We began our time here at a conference called “Religious Representation” for college-aged Christians in Albania. Though we have little in common with this group, it has been such an encouragement to see that we praise the same almighty God! One challenge I (Maggie) felt right away was the language barrier. We are picking up on small Albanian words here and there, but it is difficult to start a conversation not knowing if they will understand. In addition to our ministry partner Kujtim, we have met some amazing people who can speak both languages and generously offer to translate for us.

The conference included three sermons from a man named Zefjan whom God has blessed with a gift of preaching. For each sermon, a new volunteer interpreted it into English for our group. Before the sermons, there was a time of worship and singing songs together. Though I don’t understand Albanian, I have found such encouragement by simply listening to the music. They began singing a song and without noticing I started to hum along. It took me until the chorus to figure out I knew this melody. I typed the song title into a translator and came to realize they were singing “Forever” by Chris Tomlin. It was so awesome to see us all praising God together just in two different languages. 

 Thanks for praying for us!

 Maggie