The longer I’m in this country, the more in love with it I fall.
We are living and serving at ipaTirana Church this month. It’s a beautiful campus that has The Club (our kitchen and dining room) The Hub (a fun multipurpose room that has a coffee bar, four top tables, a semi-Circle of black couches and all the instruments you need for a band) and the Sanctuary. Half of us live in the library in a loft area above the sanctuary, the other half live in the adjacent room in the Hub. We have been blessed with beds this month, and we even have little space heaters to combat the cold nights!
Our ministry focus is outreach to the high schoolers and young adults. Each day we either go out on the streets and simply find people to talk to and invite back to the coffee shop at the church or we go to a local school for the students to practice their English with us.
I am a relationship-oriented person so this month is so good!
Our hosts are all about prayer and worship. We begin each day with our own personal quiet time with Jesus, which morphs into team prayer time which becomes either a conversation with our hosts or more prayer and worship time with them!
I feel like this is a month I could really thrive in. So far I’ve communicated through hand motions and limited Albanian to and older gentleman in the park. He had the most beautiful dark fluffy husky who was full of puppy energy. He asked through hand motions if we were Buddhists, Muslim or something else. I answered with the name of Jesus in Albanian: Jezus. While Jilly and I were smiling and laughing trough the communication barrier a young girl came up and asked if we needed help. The older man talked through her for a little bit and then left. But she stayed. We talked to her for twenty minutes about her and life. She is a student and trying to move to Japan. Her family is trying to move to America. She wants to study civil engineering and actually enjoys math. She was chilling in the park studying the Quran. She likes the fact that science proves some of the truths in the Quran. She read this book and others including the Bible out of simple curiosity. We invited her to coffee hours at the church as she wanted to get back to studying and we needed to get back to the church. She hasn’t shown up yet but I’m praying she will.
I met three girls who attend the High School for Arts on the street next to ours. They were just talking on a wall eating lunch during their break. After connecting through our love of painting and finding out about their bright plans for the future in fashion design, they invited Michelle and I to see their paintings in their classes. They asked their principal if we could come in. Their teachers welcomed us with warm handshakes and brief lectures of the program.
I don’t think I’ve ever met people who are so sweet and interruptible. So many times in the states when an adult or two approaches a group of 16 year olds STRANGER DANGER screams in their head. Or when you meet someone in a park, you don’t always hang around and talk for 20 minutes. But my best conversations this week have come out of just such situations.
This is only the end of the first week of ministry and I’m so excited for the next 2 and a half weeks.
Please pray for health and peace in situations going on back home for my team. For the people of Albania. And our personal focus of prayer this month: FAMILIES! We are practicing Spirit-led prayer this month so we just pray for whatever we feel the Lord is laying on our hearts about Families!
I also encourage you to pray for opportunities to encounter people in every day life who you can take notice of and connect with.
Maybe grab some coffee?
