At the moment, I’m thinking about how my back and shoulders feel pretty rough and warm from being in the sun a bit too long today. They look ripe. It would probably help me feel cooler if I would be more careful about getting burnt. It’s just too much to remember! I can’t complain too much, though, because Stephen Bishop got a terrible burn on his face from being at the pool all day for his friend’s birthday. It’s blistered and requires a constant application of cream to help it heal. Then there’s Josh, who sprained his wrist yesterday during youth night (after breaking the opposite one a month ago). That family constantly has something going wrong! It’s a miracle if they can get through one week without going to the doctor or needing some sort of medical treatment, but they find plenty other stuff to be joyful about.

I did a good amount of visiting this week. On Tuesday morning I visited the family of two girls who came to English camp last week: Ada, 16, and Megi, 14. Their mother invited me to stay for lunch with them, and how could I say no to a homemade traditional Albanian meal! It was wonderful. In the afternoon, Heather (a three-week intern from IWU) and I went to visit Angela, 16, and Kaydi, 14, who also attended camp. I have fallen in love with this friendly, happy brother/sister pair. Angela is a beautiful girl with an even more beautiful heart, who genuinely loves Jesus. She’s unique here, because there are very few committed Christians and even fewer who are her age. After camp last week, it’s evident that these youth are the future of the Albanian church here in the Kenet and that God is stirring in many of their hearts. Angela is the only believer in her family so far, and she persists in studying her Bible even though her parents discourage it. This is a huge, especially in a culture that places high value upon honor and respect. If you knew Angela, you’d see that she would never deliberately disobey her parents, but she wants to learn about Jesus so much that it comes first. It reminds me of Jesus’ words in Luke 12 about how his message would bring division between people, even in families, as some choose to follow and others refuse (12:49-53). I want such a hunger for the words of God as this sixteen-year-old has.

The mission team decided that the teens who came to camp immediately need continued discipleship, so we held our first Friday night youth service yesterday. We didn’t have as many teens come as last week, but it seems that the ones who are genuinely interested in learning more about the Bible came. After worship, we split into two groups, one led by Ken and one led by Dawn. It was incredibly beautiful to see the teens open up their Bibles and listen intently as Dawn spoke of God’s love. The service was in Albanian, so I couldn’t determine the level of understanding the kids had about what was said during our small groups. Regardless, they were there because they wanted to be, whether it was simply for the social aspect or to learn more about scripture. Either way, Christ’s message is being preached. Pray that their eyes and ears are opened!

Youth night is the highlight of my week. There are lots of other things I’ve been involved in throughout the last six weeks that I love, but the teens make me feel more alive than ever. Maybe part of it is the adrenaline I get when we play volleyball, which – I gotta be honest – feels pretty awesome too J