I wanted to give you an idea of what our ministry in Vlore looks like with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC)! For the first few days we were here, we helped distribute the CCC magazine to students in two different locations near the academic buildings. The magazine is an encouragement to the students and has great articles regarding the “true love waits” campaign and ways to be involved with CCC.
Above: Selling the CCC magazine near one of the academic buildings
Mainly, our goal has been to make friends! It is a little intimidating since we do not speak Albanian, but the students are happy to practice their English with us! This allows us to have an open door to building a friendship that will allow us to share the gospel with them as well as introduce them to the CCC team who will be able to encourage them in their faith after we leave.
Team Lion Heart has been proactive about finding ministry opportunities and one of our favorites is our time in the courtyard! Basically, out in front of our huge dorm, there is a courtyard area of concrete that is home to some very old basketball hoops and occasionally a volleyball net (when CCC puts it up for game time!). You would not believe the amount of students who hang out here on the beat up benches, just talking and smoking. I have to be honest, quite a few of them are guys who are not even students, but they abuse drugs to numb the problems in their lives. We decided to put some blankets down in the middle of the courtyard, bring out the guitar, some cards (Uno, Phase-10, etc.,) and be a welcome place for people to come and chat with us! Apparently it is working because we are making new friends and even have the chance to try to love the guys who are addicted to drugs. Jesus loves them just as much as the other students and they need a fair chance!
Above: Jeff, Lindsey, Allison, and Jamos during our courtyard time!
Here in Albania, Muslim is the most popular religion. Most people, whether they practice Muslim or not, will say they are Muslim, because that is just culturally acceptable. We want to tell them about our God, who loves them so much and wants a relationship with them! The hope that they are missing can be found in CHRIST because we are made alive in Him.
Above: The sunrise over Albania as we were coming back from Italy on the ferry.
In Ephesians it says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
We have also had the chance to go to an English class here at the university! We were able to sit up front and allow the students to practice their English and ask us questions about American culture, etc., We were not allowed to say that we are missionaries, but we were able to introduce ourselves and tell them we would love to meet for coffee to talk further! This was a blessing for us to get to know more faces and hopefully more hearts.
Above: Team Lion Heart at the Castle in Italy!
Each Monday night we have a prayer meeting with CCC and on Thursday nights they have their weekly meeting that we invite students to attend. Last week we had about 60+ students (we actually ran out of chairs!) We have been passing out invitations and encouraging students to come! If they come, they will hear about God! On Friday nights we have been given this night to have “American” night. This Friday we are having a fall festival- with bobbing for apples, costumes, and candy!
Above: We may have had a LOT of Gelato in Italy!
Last weekend we had a free weekend from ministry here in Albania and decided to take advantage of an opportunity to get to Italy for very little cost! We took an overnight ferry and arrived in the coastal town of Bari, Italy on Saturday morning! It was an excellent weekend for our team, to continue to bond together AND for my marriage! I love seeing the world with Jamos. We were able to eat A LOT of delicious food and feel the blessings of the Lord in our lives! We came back refreshed for ministry and excited about what God is doing in us and through us on The World Race.
Above: Jamos and I along the Bari Coast in Italy!
