TiM in Burrel 2006

Teens in Missions? In Burrel.

Sunday morning at 5.00 we left Lushnje. The only 2 teenagers that went with Elize where Huub and Cokkie :). That morning Elize preached in the church of Burrel. The program of that week was most of the morning time filled with teenager seminars in the morning and late in the afternoon’s sports or creative program. In the afternoon the teenagers could take their friends to be there too.
Two times we had a prayer-walk together with the teenagers. Once we asked children on the street to come in the afternoon for a program in the afternoon. Then we had several games and we told them the gospel.
During the week there was one girl from Greece that came every morning and afternoon. At first she was very closed but later on she was more open and asked lots of things about Christ.
On Thursday we went on a camp of their church and a few people from a church in Lezh. We stayed there for one night. We had one open air service in the morning. When we drove back to Burrel the next day we stopped at a mechanic to check the car. The mechanic told us that a part of the car was almost burning. When he fixed the car, he needed one piece that is difficult to get in Burrel and guess what, only that piece they had found. God protects and provides! Thank you God!
Because somebody died in the Village Bater where we would do several programs somebody died. For that reason we could not do the children’s program. Although that we went to Bater to visit some families. We had the opportunity to share the gospel and that was great.
During the weekend we were able to help the pastor to prepare devotions for a teenager camp.
On Sunday Huub could preach in the church. On Sunday and Monday afternoon we visited people from church. Monday morning we had our last meeting with the teenagers and said goodbye to them. In the evening a few came back to say goodbye. Very special was that the girl from Greece was not there during the weekend but she even came to say goodbye.

Although our schedule changed a lot, it was good to be there to support the local church and to encourage the teenagers.

Huub and Cokkie.

This year Teens in Missions went totally different than I expected. Also because we did not have participants who where teenagers. Although that we went to be a blessing to the teenagers and the youth of the Burrel church. The theme of the week was: Gods calling upon your life. Every morning we had a seminar and a lot of the youth of the church came. We talked about: Gods calling upon your live, quiet time, prayer, discipline, who I am in Christ, Being a servant of Christ. After every seminar they talked about how they could apply it in their own live and we prayed for one an other.
In the afternoon we had some sport activities to build up friendships. We went for one night camping with the youth of the church. This was a very good time.
Although we did not reach totally the goal of Teens in Mission we saw that God worked it out for the good. So was the mother of the family that also cooked for us a little sick and could not handle big groups. For Huub and Cokkie, who went with me, it was a good experience to stay in an Albanian family and be in contact with a lot of Albanian youth.

Elize Boersma

Tim experience in Berat 2005

TiM Experience in Berat, Albania
6 – 20 August 2005

For the first time a TiM- experience was held in Albania. An international group of teenagers (11) and their leaders (8) came to Berat to reach out to the local teenagers, build friendships and share the hope they have found in their lives – the gospel of Jesus Christ. TiM stands for Teens in Mission and it is organized by OM Albania. The main purpose of the TiM- experience is to give a lifestyle experience to Christian teenagers that will help and train them to reflect their friendship with Jesus in their day-to-day world. Most of the teenagers took part in a youth conference Teenstreet in Munich, Germany just before they came to Albania. We started here with 2 introduction days in the OM center in Lushnje.
In our group we had four Swiss people, five Germans, two Italians, five Dutch people, two Albanians, one French person and one Czech. As you can see we were a pretty varied group not just in nationalities but also in personalities. Elize Boersma from the Netherlands has been an OM missionary in Albania for almost 4 years and has a great heart for Albanian teenagers. She led the team together with pastor Petrit Sinaj of the local Free Evangelical Church. He was the main leader and did a great job. The goal of the outreach was to make contacts with some of the local teenagers and draw them to the church, which has been planted three years ago, with the prospect of starting a teenager club next year.
In the morning we focused on God through different seminars and worship. We had seminars like: giving your testimony, putting on the armor of God, trusting God, how to share the gospel, serving as a servant of God e.g…
After the seminar we split up into small groups to go deeper in to the subject and to pray for each other. In the afternoons we went to reach out to the teenagers from Berat. We did this through sports, special outdoor programs, drama, games, and hanging out with the local teenagers.
Six of the local teenagers joined regularly in our activities. It was great to see how the participants even could communicate in their own language to them, especially in Italian, German and English.
An Albanian girl asked one of our girls if she could talk with her. So she took the courage to explain the gospel to her with the evangelism cube. The Albanian girl told us later that she accepted Jesus in her life a little while a go and had decided together with her sister and her cousin to come to the church service every week.
The guys in the group did also a great job. They had a lot of contact with the local boys who where not Christians. Often they would go out with them and share their life testimonies.
Four of the Dutch participants went to a teenager camp in Durres the first week. There they served the Albanian teens and played with them. After that week they joined the group in Berat.

Let’s hear from some of the teens themselves.
Why did you decide to join the TiM outreach in Albania?
What have been some of the most powerful moments on the trip so far? (What really made an impact on you?)

Yann (Switzerland, 17):
Because I have been to Hungary and Cameroon before, and I have learned a lot there, I like to share my faith. And I also could learn something about God and myself.
The relationships among the people on the team, that was really great. Also I really felt the presence of God when Entela shared her testimony during a program at a field in the Morave village.

Stephano (Italy,17):
Because I prayed for it and there was an opportunity to go.
The openness of Albanians, and also I like the way God is guiding me through this outreach, I learned something new every day.

Herma ( the Netherlands, 17):
I thought it would be nice to share my faith in a team in a different country.
The first morning at TiM when we all worshipped God together in a group. I also liked performing a drama and a rope trick at an evangelistic program for people and really actually going out and sharing my faith.

Pauline (France, 18):
I have been on a mission trip before and wanted to do it again. I chose Albania because it was far away and I wanted to learn about another culture.
The outreaches in the afternoon. When they sang Christian songs in Albanian with the little girls, I knew the songs in French and could do the motions with them.

Entela (Albanian,16):
I have never been on a mission trip so I wanted to have the experience. I wanted to share my faith with others and build friendships and also practice my English.
Hearing the testimony of Stephano, the Italian guy. Seeing Berat – a very beautiful city. Having a good contact with the Albanian teens that joined the activities. The love between the teens on the team was very special we tried to serve one another. It was an experience I will never forget.

Ana ( Germany, 16)
Because God called me to come here! I went even though my mother did not want me to go in the beginning when I told her.
The talk I had with Erisa when I could explain the gospel to her. There were a lot of other things that were important to me. I saw that it was God’s will for me to come here!

Davide (Italy- leader, 20)
I wanted to join TiM and an Italian teen wanted to go to Albania, so I came with him.
God taught me a lot: to focus on Him and serve people. Special moments were when I could talk with individual guys about God and was able to build a friendship with Nerti, an Albanian boy from Morave.

Emi (Albania – local leader, 20):
How was this outreach for you?
This outreach was a great encouragement for me: to see teens having a heart for God and wanting to serve God. We made a lot of new contacts and new steps forward, sowing the seed in the soil. God will let it grow. Teens from Berat who were not Christians joined in our activities. That was very good.

Elize (Dutch - OM-er, 33):
What touched me the most was the willingness of the teens to go out and share the gospel and their testimony with the Albanian teenagers. It was great to see how devoted the teens where in spending their time with God during the siesta and the quiet time.

Thank points
Thank God for the protection during the outreach
Thank God for all the blessings He gave us
Thank God for the team, fun and the friendship we could have together.

Prayer Points:
Pray for the Free Evangelical Church in Berat and the Pastor and his family - that they will be a shining light in the city and will reflected Jesus love for the people there.
Pray for Emi, the local church worker, who is responsible for the youth work in the church - that he will have wisdom how to start a good youth work in the church.
Pray for the participants that learned a lot during Teenstreet in Germany and this TiM experience in Albania - that they would put into practice all that God taught them.