Much has happened since the last time I blogged. We have met our ministry host and site. We are staying in a church in the middle of the beautiful city of Gjakova, Kosovo. Here we are working with the pastor of the church, his wife, and son. We are beyond blessed to have such amazing hosts and a nice place we call home for the next month. We have beds, a warm shower, and a kitchen!! It is amazing! The yard is filled with all kinds of flowers and plants; they have quite the green thumb!
So a little bit about the country and city we are staying in. Kosovo is 96% Muslim. The population of Kosovo is about 2 million and of these 2 million only about 1000 are Christian. Right now in the month of July, the Muslims are practicing their religious holiday of Ramadan. During Ramadan, they fast throughout the day and then once the sun sets they prepare a big meal at about 2000 (8pm) and then again at 0200 (2am). Because of this, many people stay in their homes throughout the day and then come out at night. Because this is such a holy month for the Muslims and because there are not many Christians, the Christians here need a lot of support and encouragement.
Islam is more of a cultural practice here in Kosova, whereas here in the United States it is very individual and personal. Many people here practice Islam because it is tradition. Religion can be practiced freely in this country so Pastor Nike, his family, and other Christians are not discriminated because of it.
So what are we doing well we are here you ask? One of our main focuses is to pray for this city and country. We spend an hour and a half each morning praying for the city of Gjakova. We pray that God open the hearts and minds of the people here that they may hear and receive His word. We pray that God bless the church here and that He use it to bring people to Him. Because this community is very Muslim based it is hard for the Christians to see any fruit from their work. After the war here in 1999 there were many missionaries, but they have slowly been dwindling out because it is very hard for them to see any progress from their work so they get discouraged and leave. So we pray to give the missionaries and other Christians strength and encouragement as they spread His word.
We are also doing a lot of community outreach. We are going out into the city and building relationships and trust with the locals. We were going to try to focus more on the women and children but we quickly learned the women and children stay inside most of the time. So our ministry then switched to men. We have already made quite a few friends. We have met one young man who is 19. He says that he is Muslim but doesn’t really practice anymore as he does not have time because of work and school. It is so cool because we are friends with him on Facebook and he will message us and ask us to do things with him. He is our first friend here. And we have invited him to church and he said he would come! He seems pretty open to learn more about Christianity.
The pastor’s wife, runs a second-hand store below the church. This is their main source of income. Throughout this month we will be down there helping her organize and clean. For those of you at Charity, it is like the church rummage sale times ten!
Pastor Nike speaks pretty good English, but his wife and son, and some ladies from the church would like to improve their English so we will also be working with them so they can speak and understand English better.
We have also been able to spend some time with the Pastor’s daughter. She just got home from college in Poland. She said that her father accept Christ when he was in the military in Croatia. She said that he was the first Christian in Kosova. When he came back here after the war, he first told his family about Jesus and then all other Christians in Kosova probably first heard about Christ either through Pastor Nike or his brothers. I think it is so amazing. What strength and courage that would take for him to go against all others in his country. God is using this man in amazing ways and it shows how God can use just one person to change the world.
If you could please pray for the country of Kosova. Please pray that God will tear down any walls that have been built up in this city and country that deter people from hearing His word. Please pray that God will open the hearts and minds of the people here that they listen and accept His true Word. Please pray that we listen to where God is telling us to go and that He direct our ministry here. Thank you all for your prayers!
Well that’s all for now! I will hopefully write again in about a week!
