We are finally in Albania! It’s been a long journey and things have changed and changed again but we are so pumped to be here! We left from Atlanta on July 7 and flew to Amsterdam and then to Istanbul. From there, we boarded a really nice bus to head to Albania. A short 28 hours after boarding said bus (and seeing Turkey, Greece, and Macedonia), we arrived in Lezhe late Tuesday night. The travel was long but wasn’t bad at all. We even had a bathroom on our bus! We apparently weren’t supposed to use it, however, because after a couple hours of driving, the driver (who spoke almost no English) pulls the bus off the road, walks in the bathroom, makes some noise, comes back out and yells, “PROBLEM!!! NO! NO! NO! NO!” while waving his arms emphatically. Special times.
We are spending this month assisting at a sports/adventure camp. Our entire squad is here this month, which is pretty special because we get to deepen relationships with these incredible people. Each of our teams is assigned to one of the Albanian counselors at the camp and will remain with that person for the duration of our time here. It’s a great opportunity to minister as we build relationships and share the love of Christ with them. Myers has also been doing construction this week with some of our other squad mates. They’ve spent their days in the dry heat re-roofing and turning the second story of one of the barns on the farm into a future meeting place for the camp. Thankful for those hard workers!
Most of the campers are ranging in ages from 7-15 with a few older and probably some younger. Most of them also come from difficult backgrounds and poverty so this is a really special week for them. The majority of them can say a few words in English but not much. I met one girl who knew some Spanish and we communicated that way. We have a few kids that speak a good bit of English and one kid in particular that we had this past week. He was basically fluent and was able to explain many things to us. One of the girls in our group asked him how to say “Jesus loves you” in Albanian and that spurred an in depth conversation about religion and relationships with a 12 year old. He comes from a Muslim background but doesn’t seem too emphatic about it. He actually sounded very confused. We shared about our relationships with Jesus with him. Please pray for him (let’s call him A) and others like him and that the Lord will make Himself known to him by whatever means needed and that he will one day know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The campground where we are staying is amazing. The girls and guys are in separate bunkhouses and the married couples are tenting out in a little field with some sheep. We are thankful to be together and for earplugs! We have our own bath houses for the group and are eating three good meals a day that are prepared for us by some wonderful Albanian women. We honestly weren’t sure what to expect coming into this month but we are blown away with how we are being cared for here.
After finishing our first week of orientation, we got to take the weekend off and catch a bus out to the beach. It really is beautiful here with mountains surrounding the city and we are enjoying building friendships with our entire squad. Please pray for us as we minister to the children and staff here. Pray for our team as we get to know each other better and learn to serve together. We are excited for the work that the Lord is doing here and the chance to love and serve these people. Also, check out Albania’s flag because it is awesome and a little terrifying.
Financial update: We are thrilled to report that we are a mere $1,240 away from being completely funded! The Lord is incredibly good and He is such a faithful Provider. We are thankful to all of you who have donated to help make this trip possible. We especially want to thank our monthly donors; you all have no idea how much of a blessing you are to us! Thanks to everyone for your sacrificial giving and for being partners in this journey with us!
