Albania, a country of beautiful landscapes and even more beautiful, generous and hospitable people.
Definitely my favorite country so far!
Normally when a World Race team goes into a country, the larger squad splits into smaller teams and is assigned to different ministry hosts throughout that country. November was unique for my team of five girls, because we were not assigned to a specific host, but rather, were given the assignment of being an Unsung Hero (UH) team.
Working as UH meant our job was to find more ministry partnerships for our organization, Adventures in Missions (AIM), so that they can continue to send more missionaries into this country. It was our goal to find organizations and churches who share the same mission and vision as ours.
As you can imagine, this task can be quite daunting when you don’t know a single person, the language, or the culture. Not to mention the fact that we also didn’t have a set place of accommodation to temporarily call home.
We lived like Jesus and the disciples: traveling into unknown cities, with hopes of meeting believers, establishing relationships and seeking accommodation through them.
At the beginning of the month, we spent a lot of time on our computers searching the internet for churches, organizations and missionaries. Emails were sent and phone calls were made.
Pretty soon we had a spreadsheet full of meetings! The more people we met with, the more contacts we made.
The Lord very much so provided for us during our time in Albania. Strangers were more than willing to meet with us and many took us in for shelter. We found it quite comical and unbelievable at times, at how willing and welcoming people were with allowing us to live in their homes and churches. Some even had children and busy schedules, but a room for us was available anyways.
I loved that even though we weren’t paired with a specific ministry, we were still able to be a part of awesome ministry moments. Just because we were not with one specific host, our time was NOT void of seeing our God work.
When I realized that we had been meeting with, and coming along side, the first generation of pastors and leaders of Albania, I was blown away with honor and excitement. I am so happy that one day in the near future, AIM will be sending missionaries to help them in their specific endeavors to further reach their communities. At the same time, I am also jealous that other teams will be able spend their whole trip with these hosts, because they were THAT awesome! 🙂
I felt encouraged and refreshed by the revival going on in Albania. I heard story, after story, of people getting saved simply from opening the bible and reading one sentence from scripture. I met pastors who were saved from one interaction with a missionary. I met young church leaders whose lives changed from attending kids summer camps when they were younger.
I met so many faithful people who are steadily working the harvest and it blessed me immensely to see it and be a tiny part of it.
Check out the (non-professional, haha) video that I made as a little compilation of our time in Albania! What a great month, great country and great people group, that I will never forget!
Kuq e zi!
