September 26, 2020 – After a recent church visit we found a local hole in the wall to eat, called Mel’s Diner. It was set up so you could see the cook fixing your meal. It was not very busy and so I greet the cook. “Are you Mel?” I asked and he said yes. We chatted for a minute or so about the food and it would have been over, but as I sat waiting I recognized that he had a slight Slavic accent to his English speaking.
After we were done eating and about to leave I asked “Mel where are you from?” He said “Albania”. I said, “We work most of the time in Bulgaria”. His eyes lit up and we chatted about the Balkan region and the politics over there. He had been to Bulgaria as a student when it was still communistic. It was a great conclusion to the meal. My comment to Diane was "if we lived in the area we would come back and eat here to engage Mel and his team."
For us having now lived abroad, we are more aware of accents and folks from other countries. We try to engage folks that we meet and are finding we are meeting the world almost everywhere we go. You will see it if you look for it.
This week pray for:
The Opening of the second retail location. (it has been a lot of work)
Our Partnership Building Schedule.
Team Balkans – the Sweets will be returning to Bulgaria this week – pray for their flights and getting back into Bulgaria, And Dee Dee Galloway has made a quick flight to the uS because her father had major surgery and will be going through cancer treatment.
Here is where we will be:
September 26, 2020 – Melrose Park, IL
September 27, 2020 –McConnell, IL
September 29, 2020 - Ottumwa & Fairfield, IA
September 30 – Waukegan, IL
October 2nd Grand Opening of New Store
October 4, 2020 – Oswego, IL (Live Stream only)
October 11, 2020 - Janesville, WI
October 18, 2020 – Milan MI
October 18 Deefield, MI