Today was the first day of Camp! Wow, what a day. To be honest, camp is a little different than we had thought it was going to be, but the Lord is still moving! We began our morning bright and early for some time with the Lord, then we headed over to the sports complex that we are having camp at. 

I would estimate that we had between 30-40 students at camp today. This is the very first time that it has been done, so that is a pretty good amount of students. However, there were a few things that we needed to change last minute. Our team was great at adapting. They jumped right in and did whatever was needed. 

I saw so many of our students bonding with the Albanian teenagers. Whether it was over soccer (futbol), crafts, guitar, or dance, our students were building some relationships and sharing the love of Jesus to the Albanians.

We had a group of students and leaders that got the opportunity to go buy some food and candy to take to the gypsie community. I will get someone that went on that excursion to blog about it, but I can tell you this, Christ’s love was shared to that community. It is so important for the gypsies to feel loved, because here in Tirana they are outcasts. The people here have shunned them, and they live in slums with trash surrounding their lean-tos. So, we took this morning as an opportunity to practically show them love, by giving them what they needed, and some candy.

Because this country has been so un-religious, and actually pretty opposed to anything religious, the only way to share Christ with them is to show them the unconditional love that Christ showed us. They don’t fully understand their need for Christ yet, but they do understand when people love on them for no reason at all. It is incredible the power that love has on people. Love breaks down walls. We know that our job here in Albania is to be Christ’s love to them, and in that, they will see his face.

This afternoon we had a “siesta.” Some students stayed at the hotel and rested. Others, went walking around Tirana and shopped. We also got the chance to eat Gelato again. Let me just say, Gelato is amazing.

Tonight we had an “Albanian barbeque”, and the church we are partnering with brought in a Christian rapper. We played games, listened to rap, and ate some barbeque, and the entire time, our team was loving on the Albanians. Today was a great day.

Lastly, We had a prayer time over our students tonight when we got back to the hotel. Wow…Wow…Wow…Wow…There are no other words to say. The Holy Spirit moved in our youth in a way that I have never seen him move in them before. It was so incredibly powerful. Please pray for the Albanians that watched us minister to our students. It seems as if the Lord is opening doors with them. That would be incredible.  

Continue to pray for our team. We have hit the part of the trip that people get tired and sometimes that brings on frustration. Pray for unity amongst our team. Also, pray for our hearts to continue to be in tune with the heart of Jesus. We want to do what he wants us to do this week, and for us to know what that is, we have to be focused on His heart.

Thank you for your prayers, and for reading our blog! We are trying to have every student blog at least twice. So, if you haven’t seen your son/daughter/friend post yet…they will! I promise.

-Geoffrey