Country: Albania, Southeastern Europe
Dates: 1/9/23 – 2/23/23
Team: stckd (Sarah Dodd, Alyssa Phillips, Cheeka Vang, Trisa Moser, Joana Quintana, Amy Scott – Honorable Mention: Katherine Porzi)
Local Currency: Lek (1USD = roughly 107.60ALL)
Favorite Local Food: Sufllaqe
Local Language: Albanian (Many English Speakers)
Common Phrases: Faleminderit (thank you), Nuk e di (I don’t know), Mire/Shume Mire (good/very good), Miremengjes (good morning), Miredita (good afternoon), Mirupafshim (goodbye), Zote (God), Si e ke emrin (what is your name?), Te Dua (I love you)
Ministry Partner: Living Water Church/Adopt a Child Albania
Ministry Location: Kotodesh, Albania; Trek to Vlore
Ministry Host: Ardit & Ranja Alisufi; The Holy Spirit
Sendoff Location: Tirana, Albania
What was difficult? Change. Changing leadership, changing teams, and changing countries all happened at once. I am getting very comfortable with change here on the race. We hold everything loosely. But with this much change it did hit me, especially since we didn’t have a lot of distractions from our feelings in the village. But grieving is a natural process and I have learned how to do it in a healthy way!
What am I thankful for? Warmth and wood burning stoves. I am the most thankful for quiet mornings wrapped up in many blankets with my coffee and my bible in hand sitting beside the wood burning stove getting to watch the mountains outside come alive with sunshine!
What did I learn about God? Our ATL time was a struggle for me in the physical sense. I was sick with a stomach bug for 3 days and was unable to keep food in me. So I learned what it meant to lean on God for not just physical provision but physical strength. With my blessing, my team decided to continue trekking during the first day of my sickness, we ended up walking about 6 hours and a lot of miles and then sleeping on the beach in our tents. It was amazing that God always provided a bathroom when it was needed and I was able to continue moving forward by His grace alone knowing He is my source of strength.
Funniest moment? We have team time everyday (except sabbath) where one person comes up with an activity for us to do as a team. Our lovely squad leader, Katherine, choose one night to make us go head to head with each other with a mouth full of water watching a YouTube video with a bunch of funny videos to see who could survive without spitting it out first. Well if you know me at all, you know that I laugh at everything and it doesn’t take much, so when it was my turn I was allowed 2 tries and both times I think I lasted maybe 2 seconds, the first time I am not even sure we pressed play on the video before I lost it…
Favorite Ministry Moment? I have 2 favorite moments in Albania, the first one is in the village we were taught how to do the traditional Albania dance. This is the dance that is done at all celebrations and especially at weddings. It seemed simple enough, so the music started and the kids all grabbed our hands and began. I tried so hard to get the steps down. I cannot honestly say that I nailed it but it was still one of my favorite moments during our ministry! It felt like we were truly living life as an Albanian and it was fun to get to laugh and have fun with the kids and our host, Ardit. My second moment was the butterfly tattoo girl on the bus (see that blog here). It was my first time speaking to someone myself that I broke the ice and was able to bring up Jesus and speak some life into someone that I understood more than she knew!
Favorite Travel Memory? Before we start our period of ATL, we do what it says, we Ask The Lord what He wants and if there are words or visions or anything the Lord gives us individually or as a team we write it down and pray into it in expectation that it’s from God. I received this idea of running, I wasn’t sure if it was figurative or literal. When we got to Vlore and I saw the pathway along the edge of the water, I knew I wanted to run it! However, I had just not eaten and been sick for 3 days. So I gained some strength back and on our second to last day I was able to take a jog along this water edge! I knew it was God further proving that He alone is my strength and also confirming that vision I received was from Him. It was a beautiful morning moment with the Lord getting to relish in His beauty in my surroundings and His beauty in my physical body.
Favorite sendoff moment? At sendoff, where we said goodbye to our Alumni Leaders who had been on this trip with us for the first 5 months, we got to honor them by each team creating a video. We all sat down to watch the videos together when we got to sendoff and they were HILARIOUS! Each team was so creative and unique in how they chose to honor or roast the alumni squad leaders. My team did an Office theme, documentary style, trying to capture things about the race and each alumni squad leader. The boys did a rendition of Full House which had me rolling. Stop, Drop & Roll did a few themes like survivor, the office, and the amazing race. Lastly 1-800-askafarmer did a skit about life without a squad leader.
Albania was truly a sweet time. I loved the relationships built, the provision of God and the slowness to enjoy the simple things!
