Albania. I have been trying for weeks to write a blog about our time in Albania. For starters it’s a gorgeous country. It’s full of farmland, rolling hills, lagoons, and seas that are all within driving distance. The culture is a mix of several. It has the Italian style, but the language also includes Russian, Turkish, and Italian rolled into one. The people have been so welcoming and hospitable. Albania will definitely be a country for the books.
In the first week, we spent most of our day at a school in a nearby village teaching English and building relationships with kids in middle and high school. We played soccer, volleyball, and took a million selfies. My teammate Courtney and I were taught how to count to 10 in Albania, and were laughed at countless times for the many mispronunciations. By the end of the week, I had 20 friend requests on Facebook (it’s very popular here).
At night, we visited church members and did women’s ministry with some of the local women of Lushnje, our host city. We got to learn a little about their lives as widows in this community, and how hard it is to raise children as a single mom.
On the weekends, we attended church, taught children ministry, and had a youth “night out”. The kids were locals from the city who came every Friday and Saturday for Worship, learning how to play the piano or guitar, or Spark, a kids ministry that teaches kids bible stories with booklets, games, videos, and skits.
The second week, we continued to visit the same school just to get to know the kids more and continue building that relationship. The last day we were there, we did have the opportunity to throw them a party that included some messy games (thank you Younglife), food, dancing, and sharing the gospel. It was a good way to just show them who we are as Christians and how living a life for God doesn’t have to be boring. It can be fun and it should be!
We also, had kids nights with the kids from Lushnje. We played soccer, ate ice cream, and danced in the middle of the city center. We also handed out flyers for a program called Splash that took place this past week. The kids were from age 4- 13. They were willing and eager to help with anything they could.
Finally, this week, we painted a future church building in another nearby village. It was great to be able to see the difference we were making. The future pastor was a guy that we had become friends with over the month. He taught at the high school we had been visiting and was a friend to our host.
At night, we got the opportunity to help with SPLASH. It’s like a traveling VBS. They travel all over Albania to put on a week long VBS sharing the gospel with local kids to help build the Spark program that the locals run during the year. It was amazing. A fun filled, energy packed, wild week with the kids we had seen around the city and at church.
Albania was a busy month. Some days it felt like it was flying by and others felt like we had been here 6 months. We went all around the board with ministries. We had some 12-14 hour days. But it was good. This kids have reminded me of what it is like to be a kid. To only worry about what you are doing right now, because you can’t control what happens next. So why worry about it? They have shown me what it is to truly enjoy the little things. To not take things for granted, and how a small gesture can make a huge impact. Albania will definitely be a month I’ll never forget.
