I know without a doubt that God's plan for me in this time is Albania. If you don't believe me, then let me tell you how much He has changed me just in this last year. I have never been in a place where I felt like I was on the operating table for open-heart surgery more often than I am right now. That sounds like a terrible thing and, although it can be very uncomfortable at times, I am sure that in every situation God has taught me something new. He uses every day of my life to teach me how to be closer to Him. Sometimes, I feel like part of the reason He brought me here was to work on ME. Put that in your 5 fold ministry pipe and smoke it. It is a hard thing to accept that Missionaries, evangelists, pastors, preachers and teachers might need God in their life in the same way as the people they teach. However, one of the things I have learned is that God cannot minister THROUGH me until He has ministered TO me. And that will be a never ending process. Thankfully He is taking me one step at a time, higher in the things of His Kingdom, and teaching me little by little (through my own experiences in life) how to reach out to others in all circumstances.
Now, that being said, I want to take a moment to give you a bit of a ministry and financial update. First of all I will answer the EVER so asked question (often with a hint of criticism behind it): So, Julie, what DO you do in Albania?
The answer I want to give is this: "I lay around at the beach all day sipping Pina Coloadas and trying to find out exactly what angle of sunlight gives the most effective tan." However, since this is my sarcastic side and not AT ALL the Godly OR correct answer, I often try to refrain from teasing people with this sentence.
Ok, Ok, now that I got that out of the way, the real answer goes something like this:
It has not been easy coming to Albania with a plan to start a youth group, only to see that fall to bits and pieces for various reasons. When this happens, you feel as if you have given up your WHOLE life, moved across the world, trying to bring positive change in people's lives, and failed miserably. There isn't much worse of a feeling/emptiness. However, from what I have heard from other long term missionaries, my circumstance is not at all unusual, and in fact it has happened to many of them for various reasons. Sometimes, the plan you have when you come into long term missions doesn't work simply because when you live in one culture and build a plan for another, it rarely works out exactly how you planned it. Long term missionaries often times do not know from the beginning how culture differences can really effect communications and various other things causing what seems like an all together melt down.
Thankfully, after going through this so called "failure", I see that God still had another plan for me in Albania. It was difficult at first as I had to reevaluate what He was asking me to do. After a few months of going to church and only helping with music and printed media, I was given the opportunity to do some volunteer work teaching children English. This has been fun and it was a GREAT way to learn the Albanian language better.
This week we have decided to begin working on taking our church worship team to a new level. This means that we have extended our weekly practices to include time just for prayer for the team and the worship in the church and added an hour to our Sunday morning practice. I am excited and so ready to see God take our worship to the next level!
Recently, (within the past month) I have been helping a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) couple who work with the Roma gypsies. I go into the gypsy community 3 days a week and I am teaching 3 girls aged 10-12 who are either really behind in schooling or else who have never been to school because of physical disability. I have found that this work has been more rewarding than anything I have ever done. I hope to continue with it in many ways. I hope (of course) to successfully teach reading, writing and basic schooling. However, more than that I hope to teach these girls how to have HOPE.
You see, the Roma gypsies, at least the ones here in Elbasan, have a culture very, very different than even the Albanians. They live in a community separated from the rest of the city, just at the edge of town. They are often times known in town as thieves and generally bad people. This means that even these little 10-12 year old girls will face severe racism on a daily basis. As if that wasn't enough, the Roma gypsy children often face arranged marriages from very early ages. It is very possible that if one of the girls I work with starts her period (remember these girls are ages 10-12) then she will be married off to the first boy that the family can come to an agreement on.
It is a very sad culture, and I hope to be able to find a way to give these kids hope in their future. Even if they face early marriage (which we pray they don't) my desire is that they would have hope enough built inside of them to try to make a better life, even if it is just by getting a job because now they know how to read and write.
If you want to know more about the Roma gypsy ministry that YWAM has in Elbasan, Albania, check out this website www.huntefamily.webs.com .
In the work that God has given me since my plan fell apart, I have realized that He is asking me to work with young people still. My vision here in Albania is to help children and youth come closer to Jesus and find hope and vision in Him, through any venue possible. If you choose to support me, that's what you would support.
As for the financial part of this update, I can tell you that I need $500 a month to get by. This cover all expenses such as cost of living, ministry materials (such as school materials and snacks), an annual or bi-annual trip back to Texas to see family and to keep contact with the churches there, and any excess would be saved for future projects. At this point in time, I am receiving $150 to $200 a month. This is enough to cover basic cost of living and possibly some photocopying for school work. The past two months have been more challenging as I have seen my main source of finances (monthly payments from a car I sold before I left) come to an end.
At this point in time I ask you, my friends and family, to prayerfully consider how you can help. If it is only through prayer, then we all know that God honors those prayers and I appreciate the time dedicated to the ministry here in Albania. If it is only $10 or $20 a month, PLEASE know that this helps more than you can understand. It is not expensive to live in Albania, and I believe many things can be done with just a little finance.
All in all, I know that God is watching out for me because He is the one Who sent me here. Even though I have certainly been financially (and otherwise) stretched at times, I can honestly say that I have never once gone without. I know He has His hand all over this.
Thanks for reading. Below I have posted a picture of Suada (pronounced Swada). She is one of the girls I teach in the Roma community. She is deaf and has never been to school, as far as I know. I love communicating with her because, even though it is very challenging at times, it is SO rewarding to see her grasp new concepts. She is a very intelligent girl.
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