April '04 Newsletter

Visitors: This month began with the visit of Shkëlqim (Çimi) Kafexhiu and Ray Wheeler, two brothers from Durrës. It was very encouraging to see them and to talk about God’s work in both cities. The trip from Durrës is long and we truly appreciated their visit.

Outdoor teaching: Xhumert worked in the community this month. He continues to build relationships with shopkeepers and others. There are many people who don’t own a shop but sell their goods on the sidewalk. Xhumert enjoys going around and talking with these people as well. Many of women spend the time knitting sweaters or making doilies as they wait for customers, but one little girl, Alisa, spends her time reading the Bible. She sells various snacks from her family’s cart after school. Alisa is thirteen and is an avid reader. Xhumert gave her a Bible two months ago, and she has already read various books of the Bible, even attempting Leviticus. In the beginning of the month, she talked to Xhumert about fasting. She had already tried it, oiling her head, washing her face, and going without food. Xhumert passes her often and she seems to be more interested in the Bible than her sales. Her father will not allow her to come to our center to study the Bible, so most of her learning takes place “on the job.” Please pray for Alisa. Pray that her father will allow her to come and study and that she will continue in her curiosity.

Xhumert’s Students: Xhumert has decided to split his time between teaching courses in the WEI center and being out in the community. He feels that a combined effort in the school and community will reach the most people. He has given many bibles out to shopkeepers, but there has not been much interest for one-on-one bible study. Teaching WEI and talking to community members will affect different parts of the population of Pogradec.

Earthquake: In the early morning of April 7^th an earthquake woke many in our city. Through some research on the internet, we determined that it was 4.9 on the Richter Scale and had its epicenter about an hour and a half away. It did not do any damage, but many of the houses were shaken. God is powerful. We had learned the word for earthquake, tërmet, the day before, teaching about the death of Jesus. This shows that a display of God’s power does not go unnoticed. Between the darkness, earthquakes, and other signs, Jesus death could not have gone unnoticed by the people.

Religion in Pogradec: We thought it might be helpful for you to learn about the religious background of Pogradec as we continue to learn ourselves. The city of Pogradec is Christian tradition. This both benefits our work and makes it more difficult. There are two Orthodox Church buildings in Pogradec. Many of the people of Pogradec go to one of these buildings to worship. Xhumert was able to speak the caretaker of oldest and smaller of the two buildings. He reported the contribution for the church as of about one to two thousand dollars per month.. This figure speaks for itself as far as attendance and commitment. Many also consider the ground around the building sacred.

The Orthodox Church, like the Catholic Church, has many traditions that people confuse with the teachings of the Bible. There are also other denominational groups in Pogradec. The biggest of these is called the Nehemiah church. This group was establishes about twelve years ago. Nehemiah, which could be characterized as pentecostal, is very involved in the community, with a private school and many benevolence projects. There are also other groups that are offshoots of Nehemiah.

There are also other faiths in Pogradec including Muslims, Jehovah’s witnesses, and Christidelphians. All of these different groups have there own spin on the Bible and its teachings. Unfortunately we have not encountered any groups that follow the pattern of the early church. One of the benefits for having so many different faiths in Pogradec is that many of our student come with a faith in God as the creator of the universe, and one of the challenges is teaching the truths of the Bible, when the student has been taught contrary to the Bible. Another challenge is comes from the amount of benevolence that is given by other groups. Many of these churches have become foundations. We are frequently asked if we have jobs for people. Unfortunately we can neither give jobs to everyone who asks, nor make everyone happy. We have seen that many of the other groups have many problems because they have given jobs, or financial assistance to one family, but not another. This has led to jealousy. We have decided to try to help people that are in need as we can, but to be very careful it. Please pray that we will be able to communicate the truths of the Bible and the love of God in the mist of such confusion.

Updates to Website: The newest part of our website is a page called students profiles. This includes pictures and profiles of our current students. We have truly been blessed with wonderful students. We hope that this will allow you to put names with faces. Most of the student pictures also include their teacher.

Prayers: Thank you for continuing to pray for this work. Although there are challenges, as with any new work, it is a true blessing to be working for the Lord.

Unexpected Visit- Shega, one of Kevin's students

from Durrës, stopped in to visit on a recent trip she

made to Pogradec.