Hey everyone! As an update, my squad and I have safely made it to Albania after a sweet time of ministry in Romania. We have spent the last two weeks in Kruje, Albania where we have been staying on a beautiful mountain top near the Castle of Kruja. These past two weeks have been spent debriefing our first month on the field in Romania and training and prepping to continue going where the Lord leads us to share His Good News!
There was a part of me that wanted to skip this time of debrief and training to keep doing ministry. However, this time with my squad has been so special as we have dug deeper as a family of believers into the Word of God, worshipped God through singing and other creative ways, and learned how to rest in the Lord to allow Him to be our strength.
My team of 6 (Team BANJO) along with one of our squad leaders (Allie), will be venturing out on our own soon for about two weeks of what we call ATL days, which stands for Ask the Lord. We are learning what it looks like to seek the Lord’s guidance as a team for where we go and how we spend our time intentionally to love on others and share the gospel with them. Sitting silent and seeking the Lord’s guidance and direction is a fun practice that I am getting to grow a lot in! I can be so quick to focus on my own thoughts, preferences, and desires. As I have been praying into where the Lord is leading my team for our ATL days in Albania, He continues to grant His peace that He will lead us where He wants us and that there are people everywhere desperate to hear about His goodness.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us— so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.”
Psalms 67:1-7 NIV
Ultimately, I am reminded that everything I ask the Lord for and everything I do should be so that God’s name would keep being made known on the earth among all nations! It looks like my team will be heading to the coast of Albania for our ATL days. Be praying for us to use our time wisely to share the love of Christ boldly and to build relationships with locals.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has been praying for the safety of my squad and myself. Our leaders are keeping track on the state of the world and making decisions with our safety in mind! You can continue to pray for wisdom for the leaders who are praying into and making the hard logistical decisions on where my squad goes. You can also be praying for our host from Romania, Hope Church, as Pastor Raul and his team are using their resources and proximity to Ukraine to help refugees. The picture below shows how you can partner with Hope Church in their efforts to help Ukraine. Here is the link if you would like to donate financially to support their efforts. https://togetherformission.com/donate-for-ukraine/
Proud of all that your walking into.
Praying for those in leadership making decisions for you all, trusting God’s will put you all exactly where He wants you!
Thank you for sharing this, Nancy. I pray that God uses team BANJO and the other teams to impact Albania and that He keeps us all safe! I am so glad that during this debrief and training we got to see your heart and strength come out, especially when leading worship! Thank you for all you did!
Nancy, Thank you so much for sharing this. Praying that you would have an ultra awareness of what Holy Spirit is speaking.
I’m so excited to see how the Lord uses you and team BANJO this month! Love you and miss you already! 🙂
Go team BANJO!!! I am beyond excited for all of our teams to be sent out. Not only will we go farther, but we will go deeper with our teammates!
Love this blog Nan