This month was ATL (Ask the Lord) for my team and it was SO good. The Lord blessed it and it was so fluid. Our team had three homes, three families, in three different cities in Kosovo. We knew we wanted to go to a different city each week–but we just didn’t know what that looked like.
First town: Boge. We had registered for a home in Boge, but it wasn’t confirmed so in trusting God, we still left. Boge is 45 minutes up a mountain with two small markets, a couple restaurants, and not a ton of people. So if our housing didn’t work out, we joked we may have to use our tents. So we got up there, got to where our housing was supposed to be, and met a family who was there. It was also neat because as our TL and Treasurer were figuring out the housing up the hill where the cabin was, it started drizzling so a mom figure invited us into her family’s home and gave us Turkish coffee.
Summary: Housing didn’t work, but that family we got to meet we became friends with for the rest of the week. We went over to their house for July 4th, we had their daughters over for a girl’s day, and then we had the whole family over for dinner. Also the family who invited us in when it started raining showed us a cute cabin where we could stay which was cheaper then our first cabin, showed us where the little markets were, etc. The rest of the week we spent time as a team, with God, pouring in the family, etc.
Transition to the next city: As my teammate Paige was doing quiet time outside, the man who ran the cabins where we were staying asked her what we were doing. She told him we were Christians, etc. and he told us of a Christian business (happened to be a bakery) down in Peja where we were planning on going next-but we didn’t know what to do or where to stay. He gave us the phone number and when that didn’t work, Paige emailed the bakery and the general manager. We found out the bakery had closed, but the general manager told her to email the owners (who were Christians from America) to see if they could help us find housing. Paige emailed the mom/wife and she told us to come on over: They’d help us figure out where to stay, stuff to do, etc. Little did we know that they’d be some of the biggest blessings to our team on the race.
Second town: Peja. The family has lived in Kosovo now for 10 years. The husband and wife have 5 kids, but two of their daughters still live at home (ages 16 and 17). Their family became our family very quickly. The wife mommed us and it was such a blessing. She spoiled us by cooking so much good, American food! She fed us pancakes, cookies, burgers, quesadillas, blueberry french toast and so much more. She also took us to her chiropractor, dentist, and helped out in other areas with our health. We got to hear about their lives and we got to share ours. We became good friends (more like sisters) with their two youngest daughters. We also got to help them because they are currently in the process of moving to a smaller apartment so we helped them pack, do some crafty things, helped continue to tear down their bakery, and helped a Christian farmer weed his jalapeno fields. The wife also brought us to her Kosovo friends. She had a sweet grandmother that she adopted who knits and made so many cool things so we got to go there, see their sweet relationship, and then buy 100 euro worth of goods off of her. The wife also took us to her jeweler who was a dear friend of hers where some of us got to buy some cool rings, necklaces, and earrings. It was such a great week for so many reasons. This family just adopted 7 daughters.
Transition: But then we needed to start talking about week 3-we knew we wanted to go to Prishtina (the capital of Kosovo)–and wouldn’t ya know it, but the wife had a contact who was a dear friend of hers! A local Christian friend and her husband just opened a bakery a month or so ago and could use some help. So the family drove us to Prishtina.
Third city: Prishtina. The third week we worked with the bakery. We got to help cook, our team leader was a barista, we played with the couple’s 7 year old daughter, and more.
It was just good overall three weeks surprisingly smooth transitions, laughter, hominess, good work, health, family, good food, growth in God and so much more.
