Before Josh and I came to join the team on outreach in the village of Gorre, Pastor Elmar found a female puppy near the church building. Our DTS team along with Matyas and Cece started to feed the puppy outside. However because of small children, a baby and dog allergies, they could not take the puppy in the house permanently. Then one day they found it’s leg broken, so Nertilla the pastor’s wife prayed for the puppy’s leg to be healed. There are no vets in this area!
After this, the puppy disappeared for a few days….
A few days after Josh and I came to Gorre I met her…. This tiny Golden retriever like puppy barking and yapping outside the church gates, staring up at me with big, brown soppy eyes! Her leg also appeared to be healed! Later found out that one of the men had found her near the main road and brought her back to safety. I scooped her up into my arms and she instantly began to snuggle down and she looked so peaceful. The team were all out playing football with the youth and I was about to start blogging. Instead, I put on youtube (music to calm pets) and she slept in my arms for an hour. (Yes, I am a softy!)
Next I skyped with my mum, who instantly fell in love with the puppy. I explained to her that in Albania, people do not put as much emphasis on dogs and pets. I wasn’t sure how to answer her question about what would happen next to this puppy, as I have seen so many street dogs here already. I felt really sad that afternoon and yet quite silly and foolish as I prayed ‘God please find this puppy a home’.
I thought I will name her ‘Hope’ because maybe God will make a way for her to be saved from a life of abandonment that most dogs live here! I even Face booked our YWAM team to see if we could find an animal shelter, but they are so rare and the nearest one was too far away. Cece had looked into sending the puppy to her family in Macedonia, but it would be too far to risk sending her with a random driver.
It seemed impossible! That night I lay in bed listening to her barking with sad images in my head of getting into a van at the end of the week and waving goodbye to that abandoned little street puppy that we have all grown to love!
The next evening I had set up a worship time, with candles in each room and prayer points for the village. As I set up I felt a tugging of my pom poms on my slippers… It was Hope. She looked up at me with her doey eyes and I couldn’t help but scoop her up. She remained so still and peaceful throughout the worship evening.
At the end of the worship a man who had came to visit the village with his family told me that his son Joshua had asked for a dog for Christmas, and that the family were even praying on the way here that God would send them the right dog! I felt totally stunned!
Today we handed her over to this very caring little boy, Joshua and his family. They chose to keep the name Hope and our team were so happy at this answer to prayer! God really spoke to me through this week. We came here on mission to serve people, to make Jesus known and to spread His love, and yet as well as this I am reminded again just how much God cares about the little things as much as the big things. In God’s Kingdom, Everything Matters to God!
What’s more, Hope’s legs are as good as new, completely healed! She is now safe and sound with her new family and this was the perfect happy ending to our week here in Gorre 🙂
The love I felt for this little puppy, is only a fraction of the love that my heavenly Father has for me!
