Albania Part 2

After the first week in Albania, actually when I first set foot in Albania, I felt like I belonged there. It felt so welcoming and like home away from home. The people are very friendly and loving. The country is a developing country but I think they have something that is so important in their culture. They want to invest in your life and have you invest in theirs. I'm talking face to face real conversation over coffee without cellphones. SAY WHAAAA??? That doesn't happen often here anymore. Unless you demand it.

During the weekend after the VBS camp and before English camp we were able to experience an Albanian wedding. {The man} has been going to Albania for the past few years on this same trip. He has connected with many new friends but this couple in particular has become very close to him and now me as well. Renis and Alba are an inspiring Christ-like couple that were married this summer. Matt was in the wedding and through their friendship with Matt they asked me to be their photographer! An ALBANIAN WEDDING?? I mean really...Who gets to capture an Albanian wedding??  God opened that opportunity and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it all.  {More to come on this event in future posts...stay tuned}

After the weekend we headed to another town outside of the capital. We were met with 20+ college students from the city of Tirana at a resort. We spent 5 days in the resort teaching them about English and about Jesus. Everyday we taught English class from 9am-12noon. There were three levels; beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Being the English teacher that I am, I taught the advanced class with two other lovely ladies from my church. The afternoons were for beach/pool and building relationships with our new friends. We met up as a group each night for an hour and a half to teach parables from the Bible. Matt and I taught a small group together. This was followed by a night activity of some sort. Dancing, movies, games, food, you name it... we did it.

A main purpose for our trip, to teach about the Gospel. It was also the scariest part of the trip for me. That probably sounds ridiculous since I knew thats exactly why I had signed up to go. I feared that I wouldn't have the right words to say or that I wouldn't have all the answers to speak about Jesus to students that haven't heard much about Him, this was also the area that I grew the most. I found myself in many conversations with student about Jesus and my faith. I also found that when I spoke, God was clearly leading the conversation. My goal was to speak truth in a loving way to the students. I shared my testimony and told how God has changed my life and heart. I learned that although I don't have all the answers or even close to all of them I can still impact the lives of others through trusting God and allowing Him to use me to greater His kingdom. Many great friendships were made and I had the opportunity to pray with two girls who accepted Christ.

The camp was life changing in one way or another for each of us. New friendships were built, people were saved, and a good time was shared by all.

There are so many more words I could write to tell you of this experience but as always I prefer my photos tell a bigger portion of my story.

Not related to camp, but just to give you an idea of how beautiful the country is! 

Also not related to the camp. Just loved that these two men were playing a game. :)

Love Is On My Side

No, the title does not mean I found the man of my dreams... BUT. You can get excited about this post because its coming straight from the depths of my heart.

via

I found this quote on Pinterest this past week and it really stuck with me. All I truly want from this life is to live to bring glory to my God. I mean that is why I was placed here so why not live out my life to its fullest potential right?? So, yes, I want people to look at me and think 'Wow, she really loves Jesus'. This is where it may get a little tricky. I don't want people to think that of me for my own good. I want people to look at me and think that girl has something alive in her spirit and I want some of what she is on. Basically that goes along perfectly with my goal of inspiring others. The way I choose to inspire others is through the love of Jesus Christ. And no, as I found out in church today, that Christ is not Jesus' last name. HAHA! (No, I never thought that but my pastor decided to point it out... hilarious)

I want to inspire you with some words of insight I received today. 1) Nothing anybody says about you has a hold on your destiny because they won't get you to heaven. All you have to realize is that God is on your side and with that you can't fail. 2) God is no respecter of persons, God will use anybody with a willing heart to do his work 3) You were created to be you nobody else so stop trying to live other people's dreams and live your own. 4) Don't give yourself away to people who can't receive you.

Do your best at life and inspire others. Even if you're not on the right path with your faith in this moment you can strive to do your best and get back on path. In fact, I haven't always been on a correct walk of faith in my life, but I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't made all the mistakes I have made. To be quite honest I know I will make many more but that's the beauty of life. You learn from each mistake you make you can reflect and go on from there. So if I had to choose a life of either always being 100% on path or falling off my path along the way I choose the second. I know that may sound absolutely crazy that I would want to have made mistakes and gone through trials but I wouldn't be where I am standing today if I had not gone through everything I have gone through. And I love exactly where I am standing in life today. So I embrace my mistakes and trials and you should too.