We had a very encouraging time with Pastors Daryl and Debbie Snyder from Vlore, Albania, who arrived Sunday evening. They shared a great teaching with everyone Monday night and gave us some prophetic insights that helped ease some of the warfare we had been feeling. Pastor Daryl took a special offering for Didarja, a lady in our church whose husband is in prison, to obtain one of the containers that used to be used at the village we worked in. There is no cost for the container, but the transport fees would be 150 euro. The offering totaled 84.90 euro. That night I wrote a letter to some friends in Tulsa and they donated the remaining 65 euro needed.
Pastors Daryl and Debbie left on Wed. morning and we got back to our regular routine and getting ready for Kathi’s second of two women’s days. Little did we know, God had some additional plans for our week.
We went to see the man who would do the paperwork about the container/ house for Didarja. He is the neighborhood director of this particular minority area. This is also the area where a lot of the children we have been ministering to live. When we located him he was visiting in the neighborhood assessing damages. The houses there had been flooded out during the night when the river overflowed from 2 weeks of rain. They asked us to come and see each of the houses. As we went, each one showed us how the water had come in a meter high and ruined food stores, clothing, bedding, cooking units, and other items. Everything was wet and muddy, including wood. The power had to be turned off to the area for safety reasons. Some had been able to stop the water from coming in, but had little or no opportunity to dry anything out. It was still raining and chilly.
Our hearts were broken for these families as we had no financial resources to help them, and more rain was forecasted for the next several days. I told them that we are a small church with a Big God and we would pray for them and see what God would have us do. I suddenly felt a warm breeze coming through this area and the rain stopped. I later found out that Kathi, who was with a group of the women in the same area, had prayed that God would send a warm breeze to help dry out the houses and belongings. Pretty cool right? We left them without any promises other than we will pray.
As we drove toward home we saw Didarja walking to work. We gave her a ride and God started laying things on our heart. She works for a bakery near the hospital. When we dropped her off the boss was there. We decided to ask him if he could help or maybe give a discounted price on some bread. He said he only had samunes. A samune is a more expensive specialty bread that is very tasty and filling. He asked how many we wanted and we told him 70. God moved on his heart and he gave us all 70 at no charge, AND told us to come back the next day and he would help with some other bread. Kathi felt we needed to go to the vegetable guy and see what he could help with. He said “what do you want”. We told him there were 15 families who needed help and whatever he could do was appreciated. He gave us 15 bags of potatoes, 15 heads of cabbage and a crate of onions at no charge. Praise God! The families were very excited to receive this food as they had not eaten since the day before. The bread would hold them until they could make means to cook the rest.
Again on our way home, Kathi said let’s stop at the church who sells used clothes out of the basement, and see if he can help with some blankets. He gave us 14 large wool blankets at no charge and said let him know what else he could do. We were excited!
One of the other pastors in town found out about what we were doing, and asked what was needed. I told him most of them could use some pallets to get their stuff off the floor so he went hunting. He called later and said he found some but the man wanted them back as he had a deposit on them. I told him the people needed them and probably would not return them. The man GAVE 10 pallets and delivered them to the neighborhood within the hour NO CHARGE! This same church asked if they could supply some homemade soup and some bread to help feed these folks something warm. We were able to use the new “Family Life Center” in that neighborhood to feed 45-50 people a hot meal plus juice on Thursday, with the help of several ladies from that church, and another 25-30 on Friday.
Thursday, a couple local Christian organizations together donated shoes, clothing, blankets, mattresses, 100 kilos of flour and various other food supplies for us to distribute for these flood victims. Friday morning we went back to the bakery and bought, at a discounted price, 70 more samunes to feed the neighborhood.
It is great serving the Lord and seeing the Christian community come together in times of need.
Kathi held the women’s day outreach for this area on Saturday. There were several women that came from the neighborhood that we had not met before, along with those we had. It was a time of fun and pampering which the women really enjoyed even in the midst of catastrophe. They were blessed. As Kathi shared the love of Jesus and how special each one is to Him, some of the women were in tears.
The director of the community for these folks came to church with his brother yesterday. He said other than us, the Christian community, they had received 500 euro from the city-wide ministry for minorities. That 500 euro served 25 families. He said it was a blessing just to know someone cares for these people. He also enjoyed church very much. At the end of the service he had gone out and returned with a woman and her son. When we asked about her coming, this man had met them while he was out and invited them to come in to rest a little and get warm. She, of course, was welcomed and given attention by Kathi and Didarja. Apparently he felt comfortable enough there to bring others in.
We are praying for further support for these folks as there are still 13 families with desperate need.
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| Inside one house, the waterline form the previous nights' flood is still visible. |
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| Everything is covered in mud, making cleaning up difficult and time consuming. |
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| Clothes donated to families were a welcome relief from the cold and wet. |
