Journey to Theth, Albania

Let me tell y’all about our journey to Theth, only granted by God of course. There was no way we could’ve gotten there without Him, without His provision and His protection. We knew that God wanted us to be in Theth for our first ATL (ask the Lord) month, at least for a couple days. Before I go further, let me explain what ATL means. Basically, we pray for God to show us where to go, what to do, and we abide in His presence while he provides all possible routes and possibilities; it’s basically a test of how much we are patient and trusting with God’s plan. He says “Go here and do this”, so that’s what we do: a simple explanation. It requires a bold, un-wavering faith that is earnestly trusting in His name of Jireh, meaning Provider, and knowing that He will move any mountains (literally) in order to get you to where He wants to take you. It’s something that’s difficult to describe in its entirety, but once you truly experience it, man, is it absolutely worth the wait and possible tears while you endure, being still and being held in His embrace. With that, let’s begin!

“You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”-James 5:8

We were entirely sure of where we were going long before debrief was over, but it was definitely something God was holding because in hindsight, there should’ve been no way to get there. We did find out during that wait that we weren’t meant to stay for the whole time of 18 days, so that definitely changed from our original vision of being in Theth completely. Turns out, another team would be “too close” to us and therefore, it would go against our mentors’ vision of all of us being spread out around Albania (and that’s okay, we really didn’t mind; we just knew that God wanted us in Theth for a week at least). We ended up staying behind on travel day an extra day, which in truth, our team really needed it in order to process the growth/change that occurred throughout debrief and training, and because we needed to find a place to stay in Theth since everything we had been seeing was way out of our budget for the month. As soon as we got settled, after all the rest of our squad had left, we all met together, intending to find a place and get it booked so we could enjoy the rest of the day to rest and process. Literally the minute April opened her e-mail, she got a reply from an AirBnb that we had messaged to see if they would accept our budget instead of what they were asking, and lo and behold, they DID! We managed to book a place in Theth, about 7 meters from the national park, within our budget for a week exactly!

“As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”-James 5:11

When we left the next morning, we ended up getting a ride from someone that Camden had met previously, just because he happened to compliment her tattoos in passing and his cousin and uncle brought their car as well. Because of the added car, there was plenty of room for all seven of us plus our entire amount of luggage, which was a blessing in itself. The drive the Theth was really nice, up until we came to a literal obstacle in our path on the road, about halfway up the mountain. Turns out, a mudslide had washed out a part of the road and there was construction blocking the only way to Theth. We immediately went into a state of prayer, then proceeded to rest in His presence, knowing that He had gotten us this far so he was surely going to get us past this part. Not too long after, we found out that we could walk through the construction and that a bus was on the other side, waiting to take us and some other passengers into Theth. We paid our man, thanked him for the ride, took a picture with him and went the rest of the way(ish). We ended up stopping inside of Thethi National park, but it turns out that our guesthouse was about 7 meters away (2-3 miles I think), so we stayed in the van and asked if our driver could take us the rest of the way (which of course he did). Guesthouse Bjeska was stunning, owned by a wonderful man named Prek and his son, Albert (which we lovingly nicknamed Dracob because he looks like Drake, and because of our first impression of him) <- that’s a better story over face-time/in-person.

The first couple days was mainly team time, bonding, games, rationing out all the rice, pasta and spices left behind by our squad-mates and of course, consistent times of worship and getting into God’s Word. Albert and Prek didn’t speak much English, so Hannah used Google translate to communicate with them. Then, we got into celebrating the birthdays! (10/01-Madie and Gina, 10/02-mine) Ministry can come in all shapes and forms, and these two days were filled with ministering opportunity, even if we didn’t know it quite yet since we really hadn’t gotten an idea of “the why” God had brought us to Theth. God has plans, He has his timing, and we were about to find out why God decided to send us to Theth, out in the middle of the mountains with little-no service. We found out from Albert early (ish) in the morning that there was a group of 22 people coming to the inn. We also found out that not only were there a lot of people coming, they were also Israelis (Israelites, as we so fondly called them) who also happened to speak excellent English. We prayed, hoping that somehow God would have us minister to them, and sure enough, God gave a vision: we were going to serve them dinner.

Immediately after receiving it, and without any planning, we all got up and went downstairs, coming face-to-face with said vision! First off, we ended up tending to their rooms, providing clean sheets, towels and a clean bathroom, while also getting the chance to bathe their rooms in prayer; what a beautiful blessing it was to know that God would move in them in some way during their stay. Shortly after, Hannah and April were able to go help cook, Gina and Jordan did the dishes/helped prep, and Madie, Camden and I were able to put out our serving skills and prepare the table, as well as bring out the food to our new friends. It was such a sweet time of fellowship, not only with the Israelis and our hosts, but also with each other. It felt like a big celebration! We even got to learn how to make their delicious bread and a kiwi/fig fruit cake before we launched into a new day: my birthday. We started the day off with coffee and fresh tea from Albert, hiked Blue Eye (a beautiful waterfall; we also got a little lost at first) where we ended up praying over a guy named Zav, met Sylvia (who ended up basically hiking with us and translating a letter we gave to Albert and Prek) and a guy from Kosovo (Adriatic) who said he could help us out in any means (since Kosovo is the next country we are going to)! I also got some wild Thyme (thank you to the Grecian women we met briefly) and a walking stick (which I gave to Zav for his use).

I’m going to back up for a second and say that before we left for the hike, we saw three backpacks laying on the stairs, and they looked very similar to our own backpacks. I remember saying, “What are the odds that these belong to Americans like us?” and then, lo and behold, there were three Americans who came to Theth on a girl’s hiking trip! And, not only were they Americans, they live 30-45 minutes away from me back in the states! What a treat it was to play games with them, to talk with them and also to find out that they were also believers, giving us a time of fellowship while they were on a hiking adventure! It was a sweet day, filled with many blessings, Albert’s cooking (he made white bean soup and his rice), new friends, and a movie night of “Princess and the Frog” together as a team! I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday; not only was it full of fun, but it was warm, green, we did one of my favorite activities (hiking), I received so many little gifts that were such blessings, God sent many butterflies throughout the day (my kisses from Him) and so much more! Our God has shown immense favor on our team, AND He really is the God of abundance because not only were we blessed to visit some of our friends in Shkoder (one of which we got to celebrate his birthday with), we also got to go to Croatia! Some of our team leaders’ family lives here, and we have the privilege of ministering to them, as well as just be with her while she enjoys her time here (she hasn’t visited/seen them in at least 17 years)! WE LOVE OUR GOD!

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”-Romans 5:17