So, we've come to this..Thursday.

Today was our last full day here in Albania and it was also a little less busy. I know that I woke up with a heavy heart but a heart full of anticipation. This city has impacted all of our lives permanently and oh, how precious this time has been. 

Before breakfast several of us walked to our new favorite coffee shop, Mulliri I Vjeter, one last time. Early morning coffee adventures are always splendid. 

We started breakfast earlier today.  I must say, it was slightly bittersweet knowing those would be my last Albanian chocolate chip pancakes for quite a while. Its probably a good thing that there will be separation from these, if I'm being honest.

 After breakfast we gathered on the roof of the Stevens Center and worshipped together.

During which a woman came on the roof and asked us to pray for her son who had cerebral pasly. We were able to pray over him and his family. 

Random acts led by the Holy Spirit make for amazing moments. An example along with this is as we walked, Brienn, Carol and Rion all stopped because they felt they needed to pray for a young man. They were able to pray for him and encourage him. Rion gave him this challenge and request, "smile at the next person you see and tell them Jesus loves you." I challenge you in this as well! 

After this we walked down to the square where Aleks church is and from there we split off. Both groups walked to seperate Roma communities and brought them Jesus food and much love. 

We didn't have long with them, but you could see the thankfulness on their faces.

It really puts things into a new perspective when you see someone gain so much joy from one small gift or even our attention and compassion. We played some music and in one of the groups there was the opportunity for the gospel to be shared. We all made new friends

However, my group met some extra special friends

                  Albanian Turkeys!!!

Once we had given all of the food we had with us we stopped for a snack and some coffee. See snack below. 

After coffee we had some time for some souvenir shopping and fellowship.   

It brought out some of the guy's sassiness. 

After this we took taxis to Streha and had our last time of worship together while in Tirana. It was awesome to hear the testimonies of everyone and listen to all God did in each of us in just nine days! 

We were able to pray over the Grimes and one of our awesome translators, Rudina. She has been such a blessing on this trip! Many people were reached through her gifting as well as all the rest of our terrific translators. We most certainly could not have done all we did without them. Thank you so much! 

Afterwards we all hiked over to the Grimes house and ate dinner together. We ate Jesus Food and it was delicious!

Then we had some very tasty desserts and once we were all quite full and very satisfied we said our goodbyes. It was a sad moment as we said goodbye to Hope, Julie and Claire but we know we will see them again soon! From there we went to what is known as the Sky Tower to get a very good last view of this city we have all fallen in love with. 

Tomorrow we fly to Rome and are all very excited to tour there but I know we will miss Tirana immensely. 

I hope you have enjoyed hearing of all our happenings over these past few days! Check soon to read about our adventures in Rome! 

Until we meet, I write, you read, again!

-Emily

Wed-Nes-Day

Today was a great day and although it was busy, I believe it was refreshing and The Lord granted us rest as we ministered. Many of us split off and did different things and for me it was very cool to know that we were all ministering around the city.  

My story for today began before breakfast this time. Abigayle, Courtney, Jake, Erik, Rion, Geoff and myself walked to what we call the pyramid. It was a memorial during communist times. It's still accessible, so of course, we climbed on it.

As we headed back we realized we had lost Jake. So, Jake had his own adventure in Tirana. He eventually found a taxi and got a ride back. We were all a little worried but God is faithful and he made it just in time to join his group. 

After our small adventure we had breakfast. It was very crowded because today was day 2 of the Steven Center's 20th anniversary. From here is where we split off. Jake, Jason, Dick and Jeremy went to the women's prison to share the gospel and pray with them. Unfortunately they were not able to take pictures but I can tell you that many of the women received Christ today. Brienn and Carol went to the home for the elderly again and Brienn gave some of the women  haircuts.

 Along with this Carol prayed with the director of the home and she also commited her heart to God. 

The rest of the team including myself went to a local children's hospital. There were six children there, which is a small number. Praise The Lord. We sang for them, prayed for the parents and just tried to give them genuine smiles. 

Here, a nine year old boy with leukemia accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. 

Think about that for a moment..all three groups, led people to the Kingdom of God around the same time. God is so good! After this we drove back to the Steven Center and the guys from our group went to a village out of the city to help unload a trailer full of donations. 

While they did this the rest of the team eventually met up at the restaurant. 

Once the guys got back most of us (minus Brienn, Jeremy, Erik, Carol and Dick) headed over to Streha for the last day of the children's event. Today though, was directed for teenagers. We all fit right in as we were in the ministry that we are all mostly in back home. There was such a good turn out! We had a sweet time of music, a game, and an opportunity to recieve Christ and once again several people accepted Him. 

Hallelujah! I know we will all miss the people we met today dearly. However it is so wonderful to know we are leaving them in the hands of their Creator, and He can love them far greater than we ever could. 

From there we returned once again the the Stevens Center. Here we recieved some very exciting news! For the anniversary the Center had a raffle for a motorcycle. A lot of people from the team pitched in a got tickets and Tom won the bike! Woo!

Although some others had fun on it too. 

 Then we had another time of praise and worship and dinner. Following this was a late night snack of gelato. If you ever find yourself in Albania, please, try the gelato. 

My heart is so full as I write this. Thinking back upon this past week and all that The Lord has done, words fail to express how in awe I am. So many hearts came to know Christ and although tomorrow is our last day in the city I know that He has great plans for tomorrow and our work here is not done! 

Thank you for reading, thank you for praying! 

- Emily 

Let's Taco-bout Tuesday

Today, started off with breakfast. Most people do this naturally. Bacon?...I think so...

Following this was a worship session to get ready for the day. We needed the fresh filling from the Holy Spirit, as we were next headed to the local University to hang out with the young adults there. 

Pastor Jason,Pastor Jeremy, Jake as well as myself whipped out the guitars and cajon. We played music and it drew the crowds to listen.

This then gave the team a launching pad for making conversations. We were able to pray for some and make relationships.

Several of the people we met agreed to come to some of the events we have happening within the next few days. Many of the young adults there spoke English well enough for us to speak without the translators. I know The Lord was using us to get the peoples attention and to then grip their hearts for Christ. After an hour or two there, we took the bus to Tom and Julie's neighborhood and got lunch. 

                        Bus selfie!

After lunch we got things ready for day two of the children's event. Many of the same children showed up and it was great to see all of their excited faces again. It was the same run down as yesterday. Music, crafts, games, skits and an opportunity to accept Jesus.

We heard quite a few of them exclaim excitedly when they discovered they were allowed to return to the church and bring their families. Once it had ended we took taxis to part of the Stevens center 20th anniversary celebration. In one of the cabs we had the opportunity to share the gospel with the driver, and he was very interested in hearing about the sacrifice Jesus made for him. Once at the anniversary memorial it was refreshing to be around so many fellow believers.

Afterwards, we had dinner together. (Some had tacos, in honor of Tuesday) 

we all found ourselves hitting our mental wall at this point.

Here is when we decided to call it a night so we are all able to get rest for tomorrow's busy day! Much will be happening and I can't wait to tell you all of the wondrous things Jesus will do tomorrow! 

Zoti Bekoftë! - God bless you! 

- Emily