I can hardly believe it, but my journey is already halfway over! So far, we have been to China, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Japan, Albania, Macedonia (we drove through it and I got a stamp in my passport so it counts!), and now I am sitting in Bulgaria, with ministry to the Gypsy Community starting tomorrow! We have reached out and continued to build up the growing church in China, ministered to women in the red-light district in Thailand, loved on the hungry kids and taught English/music in Cambodia, connected the body of Christ in Malaysia, took steps of faith with the church of Japan that have changed them and us forever, and tutored the lovable English students in the developing country of Albania. Whew! It has been quite the intense, beautiful, easy, hard, and transforming trip and I am only halfway through! There is so much more to come!
I wanted to share with you a few things. Firstly, I have always loved journaling and blogging. I remember when I was in high school and the online blogging site, Xanga, was popular and I made an entry almost daily. So, when I committed to writing “at least a blog a week” I really thought it was very doable for me. However, I didn’t anticipate how incredibly deeply I would be moved by my experiences, that I literally have not had the words. Maybe that’s a good thing? I don’t know. What I do know is that I there has been much of my journey that I have yet to share with you. As my friends, followers, and supporters, you are also very much a part of this journey and my desire is for there not to be long gaps between emails or blog posts from now on (unless lack of wifi makes updating impossible). Thank you for your grace and understanding as I continue to grow in sharing my heart and experiences with you wonderful people!
I also wanted to share with you a little more about last month in Albania. It was very good but it was also very challenging. Albania is very much a developing nation, having just being freed from communism in the 1990s the nation still trying to figure out how the government should work. That, in itself, if a huge challenge because there is much corruption, rebellion, and violence. As a result, the public school system is a very dangerous place for kids (and even the teachers) to be.
While in Albania, we worked with a private school called Lezhe Academic Center (LAC). The teachers are all missionaries from Italy or America that come to teach a specific subject for a year at a time. We lived with the families of some of the students from LAC and spent our days at the school, where we tutored in English during their study hall. We also helped with Bible Club where we got to share with the students the love of Jesus, sing, and play games. I, personally, got to help out with Music Club, which was awesome! At the end of the month we had a girl’s overnighter which was so much fun! It was wonderful to be able to spend more time with just the girls. We had a talent show, lots of fun games, music, and dancing (every single Albanian seems to knows traditional Albanian dance or belly dancing). I was so inspired to find that there are many young people in Albania that are willing to take a stand for what they believe, including a 16 year old who is the only Christian in her Muslim family and another girl who passionately loves Jesus even though her family does not share her belief. These are definitely relationships that I will cherish forever.
Finally, I am so excited to share with you that I am only $548 away from being FULLY FUNDED (I’m at $15,712 of $16,261)! I knew that God would make this happen from the beginning yet I am still in awe and utter amazement at what He has done! Thank you all so very much for your support, prayers, and encouragement since the beginning! I definitely have felt the prayers and love from the other side of the world!
If you would like to help me reach my final goal you can click on the “Support Me” link on the left hand side of the page. Also, remember you can Subscribe to my blog to receive an email notifying you when I have updated!
Thank you again for reading and for your support! Feel free to enjoy my team mate Diann’s wonderful video recap of our month in Albania below!
