WHO: The Rev. David J. Allison, new pastor at the Church of the Nazarene, 960 State St., Carthage.

He and his wife of 17 years, Sandra R., did missionary work in Albania and the Republic of Macedonia for 16 years.

Using his background in agriculture, which he gained while growing up on his father's farm in Markdale, Ontario, and earning a degree in international agricultural business, he helped Albanians develop their small farms in many ways, including starting a small loan fund that provided $500 each to up to 20 farmers in the Peze Valley.

The couple raised two of their three children overseas, 16-year-old Brandon C. and 13-year-old Sarah E. The Rev. Mr. Allison's oldest son, Christopher M., of New Haven, Conn., was 9 years old when the family moved.

WHAT WAS LIFE IN ALBANIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA LIKE? "They're former communist countries, Albania having been one of the most closed countries in Europe in the former Soviet Union. Macedonia is part of the former Yugoslavia.

"It's getting a little bit better but it was very challenging for everyone in the beginning in Albania. The economy was one of the most challenged in Eastern Europe in that time, and everything was hard to come by — supplies, food, all the things that we take for granted.

"But the people were just tremendously optimistic and hospitable, probably some of the friendliest people I have ever met, the Albanians."

WHAT SORT OF WORK DID YOU DO THERE? "A variety of things from relief and development projects in the fields of agriculture, health and education, to Bible studies and forming churches and developing leadership in those churches.

"It was real challenging at the beginning in Albania because people had so little, and we tried to help them with relief supplies, clothing bags, and because they had lived in a society where if you were at the end of the line, you often missed it. You can imagine what the crowds were like whenever things were being given away.

"And so we escaped barely with our lives sometimes — just joking — but it was just that tense when it came to the needs that they had for supplies, clothing and goods.

"I remember in particular during the NATO bombing in Kosovo in 1999, the Kosovo refugee families came down to Albania, and our church in the capital city set up a center to help some of these families who were living with other Albanian families ... just the opportunity for us and our church to help those Kosovars during that refugee crisis was incredible.

"I also remember particularly that a gentleman was coming every day to collect a bag for his family, and I noticed, or he commented, that the tires on his wheelchair were ruined because he had wheeled it almost completely on the road from his town in Kosovo, many hours, into Albania.

"So I went with him up to the bicycle repair shop and helped him get new tires on his wheelchair.

"There are just tremendous challenges and needs that break your heart, but it was incredible to be there to respond."

HOW DID YOUR TRAVELS AFFECT YOUR LIFE AND YOUR FAMILY'S LIFE? "I think we're more aware of the blessings and good things that we have as westerners. And at the same time recognizing that the challenges and struggles that people face, wherever they live, are similar."

WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE CAN DO IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES TO HELP OUT? "There are probably thousands of things people can do to help.

"Maybe it starts by trying to look outward a little to notice people, to listen to people and to try to respond to some of the needs people are expressing. And to try to do that within some kind of community, because we can always accomplish more when we do things together than when we try to do things as individuals."

If you would like to recommend someone to be featured in a Times Q&A feature, contact Times staff writer Kelly Warth at kwarth@wdt.net.