Mountains...mountains and yet more mountains...

To get from Montenegro to Kosova you basically drive up and up and up a huge mountain...go through some tunnels of rock...drive down a mountain, only to drive back up a huge mountain again! The highest we got was around 1800m where we were met by the friendliest border guards we have come across so far - (I guess there's not that much to do at the top of a mountain except talk to a lovely group of foreigners when they come your way!!)

Stopping for lunch on the side of the road!

This was the highest point of our journey...

The mountains are stunning! The driving is fun! Kosova is beautiful! This is where we will be for the next two weeks...

Montenegro...

The journey from Albania to Montenegro was probably one of the shortest journeys that we have done in a while – just seven hours! But it went through some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen! Right through the mountains the whole time until we arrived in a city by the sea in Montenegro.

We would only be in Montenegro for ten days but the time that we spent here was full of new experiences – especially being in a city where there is not yet a church and only one local believer! A lot of time is spent here on building relationships with the local people through activities like an English and German café, football, girl’s club, kids club and of course, going out for coffee and walking by the sea front!

One of the first things we were involved in was a club with some Roma children on the outskirts of the city and a kids club in the old part of the city. By now, we’ve done many many children’s programmes on Transit, but I never get bored of teaching the children how to play British Bulldog, showing dramas, singing songs and teaching Bible stories. Each time is totally different and it is so rewarding to be able to spend time with these children…






For the second half of our time in Montenegro we spent each morning at a Roma family’s home – fixing their roof, painting the bathroom and cleaning…The guy in charge of the household is just 18 years old and has a 15 year old wife and a gorgeous 10 month old baby. He looks after his own family plus his five younger siblings. He faces a tough job looking after everyone, so it was great to be able to help them out in the small way that we could.

Apart from the practical work we also spent time with the children. One of the activities we did with them was to have them decorate some wooden photo frames in which we put pictures of their family. They were so creative, and proud of their work when they had finished!

The second time we did the Roma kids club we taught them the story of the Enormous Turnip and how each person, no matter how small or how big is important to God and that we can all work together as a team. Shortly afterwards, the football disappeared down the hill and into the stream and we watched as the kids formed a human chain to rescue their ball! What great team work!!




Whilst in Montenegro we got to do a couple of things that were a little unexpected! The first was going to watch a volleyball match with some guys from the English café – Germany against Estonia and then Germany against Croatia…(Germany won both times…)

The second thing was climb a mountain – 1600m high (pretty high by British standards!)…The view wasn’t that great from the top but from time to time we were able to see through the cloud to Albania!

The third thing was watching the moon rise…I have never seen this happen – it was beautiful!

Albania...

We spent two weeks in Albania in two different towns. The first week we spent some time with some Roma children in a day centre. We ran two separate programmes, playing games with the children, teaching them Bible stories, singing songs and doing some craft activities.

We also spent a lot of time in a nearby village, working with the Church there. One of the things we did was a girls club after the Church service. We shared testimonies with the girls, made bead bracelets and played games with them.

At the village there was a showing of the Magdalena film (like the Jesus film) so we went out into the village giving out invitations with some of the girls from the church. The film was shown just after we left, in two separate showings. We heard that 80 people came on the first day and 40 people on the second day!

In the village, some of us also had the chance to go to people's homes and share the gospel with them.

The second week we moved on to a different town, by the sea. Here, the boys had a fun time doing some practical work, digging a ditch! and the girls had fun baking cakes for a worship event with the local church!!

We also helped to run a fun day in a nearby village for primary and secondary children, which was lots of fun!

We have now moved on to Montenegro and will be here for ten days, until the 30th of May.

Wanda on the move...

After one month it was now time to say goodbye to Moldova and set off on the long long journey to Albania! This would take us three days, two youth hostels, eight border crossings and four countries!

After having a lovely picnic in the countryside of Romania we arrived in Ruse - Bulgaria to stay at the 'English Guest House' which was indeed an English guest house, run by a guy from Manchester!! After telling the boys that their room had only just been built for them that day - we headed out for a kebab (we haven't had one since Germany!!)...

Posing with the Bulgarian Flag...!

The second day we drove all the way across Bulgaria to Sofia and 'Hostel Mostel,' which was a wonderful looking hostel - a converted inn from the 14th century with free pasta in the evening and all you can eat breakfast in the morning...However, when we got to the hostel we were told that they had double booked us, so they didn't actually have any rooms for us after all! They did offer us an alternative though - Gullivers Hostel, which ended up being nearly as lovely!!

The last day of our travel saw us pass through the final three countries and the border crossings that we were slightly worried about! However, we made it through without any problems - not even being stopped by the police once during the whole three days!! and the scenery was beautiful!

This day saw us eat breakfast in Bulgaria, lunch in Macedonia and Dinner in Albania...

Finally, we arrived in Albania and will be here until 20th May...

Transit Team in Action...

Playing ball games with some of the children from the day centre in Crocmaz with the bus 4 life...

Teaching the children how to sing 'He's got the whole world in his hands' in Romanian.

Bus 4 Life

We spent eight days working with the Bus 4 Life, Travelling round different parts of the Stefan Voda County in the south of Moldova. The bus is used to distribute Christian literature to places that don't have good access to Christian resources. On board the bus there is also a movie screen and so the bus can be used to do programmes for youth and children as well. We often would serve coffee and tea during the day and then do children's programmes outside.

During our time with the bus we worked in two different villages and one larger town. In each place we had children's programmes either in a day centre or Kindergarten and we also attended Church services where we would be expected to sing some songs and share our testimony, as well as presenting Transit Challenge.

Sometimes, if no one came to the bus we would go out into the village and find people to invite - we also did this outside the school so that lots of children would come!! One time we had 125 children turn up for a programme! - It was a little chaotic, but lots of fun!!







With all the children in the village
of Antonesti!








In the village of Slobazia the youth group from the church helped us out a lot - they came tracting with us and helped with the open air evangelism outside the bus.







With the youth group from Slobazia!











One of the children's programmes on the bus. We would often present our countries, share testimonies, sing songs, share the gospel, make crafts and play games.














As well as working with the bus, there was also some sports ministry in each of the three places - usually football training! The guys would play football - sometimes pre-organised and sometimes they would just meet children / youth who wanted to play. At the end of the game there would be a short talk with a testimony or a story.

God is really using the Bus 4 Life in amazing ways...please continue to pray for it as it moves around eastern Europe and comes back to visit Moldova in May...

Hannah's Birthday!!

Hannah had a birthday!! We celebrated in style!! She is no longer 18...but is loving every minute of being a 19 year old!!