One of the highlights of my time in Lezha so far has been getting to know the church community. Two weekends ago they had a retreat in Shenjin which is a neighboring beach town. I was not able to go for the whole weekend. However, I took the opportunity to go on Saturday just for the afternoon. Since I had spent the prior 2 Saturdays stuck inside sick I took advantage of good health and a beautiful day to walk the 5 or so miles to get there. I was welcome by a few of the youth and they showed me around. We also spent some quality time discussing issues of faith. Since the church is young and many of the youth are the only ones in their families with a personal relationship with Christ there is a real yearning among them for mentorship. I have met with the Pastor and youth leader informally for coffee and we talked a bit about the desire to grow the youth group and find ways to interest more of the students at LAC in church involvement. I see this as an important part of my being in Lezha. I want to be an encouragement to the youth at the church and be available to them. Please pray for this part of my ministry here. There is some overlap with my role at the school and hopefully that will be helpful. The youth that also attend LAC invite their friends to the activities, and believe it or not, if they mentioned that a few of us American teachers are going to be there it is an incentive to come (Don't worry Mom, I am not letting it go to my head). I think it is always kinda fun to see your teachers in real life, "dressed down and unplugged" so to speak. This Saturday the young adults and youth group took a bus to Dajt Mountain in Tirana. It is a popular local and tourist spot as there is a gondola that takes you to the top and it is an amazing view of the city. It was another great time to enjoy the church community. I especially was enjoying and the familiar atmosphere of pines and changing leaves of oaks and beech trees. Lezha is a city, and beside people's gardens, has very little vegetation. The gondola ride was the only expense for the day and I believe we had about 30 or so people go. We took the ride to the top and took several hours to walk along among the trees to a restaurant were we ordered drinks, ate our packed lunches, and enjoyed the view of the valley. The pastor brought his guitar so we sang a few praise songs. I learned the Albanian word for trees. Pema! I hope for many more opportunities to be among this accepting and rejoicing group. Please pray for the body of believers at "Kisha guri i themelit" (Cornerstone Church) as they are a Light to Lezha!
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Hanging out in Shenjin with the church youth
Cable car and Tirana in the distance
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