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Volunteer work has always been part of the Albanian Mission’s history. With the first church in the country built by volunteers in 1994; the work of volunteers was and is critical in supporting the development of multiple outreach and mission projects. From the 4 – 8 April, seven young Albanian volunteers went to Germany to learn how to become missionaries and to continue supporting the work of the church. But to understand how this came about, we need to go back for a moment to 2021. It was during 2021 that students and staff of Josiah Mission School (sponsored by the Baden-Wuerttemberg Conference) visited Albania for the first time to take part in a mission project. But after they heard the history of Adventism in Albania, and personal testimonies from other missionaries, a smaller group from Josiah returned to Albania in 2022 with a desire in their hearts to serve in a more intentional and sustainable way. For that, they created the “Send Me” project. Ole Dust, one of the creators, said that after their visit to Albania “their hearts were touched and they knew that it wasn’t just a mission trip, but the start of long-lasting mission and cooperation relationship between young people from Germany and the Albanian Mission.” The project was created with the “objective of offering different types of support to the Albanian Mission,” explained Dust. In addition, Dania Schlude, also a core member of the organising team, continued, “Above all, we want to show publicly that we support our brothers and sisters in Albania and [want to] help where it is needed. We want to support the Albanian Mission with active engagement.” This year, the “Send Me” project invited the Albanian young people they are supporting to visit Germany for a unique mission training experience. “The main objective was to show Albanian youth that they are not alone as a church. Another goal was to show them a different perspective on how a Christian life works in a missionary school like the Josiah Missionary School” explained Dust. For the first three days of their visit to the school, they went through a missionary and outreach experience helping with various social projects such as serving food to refugees. Reflecting on her experience, Aiselda Vladi commented, “Going out of Albania for the first time, meeting new people in a new place made me nervous, but as soon as we arrived in Josiah school; it felt like home. They welcomed us, we ate and prayed together, connected with nature, and studied the bible. Every lesson we studied together helped me understand the bible in a new perspective.” As an added bonus to the mission trip, the Albanian youth were able to attend the 17th “Youth In Mission” congress, with the theme “He is Risen.” More than 1,200 young people were present participating in lectures and workshops. The Albanian group even had the opportunity to lead a workshop, where they shared the history of Albania. President of the Albanian Mission, pastor Delmar Reis, also presented a workshop on the challenges of cross-cultural mission. “Participating in a week like this is positive in so many ways,” Reis reflected. “Seeing Albanian youth returning motivated, and ready to apply new ideas to share the Gospel is one of them. Additionally, it is very important for our youth to see that, though we are a small in Albania, we are part of a larger world-wide church. This is a crucial reminder that we are not alone.” The original version of this story was posted on the Trans-European Division news site.

In a world full of noise and busyness, how can we discern the voice of God? How can we unclutter our souls enough to hear the still small voice? This is exactly what a group of twenty women recently explored from across the Albanian Mission, during a very special spiritual retreat. On the 25th and 26th of March, women gathered at Tirana Te Stela Resort hotel, to take part in a weekend of reflection, fun and closeness to God – and to explore the theme “Loud and Clear: Discerning the Voice of God.” Vanesa Pizzuto preaching at Albanian Mission’s Women’s Retreat with translator Sanda Thomollari. Journalist and writer, Vanesa Pizzuto was the guest speaker, who serves as the Communication and Media Associate director for the Trans-European Division (TED). Her presentations focused on the link between spiritual and emotional intelligence. Sharing from her personal experience, Pizzuto explained how there have been times when she was unable to hear God’s voice “Not because I wasn’t reading my Bible or praying, but because I wasn’t adequately addressing other issues. “It was when”, Pizzuto continued, “I started to pay attention, for example, to the tone of my inner voice – which was often critical – and to my general tendency to avoid risks, when suddenly God’s voice became a lot clearer!” Pizzuto now believes that spiritual and emotional maturity are inseparable. “While I am still growing in this area, it has been such a liberating discovery that I keep talking about it with all my friends, and I am starting to write a book about it.” Natiéli Schäffer, Albanian Mission Women’s Ministries coordinator and event organiser. Natiéli Schäffer, Women’s Ministry director for the Albanian Mission and event organiser, commented on the importance of exploring this topic to help Albanian women realise that “though they live in the context of a patriarchal society, the Bible, the Word of God is also for them, because the voice of God is for everyone. Women can hear God’s voice, and God can also be manifested to and through them too.” “I grateful for each woman who came to this event, who participated, opened up, shared, and made this meeting truly special.” The two-day retreat included not only presentations, but also a time for prayer, playing games, crafting, and even enjoying the spa. Schäffer believes that making time for building community is essential, “to strengthen relationships between women in our community, and to deepen and strengthen their relationship with God, without the interference of everyday life at home, at work, and even at church”. The women who attended the event felt energised and closer to one another. Anxhela Rakollari, shared how participating in the retreat reminded her of God’s unconditional love, and her personal value – at just the right time. “I’ve been going through difficult days lately, and I needed to hear God’s voice. And really, in that meeting, God spoke to me very loud and clear!” Sanda Thomollari, another participant, who also served as the translator for the event, highlighted the importance of taking time to pray and learn with other women. “This women’s retreat was very important to me because it’s not easy, as a wife and mother, to take time for yourself to get away from all the daily tasks and just be with God. Also, the warm atmosphere among the sisters in faith was wonderfully uplifting. I believe we all had a little foretaste of Heaven there.” “I grateful for each woman who came to this event, who participated, opened up, shared, and made this meeting truly special,” Schäffer concluded. The original version of this story was posted on the Trans-European Division news site.

On March 20–21, 2023, Albanian Mission pastors and leaders participated in digital evangelism training. Leading the training were Adventist World Radio (AWR) representatives Pastor Kent Sharpe and Michael Dant, who also took the opportunity to share about the AWR Digital Missionary evangelism mobile application. During the two-day training, participants learned new skills to put digital evangelism into practice and were inspired by success stories from around the world. The AWR Digital Missionary app is an evangelism chat app currently used in over 20 countries, with more countries adopting it every week. From this platform, “Digital Missionaries” (the name given to Adventist members and pastors who use the app) can chat directly via text and audio with contacts on other chat platforms, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Signal, and Facebook Messenger. Additionally, Digital Missionary can easily send Bible studies to contacts, mark the responses, and provide helpful feedback. The app also features an automated prayer list, reminders, team management features, and an integrated searchable “knowledge base.” Dant, the app developer, explains how this powerful tool, in the hands of laypeople, as well as pastors and other leaders, could lead to wonderful results: “The Digital Missionary, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is ready to flood the internet and social media with good news of Jesus.” Albania’s first team of digital missionaries is excited and ready to begin! With the app in the final process of being translated into Albanian, Bárbara Elen, a member of the Digital Missionaries team, believes that through this app, she will make “connections and friendships with new people, demonstrating the love of Jesus to them through empathy, intercessory prayer, and Bible studies.” Pastor Delmar Reis, president of the Albania Mission, explains that this tool will be very useful for evangelism in the country: “I see it as a project where all members can get involved and is a way of helping them connect with new people, meet their needs, pray for them, gain their trust, and find opportunities to introduce Jesus!” As Dant explains, “Digital evangelism is relatively new, but it is already being applied in places like South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, and Croatia, among others. Albania is a country that is in a process of rapid economic and social development, and the need to innovate our evangelistic approach is increasing.” Pastor Markelian Frashëri, Bible Correspondent School coordinator, believes this approach will allow them to connect with people in ways that traditional evangelism methods could not. “I believe that there are people of peace who seek the truth, but there are different challenges that prevent them from committing to God. So my hope is that through this project, these people can find an easier pathway to God.” “We are a small field, and with their [AWR’s] experience, we hope to see more and more people in Albania knowing more about God and studying the Bible,” concluded Reis, highlighting the strategic value of this partnership. The original version of this story was posted on the Trans-European Division website.

To discuss how adolescents and young people can make healthy choices in today’s society, about 105 people participated in a pilot project called “Youth Alive”, a project in collaboration with the General Conference and the Trans Division European of the Adventist Church, held in Tirana on 13-18 August 2019. The project was divided into two parts: the first part, training for leaders and the second part activities within the conference “Youth Alive” with all participants. Guests at the meetings were professionals from various fields, who spoke about physical, mental and spiritual health. Among the main topics, important reflections on issues such as: the need to establish healthy relationships while avoiding abuse stood out; risks from addictive behaviors (including technology, harmful substances, and pornography); as well as the physical, psychological, and spiritual symptoms that these risky behaviors impose. During this event, young people had the opportunity to form small friendship groups, which addressed and discussed various topics selected by specialists during the presentations, under the guidance of a leader for each group. These discussions were put into practice through the development of practical group activities. “I liked everything, it was fantastic, a lot of fun. I learned a lot about sexuality, depression and how to live happily by making the right choices “- says Joana Hallkaj, 13 years old from Tirana. For Leo.N. España, president of the Albanian Mission and at the same time pastor of the Church Tirana-Center says that “the project is extremely important as teenagers and young people are the future of the church, they will become future parents and church leaders ”. He goes on to say that “The Living Youth offers guidance centered on the teachings of Christ for them, promoting a healthy life away from vices and addictions by incorporating essential elements in the development of their character in a comprehensive way both spiritually and both mentally and physically. I was very pleased to see our young people building bridges through groups of friendship and prayers for one another. The Albanian Mission expresses its gratitude to the Health and Youth departments of the Trans-European Division and the General Conference for their vision and support. ” To learn more about how to address these issues in the local community and to have continuity with the “Gajllë Youth” project, about 40 leaders attended the training, a few days before the Congress. During these days, the concept, purpose and structure of “Living Youth” was unveiled. “This project, in addition to developing many recreational activities, also includes group dynamics that help young people better understand themselves as well as connect more with God and others. Another important part of the project is involvement in community service activities. This is a good way to plant new churches – suggested Juliana Ortolan, the director of this project in Korça. The conference was attended by representatives from the General Conference of the Adventist Church, the Trans-European Division and from countries such as Great Britain, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Northern Macedonia. Living Youth is conceived as an ongoing project that is being piloted in Albania and Lithuania as a start, but that will be extended to other countries. The progress of this project will be supported by a monitoring led by Dr. Duane McBride, director of the Institute for Addiction Prevention and also Professor of Sociology at Andrews University in the USA. This monitoring will be implemented through questionnaires that follow risky behaviors, enabling the assessment of behavioral changes over the years that the project will be implemented. According to Katia G.Reinert, associate director of the Department of Health at the General Conference and program coordinator for this project, this initiative is a new approach to a program created several years ago. “The church created the project as a way to engage young people and teens, because this age group is more at risk for risky behaviors at this stage of their lives,” she says. This project has been being implemented for many years in many countries of the world, but it was deemed necessary to adapt in order to have continuity. “Many young people have been converted and changed through this program, but in recent years it was deemed necessary to update this program,” said Katia Reinert. On the other hand she sees this project as an opportunity to help the church grow and develop discipleship. “Our desire is for the Living Youth to influence the local community and not only focus on the discipleship of Adventist youth, but also to include groups.