Albania was a great month. Five out of my squad’s six teams were living and working together in Lezhe at a summer camp for underprivileged Albanian children run by LightForce International.
We stayed in dormitories that were “yellow-washed” and had red tile roofs. We slept in bunk beds, just like summer camp. The site was beautiful, although it was hard to tell initially with constant rain and cold weather. After the first week of almost nonstop wet and cold, the sun came out, the temperatures rose, and the puddles dried up. There were palm trees, beautiful flowers, bushes, and small fields. Surprisingly, it reminded me of Central America. A small range of mountains ran along the eastern horizon on the far side of the town of Lezhe and marshes and the Adriatic could be seen to the west.
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We spent our days sprucing up and restoring the property for the upcoming season of campers. We lime-washed, painted, weeded, mucked pig stalls, cleaned chicken coops, mowed grass, assembled playground equipment and picnic tables, mixed and laid concrete, plastered walls, organized warehouses, set up bunk beds, and grouted tile. Then, of course, was the basic upkeep for housing 35 racers: sweeping, mopping, cooking, washing dishes, hand washing laundry, taking out trash, and endlessly refilling the toilet paper. We had devotions every morning after breakfast, squad worship Wednesday evenings, and church on Sunday mornings. Most days we worked from 9-5 with a break for lunch. Saturday & Sunday we were free to relax, walk into town (about 30-40 min), walk to the beach (about 60-75 min), or catch a bus to another town.
Our first two weeks, the President of LightForce, Uncle George (as he later became known to us) was in Uganda and so, Dave, a trusted friend of his, flew in from the UK to get us going until George’s return. Dave is a former AF Intel Officer. Right away, we had a schedule and devotion topics highlighting timeliness, integrity, discipline, hard work, excellence…all of the AF core values made an appearance. I enjoyed the emphasis on values that were a daily standard and expectation formally for the last 8 years but in reality a quiet, consistent presence my whole life.
When George arrived, he continued to scrutinize our work and remind us that although we’re volunteering, this is our full-time job and we should be working just as hard (harder really) than if we were simply working for money. He was blunt and direct, which I loved. Two days before we left, George talked to us about finishing strong, always fighting one more round, and running with endurance the race that is set before us. Coincidentally (or not), these were the two hardest days of manual labor we had all month. We shoveled 4 trailers-full of manure and spent hours mixing concrete and hauling wheelbarrows full of rocks to lay base course for the concrete.
Although we worked hard, the month seemed more about discipleship than ministry. Maybe it was because we didn’t see the children who would benefit from our efforts or maybe it was because I enjoyed the structure, focus, and familiarity our hosts brought to the squad during the month. George and Dave were both firm but kind and gave us a lot of praise and encouragement to go along with the demanding standards. By the end of the month we were sore and tired but also accomplished, encouraged, and ready for Africa.
