip was seeing our LCC students from Lezha and visiting in their families’ homes. None of these parents were able to visit LCC or attend their children’s graduation, so it means a lot to them to have a representative of LCC come to their homes. Albanian hospitality is something else. We were in five homes of students’ families, and each of them received and fed us like we have never been hosted before! In Albanian social custom, the mother fills the plate and sets it before you. The first home we were in two huge plates beautifully arranged with freshly caught eel, fish, pork, sausage, egg and feta cheese plus vegetables and potatoes were set on the table. We assumed they were the serving plates for all six of us, but no, they were our personal plates! Alan informed us that it is not expected that you will eat it all, much to our relief.

The Bible classes were for young adults and were scheduled for five hours a day for one week. Given the 95+ temperatures we had every day, Steve suggested we pare it down to four. He taught on the theme of “The Priority of the Church in the Believer’s Life”. Using themes like the family of God, the body of Christ, and citizens of a “not of this world” kingdom, Steve tried to demonstrate how corporate body life is an essential part of God’s plan of salvation. Albanians are eager to discuss things, and the 25-50 people that attended seemed committed and knowledgeable about scripture. Several different young people from the two churches involved served as translators. Claudi, a young woman who is now a student at Millersville College in Pa., was primary interpreter and did a beautiful job of communicating with feeling.

In the afternoons we took a break from classes, and usually ended up taking a nap in front of the fan. Fortunately one of the mothers of an LCC student presented Betsy with a lovely parasol like many women there use for protection from the hot sun, so we could also stroll down the dusty streets in style.

One of the things we learned by being in Albania is what a struggle our grads will have fitting back into their home culture. It was an incredible venture of faith that they left Albania four years ago and went to LCC. Each of them has been profoundly changed by their experience, and they all want to contribute to rebuilding Albania. But two realities make this very difficult. First, there simply are not many jobs for someone with their qualifications. The Albanian economy just limps along with the largest source of revenue being emigrants who send earnings back home. People tell our grads to just leave Albania and make a life for themselves in the west.

The second reality that hits them, especially the young women, is the cultural conservatism of Albania. Traditionally, Albania has been a majority Muslim culture. Even though most Muslims are not devout, the family and social standards are very patriarchal. After four years of relative independence in Lithuania, these women come home to a society where fathers (or even their older brothers) are expected to run their daughters’ lives until they marry. It is totally unacceptable for a single woman to live on her own. We heard stories from women in the church whose fathers had forbidden them to come to church, or who could only come if their brothers accompanied them. We also heard of fathers who forbid their sons to come to church for fear it will make them “soft”. The only real controversy that came up in the classes is when I gave a talk on becoming new creation men and new creation women. What Steve advocated would be pretty mild by western standards, but created some pretty intense discussions. And Albanian discussions are sometimes more like eruptions!

One of the delightful parts of Albanian life that we experienced was the evening “xhiro”. From about 7-9pm every evening the main street is closed to traffic, and people go for an evening stroll up and down the street. Shops reopen after the hot afternoon break, so people are enjoying ice cream or coffee, and groups of young men and women are meeting in a socially supervised setting. Young women have family curfews at about 9, so everything starts shutting down by then.

Teaching in Albania was like an intensive seminar in cross-cultural theology for us. A younger generation of Albanians is very tired of the traditions of the elders, but now face the danger of uncritically embracing modern western ways. We talked a lot about the church retaining what is good in Albanian culture and thinking critically about the processes of change now going on.

The last evening of the class, we hosted, a “cocktail”—a time of refreshments for the 50 or so who attended. So many people expressed gratitude for our visit. Parents of students, especially, thanked us for caring for their children while they were at LCC. The women seemed to especially appreciate Betsy’s presence, and insist we bring our children along on the next trip!

On our last weekend we went to Tirana, the capital of Albania, where we were hosted by LCC grad Lorna Qesteri and her family. Lorna is a very gifted young woman, who emerged as a real spiritual leader during her time at LCC. Again, we were received by her family and treated like visiting royalty. Her parents are both highly educated teachers. Her father is completely fluent in English and several other languages, yet they barely earn enough to get by. We were also delighted to meet Lorna’s brother who recently completed his Master’s in theology at the evangelical seminary in Osiak, Croatia. As we talked with him, we were amazed to find he was conversant with my favorite theologians, and that the mentor for his Master’s thesis had been Myron Augsburger!

As long as we are talking about a small world--one other story. As we were walking the crowded streets of Tirana with Lorna, a car suddenly swung over to the curb and a woman called out, “I know you!”. The car contained an Albanian couple Steve had met at a Baptist Seminary in Prague last summer. They had returned to Tirana and were now co-pastoring a church. They were happy to see us and to learn more about LCC, because they are looking for places for their young people to go to school.

Important Guests

The last couple of days we hosted guests from Indiana. Stanley Green, CEO of MMN, and his wife Ursula were in Lithuania July 19-22 with Darrel and Maxine Zook from Middlebury. The Zooks have been major financial supporters of MMN’s work in Europe and were visiting different mission sites around Europe. We showed them LCC and explained our work here, as well as showing them the sights around Klaipeda. It was a great time of fellowship. Their presence reminded us of the many people whose interest, prayers and financial support make it possible for us to serve in Lithuania.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for our Albanian graduates, that God will find places for them in Albania so they can contribute to building up the body of Christ and Albanian society.
• Next month about 60 first-year students from Ukraine and Belarus, Albania and other countries outside Lithuania, will join the ranks of international students at LCC. Pray for them as they work through the hassles of getting their visas and prepare to leave their families.
• Pray for the new faculty who will be joining the theology department next month.
• Pray for us we begin the last year of our three-year term with MMN and search for God’s will for the future.