Outreach: Week 4

4 weeks in now!

On Monday, we took some time to spend with each other, and with God, listening to what He had to say to us about our team. One of the base leaders from YWAM Durrës had a word for us last week, so we spent some time in the morning reflecting on it and praying about it; what it meant to us individually and as a team.

We went out for chips as a team!

This week looked somewhat similar to last week, as we were helping out at the local Christian school/daycare again on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  We told Bible Stories, sang songs, played games, shared testimonies and had discussions about the stories to see what the kids remembered/learned.

One of the songs we taught the kids!

Discussions with the older kids

Discussions with the younger kids

Indoor activities

Sharing testimonies

Bible Stories

Bible Stories

Teaching the kids about different countries

Practical Work at the school - building a shelf for the kids to put their shoes on

Parachute games!

Outdoor Games

Outdoor Games

We started something new this week that we have been planning on doing for a while – Leaders of the Day.  The trainees have been partnered up into pairs (same pairs as we did local evangelism in back in England), and as a pair, we lead the team for two days.  What that means is that we have to plan the times of the day that need planning, buy bus tickets, tell the team where to go when needed, talk to our contacts, etc.  Myself and my fellow Canadian partner, as well as another pair led this week – let’s just say it was a learning experience! As Leader’s of the Day, we have the ability to do whatever we want, within reason.  So, on Wednesday, my partner and I led the team out to the beach at 6:30 in the morning for a time of worship – we were all tired, but it was a great experience!

Morning Worship

Other things we have done this week include: practical work (preparing for a team that’s visiting from The Netherlands next week, continued work fixing things up around the base – one of our trainees is very handy with tools and building things, so he’s building a gazebo for the base!), prayer walks (one group went up the mountain and prayed over the city, the other went down to the beach, and was able to have some good chats with people we ran into), Elbasan preparations (we will be going to another city in Albania for 2 weeks in about 2 weeks time to work with the Roma people – it will be a very different experience that Durrës has been for us!), Community night (the pastor from the church we had helped out at in Durrës and his family joined us, and brought along an Italian meal!), practicing English with locals (Friday afternoons, we’ve had some local teenagers come to just hang out with us and practice their English) and just having fun on our downtimes!

Praying over the city

Gospel bracelets

Parachute on the beach!

Still having fun with bumper cars!

Still having fun with bumper cars!

Still having fun with bumper cars!

Thursday night was a bit special for me – a few of us had walked down to the beach to see the sunset, but it was cloudy, so there wasn’t much of a sunset unfortunately! We decided to walk down the beach to a pier that I had wanted to go on, and we saw that there were some carnival-type rides set up – one of the rides was bumper cars! We asked how much it was, only 100 leke (About $1 CDN), so we took that opportunity! There was a Roma boy, about 6-7 years old begging nearby, and we invited him to join us – he was so happy that we were spending time with him! The Roma in this country are very much looked down on by the rest of the general population, and their children don’t receive much attention or love, so that was really special for him to get something like that! On the way back, we had a short conversation with a Roma mother and her baby that live on the same street as us – slowly building a relationship with that family!

My new friend!

Prayer Points:

• Health of the team – we’ve had two trainees that were very ill this week, one has had to go to the hospital
• Continued protection against spiritual attacks
• Unity for the team
• Guidance as to what God wants us to be doing in Albania with the remainder of our time here – we have some time slots that are designated to pioneering new ministries

"To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit."
Jonah 2:6

Outreach: Week 3

What a week!

It's been a bit of a stormy week - this was in the early morning during one of my runs!

Yes - that's a pile of seaweed - there's a lot on the beaches here!

A coffee vendor sits in front of a wall with funeral notices - in Albania, whenever a person dies, their funeral information is printed on a piece of paper and posted on the walls in public areas notifying the public of their death.  These are changed almost every 24 hours!

Helping dismantle a shelf unit so that it could be moved to another building!

Last Saturday, YWAM Albania had a staff day at the Durrës base, so our DTS helped out by making meals, watching the children, etc.  One of the DTS “rules” is that the trainees get at least one day off each week, which is usually Saturdays, however, since we were helping out with the staff day, we got Monday off instead!  On Sunday, two of our trainees shared their testimonies at the church we had been helping out at for the prior week – the service was in Albanian (but we had a translator for the sermon), so that was interesting, since we had no idea what was happening!

On Tuesday, the Durrës DTS left for their local outreach – we’ll see them again in about a week or so before they head out for their out-of-country outreach!  Goodbyes suck, especially when you start building a relationship with the people who are leaving…

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, we were working with a local Christian school/daycare in the city, they run a half-day program for children from broken and impoverished families that can’t afford to send them to school.  There are about 40 kids in the program, and they are an interesting mix! They range in age from about 7-12, and have varying degrees of English skill.  We’ve done a mix of face-painting, balloons, parachute games, football, songs, Bible stories, English lessons and helped out with some practical work that needed doing.

The DTS with the staff and students at the school

The DTS with the staff and students at the school - silly pose!

Making balloon animals

Facepainting

Facepainting

Playing football with the students

Teaching songs

Practical work

Practical work

Just having fun with the kids!

On Friday, we went down to the beach in the morning to evangelize however that looked.  We brought the parachute and football (soccer ball for the Canadians and Americans), and got a few kids playing with us.  Some of the trainees also did some facepainting on the kids, while others talked to their parents (if they spoke English).  All of a sudden, we were surrounded by over 50 teenagers from the local school – they were out on the beach picking up trash!  We had the parachute out, so some joined with that, some got some facepainting done, some played football, and others just chatted with us – it was quite something!  We were able to invite some back to the base in the afternoon to practice their English with us.

Parachute on the beach!

Soon joined by a mass of teenagers!

The teens wanted facepaint too!

Saturday, we were able to go into Tirana for the day, had some drinks at a local café, ate lunch at a restaurant (The Stephen Center – I approve of the name!), and went to a mall, where some trainees watched a movie in the theatre.  We were going to go up a cable car into the mountains, but we would’ve had to take a few extra busses to get there, and it was already getting later in the day! Still a fun outing though. 

Group selfie on the bus!

Prayer points:

• This week, we'll be working with the school again - pray that we would be able to radically change the lives of the children there!
• Pray for more opportunities to share the gospel, and pray that we would step into those opportunities!
• Pray that we would continue to grow deeper in our relationships with each other, and with God

Outreach: Week 2

Week 2 of outreach done!

On Sunday, we drove into Tirana (the capital city of Albania), and went to our contact’s regular church – two of our trainees got to share their testimonies there!  It was a good service, and since they have a mix of people from around the world, they incorporate English and Albanian into everything (their songs, sermons are translated, etc).

Two of our trainees shared testimonies on Sunday

The majority of this week has been spent with a local church here in Durrës, evangelizing on the streets every morning, and leading two services at the church on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  On Tuesday morning, one group set up a marquee tent in the square, and did a skit, had some worship, played with some kids and a parachute, and talked to the people who were passing by.  On Thursday morning, some of us stayed at the church (it looked like it was going to rain), sorted/folded donated clothing, and divided it up according to families the church supports that are in need.  We got the opportunity to take clothes to some of the families, and it was very humbling to see how they lived, and how grateful they were for the clothing. 

The church we were helping out this week

Parachute in the square

Parachute in the square

Some things we have noticed during our times of evangelism so far:

• There are many Roma on the streets, begging for money – we’ve learned that it’s actually more harmful to give money to these people, sometimes they use it to buy drugs, and they drug their children, so it looks like they’re asleep when the “mothers” are begging (sometimes not even their own children!).  We also have to watch our bags when the kids are around, they like to climb on you and take stuff out of your bags.
• The teenagers here really don’t care about God, so it’s really difficult to reach out to them, however, everyone wants to learn English, and practice their English, so we’re able to start building relationships that way!  Some of our trainees accidentally started a mini “riot” at a local high school – they were just sitting outside, and some kids started talking to them.  “Some kids” turned into a lot of kids, and they were all in the windows waving at the trainees! About ½ hour later, the principal came and shooed them off!

Thursday evening, when we came back to the base, we had a love feast/commissioning meal with the base for the DTS that is leaving for outreach this weekend.  It was a great time of food, fellowship and prayer!

The set up for the Love Feast

Love Feast!

This entry is a bit short, but it has been a very, very busy week with evangelizing every morning this week, then work duties/practical work/church services/preparing for the church services in the afternoons.

One of our practical work duties is to sand the rust off the chairs...

... and repaint them!

Things we could use prayer for:

• Energy! This has been a very long week, and we’re all exhausted!
• Protection against spiritual attacks – many of us experienced significant spiritual warfare during our first week, continued protection is always good!

One of many bunkers in the country

The ice cream is pretty amazing here!