We are currently in Albania and spent the last few weeks in a town called Lushnë. Lushnë is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and covered in olive trees. It was quite a culture shift going from 5 months in Asia to Eastern Europe. We did a variety of ministry this month- teaching English, vacation bible school, house visits, high school ministry, painting, soccer ect. I will talk more in detail about what happened, but God has put it on my heart to write about one family who took us all by surprise.
Our host Flora lead a very fruitful youth group. There were about 25 children in the group and I was caught off guard by their sincere devotion to the church, because their parents were not at all involved in the church. There was a twelve year old girl named Claudia who came with her younger siblings for every youth group function. We learned that her single mother worked 2 jobs which requires Claudia to care for her three younger siblings. I can hardly think of myself caring for one child and I’m 24 years old. This God loving twelve year old girl takes care of three! Very well and selflessly I might add. If the Lord has taught me anything in the past couple of months its that he values the vulnerable. He is a father to the fatherless and a caregiver to the widow. He sees the hardships of this family and put in on our hearts to bless them.
We went with the pastor of the church to Claudia’s home and carried with us bags of groceries. This small act of God’s unconditional love spoke volumes to this family. Their mother and Claudia both wept with tears of hope as we shared the gospel with their them and let her know that God had not forgot about them. Her mother started attending church during the rest of our stay as her faith in the love of God grew. Pray for Claudia and her family that God would continue to shine his face upon them in love and care.
