Two decades ago, we arrived in Albania with our two children and a plan: learn, listen, love people well, make Jesus known, and establish an Albanian Adventist disciple-making movement. It would need to be done patiently, relationally and in ways that made sense in Albanian life.

We didn’t know then what we know now. Staying became a strategy. Staying through cultural surprises. Staying through the long, slow work of building trust in a place where trust does not come easily. Staying through the most difficult times, when we were strongly tempted to leave, but had no peace from God about leaving. And staying long enough to watch God do what only God can do.

God made our calling undeniably clear. We believe that was because when things would get rough, we would need to remember how He had shown us the path He had set before us. We knew He would show us when it was time to leave.

We have had the privilege of seeing a network of house fellowships grow: small, warm gatherings where Scripture is opened, prayers are honest, and faith is practiced in real time. We have watched people meet Jesus not as an idea, or as a prophet, but as their Lord and Savior who steps into ordinary life and changes it from the inside out.

Some of the best stories are the ones that don’t fit neatly into a few paragraphs.

Like the first man who was baptized, the son of an imam, and then his family, who continue to introduce others to the love of God through Klubi i Mirësisë (The Kindness Club). Sometimes that kindness turns into spiritual conversations. Sometimes those conversations turn into questions. Often, those questions lead to Bible studies and disciple-making. It has never been about flashy events or slick programs. It is steady, compassionate and authentic. It is the kind of seed-sowing work the Kingdom seems to love. It’s Christ’s method.

“Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’” (Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing)

There are so many stories that come to mind.

The carpenter and his family, who were reached by another carpenter we had discipled. The brothers who were reached by a family we discipled in Albania, who later moved to Sweden. One of those brothers, in turn, reached out to many others, including some in Albania and others in France, introducing them to the Bible for the first time.

Many Roma girls were introduced to Jesus by our daughters through the health and literacy center they started and ran as their own project.

We remember one of our language helpers who became interested in reading the Bible and later longed for a Bible of his own, which he received as a wedding gift. His new wife joined him in group Bible studies.

We think of the friendships we formed with adult English students during classes when we were occasional guest teachers. Some of those friendships became discipling opportunities. Some resulted in baptisms and more disciple-makers.

We also think of believers who have carried what they learned here into new countries. A quiet Bible study at a kitchen table in Albania has, more than once, become a new Bible study in a rented apartment abroad. The location changed, but the message didn’t.

And we think of many other precious souls who heard the gospel message for the first time.

If you have ever supported long-term mission work, you understand this:
The harvest is not always where you planted. Seeds sometimes scatter afar.

Albania has experienced a high rate of emigration for many years. Many of you have read the same reports we have. There are now more Albanians living outside Albania than inside the country. The population in Albania has also declined significantly since the year our family first arrived.

Many of the new believers we have walked with have moved out of the country to seek stability and opportunity. They have gone to Greece, Germany, France, Sweden and beyond. Yet something beautiful has happened amid that loss. Many have stayed connected.

Many remain in contact with us and with believers still in Albania. They share updates, prayer needs, and sometimes hard stories of starting over. Some are quietly shining where they have landed. Some are still finding their footing. But the thread has not broken.

So our prayer has expanded.

We still pray deeply for Albania. But we also pray for Albanian believers across Europe and beyond, that they would continue to know Jesus, walk with Him and share Him, along with the three angels’ messages, wherever they may be. We pray that the everlasting gospel will travel along the pathways of work, family and migration, and that what began in a living room in Albania will multiply in apartments, factories, classrooms and bistros across the continent.

Now a new chapter is beginning for our family.

For many years, our work has included missionary service and then field director responsibilities. We have walked alongside other workers, brought encouragement and accountability, helped solve problems that can feel impossible at a distance, and done our best to keep people steady and aligned with the mission. That role has shaped us. It has stretched our thinking, deepened our compassion for the unreached, and taught us how much good work depends on unseen support.

We are now transitioning again.

Sean is stepping into a new assignment as the International Field Operations Director. That title may sound big, but in real life, it simply means serving and supporting field teams, improving systems that protect people and strengthen the mission, helping communication flow across time zones and cultures, and doing the work that makes it easier for others to do frontline work well.

And here’s what might surprise some of you: We are not leaving Albania.

This transition is not a goodbye to Albania, or to the people we love here. Although we are stepping away from our role as AFM missionaries, we will remain in Albania with a commitment to mentor disciple-makers, encourage the fellowships, and continue investing in the Albanian people.

So this isn’t a goodbye. It’s more like an enlargement.

It’s a wider scope of responsibility and a larger circle of care. It’s an expanded opportunity to support the mission beyond one location, without stepping away from the place God so clearly called us to many years ago.

We want to say something that matters to us, and we hope it matters to you, too.

Thank you.

Thank you for praying for the Albanian people and for our family. Thank you for giving faithfully to the work of reaching them. Thank you for believing that the Kingdom grows like a seed, quietly, persistently, and sometimes invisibly before you see anything above the soil. We couldn’t have done it without our faithful support team and prayer partners.

We also want to acknowledge something else. When people move away, we feel it. We miss them. We grieve the empty spaces. But we also trust that God isn’t limited by borders.

If believers from Albania are now spread across Europe, then Albania’s story isn’t shrinking. It’s expanding. The gospel message isn’t leaving. It’s traveling.

Please pray with us.

Pray for the house fellowships here, for strength, unity, protection and courage. Pray for those who have emigrated, that they would find community, remain rooted in Christ and become lights in their new places. Pray for the Kindness Club and the Bible studies that grow out of simple love in action. Pray for wisdom as Sean steps into these expanded responsibilities.

If you would like to receive ongoing prayer requests shared with us by Albanians in Albania and abroad, you can connect with us by email at maysalbania@gmail.com.

We are still here. Still grateful and committed.

And we are still trusting that Jesus, who started this work, will carry it forward, both in Albania and far beyond it. We have seen Him keep His promises here, and we trust Him to keep them in every place Albanians now call home.

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