Dearest Friends and Family
I’M IN LEZHA, ALBANIA!!! Yes, it’s true, I am half way across the world living life with six other ladies.
Traveling to Albania was a blast. Turkish Airlines is the BEST airline, seriously. They just kept feeding us and giving us all the things, which included Turkish Delight (insert fantasies of going to Narnia).
Our first month here in Albania we are volunteering at Lezha Academic Center (LAC) which is a school that teaches english mainly to middle and high school age kids. The owners of LAC are also hosting us in one of their apartments above the school. Let me tell you how much we are being spoiled by our amazing host. They have truly shown us what its like to serve others.
There is a team of American teachers here at the school and they are the ones who are actually teaching. My team, Team Ezer, is helping out where needed, but our main focus is building relationships with the students and whoever else we meet on the streets of Lezha, showing them the love of God through our lives.
Coming in to Albania I didn’t really have any expectations, so as this first week has come and gone I find myself just absolutely in love with everything this country has to offer. My favorite thing so far has definitely been going to the market and buying our groceries. The first day I went to the market I was pretty nervous because I was not too familiar with the money exchange. Albanians prefer to deal with coins rather than paper money. The thing is, when we go to pull money out of the ATM we only get big bills. We so desperately want to get our hands on the “magical coins”, as my team has dubbed them, but alas we fall short so often.
There was a day where I was with my teammate Sarah walking down the street trying to figure out whose veggie stand to pick from and we walk down one side street and I make eye contact with a lady who has this big ol’ smile on her face, so of course I pick her. I squat down next to her and start picking from her veggies. I only pick a few things and try to communicate a price and she kind of waves her hand at us, so we give her 30 lek (which is about 24 cents in US coin). She then proceeds to give us loads of veggies and fruits and when we try to pay her she waves us off and starts to spout Albanian blessings to us. It was such a beautiful moment that I will never forget. She could have tried to take advantage of the Americans who had no idea what they were doing, but instead she blessed us with an abundance of food that she grew.
Now every time I see her she blesses me with more food and gives more Albanian blessings. I also had another lady decide to give me Albanian blessings and grab my face and give me lots of kisses after she saw all the exchanges between me and my market lady, Haha! A ridiculous amount of love has been bestowed upon me this month.
If anyone has any questions about my first week here in Albania, please feel free to message me!
Also, my next deadline is on October 1st!! I need another $3500 to stay on the field. I know October seems far away, but it will be here in no time! Please prayerfully consider supporting me on this adventure.
Thank you all and I’m so excited to share more stories from my time here in Albania!
Love,
Andie Cortez
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
