Sepse Perëndia

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Towards the end of our time in Romania, we were given our ministry placement/details for Albania. Our team knew we would be in multiple locations, but we mainly focused on our Vlorë placement. I mean how could we not? From the looks of Google, it is a beautiful beach city and our host in Romania told us it’s “basically Greece.”

So what did we expect for our time in Albania? Basically Greece. We are almost two weeks in, and life here hasn’t been close to what we imagined. Last week we were in Mbrostar, a little area that our phones wouldn’t even register a location. This week and next we are in Baltez, a town bigger than Mbrostar but still small. We live in small rooms on sleeping pads and have had some interesting shower experiences. But despite living the complete opposite of what I was imagining our time in Albania to be like, I have absolutely loved being here!

We are hosting VBS camps Monday- Friday evenings in each location and every evening my heart is filled with love for these people and communities despite my lack of ability to communicate. Our first week was filled with hugs from the children every time we saw them- walking to the cafe, going to get water and VBS. This week the kids love to say hello to us and so many of them met us at the store last night and helped us carry our jugs of water home.

Before coming here, we were focused on what we saw as the fun and good. We thought less about these weeks, so we were caught off guard that first night. But the Lord has brought so much joy in the unexpected. I wouldn’t be upset if this was what our whole time in Albania looked like. The only downside: not being able to communicate. Albanian language is so interesting. I’ve tried to learn some words/phrases but I don’t even come close to pronouncing them correctly. But thankfully God is bigger than a language barrier, and His love shines through anyway.

We haven’t even completed two full weeks of VBS yet, but I already have so many memories and things to be thankful for. I titled this blog Sepse Perëndia because our memory verse for the kids is John 3:16 and this is how the verse starts in Albanian which is loosely translated because God. I’ve joked that I’m going to just start saying sepse Perëndia as my answer to questions, but how cool that my experience thus far in Albania really is “because God.”

I thought I’d be living near the beach. I didn’t expect to be sleeping on the floor. I imagined lots of stores/coffee shops close by. None of that is true for these first few weeks. Why? BECAUSE GOD knew that this is what I needed. The reminder that sweetness can be found in the unexpected and in the simplest of things.