Here I am, sitting on the balcony, looking across the beautiful Albanian countryside- full of green trees, vineyards, fields with the lone cow or flock of sheep, houses painted white and beige with orange stucco roofs, and, of course, the ever-present mountains. It's hard to believe that we've already been here almost three weeks, and our time here is soon coming to an end.
This month we have been partnering with LightForce International Ministries in Ishull-Lezhe, Albania. We have been serving as support staff for their Summer Children's Camps. Their summer camps are very much like ours back in America. We are assigned a team of kids to hang out with for the week, and follow them from activity to activity. The activities here include tennis, futbol, volleyball, rock climbing, bouncy house, a game room with foosball, pool, and table tennis, a swimming pool, low ropes challenge course, and even archery (the targets are right in front of the chicken coup).
It has amazed me how much we have fallen in love with each group of children and youth who have come every week by week. We get to know one group and in the moment I cannot imagine loving any other group as much, but then a new group comes in and they are just as wonderful. We are currently with our third group, and they are a bit older than the ones we have had before. The girls are around 10-12 years of age and the boys are closer to 15. Our previous groups have been mostly middle school age kids, with the youngest being 6. Albania is predominately Muslim, and the camps we are working with are happening in partnership with World Vision.
The people in Albania are absolutely beautiful, and so full of life. They are very welcoming, and quick to extend their hand in friendship. Some of the children know a bit of English at least, and they love teaching us Albanian, so we are able to communicate pretty well. I have learned all over again how much even a simple smile or hug can express.
On a typical camp day, we have breakfast at 7am, then our morning Bible study at 8, and are with the kids from 8:30am until 12:30. Then we break for lunch at 1 and have siesta until 3:30pm. Then we are back with the kids until 7pm when we have dinner. Some evenings we have sessions with our squad, and the others we spend hanging out with the kids. We are staying in a typical camp dorm with bunk beds. On the weekends we put up our hammocks and sleep outside under the stars. The weather here is very warm, but not humid. You can usually find a cool breeze in the shade somewhere. Friday evenings are one of my favorite times of the week because the kids have a dance and pick a King and Queen out of the group of campers (like our homecoming king and queen). They do many traditional Albanian dances which are beautiful. The kids are so sad that camp has ended- there are usually lots of tears as they realize it is over. It is really heartbreaking to say goodbye, but we are so grateful for their friendships and to have been a part of their lives. God was here before us and he will be here after us. We have been blessed and privileged to be a small part of sharing his love with them.
The camp runs from Monday afternoon through Saturday morning, so we have the weekends off to rest and to do a bit of touring. The first weekend we explored the closest town called Lehze which is about a 45 minute walk down the road from camp. We visited the market and got pizza. There are pizza restaurants everywhere- perhaps because we are just across from Italy. To get wifi we walk down the road from our camp to one of the restaurants. For our second weekend, we were able to visit the Krujë castle, which is a landmark of Albania. We explored the city of Shkodër which was beautiful. Then a few friends and I went to the beach on Sunday to see the Adriatic Sea. It was beautiful, and the beaches were very crowded. In fact, there were so many umbrellas and people close together that you could not see the beach. This weekend we will go into Tirana, the capital.
I have loved being able to begin the Race by serving at our ministry site with our entire squad. This is really an atypical month for the Race- we have showers, real bathrooms (with squatty potties), sinks, rooms with bunk beds for us to sleep in, our meals are made for us, and we have wifi accessible just down the road as well as little grocery stores. I feel like we have been able to ease into life in the Race, especially since we’ve had the support and community of our entire squad. We get to worship together several times a week which is one of my favorite parts of the week and one of our own will share something God has shown them. Every morning, our ministry host, George, has a Bible study for us for about half an hour on Proverbs. He has been pouring into us so much, it has been such a blessing.
Look for an update to come in the next few days concerning where we will be for Month #2. I have many more photos on my facebook page by clicking here so please check them out. And if you have any questions, please ask them via comment and I’d love to answer.
Please remember us in your prayers, and especially all of the children and staff here at camp. To learn more about LightForce, visit http://www.lightforce.org.uk/albania/
