Përmet, Albania

For our second month, we got to spend two and a half weeks in Përmet, Albania. Përmet is a small town in the south, beside the Greece border. Our small team of 5 was sent out for ATL (ask the Lord) month, where we are to enter a city or town to look for ministry through prayer and faith. 

The first week was rough but full of miracles. We discovered that, even though only the younger generation speaks English, everyone is so welcoming and kind throughout the whole town. We spent time praying around the town, handing out Bible verses written in Albanian, I drew sketches of strangers and gave them as gifts to start conversations, the guys played soccer with some neighborhood kids and we had gotten to know a local restaurant owner, Georgie.

One of my favourite stories would be the time we went hiking up a mountain. Whenever our team went out, we would notice a large white cross sticking out of the mountain and kept feeling drawn to it. We decided we would hike up there and visit a small village nearby while we were there. So we packed up our stuff and went up in excitement and anticipation. When we got to the village, we were a little disappointed since there were practically no people around and 2 friendly dogs. We kept going up the trail and we discovered that the trail was not properly marked. We sat and struggled for a bit but then decided we would pray and ask God as to if we should try to continue or head back. In my prayers, I had a vision of us coming back down with a group of people and felt the spirits delight. I shared this with the group and we decided to continue on up the mountain. We found the rest of the trail and made it to the beautiful view.

To our surprise, 10 minutes later we saw some people coming up carrying fences. We went to offer to help them but instead they invited us to join them. Before we knew it more people came up, they took our bags, placed them on their horses and started leading us further up the mountain. With the most beautiful view of the side of the mountain, we looked around in awe and joy. We soon came across a gate that they unlocked and invited us in.

After many attempts at conversing and using a translator app, we began to understand that this was a family (some were extended family visiting) who takes care of a small orthodox church in the side of the mountain and also work as shepherds.

They welcomed us in, showed us around and even shared some of their food with us. It was such a beautiful experience and they also allowed us to pray a blessing over them. On the way back down, we discovered that the place we stopped to pray if we should keep going was right beside their home as well.

Though we didn’t know exactly what we were doing, God provided many chances for us to be present with His people in Albania. Be it on mountains, random alleyways, soccer fields or other church buildings, we had the blessing of meeting so many people and growing in relationships with them.