I don’t have nearly the time or space to describe everything God’s been doing lately, but I’ll try my best to give a little taste.
First, a little taste of Albania J I shared a little bit about the first half of the trip in my last post. God keeps reminding me of those lessons quite often. Especially the one that ended in my commitment and excitement to go wherever He calls, even somewhere other than Africa. The things I shared last time are probably the lessons I’ll take with me from the trip.
But in my experience, every trip has its big lessons and its big story. Albania’s big story is definitely about a little girl named Erida. I’m not exactly sure how old she is, but I would guess around 9 or 10. From the first day, she caught my eye. She’s so adorable! But as camp went on, I began noticing the traces of God working in her beforehand. At Power Plant, the evangelism speaker taught that the person of peace is the one to seek out. A person of peace meaning the people that God has been working in and around before you ever showed up. I have no doubt that Erida was one of our people of peace for this trip.
Anyway, as the camp went on, God continued to work in Erida’s young heart. The last day of camp was our Salvation Day. We did salvation bracelets (the bracelets with the colored beads) and then the Bible lesson was the life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. I know, I know…it’s a lot to cover in 20 minutes or less before losing the kids’ attention! I knew I was going to be sharing with one of the groups, but I had no idea which group. To be honest, there were kids in every group that I wanted to be the one that got to share Christ with them. But Erion (one of the translators) and I were asked to share with the group that was going to dance that day. Erida’s group.
After I told the kids about Christ, we went over the salvation bracelet beads again. Black is sin; red is Christ’s blood; white is what our heart is made after forgiveness; blue is for baptism; green is for growth; yellow is for heaven. Every time I get the chance to teach this lesson, this is about the point where the kids’ attention starts to switch from me to the nearest shiny object. Erida, however, was full of questions. And not easy ones. Her questions were ones like what happens to people that don’t take God’s gift, and is the devil really real. And if we ask God for something, will He always give it to us. For a 10 year old, she was working out some pretty serious theological issues. She couldn’t get enough of the stories, this new man Jesus, and the reason behind why He came and did this crazy thing. I think one of my favorite questions she asked was that if Jesus didn’t do anything wrong, why didn’t He just stay in Heaven. The best way I could think to explain something that doesn’t make sense to me either was that when we’re in love, we do crazy things. And God is the same way: He loves us more than we could ever know, and that makes Him do crazier things than we could ever understand.
At this point, the other kids are about to stage a mutiny, so I have Erion ask her if she’d like to go outside and talk more about it. She quickly agreed, and we moved outside. At this point, she told Erion that she just wanted Jesus. I asked him to be sure that she understood what Jesus had done and what she was doing. She assured us that she knew and that she wanted God’s gift. I was about to explain prayer to her, when she said something to Erion. He looked confused for a minute and then told me that she one question before she talked to God. I told her that whatever she wanted to ask, she could. That if we couldn’t answer her, we’d get the pastor.
Her only question before she’d accept forgiveness and become a daughter of the King was if this was for her family too. She asked if her family could come to Heaven with her. It was almost like it wasn’t worth it to her if her family couldn’t come as well. I can’t tell you how much that broke my heart. She so desperately wanted her family to have what she was about to receive. I told her that if she kept asking God to let her family know Him, and if she told them about Jesus, that I thought God would do it. She got the biggest smile on her face and said she would tell them as soon as she got home.
After praying with her and letting her tell God whatever she wanted (not sure what they talked about because it was in Albanian…but in reality, it’s none of my business, is it?), it was my favorite moment of leading a little girl to the Lord. See, every girl, no matter where she’s from or if she’s seen Disney movies or not, dreams of being a princess of sorts. I think every girl has it programmed in her DNA to want to be a princess. After Erida prayed, I explained that God is the King of everything. The highest King in the whole universe. And that when we ask Him to come into our lives, we become His daughter. Then I asked her that if she’s His daughter and He’s a king, what that makes her now. She looked a little confused, so I told her that she’d become a princess.
I’ll tell you something, the look a little girl gets when you tell her she’s a legitimate, full-fledged princess…worth anything in the world!
Please, please, please join with me in praying for Erida and her family. I believe that this little girl will lead her family to the Lord. But I also believe that unfortunately, she’s got a tough road ahead of her before she sees that happen.
Well, that’s the story I’ll leave you with from Albania!
Last night, some of the summer missionaries working in the Savannah area came to Rothwell for the state missions day thing they have every year. I can’t tell you how excited I was for this! They’re all girls, and we hung out at orientation back in May. God knew exactly when I’d need encouragement and some laughter! I’ve had an amazing time here, but there have definitely been hard days. And there’s something about talking with people that know exactly where you’re coming from. It was so good to see them again, talk about what’s been happening at our sites, and what we’ve been learning.
One of the girls, Heather, talked about this book she’s reading titled something along the lines of Echoes of God (that’s not it exactly, but it’s close enough). Basically, it talks about the fact that a lot of times, God will continually bring topics, words, etc. up in your life when He’s trying to teach you something. Her echo lately has been that His word doesn’t return void. I think my echo lately is Ezekiel. I can’t really escape him. The prophet nobody listened to….hmm…not exactly what I want to hear (ironic, I know). But I’ve been spending some time in the book of Ezekiel, and God called him to do some really, really crazy stuff. Like really crazy stuff. And Ezekiel didn’t question the Lord or challenge His call. He did as he was asked and left the results to Management. Recognize the two-by-four of Love, anyone?
Well, that’s all I have time to write for now… I’ll post a few more times before I head back home. But this post is long enough to keep you occupied for a bit!! Haha
PRAYER REQUESTS
Erida and her family
The 41 kids that attended camp
Broshke (village where the kids are from)
Bethel Church
That I would focus here and not where I’m going next
I’m speaking on Thursday at RBC’s Brotherhood meeting (yea, all the church’s men….I guess they haven’t caught on that I’m a girl)….I’m really nervous…
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