Celebrating the 4th

Yesterday was the 4th of July -- which may seem obvious to all of you, but is easy to ignore here in Erseka, Albania. We put our heads together with the Stoschers, who haven't ever celebrated Independence Day in the 20 years they've lived here, and came up with a barbecue with all the American fixings: hamburgersand hotdogs (morelike sausages, actually), grilled on Mark's outdoor wood-burning stove; potato salad, watermelon, deviled eggs, and Ruth's excellent apple and pumpkin pies. We invited all the Americans we knew in town, including our friend Natalie and her fellow camp counselors Jackie and Josh from Oregon (brother and sister), and Eric and Cathy Gundy, who are missionaries from Chicago. We gathered before the meal to sing the national anthem -- corny, I know, but a fitting tribute to our common heritage. Natalie and Jackie had found some fireworks at a local store, but they ended up launching those at the camp, so we didn't see them. All in all, a wonderful evening.

Over the last couple of days, our family has accomplished a couple of mini-mission-projects for the church and camp. We move

d large pieces of rock to an area around the camp pool, to form a small "deck" wh

ere kids can walk to and from the pool without getting their feet full of dirt and sand. Then today, we helped Mark and his kids complete a small climbing wall at the church. It was satisfying work

to drill, hammer and select the right handholds and footholds -- and then of course to have our small "focus group" of kids test it out.

Unfortunately, Jeff smashed his finger badly while removing an old basketball backboard that we were going to replace. Mark rushed him to the hospital to determine if he needed stitches, which he didn't. But the

doctor suggested a series of tetanus shots just to be safe. So Jeff got four large shots in the rear and arms, administered by a person he described as "the nurse who stepped straight out of communism." By this, I believe he means she was large, stern and no-nonsense. Anyw

ay, Jeff was quite a trooper about his injury, and continued working all day with his bandaged finger and sore bumm.

Tomorrow, we head to Greece and the east coast of Albania for a few days of sun and swim. The Stoshers are accompanying us, so we'll be squeezing 11 people in a Toyota Land Cruiser built for 8. (Don't worry, Mark says he has fit more than that many times.) I'll fill you in more when we return next weekend!