Last Week...

{Sheria & Abnora}

"And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has commited sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:15&16

Wow...thank you guys all so much for your prayers...we can't stress enough how we require them of you in order to serve here in God's strength. For those of you who don't know last Wednesday on of the girls living with us, Sheria, tried to take her own life. She had been kicked out of school and consumed with hopelessness of her life situation she drank soap. Her cousin Emria was worried because she had locked herself in the bathroom, she got in and found her unconscious. We rushed her to the clinic behind our building and they sent her to Prishtina via ambulance for treatment. Her stomach was pumped and she is OK, praise God. We have had some good time to talk and pray with her and are excited at what God will be doing in this new chapter of life. She no longer imagines herself to be alone and has seen the body of Christ here become her family during this time. Both her parents are deaf mute and her brother (probably early 20's) provides for the family. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she has agreed to change her school and communication habits so as to still live with us. Monday she will be attempting to register at a school 30 minuets away to finish out her 12 year in high school. She is 17 and has 13th year left after this. Also please pray for the body of Christ here as they learn to reach out to one another and to be open with one another about their struggles. The leading guys in the church are already talking about making a point to reach out to the younger believers. Please pray that there would be greater discipleship one with another here. Also please pray for our home as we serve the body and the girls living with us. We will be holding them more accountable for their school and time. Please pray as we endeavor to love them through accountability :o) Please pray for Burim as he was accompanying Sheria in the ambulance he was thrown against a chair and hurt his rib. He doesn't know if he has only bruised it or worse as the medical attention here isn't the best. Also he has been sick for almost a month with a bad cough which adds more pain to the rib situation. He is also going to be counseling some with Sheria as he is a leader (they call them Deacons) in the church here. None of have ever dealt with anything like this so please pray for God's wisdom and leading in our words and actions. Also the interview that Kim had with the police on Friday went well and they even said that they do not consider the church or English school related to the incident (PRAISE GOD..that was a fear or ours). They have proven relatively easy to deal with which is a huge praise report! Thank you again for all you prayers and know that they "avail much"

Zoti ju Bekoft (God Bless you)

Kim & Jen

PRAISE REPORTS

• Sheria is safe and sound and growing in her understanding of God's love for her as well as the love of the family of Christ


• The church and Deacons are being challanged to be responsible for one another


• The police - our dealings with them have gone well


• Yeah! By God's grace we made it through this week!!!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Sheria-continued healing


• Burim-rib and sickness


• Deacons-wisdom in leading the church


• Us-wisdom for our home


• The church-greater discipleship with the older leading the younger


• The church-A greater openess with one another and increased prayer for one another
  

Village Visit

Fatmir & Gezim asked us to visit their families in the village of Ladrotz this last Saturday after our church service.
We went to Gezim's house first where we met his Mother and his seven siblings, four under the age of six. It was a very busy house. Kim got to share some from the bible and we prayed with them. Unfortunately our camera wasn't working too good so mostly we have pictures of Fatmir's family who lives right next door. Fatmir and Gezim are cousins.

Ever helpful Fatmir & Gesime helping jump start the Toyota so we could go visit their families in the village. Thankfully now we think we know why the battery has been acting up though and should have the problem fixed soon :o) Life in Kosovo! Ha!

Fatmir with his baby brother Genc. Please pray for Genc as he has been sick for almost a month now with a bad cough and trouble breathing. We brought him to the hospital in Prishtina yesterday and they have him in the intensive care unit. From his x-rays it seems that he may have pnemoinia..not sure with translation and all. Please pray for him as he is only 2 months old.

Group picture with Fatmir's family. We had a very sweet visit with them. Fatmir and at least one of his sisters are believers. Please pray for his parents who do not yet know the lord.

Fatmir's dad..when Fatmir was out of the room he was still determined to communicate with us so he used lots of hand motions to try and make us understand. We were all laughing :o)


Fatmir's little brother Lek-so cute! Named after a king.


Kim had a great conversation with this visiting Muslim girl (17 years old) who had lots of questions about the differences between Christianity and Islam. Please pray for her, her name is Ariana. Lycia has been witnessing to her. We are praying she comes to the Valentine's night.

Pray Requests...

• Fatmir & Gezim as they Provide for their households
• Fatmir's baby brother Genc: for strength and health
• Gezim's Mom: grace to handle all her kids and her poor health
• Ariana's Salvation
• Wisdom for us
• Toyota & Van...Lord keep 'em runnin'!

God bless you all..we think and pray for you often!

Love

Kim & Jen

Love is in the air!

Hi everyone!
Valentine's Day is almost here and we are preparing for a special girls night this Wednesday. We will will be sharing on God's love and hope to have some unsaved ladies attend. Please pray for this evening that the girls would be allowed by their families to come and that they would see how precious they are in God's eyes.


Here we are making the invitations (L-R Sheria, Emria, Shpetim & Xhemile) Thanks Lynn for letting us borrow the pretty stamps :o) They loved them and got very creative even making some little cards for themselves.

Inside the invitation says "You are invited to join a small Valentine's day celebration" in Albanian.


Awwww So Sweet!!! Shpetim got so into it that he made his fiance a valentine!

Shpetim & Xhemile (Jim-ee-lay) run the English school that we have been teaching at and are preparing to get married this summer. Please keep them in your prayers as the are abandoning the traditional wedding for a Christian wedding. This will be one of the first Christian weddings in Kosovo and they have a heart for it to be a testimony to their families and other Christians. Please pray that their families hearts will be softened, that they would attend and that God would be glorified in this celebration. I am excited to help them plan as they don't have any point of reference for a Christian wedding. Pray that I (Jen) can divide between what I know of "American" vrs "Christian" aspects of a wedding. Also please pray for their finances as their family won't be helping them. Weddings are a very big event here and can easily get VERY costly.

There has been a lot going on so stay tuned for more posts soon!
Thank you all as always for your prayers!

Zoti ju Bekoft,
Kim & Jen