Albania: One Of The Craziest Days Of My Life

WARNING: This is a longer blog, but I promise that it is worth reading to the end : ) If you do not have much time and just want the good stuff, skip to the part that is titled “Asking the Lord in Vlorë, Albania.”

TRAINING + DEBRIEF

We arrived at our hotel in Durres, Albania on September 15th and we were greeted by our wonderful leadership team who then assigned our rooms for the next 2 weeks. The first week was full of training from 9am-5pm every day. We had challenging teachings and sessions that were led by our squad mentor. We had powerful times of worship, prayer, confession and repentance. The week ended with the squad washing each other’s feet and baptisms while praying over each other. It was a beautiful week and God taught each of us so much. 

Week 2 was debrief which is a time to rest, process and prepare to head out into our teams for ATL month. ATL means “Ask The Lord” and that we do not have a ministry host or partner this month. There is no pastor, church or organization telling us what we should do to serve the community. It’s just us and God! We pray daily about what He wants us to do that day or the following day. 

Debrief meant less sessions with more time to rest. During this week a local coffee shop owner even made us a home cooked meal! Plates and plates of meat, salad and potatoes! Albert also was kind and drove a lot of the squad to different locations that were a little bit further than typical walking distance. We were very thankful for his generosity toward us. 

All 6 teams left Durres, Albania this past Tuesday, September 28th, to jump on buses to different cities throughout the country. Each team prayed and asked God where they should go and each team had the freedom to get on a bus and head there! 

On Tuesday morning, my team left the hotel around 6am and started our 40 minute walk to the bus station. I remember feeling so excited while also thinking “Wow… just us 5 women are about to head to a random city for the next 18 days.” 

ASKING THE LORD IN VLORË, ALBANIA

We jumped from one bus to another and ended up in Vlore, Albania which is a more southern city heading toward Greece and right near the beach! Once we arrived at the bus terminal in Vlore we were trying to figure out how to call for 2 taxis to take us and our bags to the apartment that we rented for the 18 days. Then our driver asked us if we needed a ride, puts our bags back in his bus, asks me to get in the front seat with the directions and personally drove us to the location. I’d like to add he didn’t speak any English! It’s amazing what can be communicated with no words. We were so thankful!! 

How we were able to get this apartment is a complete miracle. Our budget for lodging this month is $35 per day for the whole team. When researching our options I was looking at hostels in the area and they were all out of our budget. Most places on Airbnb were out of our budget as well except for one that was way under budget… This apartment looked too good to be true. $26 for a 2 bedroom apartment with exactly 5 beds, a full kitchen, beautiful bathroom and just a 2 minute walk to the beach and a local bus stop. We went for it and booked it! 

Once we arrived at the Airbnb, we waited for the owner to check us in. We are going to call him Luis for privacy reasons… Luis asked us if we wanted a tour of the town that night at 6pm. We saw in the reviews that he always does this with his guests so we said yes! He picked us up at 6pm and gave us a 3 hour tour of the city. I told this to a friend the other day and she said “it sounds like you are making this up.” It honestly didn’t feel real! 

During our tour with him we were asking each other questions. One of his questions being “why are you all here in Albania?” We initially shared we are here volunteering and want to serve and love on the community. He asked if we already had somewhere to volunteer and we shared that we are figuring it out as we go which is one way to explain “ask the Lord” month! He then shares that his family is from a village an hour away and they could use some help if we were interested. He shared that there are olives that need to be harvested and his exact words were that “there are not enough workers for the harvest…”

Then there I was in the backseat tearing up at the thought that God could have possibly brought us to this city and Airbnb to reach this village. Throughout the night we learned that he is a Bektashi Muslim. He then asked us what we were and we shared we are Christians. He then showed us more of the town and some churches! The night ended with him treating us to tea at a beautiful restaurant that overlooked the city as he shared more about the village and the opportunity to serve there. 

We took this picture right outside of the restaurant!

We spent time in prayer and felt peace about pursuing the village opportunity. 2 days later we met with Luis at a coffee shop to continue to discuss the details. He offered to take us to the village the following day which was yesterday. We were picked up at 7:30am yesterday by Luis along with another American from Oklahoma who is backpacking and started our hour drive to the village. We will call this man Nate. Nate and Luis met on an Albanian connection page because Nate is looking to open a business in Albania. Luis offered Nate a place to live in the village and a job to harvest olives for the next few months! We went deep into the mountains on roads that made me and my team catch some air a few times as we bounced around the car. We laughed many times and were in awe that God made a way for us to be on our way to an unreached village. Luis warned us that we shouldn’t try to share our faith in the village because the people aren’t interested… 

Once we arrive, Luis starts to show us around the village. He then brought us to one of the homes and we sat on the balcony with 2 local woman. They made us coffee and as we sat there Luis said “Okay, you have locals in front of you, what do you want to ask them? I will translate.” We were in shock! We went back and forth with different questions and then my team leader asked Luis to ask these women if we could pray a blessing over them. Luis then asked them and they said they would love that. He then translated a prayer for us and the women were very thankful. They said it was the first time they had foreigners visit their village and home. 

We continued to walk through the village and talked with more locals who were working their land or herding animals. We also learned that there is a cow slaughtering list at their little local store that you can add your name to if you need meat! As the day continued we learned more about the values of this village and there was even a building where a man was buried that they would light candles at and they believed that by going to this building they could make a wish or ask for healing and it would be done. We could see their longing and searching for the one true God. Each person we met was so kind, hospitable and very surprised that we were there. We were also given a tour of the oil factory where the olives are processed into olive oil! 

Then we go to a home that was the home of Luis’ grandparents and where his father grew up. The house hadn’t been lived in for I don’t know how many years. It became basically a storage house! This is where Nate is going to be living for the next 3 months or so. This is also the home that we could potentially stay in if we go to work in the village. We came prepared for work with gloves and trash bags so we asked Luis if we could get started. Here are some before and after pictures! 

In those hours that we cleaned and organized, people from the village came by to see what was going on and the neighbors even brought us food that we shared with them as well as Luis and Nate on the roof during a break! There was a mix of breads, jam, cheese and tomatoes! We were blown away by the kindness of the people. Luis also asked my team leader if she would teach a little English to some of the kids. 

Once the house was cleaned, swept, mopped and set up as a living space, we left the village. We thought this was the end of the excitement for the day. We were blown away at all that God did but it was actually far from over. 

Luis brought us to the Vjose River which is the last free flowing River in Europe. It was a beautiful sight!

From there we started our drive home. Luis asked if we could stop for a quick coffee first. He said it would just be 15 minutes so we all sat at a table with this view of the mountains.

Then we find ourselves in an hour and a half conversation about the deep questions of life, good and evil, and so much more. We spent this time sharing our beliefs while he shared his. It was one of the most stretching, thought provoking and challenging conversations I’ve been apart of! As Luis asked deep questions and made statements about life, we went back and forth and were able to share openly about our faith! Luis is a VERY smart man. He is a big reader and very educated. He is currently getting his masters and is practicing law! I was so thankful for this conversation that we got to have with him even if it felt difficult at times. 

We then get in the car and as we were pulling out of the parking lot he said “you know maybe I should just read the Bible.” I looked at him and said “Luis, that is exactly what I wanted to suggest! Give it a read for yourself!” 

WOW! 

We then had a 70 minute drive home and he told us we could change the subject of conversation to whatever we wanted. I asked him if he would share his life story with us. He then turned and said “you share yours first…” I was taken back a little bit. I then began to share my testimony and was praying that God would show me which parts to share that would speak to him most and to be bold about Jesus. His words were “I had no idea how tough your life had been and the pain you have experienced.” There were times in the coffee shop conversation that he was asking hypothetical questions about if we would forgive and save the life of someone who had just killed a family member of ours. We tried to give honest answers about how we know what the right thing is but we wouldn’t know what we would really do unless we were actually in the situation. I got to compare that to how God has helped me to forgive the people in my life who deeply hurt me. There were tears from both of us as I shared my story.

We then got to hear about his life and the night ended with him driving us by the apartment he grew up in. You could still see the bullet holes on the buildings from the civil war in this area that happened right before he was born 25 years ago. As he dropped us off we thanked him for spending the entire day with us and he replied with “I should be thanking all of you.” 

Thank you, Lord, for this day. It is one I will never forget. 

Thank you for bringing us to this apartment in Vlore, Albania that led us to Luis and an unreached village. Thank you for helping us to speak boldly about You even when it is difficult. 

It has only been 4 days of asking the Lord in Vlore, Albania… He is so good!

We are hoping to return to the village and Luis even had the idea to bring the kids from the village to the city to spend the day with us while we are here!

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please partner with me in prayer over Luis and this village! Also for my team and squad as we continue to seek God and what He has for us here in Albania.