Peter and Laurie are Rastock mission associates who moved from the US to Albania in January 2022. They are working with the local church and teaching English as their 3rd career. 

1. What's your story? How did you sense God's call for you to go overseas?

- God initially drew our hearts towards missions in our 40s through the invitation of friends to join short term teams in service - first in the US repairing homes in New Orleans damaged by hurricane Katrina, and then overseas teaching Pastors and their wives in Hyderabad, India. We were also spurred on through books and studies regarding missions (particularly "Don't waste your Life" by John Piper and "Radical" by David Platt). These experiences grew our hearts for overseas missions.

- We used the years leading up to our early "retirement" to look into opportunities and see where the Lord would have us, including attending the Perspectives class, a Mission Next conference, serving on the Mission Board at our church, and looking at various opportunities in the mission field. We participated in a few short-term trips with an eyes towards long-term opportunities, including teaching intensive leadership classes at universities in China, working with refugees in Macedonia, and an exploratory trip to Durrës Albania. The specific opportunity we had in Albania had direct ties to both the Albanian local church and our home church, as well as having valued "jobs" for each of us. It really seemed like the right place for us.

2. Where are you and what are you doing?

- Our defined job is teaching English to children and adults at the Language School in Durrës, Albania. The school is a community outreach arm of a small, relatively new church plant here - Kish Ungillore Durrës (the Evangelical Church of Durrës). We are teaching, working to build relationships with the students (adults and children) and those in the community, and supporting the church in whatever capacity we can.

3. What have been the challenges for you to get there?

- We are now in our mid-50's, with this representing a "retirement", though really more of a 3rd career. Our challenges are perhaps somewhat different than "1st Career" missionaries.

- First, we had to navigate "launching" our youngest child, particularly given some of his special needs. Through the years when we were praying and discerning God's calling, we were unsure how this would work give the unique challenges we faced. However we pressed ahead with investigating, planning and preparing, and God has been faithful in developing and caring for our son. There is are still ongoing "launch" challenges, but we continue to pray and see growth and success for him.

- Second was navigating all of the material logistics - selling the house, donating/selling/passing to our children most of our "stuff", finding storage for what we wanted to keep (memorabilia, kids toys to pass to future grandchildren, etc.), temporary living plans until the "big move", etc.

- Finally there were the logistics of finishing up work (Pete's last day working was the day we flew out... and he still had some remote meetings over the first couple of weeks in Albania!), determining healthcare and financial plans until retirement benefits kick in, saying goodbye to children, a grandchild, extended family, and friends, and figuring out exactly what we could fit in a couple of suitcases each!

4. What has it been like and what are you enjoying the most?

- We've been on the ground in Durrës for 3 months now, and we've had the sorts of bumps you might expect in moving internationally (e.g flight delayed/rerouted, lease finalizing that felt more like a house purchase closing, ATM turned off, heater problems, etc.) Still, with a lot of help from the team here, we got settled, learned the curriculum of the school, and started teaching classes about 10 days after hitting the ground.

- We are encouraged by the growing relationships with students, parents, and the church. With everything going on (teaching our own Albanian language tutoring, continuing to navigate startup issues, etc.), we've been thinking of this term as laying the groundwork, but it's exciting to see the relationships starting and thinking through how to deepen them and express our faith going forward.

5. What are the challenges for you there now?

- With the support of the team here, we feel like we have hit the ground running. Still, in this startup phase we are focused on two things:

1. Building relationships - at the school, at the church, and meeting more people in the community. Starting in a new place is slow, and relationships take time!

2. Language learning - Albanian grammar is HARD! And our ability to absorb vocabulary isn't what it once was. Fortunately there is enough English spoken here that it is a very forgiving environment for those that don't speak Albanian.

6. How might we be able to pray for you?

- Prayers to help build relationships and learn the language.

- Prayers for our youngest son as he gets settled in a career in North Carolina, and in his growing relationship with his girlfriend.

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