Healing, Provision, and Joy in the City

We are officially halfway through our time in Albania, and wow, what a season it has already been. The Lord has been stretching me, healing me, surprising me, and reminding me again and again that He is so faithful in every detail. This chapter looks so different from anything I expected, yet it is exactly where I am meant to be.

🏔️ From Mountains to the City: Learning to Adjust

Just a few short weeks ago, I was living on a mountain in Guatemala camping, cooking over fires, and doing ministry in remote villages. Now, I find myself in a tiny all girls apartment in the center of Tirana, Albania. What a transition.

I went from living on a mixed gender team with guys and only one other girl to suddenly being on an all girls team in a very small space. Learning to communicate well, give each other grace, and truly bond as sisters has been one of the sweetest and most challenging parts of this season. On top of that, adjusting to city life again has been a whole new world with busy streets, cafes, grocery stores, public transportation, and learning how to navigate everything in a new language. Add in the cold weather, which we definitely were not prepared for after tropical Guatemala, and this season has truly been a full reset. We are slowly learning bits of Albanian, bundling up in all the layers we can find, and letting the Lord meet us right where we are.

💔➡️❤️ Healing the Orphan Spirit and Learning to Belong

One of the deepest things the Lord has been ministering to my heart this month is healing from an orphan spirit. He keeps gently reminding me that I am fully His, fully loved, fully seen, and fully cared for. Through team bonding, late night conversations, prayer, laughter, and learning how to truly lean on one another, the Lord is reshaping how I receive love and how I walk in vulnerability. He keeps inviting me deeper into trust, trust in Him and trust in the people He has placed around me.

🤍 Our Ministries in Albania

Our main ministries here have been such a gift. At the Jonathan Center, we serve children with Down syndrome and their families. It is a therapy center that also shares the love of Jesus with such gentleness and sincerity. One of the ways we help support their work is by creating handmade cards that they sell as a fundraiser. It is simple, but it directly supports a ministry that is transforming lives every single day. We also partner with ICF Church, where we serve their college ministry, youth, kids ministry, and the host team on Sundays. Watching students encounter Jesus, ask real questions, pursue community, and step into faith has been incredibly powerful. Alongside all of this, we spend intentional time interceding, praying over Albania, the city of Tirana, the ministries we serve, the students, the children, the families, and the spiritual atmosphere of this nation. We are continually learning how to hear the voice of the Lord both individually and as a team and boldly step into obedience even when it feels uncomfortable.

🦃 Thanksgiving in Albania: Twice the Gratitude, Twice the Joy

One of the sweetest surprises of this season was getting to celebrate Thanksgiving twice while being so far from home. The first celebration was with our new church family and ministry hosts here in Albania, and it was the most beautiful mix of cultures with both traditional Albanian food and classic American Thanksgiving dishes, finished with the most delicious baklava. Sitting around that table, surrounded by people who were once strangers and now feel like family, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Our second Thanksgiving was with our entire World Race squad. We traveled to Pogradec by the lake where we reunited with the two other teams and shared a full American style Thanksgiving meal together with worship, laughter, and testimonies of what God is doing across each team. Celebrating Thanksgiving in two different ways with two different families reminded me just how abundant the Lord is and how even across oceans and cultures, He keeps giving us more to be thankful for.

💸 Fundraising, Faith, and an Unexpected Miracle

I am currently 77% funded, and I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am. This season of fundraising has deeply stretched my faith. Over the past few months, I hit a wall. I felt behind on deadlines, discouraged, and exhausted from asking. Yet even in those moments, I knew the Lord would provide. Earlier this year, before I launched on the World Race, I interned with a humanitarian aid organization called WorldHelp. A few weeks ago, my internship coordinator reached out and told me I had been entered into a drawing and had won a prize. She asked for my parents’ address so she could send it. About a week later, my mom texted me a photo of a check from WorldHelp for one thousand dollars. I was completely undone. I went from feeling stuck and discouraged to being overwhelmed with gratitude in a single moment. That check was not just about money. It was the Lord reminding me that He sees me, He has me, and I can trust Him. I am still believing to be fully funded by the end of this year, and I truly believe the Lord will continue to provide every single need just as He has done over and over again in Guatemala and now here in Albania.

🧥 Bringing Joy into the City

A few days ago, our team went thrift shopping to look for warmer sweaters because it is truly cold. While we were shopping, we met a Muslim woman who worked at one of the stores. She barely spoke English, yet we somehow connected. She shared with us how much she loves America, and we told her how much we love Albania. She ended up letting each of us choose a sweater as a small gift just because her heart was touched by us. In that moment, the Lord did more than provide warm clothes. He showed us how to love her and bring joy into the space we were in. We have also started building relationships in our neighborhood with the lady in the bread shop, the woman at the convenience store, our landlords, and the grocery store workers. What a gift it is to make friends wherever we go, even when language is limited. Love truly needs no translation.

🧭 What Is Coming Next: North Macedonia & Debrief

In about two weeks, we will be moving to North Macedonia for a season of ATL, which means we will Ask the Lord each day what He wants us to do and then step into ministry from that place of listening. We will be living in hostels, meeting people from all over the world, and seeking opportunities to partner with local churches and ministries. After that, our whole squad will reunite for a time of debrief. Our mentors and coaches will fly in, and we will take intentional time to reflect, reset, celebrate what the Lord has done, and prepare our hearts to transition into Greece. We are filled with expectation for what the Lord is about to do.

🙏 Ways You Can Pray

• For the Jonathan Center and the children and families they serve
• For ICF Albania and their students, youth, and church leaders
• For unity, healing, and joy within our team
• For continued growth in hearing the Lord’s voice
• For provision as I continue fundraising
• For boldness, gentleness, and sensitivity as we serve in a Muslim majority nation
• For our upcoming transition to North Macedonia and Ask the Lord days

The Lord is teaching me that He provides in ways I could never predict, heals in ways I did not even know I needed, and meets me in spaces I never imagined I would be. He is so faithful, so kind, and so intentional with every detail.

Thank you for praying.
Thank you for giving.
Thank you for believing with me.
Thank you for walking alongside me.

I cannot wait to share what God continues to do in this beautiful season.

With so much love,
Amanda 🤍