Tuesday July 29, 2008 final day of training in Berat

A man and his horse in the center of Berat

We got up this morning to another beautiful day in Berat.  The three of us went to breakfast.  Our breakfast was included in with our room charge.  As Evis ordered our breakfast i was waiting for a menu.  But instead the waiter was preparing a typical Albanian breakfast, which he laid out for us to come and get what we wanted.  It was warm slightly toasted bread, cut up tomatoes, cheese, apricot/cherry spread, cut up cucumbers and hard boiled eggs.  I of course was looking for more a typical american spread of food.  So, Christy and I has bread and a tall glass of the best Latte i have ever had.  I wanted another, but the electricity was off.  Oh, that is the other thing i have neglected to tell you, the electricity in Albania goes off and on.  Sometimes it is off for a short time or can be off for a few hours.  

So, after breakfast we went to the church for training and the electricity was still off, so we were unable to use our powerpoint.  That was of course not a problem, God made a way for it all to happen as it should.  Our training, went very well.  We talked a great deal about the process and did a number of role playing.  Each women got the chance to role play as a mentor and a mentee.  We then had each of them talk about what went well and where the challenges were.  We ended the day with a good follow up plan for them to meet with Christy and Evis to continue to develop their skills as mentors. 

 

Role playing as Mentor and Mentee

Migena, the pastors wife, has a wonderful plan to be sure that each women trained to become a mentee first and then become a mentor.  I truly believe this small church is going to be used by God in a powerful to reach the women in Berat.  Which will also help the children, the family and of course the entire community.  It was truly a honor to be with these women.  I know that Christy and I both were truly blessed.  We could not have done any of this without Evis.  She has worked with Christy to organized and plan all of these trainings and come to the 2 trainings and did all of the translation for the entire time we trained.   I know that I will miss her terribly.  It was an amazing experience, training in 2 different languages.  God has done a great thing in us all.  

Christy & Klodi

Continuing to practice

We then loaded up the car and headed home.  We had a great time debriefing with Evis and talking about what we believe God is telling us all that is next.  WOW!!!!!  

Tomorrow morning we are meeting with a Alma from the Prison Ministry, then with Ilure Magazine and then Christy and I have a meeting with the American Ambassador.  Tomorrow night I will finish the Blog from Albania.  So, after Wednesday you may not hear from me until Friday because I leave for home very very early Thursday morning.  Be watching for the final pages after that.