Being a Light in Lezha





One of the highlights of my time in Lezha so far has been getting to know the church community. Two weekends ago they had a retreat in Shenjin which is a neighboring beach town. I was not able to go for the whole weekend. However, I took the opportunity to go on Saturday just for the afternoon. Since I had spent the prior 2 Saturdays stuck inside sick I took advantage of good health and a beautiful day to walk the 5 or so miles to get there. I was welcome by a few of the youth and they showed me around. We also spent some quality time discussing issues of faith. Since the church is young and many of the youth are the only ones in their families with a personal relationship with Christ there is a real yearning among them for mentorship. I have met with the Pastor and youth leader informally for coffee and we talked a bit about the desire to grow the youth group and find ways to interest more of the students at LAC in church involvement. I see this as an important part of my being in Lezha. I want to be an encouragement to the youth at the church and be available to them. Please pray for this part of my ministry here. There is some overlap with my role at the school and hopefully that will be helpful. The youth that also attend LAC invite their friends to the activities, and believe it or not, if they mentioned that a few of us American teachers are going to be there it is an incentive to come (Don't worry Mom, I am not letting it go to my head). I think it is always kinda fun to see your teachers in real life, "dressed down and unplugged" so to speak.

This Saturday the young adults and youth group took a bus to Dajt Mountain in Tirana. It is a popular local and tourist spot as there is a gondola that takes you to the top and it is an amazing view of the city. It was another great time to enjoy the church community. I especially was enjoying and the familiar atmosphere of pines and changing leaves of oaks and beech trees. Lezha is a city, and beside people's gardens, has very little vegetation. The gondola ride was the only expense for the day and I believe we had about 30 or so people go. We took the ride to the top and took several hours to walk along among the trees to a restaurant were we ordered drinks, ate our packed lunches, and enjoyed the view of the valley. The pastor brought his guitar so we sang a few praise songs. I learned the Albanian word for trees. Pema! I hope for many more opportunities to be among this accepting and rejoicing group. Please pray for the body of believers at "Kisha guri i themelit" (Cornerstone Church) as they are a Light to Lezha!









Hanging out in Shenjin with the church youth

Cable car and Tirana in the distance



Teaching

Curiosity is little more than another name for Hope. 

~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

I am almost 2 weeks into my new role as a "teacher." So far it has been an enjoyable learning experience for me. I have the pleasure of spending 90 minutes a day with 21 excellent young people. They are at varied levels of English experience but I find their eagerness to learn and curiosity very inspiring. I also am enjoying the topic we are studying together, "Individuals that Impact our World." Thank you to the many of you that have shared your personal stories and ideas with me for this course. Keep them coming! Right now the students are researching an extraordinary person and writing a formal paper. I am looking forward to reading their work. They have chosen some incredible people, MLK, Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, Malala Yousafzai, Einstein, JFK, Obama, Tesla, Clinton, Mother Teresa, De Vinci, Jesus, Susan B. Anthony, C.S. Lewis, John Lennon, Isaac Newton, Galileo, Armstrong, Adam Smith, Shakespeare, and Freud. They also will be presenting to the class.

I begin each class with a quote from a notable person who has made a contribution to society. Today was "Music can change the world because it can change people." ~ Paul Hewson. No one seemed to know who he was as I gave some of his public humanitarian efforts and notable facts, including being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize twice, touring the world with his band, and touring the world as an advocate for aids awareness and speaking out against poverty. It wasn't until I played "Beautiful Day" on my iPad that they realized it was BONO and all wanted to sing along. HA!

Please pray that this course, only 9 weeks long, will inspire these students to see themselves as leaders for a better Albania. There is a lot of corruption in the systems and government. It will take people of intelligence and integrity to bring about change. I see hope when I stand before this class. As more young people come to know Christ and choose to follow in His examples I believe there will be change. Lord let it start with us!

In other news, friends Phil and Betsy Moyer, from Salford Church visited Justin and I the other week. How wonderful to be in the company of these fine folks! They enjoyed meeting the Shahinis, touring the school, and spending time with friends in Kosovo. I enjoyed hugs from home, salsa from mom, and a fancy meal. In fact they had such a great experience they promised to return soon for a longer stay! How exciting!



 



 



 

Update

I survived the first week of school but I am guessing this rooster did not. Today I witnessed a chicken put in a duffle bag for transport. What next?

First Day!

This is the LAC pin that we all wear proudly each day! 

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." 

~ William Butler Yeats

"LAC is a light to Lezha." 

~ Justin Rittenhouse

 So, it is finally here! The "First Day of School Eve!" I have spent the last 6 weeks preparing for this day and now I greet it with much expectation! It feels a little like New Years Eve, in that it is a beginning and I am hopeful and excited for what amazing things are in store for the year. Of course I am nervous, but that is normal, especially since everything is new. New job, new students, new co-workers, and I am even teaching a class, which was completely unexpected! However, I rest in the promise that God is with me and has prepared me, and equipped me, for this moment. He is the same here in Albania as He is at home in PA. In fact, I have had the most wonderful experience in church the past few Sundays. We have sung familiar songs, which I love. I may not be able to join in the lyrics but my heart and mind is in unison as I meditate on what I know the song is about. Today was sang Chris Tomlin's song "Here I am to Worship." How beautiful to transcend language and worship God in community. I feel very "at home" in the church here. Pray that our school can feel "like home" to our students as we share the grace and love of Christ with them.

This is my classroom where I will teach 21 seniors, "Individuals that Impact Our World: a writing intensive course," 3rd block from 11:10 - 12:40.
It will be much more interesting when they are actually there!

Request!

I am shamelessly using my blog to elicit help from all of you. I just found out I will be teaching a class. I have decided to call it "Individuals that Impact our World." It will be a course for 11th and 12th graders. The content of the class will focus on people who through amazing efforts of peace and creative solutions, have made a positive impact on humanity. While engaging in this topic students will practice their skills of research, writing, group work, and public speaking. I have one week to come up with my outline and curriculum. The good news is that the students will do most of the work and I will be more of a facilitator. What I am asking you for help with is would you share your thoughts on this topic? Who is someone that you have seen make a positive contribution to our world? Also, if you have read a good book about that individual would you consider donating it to our library so we can increase our resources on amazing people and  this topic. I have no budget to work with so at this time the students will do all their research on the computers. I am open to creative ideas for the course as well. I hope to get some guest speakers from the Peace Corps and maybe some other connections that Klementina has. We also want to learn about the UN and take a field trip to the capital to see the government buildings. One resource I am wanting is Leymah Gbowee's book, "Mighty Be Our Powers". I have read it and found it very inspiring. If you could comment directly to the blog if you plan to send a book or email me directly your ideas to  cmoyerlac@gmail.com   And of course, pray for me as I lead this new course. It has potential to excite young minds to impact their own worlds. I am humbled by the opportunity and feel ill-equipped. 

Job Title?

Hard to believe I have been here one month! I have had many new experiences like an Albanian wedding, eating a fish head, and mopping the

floor EVERY time I shower. However, we have not started school so I also feel like I haven't even begun my experience yet. My office is starting to feel more like my own, though the door still says "Finance Office". A daily reminder to me that they have not had a Guidance Counselor before and in fact don't even know what one is. If you looked up "Guidance Counselor" in the Albanian Dictionary I am pretty sure it would say "Cindy Moyer". I am the only one, which is exciting because I get to define it! Ha, don't let me fool you, reality is that there is NO job that I won't likely do this year. In fact, I may be teaching a class which has me extremely nervous since that is not were my heart or training lies. I want to be flexible and do what is necessary but honestly that seems more of a stretch than I know how to make. I have met a handful of students as they have been coming to volunteer. Working with them gets me excited for them all to come and fill the halls. On the other hand it feels like we are not near ready for them yet. The teaching schedule is a real challenge for Klementina and I to figure out as enrollment has increased by almost 100% and our teaching staff has not. I will keep you posted as my role here takes more shape.


In the meantime I am including a few pictures from the wedding this past weekend. The Shanini's daughter came from the States to get married here. The wedding was at the castle and the reception at the school. It was beautiful! I felt privileged to attend and enjoyed helping with the clean-up the next day.  

There was a live band and endless food. The party went until 2:00 in the morning! There was a great mix of American friends, family, and community present! Everyone had a wonderful time! 

Out and About

Tirana International Hotel & Conference Center 

This past week has been one of both getting some work done at the school and seeing sites beyond LAC. First, a little about my work. Right now I am spending a lot of time organizing the student records. I have been making files, figuring GPAs, making report cards, entering new students, tedious stuff like that. More interesting is that several student have been volunteering in the mornings cleaning and preparing the classrooms. It has been fun to meet them and see their interest in learning. They are mostly 11th and 12th graders so their English is good. I have also seen the same group of kids at church which is really encouraging to see them involved there as well. On Wed. Dini and I went to Tirana to run errands. We both had a shopping list of things for our areas of work at the school. My main mission was to find a filling cabinet. Now that we will have student files and records we should be keeping them locked and secure. Thanks to the generous financial support of family and friends I have extra money in my budget to use for these types of needs. I found that Tirana is a modern city and has all the traffic and shops of any European city. However, after visiting the Mall, a shop like Wal-Mart, a shop resembling Lowe's and a small version of Office Max we couldn't find a filling cabinet or even someone who knew what we were talking about. I bought a projector screen and I had no problem tracking that down. I am still baffled! It was a fun day for me to get out and see the big city (400,000), also made me thankful that I live in a smaller city(27,000). 

A bit of Albania history. I drove by the "Piramida" pictured left. The pyramid was built in 1987 according to the design of Enver Hoxha's daughter and was originally a museum of her father. Hoxha was the evil dictator of the communist era. US president George W Bush gave a speech in front of this building. The building was the most expensive erected under communism. Today it's derelict building halfway occupied by a TV station. Much of the façade has been stripped or stolen and the glass is broken and boarded up. There is an ongoing discussion and disagreement among the people if it should be torn down or remain as a piece of their history. 

From this spot I was able to find LAC below.

I finally got to visit the Lehza Castle that I see every day from LAC. The church took a picnic up there Sat. morning and it was a fun walk and a beautiful morning. We had a time of singing and sharing and then played some games, ate food, and enjoyed the space. I hope to get there a lot since the walk was fun and the view incredible! I am appreciating getting to know the church group a little. We have very interesting demographics as there are now four countries represented, in addition to Americans and Albanians, we also have an Italian teacher at LAC, and several Brazilians including the Pastor. So we are all trying to communicate and often relying on others for translations. I have been so impressed by the welcome that I feel from the church community. 

In the distance you can see the sea.

Next weekend is Klementina's daughter's wedding reception will be at the castle. She has invited the LAC staff to attend so next time I am there I will be wearing very different clothes.