Hello United States of America!!! Today was the last day of camp. We are all very sad that this week has come to an end, but very excited of what God has done! This morning started out with a great sports class, dance class, prayer walk, and story time with the gypsy people. I feel like the evening event was the high point of today though. We started out playing some Albanian games, watching skits and dances, and singing some Albanian praise songs. The last part of the night was the best however. We did a painting of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which will be posted on this website in some point in time. Afterwards everyone applauded to the fact of how great He really is. Later, all of the students thanked us Americans for coming over and helping them realize the love that God has for them! It was really humbling to know that we have really made a difference in these people’s lives. This trip has not only changed the students lives, but ours as well. We have really made great relationships with the kids and it will be really hard to leave them this weekend. But we have to trust God that he will continue to work in the students lives like he has in ours. He has been doing great and mighty things here in Albania, we will be sad to leave but happy to see all of you again!
Yours in Christ,
Taylor Grant
Wow, it is really hard to believe that today was the last day of camp. I think it was significantly harder than we thought it was going to be. Who knew that you could build such heart attachments to people after only a week? Tonight’s post is probably going to be a little short, its 1:20am, and my computer batter is at 9%. So, I will try to say a lot in not too many words.
Today was a great day. The last day of camp went so smooth, definitely the best day yet. The Lord definitely opened doors. This morning on the prayer walk around the city, the team met 3 people that they invited to the night program tonight…and they came! They also got to pray for multiple people. One of the young men that they got to pray for initially said they could not pray for him. Then after they prayed for him he said that he didn’t feel anything at all…except his knees got really week, and his insides got all warm haha.
The Lord definitely opened doors for us to minister today, and our team took the most of those opportunities. Tonight was the night that we shared the gospel. Both Josh Dodderer and Kerri Kirby shared their testimonies and it was incredibly powerful. If you watch the slideshow you will see the “Jesus Drawing” that was done by our team, and once again, powerful.
I will try to post an extra time tomorrow with some more details on all that happened today, but I did want to give you a little glimpse into what happened.
Tomorrow we get to sleep in and then go to a Castle, which was the old capital of Albania. Pray for safe travel for our team, and for sweet dreams tonight.
I will post the slideshow first thing tomorrow morning (for us), so check for it when you get up and going! Blessings on all of you
-Geoffrey
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Today was the second to last day of camp. It has seriously just flown by. It has been an incredible week. Parents, you can be so proud of your kids. They have truly shown Christ’s love to the people of Albania, both young and old.
In the picture slideshow today (which you can see tomorrow morning…sorry my internet crashed twice while uploading), you will see a lot of pictures with the Roma (or gypsies). It has been incredible for us to get to minister to them. They are hated over most of Albania, and they are just looking for people to accept them and love them. Our students have ben Christ to the Roma.
Today we did our normal activities, Sports, Dance, Arts and Crafts, Guitar, Photography, and Roma. It was a jam packed, day. Then tonight we had “Albania Night,” where they taught us Albanian dancing and sang the Albanian national anthem.
I had the opportunity to praise a student last night, and I will do it again tonight. There is this adorable 14yr old girl named Eggy (probably spelled wrong, sorry). This week, Allison has just poured out love on her. Today Allison had a little mishap with her wallet, and I think Eggy was actually more sad than Allison was. So…great job Allison!
Please be praying for our emotions tomorrow. So many of our students have built some great relationships with the people of Albania, and tomorrow we say goodbye to them, and I know that is going to be rough. Also pray for the last day of camp to go smooth. Lastly, pray for God to continue to open doors for us.
Thank you for all of your support!
-Geoffrey
Howdy y’all! It feels like just yesterday we had our first meeting about this amazing trip to Albania, and now, our trips almost over. I remember the countdown being at 74 days, and now in 6 days or so, (I’ve honestly lost count) we’ll be hopping on planes back to reality. But I know that what we’ve started here won’t stop when we leave, but that God will continue to water even the tiniest seeds that we’ve planted. Words can honestly not express what this trip has meant for me, amazing is a huge understatement. I’ve seen God move in ways this week that I never expected, my prayers were that he would use himself through me to change lives, not that he would change mine, and he has. My expectations for this trip were definitely blown out of the water. The love that the Albanians showed the first day of camp shocked me, I was expecting them to be quiet and standoffish, but that was certainly not the case. They were so excited to meet new people and learn everything they could about us. Those are just some of the small ways that God has blessed me this week. I can’t wait to see what doors he opens for us the last days we’re here. This experience has changed my life, and I hope that we have changed others.
Blessings! - Allison
Realizing that tomorrow is our last day of camp has brought many mixed emotions. I’m feeling very sad that tomorrow wraps up our community time together with our new Albanian friends. However, I also know that there comes a time to end our ministry here and let the Albanians start doing the ministering themselves. Through just playing football, making a few bracelets, and our weak attempts at learning their language God has shown up and made His love known. As I have been forever changed by this journey, my prayer is that our team will leave just as big of an impact. Thank you for all your support! Your prayers along with our own have began to come together to make one strong army fighting for this country! Thanks!
-Maitlyn
I cannot believe that tomorrow is our last day of camp! Today in sports we got the opportunity to bring a little bit of home to Albania. We taught them how to play American football and they loved it! When we asked them if they wanted to play soccer they asked us if they could play another round of our football. I was shocked! We had a lot of fun getting to play our own sport with them even if they didn’t completely understand. Also, our relationships with the people here have gotten stronger and stronger as the week has progressed. I’ve had some opportunities to have some great conversations and plant some seeds in people about Jesus. I’m so excited to see what God has planned for us tomorrow. Please be praying for us as our week of camp wraps up tomorrow. Thank you so much for all of your support! God bless from Albania!
-Brianna
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