Romans 8:28 God causes all things to work together for good….
Yesterday I had decided to stay in. The weather wasn’t the best and I just wanted to hang out at home. A couple of families in the church are struggling financially and have asked for help with food. We are not in a position to help them and that is difficult for me. I know they need to seek God for provision as do we. I had gotten a call that some visit cards I had ordered, through another church youth group doing a fund raiser, were done and ready to be delivered. This required going to the bank for cash. I REALLY didn’t want to go. At first I even put it off by telling them I didn’t have the cash and asking if it could wait. My loving wife reminded me that integrity is not ordering something I am not ready to pay for. So I reluctantly went to the bank for the money. Adding to my concern that this had been a short month financially and waiting to see God’s hand in all this. I went to the branch near the house, as opposed to the closer ATM, thinking the little extra walk would do me good and give me some alone time. I got to the bank and tried the ATM there and it wouldn’t work. I wish I could say this did not affect my attitude…but that would not be true. So, I went to wait in line for the teller to retrieve the 15 euro. The guy at the window seemed to take FOREVER. I waited patiently for him, no really I did not allow my frustration to show. The manager, who had just returned from lunch and whom I have a casual relationship with, came and asked if I had been waiting long. I told him the ATM wasn’t working and so I was waiting for the teller. He went over and looked and the machine was working. As I walked toward the machine he said he wanted to ask me a question when I was finished taking money. After I took half, 15 euro, of what we have for the rest of the month, I was battling to keep my focus on all God has provided for us and how He has made promises of providing for our needs, there stood the manager with a very serious look on his face. He and his colleague have asked in the past, “do you always smile” to which I have been able to plant seeds for the Gospel, but this look was serious. He said” do you know where I can get a Bible in Shqip?” All the previous concerns were destroyed as I knew God had sent me there. So of course I said yes. He insisted he would pay for it which led me to believe he wanted to study it for comparison to the Koran. I walked to the house to drop off the money for the cards then proceeded straight to the church where we had some brand new Bibles. I also included some other literature and put it all in a bag that could not be seen through, for discretion reasons, and headed back to the bank. The manager met me at the door and asked if I had time for a coffee. I said yes and we went around the corner to a local restaurant and spent about an hour visiting. He said he wanted a Bible in Shqip because even though his English skills are good the KJV he has is confusing. I gave him the Bible as a gift and told him that if he found the same truth in it I have that would be payment enough for me. Through our conversation I found out he had graduated high school in Pennsylvania and was there 2 years. He had been exposed to Christianity but was claiming to be Muslim. As of late he has been searching out different religions such as Bektashi (specific sect of the Muslim religion), Christianity, etc. I was able to share the Bible and some of why we are here but mostly I felt I was to listen and not try to convince him of anything. He responded very well and shared much of his story and his family with me. His brother lives in Cleveland, Ohio and has converted to “Christainity”. His brother had recently visited and stirred even more questions in him. I told him if he had any questions to call me which he responded very positively to. When I suggested getting together on a regular basis he responded with “I would like that very much”.
On my way back to the house I realized I had been set up by God for this very important meeting. I wondered about whether or not I should have more assertively presented the Gospel and got a peace that what I shared was exactly what he needed to hear. I also realized that God has a way bigger plan for us than we even know or see. His timing in all this was interesting. Our financial …..issues…are so small in comparison to His plan. Please be praying for wisdom on how to continue with presenting the Gospel to this man who, as a bank manager, has much influence in the community.
He, the bank manager, has recently had some interesting conversations with his 4 year old son. His mother died in 2005. His son asked “dad where is grandma?” He responded, she lives in the sky now, not knowing how deeply he should go with a 4 year old and being a little confused himself. His son seemed to be ok with this answer for a few days, but then came back to his father accusing him of lying. He was confused when the son said,” dad grandma doesn’t live in the sky.” He responded, “she doesn’t?” The son said,” no, only the white thing inside her goes up to the sky.” He laughed at the understanding of a 4 year old and figured he had seen something on TV that led him to such a conclusion. A few days later his son came to him and said, “dad, I don’t want to go to the sky and live with grandma right now.” He said, “son you have a long time to go before that happens. You will grow up, get married, have children and be a grandpa before that happens.” His son replied,” O.K. then it will be good; but, for now I don’t want to live in the sky cause sometimes I wet the bed and I don’t want to make the clouds all yellow”. I laughed very hard when he shared that story with me.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
So much to do! So much to share!
This month has been full of God’s goodness and grace. We have been able to provide for people’s needs, spend time with Papa God, and get renewed and refreshed for what He has coming next.
Just a few weeks ago, God impressed upon us to bless a young man who has recently committed his life to Christ, and is an active part of the church. We were able to give him a nice bicycle that had been gifted to us previously. He and his family live a few miles from the church, just outside Gjakova. The family has no automobile and this is the only bicycle in the house. One would have thought we had just given him the keys to a new car. His excitement was worth it all. This was a blessing not only for him but his family also. It is such a joy for us to see God provide for them in this way.
June 3-5 we attended the Stir Up the Flame conference hosted by Pastors Daryl and Debbie Snyder of our affiliate church in Vlore , Albania Strategic Prayer Center
While in Albania, we also had the opportunity to visit and minister at our other affiliate church in Elbasan and catch up with friends there. It was encouraging to see how the church there has grown and to see God’s provision in the lives of the pastors and the congregation. We had the awesome privilege of seeing and holding the newest addition to the Gjoni family Emanuel. What a blessing he is. Then, back to Vlore Albania Albania
This week we were able to host Dr. Rick Shaw, a professor at Wayland Baptist University in Texas
God is continually giving us opportunities to love on people and be His light to this nation. We would like to thank all of you for your continued prayers and support, and look forward to what God has for us next!
Blessings,
Al and Kathi Zickefoose
Dinner Time!
Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.
Psalm 116:7
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Busy, Busy!!
Greetings!!!
Hello everyone! A lot of things have been happening here in Kosova, and time has flown by! We are making a few changes to the operation and maintenance of our blog, so please be patient. Here are just a few things that have been happening here.
Food Supply
This same household has two families living together, totaling 4 adults and 6 children, and has only a wood burning stove for heat and cooking. On several occasions God has been able to bless them, through us, with food donations. Some of the items needed, and therefore supplied, include flour, eggs, milk, butter, oil, sugar, and a sausage-like meat called Suxhuk (suh-jook). These simple ingredients help feed this household for a month, or more.
Got Milk?
Another of the ministry areas that has been placed on Kathi’s heart is providing families with farm-fresh milk. The milk is delivered to our home twice a week, and Kathi boils, filters and bottles the milk as preparation for providing it to the families. The milk delivery started as a simple home affair for our own supply, but soon became an open door for ministry opportunities. Each week we are able to supply four families with enough milk for a week. This has greatly blessed these families as it supplies healthy milk and helps minimize the grocery bills.
Hope for the hopeless!!
One of the ladies in the church, who has been very faithful, came to us with a need. Her wood burning stove, which she uses to cook and to heat her home, was so full of holes she couldn’t use it anymore because it smoked the whole house up. A new one cost about $60.They are made of thin, unpainted, metal and are not the black heavy type we see in many places. This winter was very cold and her family could not stay in the house without heat. Your support made it possible to supply this family with a new wood burning stove and a supply of wood for the cold winter months.
This same woman, whose husband is in prison and is living on 40 euro per month with her two sons, was required to move this weekend. She called and was very nervous about this because she was previously told she had until July. We arrived to help her move all of her 2 rooms of stuff to 1 room on the other side of the building. The painters were at the
place she was moving from and the new tenants were really rushing her. We were able to help her move into the room but first, we had some issues to deal with. The floorboards in the house were built directly on the soil under the house. This has softened them and allowed for rats, mice and bugs to have their way. The floorboards were loose where they had been nailed and some had just rotted to the place where there was nothing but space between them. We had some thin backing board at our house, so we got that, some rat bait, some ant powder, and even got some steel wool pads from a man in the church who sells them, and went to work. With Al’s prior 
exterminating experience, it was easy to help out. We were able to stuff rat poison down the holes in her floor and walls, followed by the steel wool to prevent any reoccurring rat infestations. We sprinkled the ant powder straight on the floor boards to help control the bug flow up through the floor. We got everything treated so she could lay down the cardboard she puts under her worn out carpets, and moved the rest of her things in to the room. In the process, the neighbors decided to “help” her move her cabinet. This was a trash heap find but very precious to her. During the move into her room, the cabinet came apart at the seams. Old pressed particle board doesn’t 
hold up to much abuse. This woman was mortified. All she could see was that her beloved cabinet was being carried into her room in pieces.
Two days later we were able to go back and help her paint her room with what we would call wet dust. It is a rock that they add to water to create a paint-like substance. If you touch the walls once it has dried, your hand will come away covered in a white dusty powder. It is very cheap but covers the dirt on the walls left by wood burning smoke. We also had some 1x2 boards and used them to rebuild and re-enforce her beloved cabinet and make it stronger than ever before. She was so happy. Al was also able to install her found-in-the-trash ceiling lamp, which she also treasured, much to her delight. She is now getting settled in to her new place and working to make it home for her and her two sons.
Home Visits
In the early part of March, we were able to visit a family that is new to the church. The woman of the house had asked us to come to their house for coffee many times, and we were finally able to do it. When we arrived, we were shocked by the state of their house. It had been raining a lot here and many areas were flooded. This family’s house was one of those places. In addition to the flooding issue, caused by the water flowing through the walls, the floors of the house were made of dirt. There were no boards, and only one rug that did not even cover the entire floor in the main living space. Cockroaches were having their fun everywhere and a dead rat was lying in the middle of the main walkway. In some parts of the house, the water was as high as our knees. The woman who lived in this house with her family was very distraught about the conditions of her house, and we were able to minister to her during our visit.
Children, Children, Everywhere!
The children’s ministry has been changing a lot recently. For the past month or two, we have had between 19 and 27 children coming for the children’s church on Sunday mornings. This is very exciting. It has been so much fun and such a blessing to be able to love these children who otherwise are unloved, and to see them having fun, smiling and laughing, and worshiping God. They are hearing the word of God on a weekly basis and seeing it lived through our living. They are learning to love one another, which is a major issue here, especially among the different people groups. Most of the time the way adults deal with
problems they have with their children is to slap them or beat them. Of course, this is the way the children learn to deal with each other. We have had an interesting time teaching them that this is not the way to deal with each other. Instead we are teaching them respect for each other and to love each other as we love them. It has made a visible difference in their attitudes and how they act around each other in and outside the church.
We would like to thank all of you for your continued prayer and support throughout our time here. God has truly been blessing us and our work here. We have seen the changes in the people here and are very excited to see what else God has in store for His church and the people of Kosova!
Blessings,
Al and Kath
Hello everyone! A lot of things have been happening here in Kosova, and time has flown by! We are making a few changes to the operation and maintenance of our blog, so please be patient. Here are just a few things that have been happening here.
Divine protection!
A couple of our families had a bad rash appear on the children. We initially took them to see a Doctor from Germany. He gave them cream and it seemed to help. The problem never really went away and as children do they scratched at this rash until, in some cases, it was raw and nearing infection. We were able to take the families to a children’s doctor, who is the wife of a friend we met here, recently and she gave prescriptions and knew exactly what to do. Kathi was busy loving on this little 3 year old girl the whole time at the doctor’s and even to the pharmacy. The pharmacist looked at Kathi and said,” You may want to be careful”. To which Kathi replied “why?” She then proceeded to tell Kathi that this was a prescription for Scabies and this was highly contagious. Praise God we have been ministering to these folks in their homes for months and never got the disease.
A couple of our families had a bad rash appear on the children. We initially took them to see a Doctor from Germany. He gave them cream and it seemed to help. The problem never really went away and as children do they scratched at this rash until, in some cases, it was raw and nearing infection. We were able to take the families to a children’s doctor, who is the wife of a friend we met here, recently and she gave prescriptions and knew exactly what to do. Kathi was busy loving on this little 3 year old girl the whole time at the doctor’s and even to the pharmacy. The pharmacist looked at Kathi and said,” You may want to be careful”. To which Kathi replied “why?” She then proceeded to tell Kathi that this was a prescription for Scabies and this was highly contagious. Praise God we have been ministering to these folks in their homes for months and never got the disease.
Food Supply
This same household has two families living together, totaling 4 adults and 6 children, and has only a wood burning stove for heat and cooking. On several occasions God has been able to bless them, through us, with food donations. Some of the items needed, and therefore supplied, include flour, eggs, milk, butter, oil, sugar, and a sausage-like meat called Suxhuk (suh-jook). These simple ingredients help feed this household for a month, or more.
Got Milk?
Another of the ministry areas that has been placed on Kathi’s heart is providing families with farm-fresh milk. The milk is delivered to our home twice a week, and Kathi boils, filters and bottles the milk as preparation for providing it to the families. The milk delivery started as a simple home affair for our own supply, but soon became an open door for ministry opportunities. Each week we are able to supply four families with enough milk for a week. This has greatly blessed these families as it supplies healthy milk and helps minimize the grocery bills.
Hope for the hopeless!!
One of the ladies in the church, who has been very faithful, came to us with a need. Her wood burning stove, which she uses to cook and to heat her home, was so full of holes she couldn’t use it anymore because it smoked the whole house up. A new one cost about $60.They are made of thin, unpainted, metal and are not the black heavy type we see in many places. This winter was very cold and her family could not stay in the house without heat. Your support made it possible to supply this family with a new wood burning stove and a supply of wood for the cold winter months.
This same woman, whose husband is in prison and is living on 40 euro per month with her two sons, was required to move this weekend. She called and was very nervous about this because she was previously told she had until July. We arrived to help her move all of her 2 rooms of stuff to 1 room on the other side of the building. The painters were at the
place she was moving from and the new tenants were really rushing her. We were able to help her move into the room but first, we had some issues to deal with. The floorboards in the house were built directly on the soil under the house. This has softened them and allowed for rats, mice and bugs to have their way. The floorboards were loose where they had been nailed and some had just rotted to the place where there was nothing but space between them. We had some thin backing board at our house, so we got that, some rat bait, some ant powder, and even got some steel wool pads from a man in the church who sells them, and went to work. With Al’s prior 
exterminating experience, it was easy to help out. We were able to stuff rat poison down the holes in her floor and walls, followed by the steel wool to prevent any reoccurring rat infestations. We sprinkled the ant powder straight on the floor boards to help control the bug flow up through the floor. We got everything treated so she could lay down the cardboard she puts under her worn out carpets, and moved the rest of her things in to the room. In the process, the neighbors decided to “help” her move her cabinet. This was a trash heap find but very precious to her. During the move into her room, the cabinet came apart at the seams. Old pressed particle board doesn’t 
hold up to much abuse. This woman was mortified. All she could see was that her beloved cabinet was being carried into her room in pieces.Two days later we were able to go back and help her paint her room with what we would call wet dust. It is a rock that they add to water to create a paint-like substance. If you touch the walls once it has dried, your hand will come away covered in a white dusty powder. It is very cheap but covers the dirt on the walls left by wood burning smoke. We also had some 1x2 boards and used them to rebuild and re-enforce her beloved cabinet and make it stronger than ever before. She was so happy. Al was also able to install her found-in-the-trash ceiling lamp, which she also treasured, much to her delight. She is now getting settled in to her new place and working to make it home for her and her two sons.
Home Visits
In the early part of March, we were able to visit a family that is new to the church. The woman of the house had asked us to come to their house for coffee many times, and we were finally able to do it. When we arrived, we were shocked by the state of their house. It had been raining a lot here and many areas were flooded. This family’s house was one of those places. In addition to the flooding issue, caused by the water flowing through the walls, the floors of the house were made of dirt. There were no boards, and only one rug that did not even cover the entire floor in the main living space. Cockroaches were having their fun everywhere and a dead rat was lying in the middle of the main walkway. In some parts of the house, the water was as high as our knees. The woman who lived in this house with her family was very distraught about the conditions of her house, and we were able to minister to her during our visit.
Children, Children, Everywhere!
The children’s ministry has been changing a lot recently. For the past month or two, we have had between 19 and 27 children coming for the children’s church on Sunday mornings. This is very exciting. It has been so much fun and such a blessing to be able to love these children who otherwise are unloved, and to see them having fun, smiling and laughing, and worshiping God. They are hearing the word of God on a weekly basis and seeing it lived through our living. They are learning to love one another, which is a major issue here, especially among the different people groups. Most of the time the way adults deal with
problems they have with their children is to slap them or beat them. Of course, this is the way the children learn to deal with each other. We have had an interesting time teaching them that this is not the way to deal with each other. Instead we are teaching them respect for each other and to love each other as we love them. It has made a visible difference in their attitudes and how they act around each other in and outside the church.
We would like to thank all of you for your continued prayer and support throughout our time here. God has truly been blessing us and our work here. We have seen the changes in the people here and are very excited to see what else God has in store for His church and the people of Kosova!
Blessings,
Al and Kath
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