Greetings from the North of Albania, Shkodra.
We are Eduardo Piña, from Chile, and Rose, from Brazil, and we have been in Albania since 2015. We did our DTSs in Argentina and Bolivia more than 10 years ago, and we will tell you how we ended up together later 😊.
I, Eduardo, received a specific calling to Albania 21 years ago at a youth conference in Chile. I was a new believer at the time, and I was invited to a missions conference. The pastor started to pray, saying that today God is going to give nations and areas of society. I did not understand what was happening but started to pray, and suddenly, with an audible voice, I heard the word, “Albania.” At that moment, I thought, “What is that?” A second time, “Albania.” I even asked the person beside me, “Did you say something?” “No,” they said. And a third time, “Albania,” but this time I felt such a fire in my heart that I cannot explain in words.
From that moment, it was a time of asking many questions, such as, “Where is it?” “What am I supposed to do now?” Because as a new believer, walking in the first steps with the Gospel, I was still receiving healing from the past, and why would God give me such as mission as this? But He did … He trusts in us, He chooses us … It is His Mission … Missio Dei!!!
So, here I am … after 12 years of preparation at YWAM Argentina, the place where I met Rose and got married. What is interesting in that is when I met her for the first time, I told her about my calling to Albania. She told me “You know what? My church in Brazil supports a missionary in Albania and I know a lot about this country, and if you want, I can give you her contact so you can ask more about opportunities there.” From that day, I knew that she was the right one, chosen by God to be my wife and potentialize the purpose of God.
We did our Frontier Mission School together. It was so deep and challenging. Receiving tools for the mission field opened our minds and hearts about going to remote places and reaching the unreached.
We are pioneering a new location in Shkodra, a city called “The City of Bicycles.” Our vision is to serve the city and be agents of transformation, especially in the unreached areas.
As Shkodra is a city who supports all kinds of sports, we see it as an opportunity to develop ministries that can reach people for Christ using the tools that God gave me as a Professional Football Coach. We are developing a Soccer School in a Muslim area in which our goal is not just to train and play soccer, but to share God´s love and disciple this new generation. Another great opportunity that we have is to give spiritual and emotional support to Professional Soccer Players at the main team of the city. There are also many areas for hiking and for people who like extreme sports. It is a great option to bring teams and do outdoor discipleship or camping.
Around the city there are many unreached villages that do not have any evangelical churches, and as YWAM, we have open doors in two of these villages to develop a ministry and bless the locals.
Our prayer is for long-term workers.
The Bible says in Matthew 9:35-38:
The Workers Are Few…
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
God loves the nations; He brought two cultures together, Chile & Brazil, to be sent to a third culture (Albania) to testify of His greatness and love.
Many Blessings,
Eduardo and Rose Piña