Preachin', B&B and Disgruntled Customers

Preachin'
Landon spoke yesterday - in Albanian - at the local church we attend. This wasn't part of our Qiriazi job description, but it was an opportunity to contribute to a group that we appreciate and wish to succeed. I (Landon) talked for an hour about the role of "doing good" in Christianity. The topic is loaded because many here polarize between rigid religious requirements and "being good" independent of religion. Recently, for example, a friend let me know that Christians, in his view, have an "easier religion than his" because we have loose rules and few rituals to perform. Elsewhere, another acquaintance boasted about his own view that, "this world has only two types of people: good and bad," and religious conviction is not what determines that. On Sunday we started from those two views and looked at Christ's unique teaching that the moral standards are completely out of human reach, yet because of grace we can be in perfect standing with God and thus practice "doing good" out of gratitude and love.

The L&L B&B
Last night two ladies came to stay at our home for about two weeks. They aren't our first overnight guests, but we pushed hard this week to finish some painting and furnishing projects to get ready! One lady is Albanian-American and the other is American. They're moving to Peja to work with an organization that focuses on educating some of the poorer Albanian and Roma population. Lacey has seized the opportunity to test drive her dream of running a guesthouse!
Sunshine-golden paint, framed pictures, and new light fixtures in our hallway.

Real Estate (Disgruntled Customers)
We've also helped for a few hours this week at a real estate office, which is owned by a friend who is currently in the US. The local staff have taught us some good things about customer relations and professionalism in this culture. Unfortunately, one of our go-to tasks (especially Landon's) is to handle hard-to-please, agitated customers. It's certainly not easy, but is a valuable learning opportunity! Overall, we really enjoy being part of their honest productivity in this society where half of the workforce is unemployed and many deal in the black/gray-market.

Krijesa e Re real estate in the bottom-left storefront.