In this last installment of this blog series I talked about the wild ride of getting back to an Albanian village my team and I felt called to. After making it through the treacherous journey we were welcomed by another American we had met a few days earlier and his furry friend, Bambi.
While in this village we had a lot of different ideas of how we could help and bless this community. Everyone was beyond friendly and they wanted to serve us just as much as we wanted to serve them. After dropping off our things we began walking around the village and we went to the village center. We were welcomed by a man named Rom and he and his wife owned a small shop that sold coffee, tea, and random grocery items. He was so excited to see us and invited us to sit down and gave us a free bottle of soda to enjoy. We couldn’t communicate much with him due to the fact that all we had was google translate (which is not the most reliable) and some of the older adults of the village could not read because of all that the country of Albania has gone through during the time they would have been learning. It was an honor to be welcomed by Rom and his wife.
(The heard of sheep that were just chillin outside of Rom’s shop)
We returned to the house and started to make dinner. Since the stove stopped working we had a classic world race meal of sandwiches! We set up our sleeping pads and went to bed to prepare for the next day.
Photo taken by: Renee DePhillips
(This was our sleeping arrangement while in the village)
When we woke up we had breakfast and we went over what we thought was the schedule. We always start our day with an hour of prayer. We prayed over our day and we knew that the Lord knew exactly what we were going to do even if we didn’t. After prayer we headed to the local school where all of the children of the village were taught. There are not many children in this village and we had met a few that had invited us to visit. We walked down the road and arrived at the school only to discover that after classes begin they lock the doors. So, we waited a little while and a teacher named Oscar saw us and opened the doors to ask us why we were waiting. We explained to him (through google translate) why we were there and we then had a long conversation about ourselves and where we were all from. We also got to hear a lot about him and what it was like to teach in this village.
(The beautiful tree in front of the school building)
We then went on and explored more of the village. We met up again with Rom and some of the other elderly men of the village. They were all laughing at the group of Americans in this village that spoke little to no English but they were very welcoming and we received a free bottle of Coke, tea, and coffee. We kept offering to pay for what we ordered but Rom insisted that we don’t pay.
Later, we walked up a hill and we arrived at a building being maintained by a local family. This building was meant to be a sacred place. It was housing a memorial of a man who was murdered by his father. Local people go there to pay tribute to this man and pray to him and ask for wishes. Learning this was heartbreaking and we all wanted to share the love of the Lord with them. We wanted them to know that they didn’t need to pray to this person to get what they wanted and more importantly that only the Lord can truly answer their prayers. We were able to pray over this space and pray over this village that our short time there would be a light to them.
(The “sacred” building that we prayed over)
After walking back down we were greeted by other members of the village and one man the owned another market in the center gave us bags filled with pomegranates, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We didn’t know what to do with all of this generosity. We at first felt bad that these people who did not have a lot kept giving us free food when we were fully capable of paying them.
(The view from our walk back down the hill)
My team and I had an idea to write notes to everyone who had been so welcoming and used google translate to write them in Albanian. My team handed them out in the rain! And then Rom’s wife walked them back with an umbrella!
After one more night our time at the village came to an end. We woke up early to catch the van back to the city and we left. Our time in the village was short but so impactful. We had all of these ideas of straight sharing the gospel and bringing the whole village to the Lord but, instead the Lord showed up exactly how he planned. He showed his abundance in all of these wonderful people that were welcoming and loving. They were giving with their hearts and they were so happy that we were there. While we didn’t get to share the gospel we still shared the light of the Lord and we hope that more people will want to make a difference in this wonderful village. I pray everyday that the Lord continues to show up in that village, that the people there with have a desire for the Lord, and that their memories of the American missionaries that showed up one day will continue to bring a smile to their faces.
Such a sweet story- so glad you were blessed by these folks. Sounds like they were blessed by you also, Katie. God is definitely going before you!
Amazing! Reminds me of Luke 10 where when they went out, they were provided for in every way needed (even while taking nothing but the clothes on their backs). You are living out the blueprint Jesus gave us, and I love seeing the fruit of it!