Z squad spent a weekend in Tirana saying goodbye to the best alumni SQL’s in the whole world! We love them so much and are so excited to see what sweet and perfect plans the Lord has for them next!
Then each of the teams of Z squad headed out to new ministry locations for a time we call ATL!
ATL (Ask The Lord) is a time of allowing the Lord to guide us in all that we do! For two weeks, each team was asked to pray about where to go and what to do!! Nothing is provided by AIM for us! We get to decide where to go and where to stay! Fun! Scary! Exciting! We could take matters into our own hands and schedule everything ourselves, but really, where is the dependence and provision from the Lord in that??
My sweet team sat down to seek the Lord and His will for us! We were about to head home from the student center in Koce when we stopped outside and stood in the sun. I took the opportunity to pray for ATL. I got a vision of waves hitting some rocks. Then an image of two of my sweet squadmates who had been doing ministry in another city during our time in Albania. Confident, I headed home to enter into a more intentional space of prayer, expectant of the Lord to continue to lead my team to a revelation for our upcoming ATL. With worship music playing, we each prayed individually. While praying, the visions did not leave my mind. I prayed fervently over them, asking for specific clarity from the Lord. I flipped through my bible, asking the Lord to reveal anything that was in His will for my team. I came across a lot of passages about water. Okay, God. Then I spent time reading about Jesus and His baptism. Nothing was really pertaining to ATL, so I moved on. I flipped over to John chapter 7 and was in awe of the Father. One of the section headings read “Rivers of Living Water”. The same squadmates who I saw in the vision are a part of a team whose team name is Living Water!!
After a period of time, we came together and shared. My teammate Ryann shared she got a vision of the ocean! She also received images of turtles and palm trees. The boys both felt that the Lord was asking them to take a step back and let us girls be willing to step up and lead this ATL decision and experience. Lastly, I shared the way that the Lord brought me to the Living Water passage and how I thought, with all the connections from the Father, we were supposed to go to…
DURRES, ALBANIA!
We prayed for a few more days and didn’t feel called away from it, so we made it the plan! We remembered that our ministry hosts in Korce, Natalie and Freeman, had a connection in Durres, so we reached out and felt called to partner with them for two weeks. We would be doing more student/college ministry!!
We headed to Durres with a connection. Luckly, the pastor of the church was in Tirana and was able to help get us to Durres for free! What a sweet provision from the Lord! We jumped into his van and headed on our way. Without a place to sleep that night. I had been looking for apartments/airbnb’s/hostels for us that was within our small missionary budget (treasurer responsibilities, yay!) I found one apartment that was seemingly perfect (when it’s within your budget, it’s perfect), but when I went to book it, I realized it was actually going to be over budget with the fees we would have to pay. I remembered that our incredible alumni squad leader, Lucas, had told us that planning every step of ATL was just not the way to go about it. When you leave room for God to move, He usually shows up in unexpected and mind-blowing ways.
So we hopped in the car and headed on our way without a place to sleep that night. We realized that even if we had to camp out on the beach for a night or sleep on the church floor on our sleeping pads and find housing the next day, the Lord would provide for us! And we honestly all thought it would be a fun memory to have. While in the car, the pastor told us that his ministry partner at the church, Albano, had found us a place to stay! Praise God! But there was one small problem, it was not within budget. We said we could stay for one night but would have to find somewhere else for the rest of our time. We explained how much we have per night and he said that he would see if any kind of negotiation could be made. And by the amazing skills of the owner of the apartments’ daughter, they got it down to our budget! Not only that, but Albano bought us pizza’s that night and invited us to have dinner with his family the next night! Provisions upon provisions!
Once we got settled in, God continued to move in us and through us.
Our team decided that we wanted to start each day in intentional prayer. For half an hour, we come into our living room, play instrumental worship music, and seek out the Lord and his will for us that day! We created a prayer wall and made an ATL wall of all the things that the Lord had spoke about our time here. Both things we have seen come to fruition and things that were hopeful and expectant to! We came together and came up with ideas of how we wanted to spend our two weeks in Durres. We looked and prayed over that wall daily.
While we had something with the student movement each day, a lot of our time was free to use however we felt called. One day, we decided to go and walk to the beach as we were all so excited to be by the water! After spending some time looking for sea glass, we started the walk back to our apartment. Then we passed a huge set of stairs and all felt called to walk over to them. We then met a 16 year old boy and made friends with him. We ended up spending a few hours with him and spent a meal together! Over those next few hours, Shua, our team lead, asked him what his religious beliefs are and shared the gospel with him! While he was sharing, an Muslim man and his wife who were sitting behind us overheard our conversation! At first, the man was put off by us and what we believe. After we left the restaurant, we ran into the man and his wife again while getting gelato and we got to love on them some more! We talked with them for just a few minutes, but the walls that were up at the restaurant had come down. We walked away praying that their view of Christians would be softened and changed.
One thing that I had mentioned that I wanted to do during ATL was read scripture together. We decided to read the book of Ecclesiastes, which most of us had never read before. We sat in our living room and read through the whole book. We spent hours just being together, snacking, and immersing ourselves in the living word of God. The book talks about how everything is hevel. It’s a hebrew word that means vapor! Things that don’t last! We are made to enjoy the things that God gives us! It’s His blessing to us! BUT!!! THEY DON’T LAST!! As Christians, we have to be so careful to not idolize anything. Everything is vapor. Hevel. Fleeting. Everything is meaningless unless you have a heavenly perspective on life. If you don’t have this perspective, then what’s the point. But if you have a heavenly perspective, then everything is worth the utmost importance as God will judge your every action one day. The temporaries of wealth, food, and power are fleeting, but the fear of God and obedience to all that He asks of you brings upon the eternal satisfaction of being with the King of Kings forever!! I’m chasing after Christ in my life and nothing else. Jesus will provide what I need, and everything else, well, it’s all heval.
One of my favorite nights of ATL happened with just a few days left in Durres. Our partner asked us if we would host an America night for all of our new Albanian friends!! OF COURSE!! We spent the morning handing out flyers at a University just outside of town, making friends and praying that they would make time to come later that night. When we first got there, not many people had shown up. In my mind, I prayed that more people would come. Our squad leader, Rachel, prayed this too. And I’m sure the rest of my team did too. And within seconds, about five more people came in. And then more and more and more. Thank you Jesus for quickly answered prayers. We got to play games, share a meal, and love on some locals. We all shared about who we are and why we are in Durres/on the world race!! And then we ended the night by learning traditional Albanian dancing!! Even though it was America night, the Albanian dancing was our favorite part!! It was so sweet to watch Albano’s vision come to life. Some events like this don’t always get the biggest turnout and to see a room full of young Albanians enjoying all that was planned gave me so much hope for Albano and his ministry! I pray that these sweet friends continue to come to these events!
ATL has been full of answers to prayers I didn’t even know I was praying. We only cooked dinner twice in fourteen days because meals upon meals were provided for!! This is a HUGE blessing in and of itself, but as my team’s treasurer (or as we like to call it “mama money bags”), having meals provided for us, for free, meant I could take step back from keeping track to the full extent I have been. And to live in the generosity and hospitality of complete strangers (who we love so dearly) is truly the body being the body! Transportation was always offered to us, also for free, even though we could totally take the 10 minute walk home. We were constantly invited places and into the lives of the people that we met. Every single need that came up was met by the kindness and hospitality of our new friends here in Durres and we are so grateful!!
In addition to all of this, Shua, our team lead, expressed that if we wanted to take on some responsibilities of the team lead role, he would let us! Feeling called, I finished up all my receipts, and took on the role! I got to be the point of contact with Albano, creating a plan with him for each week on how we can best support him and his vision! I got to tap into details and lean into logistics. I got to communicate and plan and organize and delegate and decide! It was fun and new and I’m so thankful that I got the opportunity to lead my team for the last two weeks!
It has also brought me back to the feet of Jesus time and time again. I sought out daily His will for myself and my team. I heard his voice and voiced what I thought He was speaking. I was vulnerable as specific things came up and I needed prayer. I wrestled with Him on specific things that I’m trying to grow in and sat with Him as anger flooded over every emotion. I got to sit with God at a coffee shop and journal until every word left my brain, I had laid it down at His feet, and I felt like I could breathe again. I grew in paying attention to details! I got to learn that the Lord has given me some logistical/administrative giftings that I havent had to the chance to fully step into! I fell back in love with worship and being on my knees in adoration. I got to listen to His faithful and patient voice, sit in His stillness, and learn to surrender it ALL to Him!
ATL has taught me that mighty works of God, both big and small, cannot be planned. We have to be ready and obedient to every good work that He presents us with. A life of less is so much more!! Relying on God as your provision builds your faith! Doing things differently is good! Living life radically is the best decision you can make! A life of complete control is not worth it. Nothing really matters outside of furthering His kingdom! He will provide what you need and sometimes what you want! The word of God is alive and active! Leadership comes in the from of humility! The body of Christ is flourishing! The table from Acts 2 is how I want to live my life! You don’t need a set ministry to love like Jesus. Inviting people in is heaven on earth for believers and non-believers. God blesses us when we let go of control and let Him be God!! He is a faithful Father who loves to bless His children!
