School, flatmates, and the Adriatic

Time is flying! I can hardly believe it is the end of May!

Susan my flatmate and I

A few weeks ago I moved in with Susan, she is from England and she is delightful! She has been in Albania for about 6 years now and is a teacher at GDQ International School, which is a school for the missionary community here in Tirana.

I've really enjoyed living with Susan and getting the feel of single living (outside the U.S.) as opposed to family life. We play games and have people over because of our centralized location!

The other day we traveled to the Adriatic Sea!! Its about 45 minutes to a town called Durres and there we enjoyed the beach!!! It was nice to get away from the city!

The past two weeks I've been volunteering at the GDQ School and mostly thats involved covering textbooks with lamination so that they last longer. It isn't the most glamorous job, but it's helpful to the school so I was grateful to help. There was also a production of "The Hiding Place" that was performed by a group of actors from London. So I helped them set up and get props ready. The event was really well done and hopefully some of the community were reached by the message of the ten Boom family's faith.

I realize I haven't been updating this as often as I should. Because as I write this about my new housemate, I am actually packing to leave! I leave on Thursday and arrive in Germany. It seems crazy that my time here is over. I have really enjoyed this city, and getting to know the culture. The people in Albania are so caring and unique, even though they ask a lot of questions and sometimes personal questions they mean well!! I have really enjoyed getting to know the friends I have made here.

Ornela!! She works at AEP!!
Loved working with her!!

I came with certain expectations. That will always happen, every country I travel to and every step of this journey I will have expectations. Sometimes they will be negative and other times positive, some of them will be met and most probably wont be. I've realized that my expectations aren't God's plans. One example of this is: I was expecting to work with a lot of Albanians, and to do ministry with Albanians.Which I did do some of this, but most of my time was spent working with an office that is a help ministry for missionaries. So I was able to learn about and practice support for missionaries. I helped organize events and did administrative assistant work. But even though I wasn't going door to door sharing the Gospel with Albanians I know my time here was a blessing to others, and I also know I learned new skills and gained confidence in areas that lacked before. I feel like my time here was pleasantly unexpected!

Please be in prayer as I travel on Thursday. Also, for Albania, they have just had elections and there is a lot of corruption so one party claimed there needed to be a recount; just pray for guidance and wisdom on the leadership.
Thank you for following my journey!!

A kilo of amazing cherries for under $3

Working hard at GDQ International School! Covering textbooks with lamination!

Easter and The Big 2-3

As most of you know Sunday April 24th was an eventful day with Easter celebrations and remembering that Christ sacrificed himself for us and then rose up from the grave so that through Him we can have everlasting life. I was able to spend a lot of time meditating on the value of Christ's sacrifice and the depth of the pain he endured. I spent time studying  the Word and the impact of his resurrection. Because he came to life we are able to have new life and a beautiful inheritance. I hope you were as blessed this Easter as I was.

Friends decorating their eggs!!

Even though most know the beauty of the Easter story, not all of you may be aware that the same Sunday was my 23rd birthday!! I was blessed by my friends in Tirana with a party!! We had some friends over and celebrated by dying eggs, which is a tradition for me to do on Easter and I love it!! Some of my friends had never dyed eggs before and most Albanians had only ever dyed them red, not multicolored and decorated!! It was so fun to watch as they tried different ways and experimented!

We had a wonderful meal of chicken curry with all the fixings to go with it! I never knew bananas, onions and raisins would taste good in chicken curry!!! What a surprise!! Then we had cake!! I was so lucky we had two!! One was a more traditional Albanian 'torte' and the other was just good! I wont deny it, I had a slice of both!!

Left-traditional Albanian, Right-Chocolate & nutty

I felt very loved and blessed by my new friends here in Albania, and I am so thankful I have been able to build relationships with them and learn from each one of them! And thank you for all the birthday wishes from back home!! I felt the love from away!!! 

My beautiful friends Ornela and Ana

On Monday I had the privilege to travel up to Mt. Dajti. Mt. Dajti is a huge mountain that overlooks Tirana. There is a cable car that you can take to the top and there are restaurants and beautiful views at the top. So I went up with a few friends and spent the day walking and eating delicious food!!!

Below are pictures from my trip up the mountain!!!  

View from the top

Bunkers are all over the country. The dictator built
hundreds all over the country in case of an invasion.

Silly picture of me on top of the mountain!

The rest of the week was spent in preparation for a workshop I'm at right now. Its called Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills, and I've been working on the logistics for this week since I've arrived in Tirana. Its been a great week so far of learning, and we are in a beautiful southern town! I will report more when I get back to Tirana! I have to introduce you to my new housemate!! I moved in with her last week! So look forward to that!!! Thank you for being patient with me! Sorry this update is so late!!! Mirupafshim!!