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Hey there! Our team has made it our final country of ministry: Albania. We’re getting settled in here and I figured it’d be cool to share some of what life and ministry looks like here. The city that we’re doing ministry in is called Polican and is in Southern Central Albania not too far from Greece.

 

 

Albania

March 6 – T.B.D. (around the end of May)

 

Logistics

  • We departed from Battambang, Cambodia on Sunday, March 4th. 
  • After about a few days’ worth of travel by bus and plan, we arrived in Tirana, Albania late on Tuesday night, March 6th where we stayed with another team at their ministry site before we would depart for ours in the morning.
  • Wednesday afternoon, March 7th, we arrived at our ministry site in Polican, Albania.
  • The type of location that Polican is is closer a village than a city. Polican has roughly a population of 10,000 people.
  • We are staying on the second floor of the church building, which is quite similar to a house, where the guys have their own room and the girls have their own room. We have a kitchen in a mutual space where we will be cooking our own food personally or as a team for our time here. Clean and hot water is pumped daily at certain hours. Our living space has quite a bit of a “homey” feeling too, despite the cold weather. At night, the weather drops into 40s and us guys, not having AC or heat, utilize the one heater that we have while the girls are doing the same in their room.

Ministry

  • Our Ministry vision is the local church. To reach the city of Polican with the message of Christ and bridge the age gap in the church.
  • We will be evangelizing to local Albanians and loving and serving the community.
  • We will be doing outreaches to nearby villages to share the message of the gospel and serve the villagers.
  • We will be assisting the local church with needs. We will be assisting with a wide variety of opportunities: painting, serving, sharing testimonies and/or sermons, cooking, leading worship, and helping with kid’s ministry and more.

Community/Culture/About the Location

  • Wow the culture is extremely different from Asia! Excited and nervous to share about this.
  • We’re still about to enter into spring so the weather here is so cold, especially compared to the heat we experienced in Asia and South America. We’re living in the mountains at an elevation up in the mountains so it gets quite cold at night as well!
  • Currency here is “Leke” and the rate is 107 Leke: 1 Dollar!
  • The city that we’re in has an unemployment rate of 85% and so we come into contact with a lot of them in the town square on a day to day basis.
  • 60% of the population is Muslim, about 20% Christian, and the remaining is scattered or unknown. In the city we’re in, it seems we’re the only church planted here.
  • More facts if you want to read more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania or https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-fun-interesting-facts-albania/ !!

 

Thanks so much for reading. Please continue to pray for me and stay updated on our journey as we enter into this final country.

 

If you have any questions or anything, feel free to contact me!

Brenton Bicknell

[email protected]

256-653-9498