Hey everyone!
I’m here in Tirana, Albania, in a local café.
Tirana is a welcoming and friendly city. Quality time with others is very highly valued. We are working with a local pastor, and our primary focus is preparing a kindergarten building for its grand opening school year in September. My team and I are painting a few large murals on walls the of the school. None of us are “artists” but the pastor and his wife seem to like our work so far. It is very hot here. The temperature has been over a hundred degrees everyday, with no air conditioning in our place of ministry or where we are staying. Needless to say, it has been an adjustment. We have been hanging out with the local kids, who want to spend a lot of time with us, and knock on our door whenever they can. We play soccer with the boys, which is a ton of fun. We dance with the girls and look up songs on YouTube, which they really enjoy. I am praying that all of them come to the VBS we are planning for our last week here.
Personally, I am in a place of adjusting to many things. The most difficult part is realizing this city has most likely some of the best living conditions I will experience for the next year. I am not used to being sweaty 98% of the time, especially when sleeping. I am not used to the food, not being able to drink the local water, never being alone, and the lack of many other things of comfort.
However, today, in this café, God reminded me of the purpose. The owner is a devout follower of Islam. He sat with me and my squad-mate, Britt. He wanted to discuss religion immediately. He was witnessing to us for Islam passionately. His English is very broken, but he said something that will stick with me forever. He said, “If you google, ‘What is the best religion?’ Islam is what will be the result.” He told us that he had followed three different religions, and then he googled that phrase. Now he is Muslim. That blew my mind. People everywhere are LITERALLY searching, and it made me so sad that google,(among other things), is what led him to Islam. Please be in prayer for Ronald and his wife who has no religion. The thing about Christianity that does not make sense (from what I understood) is the idea of the Trinity, and that Jesus was God in the human person of Jesus. Please pray that he will understand the Gospel. I plan to visit this cafe a lot during our time here.
Fundraising Update: I still have $3,400 left to raise. So please, if you are able to donate again, or just once, I would really appreciate your generosity! I am hoping to be fully funded by the end of this month! Thank you, again, for all of your prayers and support. I look forward to sharing this journey with you all! I hope update you again, soon and get my video posted!
God Bless!
Talya
