I have just returned from leading a mission team to Elbasan, Albania. Our team of ten (5 women, 5 men) were sent to work with Church of the Resurrection and assist Pastor Irfan Toska. This work was one of the first Christian churches planted in Albania after the dissolution of communism in 1991. It remains strong and influential today reaching into many of the isolated mountain villages with the good news and good works.
Our team was amazing! We were a beautiful aggregate of different gender, generations, gifts and personalities all harmonizing together. Our ministry was in the main church in Elbasan, village schools, homes and assorted Divine appointments.
Jesus said, when you have blessed the “least of these” you have done it to Me. Albania is perhaps the poorest country in Europe. Jobs are scarce and unemployment is high. Our team pooled their resources and purchased bags of groceries which we delivered to families with the greatest need. What a joy to be an answer to someone’s prayer.
One particularly poignant moment which stands out to me from this trip: We visited a widow who recently lost her husband, and her young son. They were compelled to move in with the mother-in-law who had very little herself. We prayed for them and presented the boy with a soccer ball. You would have thought he was given the keys to a new automobile the way his face lit up. His joy and gratitude was priceless. And he understood clearly that Jesus loved him and had not abandoned him or his Mom.
We had many similar encounters during our 7 days in Albania. Everyone on the team was impacted greatly and are ready to return to the mission field. Please remember Irfan and Vera Toska and the precious saints in Albania in your prayers to God.