Where Faith Meets Fun: An Unforgettable Church Retreat in Vlorë
Albania Mission Trip Day 4
Monday, 8 July 2024
Today is the first full day of the church retreat here in Vlorë. Each morning we will meet to pray and to go over the events of the day, and we decided to do this meeting at a coffee shop about a half click from the hotel.
I was quite pleased to enjoy a double espresso during this meeting, but our hosts insisted that I try the local beverage to go along with it — a glass of Rakia. It was delicious and all I can say is that it’s Happy Hour somewhere LOL! Salut!
The routine each morning will be the meeting above, breakfast for everyone, a worship service, then the beach for a few hours.
This little guy was enjoying the praise band, but more importantly, he was ready for the beach!
The message — from the Gospel of John — was given by Pastor Tim Bubar from our church in Tennessee — Two Rivers — while Altin provided translation into Albanian.
If you’re wondering where exactly we are relative to the rest of Europe, here’s a screenshot I took showing how we are very to the heel of the boot of Italy.
Here’s it is again zoomed in a bit:
BTW, cell coverage in Albania is fantastic, and the transition from the US to Europe was seamless with our AT&T International Plan.
About 4 pm we headed back to the hotel for dinner.
After dinner, Frieda led an arts and crafts activity — painting rocks the guests collected at the beach.
To say the rock painting was a hit would be an understatement. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time as we wrapped up this first full day of the church retreat.
So much joy being reflected in all those faces.