Day 1 Saturday July 2 After an 11 hour overnight flight, a 7 hour layover, and multiple last-minute passport issues, we made it! As it turned out, two of our team members were unable to get their passports or travel documents in time for the flight. But the Lord is sovereign over that too, and He has a reason for everything He does. We are thankful that He allowed 10 of us to get over here! ...
Day 1 Sunday September 19 Travel day - got on flight Saturday night at 8 Mini heart attack about proving vaccination status Ate dinner pre-flight, got to know the team (what you do, what got you to Albania) Brian, engineer Andrew, accountant Allison (Alli), WM students team admin Madison, PR & Social media Allye, PR Tobin, WM director of intl ministry & former pastor in hong kong for 20 yrs Day 2 Monday Sept 20 Early meeting with Afrim & Marsel, Disciples of Christ church Discussed their new building project. Tobin shared a bit about never having had a building in Hong Kong. Orientation w/ Albanian team Aldo Kaon & Danjela Albi Jonida Edi Pal & Ueda came at the end Lunch & souvenir shopping, including Gelato (getting it all out of the way) HS meeting 1 7 or 8 new high schoolers team introduction, getting to know you games dancing - I missed it after a year Andrew and Alli both set multiple coffees I got Luka’s instagram, will set up coffee tomorrow Meeting w/ Cornerstone Ylli Visi Altin Pal Tobin Me Discussed small group formation - was a takewaway from the Church Leaders Conference Discussed Re:Engage Allye got to hang out w/ Alli and Bora to share fliers - got to pour into Bora for a bit Dinner @ Artigiano w/ Re:Gen team Carrie, Morgan, Marlie, Tobin, Lauren, Allye Morgan said the hardest part was the ladies kept saying “that’s not our culture” Goodbye to Re:Gen team, we are not waking up at 4am to see them off Day 3 Tuesday Sept 21 AM coffee @ Sophie then breakfast with Allye Morning devotional and prayer time Coffee with Genti and Nikollin Byrek for lunch Coffee at Komiteti Tobin Alli Alesso Klevisa Tod Hotel break 3pm started the event, Alli shared about social media and anxiety The girl in front of us turned around and nodded to her friend to say, “this is real” Tobin & I had coffee afterward with Alban Pasho, new head of Student ministries Alban is new to the role, still trying to figure it out Dinner 7:30 at Pasta restaurant w/ Kaon & Danjela Tobin left to get ready for bed, I took team to get Ice Cream and Bakllava Day 4 Wednesday Sept 22 AM coffee w/ Allye at mon cheri Met team at Office then spent some time at other coffee shop Alli shared her devotional Berti Berhami showed up - coffee with Berti & Marenglen More info on new structure of CRU Albania, informative re: convo with Alban yesterday On the way back to the office, ran into Skerdi w/ Edi Bicaku 12pm left w/ Edi N, Allye, Albi and Ueda for Peqin Arrived around 1:30, stopped at market for snacks 2:45 started w/ games - 12 kids total, all believers “Over the mountain” if… Pictionary Texas Trivia Shared my story of grace w/ a challenge built around Micah 6:8 Dancing Met pastor as we were leaving Dinner in Tirana w/ Gedis and Celjeta Great things in and around Elbasan - lots of opportunity to share the Gospel, some Elbasan kids becoming key volunteers which is unusual b/c they are more Muslim typically Re:Gen camp was good. Gedis decided he wanted to do Re:gen b/c of Berti Berhami sharing his testimony Allye went to sleep, I stayed up for the Fier team Day 5 Thursday Sept 23 Rest morning - rolled out of bed at 9:30 Allye felt so much better Most of the group went for brunch and then walked around the city. Allye and I took a taxi up to “Bar Class” 12:00 - met at the office to prepare for the “World Game” 1:00 - coffee w/ Brian and Luka Believer, grew up in a Christian family. Interested in Software Engineering Talked about life purpose - challenged him to think about this for a purpose: seek joy Discussed tithing and giving, not out of obligation. He had the advantage of watching his parents give 10% 3:00 meeting went well World game Pyramid scheme I shared my testimony, centered around the concept of “Right vs Wrong” and “Objective Morality”. Micah 6:8 Story re: SQL injection Board game time 6:00 met with Berti and Zamir Berti has a new job, he had been considering leaving his old job without even having a new one lined up, but he went to the church camp and prayed with Altin, and on the way back from the church camp he had two interviews lined up! Zamir has been growing his business, he has 25 employees now and is getting a new office! The Lord has blessed them both. I really enjoyed having a long coffee to catch up with them. I’m glad for them and praying that they will keep being involved in church, and being a light for others. 7:30 dinner at Era with Pal and Ueda. Just another great time together with friends. I love that I get to spend a lot of time with them on these trips. Day 6 Friday Sept 24 8:30 AM went to Dajti with a fugon Stopped at Natyra e Qete, where Pal and Ueda got married Prayer time Prayed over the project, specific names of kids that we had shared with or will share with Prayed for Albania Justice Corruption Social media usage among the youth Prayed for America Divided country w/ politics Materialism Church to be the Church Celebrated Edi & Kela’s 10 year anniversary w/ a cake Came down the mountain - I prayed that the brakes would hold! Coffee with Mario, Klevisa, Alexa, and Allye Allye talked with Klevisa and Alexa while I asked Mario some questions On a scale of 1-10 he’s a 7, because he’s confused about some things. I asked him what he’s confused about. Why would God make others suffer because of Adam and Eve He’s patient towards us, not wanting that any should perish Why are there so many different faiths Read paul’s sermon at the Areopagus Purpose was to get him to see that the answers to his questions are in the bible Alesio came later with a friend and started asking questions too, both of them said they are a 0 Came late to the Texas Night meeting Andrew started off with Frank Sinatra Texas Trivia - the question about Sweetwater’s rattlesnake roundup got the most people Q & A time - asked about Rodeo, we showed a video about mutton busting Dancing started with two stepping for 3 songs, then “Copperhead road”, then “Footloose” (madison) For Cotton-Eye Joe, we tried to teach one dance but they were already doing another one I went for coffee afterwards with Samuel, Luka, and Elia. Edi joined after a bit. I shared my testimony, they appreciated the change in my life from 10 years ago I asked Sam to share how he became a believer Last year was a dark time in his life, with lots of isolation. A pastor came all the way across Tirana, even during curfew, just to talk to him. That made a huge impression on him. Luka said that last year he didn’t want to be a believer because he thought that meant he couldn’t have fun anymore. I shared that I am a “Christian Hedonist” like John Piper Encouraging to get to invest in some young believers. Andrew went for coffee with a young boy named Alessio. He accepted christ tonight! Andrew had been working with him all week Met up for dinner with Berti and Adelina Berhami at Stephen Center. They treated us to dinner. Good conversation with good friends Sara, their daughter, took part in the re:gen camp this last weekend in Durres. Sara said that this is what we’ve been needing, since she experienced this many years ago in Dallas. Berti was studying at DTS at the time and the family were members of Watermark. Sara and Klea both went to WM youth ministry. After dinner we took a nice walk through town and arrived safely at our hotel, and of course went directly to sleep. Day 7 Saturday Sept 25 Met with Genti Tupa early Had to change things up with the YP ministry, almost “starting from zero”. He’s looking to connect with the medical community now as he has a supporter who will come who is a doctor. Talked about asking around our church if any lawyers would be interested in coming to Albania to make inroads with the legal community there. Covid test time! Went to a testing site on the other side of the city Anxiety that one or more tests would be positive. Us all being negative would be a miracle. Allye said it best, “praying that God would help my attitude if we’re not all negative”. Coffee time with Klei and Albi Klei is a typical high school student, he didn’t say much in response to questions. Just wants a family and a good job. We talked about having a bigger purpose for your life. He says he is a believer but hasn’t been very much involved in church. Albi is trying to get him to go to church in Yzberisht together with albi Meeting time at 11am There was a funny skit about a couple who goes to the movie theater. They have to sit on opposite sides of the row, and a jerk of a guy is in between them. The boyfriend passes gifts along to his girlfriend but they all end up being eaten or somehow messed up by the jerk. Meanwhile the other guy actually sitting next to the girl presents the gifts as though they are from him, and the girlfriend ends up leaving with the other guy! Brian did an excellent job with the Gospel presentation! Very clear explanation of the 4 laws Left the final slide up for the duration of the meeting - “you must make a personal choice”. Sam said he appreciated that this slide remained up for the whole meeting Lots of dancing! Our last chance to get in all the albanian dancing we want Lunch afterwards with about a dozen students. Allye talked to Nertila for a while, she’s a believer I tried to engage Igli and his brother Bruno in conversation. I asked them what they want out of life - “money”. We talked about John D Rockefeller, who when asked how much more would satisfy him, said “only 1 more dollar”. I was trying to make the point that Igli will never be satisfied, but he seemed to like that phrase. Or at least it was “cool” to like that in front of his friends. I challenged him instead to seek Wisdom, and we read some from Proverbs about how wisdom is more valuable than gold and silver. Pray for him, he didn’t seem interested in taking that path. Headed back to the office and piled into 3 cars to go out to Durres for the evening. This was our time of rest, relaxation with our Albanian friends, and evaluation of the project. First, we toured the Roman amphitheater in Durres. It’s likely the 2nd largest ever built by Rome outside the Coliseum. It’s thought that Titus was martyred here Drove down to the beach and a nice outdoor seafood restaurant there. We walked the beach a bit and took some photos before heading in to eat. Discussed the project, what went well, what we could do better. The video was a hit, we’ll definitely have to make a better one next time. Maybe Jordan Thompson would be on board? Doing a run-through of texas night and our gospel presentation would have helped. Praise the Lord for negative covid tests! We all got the emails at dinner. It’s seriously a miracle that none of us caught it. It was good to see both new students and returning students. It’s important to invest in the believers too. After a long and enjoyable dinner, we said goodnight to Kaon and Danjela as they were returning separately with their kids. The rest of us packed up in the cars again and went to the hotel. Since our flight out was at 4am, we decided to leave the hotel at 1 to go to the airport. Pal and Genti graciously stayed up to take us there. We chilled at the hotel until 11, hanging out and checking the score of the College Football games. I was watching A&M v Arkansas, while Brian was trying to follow Baylor vs Iowa State That last night of time with our friends was hard but good. Good because we are just such good friends now. Hard because of the exhaustion, and wanting to be present to spend time with them. I already miss them. Conclusion
This year we unfortunately had to cancel our summer project due to COVID-19. But there’s a purpose in everything God does! Though we were sad to not see our friends during the summer, we have kept in touch with them through a weekly Zoom call. Through this weekly touchpoint, and God’s provision, we were able to go as a small team in October! Day 1 Monday October 12 My Fiancee Allye Foster and I traveled first, arriving Monday October 12 to participate in the high school ministry’s project. We arrived about noon, very tired from the flights. Pal picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. I was very excited to see him again, we hadn’t seen eachother since he and Ueda came to Dallas in February. ...
The in-between I had a full week in between the Shkoder project and the YP project. I spent half of it working remote and the rest just catching up with friends. I found a really good coffee shop to work from. with a wonderful view. Day 1 Sunday July 7 Today my first responsibility was going to get everyone from the airport. Back on the receiving end! I enjoy hosting and it was fun to be able to welcome everyone and get them settled in. First thing we did was go to the hotel, where Joanne went straight in to take a nap. Smart choice. The rest of us got up and went out for lunch. We had Suflaqe across the street, and near the end of lunch a couple people who thought they were OK ended up just being done. So they headed back to the hotel while the rest of us walked around and exchanged leke, bought water, and took care of whatever needs we could think of. ...
Day 1 Tuesday June 25 We arrived in Tirana around noon and met Pal at the airport. Glad to be back in country! It’s been almost a year since I was here last - too long. We went with Pal to pick up Wes and Daniel at Hotel Sokrat. While there we met with Aldo for a bit. It was nice to catch up with him too! He’s tranisitioning to a new role with partnerships, and Pal & Ueda next year will be taking over for him as leader of the Tirana high school ministry. ...
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 What is it that we are building together with our partners in Albania? Why do you keep supporting me and my team in going back, now for the 7th year in a row? Firstly let me be clear that we are building nothing of our own, but rather we are building on the foundation that has already been laid. CRU has already done an amazing job of building up the Church in Albania, coming in shortly after Communism fell armed with nothing but the Gospel. Christ through them has laid the foundation of a small yet vibrant Church in Albania. ...
This month, while we’ve been working on the summer project here in Albania, I’ve been reading the book of Acts. I love all the descriptions in the book of Acts of faithful people who were not Apostles. Some of them, like Cornelius the centurion, had been faithful for a very long time, and God answered their prayers powefully. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. … While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. Acts 10:3-4,44-45 ...
Day 1 Sunday July 1 We traveled overnight Friday, finally arriving Saturday night. After checking into the hotel I was beat. I went to sleep right away and managed to sleep 9 hours straight. It was good though to see Berti, Pal, Ueda, and Aldo, who all picked us up at the airport. Berti invited me to his bible study group before church. I met up with them at 8am at Mon Cheri. Berti, Xhulio, Zamir, Visi, and Landi have been meeting regularly to study the Bible. They were talking about Psalm 58 this week, and we discussed the contrast between “The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;” (v10) and Jesus’ words: “Love your enemies and proy for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). I’m glad to see those guys getting together to dig into God’s word! ...
It’s that time again! We’ve begun preparing to go back to Albania this summer! Looking forward to going back I’m so glad that I already had a chance to get back to Albania in December, when we put on a men’s conference for Cornerstone Church of Tirana. That was a great time of fun and fellowship with many of my close Albanian friends. I’ve been keeping in touch with them although it’s been difficult due to the time difference. ...
When I look back on my experience with Albania, starting from my first trip there in 2013 until now, I can’t help but be amazed at the way God has used this partnership to bring change not only in my life but in the lives of my friends. My key verse for my 2-year stint in Albania was Mark 10:29-30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. Mark 10:29-30 ...