So after the fun fiasco of living life in a hotel for two weeks, I made my way to Eastern Europe and Albania! During the time here our whole squad would be together meaning we would all be doing ministry together. Living in a house with 40 people is not fun at all if I do say so myself. Trying to use a kitchen or bathroom for that many people is crazy and wild! But in all it was a fun month and very good on learning how to live with so many people. And this month was amazing because I found the best place to eat so far on the race called Maestro and I swear I ate there at least 4 times a week! They had this amazing garlic sauce and chocolate pretzels!
For the first part of the month me and 2 other squamates got to do children’s ministry in the gypsy camps. This is a very poor community and and most of the Albanian people very much look down upon them. This was one of my favorite times on the race. These children where always looked down on and not many people gave them any time of day. So having the opportunity to just show kids love and share Jesus with them was awesome. And those kids just being kids filled me with so much joy. The laughter I shared with them was a beautiful thing! The funniest thing I saw while I was there was one day when we pulled up to the houses was one of the boys was running a gambling ring! And when we got there all the kids came running and the boys who where gambling just put up there dice and cards and the head boy started paying them all out and I died laughing. I would love to go back sometime and see if he made anything out of his business!
The last couple things I did in Albania was first I went to a village called Dragonish and their me and my 2 two team mates did an English class with teenagers in the community. An interesting thing about most places in Eastern Europe is that the people love learning English and learning all about the United States. This was a great time to connect with them and also build connections for our host so that he could reach out later and get them plugged into a church. Its cool how God uses the little things to further His kingdom. The last thing I did while in the country was some fun stuff! I got to go to the Black sea and also got to see Vlad the Impaler’s castle. He was the man that Dracula was based off of. All in all Albania was fun and I cannot wait to share even more with everyone when I get home!
God Bless,
Daniel J. Ford
