Hey everyone!!! Albania was awesome! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to visit and serve the people of Albania. They are such a cool culture. When they aren’t working hard, long hours at work, they are spending time at their favorite cafe sipping on coffee and eating ice cream.. ALMOST EVERY DAY. Our host put it this way, “They may not have a lot, but they do know how to live.” It’s true. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the leaders of the church in the evenings building relationships and encouraging them as brothers and sisters.
For the past 3 weeks the team and I have been staying with a church in Durres, Albania called the Durres Christian Center Foundation (lovealbania.com). We’ve had the privilege to come along side this awesome church in serving in a few different ares of their ministry:
-Children’s Bible Daycare.. the church runs a children’s Bible daycare in 2 different locations and also serves children with extreme cases of autism and sex trafficking rehabilitation.
-Adult/Children’s Bible studies
-Seaport Ministry.. one man has been faithful in serving in this ministry for 10 years visiting the ship ports in Durres and ministering to sailors from all over the world.
-Preach for Sunday and youth services
-Hilltop Prayer.. every Tuesday morning around 6:30 a.m. we climbed the tallest point in Durres to pray over the city and Albania. It was an awesome experience and blessing to join one of the leaders in the church in doing this. He has done it every Tuesday for about 6 or 7 years! What faithfulness! (picture credit to Josh!)
-Make house/hospital visits.. we were able to pray with and bless others by being Jesus where they were at when they were unable to come to church and/or be a guest into their daily lives.
-Visit an orphanage.. we were able to visit an orphanage that was having issues and even though it was only a short amount of time, we were able to see a small glimpse of the harshness and roughness of the abuse these children were experiencing from their own caretakers in the orphanage. The children were highly aggressive and destructive. It was heartbreaking for me personally to see the children acting out of pain that they have been through at such young ages and know they still have a life time to live.
-Evangelism.. we were able to have awesome conversations and share the Gospel on the beaches and streets of Durres.
-Painting.. after painting one of the children’s classrooms, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a team mate on a wave mural. It was FUN!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. The ministry we have been staying with hasn’t had a pastor in 2 years and has been praying for shepherd to be called to there church.
2. They also are in need of finances to continue to outreach to children through the Bible school daycare. They are currently in a building that needs some renovations.
3. On a more personal note, I have been really struggling with my sleeping issues and adjusting to a full schedule. It has been very hard on all levels; emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually, but I have been trusting the LORD’s strength and grace moment by moment to not just survive, but to thrive daily. Please be praying along side me in this area.
Thank you so much for being a part of my journey. Please invite others to be apart of the adventure by sharing this email and my blog link. THANK YOU for your generous contributions and prayer!!! There is still $6,417 to be raised so please consider giving a monthly donation and sharing with friends and family that would also be willing to partner with me in having an eternal impact on the kingdom of God. You can give at:
MY BLOG: laurenmitchell.theworldrace.org
or at this direct link: https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=LaurenMitchell&appeal_id=MITCHELLLAUREN
ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE.
Grace be with you always,
Lauren Wilde Mitchell a.k.a. LuLu
laurenmitchell.theworldrace.org
