the Peters' Family Post: 
Christmas, New Years and Birthdays! 

Since our last newsletter, a lot has happened! Here are some updates since the last newsletter of what we have been up to! 

December 2021 - we celebrated Christmas several ways with people from all over the world.

One of the highlights was visiting Krume, a town in Northern Albania, to fellow workers from Brazil to encourage and support their first Christmas service in that town. When we arrived, Marcos our friend had just found out the scheduled piano keyboard player & singer was sick and couldn't come. Shaun said, "Hae-Jean can play the piano and our Albanian friend Eda can sing the Christmas Albanian songs." And just like that, the service was back on! The whole town came and listened to songs of the Savior's birth and from the Good Word. What a blessing to be in the right place at the right time! 

And then, in January, sickness hit us, and the whole month stopped. After Lily and Shaun celebrated their birthdays, they were both hit with the COVID bug. The rest of January became the month of quarantine for us. But the Lord used it for our good. We had been praying about potty-training the twins for several months, and it finally happened during our quarantine! 

After our quarantine, we were ready to go out! February is known to be one of the coldest months in Albania. We braved the snow and explored a new town in southern Albania called Voskopoja. We met a local pastor and his family through our friends in a ministry called Lighthouse Albania, which is focused on gospel-centered kids clubs in rural villages. We are praying whether the Lord has us partner with them in the future!

We also had our 1 year language assessment, and we did well! We took away from the assessment that we need to continue to work hard and not give up on learning the language and be immersed in listening to who locals speak their heart language. Please continue to pray for us to strive diligently and for His grace to learn the language and culture well! 

With our language improving, we are learning to understand more Albanian in the medical world. For example, we went to a CPR workshop for students, and all of the lectures were in Albanian. We were encouraged to find that we understood a lot of the content! One of the lectures was about Occupational Health and Hazardous Risk, and it was the first lecture we had ever heard the  full gospel being shared in an occupational health lecture! We hope and pray that He is moving among the students in this country! 

Have you ever heard of a flashmob? Well, imagine a crowded public square filled with random people walking around, going about their business. Then, suddenly, a loud joyous music bursts out, and a group of people within the crowd's midst begin to sing and dance in synchronized choreography. A Chr*stian dance group from Brazil came to share the Good News in Albanian, and they invited Hannah's school to join them! Hannah was so excited and had a blast dancing to "God's not Dead" with them. The beauty of His Kingdom was seen through praises of children - whether Down's or from different countries or as young as 4 years old. It is a miracle to witness seeing open praise to "God's not Dead" song in the middle of Albania, where it had once years ago bragged it was the world's first atheist nation.