Real Joy: Albania

Country Profile

Real Joy

Albania | OM International

A few months ago, Charlie visited a nearby village with his daughter. "I was hanging around the church when a tall boy came up to me," Charlie said. His name was Gexim, meaning ‘joy’.

"Albanians often want to talk to a ’Chinese’ person, and being Korean, they often mistake us for such," continued Charlie. "This boy was no different. He asked me a bunch of questions, including 'Where do you live?', 'Where are you from?', 'Are you Chinese?' and 'Is the girl yours?'

"Then he asked, 'What are you doing here?' So I thought it was a good chance to share." Charlie answered, “I work for a church. Have you heard about Jesus? If you have time you should come to our church.” The Albanian man said he didn’t have time now, but asked when and where the services were. Charlie told him the time and place but didn’t expect him to come.

"To my surprise," continued Charlie, "he came to church the following week. Furthermore, he has been coming to church almost every Saturday for the last few months. I am not sure if he has really accepted Jesus, but I pray that one day Gexim will know Jesus as his joy, like the meaning of his name."