When I envisioned my year on the race and all the ministry I would encounter, I had a lot of expectations for my next nine months and what the Lord was about to do in me and in the lives of others around me. I was expecting to see extreme poverty, miracles being done, and so so much more. And in a way I have, just not in the way I expected.
From the start our host had given us some lofty tasks and has had many high expectations for my team. Our main task and goal was to help plant a church and bring in members. By doing this my team and I went to the multiple coffee shops Albania has to offer and tried to seek out Albanians who spoke english and were interested in coming to our Christianity class. My team took this task on with full force, with a fierce passion, and with determination not to fail our host! Honestly, we were doing great! We made a lot of contacts and built a ton of good friendships, ones that I will cherish forever. When the time came around for the class to begin, our contacts began to fade and very few people showed up. The failure of the class left me discouraged. And even more discouraged because as I looked back on my three months here, I couldn’t see any fruit.
On top of helping plant a church, my team is busy each week with children’s ministry, going to prison, teaching english, helping at a center for Down Syndrome, and working at a women’s shelter. Each ministry was unique in its own way and left a special place in my heart. I fell in love with the people of Albania and a beautiful new culture. But once again looking back at my three months here, I couldn’t see any fruit.
As I have been feeling pretty cruddy about my time here this last week, God has been teaching me something different. God has been teaching me that as long as I am in His will, I am not failing. That even though I may not be seeing the fruit, there are always seeds being planted. God has been speaking into me that not that every season is Harvest season, because to harvest, you need to plant. My team made many contacts and deep friendships with people we just met three months ago. And though my expectations may not have been met, Christ was brought here to these people. My team may have just been planters for our contacts and at the prisons but the next team may be harvesters!
