Pictures from Scotland to Albania...

Ok so our last post caught you up with our adventures in Dublin this one will give you an overview of what happened from then until we left Albania. As we covered some of the stuff in Kosovo and Albania there will be less time on these topics as far as words go but I just wanted to give you some more pictures from that part of our trip. The next post will be from Cheryl and she will tell you about more reccent travels that is the past 2 weeks in Rome.

When we left Dublin we caught a bus north to Northern Ireland. We arrived in Belfast and went on a city tour. I had been there before but Cheryl hadn't and so it was interesting for her to see first hand the locations of what the Northern Irish call "the troubles". By this ofcourse they mean the 20-30 years of conflict between the IRA and the Brittish government. While most of the region was free of military conflict the city center and certain neighborhoods in Belfast were a constant war zone. This doesn't mean that there was constant fighting but rather that they were under constant strict military supervision to prevent fighting.

Things we take for granted were not posssible there. While driving around it was amazing to see all the beautiful new ways people were using glass in their construction. Prior to the past few years no one dared use glass facades on a building because it would be an obvious target for a car bombing. That means all of downtown Vancouver would be out of the question.

Political Murals - A tradition from the time of the Troubles in Northern Ireland

While in Northern Ireland we stayed with a good friend I made there a few years ago and who we just happened to bump into in Vancouver before leaving on this journey. That is actually why we routed ourselves through the region. We figured while we were in Ireland why not?!

We just stayed a few days before flying to Scotland in order to visit a good friend of Kevin's and his former room-mate from Regent College. This friend and his wife have a lovely new baby boy. While we definately did our day of sightseeing in Edinburgh we were really there to see a good friend of Kevin's. And so just like Dublin was a nice backdrop while we as a couple got to visit with good friends of Cheryl's so was Edinburgh just a nice backdrop while visiting these friends of Kevin's. It has been wonderful for us as a couple to get to visit with each other's friends and to see how we are becoming something new and different from who we were in those friendships alone. I am not sure if that is entirely clear but it is true for us. That doesn't mean we think who we were before was less than or bad it just means it is amazing to see how we are undergoing a metamorphesis as people. We have become a new thing for a new time yet we are not entirely inconsistant with who we were before, just new.

After Scotland we hit the road yet again for Croatia that picks us up to the part of the journey which we have blogged more about and so from here on it will mostly be pictures.

The next several shots are from our travels in Croatia

These next shots are from around Albania and Kosovo

is a statue of the Albanian national hero, Skanderbeg.

He was an Albanian who led a revolt against the

Turkish Empire and freed Albania for several decades.

This is a mural on the national Museum

This is the oldest Mosk in Albania

The Albanian countryside

The beginnings of the infamous Road through Kukas

The later sections of the Road through Kukas.

To be fair while it is very bad in some places

this is the worst due to recent construction.

This on a street in Kosovo. It is still very normal to see

such blending of the old world with the new.

This is the University Library in Prishtina Kosovo. The Architecture

is designed to communicate that the Albanian mind has never truly

been free to express itself due to the oppression of outside peoples.

Game and Ministry time with the children in one of the

villages where we showed the Jesus Film.

Because Bill Clinton was the President who pressed for intervention in the

Kosovo Crisis it is common to find things all over Kosovo dedicated to him.

A wedding in Prishtina, Kosovo.

Dancing in the streets to celebrate a wedding is very common. Dancing in circles holding hands at many occasions is loved by Albanians - in Albania and Kosovo!

Prizren, Kosovo

Shinjin, Albania - English Camp for Kosovars

Organized annually by a church in Yorba Linda - California, United States.

Taulant and Jona - 7 months pregnant! Friends in Tirana, Albania.

Joel Bakalli - 3 months old. The newest addition to the Bakalli family.

One of the three little cuties we baby sat to help our friends in Tirana, Albania.

The first day at the beach for little Thea (1.5 years) and Ema (3.5 years)!

With happy parents Rudi and Kejdis. (Joel in the stroler up on the beach!)

Ema and Thea with Tete ("Auntie") Cheryl

Backtracking - Some Pics from Dublin

For much of the earl part of our trip we were constantly on the go and didn't have time to give you all a taste of where we were or what we were doing and so now that things are at a slower pace we will start giving you all a little backtracking mixed in with current events from the road.
PS - I am not sure why this is all underlined but some times we have to give in and let the computers win!

Hanging out with good friends! Adrienne is a childhood friend of Cheryl's that lived in Dublin for 3 years. We caught her the week before she left to return to Canada!

Pete is her lucky fiance :)

A view of the Dublin City streets

This is a library at Trinity University in Dublin and the Book of Kells is quite a famous copy of the four Gospels from around 1000 years ago give or take some years. We had turned up to the library on a whim because it is one of those things your just supposed to do so while we were walking about town we figured we should try to see it. However when we got there we were too late to go in and see the book and so we were standing there debating on whether we would have time the next morning to come and see the book. That is when the attendant who overheard us whispered if you hurry through and don't stop anywhere else then we could go on in for free. Being smart travelers we decided not to ask questions but to get to walking ASAP. Originally we didn't really think this was something we would visit and would that have ever been a mistake! The artistry alone with how the pages were painstakingly drawn by the monks copying the Gospels was worth the price of admission alone, let alone all the other wonderful things we had to breeze by due to our late admission!


Being one of our more classic tourist moves we went by the home of the Irish National Drink, however being budget travelers we opted not to go on the rather pricey tour of what at the end of the day is just another brewery. My apologies to all the Guinness fans out there!

This is a taste of the healthy Irish Cuisine (ofcourse this was too early in the morning for the Irish national drink!)

This is the oldest building in the World! It is some type of religious site in Ireland called New Grange. There is no way to interpret the markings on the stones and so much of what it was about is conjecture however given its precise alignment with the Winter Solstice it is clearly connected to the cycles of the Sun.

A few pictures from Cheryl :) + ... a brief story

Some of the team doing the outreach project in Kosova.

All are Albanians but most spoke English quite well.

The musical worship team in Ferizaj, Albania... Amazingly talented!

Our good friend Kjedis is on the right!
(His wife Rudi and 3 kids (that we are now in Albania providing support for) were at Rudi's parent's in Albania during this project.)

Yours truly! :)

(This is actually in Tirana, Albania. It was from when President Bush came to the city to visit a while back.)

** Various albums are being uploaded to an external site as we speak! We have LOTS and want to share them with you all. This link provides greater capabilities for photos and videos to be easily viewed - http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z320/thehills2007/. The link is permanently located at the top right side of the blog page under "PHOTOS & VIDEOS!".


The pictures above are from our time in Ferizaj, Albania working on the PUSHK Project showing the Jesus film. Short story: We were well received by 30 villages (3 not so much as Muslim leaders didn't allow it - while the citizens were persistent to see it...) but nonetheless, over 2500 people saw the story of Jesus over the last two weeks. Some had never heard of him before, others had great stories and questions, others were so excited to hear more and accept Jesus as their savior! A little snip-it of a story... a village Mayor received a bible years before (it was thrown out of a van and lay on the side of the road). His son brought it home and the father said it was bad and took it away. That night he was very interested and as he read the time flew by. He reluctantly put it down to go to sleep and hoped to pick up where he left off in the morning. So many stories soothed his heart and connected links his mind had had for years. The next morning the bible was gone and he was very upset. The father (the Mayor) planned on finishing the story of Abraham and found the book torn up in his yard by his sons. He had prayed for a bible for 3 years and it wasn't until our project that a bible was given to him again. He came to our final night's dinner and said he may see us one day as a fellow believer. He knew with his heart in many ways that the gospel was true but at this time as a Muslim (and member of society in his village, family, etc) he said he wasn't able to accept Jesus as it would cause strife in his community. This is a common theme among people here. (I do understand though as even living in Vancouver is challenging to be a believer at times. Of course it is every where though. Cultures in countries all over the world are powerful and often pull us away from fellowship with God. I pray that the Lord continue to work in the hearts of people here that know there is a better way to express God's love. Even old persons of other faiths once hearing the gospel said "yes, this is the way - of course I'll accept Jesus"! Praise God he has prepared the way! It is a true blessing is seeing the freedom in others' eyes when they hear the Good News and feel the Lord's love. It's truly amazing!!! Thank you all so much for making this possible for Kevin and me. I miss you all (especially my mom, dad and Laura!!! :( ). Can't wait to see you soon! :) (FYI - another great story from a year or so ago was that a Muslim man dreamed about Jesus but didn't actually ever hear about him until the film showing. He received Jesus on the spot! He is still a strong believer continuing to share his faith with others. God is definitely working in the hearts of people the world over to hear and receive the Good News! ) We can continue to share (at home or over coffee abroad) more stories, discussions, testimonies of healing, coming to faith, redemption, etc, etc... Blessings for health, happiness and joy! Cheryl :)