Albania Outreach

While in Albania, we worked with the International Protestant Assembly church in Tirana (the capital). We did a variety of different ministries every week but did them on a consistent basis. That meant that every week we were able to see progress and build upon the relationships that we had made. Every Sunday, we took part in the church’s services and usually had an opportunity to speak and share our testimonies. We also hugely took part in the church's youth group.

We also started two different ministries for the church to continue on when we had left. Every Tuesday, we would go out in the morning and try to find English speakers to come to the coffee shop at the back of the church at night. A vision of the church’s is to see the Tuesday night in the coffee shop to become a mix of people off the street, to regulars, to Christians and to people who are being discipled regularly. The other ministry was their worship night that they had. It was always so encouraging to see people want to come to simply spend more time with Jesus.

Three times a week, our team would split up and go to three different projects to do practical work. One group went to an orphanage, another went to a church plant and my group went to a village outside of the city to work with a Scottish lady who was preparing to open up a physiotherapy clinic for the disabled. There had been an explosion in the village that had left a lot of people needing rehabilitation. Our team also worked with a church and spent some time going into different houses to share the gospel. In one house that we went to, I was given the opportunity to share my testimony concerning anxiety and trusting in God. And thank Jesus, she became a Christian! One week, our team split into two and I went with two other trainees to meet with a large Muslim family. They had seen the power of prayer to Jesus before and so I was able to pray with each of them for different things. Our team was so blessed by the different people we worked with in that village and it was encouraging to see Christians working faithfully in mostly Muslim villages.

For a couple of days, we headed up to the mountains to work with a church on a youth graduation event. At their Sunday service, one of our trainees preached on the power of the cross and another shared a testimony on spiritual warfare. We stayed with host families from the church while we were there and spent a great deal of time just eating food with them. The family that I stayed with was amazing with the hospitality they showed us and how they welcomed us into their family. 

The village held a short amount of time in Albania but ended up being my favourite time. It’s sometimes easy to forget that there are so many churches out there that only hold 20 members and their faith is put to the test a lot more than mine is in the day-to-day practicalities. 

Working with YWAM Albania and Campus Crusade for Family Day

The Albanian team

Working at roma camps

In the village