We’ve got great news! We are praising the Lord for leading us to a potential (probable?) storefront location for a Youth Shack/Coffeehouse here in Tirana. We have been taking walks every evening when it’s a little cooler outside, and we always see storefronts for sale or rent. We’ve called countless numbers to get more information about them, but it seems that there was always a hitch – too expensive, not in the right part of the city, not big enough, etc. We knew that in God’s sovereignty that He would bring us to the right place, and we think we may have found it!! It’s 120 meters squared, in a new building (in fact it’s a brand new storefront, never been used), in a great, quiet, new neighborhood, with a friendly landlord, and the price is better than anything we’ve seen or heard yet – 50,000 Lek per month (about $568 per month)!! Most of the places we have looked at have ranged between 800 and 1500 euros ($1000-$2000). It’s an elongated room with two entrances, which would give us room to put up some walls inside to make a smaller study room and an office for Justin. Also, the ceilings are really high and we would be able to build a loft or two for extra seating. And we might even rent a garage space in the basement for storage (wow!).
We have so many ideas for this place, our minds are racing right now! Basically, here’s what we’re thinking:
a place for our youth to call “home”, as currently our church does not have its own building, we don’t have a central place to meet
a place for our youth outreach and evangelism through coffeehouse outreaches, christian library/bookstore, etc.
a place for classes, seminars, bible studies, prayer meetings, etc.
praise and worship nights, open mic
and oh so many more ideas...!
Soooo, please, please pray with us that we would continue to follow the Lord’s direction and that He would make everything clear to us in the days ahead. It’s possible that this could be decided in the next two weeks. Check out the pictures below. Then head on over to http://first-samuel.blogspot.com and see how big our son, Samuel, has gotten :)
Praying expectantly,
Justin & Gretchen
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