Exciting Updates! (March 26, 2011)

Hello!

There have been many exciting things taking place here, and we have fallen a little behind in updating everyone. SO sorry about that! Here come a few new and exciting updates of what God has been doing through us the past few weeks!

 Saturday, about 3 weeks ago, we went to the Family Life Center and held the weekly children's ministry program. Since we have some young men, ages 11-14, coming and they are a little overwhelming for the young ones to be in the same group, I (Al) have decided to take the older boys upstairs or outside for a separate ministry time. I have a time of sharing my faith and testimony then we play ping pong or something else. This week I went outside and set up the Ladder Ball game I had made. Soon we had several observers and so I set up the Corn hole boards. We ended up with 15-16 young men from the immediate neighborhood playing and visiting. It was a great time of introducing ourselves and just showing our light to these guys.
 After the regular weekly program, Kathi, Danielle and I spent the day with Arton and Didarje and their boys. We had a good time playing Corn hole and made hotdogs and baked beans for lunch.
                At 6:00 p.m. we had our first weekly worship meeting at the second location. We had 6 of the regulars from that area and two young men who visited. Praise God, Holy Spirit showed up. I was able to share with the folks about the need to be filled with Holy Spirit daily and we had a good time. We prayed for people after the service and again Holy Spirit healed one man who had been having chronic neck pain. When Arton came up for prayer I asked what he wanted from Jesus. He replied MORE OF JESUS. We were prompted by Holy Spirit to have him raise his hands and ask audibly for more and we prayed with him. Soon he was on the floor in the presence of God. His brothers’ 17 year old son was one of the visitors and came next for prayer. He looked very depressed and we asked him what he wanted Jesus to do. He said "I want my life to be different"! Apparently he has seen the change in Arton and Berati and wanted some for himself. We started to pray for a touch from Holy Spirit and felt like this guy needed more. I explained the four spiritual laws, Al's abbreviated version, taking him from creation to Jesus’ resurrection and asked if he wanted to receive Jesus and His sacrifice as payment for his sins. I asked if he wanted Jesus to be his Lord and Savior and take control of his life to which he said YES! Astrit led him in a short prayer of salvation and then we prayed for Jesus to touch him. Soon this young man was lying on the floor, not ever having seen or experienced this kind of thing before! Arton and this young man, Edmir got up from the floor with a great sense of peace and joy in their hearts. They both felt the presence of God in an indescribable way. Didarja was next. She had been having great anxiety over some recent decisions and poor choices. Kathi had ministered to her earlier in the areas of repentance and forgiveness. She said after prayer she felt all the stress go from her and she was smiling like she used to when she first came to Jesus. One of the 13 year old boys who has come to the children's ministry but doesn't like the fact that we "talk about God all the time" came into the meeting late. He was very confused and concerned about what was going on with these people "falling down like they were dead". He left before I could talk with him but I will make sure Arton takes the time to explain that they had been touched by the living God and the peace that came along with that. Can hardly wait to see what God will do with that one!

All in all we were very pleased with our first weekly meeting in that neighborhood. Holy Spirit was evident to all who were there and lives were touched and changed. Salvation, healing, and restoration!!!! Does it get any better??? Praise God!

Sunday morning was interesting as many of the folks forgot to change their clocks. Even those who came late were blessed.  Holy Spirit healed Faton of some pain in his stomach area as we prayed and laid hands on him. We had borrowed/ paid an interpreter from another church and as we prayed for people he said was feeling Holy Spirit very strongly. Good weekend!

Holiday Happenings!

There were some exciting events that took place over the holidays, and we would like to share them now!

Christmas eve some of the local pastors got together for a celebration. I was invited, and the church, to join. Initially the plan was to have a catered meal to which I felt a check in my spirit.I felt the cost would limit who could be invited and shared this feeling with the organizing pastor. As I talked with Kathi about this we felt a prompting of the Lord to go a different direction. Our first worship service in the new Family Life Center location witnessed to both our spirits. We had been doing some ministry to that area from this location such as; children's ministry, averaging 40 children on Saturday mornings, Women's holiday social and even had the opportunity to feed several flood victim families a hot meal, two days in a row, a few weeks back.
 I knew God was prompting me to pray for the sick that night and worship but other than that I had no clue what He was about to do.
 We invited a few visitors who accepted the invitation without a lot of enthusiasm. In my great faith I set up about 12 chairs and a bench that would hold another 6 people just in case. I had to bring the chairs from the other church location. As I was setting up for worship on the computer the guests started arriving. VISITORS Yay! I went to the other room while some folks greeted the visitors and was busy about setting up for snacks after the service. I came back into the "Great room" ,as we are calling the area we use for ministry, and there were about 40 people!!!!!!! I asked a lady from the church to please do a head count as I wanted to make sure God received His glory. We welcomed everyone and began to worship God. They all joined in, only a few Christians  mind you, and sang the songs the best they could clapping and singing out of time, It was beautiful. I could barely hold back the tears as I worshiped and thought about how great God is and how nothing else but seeing people who don't yet know Him come together and sing worship to Him and here His Word would make up for not being with my wife for Christmas for the first time in 31 years. I know He is faithful and will minister to the hearts of all who attended. I shared a short message covering the four spiritual laws and how Jesus was the gift we celebrate and called for those who had pain in their bodies. One lady had been vomitting every time she ate, we prayed and she felt relief in her stomach, another lady came with severe headache and intestinal problems and Jesus healed her headache and took away the abdominal pain. Another lady had severe neck and back pain, she said she couldn't walk 2 meters without pain and if she looked down she got so dizzy she would get sick or pass out. God healed her and she gave testimony, in front of the rest, and was walking tall and moving her head in every direction after prayer. One man got healing in his kidneys and another lady who had high blood pressure felt the peace of Jesus in her chest after we prayed. The landlord, who was also a visitor, is blind. We prayed for his eyes and although he could not see he said he "felt the peace of the spirit of God". We are continuing to pray for him.
PRAISE GOD!
After it was all over and only the a few of us were left the people who were taking count came to me and said, when we started worship there were 46 people by the end there were 70 only 6 of which had ever been to church before. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!
 I know it's not about the numbers, but it is about souls. I know God reached down from heaven and touched some peoples lives last night and used me in the process. Praise God! Thank you Papa!

An exciting week!

It was a good week!

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.

Inside one house, the waterline form the previous nights' flood is still visible.

Everything is covered in mud, making cleaning up difficult and time consuming.

Clothes donated to families were a welcome relief from the cold and wet.

Each family was greatly blessed by what they received.

The swollen river flowing just feet away from the walls of several homes.

Blankets distributed helped keep families warm and dry through this difficult time.

Even as the water recedes, mud and filth is left behind, making for difficult clean-up.

The path the flooded river followed through the area, washing out houses as it went.

Standing water is present in almost every home.

Families affected by the flooding.

Everything is covered with mud, soaking wet and ruined.

Everyone is eager to help distribute the much-needed food supplies.

Even houses with multiple floors felt the affects of the flooding in their basements.

Provision donated by the man at the vegetable market; each a staple item for every home.

Donated Samuns to feed the flood victims.