Albania is the beautiful country I have been calling home for the past month.
It is the country that made me realize how much I appreciate Europe.
It is beautiful and everyone should put it on places they need to go!
I have fallen in love with this place and I can’t believe my time here has come to an end. My team and I were working together with another team on our squad in the poorest neighbourhood of Tirana called Kombinat. The people here might not have the most money, but the joy they hold is amazing and we have enjoyed the busy schedule that this month brought.
We thought that leaving Asia meant that we were leaving our English Teaching times behind for these summer months, but we were wrong. We have all picked up our own students and run our own schedule. Some people teach for an hour or some do 2. My schedule was 4 days a week for 2 hrs with two students and than 2 days a week for an hour with another student. My 2 hour students included an older lady and a younger teen. It was supposed to be conversational English, but when you both don’t understand each other that it does not go well. It usually ended up with me speaking with the teen and her translating what we were saying the the older lady. Teaching is not my strong point! My other student was already pretty fluent and just wanting extra practice, so my time with her was super chill and fun! She even came during a time I couldn’t hang out with her and she ended up staying and translating my failed attempt at explaining games to the kids at the VBS we ran.
One thing I have learned is that running a VBS is hard at home, but it is even harder when you are in a different country with only 1 week to plan. It gets even harder when you don’t speak the language. Needless to say, we successfully put on our first VBS of the race! It was hard and chaotic, but I loved it, even if I was frustrated at times. Living and doing things in another country has taught me how important communication is! My favourite part of this week was getting to do worship with the kids and them singing a long with our theme song, Made for a Purpose! love hearing kids worship and it was cool to be a part of teaching them that song, even if they don’t understand the lyrics, they ask to sing it all the time now! The Lord is working mightily over here!
While VBS was running we were teaching English, music lessons and the boys were over at a different centre doing construction and painting. I have put my piano skills to the test this month and been giving lessons. I have also put my art skills to the test this month and been painting murals on the walls of the kindergarten centre that will be opening in September!
While I was busy painting, this past week we have put on a Beauty for Ashes retreat for the girls and women in the neighbourhood. This is a program that helps empower women to know who they were made to be. It is to show them that they are loved, worthy and that their value does not come from the world. This past week we have been able to treat the women to breakfast, sweet treats, our precious time and just got to make them feel special and loved. Tomorrow we will be doing a spa day with them! We will be washing their feet, doing their hair and makeup and just allowing them to be pampered by us! You can watch more of our first retreat with the younger girls in the video below Which was made by my beautiful team mate Kimmy!
Needless to say this month has been extremely busy, but I am sad to see it coming to an end! We have all built relationships with so many people in the area, which is going to make saying good-bye hard. Please keep this amazing nation in your prayers!
So What is Albania…..Albania is a beautiful country that was filled with so much adventure, ministry, amazing people and food and has taken another piece of my heart!
Please pray for a safe journey to our next country as we head their on Tuesday!
Thanks for the support!
Love you all!
Quinn
