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.

Frieda getting to know three of the young ladies.

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.