2018: To Albania+ and Beyond!

2018, as all previous years, has been full of growth and new things. The biggest new thing this year was us going trans-national with the addition of the Hungary and Poland teams. No longer limited to the Dallas-Albania connection, we are rebranding to "Albania+ Poland and Hungary!"

Poland

The unique experience of the Poland trip was brought about by an expressed desire of the Poland CRU staff to participate in Re:Generation, a biblical recovery ministry developed at Watermark. The vision was for a team of American Re:Gen veterans to go and launch step groups among the Polish CRU staff. This goal had the support and blessing of both top-level Polish leadership as well as the Watermark elders, and so the process began!

As of January 2019 there are now several step groups working through Step 4: Inventory, being mentored remotely via Google Hangouts by their American group leaders! We are currently planning a return trip to celebrate their commencement and fully hand off the mentorship responsibilities to the CRU staff in Poland.

Hungary

God has orchestrated several relationships throughought several years to allow us to send a team to Hungary this past summer. The team leader, Randy Valdez, spent several months on a stint in Hungary and is passionate about the people and culture there. Other friendships we've forged stretching back to 2013 when we first met the Hungarian team in Albania have been instrumental in providing this opportunity. We are excited to consider the short-term discipleship trip to Hungary a complete success!

A team of 8 members went to Pécs, Hungary to share the Gospel with high-school students. The primary focus of the trip was Evangelism, and there was a lot of it to be had! The Catalytic ministry of CRU, Hungary will continue to follow up with these high-school students and ensure they are growing in their faith.

Albania

This year we continued our efforts in 3 cities with high school students, and another team with the Young Professionals in the capital city of Tirana. The high-school ministries in Tirana and Elbasan have been fruitful, while the high-school ministry in Korça was more rocky soil. The Lord is still working in all these places, and we are currently planning to go back to each one.