. . . WE’RE HAVING LUNCH, SO I HAVE TO RESPOND

I’ve been perplexed about how to answer him and now that we’re having lunch together next week, I think I owe him, and his wife, Eli, a thoughtful answer.

Before today’s question from him, I was already contemplating a post about the fact that Albania is growing on us, albeit slowly.

So, let me begin . . .

How Do I Describe the People we are Seeing and Meeting here in Tirana, Albania?

• They struggle to smile, and are seemingly very hard-shelled. They are protective, and frankly, it hurts to see folks like this.
• I know there are hurting folks like this in every nation, and indeed in every church.
• But in Albania, they are on every street corner, and on every sidewalk.
• They are in the parks, and they are the wait staff in restaurants.
• They are in their little businesses, often nothing more than a hole in the wall, eking out a living (although I don’t know how).
• They are everywhere here!

Naida and I have worked hard to make friends here, so let me tell you, in 10 words what we have found:

Inside, when they trust us, they are open and friendly.

Okay, 3 more words. “AND THEY SMILE.”

I know some of you will think that I am changing gears, but I’m not . . .

As I look at the construction here in Tirana, I get the sense of a modern people who are trying to put their past behind them.

After the communist regime fell, the populace was encouraged and the government led by example, painting their buildings.

And believe me, there are some VERY CREATIVELY painted buildings.

But the creativity hasn’t stopped at the colors of the buildings.

Look at the Building Shapes, the Architecture, the FUN . . .

. . . Indoctrination went hand in hand with fear,

reinforced by the omnipresent “love” of the Mother Party. We were raised to believe that we were the happiest people on Earth—living in a worker’s paradise.

But all of that began to crumble when the winds of change swept across Eastern Europe in the final decade of the 20th century. Communism collapsed as a system, and Albania—its last fortress—finally fell. This was a moment of awakening for a nation that had been in darkness for decades.

When the first missionaries arrived in Albania, they were astonished by the spiritual hunger they encountered—a longing for God unlike anything they had seen elsewhere.

The words of Isaiah 9:2 resonate deeply with that moment in our history:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

For generations, Albanians had walked in the darkness of suppression and isolation, but with the fall of communism, a great light shone into our lives, bringing hope, freedom, and the chance to seek spiritual truth for the first time in decades.