March 2016

2015ANDBEYOND

Bearing a witness
and enjoying the
beauty of
creation:
baptisms in the
Big Prespa Lake

We are sending you a bunch of very

warm greetings from Albania! (Despite
this winter being very mild, was had a
couple days of playing in the snow!)
You likely already know that last
spring our family welcomed its newest
member. (Whether it can be used as an
excuse for our year-long silence is up to
you to decide.) On April 8, after a quick
and easy labor, our baby Eleonora Louise
was born. Just around New Years she
started sitting up by herself and crawling.
Shes definitely growing too fast!
Eleonora, like her siblings, was born
in Lithuania. A couple months spent
there allowed us for some playtime with
cousins and friends, multiple visits to
playgrounds in Vilnius, and even a little
family vacation on the beautiful sandy
shores of the Baltic Sea.
In July, Sean had the joy and
privilege of baptizing 7 believers. Most of
them were students, who came to know
Christ through the ministry of Campus
Crusade for Christ. This summer the
organizations branch in Korca was closed
and they asked if our church would adopt
the ministry to the students. Now a few
months later the students are meeting

regularly at our building, growing

together and continuing to reach out to
their peers.
The local World Vision office
launched a new project called SKYE
(Skills and Knowledge for Youth
Economic-empowerment) Clubs. They
have been focusing on identifying and
developing leader skills, with the view of
empowering the youth coming mainly
from less educated and impoverished
backgrounds. Our church youth led it and
took the initiative to start the club in our
church. It has been only one of two
successful groups in Korce. This has been
serving as a great outlet for reaching out
to the youth, as many have started joining
the youth group and other church
services.
In autumn, we were blessed by
groups of visitors. A group of ladies from
several U. S. churches organized a
luncheon for our churchs ladies. Not a
single woman was left untouched by their
sincere testimonies and uplifting
messages. Later, a small team from the U.
K. led by pastor Kenn Baird carried out
church planting and worship training, as
well as assisted Sean with various

leadership-related issues and helped our

churchs worship team. Its encouraging
to have experienced and committed
leaders as our support. The senior pastor
of our sending church New Life
Foursquare Church in Canby, Oregon
Ron Swor, accompanied by Doug
Sprague, also visited us. We enjoyed their
relaxed visit, and now feel even more
connected with our sending church as
they have seen firsthand all we are
involved in here.
As Vita has been busy with the kids
(and is still dreaming of various projects,
hoping they will come to fruition as the
children grow older), Sean has become a
healthcare liaison! Albanian healthcare
services, especially in our town, are far
from satisfactory, therefore when needed
we try to arrange doctors visits in
neighboring Greece. Lately, trips to the
private St Lukes hospital in Thessaloniki
have been more frequent. Not long ago
Sean found out that a boy from the village
of Goskove, where our church has an
ongoing outreach, has epilepsy that has
been getting more severe. Having helped
his family with food and clothing on
several occasions, it was clear that they

March 2016

At a church youth meeting

The baby that is growing too fast here almost a year ago
were not in a position of getting the
needed treatment themselves. Therefore,
Sean decided to take him to the St Lukes
hospital himself for a thorough checkup.
After the checkups and adjusted
medication (thankfully he has only
epilepsy, no tumors or other more serious
conditions), the boys condition has
improved drastically. Almost every time
he meets Sean he tells him of lighter and
more manageable seizures, even far less
frequent ones! Even more, his demeanor
has changed he seems to be happier
and more relaxed, not to mention the
spirits of his entire family are lifted. It is
truly encouraging to see such changes in
a youngster whos been told all his life,
even by his family, that the disease was

caused by a curse known as the evil

eye.
You may also be wondering whats
happening with the climbing gym we
completed a year ago. We got it
registered with the state, and at the
moment we are trying to figure out legal
etc. requirements. Lately, the tax laws
have been changing a lot, in a
very respectable attempt to crack
down on corruption. However,
this makes it hard to know what
the current policies are. Weve
also been hearing of businesses
and NGOs being fined on vague
grounds. We still hope to have the
gym open this year, and would
very much welcome a volunteer

With many blessings and

thankfulness for your support
Sean, Vita, Eva, Oliver and Eleonora

Interested in supporting us & the work in Albania?

You may send checks with Albania or a specific project in the memo line payable to:
New Life Foursquare Church, 2350 SE Territorial Rd., Canby, OR 97013
Or donate online through canbyfoursquare.com

(or two) to come help run it and train

local staff and volunteers. We are
requesting this as we are already busy
with other commitments and working in
the gym full-time might be a bigger
stretch than we can handle.