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
Great blog Stephen!
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