Couple Is in 6th Year
Serving in Albania
By Sara Nelson

Yesterday, Carol and Brent Lindstrom boarded a plane to begin nine months of service in Durres, Albania. It will be the couple’s sixth year as missionaries in the southeastern European country.

By now the couple is getting used to the routine of nine months abroad, three months at home in Randolph Center. But the story of how they came to missionary work is unusual.

The Lindstroms worked as dairy farmers in Tunbridge for 30 years. One day, they were watching a Christian TV station and heard the preacher James Robison asking for help for his foreign ministries.

At that time the couple had sold their home and paid off their debt, and were looking for a way to help.

"God had put us in a position to help," Carol said. So the Lindstroms called Robison to offer financial support.

However, Robison suggested that the Lindstroms help in a more concrete way.

"He said ‘you know, we need people to work too.’"

"We said, ‘you can have our money or our work,’ and he said ‘I want your work,’" Carol recalls.

And that’s how their service in Albania began.

"We went over for six weeks the first time in order to make sure it was the right thing to do," Carol said.

She said the couple knew from the beginning that it was.

"Of course we fell in love with the people," she said.

Also, Lindstrom said during their first trip she took part in "miraculous healings" that are a mainstay of her Pentecostal faith.

Over the years, Lindstrom said her confidence that the missionary life is right has been confirmed by lesser miracles, such as repeatedly securing funding at the right time.

The Lindstroms are members of the Green Mountain Gospel Chapel in Randolph. In Albania they work from a Christian church in Durres with a Canadian couple affiliated with the organization Global Christian Ministries, but they do not receive financial assistance for their mission work from any ministries or churches. Instead, the work is almost completely self-funded, supplemented by donations from individuals.

"We do haying for people in the summer, and that pays for our operations in Albania," Lindstrom said.

Those operations include serving lunch to about 100 hungry children a day and employing two doctors and two dentists at a small medical center. They have also drilled four wells for Albanian families.

A new project is a 12-acre garden that will feed and train many poor families. The garden was planted this spring and Carol was excited to go back and see its progress.

Lindstrom said that Albania has struggled economically since the collapse of communism in 1991, and had a 70% unemployment rate when they started working there.

Lindstrom said the food in Albania is similar to food in the US, and the weather is a bit warmer than in Vermont, so those haven’t been difficult adjustments. However, a big concern at first was the language, since she and her husband "have a block when it comes to languages." However, Lindstrom said they found plenty of willing interpreters at the church and she says she is beginning to be able to understand Albanian.

Lindstrom said one obstacle to spreading the Christian faith in Albania is the traditional nature of the culture.

"Albanians are very family-oriented. Sometimes young people want to become Christian, but grandma or grandpa doesn’t like it," she said.

"Our main goal is spiritual, but the backbone is the food and medical help we give."

When they are in Vermont, the Lindstroms give presentations about their work at local churches.

Lindstrom said she doesn’t foresee that they’ll stop visiting Albania any time soon.

"We’ll stop when God makes it clear that we’re done there," she said.