This past Thursday was my 18th birthday! This brought many mixed emotions because while I love it here, it’s hard to celebrate a milestone birthday while being far from home. I started the day with low expectations because I knew we already had a full day of ministry planned and wouldn’t have much time to celebrate. I had prepared my heart in advance for a day not too different from our normal routine, but God had a plan better than I ever could have imagined!

There were three main things that stood out to me and made my 18th birthday one I’ll never forget.

The first was the ministry we got to do in Tirana. My team of 5 people were asked to drive to Tirana and help with children’s ministry for a few hours once or twice a week. My birthday ended up falling on our very first day there. When arrived, we were sent up the stairs to a small classroom with about five kids sitting around a table working on reading and writing. Over the course of three hours, 15–20 more kids showed up. We sang songs and taught a Bible story with the help of a translator. From the moment we got there, one of the girls started trying to talk to us and learn our names. She was 10 years old, and they told us she didn’t go to school, so she learned as much as she could whenever she came to their program. She was the most talkative of all the kids and spoke English fairly well. When it was time for worship, she pointed to the seat next to her and looked up at me. This might not seem significant, but I’ve been struggling this past week with feeling like I can’t connect with the kids who come to Kotodesh for our other children’s ministry days. I was discouraged and had written in my journal that I felt like the one thing I was confident about was now being taken away. For this little girl to save me a seat and ask when I would come back truly felt like an answered prayer.

The next surprise came after we finished talking with the pastor who runs the program. He told us about a tourist spot called the Sky Tower. It’s a rotating glass building where you can see the entire city of Tirana, with a restaurant inside. We were thrilled by the thought of visiting it someday and didn’t realize that today would be that day. He said it was a short drive away, and five minutes later we were in an elevator going 18 stories up. The view was breathtaking, and it felt so special to see it all. What I thought would be a tiring day of driving and ministry turned into sweet connections, unplanned sightseeing, and coffee with a stunning view.

The last thing that stood out to me was just feeling loved by the people here and by those back home. I had so many people from home reach out to wish me a happy birthday and had others send me with cards and gifts beforehand to be opened while I am here. My team did everything they could to make my day special—whether through little gifts, cards, a homemade cake, or simply mentioning it throughout the day. I had expected it to be acknowledged once and then forgotten, so having my team make sure I felt celebrated was such a blessing. Every moment I just kept thinking about how incredible it is to be remembered. God has given me so many wonderful people who have truly shown me His love.

There are countless moments I didn’t get to include in this post, but know that my 18th birthday was spent feeling celebrated and remembered and it left me so excited for this next year of life!