Outreach: Week 6

3 weeks left in Albania!

Durres beach at sunset

All the houses in Albania have protection of varying degrees - mainly barbed wire and broken glass on the walls!

This past week, we went back to the local school on Wednesday morning, and told the story of the Giving Tree.  We only had one translator with us that time, so all of us were in the same classroom together!

Sharing the story of the Giving Tree

Waiting for the children!

Helping trace hands for the craft!

The children taping their handprints onto the Giving Tree

The finished product!

The finished product!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, we had planned for the kids from last Friday’s event to come talk to us, hang out, play games, etc.  We had some good conversations with some of the kids and teens that came!

On Thursday, about half the group went into Tirana to pick up some Bibles (about ten thousand!), and the other half decided to do an evangelism scavenger hunt! As we were walking in a direction we felt led to head, we met a man who was formerly a mafia guy, we got the opportunity to share the gospel with him! He was a bit iffy about some stuff, so we said that if he wanted to talk more, he could come find us, as we’d be further down the street.  About 10-15 minutes later, he caught up to us, and wanted to find out more, so we went and had a coffee with him.  After sharing some of our stories, and telling him about Jesus, he decided that he wanted to have a relationship with Christ! It was an awesome time!

The rest of the week was spent evangelizing, doing practical work/work duties, and preparing for Elbasan.

A group of trainees with one of the girls they met while evangelizing!

Being goofy with the stuffed monkey while evangelizing!

Moving the gazebo one of our trainees made!

Friday was our day off (because we left on Saturday for Elbasan), and we had a birthday lunch for one of the Durrës base leaders, and a surprise birthday party on the beach in the evening for one of our DTS staff leaders! It was a great day – we almost got stormed on – we were watching the rain come towards us, but thankfully, it passed by – watched the main city of Durrës get poured on!

The birthday boy!

The storm was coming!

Some of the boys on the beach

One of the trainees BBQing the meat

On Saturday, we said goodbye to the Durrës base (for the next 2 weeks), and headed to Elbasan.  We’re staying at a school-like building in the middle of a Roma community – very different to the base in Durrës! All the boys share a room (short 1 bed, so one person sleeps on the floor), all the girls share a room, we have a bathroom for all of us (and a squat-a-potty outside if we need it), and a kitchenette/eating room.  It’s a bit cozy, but it’s been great so far! Outside, we have a trampoline, basketball net, volleyball net, and other assorted outdoor activity things for the Roma kids to play with!  We went to the base leaders’ house for dinner, and got to know a bit of the background of the Roma (Roma people are different from Gypsies – they have their own language, are seen as the ‘low of the low’ in the general population, whereas the Gypsies interact and intermarry with the Albanians, are of Egyptian descent and do not have their own language).

A taste of what the local area looks like! Mountains, rubbish, stray dogs, loose livestock - it's all here!

Some of the children we'll be working with over the next few weeks! They weren't allowed into the base after we arrived, so they climbed the stairs of the neighbour's house!

Taking a walk through a local market

The Albanian countryside

I love seeing the mountains everyday!

Prayer Requests:

• Continued prayer for health – still have people who are ill
• Direction and guidance as to what to do in our time here in Elbasan and with the Roma people
• Grace between team members – we’re living in relatively tight quarters, and so far, there haven’t been any significant conflicts – pray for the team that we’ll have the grace to deal with whatever comes up!

Team meetings are always fun when you cram the team into a bedroom!

"Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."
Micah 7:18-19

Outreach: Week 5

The beach here in Durrës

Four more weeks in Albania! Our time flies so fast…

We had some time after church last Sunday to walk around Tirana - that's when I found this bridge!

This past week has been very busy, we have had quite a few visitors on the base – firstly, the DTS from Durrës returned for a night (they had been on the local portion of their DTS, and now they are doing the “out of country” portion).  Our DTS leader, Andrew, also came for a pastoral visit for the week to see how we were doing.  His visit was really a blessing to each of us, as we all got a chance to speak to him, and spend time with him!  And finally, we had a team from a church in Amsterdam come spend the week in Albania taking part in different ministries.

The team from Holland with one of the YWAM Durrës staff

Monday was spent together as a group, singing some worship songs, having a time of short accounts, and basically just getting ourselves right with God.  We went down to the beach for the afternoon and spent time together playing volleyball, some people swam, and we just had a fun afternoon! 

Having fun isn't hard when you have bumper cars!

On Tuesday, the trainees went into the downtown part of Durrës to evangelize and prayer walk – no translators, no staff! We had some meaningful conversations with some people, and had the opportunity to pray over others!

There are many vendors all over the city, selling clothes, produce and even livestock!

Wednesday, we went to the local public school, and told the “You Are Special” story by Max Lucado to two classes.  We made crafts with them, and just spent some time with the kids.  Wednesday afternoon, another trainee and I led the intercession time slot with the base, we felt led to intercede for the Christian Day Centre we were at the previous two weeks, turns out the team from The Netherlands were going there the following day, so they were able to give the school the words we received!  That was pretty sweet.  Wednesday evening, our DTS had a fun evening doing a team battle! We were split into two groups, and had to do a variety of events, one involving smashing eggs on your forehead without knowing if it was raw or boiled! Lots of fun!

Explaining the crafts to the students

Helping the kids with their crafts

Helping the kids with their crafts

Some of the girls showing off their play-dough "Wemmick"

Thursday was a busy day!  In the morning, the DTS went to the local school again to practice English with the teenagers, playing guessing games trying to get them to use their current English vocabulary.  Team meeting in the afternoon, and we celebrated one of our trainees’ birthday! Andrew shared some words with us about what he’s heard and observed over the week, as well as encouraged us and gave some challenges to keep pressing on!  Thursday evening, we had a Community night, which was spent in a time of worship, followed by a time of prophesying over one another!  It was a great evening, and went on for quite some time – if anyone is interested in more details, I can explain it to you more.

Spending time together as a team

The roller coaster looked super sketchy, but only 100 leke! (Approximately $1 CDN - cheap and fun!)

Friday morning was spent on the base doing practical work, cutting grass, cleaning parts of the building, working on a gazebo, etc. In the afternoon, we had some people come for the weekly English chats, then at 4:30, we partnered with the Dutch team and led a program that we invited people to attend – we had about 40 odd kids show up! We sang some songs, shared some testimonies, and spent time with them – it wasn’t a time of “shoving Jesus down their throats”, because that isn’t what we’re called to do.  Rather, we just wanted to love on the people, and build relationships with them!

 One of our trainees hard at work welding together a gazebo!

Lots of fruit had to be cut this week for the larger group we were feeding!

We prayed for kids to come - lots of kids came!

Two of our trainees shared their testimonies at the Friday event

Prayer Requests:

• Health – many people have been ill over the past few weeks, pray that it clears up sooner rather than later!
• Team Unity – We have been on outreach together for 5 weeks, and some relationships are starting to get a bit strained! Pray that God will continue giving us grace with one another, and we would all strive for unity
• Our Mission – we are in Durrës until Saturday, and then we head to Elbasan for 2 weeks to work with the Roma! Pray that we will have a clear vision of what God is calling us to do with the Roma people

Boy band photo on the beach!

“For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.”

Psalm 33:4

Someone left the gate open, and a gaggle of ducks found their way on the property, so they had to be shooed off!

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