Time is going by fast, and wifi is oh so slow. I am currently in Manzini, Eswatini helping a care point for both single and double parent orphans. This care point provides food and a safe place to play five days a week. I will talk about this beautiful ministry more later, but I want to share the amazing things God did in Albania.
Albania was an ATL (Ask The Lord) month, meaning that we were not paired with a ministry partner. Team Abide—Sierra, Rachel, B, and I—prayed with leadership for guidance going into this season. Each of us confirmed each other, that God was calling us into a time of deeper healing. We didn’t really know what that looked like, but we went from there.
We were really intentional about starting our days with worship and prayer. God led us to an apartment in Duress, Albania on the seventh floor (So. Many. Stairs.). We worshipped so loud in the morning, that one day as our neighbor was getting home, she talked about it with us. She loved that we sang praises to God and she invited us to go to a local mosque with her. She had a family emergency, so we ended up not going, but it was such a beautiful conversation with her. We also were very intentional about setting aside time for inner healing, devotionals, and prayer. I had only learned and began to practice inner healing a month ago, but it was so good to ask God to take us back to our past and speak truth where lies once were. We bathed these spaces and times in prayer and we made sure anything we felt God speaking over our lives and hearts was scriptural.
We also looked into partnering with a local ministry. We went into town and searched and emailed and prayed. God connected us with a local church called Grace Life Duress. We first met with the pastor—Alecia—then some of the church family at the pastor’s house and then went to church! It was so incredibly beautiful watching this church family love one another. They are small but so open to new members and visitors and they always share a meal together after the service. We had the honor of being able to help them start a new program in the park near the church. There we tried lots of fun different things, and it turned into a kid’s program! We did face painting and chalk drawing and music making and volleyball throwing and book reading and crafting and more! It was wonderful to be in the early stages of the program, and just try things and then keep what works. We loved helping the community have a fun event for children, and then we also loved having conversations about Jesus and culture with the parents and older siblings while the children were playing.
We ended most nights as a team with sunset swimming, thanks to staying in a port city 🙂 It was a beautiful time where we got really close as a team and went deep with the Lord and community in Duress. Albania was so sweet and one of my favorite places to be so far.
