But even in the midst of us being away we are so thankful that God has placed many people in the ministry to continue in full all that is going on this summer. We are truly thankful to God and amazed at his perfect timing in bringing people on board to help accomplish the on-going work out there.
As we left Albania at the beginning of March, we did not know when we would return, and this has been a hard situation to be in. Often times it can cause a ministry to stop if their “leaders” are not there. But in our case, God brought to our church early this year a couple, Beni and Jayne. Beni is Albanian and Jayne is American. They are such an answer to prayer, because both of them have had experience working with young people in the past at other churches. Before we left Albania they expressed a desire to get involved at our church among the young people. Little did they or we know that getting involved meant taking much of the responsibility while we are gone. All that to say, I am thankful for their faithfulness and desire to serve the local church. It was great to be back with our youth and see that we have not lost any momentum or numbers because we have had someone there to not only keep things going, but also to spur students on in their Christian walk through discipleship.
What I did those two weeks:
I had a few big objectives that needed to be done while I was there in Albania, all of them were only going to get accomplished by God’s grace and the help of others on the ground.
They were…
• Find a camp sight for our Josiah Venture Camp this summer
• Get summer teams and summer ministry items squared away
• Meet and cast a vision with our Student Ministry Team
• Get Dan Montgomery (summer assistant) situated in our home and in the ministry.
• Many meetings
These were the big things, among many other little details of life that needed to be taken care of.
So, not knowing how I would get many of those things done in such a short time (often times it takes twice as long to get things done in eastern Europe as is does in America), we trusted the Lord for his help and guidance. By his grace everything that I needed to do got accomplished and I left Albania with much comfort that God will do great things through the people there.
The future:
So as you pray for this summer…
•Pray that God would use our Student Ministry Team (All Albanians) in a mighty way. They are being stretched like never before in their roles as student leaders. They are up for the challenge and inspired by what God can do in and through them this summer. Pray for boldness!
•Pray for Dan Montgomery. He is such an answer to prayer as he will be a huge help to what is happening in Albania this summer. He is heading up all of the camp logistical stuff as well as taking over many daily responsibilities and discipleship issues. Pray that God would use him, and that as a result of his experiences in Albania, that he would come back with a more clear vision of what God wants for his life and ministry.
•Pray for our summer ministry camps. Especially our evangelistic one, we are praying that God would save ten students this summer, and we are also praying that each Christian student in our youth group would have a chance to share the gospel one on one with one non-believer this summer. Pray that God would save some young students (13,14,15 year olds) to bring in the next generation that we can invest in. We know that only God will save these young people, but we want to be the tools by which that happen.
•Finally, pray that we (Gretchen and I) would be able to return to Albania by early September with a healthy baby girl.
Thank you for your faithful prayers!
Justin (for us all)
Dan and Justin:
Fellowship Lunch at "The Refuge":
Hotel for Josiah Venture Camp:
Student Ministry Team and Albanian Camp Committee Team:
Team:
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