Getting Back On My Feet

I cannot tell you how many times I started writing, editing, and then deleting the drafts for my latest blog post.  It is LONG overdue, about 5 months, to be exact.  And simply being realistic, it may not even be one that is read, as I am no longer in “missions” and so I do not have supporters potentially keeping up with the latest of where I am and what I am doing.  I guess that is partially why I did not feel the “need” to post another update to my blog.  However, I do feel that for my own mental health, I need to put something down “on paper” for a sense of closure. 

I am now back in the States.  I have been back going on 6 months now.  It is crazy because it both feels like just yesterday, and forever ago that I was back in Cambridge running around like a mad woman attempting to keep my sanity while planning and overseeing the Gathering.  (I’ll explain what the Gathering is in a bit.)  I think part of why this post has been so difficult for me is because I really did LOVE what I did.  I loved who I worked with.  And even better, I loved who I worked FOR. (That’s the Big Man, Jesus Christ, if you just randomly clicked on this, and it is the first post you are reading.)  To be honest, I did not want any of it to change.  I had such a sinking feeling in my heart as I was packing up to go home.  Ha, honesty hour here, the night before I left, I ducked out of the house for a bit to go on my typical clearing of my head, talking to God walk.  And, I may or may not have been sobbing.  I was so confused.  I had NO IDEA what I was supposed to be doing next, or where I was supposed to be going.  I had FINALLY found a place that I truly felt I could call home.  But my darn Visa was only good for another day, so back to the States I went. 

When I got back to the house that night after my walk, my family, aka my team, had planned one of the meals that I LOVED, during dinner, they all went around the table saying their favorite memory with me, all 17 of them who lived in the houses.  If that was not a way to feel loved, I don’t know what is.  Then they gave me a card, which they all signed, and then my fellow staff gave me an AMAZING Cambridge University sweatshirt so that each time I wore it, I would remember them.  Just typing this up now, makes me miss them and that beautiful city so much. 

The thing was, that I was originally planning on just being back in the States for a few short months, just to raise support for my next year back in Cambridge.  So that goodbye was just supposed to be for a little bit.  (Little did I know, that could have been potentially the last time I would ever be seeing some, if not all of them)  The next morning when my cab arrived most of my team members got up bright and early, even though they did not need to be up for another couple of hours, and said their goodbyes and sent me off.  The time had come.  As I was talking to my cab driver on the way down to Heathrow, I started getting a feeling of peace.  I did not know exactly why I felt that peace, but it was there. 

So, the plane ride home.  Now, typically on the planes, I choose to read a book, or listen to music, or design a house, or even color (Yes, I bring coloring books on planes sometimes) instead of watching the “free” films they have for us to watch to pass the time.  However, this time, I was like you know what, I’m going to watch a movie, and guess what!  The screens in my section of seating on the plane were NOT working.  At first, I was a little frustrated, but then I was like you know what, one of the reasons I love traveling so much is because when you are on the plane, you have nothing else you can actually be doing, so you don’t have to feel guilty for reading a book for pleasure!  So, I pulled out a book that my dear friend gave me the previous night.

While reading this book, that peace that I felt in the cab on the way to the airport came back, but even stronger.  I began feeling that maybe I was supposed to stay in the States for a bit longer than I originally planned.  That thought definitely felt like it was coming from someone else who was not me!  If any of you spoke to me within the past few months of living in Cambridge, you would know that I was so set to live in Cambridge for the rest of my life.  So, the thought of moving back to (random strange town name), Pennsylvania was not even close to the top of my priority list.  I mean sure, I did miss lots of my friends and family back in the States, but the fact that I was thinking about staying there was quite shocking to me.  And seriously, with my love of Cambridge and the people there, how the heck could that thought have been from me?  I totally did not want to move back to the States.

I am a true believer that God orchestrates everything the way He does for a reason.  To this day, I am still trying to figure out why it is that He is having me stay here.  I am not delusional; I do not believe that I am above misunderstanding where God wants me. (which is a whole other post in itself.  I have had lots of thoughts lately about the statement, “where God wants me” or “what God has for me”. But I will get to that later). I do not believe that I understand everything, or that I get everything right, but I do truly believe that I am here in Pennsylvania for a reason.  Unfortunately, I sometimes forget to enjoy the ride that He takes us on along the way.  I need to remember to do so.  This is something that I have been trying to focus on lately.  (As I am sitting outside on a beautiful sunny day, sitting next to my pool)

The world will never be a perfect place.  We will always have pain, we will always have suffering, we will always have loneliness as long as we are on this Earth, so there is no reason to focus on all that negativity and let it ruin us.  We should instead focus on living every day that we have here on this messed up, yet beautiful world to the fullest.  Work hard at your job, do everything you can to succeed at it, but make sure to enjoy life while you are at it.  We are given one chance at this life.  What type of legacy do you want to leave behind?

Do you want to leave behind a legacy of being known for negativity, complaining, laziness, and have everyone remember you as having been a selfish person who lived for themselves? Or, do you want to leave behind a legacy of being known for people not being able to help but be curious about you.  A legacy where people said they had to wonder what the heck it was about you that was different, and where they couldn’t help but want to get to know you?  Obviously, you can probably tell where I am going with this thought, but when you choose to live your life fully surrendered (yet again, another topic for another day) to God, that second, more positive, life tends to occur as a natural response. 

Choosing that life does not mean that you never get sad, hurt, or upset, at all.  In fact, it tends to be a pretty tough life.  It means going against most social norms.  It means choosing to resist things that may be a natural human reaction or response to a situation.  It means “giving up” what once appeared to be an attractive way to live.  However, it is a life that you get to live serving a God, a King, a Creator, who loves you soo unbelievably much that His love for you just shines straight through you and is actually that “difference” that people were “attracted” to and wanted to know more about.  I want to be able to leave that legacy that people knew that I, without wavering, lived my life for Christ. 

Haha funny thing about saying that I want to leave that legacy almost sounds proud, or selfish, or entitled.  It makes it seem that I want it to be all about me, and that I want people to be attracted to ME.  But in fact, when you do actually successfully live that life, you realize and acknowledge that it really does not matter what others actually think of you at all.  And truth be told, it is not necessarily about people being attracted to you, the human.  It is about more and more people being attracted to Jesus.  Man how hard is that?  Anymore in this world we live, with all the social media, and instant, public responses to each thing that you do throughout your day, it is hard to truly live out not caring about what those on this Earth think about you, but rather than what God thinks of you.  Goodness, here I am rambling again.  But hey anymore this is just a blog for me, so well who cares, right?  

So anyways, here I am, half a year later, fumbling through life as us humans do, trying to make sense of my time overseas.  I guess not necessarily make sense of it, but more so digest it.  This has been six of my toughest months in my 25 years of life.  (And there have been quite a few crazy ones)  I am not going to lie, there were times that I just really did not feel like getting up the next day.  There were times when I felt like I wasted almost two years of my life (leading up to, then during my time with YWAM).  And the scariest of all, there were times when I did not believe that God was real.  Even typing that now sends anxiety throughout my body.  It is seriously the scariest thoughts ever to have gone through my mind.  I never again want to feel that way, and I do not wish that upon anyone!

I completely felt like walking away from it all.  I was so done with all of the hypocrisy that came with “Religion” and with the people that make up the Church.  But then, I was reminded that Religion and the Church are both made up of HUMANS.  So, yes, there will definitely be messed up shit in them and all throughout them.  Humans are messed up, screwed up beings.  God however, is bigger than and better than anything humans can destroy.  He is bigger than anything going on in our world.  Heck he made the freaking thing, so He totally has this.  My point?  Well, not too sure, but I guess I’m trying to round out this post, so point being, these past few months in my transition back to the States and the “real world” (aka not living on a missions base) has sucked and been quite difficult.  HOWEVER, I KNOW that this is all working out for some greater purpose, so I can find joy in that.  I know that I am coming out stronger on the other side of this, and I know that God will never let me go.  So, in that, I find Peace. 

Until Next Time Friends. 

October Update

Hey Friends,

Alright Ya’ll.  I have started so many posts to send you, but I am truthfully struggling with coming up with the words to say to share all that is going on.  Life has been moving in the fast lane the past month and a half.  For those of you who do not know, I am back in Cambridge, working with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) as a staff member at the base here.  And you know what, to be completely honest, this past month and a half has been really difficult.  I have had quite an emotional journey trying to figure out exactly what it is that God has for me here in Cambridge, and what He has for me in life in general.  In addition to trying to figure out why the heck He brought me back to this beautiful city I now call home.  With that being said, I have had so many amazing things that I have wanted to share with all of you, but I have not known how to put it down into words.  I still feel like I have been called to the Cambridge area for this time, and I believe with all of my heart that I made the right call in coming back here for this time.  However, I still do not know what that reason is. 

I will get back to that topic in a bit and just spend some time filling you in on what it is I am doing here in Cambridge.  So, the spark notes version, I am here to assist my base leader and my DTS leader in organizing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) Gathering that will be held here in just a few short weeks.  Every year, YWAM England gathers different YWAM bases from around the UK to have a week of teaching and training with the focus of Evangelism.  This year, the gathering is being held right here in Cambridge.  Instead of going into the nitty gritty of what all I am doing, I will just give a general overview.  Basically I spend my time communicating with other YWAM bases, as well as with different churches and ministries in the local area to try to pull together to find lodging, food, transport, events, etc for the week.

In addition to working on the Gathering details, I am joining in with the DTS (Discipleship Training School) that started up three weeks ago on our base.  So, basically, I do a lot of Admin work throughout the day in addition to joining in, where I can with the daily life of a Discipleship Training School.  (Including things like prayer and worship, small groups, joining in on the lectures, and anything else that I can pop in for)  The team of trainees that we have this year are amazing!  They have an amazing spirit about them!  I love being able to spend time with and getting to know the team.  The team has a busy week of lectures in the mornings, followed by triplet times (similar to a small group discussion time going over the day’s lecture, or how people are doing spiritually, and or emotionally, etc.), lunch, work duties, prayer/ intercession, and worship.  They have times of going out into the city meeting with the amazing people of Cambridge and “Evangelizing”.  As well as times partnering with different ministries already set up in the town.  I am able to join in a lot of the times, but not all because I have to work on some planning for the Gathering, which includes planning meetings with both my leaders, and with other people who will be involved with the week.   

So what have I been learning over this past month and a half?  A LOT!  Life is definitely not always easy.  And finding where you belong in life takes a lot out of you.  Honesty hour here.  So, I really LOVE what I do!  I enjoy planning events, and organizing people and ideas.  I really do!  I love being able to do a lot of the behind the scenes work in order to help make the, either day to day life of the others on my team, or the bigger training events possible and easier for everyone to enjoy.  However, sometimes I feel like people think I am just traipsing around, wasting time and money.  I know what others think should not really affect who I am, but I am human, and people’s thoughts do affect me.  I am a people pleaser, so I want to make sure that I am doing something with my life that people will support and be happy with.  Trying to convey what my job is, and what it is I am doing to others is quite difficult.  Telling people that I am a missionary serving in Cambridge England, is something that sometimes I, myself, feel silly saying. 

When people typically think of missionaries, the first thing that pops in their minds is people going to places in the middle of no where reaching out to those in third world countries.  So, telling people that I am going to a very wealthy city, in a first world, western country, sometimes makes me feel a bit strange.  But then I think about it.  What exactly is a missionary?  Just using my own definition of a missionary, I believe it is someone who is sent by God to follow His call to spread the amazing testimony of who God is, of how and why Jesus died for our sins, and that by through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit can come live inside of us so that we can, once again, have an open and constant relationship with God, our Father.  If I follow that definition, what I am doing here, and what I will hopefully be able to do, full time in the future, fits that definition. 

Now, I do not want you to be thinking that I do what I do just to attain the title “missionary” because in my mind, if I did that, I would not be fulfilling the definition of missionary as I defined above.  I would, instead be doing something quite different.  To continue, I do not do what I do in order to do anything other than to follow what I feel God leading me to do.  Sometimes, being completely vulnerable right now, I feel that I need to have a “title” to my job so that it validates, by society’s standards, what I am doing when, in reality, I do not need to be validated by society at all!  I do what I do because I love the Lord, and I want to have Him as my full time boss.  I want to serve Him, and He is who I should be “worried” about being validated by.  And well, God is an Awesome Boss!  When we are walking in His Will for our life, or when we are doing things that we believe are lining up with His Will for our life, He is SO happy!  He loves that we want to serve Him and work for/with Him. 

So, in summary, I am learning that when it comes to people pleasing, the thing that I need to worry about most is following what God has for my life, and out of that I will automatically please Him.  He is the One who I should be most worried about pleasing.  When I submit my life to walk with Him, true life and His blessings will bubble out of that.  Yes, some people may get offended, and some people may look at what I am doing as crazy or irresponsible, but His blessings outweigh the negative feedback.  And hey, not everyone is ever going to agree with every decision you make in life no matter what the decision is, so I might as well make a decision to do something I am passionate about and something that I have felt called to time and time again in my life. 

There is a lot more that I have been learning over the past month and a half that I would love to share with you all, but I will have to add that in another post because this one is getting quite long.  Alright, well, you all are awesome and I appreciate all of your support!

Heading on Out Again (My journey back to Cambridge)

Hi Again Friends and Family!  I, once again, am heading out to Cambridge England in just under 24 hours.  For those of you who followed my journey to England last year, you know that I completely fell in love with the Cambridge area as well as with the people there.  Upon completion of my DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), I felt that I was not supposed to return to a full two year commitment serving as staff there.  But when I was asked to consider coming back to Cambridge for just the fall to assist with a YWAM Gathering, I jumped on board!  Well, to be completely honest, I panicked. 

You see last year when I decided to go to England, I knew right away, with 100% certainty that Cambridge is where God wanted me.  This year however, I was confused.  I did not know where it was God wanted me.  I so wanted to go to England, but something was not quite right.  I love England, and I love Cambridge, and I love all the people there!  But, I had to check in and see what my intentions were for going to Cambridge, and find out what it was that was holding me back.

I laid out all of my options in front of me, talked to a lot of people I trusted about it, and prayed about it for quite some time, and then, I finally felt peace about my decision to head on back to England.  I believe that, even though this process was a really stressful and at times (felt like) a very lonely couple of months, God was teaching me something through it.  What that lesson is, I do not know yet, but I believe it is something He is still teaching me.  As many of you may already know, when God is teaching us something, or guiding us through parts of our lives, it is not always the most fun of times.  In fact, at times, it may even be very painful, very tiring, and very difficult.  But the amazing thing about our God, is that He wants the best for us, and it is only Him that truly knows what the best is.  So, being refined and directed by God, is really the best thing for us, even if we do not see it at that time. (And yes, I do know that that last statement is an overused one, but well, it is a True statement.  It is a statement that I do believe, as well as a statement that I believe is important to remind ourselves of time and time again as we are going through life.)

So, back to me heading back to England.  I came to the conclusion that I am to head back to England for the next two and a half months.  I am very excited to return to the Country and the people that I fell in love with.  While in England, I will be helping to plan a large YWAM gathering that will be held in Cambridge England.  Our base in Cambridge will be doing all the planning and organizing of the event which includes finding lodging, transportation, and food and dining for all of the people coming to the event.  In addition, we will be needing to plan out the week’s events, and make sure all the communication and advertising for the week are taken care of.  I LOVE planning and organizing, and if this is a way that I am able to serve Jesus, then sign me up! 

From what I understand, the YWAM gatherings have speakers for the week that teach on whatever the “theme” or lesson for the week is.  Last year, I believe we focused a lot on Evangelism!  It was an amazing, tiring, and stretching week, that really helped me to focus on what a life of Evangelism really is as opposed to just having “times of Evangelism”.  Being able to serve the Church (the body of Christ) in this way is a dream come true for me.  There are so many different amazing aspects to leading a life of missions, and being able to do what I love, while serving the God I love is truly the best way to live life! (In my opinion at least)

In addition to planning the Gathering, I will also be helping out where I can in serving the YWAM Cambridge base.  When I was considering fulfilling a 2 year commitment, I would have been serving in an administrative role, so I may be filling that role for the time, or I may be helping out with the DTS (Discipleship Training School).  I could potentially even do a little of both.  I am excited to see where these next two months take me and to find out what it is exactly that my role will look like once I am there!  

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, I am asking that you prayerfully consider supporting me through this next phase in my life.  I am in need of both financial support, and/or prayer support.  Any support you are able to give is much appreciated!  I will have a lot of financial needs including the cost of airfare to get to and from England, the cost of my housing and food while in England, transportation costs, as well as other necessity expenses such as medications and other maintenance costs.  The total cost for which I am fundraising (not including my ongoing expenses that I need to maintain while I am not in America like insurance, phone bills, my Compassion Child, and so on) will probably total around $3,500.  With that being said, any little bit helps.  Even if you are not able to give financially, your gift of time in prayer specifically praying for: the funds to come in, good health for myself and my team, and for my relationship with God; that I will continue to turn to and trust in Him through this amazing, scary, crazy, stretching experience I have coming up.  Finally, and most importantly, for the people I will be meeting both in and around Cambridge.

If you desire to give financially, donations may be sent to Grace Community Church, 327 E. Broad Street, Souderton, PA 18964.  In order for your donation to be tax deductible, checks should be written out to Grace Community Church with Cambridge, England in the memo line.  Grace will know that the donation is for my YWAM account.  (If my name is written on the memo line, the donation will not be tax deductible.)  If you feel more comfortable having my name associated with the donation, add a separate note with my name on it in the envelope.  Grace will keep my donations together until they are sent in to YWAM.  Thank you in advance for your consideration and prayers.

Outreach Summary! (This is Forever long... if nothing else, jump to the last few paragraphs to get the best recap!)

So, Albania and Macedonia.  How do I begin?  To be honest, I really do not know how to start.  It is not that it was a bad experience or anything; it is just getting all my thoughts sorted and down on paper is difficult.  So much happened, yet not much happened at the same time.  I guess I can start by saying that I am not going to be one of those people who come back from missions and says we saw this miracle and that miracle, and thousands and thousands of people gave their lives to the Lord (That would be awesome if I could say that), but that is not the truth.  I know a lot of times people want to hear these AMAZING testimonies of mission trips, but on a standard trip, in my experience at least, I can have awesome stories about the people I met and worked with, but I will not always have these crazy intense stories of revival.  I want to be honest in sharing what happened.  However, do not get me wrong, many really awesome things happened and many amazing relationships were built, but sometimes that is what needs to occur before some other crazy things can happen.  And God still works through all of those things.

It all started bright and early on Saturday, March 29 at around 5:00am.  We said our goodbyes to Peter, Taryn, and Hayley, climbed in the taxis and headed off to the airport.  The travel to and through the airport was painless, quick, and easy.  We then boarded the plane and headed to Vienna for a 9 hour layover.  Since it was Garrett’s birthday, we planned a special time out exploring the beautiful city of Vienna.  Trying to find a budget place there where we all could eat together was slightly difficult, so it was decided that a little café would do, then we could all split up and explore on our own in smaller groups.  Simon, Garrett, and I went off to look at the AMAZING buildings!  As some of you may know, I am slightly a MAJOR fan of architecture.  So, exploring with two other people who appreciated the history and beauty of the buildings was GREAT!  Oh, and of course we also got Garrett gelato for his 19^th Birthday!  We then all met up back at the airport to sit, relax, and have dinner until our flight to Albania.  It was nice to explore the airport with friends and just have some free time to walk around.

We finally arrived in Albania, and got to the YWAM Albania, Durres base every late that night, or early the next morning.  To be honest, I do not remember what time it was, I just know it was late, and we were all quite tired from traveling.  But it was a GREAT surprise when we pulled up to the base, and got out of the vans and we heard the waves of the sea, crashing on the shore!  We heard we would be near the sea, but we had no idea that the base was right ON the beach!  We were so spoiled!  We had a short little welcome and orientation from the Amazing Durres base leader, Alket.  Then, we headed off to our assigned rooms and went to bed.  We were able to sleep in the next morning, which was a huge blessing!

The first week we were there, we had an “Albania Orientation”.  We were taught about the culture, and all of the do’s and don’ts that we should keep in mind.  We received a tour of the city and were able to have some time chatting with the locals.  It was actually quite surprising, and something that kept surprising me the entire time we were there, Albanians love Americans.  Why, I’m still not sure, I mean we’re awesome people! Haha but a more serious probably more accurate answer is that our government did a lot to help them out in the past, so therefore they like us.  It was actually also a great opportunity to meet people and start up conversations.  So, the first week, we had a few opportunities for “outreach”.  I put it in quotes because so many people view outreach in a variety of ways.  We mainly view it as an opportunity to talk to the people around us about Jesus, and His love for all people.  We view it as an opportunity to share the Gospel, the whole Gospel message.  With that being said, this area is a majority Muslim culture.  Many of the people there who would identify themselves as Muslim were culturally Muslim.  This meaning that they did not actively practice the religion, the identification with the religion is mainly with family ties.  Family ties are a huge part of the culture, so someone leaving the religion to switch to another would be a MAJOR thing. 

With that being said, a lot of the conversations I had with people focused more on the differences between the two religions and why I believe what I believe.  For example, one of my more memorable conversations occurred during one of our days of “pioneering ministry” in Durres.  Pioneering ministry, or at least what my team calls pioneering ministry is when we take time to pray about different ways we can do different ministries, and pray about different outreach opportunities.  Basically it is a “pray and do” evangelism.  It can truly be anything from spending time with a Roma family to playing soccer (football for my European friends) with a group of kids to coffee shop evangelism, worship in the streets, really it can be anything at all!  So back to the story.  One day during our Pioneering outreach, Chey and I went to town to meet up with some university students.  We then found out after getting to town that the University was closed for the day however, the girls we asked directions to were very friendly, so we decided to invite them for coffee.  Side note.  One of the many AMAZING things about this culture is that it is not unusual to just randomly meet people in town, stop what you originally had planned and just go to one of the hundreds of coffee shops and sit, and chat over a cup of coffee.  It is just fantastic.  But it did not help my major coffee addiction at all! 

 So, these three young girls had varying levels of English knowledge.  One girl could speak and understand English quite well, one could get along well enough, but had a limited vocabulary, and the third could only understand some English, but could not speak it at all.  The girl who could speak English the best was very interested in the conversation and in learning more about the Christian religion.  She was raised Muslim, but her family did not actually practice the religion.  She asked a lot of questions about why I believe what I believe.  She said she really respected what it is we do.  Chey and I were able to share the Gospel bracelets with the girls.  And the cool thing is, the girl who was Muslim was translating for us for the other two girls.  (Side note, the other two girls with us were Christian, but just like with a lot of the people there who were Muslim, it is more a cultural thing rather than a practicing the religion thing.  So with that being said, it was awesome that the friend was translating and sharing the Gospel with her other two friends.)  Another cool thing about our friend who was Muslim was that she asked for a Gospel bracelet to give to her sister.  She said that she and her sister are really close, so when one of them gets something special they feel that they need to share it with the other.  She said that they feel bad if they do not share with each other.  Which of course lead into a great transition to sharing why it is we (our team) do what we do. 

I was able to share with her that we know that what we have with God is so special and so amazing that we want to share that with everyone so that they too may have that special relationship with the Lord.  I told her that just like when she has something and she feels she needs to share it with her sister, we feel like we have the best thing ever, and we need to share it with others too.  And just like her, we feel bad if we do not share it but instead keep it to ourselves.  She really received that well and considered it a lot.  She also kept going on and on to Chey and me about how much she valued and respected what it is that we do.  She continued to ask questions the remainder of our time together over coffee.

Another cool thing about that conversation is we found out that one way the one girl was learning English was by reading.  And, after talking for a bit with the girls, some verses from the Bible came up, so Chey and I pulled out our Bibles.  That one girl seemed so excited by seeing the Bible, she asked to see it and was reading verses out loud.  I asked her if she had access to any English books or Bibles, and she said she did not, so I gave her mine.  She seemed really excited by it and put it right in her bag so she would not forget it. 

Our team spent a lot of time doing such a great variety of ministries over the two month time period.  At one of the locations, we went to a home for the elderly, and shared songs, danced, shared a testimony, and a skit.  We were not able verbally share about God or Jesus up front, but we are able to share about His stories and the themes of the stories.  We had a great time bonding with the individuals there.  We could not speak their language and they could not speak ours, but we were able to connect with them in an awesome way.  They seemed really excited that a group of young people came to spend time with them.

We spent some time in the local hospitals, praying with and for the people staying there.  In addition, we played a lot of football with the local kids and young adults.  Football was a great way to meet and get to know people who do not necessarily speak your language.  We ended up being able to meet up a few times with some of the kids that played football with us.  Some of them were really excited about receiving their own Bibles in their language that they sat down right then and there and started reading them.  (I was not there for that particular opportunity, but I heard amazing stories of how excited they were.)  But, a good majority of the time we ended up getting in natural conversation with people at local cafés either during our free time, or while we were specifically there to meet with people.  Sometimes at the cafés we would have English lessons.    

Another type of ministry that we spent a lot of time with in multiple locations was going into the public schools.  The people we worked alongside in two of the three locations in Albania were other YWAM bases.  The people at those bases had been working with the schools for a while volunteering and building relationships to be able to work inside the schools.  Now at the schools, we had to respect the rules and not speak of the Gospel directly up front, but we were able to share of the principles of Christianity.  The schools had us in for English classes as well as teaching crafts and running an internet safety course.  The school that we ran the internet safety course at was in Tirana.  At the end of our teaching time, we were able to invite the kids to an afterschool program that we were running that was outwardly Christian.  That was a really neat opportunity to work on English with the kids as well as speak about Jesus and share with them who Jesus is and how much He loves each one of them. 

Something else we did while in Albania was work alongside some of the churches that were there.  While we were in Durres, we got really close with the church that we were brought to on the first Sunday with the YWAM Durres base.  The leaders of the church were a group of young individuals who were really excited about God.  It was really encouraging to see a group of people who were so excited to worship God and to invite us all in with them in doing so.  It was also really exciting because while we were out in town, we ended up bumping into both those from the church, and the people that we had met up with through evangelism opportunities time and time again.  For example, while walking in town on another pioneering ministry day when I was with Bethy and Matthijs, we bumped into the girl who was Muslim that Chey and I met with who was really interested in hearing about Christianity.  She was really excited to see me in town and introduced me to her cousin. 

While we were in another place in Albania, called Korce, we worked closely with a new church there that started up a few years ago.  We met up with them everyday in the morning and spent time worshiping God and praying, out on this beautiful hill that looks out over the city.  We also had a lot of events in town with them where a lot of locals gathered around and listened to the testimonies, and sermons, and worship music.  We shared some skits and dances as well.  We were able to have some conversations with the local people because some of the people from the church spoke either English or Spanish, so they could translate for some of us.  It was great!  It was really amazing to see the church get excited about sharing the message of Jesus with the people of their city.   We had some nights where we were able to pray for and to encourage the people of the church.  A lot of the families of the church came out for each of the events we were involved with which was really nice and encouraging for us as well. 

Another really interesting and exciting thing, for me at least, in all the locations we were in Albania, and then as well in Macedonia is interact a lot with the street kids.  We mostly interacted with and hung out with the street kids in Korce, but in Macedonia, we “chatted” with some of the kids as well.

Now, I could go on and on for pages and pages about the different things that we did.  And I truly would have loved it if I could have had my computer with me to type up weekly updates of what all we did, but that was not possible.  But I can tell you that my eyes were really opened to how much God loves His children all over the world.  I was able to see how simple people like the members of my team and me could be brought together from all over the world to love on people in their everyday life, and what a difference that actually makes.  I was able to see the gratefulness of the people for just being willing to come and sit with them and to listen to what they have to say.  It was amazing to see how God can use a group of young adults to run kids camps and internet safety courses, and café ministries to really impact a culture. 

One thing that hit me when on outreach was how many people were so shocked by the fact that we came to Albania and Macedonia.  They all asked why the heck would we want to come there.  They all said that they would never come if they were given the choice.  It was encouraging to me to be able to encourage the people there that they matter, and that God cares for them so much that they would send a group of individuals from all over the world to come to their city in their country to share the message that God loves them and that Jesus died for them.  It made me sad to look around me and see that there was such an environment of feeling trapped or stuck.  Because of all the recent history of turmoil and government control and communism, many people become trapped in unemployment, or in terrible job situations where they feel helpless.  That was a lot of what people would ask for prayer for when we talked to them; prayers for a job.  And it was hard to see that and to feel helpless about the situation.  But, what I can share is that out of that and those times for prayer for people, I was extremely encouraged by the amount of Faith that the people had that God would provide.  It was such an example and a learning experience for me.  Especially as I am learning to trust God to provide for me as I step out in this next chapter of my life. 

Now, I really would like to sum up by saying something that I learned from this time.  Missions does not always just mean creating “converts”.  In fact, I would say that is not what it is about at all!  It is about sharing the Gospel message with those you come into contact with.  That is all you can do.  It is up to that individual and God and Jesus (Along with the Holy Spirit) to carry out the rest.  You are not an unsuccessful missionary if you come home after months of work and do not see one person decide that Christianity is the religion for them.  But you are successful when you open yourself up to listen to and obey what God is telling you.  The location you are sent to may just need people to encourage those who are there and to help strengthen the church in that location.  And you can do that in many ways.  You can definitely do that through simple conversation keeping in mind that you are there as a representative of Christ and that He has sent us to spread the Truth of His Gospel.  That does not mean that every conversation must be about Jesus and about the Gospel message, but it does mean that as stated before we must be aware and keep in mind that we do want others to be able to have that same amazing relationship that we have with Christ.  Looking at it that way allows relationships to be built naturally while still being focused on Christ. 

As I always say though, that is just my opinion and what I learned from this time.  I am really excited to be able to share this little (long) blurb about my time in Albania and Macedonia.  I hope you enjoy the pictures that will go along with this post.  God Bless!

 In Macedonia we went to a care center for children and adults with disabilities.  I LOVED it!