First off, I committed to coming back for the spring semester! This means I will be gone from January through April and we will be doing missions in Mexico and Guatemala. I am so excited for this next season and the opportunity to come back, to get to do life with these awesome people, to keep serving others, and to experience new countries to do missions in. I am especially excited for the spring semester because we will be in Spanish speaking countries which means I will finally be able to understand what people are saying and be able to communicate! The language barrier here in Albania has definitely been a challenge so it will be a blessing to be able to communicate in Spanish. With me going for another semester, there is a cost to the trip. I need to raise $6900 for this next leg of the trip so if it is on your heart to give it would be such a blessing! I will put the donation link at the end of this blog.

I have some ministry updates! In my last blog I told you all about my ministry in Tirana, well that ended up getting switched up. We got the news that my team, The Pretty Piranhas in Tirana + Jayce, was getting moved to a "tiny mountain town with a treacherous road in the middle of nowhere", words from our host Ardete. So we went for the first time last Thursday and Friday. We had no clue what we were supposed to do or how we were going to help, but we knew there was a women's ministry and a youth ministry happening, so we got in the car excited for this supposed dangerous trek. The road was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be and the town wasn't nearly as remote as we thought, which was relieving. We then got to join in the women's ministry and shared our testimonies with the ladies. They were all so sweet and it is so beautiful to see that we can make connections with people even when words can't be understood. Just a simple hug or smile breaks down walls and allows us to grow closer to these women. After that we warmed up by the wood stove for a few minutes (it has gotten sooo cold here) and then jumped right in to playing with the youth that had just gotten out of school We had so much fun just laughing and playing any game we could come up with that didn't need to much talking. Glory and Lucy came up with a few games and it was so sweet to watch all the girls playing and smiling with us as we tried learning these new games and tried learning some Albanian. We also helped out with Sunday service where Jayce and I did worship, and Emma and Glory shared their testimonies. It was just such an amazing thing ending up switching ministries because even though I know my whole team was pretty bummed to be leaving Tirana, we have seen God move through our new switch. We connected so fast with these kids and I can't wait to see what the next few weeks here bring.

This past week has been flying by, which is just so crazy. We are almost halfway through this semester and we only have 3.5 weeks left in Albania. Some highlights from this week were from over the weekend. Sunday the boys left for a little trip to Tirana as a getaway and also to spend some quality time with our mentor Paul before he left Monday afternoon. With the boys out of the house this meant we had a girls day! We walked into town for a coffee and grocery run and then headed back home to basically cook and bake all day. We ended up making a ton of dishes, each taking turns in the kitchen, just enjoying each others company, and we ended up with a feast. Endless dishes and sides and salads and baked goods and fun drinks. We all did our nails and hair, and then enjoyed an amazing meal. But more importantly we all just got to enjoy each others company and laugh and it was so much fun having the house to ourselves, it was just a refreshing reset almost that I don't even think we needed. Monday morning we made the drive to Tirana and met up with the boys for an adventure day. We got to explore some historical sights like bunkers from the communism era, monuments, and just learn about the history of the country which has been one of my favorite parts of this whole trip, just being able to learn all about the country and the people. We did a little shopping for warmer clothes which was much needed, and then we picked up two new mentors for the week.

I will say I did kind of hit a spot of almost tiredness, or just a place where I kind of realized that I've only been gone for a month or so and I am already kind of ready to go home. So that was a little tough but we had an awesome worship night last Tuesday that was really refreshing and it was one of the first times that I didn't have to lead worship since we did speaker worship, and I could really just put away all distractions and focus on God. And then we had a worship night last night as well which was refreshing in a different was because I did get to lead, but I also got to play the piano which I haven't done since being home. So I have been realizing that through this point of being kind of done, I got to find refreshment in the Lord which was so good. And as we are on the second half of our time in Albania I am looking forward to seeing all that comes from the rest of our time.

So to wrap up, I am looking forward to this next week with our new mentors and to getting to serve at our new ministry again! I know that even through the busyness and chaos, God is still working so much in my life, and I am so grateful for all that He has already done in my heart.

Again if you feel led to donate to my next trip, here is the link!

https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/spring-2026-journey-school-chiapas-mexico-and-guatemala/participants/jayna-hakoun7