End of conference and off to Albania!

Kya had a lot of fun with her new friends.
One was the daughter of a field leader in Italy.
Another was a part of an American family going to Tajikistan.
Sorry about the lack of other faces in these pictures.
Because so many workers go to parts of the world that are restricted,
we are not allowed to just post people's photos freely.

This is a wonderful couple. He is Dutch and she is Albanian
- the only Albanian we met here. A couple days before we left,
she told Jamie and another missionary going to her country,
"Thank you for going there, because if it wasn't for people like you,
I wouldn't know Jesus." With tears in her eyes,
she told us how missionaries had led her to Christ.
What a great reminder as to why we're going.
If we ever doubt our calling from hardships, we can remember this moment.

more beautiful Holland

The conference has fed us well, but we still feel the culture differences.
Here's a little example - mystery meat... yes, that's meat

This is a very good friend named Ira from Ukraine.
Jamie had a real connection with her and learned how God
will provide close friends for her even if she doubts sometimes. : )

We're off to Albania.
Emotions couldn't really be put into words to describe
what went on in our heads after so much thought
and preparation and prayer went into this moment.
Here, Tim is resting in the London Airport from being sick.
He got a bad stomach bug that drained him for days. : (
Kadence took her first real steps here!

On the flight, we knew people had prayed
because the girls were exceptionally good. Thank you!

Our new home!!!
We arrived around 11 pm and were greeted warmly by our new landlords.
They are great! Before we even were able to introduce Kya,
the landlady - her name is Nico - scooped her up
and kissed her all over her face. I was afraid Kya would freak out
because she's never seen her before, but she couldn't stop smiling.
Then they insisted we come to their place (they live on the second floor
of the same building) to have something to drink and some sweets.
So, even though we had traveled since 7:30 that morning, we went.
It is the tradition in Albania and we need to conform to it.
We were blessed by their generosity and hospitality.

bathroom
One thing we didn't think about when thinking of the comforts,
luxuries and loved ones we'd be leaving behind while trying
to prepare ourselves for the field is a little thing called storage.
There is none here. May seem like a strange thing to miss,
but you just wouldn't think of it. They don't have any closets here.
We live on the 3rd story, so there's no garage or attic.
So, where do you put things? Even in this bathroom,
there's no medicine cabinet or chest. They have a few open shelves
which we can put our toothpaste and things on,
but it's just interesting thinking where will we put medicines,
holiday things, photo albums, toys, winter clothes, etc. Right now,
the girls don't have a dresser yet. Hopefully,
we can use some of that space when we get one.

All of the light "fixtures" are the same. : )

Our new kitchen - much nicer than we expected.
Mostly furnished with even a toaster, dishes, pots and pans,
even a muffin tin. Yeah!

There was a box of toys left for the girls - how exciting!

Here are some views from our flat.

We made it to the Netherlands!

What a trip! Here we are with just about all of our possessions at the Miami Airport. The flight was delayed, but only for an hour, because of Tropical Storm Fay. During the big leg of the trip to London, the girls unfortunately didn't sleep well - yeah, we feel free to say it was a rough trip.

After 20 hours of traveling, and 24 hours without sleep, we were exhausted. This is our trip from the Amsterdam airport to the conference - a 2 hour drive.

Here's the hall where we meet. Everything is so green and beautiful here. This is a conference for all OMers to go to, so there are people here from Germany, Holland, Australia, Canada, Korea, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, Trinidad, England, and many other places we haven't even met yet! It's pretty cool to hear all of their languages and accents around.

Here's a main building of the hotel. Sometimes I forget I'm in another country until I go in the elevator and read the signs or am looking for a bathroom, but all of the rooms are labeled in Dutch. We're only a day into the conference, but it's been really nice. What a blessing to see so many people with God's calling on their lives to go to all nations for His kingdom!

Here's a beautiful view from the back of the conference hotel. The weather is cool and humid here. It rains on and off all of the time.

Last Sunday @ Journey

What a blessed day! For our last Sunday @ Journey, we were able to lead
worship with the team before our send off. Afterwards,
there was a little video of us telling what we'll be doing in Albania.

Timmy on the drums...

Our families came which blessed us so much. You can see Tim's Dad
on the left sitting down holding Kya, then Jamie's Mom to the right of him,
then Jamie's little sister, Natalie and her friend.

Pastor Scott had our fathers come up and they all anointed us
and prayed over us. We have been so blessed by our church family with
their amazing supportive hearts! Our good friend, Bobby took these
grrreat pics. Don't expect this high quality in the future! After the service,
there was a party that most of our friends were able to attend.
It was so hard to say goodbye to some special people
God has used in our lives over the years here.
We love you, Journey Church family.

It's almost here!

It's our first blog, but the countdown is almost over. We fly out 2 weeks from tomorrow and 1 week from today is our last day at Journey. : ( I must admit, it started to hit me (Jamie) today during worship. God has done so much in my heart since we started coming here. There's so much history in our 4 1/2 years at this beloved fellowship. Such deep friendships. There will be a chunk of my heart left here, but I will soon have to open my heart to a whole new people and culture. Yes, I praise God even for sacrifices.