Man oh man, these last couple of weeks have absolutely flown by—what with saying my goodbyes and getting the last of my supplies. But now, here I am, finally in Albania, getting ready to start our ministry!
However, let me tell you a secret… I’m not ready. If I’m being totally honest with you, this last week of actually having to say goodbye to people and telling them that I won’t see them until next summer has been painful; mostly emotionally and mentally, but also physically. Mentally and emotionally I’m exhausted. Saying bye and knowing that I won’t see people, especially my family and close friends has been close to torturous, not because I won’t be home, but because I won’t be with my family.
It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, so much as I am with the people I love. And while my team and squad are definitely going to become my second family, they aren’t yet. And the wounds are real. I don’t think there has been a solid two-hour time span that I have been away since everyone left at launch that I haven’t cried. Albeit, not all of the tears have been ones stemming from being brokenhearted about leaving everyone back in the states, but nonetheless they have been a lot of them.
I don’t really know what to say; I am here taking this one day at a time, trying to fully rely on God for these next 11 months.
On a similar note, these last couple of days traveling and getting settled into Albania have been more physically taxing than anything I have done over these last 5 years (except the fitness test at training camp). So, I’m going to be asking everyone reading this for prayer—because, my back is acting up. I have been in pain since the moment we left the Holiday Inn in Atlanta and it has not stepped hurting. I am taking this one day at a time, fully relying on God that He will be able to provide for me the strength to get through each day.
Currently, my girls are awesome, and have such servant’s hearts that they keep asking me if I want them to carry my bag or if there is anything they can do to help me. However, I tell them no, not because I don’t appreciate their help, but a personal thing for me is the fact that the day that I have to stop short of what I am doing, is the day I am done with everything. And while yes, there may be a pride component to that, which I am taking to God, I also feel that this is a personal thing due to my medical history. Yes, I need to work on accepting help more, and this group is the perfect one to begin to learn that with.
So, to sum up this blog post: we made it to Albania, we got our housing site situated, we learned about our ministries (both within the prison and the community), and I am asking for prayer support (and if you feel led to give financial support I still need to fundraise just over $4600—#ShamelesslyAskingInFaith). The prayers I am asking for are for the community we will be reaching out to, my team, as well as myself. For the community, I am asking for prayer that they will have open hearts to receive the Lord, for we will be going into the prison on some occasions, but primarily we will going out into the community, focusing on young adults in order to bring them to the church community center we are partnered with. Additionally, the prayers for my team include, us being able to bond and grow stronger together in Christ as well as us being able to go out boldly being able to witness to “the missing generation” of young adults in the churches—the churches are mostly filled with grandparents and young children, missing the ages between 15-35 (ish).
Lastly, I am asking you for prayer for myself. Prayers for my physical wellbeing, such as my back, as well as prayers for my mental and emotional health. These months will pull and tug on all of my heartstrings in ways that I can’t even begin to imagine yet. Also, I am going to ask for prayers for all of you back at home that are also feeling the pain of separation from me and my teammates. We are all hurting here, but I know all of the pain that is swirling around all of our loved ones back at home. Thank you so much for reading this and for the prayers! I’ll keep in touch ?? #ShamelesslyAskingInFaith
