A Day in the Life of Ministry in Albania (in awe of Him)

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” – John 21:25

 

I don’t even know how to begin to share how the Lord has been moving here. An abundance of stories. It starts from the place of praying bigger prayers, impossible ones. Then having a mustard seed of faith to act and live and walk in that direction. 

I can share snippets of what one of our most full days looked like for my team Conduit (times are approximate haha)…

It was one of the better days of my life where God moved through us the entire day. People said yes to Jesus – all we needed to do was authentically abide in Christ as the sons and daughters He made us to be and be obedient to what the Spirit was saying.

 

Wake up at 6:20am– quiet time with the Lord and the Bible. Paint an image of what the Lord was teaching me about being His child. 

 

Team breakfast 8am

 

Prayer at 8:40am – encourage each other, read Scripture together, ask the Lord where/what he wanted us to go/do that day, prayed for salvations that day (two days ago we got to see our favorite couple decide to follow Jesus!), put on the Ephesians 6 armor of God (we are in a spiritual battle, the day before we experienced a lot of push back from the enemy)

 

Meet up with a friend 9am – a girl who was so excited to practice her English with us, brought her English homework for us to help with. Painted a portrait of her, because she asked. Gave her her first Bible as her Grandma was there. Told her about Jesus and how beautiful and wonderfully made she is. 

  Go to church at 10:15am – pick up breakfast (because somewhere with the language barrier we thought someone was cooking for us that morning, they weren’t haha). 15 boys show up at the church. They are extra energetic that morning. Some of my favorite girls show up; we’ve been reading the Bible together (some for the first time).

Walk 11:30am to coffee with our host Flori – on the way meet an English-speaking man. Share Gospel with him. He tell us his mom won’t let him read the Bible. He’s closed off. Love him as we can, keep walking. See our sweet local friend as we walk (we love adventures with her, though we don’t speak each other’s languages). 

Get to coffee shop 12pm – run into a houseless man that the boys had been praying to see again in order to give him a Bible. Already a believer, our host’s hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes with the gentle compassion of Christ. Give him a Bible and pray with him right outside the coffee shop (where everyone can see). Tears start to fill the bottom of my eye as I look at this man who lost both his parents and represents the upside down Kingdom. Shake his dirty hands, look into his eyes and say “Jezus Krishti ju do.”

Walk into coffee shop 12:10pm: our host talks to three men who just watched us pray for that man. They all want a Bible and are curious about Jesus! Give them Bibles we just grabbed from the church (new Bibles that we got from a woman in a neighboring town who was my last squad’s host – we got to connect our hosts in different towns to unite as some of the few workers in this harvest). Enjoy fellowship with our host. Tell the waitress her smile and joy is beautiful. She talks about tolerance, as she is the majority religion here – a sect of Islam, and she joyfully receives a Bible and prayer for her restaurant.

Go to sandwich shop 1pm –  hear my teammate Gabe’s full story (on the race we do that for like an hour each team member). Our host is there. This trip, invitation is a cornerstone of our teams – whether it be when a local believer, longing for more of the Holy Spirit, sat in on my testimony or when an American backpacker slept at our apartment. 

 

Paint something for my host in the center of the town 2:30 pm – the air is beautiful, my heart at peace. Listen to a Red Rocks sermon on anxiety as a woman walks up to me. Use Google translate to learn about each other. Share about Jesus with her, how He changes everything. Two other women and a young man come up to watch me paint as well. Ask the first woman if I can pray for her. She tells me yes – for her health and her son. Pray with her as the other 3 watch. Then, ask them if they want prayer. Pray for each woman individually. For once, don’t hold back. The Spirit’s moving, one has tears in her eyes after the prayer as if she’d been touched. All four say they want Bibles. Ask one woman if she wants to believe in Jesus – she says yes!  

Walk to church to get Bibles 3:30pm – walk starting to cry in awe of what just happened and how simple it was. Realize I don’t have a key to the church with me. Call Sam, wait for him. Some of my teenage besties pass by, and we hangout. Sam gets there.

Walk back down to the center – praying as we walk, the Spirit says in the depths of faith in me – this whole town is coming to Jesus; you are getting to be a part of it! Meet up with the first woman from before (the only one who already seemed to believe in Jesus). All she had ever read was Luke. Got to share more about where to read and connect her with our host to learn more. Joy radiated from this woman.

Talk to a seemingly homeless woman – a local says she’s crazy. Jesus runs after her. We pray for chains to break, for freedom to come. See one of my favorite moms of the town and give her Bible. Tell her to start in Gjoni. She folds the first page of John over in seemingly eagerness for reading later. 

Around 5pm – Mackenzie feels led to go back to an old man and his family that they gave Bibles to. After she shares the lost sheep story and how God runs after us, the man says he too would like to believe in Jesus!!

Tea at 6:30pm – meet with a local who has become like a best friend to us. Comes from a Muslim family, but has joyfully translated for us even in moments where we are sharing about Jesus.

      w e      r e j o i c e     

 

And now for some pictures from the first month of training and from when I got to see my last squad the first night in Albania! (they left Albania as we came in)

The hardest part about how I have been living the last couple years is getting so close to people and then leaving them. God provided the opportunity for me to see people from all my different squads the first month of the trip, showing me He’s not taking away – He’s expanding my family.