I have been struggling as to to what to blog about and how to correctly portray our three weeks in Albania. It’s difficult to put into words experiences that forever changed my heart and perspective of His people. To try to give a little piece of our time in Albania, I’ve decided to tell you about 3 important people in this month of community. By no means are these the only people we met and built a relationship with, but I feel like their stories are the ones that need to be shared at this moment.
1. Brendy: Little brother, friend, and translator.
Brendy is a 15 year old teenager who has a HUGE heart. He is a protector and a funny guy. He is starting high school this year. He likes to draw, work out, watch movies/TV shows, and talk! 🙂 He loves the Lord and experienced Him on a new level while we were in Albania. We met him on our second day in the country. Our first coffee of getting to know each other felt like we had known him for years. He is definitely like the little brother I never had. If there was no other purpose (which there was) of us being in Albania, it was for Brendy. He showed us a lot about the culture of Albania and led the way for us to go where needed. We felt close to him. There were many times of learning and learning to listen. There were a TON of moments sharing a meal. There was an endless amount of laughter. There was a love of the Father that we all shared that spilled over into our everyday conversation.
Brendy’s new experience with the Lord went like this: All of us went to a prayer meeting at the church. During this prayer meeting, we prayed for the leadership of the church, the people of the neighborhood, and a few personal requests. While taking turns to speak to our Father, Brendy felt an urge to pray out loud. To my knowledge this is not a usual thing for Brendy. Brendy listened to Him and prayed aloud for the community around him. After all of our voices spoke out, and the meeting was over, Brendy explained to us what had happened and what he felt He told us he felt as if there was a vortex spinning in his chest! A feeling of excitement came over him! We all knew it was the Holy Spirit , so excitement fill the room for him. Being a his big sister and all, I was so proud of him! He was just overjoyed that the Lord chose him, a 15-year old boy, to speak to. In his excitement, he walked us home and met with our host & pastor, Erion, to gain a little more wisdom on the time he had just had. Erion took him out for coffee and explained to him that the feeling he felt was not an accident. It was something special. It was the Holy Spirit! Brendy told us after Erion explained this to him, the feeling came back and all he could do was laugh and cry all at the same time! It was a joyous experience for Brendy. Erion called Brendy’s parents and told them that their son, their boy, was now a man of God. They all celebrated with Brendy because this was a HUGE deal! 🙂 Once Brendy got home for the evening, his hunger for more didn’t cease. He felt like the Lord was telling him, “Seek and you will find. Seek and you will find.” So, that’s exactly what Brendy is doing now. He is seeking the Lord to find all that he can find. He is on fire for the Lord. It was an incredible time that my team got to share with him. We love Brendy and can’t wait to meet again (in America)! 🙂
2. Emma: Albania’s Next Baby Model!
All 5 of us gawked at Emma the entire time we were in Albania. She is probably one of the prettiest little 3 year old girls I’ve ever seen. She has curly blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. The few times she spoke, her little voice just caught everyone’s attention. She is definitely a Momma’s girl, but loves her Daddy too! She clings to them. She had absolutely nothing to do with the 5 of us at first. She was very shy. Even though her and I do not share the same language, nor did we even share a lot of words, I learned a lot from her. She has such a child’s mind, of course. The love she as for her Dad is the same kind of love we need for our Father. However, like I mentioned, she is definitely a Momma’s girl. Emma’s relationship with her parents demonstrated something that our host reminded us of; in order to honor you Father, you must also honor His bride. The bride of Christ is the church. If we love the Lord, we must also love the church. Emma’s biggest concern in life is her parents. She leans on them for literally every need she has. So, like Emma, we should be leaning on Him and his people for the things we need.
Eventually Emma let me hold her and she told me about her prize from kid’s church. It was wonderful! 🙂
3. Erion Cuni: host, pastor, advice giver, and lifelong friend.
Erion, where to start? He has such a passion for the people of Albania. Everything within him radiates the Lord. He is a man of few words, but wise words. He works as a pastor of a church and as a prison chaplain. He has a beautiful family including Gena, his wife, Abi, his son and a little girl on the way! (We were all excited when they told us that they found out it was a girl!) We were the first World Race team that Erion and his church hosted. He welcomed us with open arms! Every time we spoke with him, he gave us advice that was definitely from the Lord. It was crazy, the 5 of us would be talking about something, then the next time we saw Erion he spoke life to us about that same situation! It was God crazy! 🙂 When we arrived as “Americans who were here to help,” I felt a little burdened by that. Who am I to help all of these people find the Lord? How can little, American Hannah even remotely try to do that? Erion changed my perspective on that. We are not here to help people. We are simply here on the Race to love people and build relationships with them by living life together with them. Erion has been through so much in his short life, and God has given him amazing wisdom and insight to life because of it. Erion invited us into his church, he allowed us to form relationships with his people, and he blessed us an immeasurable amount. This tad bit on Erion does no justice as to who he is and how God uses him. This was a fantastic start to our Race because of this man.
I will always have a special place in my heart for Albania. I truly loved it there. It was such a hard goodbye. I believe the Lord will truly bless this community.
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