After a few days of getting to know our ministry partners, worshipping with them in both Durres and nearby Sukth, and making our final preparations and plans, we finally had our first day of the children’s camp today. This also happened to be the first day ever of children’s camp at the relatively new Durres Evangelical Church. We were thrilled to welcome almost 25 children, ages 5-11, to the camp which is very similar to what we would call Vacation Bible School. We divided the children into four groups each led by a leader from the Durres church (Kujtim, Rudi, Manjola, Miriam) and a couple of people from our team with each group.

Patty and Anna taught the lesson today about God as our Creator, an important place to start as many of the children have little or no knowledge about the God of the Bible. After originally praying for God to bring children to the camp, we are now praying that He would bring children to faith in Christ through the teaching of His Word and that He would produce future church leaders from amongst this group of youngsters.

After a day of Bible teaching, crafts, singing (in English and Albanian), games, and even a swim in the Adriatic Sea, the children were tired, but happy. (The adults were exhausted, but happy!) As I type this, the call to prayer from the local mosque is being broadcast across the city of Durres. For those reading this blog, we call you to pray for the children who will learn about the God of the Bible as the week progresses. They will hear that God is their provider, protector, Savior, and treasure. Please pray that God would work through his Word to produce faith and bring new life.

God is definitely at work in Durres and we feel privileged to be a small part of that.

Mike