2 Weeks! :)

Only 2 more weeks! WOW! Its hard to believe that I have been here for 4 1/2 months! I remember thinking in July that I couldn't wait to be settled in and so excited to get to tell everyone about my experiences! And now its so close! :) I am really excited to see friends and family and to be able to tell you all what I have been doing! And I can't wait to meet the TWINS! Did you all see the Christmas Onesies they have? They are the cutest things! I will start getting souvenirs for everyone soon so that will be interesting, its hard to find anything "Albanian" here. We will see I have a few ideas. I will be staying in London for one night and will get to tour around some so that's exciting as well. NOT looking forward to the 9 hour flight though. :( I would tell you more about what I am doing but since I am going to be home soon I will just tell you all then. I can't make any promises about being in Church 2 days after I arrive because of jet lag but I will try, probably 2nd service. :) Anyways everything is doing great here in Albania, just pray for a great last 2 weeks and then a very safe trip home. :) Love you all. See you soon, Heidi.

Wow! Almost 1 Month.

I am so excited to be going home for Christmas in almost 1 month! I miss everyone so much. Italy was amazing and I have so many stories to tell! It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with Emily! We had a great time and I am so happy that I am blessed enough to have gotten the chance to go. Pictures are on my Facebook. The none people ones will have to wait time I get home because there are to many to post on Facebook. I am getting back into the groove here in Albania but I have been sick since I got back, 2 days ago I had a really bad flu bug. Hopefully I am on the rode to recovery and will be completely well in a few days. Life has also been busy since I returned with my wallet being stolen in Rome. No I am not just saying that it was stolen because I am embarrassed that I left it somewhere, it was really stolen. The day after it was stolen the person responsible was trying to use it in Florida. My parents have wired me some money and I will be living off of that till I come home Dec. 2. Unfortunately I had the equivalent to a $100.00 in there to pay for the taxi back to Korce.  I also had money in there in Dollars,Pounds and Euros that equaled about $100.00 as well. I am pretty bummed about that but there is nothing to be done about it so I am living with it. I also lost my Drivers License which is a bummer because I really liked my picture! Hehe. I mean come on how many people actually like their License picture!?!? Anyways I am beyond excited for the holidays! Its my favorite time of year! Christmas shopping, Christmas music. Oh its a wonderful time. And I am so happy I get to spend it with my family. I am also really excited to see my new niece and  nephew! Its like an early Christmas present getting to see them! Well Love you all! See you soon! Heidi.

10 More Days.

    Hey everyone! 10 more days till I go to Italy! I am really excited to see Emily but also having a break for a week is sounding really amazing. This last week was really hard with Ian and Caralee gone and everyone sick but things are back to normal and I am beginning to feel better. Still a little sick but nothing that I can’t handle. I went to the Street Kids Center yesterday and it was great! It was nice to see the kids again (I was not able to go last week.) . Please pray that girls will start coming, lately it has just been boys coming to the center. Also pray that Davy will take his nap because yesterday I came back from the Street Kids Center and he was up so I didn’t get any kind of break yesterday till about 8:00pm. Also pray that I will get all the necessary papers and information for my flight to Italy. I am still unsure about a few details. My mom has booked my hotel in London and set up a tour for me so I am really excited about that. I can't wait to see you all in 2 months! Love you.

October Already!

I wasn't sure if I would be able to update tomorrow or if I would remember so I decided to update today. Its not technically October but close enough. Things have been very busy this last week with Caralee and Ian gone and a cold being spread around the house, but they should be returning in the next couple of days so that will be very nice. In about 2 weeks I will be going to Italy for the week, to see my friend Emily. I am so excited!!! Not only to see her but to have a break! I am really ready for one. Its hard to believe I have been working since July non-stop, it seems so long ago. Its getting colder here and I LOVE it! Good bye Summer, I won't miss you! Some of you may know that I got lice about a week and a half ago. Hopefully it is gone, I am going to use some special shampoo tonight and tomorrow night and that should be the end of it. Unfortunately I just got a cold so I am not feeling quite up to combing my hair for an hour tonight. That's a big culture difference I have learned about this week. In Albania sickness is a HUGE deal for them. If you are sick you are to always stay in the house and if you have even the slightest fever you are to be in bed and they give you medicine after medicine! It was very frustrating yesterday but today has been better, fortunately I am an adult so they can't keep me cooped up in the house. There is an Albanian women who is helping around the house and she wasn't happy that I wanted to sit outside while I write this. Its hard with David though because they think I am irresponsible if I take him out for some fresh air, even if it helps him. Well that's all for now. I can't wait to see everyone in 2 months!

Half Way Until Christmas!

I am already half way until my Christmas Visit! I get so excited thinking about coming home and seeing everyone and especially my Niece and Nephew! Only 5 more days!! I am going to be up all night Monday waiting by the computer! I am going to be starting to get my residence visa any day now because I only have one more month, unless I leave the country again to go to Greece (you get one more month every time you leave the country). In the middle of October I will be going to Italy for about 4 days to visit my friend Emily who is going to school there. It will be really nice to have that break! And super exciting to see her! Pray that I can find cheap airfare and that the planning we need to do gets done. I can't believe that I have already been here half way til my Christmas visit! In some ways it seems very short and in others long. I think this second half will go a lot faster now that I am settled in and I have my Italy adventure in October. Please pray for my work in the Street Kids Center, its very challenging not being able to communicate to the kids. Also pray that I continue to make friends, there are a few people that I think I would be friends with if I could speak Albanian or them English. On that note please pray for my Albanian, I am surprised at what I can understand but I am having a hard time speaking. David is starting school and I have been helping Isaac with his school lately, so that he stays focused. I still have not heard anything about where I will be living but I will keep you posted. I am going to try to go out one of these days to get some pictures of Korca and some of the places I go so all of you can see. Love you all, Miss you! Heidi

Can you believe its been 2 months?!?!

             I don't even know where to begin, these 2 months have been full of so many activities, new experiences, struggles, and fun. My Albanian is coming along nicely but verbs are hard to learn, in English we use the same verb for I, You, He/She, We, and They but in Albanian they are all different. There are parts in Albanian that are very easy as well. Ne in Albanian is all of the above: in, on, by, at, and beside. They also have one word for Watch, See, and Look. Anyways my Albanian is good and my teacher is great. She is 22 and we have become pretty good friends. Its nice to be able to have someone to talk to and go to coffee with. I would tell you what my plans for this month are but I have no idea. Isaac and Ashlie will be starting school soon and David should be going to an Albanian school in the mornings. The family I was to live with are unable to have me because they will be going out of the country for a few months. Ian and Caralee are looking for a place for me to stay instead. They had talked about going to Greece for a week or two this month before they start school but I am not sure when that will be, we will just have to see. It will be nice to have a change in pace and of course it will be really nice for fall to come! I am so tired of the heat! And its very humid here as well. Things with David are going well as can be for a 2 year old. :) I am missing everyone at home but I love being here as well. I am so excited for my Niece and Nephew to come!! September 20th everyone!! For the next months I have something very exciting going on in each, September- The Babies, October- Going to Italy to see Emily, November- Thanksgiving, and December- Coming home for Christmas!! Well I have to go now, Miss you all!! Love you! Heidi.

Street Kids Center

I went to the Street Kids Center today, a British Christian singer did Music Therapy with the children. It was amazing, I wish I would've had my camera with me to catch their smiles! I will be working at the center for 2 hours every Tuesday. It will be difficult because of the language barrier, but I can already see that they are warming up to me from the last time I was there. It was easier to talk with them, and they were more open to me as well. Pray for me to be able to form relationships with them, and for their situations at home. Love you all, Miss you, Heidi

Can't Wait for Fall.

Well things are going good here in Albania. Ashley and Isaac left yesterday for a camp in England. I have been pretty homesick lately but its been nice to talk on Skype. I can't wait to see the babies on Skype too! I have really settled in here in Albania, things are like second nature now. I am getting tired of Summer though, I have never been a fan of Summer but more so here because its so hot and humid. I also think that it will be really beautiful in the fall and winter here. Its also great because I get to come home and see everyone and tell you all about my time here. There is only so much you can say in email, facebook, and blogs. I should be moving back in with Vali soon (the Albanian family) and I am excited about that. It will give me more time away from the family, not that I want to be away from them, but it will be a nice break. There is not to much to update about I am at the homesick stage right now, it helps to talk on Skype with friends and family, and I also like to listen to Pastor Dave's sermons. Things are good though besides that and David can be such a sweetheart (other times not so much) but he is two so what do you expect. Pray for my homesickness to get better. Love you all, and miss you. Heidi.

ONE MONTH!!

WOW! I can't believe it has already been one month. I arrived in Albania on July 2 and it is now August 2! It defiantly doesn't feel like it has been one month. Time has flown so fast I am busy almost all day. I was in Greece for about a week. It was amazing to be there! I got the best tan I have ever had, Thank you Greek sun!! I got to see ruins of palaces, cathedrals, Mount Olympus, a tower built by Alexander the Great's father, and the arch into the city of Thessaloniki, where Paul would have preached! I also saw a gorgeous sunset over the beach! There were some struggles this month as its hard getting used to living with a new family that is so different from your own. Its also hard not knowing the language. Here are some differences between my first couple of weeks and now, so you can see the improvements I have made.

My first couple of weeks I had a hard time remembering how to get places, and then adding David to the picture made it hard to go anywhere. Now I can take him on errands with me!

My first couple of weeks I would never dream of going shopping by myself because I didn't understand the language or the money. Today I took David to the supermarket so I could get some food for myself. There we no problems. A couple of days ago I took David with me to mail a package and buy some fresh bread. Have I mentioned that the bread here is HEAVEN!!

I really like it here and I am enjoying my time but I still miss home and get lonely at times. My friend Emily went home a couple of weeks ago and I am really missing her. I would love to meet someone that I could go to coffee and chat with. If you could pray for that and that I bond with the family more because things have been so busy its hard to really get to know them and bond. Keep Greece in your prayers as well even in the one week I was there the unrest is very obvious. When we left the gas stations we going on strike and everyone was in a panic to get fuel. The truck drivers are also threatening to strike as well. Also pray for the Loring's church as there have been quite a few items stolen as well. Pray for Albania and that the missionaries here will be successful in speaking to them about Christ and that their hearts will be opened.

I miss you all and can't wait to see you in December, only 4 more months! If you have Skype I would love to talk to you!

Going to Greece!

I am going to Greece!!! For those of you who I have not told Greece is #1 on the list of places I want to go before I die. This is so exciting for me! We will be going to Thessaloniki which is right on the coast! Well I better go we will be leaving soon. I will update on how things are going in Korce when I am back. Love you all.

It's my Birthday!

I'm 18!! I wasn't sure how things were going to go today but they were great! I was able to talk to my family first thing in the morning and that was great we had a nice long talk. The Lorings took me to a crepe place(I'm not sure how to spell it)and it was really good! After that lunch my friend Emily took me to the public market and I got a shirt! I went to dinner to a great Italian place!! It was a great day!

One Week!!

Wow! I can't believe that it has only been one week! So much as happened. Things are going good, I am currently living with the Lorings right now because the people I am staying with have their children coming from America. Things are going very well here I just have to get used to the different lifestyle. The Lorings are great and are good at making me feel welcome. The food is good, lots of veggies, so I am healthy! The kids are great and very nice, though David (De De) is a handful. I haven't gotten to homesick which is good. I do miss everyone and have occasional lapses of loneliness. I have been able to talk to my parents on Skype a lot so that is really nice. Today I got my first lesson of Albanian and I already know a few words just from being around people, it's only been a week and I feel like I have learned so much. Well David is up from his nap so I got to go. Love you, Miss you all!!! Heidi.

Second Day!

I am sorry that I did not update yesterday but the internet is really spotting where I am living. I arrived in Albania safely! Thanks for you prayers. I am living with a couple, Vali and Rudzi, they are very kind and I like them a lot but it is hard to communicate with them because they speak very little English. Caralee Loring picked me up at the airport with her son David but they are taking their niece to see Greece and won't be back until Wednesday. There is a girl here who is from New Jersey and she has shown me around Korca, I am getting to be great friends with her. Eriola is an Albanian who speaks very good English and tomorrow she is going to show me her work. She is the director of the care for the elderly. One thing that I noticed right off the bat is that the people here drive CRAZY! There is constant honking and the drivers DO NOT wait for people. You could take the craziness of Seattle driving and times it by 10. The World Cup is also going on, the people here are big fans of Germany and I was having coffee with Eriola and the whole street was filled with cheering. I was in the apartment where I live and when they won we could hear honking and cheering throughout the city! Well I just wanted to let you know how things are going! Things are good here. Love you all, Heidi.

At the Airport!

I am at the airport right now! My parents and I are waiting a couple hours until I have to go through airport security. Please be praying for me because I have to switch airports in London an I am kind of nervous. I am so excited! I am on my way!!

June 30th One Day!

WOW! I can't believe I am leaving tomorrow! Time flies so fast, it seems like yesterday that I told my mom that I wanted to go overseas. I am so excited! I am a little worried because my plane trip is a little confusing but I think I will be okay. I fly out tomorrow, July 1st, at 6:45 pm, from Seattle. I fly to London and switch airports and then fly to Tirane. Its about a 4 hour drive from Tirane to Korce. Please keep me in your prayers and know that I am thinking of you!

Love Heidi 

Skype

I just got Skype! My Skype name is heidi.stewart7 if anyone would like to contact me! Less than 3 weeks! :)

Less Than 1 Month!

Its less than one month until I leave on July 1. Thanks again for all of your support and prayers, the money I need has been given or pledged! I am just gathering the supplies I need and I will start packing my winter clothing soon. My next update will probably be right before I leave and after that I hope to update about every 2 weeks, if not more. Thanks again! If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them. :) Heidi