Into Junik, Kosovo

Y’all, God is so freaking GOOD! We’ve been doing ATL since our time in Theth, and we were told (before we left Croatia) that we were doing ATL again for Kosovo. Now, going back to how we got to Theth, there really was no way it made sense to go to Theth because it was in the middle of nowhere, a national park (so every place we found was WAY out of our price range), and all we did was ask God and then asked an AirBnb if they’d accept our price offer of $49 per night, just a random one, and they said YES! The transport, I don’t need to explain because it was in the last post, along with all the food our teammates left behind from our debrief and training in Durres somehow got us to Theth and God provided everything else. We had quality team time in Theth, had a movie night, celebrated three birthdays and even took some fun birthday photos; we were supposed to go hiking on Gina and Madie’s birthday (10/01), but we ended up going on my birthday (10/02) because it ended up being warmer.

My birthday was not what I had been expecting for sure, BUT I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. We got lost trying to find the trail and ended up spending an hour wandering through the wooded area, going up and down the same mountain, until we finally found a clearing that took us directly to a small town where the trailhead began. (We found out later that if we had just followed the fence, we would’ve only had to walk 5 minutes to the clearing that took us to the trail). As we hiked the trail, God presented us with many people to talk to, all of them speaking at least a little bit of English. We ended up basically hiking with a local family, praying for a teen named Zav, who had hurt his ankle, a random guy gave me a walking stick that I later gave to Zav to help him down the mountain, two Grecian woman found out it was my birthday and gave me some random wild thyme they had found on the trail, and then we met a guy named Adriatik. This guy! He literally just joked around with us after he found out why we were in Theth (what we had been doing, what our mission is, the whole 4-1-1) and asked if we’d give him water, which of course we offered, but he was just joking around with us, before asking where we were going after Theth.

Turns out, he’s from Kosovo! He gave us his WhatsApp information and then walked on. I realized that I didn’t have his number, so I prayed that we’d see him at least one more time in order to get it, and of course, God provided and we saw him again. He told us to call him when we came to Kosovo and he’d help out in any way he could. Fast forward to entering Kosovo, we did end up calling him and of course, God provided again! Not only did he offer us FREE lodging at his mom’s guesthouse, he also told us that his mom is the head of a NGO (non-government organization) and could get us plenty of opportunities to serve! What a God we SERVE! He really is the God of abundance, generosity, kindness and provision (and so much more of course)! As soon as we arrived in Kosovo (after a 12 hour ride from Dubrovnik, Croatia), our driver got a little lost in Junik (because the GPS stopped working), so we called Adriatik to get directions and he came from his house, with his mom, in order to lead us to their house! AND, as soon as we got there, his mom made us all tea. She even made espresso for the driver! What a person of peace! She instantly welcomed us into her home, saying we could stay there for our whole time in Kosovo, to live in the house as if it was our own homes back in the US and providing us with SO many opportunities to serve the Junik community.

Y’all, we get to go into the high school and the primary school, teaching the kids English, getting to know them, doing relationship with them, showing them the love of Jesus by example (and, we will also keep praying for open hearts when it comes to hopefully starting to share His Good News) and so much more! Kosovo is a relatively new country. Formerly, it was part of Croatia, Albania and Serbia, but formed into their own country in 2008. Because of COVID as well as the rising tension with Serbia, the people of Kosovo aren’t allowed to leave their country unless it’s for a VERY important reason. Basically, because they couldn’t come to us, or go anywhere to be ministered to, God brought us to them. He says that ALL nations will hear about him, and only in that time, when ALL the nations have heard, only then will he return. Working with the students has been a blast so far; all of them want us to go everywhere with them, and we hope to be going hiking tomorrow with a few to go see one of their favorite spots in Junik to hang out. I am very impressed with how much English they actually know, and how intelligent these kids are. Getting to really abide in his presence, solely relying on His way over anything and everything, has shown me just how good our God is.

It’s funny to think that if we had never gone to Theth, if we had hiked the day before rather than on the 2^nd, we would have never met Adriatik, and we never would’ve found this person of peace. Our ministry would’ve still been  good, of that I have no doubt, and maybe we would’ve gotten to Junik a different way, BUT I’m so glad that it has turned out the way it has. Seeing how God works, seeing different ways that he shows His love, understanding more about who He is, and also learning all about the many forms of worship has been absolutely wonderful. I promise, this Race is NOT a vacation, it’s just hard to get pictures of doing ministry without showing the peoples’ faces (unless of course they give us permission, like the kids did in the following photo), and we’re not focused on getting pictures in the moment of serving them. But be assured, just because we have seen absolutely stunning places (places that no picture can truly show the raw beauty of our surroundings to the fullest extent), we aren’t on vacation. We are here doing work that will expand God’s kingdom, as well as allowing Him and other people to minister to us, to pour wisdom into us too. God has been teaching all of us how to truly trust him and rely on him, as well as many other aspects of who we’re meant to be in Him, and I look forward to sharing all of that with you through these blogs!