Nuk Flas Shqip

The cultural situation here in Kosovo is fascinating. Basically the majority of the people in Kosovo consider themselves ethnically Albanian and Kosovar simultaneously. It was only 3 years ago that they declared their independence from Serbia. This independence isn't recognized by Serbia, Russia or China (among others) and it was far from being a peaceful event. This means that a vast majority of the population has close, personal experience with the hardships of war. Yet despite this potential for emotional devastation the Kosovar people are generally happy and friendly. Every one of them love Americans for the help they gave during the war. There's even a street here in the capital named after Bill Clinton, who was the president at the time. I have yet do discover whether it intersects with Mother Theresa boulevard. These aspects of the Kosovar culture are the backdrop of the conversations we get to have after our concerts here.

We've had 3 performances so far. One was our full set-up with enough power to run sound and lights. It was a great chance to experience positioning everything we have and work out all of our kinks. About 300 – 400 people showed up in the park to watch, including a number of people from a local Church. At this point I've learned enough Albanian language to get the people here excited that I know some. From there I need to rely on their understanding of English or a translator. So after this first concert I stuck to taking care of the equipment while the translators we had worked with people on our team that were on stage and had more people coming to them to talk. There were some good conversations and we invited a few to a follow-up event where we'll be able to share more openly.

The second day we were supposed to perform near a park that has a pool bigger than some ponds. The weather turned cold however, and they decided not to open for the day. We'll go back there later in the tour. We decided that since the concert was canceled we should do some street performance. So with 2 acoustic guitars, a snare drum, a viola and a harmonica in hand, we hit the streets. The results were some amazing conversations and a chance to invite people to the follow-up event.

The third performance was the follow-up event in a controlled venue. Having a concert in a controlled venue means we can be completely open with our message and not have to be thinking about being kicked out. We had a small crowd for this performance. This was good because it allowed for more intimate conversations about deep spiritual matters. The people from the Church who came are now in a great position to carry on these new relationships.

Preparation and Anticipation

The last 2 days have been spent getting reacquainted with old friends, meeting new friends learning new songs, learning a new language, learning a new culture, and discovering God's heart for Kosovo.

Getting reacquainted with Old friends is the easy part. Three of the people I'm touring with I've met before. I get to hear about new children, new adventures, new opportunities and life lessons in the midst of relationships that are picking up right where they left off even though time and thousands of miles have separated us.

The other 8 are all people I met for the first time on this tour. Most of these people I've talked to over e-mail, but now those names have faces and beautiful personalities. Usually I tend to be reserved when meeting new people, unless I'm in a pretty comfortable situation. In this case everyone has been so warm and friendly that I've been able to feed off of that and be myself. This may also have to do with the fact that many of them are part of the group in Istanbul that counts me as one of them and prays for my family on a regular basis, even though we live half way around the world.

So we have 12 people on this tour and we've just gotten done with our second and last day of rehearsal. A rehearsal day was 9am-6pm of band practice in a local church. It is rather tiring and rewarding at the same time. All the band members are great musicians and they've made great progress on a large amount of music. We also have members of the tour doing dance, drama, and fire poi during the performances. Again each one of these people are very skilled at what they do. It's a pleasure to work with them all, not because they're good at what they do (even though they are), not because I get to work with them in Kosovo (which is beautiful), and not because I'm being paid well for this, (because I'm not), but because each one of them is using their God given talents to serve Him.

Kosovo is amazing. I've got a few words of Albanian down. I can now say “yes” “no” “Thank you” and “I don't speak Albanian.” While I love Turkey I will say that the people there tend to be rather stern. One of the first things I noticed on the streets in Kosovo was two men who looked like farmers. The remarkable part about it was that they were smiling as they looked out at the fields. My first impression is that people from Kosovo are generally pleasant and friendly. This is relieving, because if they were grumpy I would think that this would be a waste of an amazing landscape.

Just and interesting note that Kosovo is a young country. They declared their independence from Serbia all of 3 years ago. In fact, I just added Kosovo to my spell check dictionary. More on that later.

Our first concert is tomorrow night and already one of the men on our team has had a chance to pray with someone he met on the streets here. I'm very excited to see what happens when we get to get out there and get loud for God. There is so much more I want to tell you all, but some stories are best told in person.

Yeni Kayıt

I've arrived in Turkey and I thought I'd take a moment to tack on a new post.  When I got to the site all the links were in Turkish!  It shouldn't have been a surprise to me, but it was.  It took me a moment to figure out, but in case you're wondering "Yeni Kayıt" means "new post." 

This was good for me.  I've spent the day getting around Istanbul on my own.  I did reasonably well and was getting a little too sure of myself.  This is my 5th time coming to Istanbul, so it's reasonable to expect that I should be able to get to church and visit a friend's house on my own.  Still, I'm pretty proud of it.

I've heard it said many times and again today, "Take lots pictures when you first arrive in a new country because before you know it none of the things that you're amazed by then will be remarkable as you get used to being there."  The difference today was that I had a vivid illustration in my mind as to why.  To get to church I had to hop on a dolmus.  This is a bus that in Turkish is literally called, "full" and they usually are.  After getting off the dolmus I walked along the Bosphorus river and up a small street.  It wasn't until 4 hours later that I walked back down to the river that I realized, I never looked up.  A view that once was a reason in itself to walk down to the river  was something I took for granted. 



I love feeling comfortable here, but I don't like taking the beauty and mystery of Turkey for granted.  



Tomorrow morning we start the drive to Kosovo.  Please pray that the border crossings go well.  We think we have everything in order, but you never can tell when someone may be having a bad day.  If everything goes well we can make the trip in one day.   



I've always enjoyed traveling like this, especially with people I want to know better.  Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination.  I'm excited to learn more about the 2 other men that I will be traveling with.  We'll arrive in Kosovo tired, stinky, and closer.

You're crazy!

Some people wonder how I can do this.  What's going through my head during one of these trips?  A-lot!  Mostly all I can do is concentrate on what's in front of me at the moment.  Anything more would drive me crazy.  Right now I've got 15 different directions I've got to run in because I fly out tomorrow afternoon.  In the midst of this I think I know what my priorities are and so I'm here, thinking about this with dozens of obligations lurking at the back of my mind. 

For you gear heads out there looking at this one of the things in the back of my mind is the sound board that I found out yesterday I'm going to be using for the tour, the Presonus 24.4.2.  I haven't used this soundboard yet and if I were the type to get anxious this would be a source of stress.  However God's blessed me with the ability to figure things out and roll with it when it comes to production gear.  So I'll be busy when I can get my hands on that board, but it's a fun kind of busy.

I'm also thinking about all the stuff I'm supposed to get in the mail today.  Anyone planning on going overseas regularly should be comfortable with being a "mule."  In the past week I've gotten numerous e-mails from people I'll be seeing when I get there.  They've all got different things that are easier or cheaper to get in the US that they want me to bring over.  The last trip I took the precious cargo was peanut butter.  (FYI the TSA won't let you put peanut butter in your carry-on.)  I really enjoy this part of the trip because when I see that person for the first time it's like Christmas morning and they paid for it.

Then there's packing, but I don't want to think about that right now.

The last thing that I want to mention here that I have on my mind is the biggest thing; friends and family.  Any interactions I have now are the last impression these people will have of me for quite a while.  This isn't easy for me to be mindful of.  I tend to get distracted by the stuff I need to do.  The bottom line is I'm leaving my family while I go almost half-way around the world.  It doesn't matter how often I go, that's never an easy thing to do.  I have a strong wife, good friends and a large church family that I know will be looking out for my kids.  When things slow down on the tour enough for my mind to stop racing, this is where my mind goes.

I really couldn't deal with all this myself.  If I weren't "on a mission from God"  I would be a complete mess right now.  It's only because I know I am God's and that He will care for me and my family that I can do this.

First Time Out

I never thought I'd do it, but here I am.  I've created a blog.  I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Kosovo next week and realized I needed a forum for getting news out that wasn't Facebook.  By creating a blog now anyone, with or without a Facebook account can read updates without receiving a glut of e-mails. 

So for those of you out there praying for me, here are some important dates.  June 17th I fly out of Albany, NY.  June 18th I arrive in Istanbul.  The 19th will be spent preparing the truck and equipment for the drive to Kosovo.  I'm always interested to see how my body will react to the time change.  It's rarely the same thing twice.  The 18th and 19th will be the days I have for my body to adjust.  On June 20th I will be getting in our equipment truck to drive 12hours to Kosovo.  We're planning on the border crossings taking a while and have scheduled an overnight into the drive.  This means that the truck will arrive the same day as the band members and dancers do in Pristina, Kosovo, the 21st.  The 22nd starts our rehearsals and we're off!

I will take any opportunity I get to keep this updated, but I'm sure you can imagine everything in those 5 days that needs to be prayed for.  The logistics alone can get mind boggling.  I do want to mention specifically that much of the team will be meeting each other for the first time on the 21st in the midst of what is an exciting and stressful situation.