The joy of the period of Easter was accompanied by numerous spiritual and cultural activities for the orthodox boys and girls. Our church gives the youth the opportunity to learn about the orthodox faith and to become members of a big love community having Christ as its center.
    A one-day activity during this period took place on April 21st in the holy monastery of Ardenica in Lushnja. 50 youth from the villages of Bubullima Kolonja, Vajkani and Verria participated.
    In this activity the youth listened to the presentation of the Theological Academy, the speech of assistant principal of the academy bishop Nikolaos, the witness of one of the Academy students- how he became part of this Academy. Anyone got informed about the schedule and the Academy life and got invited to become part of this community.
    Another miscellaneous activity was organized on April 22nd in the village of Krutjain which nearly 150 youngsters participated. It was a sporting activity in which the small groups competed with each other in different sports. The atmosphere was enthusiastic and many youngsters experienced the joy of getting to know with each other as well as of praying and worshipping God together.
    Another one-day activity was organized on April 22nd in Shkodra in which nearly 60 youngsters from the city and the village of Vrakaparticipated. This activity began with the Holy Liturgy followed by the speech of Father Ilia Mazniku.
 
    The main theme of this activity was resurrection of Christ is joy for all. After the speech, different entertaining sporting activities were organized. This was a special day for the orthodox youth of Shkodra and their age-mates who had come to attend these special activities organized by the Church.
   The last activity for April was developed in Holy monastery of Saint John Vladimir in Elbasan. Many youth groups through their participations in the summer camps have leaned and experienced how to make different art and crafts such as: wood icons, pray robs etc.
    Knowing the interest of the youth related with this art and craft projects for this year was organized that activity in Saint John Monastery near Elbasan, in  April 27 – 29. The goal of this activity is to know better each other and to grow the spirit of cooperation among the youth.  In the center of this activity.
    In the center of this activity was the work in group, but also an important place had the spiritual and entertaining activities. The income that will be gather from he selling of these art and crafts will be used to help the people in need.
 
    In May were developed two conferences one for high school students and the other for the students of university. All of them come to the conferences with deep spirit of faith and Pascal experience. 80 high school student and 120 students experienced three special day in two different week. From May 4 – 6 the high school student and a week after May 11 – 13 for students will be written in the conference history as the most special days for this period, when the young people get away from the daily ritual of the study.
    Three days in the Holy and wonderful Monastery of Saint Vlash changed the usual monastery of the day, bringing another spiritual experience and youth life in the conference named “The resurrection of Christ – the source of life”. In this Pascal atmosphere, all these young people coming from different cities of Albania like Tirana, Elbasani, Lushnja, Berati, Gjirokastra, Permeti, Durresi etj; brought so much joy and love in this Holy place. The program of high school students conference was full of different activities such as: prayer, group activities, different games and competitions. The welcome speech was from bishop Nikolla, who noticed that the need of our Church now and in the future are many. They attended carefully the presentation of the Theological Academy, the life and activities in this Academy. All the participants in conference were invited to study in Theological Academyin order to serve Christ and his Church. Some of them were interested to study in Academy.
 
    On May 11, 12 and 13 the student conference was held at the Shen Vlash Monastery entitled “The resurrection of Christ – source of life”.
 
    120 students attended from various universities in Albania. Usually the conference is the activity that students like very much, because for three days they have the opportunity to live together, to spend time together, to learn more from each-other, to get to know each – other better, to learn more about important things of life, to have fun etc.
 
    This conference had two main speakers one from the OCMC in America, father David, and the other mister Thomas Çomeni, the New Testament Teacher in Theological Academy of Saint Vlash. They explained very well how much God love us, and how His Resurrection is the source of everything in our lives. Also Mister Thomas thought the student the role of the youth in our society today. After the speeches the students have time to ask and discuss about different problems of their lives.
    
    Small group discussions were very important part of this conference, because all students shared in 7 small groups had the opportunity to discuss and share their ideas, thoughts and difficulties that they face in their today life. In the conference they had the opportunity to meet and discuss together two times for around one hour.
    Sports activities, excursion, friendship gathering, and the celebrating night help the students to develop their friendships and to know each other better and to have a nice time together.
 
    The fellowship that was spent over these three days gave the students an opportunity to form friendships and discuss openly their desires and hopes for the future and how they see the importance of the church in their life. Also they learned how to live a life in the center of which is the resurrected Jesus.
 
    They were given a welcome packet; the sports activities included volleyball, ping pong and football. The social activities included fellowship time, music and dancing. The excursion took the students to the beach in Durres. Each student was asked to contribute 300 leke for the cost of the conference.
 
    The feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive. The students shared that this conference helped them to understand better why the church is so important and that we need the church to be human and in this way we can live a fruitful life for ourselves and for all society. 
 
     
 
Jezuela Bardhaj and Nestilda Dangaj
Translated by John Baba
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