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!
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