Our final month of the race.
Albania, no host, living in an Air BnB on the beach.
I prayed so hard that this month would be a good one. I was scared that the excitement of going home would distract me from being present or finding joy and purpose in this last month. I prayed that our team would end the race unified, that we would be expectant for God to move on our behalf and that we would still have our eyes fixed on him and our mission as this journey came to a close. I’m happy to say He answered all of these prayers with a resounding “Yes and Amen!”
Our entire squad was planted in the same general area of Albania, the city Durres, and no team had a host and we all had to find living accommodations and figure out what type of ministry we wanted to participate in for this last month. Our team decided to stay a little further out of town than the rest of the teams because we felt led to be near the vacation area to hopefully minister to tourists staying at the hotels and resorts in the area.
Once we arrived in the small beach town of Golem, we quickly realized we were a bit early for the vacation season. It was basically a ghost town. Shops, restaurants and even medical clinics had not opened their doors for the season yet. You could walk a mile down the beach without passing anyone. The grocery stores weren’t even fully stocked yet.
The first day, my teammate, Victoria, and I walked away from the grocery store feeling disappointed and discouraged about our location and the timing of us being here. But instead of staying in what we World Racers call “the victim circle” we prayed our way out of it. We asked God to show us why he had led us here and shift our perspective. We asked him to provide for us and to bless us with opportunities to meet people in the currently empty town we would be living in for the month.
Not five minutes later we ran into a server at a hotel’s restaurant near where we were staying. We said hello and asked about the town a little bit and then kept walking towards our apartment. Victoria turned to me and said maybe our ministry isn’t for the foreigners coming here to vacation, but maybe it will be the locals that live here and own shops, restaurants, hotels, etc.
Her discernment was spot on. All month we made friends with people who lived in Albania and made a living off of those coming to vacation in the area. That same night, we heard that two of our other teammates had met the owner of the hotel across the street and had invited us to dinner to celebrate Emily’s birthday. Dinner at Porta Kavalja resort turned into a consistent friendship with the owner, his family, his friends, the hotel and restaurant staff, and guests at the hotel.
We also met a family that owned a souvenir shop a few blocks down from our house. We found out their twelve year old daughter, Rea, spoke really good english and we instantly became friends. She would take us into her backyard, pick fresh fruits off their trees, let us pet their extremely weird dog, Tommy, and translate conversations for us to have with her parents and grandmother. We also went to get ice cream with her a few times and just talked about life, friendships and traveling. She is so wise, honest and fun.
Lastly, we met the couple named Fatos and Vjollca that would become our “Albanian parents” at a bakery about a mile walk away from our place. They made Byrek, which is an traditional albanian pastry that is flaky similar to a croissant and filled either with ground meat, feta cheese or spinach. After our first visit to their shop, we visited them every morning. They barely spoke any english so a majority of our conversation was made via google translate and by passing phones back and forth and saying “capito?” (understand?) after each pass. Sometimes we understood, sometimes they did, and sometimes neither of us did. We went to dinner with them took walks on the boarwalk, celebrated Vic’s birthday at their home, and had lots of coffee and biscuits (cookies) together outside of their shop. Time spent with this couple was so sweet and we left with full hearts and gratitude for meeting them and tears in our eyes for having to leave them.
One night at dinner, we found out that they used to be muslims but had been baptized as christians when they lived in Greece. We also found out they didn’t have a bible to read. At the end of the month, we had a bible donated from a church in the city of Durres because they are pretty hard to find in the country and gifted it to them. They instantly started crying with gratitude for the gift and said how excited they were to read it.
We also met weekly as a squad to have prayer and worship sessions to continue to edify one another as J-church which made this last month even more special for us.
Something I will never forget about Albania is the generosity of the people that live there. I can’t tell you how many times we were gifted with a dessert or drink at a meal or even a souvenir, just because. God’s provision seemed to be never ending this month, which was such a blessing as food was more expensive in the tourist area that we lived, which meant our 5$/day budget did not go very far. Thankfully our Albanian friends always had us covered even when they knew nothing about our tight food budget.
The Air BnB we stayed in had a really good set up. Beds for all of us, a full size kitchen, two bathrooms, Wifi, air conditioning, and even a rooftop that looked out towards the beach. We even had a washing machine and hung our clothes to dry on the roof.
We ate most of our meals out and shared them with local friends and they consisted of lots of pasta, pizza, Souflaqe (similar to a Gyro or Kebab), Albanian Burgers, Byrek, Baklava, Tres Leches, and seafood.
Ending the race in Albania was such a blessing. We were able to stay present and engage in ministry opportunities but also able to relax enough and mentally prepare to return home at the end of the month. We’ll miss our Albanian friends greatly, but so thankful for technology to keep us connected.
I’m writing this blog from Vlore, Albania where we’ve had our final debrief for the past week with our leadership team from the states. It’s beatiful here and we’re preparing to head back to the states on our final and again long travel day.
If you’ve been reading through all the summaries I’ve been posting about all 11 months of my race, thank you. Thank you for your support and for taking time to get a clearer picture of what the race has looked like for me and what I’ve learned from it. I pray abundant blessings upon you!
. . .
I’ll miss our morning walks to Fatos and Vjollca’s bakery to spend time with them and get a freshly made Byrek
I’ll miss getting picking fresh fruit off the trees in Rea’s backyard with her dog Tommy nibbling at our feet
I’ll miss hearing Tiri and Vic harmonize to the guitar
I’ll miss the fresh squeezed juices from Porta Kavalja
I’ll miss breaking fast with our muslim friends
I’ll miss seeing the beautiful sunsets over the water
Songs that remind me of this month are:
- Stand by Me Ben E. King
- What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong Worship
- All Hail King Jesus by UPPERROOM
- Zemer by Tiri
Want to know more? Ask me about:
- The night my team and I felt like princesses
- My very quick trip to Italy
- Celebrating Vic’s birthday early
