Wow, time here in Albania is already nearly finished!
This last week in Albania has looked a bit different from what we were doing the first two weeks. The summer English classes are complete, and we were not told to do anything specific this last week, so it was up to us to figure out what we were going to do with our time. There were some things that needed to be done around the school property, but nothing scheduled. It had been brought up earlier that it would be a fun idea to do a bible study the last week for the girls who were really hungry to learn more, in addition to some other activities. I really liked the idea of the bible study, so I brought it up again and I was asked to head it up. Now, you all know me and how much I like to lead things – not. We had already decided to go through Esther, so I read through it and wrote some discussion questions down, and then I consulted with the group. I had a few different ideas of which way to go with this bible study and was looking for some input or to see if anyone else had better ideas, and I was told that they trusted me and they were going to leave me in charge of it. I was basically told to own this bible study and to stop seeking approval from everyone else. Not my comfort zone, people, I prefer to join in and offer input as needed, not to plan and be fully trusted to do the right thing. I also have trouble leading things when I feel like someone else who is doing it with me would be better at leading. So I stopped preparing and did some praying instead.
Side note. I am not someone who usually looks for signs from God from what we might often identify as coincidences. For example, the window I sit in front of in the mornings while I have my quiet time with God looks out to some buildings across the way. One of these buildings was built and painted in such a way that there is a very obvious “E” on the back, right in my view. I did not notice it for probably the first half of the month, but then it drew my attention. I thought it might be a sign from God, but then I also did not want to try to assume every little thing is God speaking to me. So I kind of forgot about it. Then we decided to do the bible study on Esther, and that just seemed very right to me. And then I remembered seeing the “E”. I was still kind of reluctant to recognize that that might have been God. Ok, back to the story.
Monday morning we head down to the school and there are no students. We start to help the staff with some yard work and cleaning, and I’m feeling very confused. A little bit of relief, but I really felt like God was pushing me and challenging me to lead this bible study, and now no one is here. But I figured maybe the word didn’t get out to all of the girls and we would try again the next day. Tuesday morning, same thing. No students. Now I’m convinced this just is not going to happen. I heard God wrong, my team got all excited about nothing, we are just going to do yard work all week.
That afternoon the power went out and we were without water or AC, so we ventured out to find a cool place for dinner. On our way back we had a spontaneous little get-together with some ladies who waved to us. If you want to hear more about that story, watch for it in my teammates’ blogs. Anyway, it was decided we would come back and meet them the following morning, since we did not have any students showing up.
The following morning we gathered downstairs waiting to head out, and lo and behold – one of our students arrived. She was hoping we were still going to do the bible study and wanted to join. One of my teammates told her we really were not doing it since no one had come. I thought to myself that maybe it was not worth it since it was already Wednesday, and we were going to take 4 days to do the study. I felt like maybe God was nudging me to stay behind and do the bible study, but I was not sure. But then I remembered how I thought maybe God had been showing me the “E”, and I remembered that this student’s name was Evianda, starting with an E. I promptly told my team that if it was ok, I would like to stay back and do the bible study with her. Permission was granted, and no one else wanted to stay back with me. Once again God creates the perfect situation for His plan. With only one student we did not really need more than one person to lead, and I feel some much more comfortable leading when I am one-on-one.
We ended up going through the entire book of Esther over about an hour and a half. We had a great discussion and really hit on how God sees us. That we often see ourselves as ordinary people, normal, not special. We are used to saying that God often uses normal, everyday people in the bible, sometimes, people that we consider to be broken or inadequate. But that’s not how God sees us. He sees us as His amazing, unique, special children. And then He uses us to do His work. The lovely Erin Cramer corrected the way I thought about this, and it resulted in Evianda and I having a really good conversation about it. Evianda already knows Christ, but she, like so many of our students, is so hungry to learn more about God and what it means to follow Jesus. She told me she had tried reading Esther before, but only got through the first chapter before she gave up because she did not understand what was going on. Imagine not growing up in a Christian home, never going to Sunday school or youth group. Then being introduced to Christ, becoming a Christian and being very eager to learn more about Him. But your church is very small, your family doesn’t believe in Jesus and there are not very many mentor-like figures who can pour into you. And now you try to read the bible on your own with little prior knowledge. No childhood Veggie Tale movies to back you up. This is where many of these students are coming from, so I felt that it was such a gift to be able to spend time with Evianda going through the entire book together and understanding it for the first time.
So, yet again the Lord is speaking to me in quiet ways and continues to nudge me when I try to ignore Him. I am really learning this month that if I actually slow down and listen to the Lord, He is doing a lot more communicating with me than I thought, and He has a lot in store for me.
Thank you for all your prayers this month! We will be departing from Albania on Saturday July 25 to head to Romania. We will stay for a few days for debrief and then…plot twist…we are heading to Greece for a week! Our leadership has put together a couple of days of sightseeing and then about a week of ministry before we head back to Romania to finish out the rest of August. I am still unaware of what exactly we will be doing, so I will update you all when I know. For now, Mirupafshim! (Goodbye!) And see you again in a new country!
