NEWS

Past and future Dear mission friends, here we are to inform you again about the situation in Albania. As the tradition goes in the beginning of a new year, we do the account of the past one. And we can once more affirm that Our Lord is Great. He has amazed us with his wonderful plan, doing everything beyond our expectations. We have had the first baptisms of our Italian work, we have seen the starting of two little groups; one in the village of Çerrave, and the other in the city of Pogradec. The last one meets once a week in a room of the Bible School where Ardi is going. This was very kindly given to us from the leaders, with whom we are having a wonderful brotherly relationship, as well as with all the other missionaries. It is beautiful to live in such a harmony where there are no denominational barriers and where everyone according to his possibilities gives to the others. On this occasion we want to remind you of the van that brother Alfred Wenig, with the suggestion of Arnold Geiger, gave to our disposition. The objectives we want to reach this year, of course with your greater cooperation, are; The opening of a small meeting hall in Pogradec and in Çerrava The possibility of sending at least three young people to the Bible school We are praying for other baptisms in water and in the Holy Spirit. Our most necessary need actually is for faithful coworkers that will help us with the work . We are, actually, thankful to the Lord for the faithfulness and devotion that our brother Ardi is showing in the studies and work. The situation in the different villages (we remind you the names: Stropcke, Bratomire, Blace and of course, Çerrave and Pogradec) is stable. Unfortunately, more than one young brother is being forced by his/her family not to come to the meetings. As far as our family situation is concerned, it is OK. The children go to school every day, and different from us the old people, are getting always better in Albanian. Carlo is studding even English and German. He, as you probably already know, is sometimes helping Luciana with interpretation in the children’s ministry. It is not very cold this year in Albania and it is not raining seriously since more than ten months, so the power use is limited and we were forced to buy a generator, only for our family needs. In a few months time there will be important changes for us; as a matter of fact we were asked to leave the house we are actually living in, and were forced to look for another place to stay. But the Lord, who leads everything with His invisible hand, was already preparing a special plan. Ardi, who used to live in the village of Stropcke, in December, came to live in his new house in Pogradec. This house consists of two flats, one of which is still to be finished and it will be rented to us starting from this June. The only problem is that, being a new apartment and not half furnished as the one we are now living in, we need to buy some furniture. We would ask you to make a little offering for this specific problem. On the other hand the new house will allow us to have a closer fellowship with Ardi and so we can more easily disciple him as a real servant of the Apostolic Church. In May we are kindly invited to visit our apostolic communities in Germany, to whom we are very grateful to for their spiritual and financial involvement towards the work in Albania through past. Emanuel Enke, who we will visit on our return trip.     We want to start a little column of testimonies so that you can better know your Albanian brothers. Hi I'm Dafina. I'm 27 years old and I live in Stropcke, Pogradec, Albania. It is about eight years that I’ve received Jesus as my personal savior, through the ministry of Emanuel Enke. I come from a family of Moslem traditions and this still causes me some problems. My house was a referring point for the work in this village. As a matter of fact Emanuel and Karla in the beginning, and latter Sandro and Luciana, have been using this opportunity to preach the gospel. In the beginning when I was just converted, it was difficult for me to understand His Word, but with the passing of time He has opened my heart and mind to fill it with His love and a lot of other good things. But this is not enough for me. I'm not satisfied and I'm still thirsty for Him, because I want to reach the perfection. The Lord gave me the possibility to learn how to play the guitar for His glory and He has also given me a beautiful voice (that's what the others say). I want to serve my Savior on this field and we, with other young people, are at this time trying to organize at its best a worship group for the church in Stropcka. Even my father believes in Jesus and was baptized. He is actually the oldest in the community and when he finds it possible from his job to come, he never misses a meeting. My parents don't hinder me to follow and serve Jesus, but my other relatives persecute me strongly for that, and they want to hinder me from coming to the meetings. I want to ask you to pray for this specific problem for me. Taking the opportunity I want to greet all my brothers in Europe, especially Emanuel and Karla, Elia and Gloria, Alessandro and Grazia as well as Stefania Marchi. May the Lord bless you all, Dafina We have received a personal E-mail address these days. (E-mail "Thank you Lord for the technology!!! ) This will facilitate a closer fellowship with all of you. We will be very encouraged to receive your news, from the community as well as personal. So we won't feel very far from our spiritual family. Carlo and Ester would also like to receive news and communicate with other believers' children. If it will please you to receive direct news from the mission, you can also send us your E-mail address. The adddress is apostolike@aep.org.al. We are looking forward to hearing from you!! An embrace to all The Albanians

for "Chiesa Apostolica in Italia" - "Fondo Missionario" - Via del Commendone, 35/ab - 58100 Grosseto

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For any contact about the mission, write to: Sandro Sardella

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The Apostolic Church in Albania is member of the Albanian Evangelical Alliance, and Foundation