Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Greetings from Albania,

I hope you had a great summer, getting some rest with your loving ones and renewing your energies. At least this is what happens in Albania during August. Everyone leaves for vacations with their families.

I was thinking and writing down some notes on my summer so I thought I would share them with you.

We had two summer JV English Camps this year and I keep telling everyone who asks that I clearly saw God’s Spirit move in both camps. The theme for this year was “Collision”. Everyone of us has had a collision with Christ and so did some of the characters in the bible.This is what we talked about the six days of camp. At the first camp, were kids from the church planting area. None of them are believers and although they come from Muslim families, most of them were THIRSTY to know more .They kept asking questions and opening conversations no matter what time was or what activity we were doing.

One girl, Rezi said: “I stayed up all night long thinking of the collision in my life.” Or another one, Linda: “It feels like the perfect place and the perfect atmosphere to accept Christ but I don’t truly feel it right now. When that moment comes I want it to be genuine and true and then my family’s opposition and my friend’s judgment will not be a problem because Christ will be enough. But right now I need to think more where I am in my life and to know more about Jesus.” Eda, a girl coming from a Catholic background, who has been helping in a catholic church since she was little said: “Now, I get it because all the knowledge I had in my mind finally reached my heart.” And she professed Christ during that camp. My joy was double because she is one of the first girls of the English Club that chose Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

I also can’t forget the sudden tears of a beautiful girl, Dorina, saying that she wasn’t really understanding what was going on but she couldn’t stop crying when she felt the need to repent and believe. It was a great joy to walk her through the prayer of salvation.

There was also a clear opposition by some of the guys, especially during the first camp. They would pray their Muslim prayers on their knees before going to bed or during evening sessions. It was hard for some of the leaders because they also misbehaved and distracted other students that wanted to pay attention.

To close this update, because of God’s grace there were 11 students who turned away from their sins and accepted Jesus,( some of them are shown in the picture above) among them students that strongly defended their own beliefs and ideas on God. Isn’t it clearly God’s work ?! I had a verse that became my theme verse for this summer: Isaiah 55:11 … “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.It was an encouragement every time I spoke out His Word knowing that only God is the one who can change hearts.

I hope this letter will be an encouragement to you to see what God is doing in Tirana, Albania.

With much love and appreciation for your prayers, love and support!

Majlinda