| Great Commission |
| January / February 2001 |
| Our Arrival in Albania. |
| Upon arrival in Albania we had hoped to quickly make our way to Gjakova, Kosovo, however there have been several things preventing our moving so far. We needed to rent a place in Tirana as our base of operations. We have been blessed to find a flat within budget as well as easily accessible. We have applied for a document that gives us permission to stay in Albania, thus granting us free entry each time instead of the normal $45.00 Dollars per entry. We are learning to yield to His will in our delays. This is the case here in Tirana. God has been using us in many ways during this time. |
| We all have been strengthening our relationships with the Christians we are especially close to. We have been able to spend a lot of time with the national Pastors. Dan has been ministering to the youth at the International Church and at the New Tirana Assembly of God, as he and Ellen become more involved in the church. It is so good to know that God can and does use us whenever we yield to His Holy Spirit. |
| For now we are looking at March to begin moving to Gjakova. Until then we remain God's instruments here in Tirana, Albania. |
| Tirana's street kids. |
| Meanwhile, here in Tirana, Rachel and Ellen have been able to see many of the street kids. As far as we know, two of them have been sold by their "family" and one other has gone to Greece in hopes of finding a better life, Guli is just 13 years old. His sister Tina was married last year; she is now 14 years old. She has done this to escape the begging in the streets. However, all this will bring for Tina is a life of more beatings and rapes and many children who will also be brought up in poverty and sent out to beg as well. It is just one vicious circle of hell for these kids. |
| As for Guli, he will be treated as badly in Greece as he is here. Because he is a gypsy as well as an Albanian. He will have to beg in Greece to survive just as he has had to do here in Tirana. One day a small-time Mafia person will approach Guli and offer him the world. He'll be promised money and houses, but all he will get is abuse and heartache. He'll be used for prostitution until he is so sick he'll be useless and of no value. |
| The number one money making industry in the world is child pornography. The largest volume of white-slave-trade in the west goes through the port of Durres here in Albania, just 50 km /30 miles from Tirana. This is why it is so very important for these kids to know Jesus and His love before it is to late for them. Please pray for the children who live on and work the streets throughout the world. |
| Kosovo's wants and, needs. |
| The American historian Charles Beard many years ago made a statement whose truth has again been demonstrated. |
| He said .. |
| "that a lifetime of study had taught him that when darkness comes the stars begin to shine". |
| This was written in the Bible long long ago. "Where sin does abound - much more does grace abound". However such statements are intolerable nonsense to busy men in offices whose phones ring with calls from other men in offices who want the world's problems formulated in an executive summary of 500 words with a conclusion that can be applied in time for the next round of elections. We have become people who want fast short and easy answers. Some things just cannot be answered quite so quickly. The last 11 years in Yugoslavia have seen four wars, as well as astounding and perverse cruelty among people of different ethnic groups. Most of the world may have greeted the ouster of Slobodan Milosevic with a collective sigh of relief. But in Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo, the response was more like a gasp. "Tell us why?" pleaded the newspaper Zeri (voice), questioning the West's embrace of the new Serb leader, Vojislav Kostunica. |
| The difference between the old and new Serb Presidents, the paper scoffed, was like the difference |
| "between Coke and Pepsi." The usual image of Kostunica in local media is not the affable professor in a rumpled suit that appeared in newspapers and magazines around the globe; but it is a snapshot taken last year of the smiling leader hoisting an AK-47 while visiting Serb troops during the Kosovo war. |
| Legally, Kosovo's status within Yugoslavia remains a muddle. It has no ties to Belgrade, but is still officially a province of Yugoslavia. It is run by the U.N. and defended by NATO-led troops, but local politicians are supposed to have a say in the decisions of state. |
| (the above information on Kosovo has been quoted from CNN-online) |
| As Christians we understand that peace can only come through reconciliation with God through Jesus. The Albanians and Serbs of Kosovo & Yugoslavia have no understanding of such truths. They want freedom, they want homelands, they want economic stability, and they want peace. The Serbs fear the "wild" Albanians while the Albanians fear the Serbs and their "new butcher". These are REAL fears, REAL wants, and REAL needs. |
| What the peoples of the Balkans need most is JESUS CHRIST. That is why we have followed the voice of God to move there to the city of Gjakova. We know that one righteous man can turn the direction of a nation, and that with each praying Christian the effects are multiplied in their manifestation. Evangelism is important but of equally significant importance is discipleship. |
| God has used us in discipleship here in Albania for close to seven years now. We are so very happy to see the effects of that work and love beginning to make changes in Albania. It is a rather large ship and the turn of repentance is slow and long but having begun it is now clearly evident. |
| It is our hope to use the gifts God has blessed us with to help initiate the same kind of course correction in the Albanians of Kosovo. We are praying and will be watching out for young Christian men & women who want more of God, who want to go deep in their relationship with Jesus and want to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit at all cost. These are the kind of people we pour our lives into, these are the kind of people we choose to walk arm in arm with to Gods throne in prayer. Spending days and nights, meals and miles, sad times and happy times letting them see, touch and experience the life of a JESUS disciple a Christian. |
| I'll use my own comparison here; the Albanian Christians and non-Christians are not like Coke & Pepsi but more like honey and vinegar. The life of an Albanian Christian is extremely different than the life of a non-Christian. |
| Home front Harrison. |
| Anna Beth has stayed behind in America with Dale and Wendy McMillian. Via email we have been able to stay in touch with her. She has been doing very well in her school work and we are quite proud of her. Often she is asked about and missed especially by us. We are so very grateful to Dale andWendy and our Church on Fire family for caring for her. |
| Prayer request. |
| Correct timing in our move to Kosovo. |
| The street kids here and elsewhere. |
| Documents: personal and van. |
| House to rent in Gjakova. |
| Visit our web pages |
| You can email us at FITCH@pobox.com |
| Please send ALL support to: |
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