In one of my previous posts I mentioned that I was extremely excited about Josh McDowell coming to Albania. Well, he didn’t come. He had some health/heart issues that prohibited him from traveling, but we went on without him.
As a part of the dance/drama team, ten of the thirteen of us were practicing for up to 3 hours per day leading up to this event. 
Our director, a famous singer named Saimir, was chosen to replace McDowell as the main speaker, so 2 days before the event we got a new director and he made changes to our dance and to the drama! This could have been a major catastrophe but we have an amazing God and everything on both days went very smoothly. On the first day of the conference, in Tirana, there were 104 people who accepted Christ!! I don’t yet know about the second day, in Elbasan. It was so much fun and I am so glad that I was able to have this opportunity.
Alma Papa (left) I have claimed as “my” Alma. She is on the high school team and has been a joy getting to know this month. I was in her group the first day I went out with the high school team and now I always try to be in her group. She works closely with another Alma (“Monica’s Alma”) and Endrit, who are both very spirited and so much fun to hang out with. Each of these people has an amazing testimony and they love the fact that God is doing great things in Albania. Christianity has only been here for 19-20 years.
Endrit, Alma, Me, Azgan
There are also all the students we worked so closely with for the last 2 weeks making this drama and dance for the conference a reality. There are Illir and Armal who, along with Priscilla and I, wrote the base of the drama with which we worked. There are Meredith and Petrit and their kids, Klara, Martin, and Alexander, who have so graciously opened their home to us, a bunch of American missionaries who they didn’t even know were coming!!
As often as we had miscommunication and came across as typical Americans I believe that we truly began to get an understanding for this culture and for how God is working here, and how to adapt ourselves to the “Albanian” way. Another of our friends, a “stinter” from Oregon named Grady, who has been here for 6 months, would often say, “welcome to Albania” if we questioned the way certain things were done. For example, when we were told to meet for drama practice at 2 pm and then would not get started until about 3 pm. We also realized that our mindset of always needing something to “do” isn’t necessarily a good thing as sometimes we just need to stop long enough to build a relationship. This month has been beyond amazing and I really hope that I get to come back to Albania some day and see these people again. If not, I know I will see them in eternity!! Thank you IJR and all our friends there for a great month of ministry, friends, and fun in Christ! I will always have you in my heart!
