When I mentioned to friends that we were headed on a mission to Albania most said, “Where is that?”. And to be quite honest I would not have known where it was myself, if it wasn’t for our missionary friend Cleon who has been there for over 20 years. For the first time, we were able to visit him this month in Albania. With practically no knowledge of this country, we set off on a simple directive from the Lord to, “Go and worship with these people.” Why and what would we encounter? Not a clue! Here is a little bit of what we learned and encountered and the beginnings of how we are seeing God wants to use us to partner with the saints there.

Albania is freshly out of communism, breaking free in 1991. Their official, national religion prior to 1991 was atheism! The land and people have been moving on from that, but it is still littered with the aftermath of communism. Abandoned houses, factory compounds and high unemployment is everywhere you look. There were over 174,000 bunkers that were built for the elite and the military in case of an invasion during the 1900’s, and the corrupt leaders used the people’s money to build them. These bunkers, now serving as museums and haunting reminders, are so large they take up whole city blocks. Just to reiterate, at least one of these bunkers can be found in EVERY SQUARE MILE of this country!

But also there, under the ground, are the deep wells of salvation and freedom! Paul preached the gospel to those in Illyricum (Albania), as he said in Romans 15:19. And those wells have begun to be re-opened since ’91 by people like our missionary friend, Cleon. So past the physical scars of communism there is a first generation of believers, yes FIRST GENERATION believers that are plowing very hard ground. It was exciting to meet these precious people and begin to be a part of their lives. As we sat listening to one of the worship leaders from the church we went to in the capital city of Tirana, we couldn’t help but get a small sense of what is was like for the early church – trying to follow the Holy Spirit in working out the practical, relational and spiritual issues that come bobbing to the surface of this vast sea of a new way of life for them! There was something refreshing about it, reminding us American believers of what the essentials really are.

Our time was spent building relationships, teaching on worship, leading worship and helping plan for future discipleship in the country. There are people like Beni and Erma, Vaso and Margarita who are pouring into the lives of young worshipers of God. It was our privilege to be a part of bringing 10 churches in 3 different cities together to pray, worship and teach about worship and it’s importance in the furthering of HIS KINGDOM. We were encouraged to hear the sound of heaven in Albania. The young people are hungry for God’s Presence. We were able to meet with musicians who long to learn more about Him and to learn more about there instruments. One of the biggest things we saw was how evident it is that God has gifted Albanians with distinct musical ability! We did not expect the amount of pure, natural ability from all 3 regions we visited. We are talking about very small congregations from 10-50 people on average. And these talented, yet infamous, musicians and singers are happy and honored to serve in worshipping God in whatever place He has put them! Our heart is to see the Albanian writers begin to release their own original songs and sound to God into the surrounding areas. God is continuing to give us directive on how He wants to use us.
We were also privileged to be interviewed by the local radio station, Radio Emanuel, about worship and its impact and why it’s important to the lives of Christians.

We want to thank each one of you again who gave, prayed, and supported us in this mission to Albania. We believe this is the first of many.

Blessings,
Mark & Bridget Moses
Fathers Joy!