TIRANA, Albania -- Going to Croatia was always the plan for Hudson Sturm, but after spending time in Albania, Hudson doesn't see himself anywhere else.

The senior missions major began the planning process for spending his summer in Croatia - where is family has its roots. It's a country where he could even get a dual citizenship. Hudson was making plans to go over for an internship opportunity, but while he was working through the process of planning, that internship ultimately fell through. Just a few short months before he was supposed to take off, he had to pivot and plan to go to a neighboring country, Albania, on the eastern side of the Mediterranean. 

At that time, Hudson's concern shifted from where exactly he was going to following the One sending him.

"I remember last semester just praying that if God wanted to close the door, that He would, but I needed direction," Hudson said. "I knew He had me in the mission field but I didn't know where, and it was the Lord closing one door and immediately opening another one. And now, I want to be in Albania because I know the Lord wants me there."

"I was able to see the logic of God leading me. But within like two days of being over there I knew I could live there if that's what God wants."

Hudson was ultimately connected with Pastor Mike Fiocchi in the capital city, Tirana, and a summer-long internship at New Hope Baptist Church was set in motion. And when it came time to go over, he got right to work.

The first ministry opportunity was partnering with local pastors to help out at an orphanage near Tirana. Hudson did whatever he needed to do to assist, doing operations, logistics, and even doing devotionals for the children. A local church uses that orphanage for their meeting place, and Hudson was even able to preach twice during the service on Sundays. At the end of that month of ministry, the orphanage was a host site for a "VBS" (Vacation Bible School), where Hudson preached again, this time to children from multiple orphanages nearby.
 
Once the work at the orphanage was complete, Hudson returned to Tirana to teach English and assist with another VBS over the next couple of weeks. He assisted Pastor Fiocchi doing whatever was needed to make the ministry run.

Interacting with the Albanian people made Hudson feel right at home.

"Albanian people are crazy welcoming," Hudson said. "Even in their constitution, they heavily emphasize guests. The people are welcoming and it's like you become a part of their family. They're like, 'if you're my guest, I'll feed you.' They really lean into it and help each other. They're super generous with their time. Even like business meetings are a chance to get to know people. You talk about their family, how work is going, you don't talk about the business until you've had a chance to talk about life. They're all involved in each others' lives - in a good way."

The final month of his internship was family camp at New Hope, which even ran a youth camp of 30 teenagers from nearby churches. Hudson was assisting in operations, preaching, giving rides, and generally doing anything that needed to be done. For him, it's all about ministry - about putting feet to what he's been learning in the classroom.

"You have to recognize your insufficiency to rely on God's sufficiency," he said. "My last day in Albania, they gave me a wooden plaque cutout of Albania, and wood-burned into it was the verse where Paul says he preached the Gospel from Jerusalem up to Illyricum [part of modern-day Albania]. I can know these doctrinal things that I learn in class, but if that's all you know and you don't apply it, there's no point. So I've just been learning for the past three years, but this summer, I was able to see things applied."

For Hudson, his burden for the Balkans only grew. And the senior from Michigan is already making plans to return. 

"I think there's an objective need there," he said. "I looked into the statistics of the area - it's strongly catholic, because they fought wars for it 30 years ago. It's not just part of their culture - it's so much deeper out there. The burden part - I'm not sure where it came from. I just gradually became more concerned and more interested in this group of people and in learning their culture and more about them. And God just showed the need to me - I think He showed me the burden through Croatia and then closed those doors, then opened the doors to Albania. So I can look back and go, 'The Lord was definitely in this and this is where I need to be this summer.' I can look back and see God's hand, for sure."