I’m in Albania!!! I never expected to be able to serve in a European region, let alone the 10/40 window, yet the Lord has exceeded my expectations in every ministry opportunity given to us time and time again in this season.
It has been so beautiful here so far, and I’m so excited to share all of the ministry I’ve been doing for the past few weeks here.
We are currently living in Vlore, Albania, and we are staying in an apartment complex in the middle of the city in walking distance from plenty of coffee shops, supermarkets, and shopping places. It has definitely been the first time for me on the Race experiencing so much access to civilization, so it’s been really cool.
The people here are very kind and have absolutely beautiful hearts. They all seem very surprised when they find out we’re Americans, as people from the States seem to never visit this country in the winter season. It has been a wonderful and exciting experience so far, and I’m excited to share more over the next few weeks.
But before I get into what we’ve been doing for ministry, here’s a bit of an update on our travels:
We will be in Albania until January 31st, and then we head off to Romania! We were supposed to be here in Albania for only one month and then depart to the country of Kosovo, but because of Covid restrictions, we are staying in this country for an extra 3 weeks.
After Romania, we have no clue what country we are going to next, but after Europe we will eventually head off to Africa for the remainder of our Race! I’ll keep you updated on what that looks like in the next month or so.
Also, for some more traveling news: I’m going on a five-day trip to Istanbul, Turkey from January 18th until the 22nd! We had a few options available for us to travel outside of Albania for a few days, and after praying about it and doing tons of research, Turkey seemed like the best fit for our team. The nation is absolutely stunning, and there are so many options available for us to see firsthand a culture and region that I have never had the luxury of experiencing in person.
We have gotten to go to some really cool places here in the past few weeks. We took an overnight trip last week to Berat, Albania, where we got to explore the ruins of an old 14th century castle.
We also went into this beautiful old village where we got to spend time with some of the older women who worked in this tiny little shop near a school we were serving in. They didn’t speak a lick of English, but that didn’t stop them from chatting endlessly to us in Albanian as if we understood everything they were saying, which truly helped us learn some basic words and phrases in Albanian that have carried us pretty far since being here.
As for ministry here, there have been so many amazing things we’ve seen and done so far. Albania has an over 70% population of Muslims. But this country has been under extreme communist rule until since the early nineties, where faith and religion had been nearly nonexistent during that period. The nation is barely 30 years free from communism, and there seems to be a clear lack of hope, faith, and inspiration in many of the communities here. Many of those who claim any religious affiliation don’t entirely have much interest or conviction where their religion is concerned. Even some who consider themselves Christians don’t even entirely understand what that means or what they believe.
One man we got to evangelize to, who was about mid-twenties or so, was saying that he was raised a Christian. But when we started talking about the Bible, he had no idea what the Bible even was. We got to chat with him and some of his friends about some of the things we’ve gotten to do around the world, and many of them seemed so inspired by what we were doing, especially considering that most people our age seem to be lacking in purpose and true joy in their lives. It made us realize that a simple conversation about faith was something that had more value and worth than we could have ever expected.
After meeting so people here in similar situations, we prayed about how we can try to inspire some hope in this area, and we ended up doing a day of worship around the city. With nothing but a guitar, a speaker, and a handful of handmade Christmas cards, we walked around the city singing worship songs on Christmas Eve. People stopped and stared, some even taking pictures and videos of us. We handed out handmade Christmas cards to people walking by, and the smiles on their faces were priceless. When handing out the cards, one family assumed they would have to pay for it, and we had to explain to them that it was a gift. Most of them had no concept of being given something for free or without an alternative intent. And through this simple way of ministering, there was a tangible increase of joy that day, even within ourselves.
It has been so incredible serving in this region so far, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord continues to do on our journey for the next few weeks in this city.
I want to leave you all with a scripture the Lord placed on my heart to share:
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another…” Romans 12:9-16 NIV
I went from speaking that truth before this journey to living it out in my life right now. My prayer is that this scripture becomes a reality for each of you, no matter what your daily life looks like.
Thank you for all of the ways you all have encouraged and supported me on this trip. Please continue praying for me and my new team to depend on the Lord in everything we do, to not be distracted by anything that does not look like Him, and to at all times carry the love of the Lord to every place and nation we step into.
You Are Loved,
Aliseya
