Meet Month 1!
This month is shaping up to be a tad (LOT!) different than any of us anticipated. Originally, we were given instructions that we would be working in Prison ministry alongside of a church here in Tirana, Albania! When not in prison ministry, the church also works alongside of women support groups and addiction support groups, hosts English and music classes and much more. At the end of our contact work page, we were told that we would also be doing contact work for the youth center.
Upon our arrival, our wonderful host Erion explained to us that August is a dead month. The heat here is reaching 102 during the day, with the index climbing. Air conditioning is a hot commodity that only select restaurants and stores have. Most families take vacations during this time. It is Erion’s hope that we can bring life into this dead month. We will, for the most part, SOLELY be working on gaining contacts for the youth center. Our month of ministry has turned into what Adventures in Missions likes to call “Ask The Lord” (ATL)!
Walking through the streets of Tirana, everything is dry. Our clothes and skin after our commutes every day have a layer of white ash. Savannah, one of my teammates, proved that point by licking her finger and running it across my arm. It is dry and desolate here.
When we were told that we would be hitting the streets and trying to find youth to come visit the center, some of us were overwhelmed (lezbehonest! still overwhelmed over here!). We don’t speak the language, we haven’t seen anyone the age frame that we are hoping to reach…
“You can’t look at your ministry and grade it by its volume. I worked with a man for five year in his ministry. I was the only one there. If you would have looked at it then, you may have given it a failing grade. But look at it now…
We can’t all be harvesters.”
These were the words that our ministry host spoke over us this morning as we began our week of ministry. Maybe we won’t fill the center with teenagers this month. Maybe we won’t plant a lot of seeds of faith. But sometimes, God is just asking you to be bold and throw the seeds where you can. (Like when Madie and I felt led to walk down a random dirt road and made friends with a local muslim guy, who is in university for architecture! We are having dinner with him tomorrow!! Or the sweet girl in the pastry shop we ran into while we were following a group of girls in hopes that we could talk to them! We are getting gelato from her store tomorrow!)
We can’t wait around for the harvest to be ready. We weren’t meant to be hoarders of the seeds!
