Week Twenty-Six

Half-way point of year 1!

Week twenty-six is the halfway point of year one and what a year it has been so far.  A rollercoaster analogy belongs around here somewhere.  But anyways, the last six months have had many memories that will last with our family for a long time.   We thought this would be a good place to remember our favorite moments so far.  So, as a family we took a vote and decided what our top 3 moments of the last six months were.  Here they are in no particular order:

#1- The poo on the hand story.  If you missed last weeks blog this won’t make much sense, so make sure you read the week twenty-five blog.  Yuck!

#2- Ilir driving us to the hospital when Eve was sick.  It happened before we left for France.  Eve was feeling real sick and was in quite a bit of pain.  We went to see the doctor and with how acute the pain was, he recommended we get to the hospital to see a surgeon right away.  We didn’t have a car yet so we called Ilir (our favorite taxi driver) to take us across town.  It was midday so there was plenty of traffic.  We didn’t even tell him what was going on but he knew Eve needed to get there fast so he started driving crazy.  He drove on the wrong side of the road most of the way.  He weaved in and through cars.  He went through tiny side streets driving way too fast.  It was hilarious and scary and endearing all at once.  Eve thought she might die from the car ride without even getting a chance to go to the hospital.

The story climaxed as Ilir ran what seemed like his 100th red light.  This time he ran a red light right in front of a police officer.  The police officer (on foot) waved for Ilir to pull over.  Ilir started yelling at the police officer out of his window.  The police officer yelled back.  We aren’t sure what they said, but there were a few intense moments and then Ilir through his license and paperwork at the officer and then drove away.  We sat there stunned.  Was the cop going to chase us down?  Would Ilir get his paperwork back?  What was going on?  Well, it all worked out, but it was an experience we will never forget.

#3- Mattress shopping.  Right after we had gotten over our jet lag, it was time to look for a place to live and a mattress.  We weren’t going to buy many things (many places here are furnished), but we definitely were going to buy our own mattress.  Our brother Avni offered to take us to the mattress store.  He had just bought a new mattress and was really happy with it.  He offered to take us to the shop and show us which one he had purchased.  That sounded good to us so we went with him to the mattress shop.

When we got there we were a bit confused.  The store was a tiny little shop that was no more than 10 feet wide (if that).  It looked like one of those “As seen on TV” shops with an eclectic assortment of different items for sale.  There was a steam mop, some shoes, and some other items.  When we got to the back of the shop, Avni stopped us in front of two items that looked exactly like rugs.  They were rolled up just like rugs.  They were standing up just like at a rug store.  They looked to be the same thickness as rugs.  And just as we got up to see them, Avni received a phone call, excused himself and walked outside.  So there we were, looking at these impostor rug mattresses and wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.  Scott asked if there was an upstairs or a downstairs or something we were missing.  Nothing.  Just two rolled up mattresses.  We now know that the mattress expands when you pull it out of the plastic and lay it out.  But still, we were expecting to go to a mattress store where you could lay on an assortment of mattresses, feel how hard they are, etc.  Instead we are standing in front of two rug things with nobody to help us.

It was pretty funny actually.  We spent much of the time laughing.  When Avni returned he asked us what we thought.  We can’t remember what we said exactly but it amounted to, “Um, where are the mattresses?”  Avni ended up taking us to another store where we bought the same rolled up mattress we saw at the first place, but only after we saw it layed out and got to sit on it.

Anyways, it was a silly moment of culture shock that we won’t soon forget.  And yes, our mattress did roll out and expand to the right size!

So there are our favorite three moments over the last six months.  Our friends here mean more to us, our ministry far more important, but these three events will last with us forever.

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)

Week Twenty-Five

Um, yeah, that’s just gross!

So week twenty-five will not soon be forgotten and here’s why:

Late Wednesday night Scott drove John home from our Wednesday night Bible study.  It was around mid-night and as Scott walked in the door he noticed something: on his hand there was a big glob of some nasty looking mud.

Outside of our house is a small street (there are pictures posted of our street on facebook) that leads from the main road.  It is a often muddy because it is a steep dirt road.  When Scott had walked across it, his foot had sunk a few inches into the mud, and unbeknownst to him, some of the mud had splashed up on the backside of his hand.

Having just noticed it once he came into the house, and seeing that it looked more like poo than mud, Scott thought it would be funny to play a little prank on Eve.  So when he saw her he put his hand up close to her face and said something along the lines of, “I bet you can’t guess what this is.”

Of course both believing that it was just mud, it was a good laugh and then forgotten about.  Unfortunately it wouldn’t be forgotten for long…

The next day the street still looked like a bunch of water was running down it.  Almost like a water line was broken or something.  Well, later that day we all found out that the sewer line that runs down the hill from the hospital was broken and it was sewage that is running down our street.  So although unlikely to actually be poo, it was something pretty close to it.  Umm… ewwwww!!!!

Well, to say the least it was a gross experience when you look back on it.  It’s funny though.  Because at the time, since we didn’t know how bad that brown stuff really was on Scott’s hand, it really wasn’t that big of a deal at the time.  But now when we look back on it, its quite a sickening thing.

Of course the parallels to sin abound.  Sin is quite like that poo/mud combo that was on Scott’s hand.  It didn’t seem like that big of a deal before our eyes were opened to just how disgusting it was.  Sin is disgusting and putrid and it covers everything we do.  Of course before God opens our eyes to how disgusting it is, we actually enjoy it and promote others enjoying it too.  We think that nasty stuff is good; it feels good.  And so we go about our lives covered in the poo/mud and its abominable.

Of course what’s even more unthinkable is when Christians keep covering themselves in the poo/mud.  Our eyes have been opened to its disgusting and putrid nature and yet we keep putting it on ourselves.  Why?  I don’t know.  It’s illogical, really.  But sin has a power over us in our flesh and we succumb to it.

Anyways, as disgusting as this incident is, its a great reminder to our family just how gross sin is in the eyes of God.  We hope it will bring God glory in our lives and your lives (cuz honestly, if it doesn’t, well, then its just flat out gross!).

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)

Week Twenty-Four

Call To Leadership!

This week was a return to preaching for Scott.  Rather than talk about all of the details of the sermon, this week we’ll just share some of the keys with you.  The topic was the home and what a Godly home looks like from Eph 5-6.  Here are the top 8 points:

#1- Marriage is a picture of Christ and anything that mars marriage and the Christian household works to blaspheme Christ here on earth.

#2- The husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of His church.  The husbands headship exists for the purpose of pointing people to Christ.  Anything that works against male headship in the home, works against Christ.

#3- Male headship existed before the fall and was not created by the curse.  Rather, the curse is the reason a woman will desire to usurp her husband’s authority and yet creation order will not be overturned and male headship will continue.

#4- Just as the husband seeks to see Christ as all in all in his own life, the husband’s headship is designed for love and discipleship as he builds up his wife in Christ.  Just as the husband wants every part of himself to bring glory to Christ, the husband desires the same for his wife, because she isn’t just his, she is him.  She has been joined together with his body in this mysterious one body union that points to Christ and the church.

#5- The husband is the primary person responsible for teaching and instructing children in the Lord.  The trajectory for the teaching and discipleship of the children is the responsibility of the husband.  For the husband to pass this responsibility off to anybody else is sin, plain and simple.

#6- The husband is also responsible for the slaves and anybody else that resides within his home or sphere of control.  God’s purpose for men is that they would influence all of those under his control, and point them to Christ.

#7- The wife is to submit to her husband in all things as worship to Christ.  It points people to how Christ submits to God.  A woman that does not submit to her husband perverts the image of Christ on earth and she has a worship problem, first and foremost.

#8- Divorce is a ridiculous notion for the Christian marriage.  Husbands, don’t divorce your wives; go home and love your wives as Christ loved the church.  You can’t have your wife running around without her head.  We don’t need headless women.  We need loved and discipled women.

Thanks for reading.  May God bless you and your household as you seek to honor Christ in your home.

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)

Week Twenty-Three

Looking Back and Looking Forward!

With the New Year here it is time to look back at the year that was and look forward to the potential year before us.  First, for those of us who carry the banner of Christ, it is a time to reflect on all that God has done in carrying us through another year.

For our family it is easy to see how God has carried us through the year.  A healthy wife and mom reminds us everyday how God has guided us, provided for us, healed us, and protected us.  This last year we saw God finish our partnership team,  we miraculously made our flight to Tirana with all of our luggage, God provided a place that has extra space for group meetings and Bible studies, God quickly showed us many ways to serve Him, and He has carried us through so many tribulations.  Praise and thanks to God for His mercy, loving-kindness, and protection!

Also, thank you to all of you who have prayed for us during the last year and gave to our ministry.  Your prayers have helped carry us through every tribulation and your gifts have warmed us in the cold.  Opening the Christmas cards and gifts were so exciting for all of us.  Thank you so much!  And a special thank you to those of you have sent gifts to cover the added expenses from Eve’s medical troubles.  The added expenses of the trip were definitely more than we had bargained for (for those of you still interested in helping fill needs from the trip, please email us).  Your love gifts have been overwhelming.  Praise God for the body of Christ!

After looking backwards, next we look forward to the coming year.  God has given us many opportunities to share His Word.  We are looking forward to continuing the Bible studies, preaching, discipling, and the many areas of service God has already given to us.  We also hope to work with the Family Life Group in the coming months- major family and marriage conferences are coming up in February and we hope to help.  Also, we are looking forward to using the newly acquired Gospel tracts (thank you Koinonia!) at the nearby University.  So, with our personal growth goals in place, and our tasks set before us, we press on toward the goal.

For those of us that follow Christ, this is a good time to remember not just our personal goals, our family goals, our ministry goals, and every other goal we can set for ourselves, but it’s also a great time to make sure we are focused on Him.  He is coming.  He will come whether we are ready or not.  Are we living life in expectation of His arrival?  Are we living like the five wise virgins?  Our hope for ourselves is that this year we would walk with our eyes fixed on the horizon in great expectation of our coming King- the hope of glory.

May God bless you in the coming year with a fuller knowledge of Himself, knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, and the hope of our upward calling in Christ Jesus!

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)

Week Twenty-Two

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Eve is a major holiday in Albania- much bigger than Christmas.  It is a time for Albanian families to be together and celebrate.

Our neighbors followed Albanian tradition and bought a live turkey on New Year’s Eve morning.  It was a big fat bird that the kids turned into a pet; they even named him “Fred.”  They put a leash on him and walked him around the front of the house like he was a new puppy.  The fun ended early, though, as our neighbors killed him in the driveway and starting preparing him for supper.  Of course the kids weren’t around for this part, but later that night when “Fred” found his way onto their plates there wasn’t a lot of bird eaten.  We may be seeing the beginnings of temporary vegetarians.

We spent the early evening with our American neighbors (the Stire family)- we played games and relaxed.  It is always fun to spend time with their family and it is a blessing to have fellow American missionaries so close (praise God for His mercies!).

In the evening we went to the Meci’s for dinner and it was a HUGE meal.  As is Albanian custom our plates were already loaded full before we even got to the table.  When you looked at the table all you could notice was the astounding variety and quantity of food before us.  There were breads, different types of meat, hard boiled eggs, Greek pudding, tomato slices, fried potato wedges, qofta, and so much more.  Our neighbors are so kind and gracious and treated us like kings the whole time.  Albania hospitality is up there with anywhere in the world.

Anyways, as Scott looked like his head was going to pop from all the food he had eaten, it dawned on us that the turkey wasn’t even on the table yet.  The turkey and stuffing was brought out and huge slices were put on all of our plates.  It was fantastic.  Anisa had made two types of baklava so that was our dessert.  It was a delicious meal to say the least.

As it got close to midnight, we watched from their balcony as the entire city skyline lit up from fireworks.  For fifteen solid minutes the entire sky is lit up as people from all over town shoot huge fireworks into the sky.  The big fireworks that are illegal to own in the US are sold in all the little markets in Tirana and the night sky showed it.  Every direction people were shooting every type of firework into the night.  The “Block” (the center of the downtown area) seemed especially lit up and we got a great view of the whole thing.  Funny enough, despite what seemed to be a rather lengthy and spectacular affair was much shorter than in past years.  Apparently a major fireworks manufacturer had one of their warehouses burn down and they were harder to come by this year.  Plus we heard speculations that a rougher economy hurt the show as well.  But as far as we were concerned, New Year’s Eve in Tirana is a pretty fun way to bring in the New Year.

While we can’t understand how everybody doesn’t gain twenty pounds over the holidays here, our first New Year’s celebration was so much fun and quite a memorable experience.  Thank you so much to the Stire and Meci families for a great holiday celebration.

May 2012 be a year dedicated to the service of our Lord and King and may God bless you this next year in knowledge, wisdom and fellowship in the Spirit.

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)

Week Twenty-One

Prison!

Week twenty-one saw Scott hauled off to jail.  Well, kind of.  Campus Crusade and our church worked together to put together a Christmas outreach for local prisoners and Scott was asked to preach.  It was quite an experience.

The prison has a rather tall wall surrounding it that is about 50 feet deep.  To enter the prison, the group was brought into the wall and was searched rather heavily.  All of the machinery was checked and all of the tracts and Bibles were searched through.  Everybody was patted down and scanned.  Apparently there had been some recent security issues and they had tightened everything down very tight.  Our passports and ID’s were all taken (and returned when we left) too.

When everybody escorted into the prison, they were moved into a rather cold meeting room.  It was a chilly morning (in the 30′s) and it was just as cold inside.  The prisoners were already waiting as set up was completed and the prisoners were all bundled up in whatever clothes they had.  Scott shivered as he got the music equipment ready.  The prisoners didn’t seem affected, no doubt use to being exposed to the unabated cold in the prison.

Everybody was assured that the prisoners had to apply to come to the event (dangerous criminals would not be allowed) and there was security in the room.  A scan of the room showed about 40 men, not counting the officers.  The walls adorned a few simple, Catholic images, and little else.  Apparently this was their chapel.

The event started with a few songs of worship and it was awkward from the beginning.  It felt more like a show than worship, really.  Anyways, after the worship songs and a couple videos, Scott got to share the gospel.  Some of the prisoners seemed to respond and some of them didn’t, but the focus of this blog is what happened after the prisoners had been ushered back to their cells.

A guard came up to Altin afterwards and he seemed pretty unhappy.  He talked to Altin for a few moments and Altin translated his question.  The guard explained that most of the men had killed multiple people and he was mad that we would say there was hope for them to go to heaven.  So he asked, “Where do these guys deserve to go?”

Scott’s response was, “The same place I deserve to go if I don’t have Christ paying my penalty.”

The guard was not too excited about that response.  How could hardened criminals deserve to go to the same place we do?  He angrily stomped away as Altin and Scott looked on.  Altin tried to ask him if he would like to understand but he wanted little to do with this Jesus.

Funny enough the guards response isn’t too far off from the Pharisee’s response to Jesus reaching out to the poor, the sick, the tax collectors, and the lowly.  Sometimes we wonder where our heart is too.  Have we turned the gospel into the good news for the middle class, and the respectable, and the friendly?  Or are we seeking out the poor, the hungry, the blind, the murderers, the prostitutes, and every other “unsavable” person that our Lord died for?

May our God turn all of our hearts towards those who God would have us to reach out to rather than those who most closely fit our comfort zone.

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)

Week Twenty

The Christmas Shows!

Week twenty was full of preparation for the two children’s Christmas shows.  The kids were in the church’s first ever Christmas pageant and they were also in a Christmas program for their home-school co-op.

It was a joy to hear them recite scripture and point people to the cross.  We have posted pictures on our facebook page “Kemp Mission in Albania”: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kemp-Mission-in-Albania/122004034560227?ref=tn_tnmn

We know its a shameless plug, but you can see the photos there.  Like us and follow us!

Thanks and God bless!

In love,

The Kemps

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB)