I’m almost done with training week!

We’ve been at a house on the beach in Pogradec, Albania in between two small towns and then on Sunday we are moving to Kotodesh about 40 minutes away. We’ll be there until end of October and will start scheduled school and ministry!

I’m mind blown at how this has turned out so far. I met these people 1 week ago and I already feel like I built a life long community of fellow believers. I didn’t imagine that my team would click this quickly but it’s been the greatest blessing. Community has been a struggle in my life and this group of people has given me so much hope and joy.

We end up doing group worship so often, at least once a day. Its the most powerful worship I have been a part of, every time we start singing I feel like I need to close my eyes and throw up my hands. It feels like genuine praise and something I’ve never been a part of.

One of these days we joined another all women missions team that’s down here and the girls did an activity with them. They gave us prompts and had us pray and ask God what He wants to tell us about that specific question. I’ve always been skeptical of those things because I can never tell if its me and my own thoughts or if its God speaking to me. But one prompt was to ask God what He wanted us to know about ourselves in relation to this missions trip. So I closed my eyes and prayed ‘God I want you to speak to me, I want to clear my head and for my first thought to be from You. It’s hard for me to trust these kind of activities but God I really want a word from You.’ So I sat in radio silence for a little bit and then the phrase “Made for more” popped into my head. And I don’t think that was from me. This is a common phrase throughout christians so of course I’ve heard it before but its 100% what I needed. The months leading up to this trip I have done almost nothing for other people, I’ve lived for myself and I’ve never been more sad. God has called me to do more, He’s made me for more than myself and more than my will and wants and entertainment. And that is now my motto and purpose. If God has made me for more why am I doing less.

Lastly, since I got accepted to go on this trip I had in the back of my mind the idea that I could do this for 9 months instead of 3. I considered it and I prayed about it but it was hard for me to even fundraise for 3 months so I thought it impossible to do 9 months. I pushed it out of my mind. Then I came here and clicked so quickly with these brothers and sisters and felt such a peace about where I am. I know I was meant to be here. A leader mentioned on the 2nd or 3rd day that us doing the 3 months still had the chance to change our minds. It grew again from a tiny thought in the back of my mind to a giant thought forefront of my mind. I talked to family and I prayed a lot and could not get the thought out of my mind that I could stay for longer. An option instead of doing nonstop 9 months was to go home after 3 months, in November, and come back first week of January and rejoin the team. This option was a few thousand less dollars and lets me go home and spend the holidays with my family still. It seemed perfect. So I was telling people that I really wanted to come back in January but I’m giving myself a couple weeks to think about it. Until people started asking ‘why wait?’ The day a few people started asking that I decided that I’m rejoining my group in Mexico in January until May. I know God called me here and I know He is going to use me. I know He’s going to grow my faith and grow my relationship with this team. Going home after 3 months is not what I’m meant to do. So now I would love prayer. I now need to raise up another $6,000, which stresses me out. And I’ll be gone from the comfort of home even longer. Even though I’m confident in this decision it’s still a big thing to extend my time in the missions field 3 more months. I have my fundraising open again if anyone didn’t get a chance to donate the first time, and I would love to talk to anyone back home about what I’m learning. It’s only been a week and been so good. I know that God is here with us and He is going to change everyone here in ways that they need. Pray for my team that we can share the light of Jesus rightly and be safe and get along as a family. Thank you to those at home who have encouraged me and been praying for me.

I know there will be ups and downs going along this path I’m on, but it feels so good resting in Gods hand and knowing His goodness.

If you feel led to donate and partner with me:

https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/spring-2026-journey-school-chiapas-mexico-and-guatemala/participants/alyssa-clarku