I am currently sitting in a coffee shop in northern Albania as I start my third week in my second country! The last number of days have felt like two days but also felt like two months. Our first two weeks here in Albania consisted of debrief and training. Debrief was full of meetings with our team, meeting with leadership, talking about how our first month of ministry went, and resting after a crazy month. It was a sweet time of getting to be with our leadership from the States and enjoying the last moments with the whole squad before we split off into our teams for the next month and a half. A highlight from debrief was Squad Olympics that my logistics team got to put together. It was a time when we got to see the squad come together, compete against one another, and have a blast.
The logistics gals serving as referees and hosts of Squad Olympics
Training consisted of teaching from our squad mentor where we got to learn and look through Scripture about some foundational pieces of our faith. This week of training was heavy but so helpful in understanding more about my faith and the Bible. We got to have conversations about the Holy Spirit, about Scripture itself, about what the gospel is, and so many other topics. We also got training on cultural worldview and how to prep for our next couple of weeks of ministry. I really appreciated this week of training as it made me feel a little bit more prepared to head into ministry as a team.
Two days ago, we said goodbye to the rest of our squad and headed out in our teams throughout Albania. We had four different teams head in all different directions. My team felt God calling us north.
My team headed out for our travel day in-country!
Flash forward to today: I sit in a Christian coffee shop, starting my third week in Albania, in a totally different city, and beginning ministry. For the next two, my team and I are going to be based in a northern city, Shkodër, and we will be doing ministry known as ATL – ask the Lord. We get to spend this time asking God where He wants us and who He wants us to connect with. Every day, we get to ask “Hey God, what’s happening in Shkodër, Albania? How do you want to use us for Your Kingdom today?” We’ve only been here for a day and a half and have already made some really cool connections.
Here are a couple of quick stories to summarize our first day here in Shkodër:
1) Clara and I found a cute local coffee shop that we soon found out was Christian-owned and we now have the opportunity to meet the owner and connect with the church that helped start it!
2) Paula and I went to go get our nails done and we got to meet some really sweet local women who laughed with us and we got to have some really cool conversations.
3) The gals of Without Borders crashed a 19-year-old’s birthday party. This one I could write a whole blog about and even talk about spiritual discernment in that. Who knows, that may be my next blog, but for now, know that we heard music and ended up at the tail-end of a birthday party and it was a BLAST.
Keep in mind, all three of these stories happened on our SABBATH, our day of rest! We hadn’t even been in a ministry day when God allowed us to make connections with people and share the joy of the Lord. I am beyond excited to see how God moves in these next 15 days here!
