Great Healing!

Ibadet, pronounced E Ba Det, the woman in the video, had epilepsy and she couldn't walk. She started coming to church about 6 weeks ago. In the video she says she was into Black Magic which the translator translates witch craft. I had to go get her with the van for the first few weeks for her to come to church. I literally had to carry her to the van and into the church. The second week she was there I felt Holy Spirit directing to have some of the Holy Spirit filled believers to pray for her. Soon Holy Spirit had her on the floor and no one had touched her. Kathi felt one of our young boys,(9 years old) who is an intercessor, should lay hands on her. As soon as he did she began to manifest demonic spirits. She went through deliverance there and the next week as well. The third week I was told I didn't need to go get her. I thought she may be sick and not wanting to go out in the cold. Her husband did show up, walking, with another woman, or so I thought, because they walked in like it was nothing. On second glance I saw it was her. She had walked 25 minutes to church without so much as a limp. She testified, during worship service, of Jesus healing and said her epilepsy was gone.
After worship service Kathi and I felt that something was just not finished so I asked if anyone had a word from The Lord or saw anything. She stood up and said yes, I feel The Lord told me it's time for my husband, who was sitting right beside her, to give his life to Christ. I asked him if he agreed and felt it was time and he did. He received Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and renounced all forms of Islam. Praise God!

Last week we filmed her testimony which I am giving you the link for. I don't know if I did her justice with the recording but Jesus gets the praise.

Yesterday we got a call her daughter was in the hospital sick and they needed help with buying medicine. While there she showed me the 74.50 euro bill(approximately $105.00) she had racked up for injections and such to help her epilepsy which struck her normally 5 times a day. Her husband is out of work, he drives one of the wood cutting carts, because his saw cart is broken and they don't have money to fix it. She said she would go to the doctor for an injection regularly and sometimes it helped and most times it didn't.

When she walked to church, later, for prayer time she was so excited because it had been 15 years since she was able to walk to the hospital as she had done the night before to take her daughter. This is one very excited lady. She shares her new faith with anyone and everyone who comes to her house or she meets on the street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bJ8fcVJhL0
is the video testimony from Sunday.
Al and Kathi

Mistake in translation was Al's mistake not the mistake of the translator.

Ibadet Testimony

www.youtube.com

When she says she was delivered from Black Magic the translator says witchcraft. Mistake in translation.

A "Weekend Project"

Weekend Project

Some folks redecorate, paint, landscape their yard, or build something for a “weekend project”. This past weekend God had a project for us to do.

We have a mother of 5 children in our church. She has been very faithful to attend and serve in the church whenever possible. They live with her husband who is also the father of these children in a 1 room section of a house. They have no running water in the house and no bathroom facilities. We have been helping her survive (i.e., food, wood, clothing, prescriptions) for some time as her husband, a very violent alcoholic, has little income left after drinking away what he does make. From time to time he may bring home a day or two worth of groceries, usually accompanied by sexual expectations required from mom, then it’s right back to violence and abuse. We have been praying for this family for over 2 years that her husband would change and surrender his life to Jesus, but we have yet to see the fruit.

The children are two boys 11 and 9, and 3 girls 8, 4 and 5 weeks. Yes, she has just given birth with the promise her husband would change and start taking care of the family. After the birth of this baby he seems to be getting worse. He has told his children he would cut them and that he has no love for any of them. Because of their minority status, and lack of women’s facilities, she has little hope of going to any shelter. Here you must prove the need to the police, and usually, they call the husband to come and get her. This only fuels the violence because of the shamed based society.

This family has recently been plagued with lice, roaches and sickness for several months. The baby started having respiratory issues at 2 weeks old, and 2 of the other kids, along with mom developed respiratory illnesses. I believe it was due to the roach infestation.

We felt prompted to do something more to help.  With our exterminating background we knew this was a very unhealthy situation for the whole family. We gave instruction to the mother on how to prepare the house for extermination of the roaches, and invited her and the children to stay with us for two nights they would need to be out of the house. On Friday we picked them up and brought them to our home where they stayed until Sunday when we took them to church then home. Friday I, Al, bought chemical for the house and the lice. Then I took one of the young men from the church with me, training time, to exterminate this home. Kathi worked with the mom to treat the lice, bathe the kids, and launder everything from the house. Saturday 5 of us, including mom, went and cleaned the house. Someone had broken the window over night so we replaced that also.

The kids had a blast while in our home. The boys found the laminate floor a true field of play. Sliding on their socks as well as sitting back to back and having pushing contests were just some of the creative ways they found to occupy their time. The 4 year old girl found a collapsible magazine rack a true pleasure, folding it, putting it on her head like a helmet and sliding it across the laminate floor provided hours of fun for her. The girls were very attentive while Kathi prepared meals, and with the step stool they could get high enough to watch the preparation and cooking. They also enjoyed helping set the table, do the dishes, and sweep the floors. The 8 year old girl would come out of the bathroom and have Kathi smell her hands every time because she loved how the soap made them smell.

They were all very blessed to have 3 hot meals a day, including homemade pizza on Saturday night, as well as having one bedroom for the girls and one for the boys, not to mention they each had their own bed. Kathi was able to minister the Word and encourage this mother to count her blessings and be faithful with all God has given her and done in her life. She encouraged her in stewardship of her family and home and charged her with faith to believe God will take care of her.

Before we left for church Sunday morning the mom told me neither the children nor her wanted to go back to their …home. We again encouraged her to be faithful where God has her and so we took her home after the service.

We received a call late Sunday night because she still had no food in her home and what little she had was thrown out because of the infestation. Monday when we took her some food supplies she was out in front of her house cleaning the yard and working to make the place look better than it had. Previously there was a big piece of carpet, urine stained and nasty, on her patio area. With no bathroom the kids don’t go far at night when they need to go. That had been disposed of as well as an old couch that sat outside. The couch was being disassembled, the usable wood split for burning, and the rest thrown out. The garbage that once filled the yard was being picked up and properly disposed of. She was making a home out of her one little room and small yard. Stewarding what she has with the hope that God will provide something more. She is working to be grateful for what she has and praying it will be blessed.

These two boys have been seeing visions of angels and Christ Himself speaking to them and promising His protection and love for them. The 9 year old, whom is usually very quiet, prayed out Sunday during worship and prayer time for all those whom God would have to come to know Him as well as the churches in Kosova and our fellowship. His prayer was sincere and heartfelt. I believe a spirit of intercession was upon him as he prayed out for near 5 minutes blessing and asking Jesus to touch certain people and the nation in general. It was awesome. These kids have been praying for their father for quite some time now. Will you please join them in praying for the transformation of their father by their FATHER?

So……… that was our weekend project!

It’s Time to Move

We were informed by our landlord that our rent would be increasing by 100 euro or about $140 per month. This caused us to begin looking for another place to live. We found a place by God’s grace within about 2 hours of starting to look.

The house is newer, with many upgrades from where we were. It has more space than the current one and we are the first to live in it. It was rebuilt 2 years ago and everything is new. The best part is we got it for the same price we are currently paying. Praise God for an upgrade without an increase in rent! We have been slowly moving our things and take occupancy on Oct.21.

SHIFT

We have been sensing a time of change is upon us. God is moving us to spend even more time with Him this winter and renew our strength and vision. As we have been moving toward this place, God is restoring some old relationships that were broken.  One teen-age girl, who had been coming to church, stopped when she started high school, due to peer pressure. She had given some weak excuse for not coming and we were sad but had to let her go. This past week we invited her to a special meeting sponsored by one of the other local churches. They had a team in from the U.K. and had advertised a healing time on Tuesday night. In talking with her uncle I learned she had been having a terrible time with asthma. I told him she needed to be there and he agreed. She came and at the end of the meeting they were praying for people who wanted a greater sensing of Holy Spirit in their life. The pastor said, “Those of you who are not from here but have come as missionaries go lay hands on those with their hands raised”. She was one nearest us so we prayed a very complex prayer, “come Holy Spirit”! We could feel Holy Spirit almost immediately. After, I asked her if she felt Holy Spirit and she said yes. I then asked if she had missed that in her life, knowing she had felt it before, and she said yes with tears in her eyes. She then asked the team for prayer for night terrors she had been having. Her mother had taken her to a Muslim holy man and he had given her a little idol to carry with her, and one for under her pillow for this fear that had gripped her so. I asked her how that was working for her and she said it had been three weeks and they were still as bad as ever. The team members, along with us, prayed against that spirit and advised her to get rid of those idols. She gave them to us and we burned them. The next time we saw her was Thursday evening. We took her to a youth night with the same team from the U.K. She looked very different; she was happy and seemed lighter. We asked her how she felt physically and she said she was much better. We asked about the night terrors and she said they were gone! Praise God! 

She shared with us that when she got to high school she didn't want to be the stupid girl who believed in Jesus as all her classmates had labeled her. She wanted someone to love her so she started doing the things the other, “popular” girls were doing. Going to Christian church was not one of them…remember, this is a Muslim land, they say. She realized that even though she was more popular, still no one loved her. She said she was tired of chasing after the approval of others and wanted to find her way back to Jesus. We told her the way and she prayed to Him and renewed her commitment right there. She has totally changed since she used to work with the children with Danielle. She was always shy and quiet, and now she is testifying and has a desire to work with a youth group. She told us today that she had a good teacher in Danielle and wants to help others like Danielle helped her. Praise God!

You never know the impact you have on a person’s life at the moment you are being God’s hands, but sooner or later we will see. Let this be an encouragement to you, if you are struggling to see the fruit of your labors - look up!

Sunday, 9-16-2012, Toni stopped by the house while Kath and I were out working in the yard. He complained of a headache and neck pain so we prayed right there in the front yard. His pain was gone and he went away smiling and praising God. An hour later Samir stopped by on his way home from a different church. We talked a little and he shared that he had stomach pain. We prayed, again in the front yard in the midst of garden work, and he was healed and happy. Praise God for His gift/ birthright to His children!

Sunday, 9-30-2012, I preached healing and gave testimonies of healings, at Eternity Church, which is another local church here in Gjakova. After service we laid hands on people, prayed and God did miracles. One young lady had knee and foot pain from an injury acquired playing soccer. After we prayed for her we asked her how does your knee feel now? She was so excited she could only cry. The pain was gone and she had freedom of movement. I tried to get her to testify before the people and she said, “I can’t talk”. She was so excited and amazed at Papa’s love she could hardly get out the testimony. Another older lady, pastor’s mom, we prayed for her spine. Three days later she said the pain was much better and only comes and goes. We will continue to pray. We prayed for 4 people including one 8 year old boy for fear issues and one woman for her upcoming test at University. No reports on those two.

10-08-2012 Fatimje hurt her shoulder two weeks prior while lifting her father, who was being ceremonially washed for burial. She was in continuous pain and could not lift her arm without severe pain. We prayed and anointed her with oil. We felt Holy Spirit very quickly. Holy Spirit knocked her to the floor. She got up completely healed. Praise God! This happened in our kitchen.

10-20-2012 Berati had hurt his back playing soccer. We prayed and released Holy Spirit and healing. He said his legs were very weak as he felt Holy Spirit come upon him. After he said his back was healed! Praise God!!!!!

Thank you for your ongoing support and prayers. You make it possible for us to be God’s hands and feet here. God Bless you!

Al and Kathi