What do these three things have in common? They are all things that pose a daily danger for us here in Tirana, of course. (Sidenote: This post is not meant to make you worry, but to inform your prayers!) After recent run-ins (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) with the above mentioned dangers, I said to Justin, “We really need to let people know how they can pray for our physical safety here!” And I was serious.
No. 1: Street Dogs. In the last two weeks, we’ve both had scary (nightmarish, really, if you ask me) encounters with street dogs at night. The streets do not belong to humans anymore during the hours of 12am and 6am. You are probably wondering what we are doing out that late? Well, sometimes Justin takes Oakley (our 5-month, 8-pound, Pekingese puppy) for a walk while Roger (our teammate) takes Buster (his 5-month, 60-pound, Rottweiler “puppy”) for a walk. What ends up really happening is that Justin carries Oakley while Buster protects them all from the street dogs. It’s almost comical, except for the street dog part. My encounter with street dogs happened a few weeks ago when I drove a friend to the airport for her 5am flight. Which meant I left at 3am. We park our car at the Lincoln Center, two blocks away. At that time of night I was more worried about the dangers posed by people than by street dogs, naturally. So I pretended to talk on my cell phone the entire way to Lincoln. Well, I guess I wasn’t pretending, I was praying to God. On my cell phone. The walk to Lincoln was fine. The airport run (my first ever driving experience sans Justin) was fine. During my walk back home, however, at 5am I was confronted by 2 monstrous, snarling, wolf-like dogs that ran from about 2 blocks away to frighten me. Ok, I think my memory of them is a little skewed. But, thankfully, I remembered not to run and not to stare them in the eyes. I did remember to scream though. I came away unscathed physically, but pretty emotionally scarred! It’s weird because the same dogs seem harmless during the day, but they own the streets at night. Pedestrians beware.
Ok, No. 2: Open Manholes. We’re not quite sure if it’s a conspiracy by the road construction workers, or if there is a lack of manhole covers in the city, or what. But there are definitely a lot of big holes out there that we have almost stepped into. That’s all I have to say about that.
No. 3: Wrecking balls (or, deadly construction equipment). You know how in the U.S. you can’t ever really get close to a construction zone for all the orange tape, fences, warning signs, cement barriers, and hard hat laws? Well, none of those exist here. I’ve watched a building being torn down by a wrecking ball IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK while there are people walking down below! I’ve almost been scooped up by a backhoe (well, not almost, but it seemed like it). People just go on living around the chaos, walking by it, under it, around it. It’s really crazy and hard to get used to.
Ok, I’ve used humor and sarcasm and in this post to lighten the mood, so please DON’T WORRY, but please pray! These are things I actually pray for before I leave the house some days.
Oh, not to make you crazy, but there’s one more thing I just remembered: cars. We’ve both seen people get hit by cars, while either walking or riding their bikes. There are almost no road rules, and if there are, they are not enforced! Pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way.
Now, to infuse this entry with a bit of Truth. We are trusting God with our lives here just like we would anywhere else. And we want you to know that we don’t worry! I hope I haven’t caused any of you to worry, really. But, please do pray for our physical safety as well as our spiritual health.
Safe in God’s Hands,
Gretchen & Justin
No comments:
Post a Comment