The Russell/Linderman Orthodox Mission in Albania

For those of you who don't know us, we are George, Pauline, Christopher and Maddie Russell, as well as Melanie Linderman, Pauline's mother.  We have been serving in Albania for 4 1/2 years with the help of our guiding organization, the OCMC, and our generous supporters.  While we give you a brief summary of our ministry here, you can see what we are doing in a lot more detail at www.russellmission.org.

Our ministry focuses in three major areas:

1.  Helping the Poor - The Orthodox Church of Albania, led by Archbishop Anastasios, has implemented many programs to help the poor of Albania.  On our first visit to Albania, he asked us if we would be interested in opening, operating, and funding a Soup Kitchen to help the many hungry people in Albania.  This question eventually led us to become long term missionaries here and help him realize his plans for the Soup Kitchen.  We talk about the Soup Kitchen more extensively in the Soup Kitchen page.

2.  Education - Pauline and Melanie are both directly involved in education ministries.  Pauline is the director of the "Protagonist Elementary School" here in Tirana.  This school is funded by the Orthodox Church of Albania and Pauline reports directly to the Archbishop as she manages this school of over 150 students across two facilities.  The school features an American style curriculum and is attended by many children who will someday be the leaders of government and business in Albania.

Melanie has been a teacher of English at the Orthodox Theological Academy for 4 years now.  Her job is very important because learning English allows students read books that haven't been translated into Albanian.

3.  Business Development - With his background in business, George has been working with many Albanian companies to provide them with professional business web sites and change their marketing programs to include an internet strategy.  George has started a web consulting company called Amtek that provides these services and he uses the revenues generated to buy food for the Soup Kitchen.