A few years ago my church did an “all in” initiative where I along with most of my church committed to doing whatever it took to bring people to the kingdom. Although at the time it was about supporting our church with changes to help better our youth programs, I never imagined my “all in” for Christ would lead me to living out of a backpack for 9 months around the world.
My plan was to never leave my small town, my church, or my family; that I could just stay there my whole life and do something for God there. However when the opportunity for me to go on the race came I thought I would never get accepted because I felt like I didn’t “fit the part” of a missionary, and then I got accepted and actually met my squad mates and learned that none of us actually “fit” the typical missionary standard . My team mates looked a lot like me; physically (tattoos and piercings) and spiritually (we are all a little broken but that’s okay).
As I was fundraising for my trip there had been several nights I cried myself to sleep simply because I didn’t fully believe I could do it, however when I turned my eyes to the Lord I was reminded that I couldn’t do it at all but He could, and He did. I was able to leave America fully funded and with every last supply that I needed.
Since being here I have lived in two different cities, Lehzë and Durrës. My team of 7 and I moved to Durrës August 24. We live in a missionary apartment above the Albania Life Church, where we are currently serving. My teams job here consist of leading daily bible studies for the workers of the church, leading bible studies for the elders on Wednesdays, meeting with the Youth groups on Friday’s, working with the Seafarer’s ministry on Thursdays, helping teach preschool and school during the weekdays, and preaching/teaching on Sundays. My team and I have absolutely fallen in love with the youth group and hang out with many of them almost every night. We had a dance party and they taught us how to dance the way Albanians dance and we showed them American music and just had an awesome time hanging out and making relationships.
I am blessed to have left a church that whole heartedly believed in prayer to have ended up in a church on the other side of the world who also whole heartedly believes in prayer. Yesterday in my quiet time I was reading Luke 22:46 where Jesus is telling the disciples to “rise up and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation” little did I know at that point in the morning that the youth group was having an all night of prayer, where they literally stayed up all night and prayed for each person who is apart of the church, each person who has left the church, and for people who hadn’t been to the church. As I sat there at 1am this morning taking it all in watching the young people of this church pray I was so inspired and also convicted that I had not been doing something like this at home.
One of the most beautiful things I have gotten to experience is when we pray together as a team with the church staff here. We all pray at once out loud, so as you can imagine it gets a little loud, but although we can’t always understand what each other are saying because of the language barrier, the God we are praying to understands perfectly and can actually hear all of us at once and it blows me away and is just a constant reminder of how Holy our God is.
Although this past week has been rough having a friend die while I was away I was able to see how to Lord is faithful, because while we are hurting He brings joy and peace like no other and it is so awesome to have that comfort from the creator of the universe.
The country here is beautiful and the people here are so nice and surprisingly love that Americans are here. My team and I have enjoyed getting to explore on Saturdays with some of the youth group at the beach and at castles (which Albanian’s are very proud of, and they should be they are breath taking). We have had tears and we have had laughs but as I reflect on my first month here I am eager to see what the next 8 hold for us!
Thank you for keeping up with my journey
Tü dua ~ Sydney
