On September 12, the U.K. Foursquare National leader, Kenn Baird, along with 5 other men and youth from the church he pastors, came to serve our church in the small town of Erseke. I drove the group of guys down to Erseke and for about one week they served the church and community in many ways. Erseke is a small town with a population of about 5000. Our church there is small in number as well, but its members are extremely loving and very passionate about showing their community and the surrounding villages with the love of Jesus Christ.
I highly anticipated this groups coming to serve the church because prior to this groups arrival, no short-term missions team has come to Albania to specifically serve and work with the church in Erseke. Often when a church is small in number the people can feel inferior to other churches or may often feel like they are overlooked. The team that came from England purposed to bless the people and serve them in anyway possible; I can confidently say they did much more for the church then I think any of us expected. The people of the church were very encouraged that a group of people would come all the way from England and give of their time, money and energy to bless them.
In addition to the various activities the team were involved in, they blessed the church with 2 brand new guitars (one of which the church decided to gift our church in Erseke), overhead projector, printer, and a significant amount of financial support for the pastor, church youth group as well as funds to be used specifically for poor families within the church who are struggling to support themselves. The fact that the team was able to give so much blessed tremendously both the church in Erseke and the team itself. The team comes from an area in England where unemployment is very high and a majority of the people have very low income. Because of this, their church in England does not have a lot of money to spare. The team continually spoke of God's faithfulness to provide more then any of them ever imagined. Through this teams coming, God's blessing and provision was seen in a major way and proclaimed from Hastings, England all the way to Erseke, Albania!
Below you will see some pictures from the time we spent in Erseke as well as some short descriptions of what we were involved in.
I highly anticipated this groups coming to serve the church because prior to this groups arrival, no short-term missions team has come to Albania to specifically serve and work with the church in Erseke. Often when a church is small in number the people can feel inferior to other churches or may often feel like they are overlooked. The team that came from England purposed to bless the people and serve them in anyway possible; I can confidently say they did much more for the church then I think any of us expected. The people of the church were very encouraged that a group of people would come all the way from England and give of their time, money and energy to bless them.
In addition to the various activities the team were involved in, they blessed the church with 2 brand new guitars (one of which the church decided to gift our church in Erseke), overhead projector, printer, and a significant amount of financial support for the pastor, church youth group as well as funds to be used specifically for poor families within the church who are struggling to support themselves. The fact that the team was able to give so much blessed tremendously both the church in Erseke and the team itself. The team comes from an area in England where unemployment is very high and a majority of the people have very low income. Because of this, their church in England does not have a lot of money to spare. The team continually spoke of God's faithfulness to provide more then any of them ever imagined. Through this teams coming, God's blessing and provision was seen in a major way and proclaimed from Hastings, England all the way to Erseke, Albania!
Below you will see some pictures from the time we spent in Erseke as well as some short descriptions of what we were involved in.
PAINTING THE CHURCH BUILDING
This was a great time when both the team and members of the church could work together and be encouraged by one anothers company.
CLEANING AND PAINTING ONE OF THE HOME OF ONE OF THE CITIES POOR FAMILIES
A very special day was spent cleaning and painting one of the poorest families in the town of Erseke. This poor family (a couple and their 15 year old son) lives in undescribably poor condidions. The father, which was not present when we visited, makes about $80 salary per month for the entire family to live on. Both the mother and father are mentally disabled, thus leaving an unhealthy situation for their son to be raised up in. Besides cleaning and painting there house, new kitchen ware was given to the family as well as a new bed and matress for the mother and father. We are working on getting a bicycle for the boy as well as getting him back into school. It was great to see the joy that a simple act of love brought this mother and son while we were there.
VILLAGE EVANGELISM
The church in Erseke for many years has been holding Bible studies and bringing aid to a small villaged called Taq which is located just a few minutes out of town. This particular day the team from England along with members of the church visited many families, delivering books for the children, Bibles for those who wanted them, as well as praying for those who wanted prayer. One girl made the decision to begin living her life for Jesus Christ and many other people heard of Jesus' love for them!
GUITAR LESSONS AND COMPUTER REPAIR/TRAINING
Jason, a very talented guitar player, had the opportunity to spend time teaching one of the boys (Ervin) who is one of the musicians on the churches worship team.
Two other guys from the team helped repair the church computers as well as taught a few computer courses to some of the youth of the community.
TRAINING FOR CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Pastor Kenn has many years of working with and training other pastors. The leadership of the the church had a great time of learning leadership principles from him as well as times of question and answer.
SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICES
For Sunday's church service, the team split up sending 3 of its members to our church in Korce, which is about 1 hour away, where one preached and the other two shared testimonies. The other 3 team members stayed in Erseke and led part of the worship time, shared testimonies and Pastor Kenn spoke for the main message time. It was beautiful to hear worship to the King being sung in two languages simultaneously! Below are some pics from the service in Erseke:
EVENINGS OF FUN AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE CHURCH MEMBERS
Two very large parts of Albania culture is food and dancing. The team from England on two evenings joined members of the church for full-on Albanian cuisine and cultural dancing. I got my Albanian dance on a little bit as well!
INTERVIEW AT RADIO EMANUEL
As many of you already know, our church in Korce runs a Christian radio station which broadcasts to the entire region of Korce (which includes the town of Erseke) which has an estimated population of about 275,000. The team from england shared their personal testimonies of how they each came to decide to live their lives for Jesus, as well as shared about their time spent in Erseke, and their thoughts about Albania.
VARIOUS PICS FROM ERSEKE
A very special day was spent cleaning and painting one of the poorest families in the town of Erseke. This poor family (a couple and their 15 year old son) lives in undescribably poor condidions. The father, which was not present when we visited, makes about $80 salary per month for the entire family to live on. Both the mother and father are mentally disabled, thus leaving an unhealthy situation for their son to be raised up in. Besides cleaning and painting there house, new kitchen ware was given to the family as well as a new bed and matress for the mother and father. We are working on getting a bicycle for the boy as well as getting him back into school. It was great to see the joy that a simple act of love brought this mother and son while we were there.
VILLAGE EVANGELISM
The church in Erseke for many years has been holding Bible studies and bringing aid to a small villaged called Taq which is located just a few minutes out of town. This particular day the team from England along with members of the church visited many families, delivering books for the children, Bibles for those who wanted them, as well as praying for those who wanted prayer. One girl made the decision to begin living her life for Jesus Christ and many other people heard of Jesus' love for them!
GUITAR LESSONS AND COMPUTER REPAIR/TRAINING
Jason, a very talented guitar player, had the opportunity to spend time teaching one of the boys (Ervin) who is one of the musicians on the churches worship team.
Two other guys from the team helped repair the church computers as well as taught a few computer courses to some of the youth of the community.
TRAINING FOR CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Pastor Kenn has many years of working with and training other pastors. The leadership of the the church had a great time of learning leadership principles from him as well as times of question and answer.
SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICES
For Sunday's church service, the team split up sending 3 of its members to our church in Korce, which is about 1 hour away, where one preached and the other two shared testimonies. The other 3 team members stayed in Erseke and led part of the worship time, shared testimonies and Pastor Kenn spoke for the main message time. It was beautiful to hear worship to the King being sung in two languages simultaneously! Below are some pics from the service in Erseke:
EVENINGS OF FUN AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE CHURCH MEMBERS
Two very large parts of Albania culture is food and dancing. The team from England on two evenings joined members of the church for full-on Albanian cuisine and cultural dancing. I got my Albanian dance on a little bit as well!
INTERVIEW AT RADIO EMANUEL
As many of you already know, our church in Korce runs a Christian radio station which broadcasts to the entire region of Korce (which includes the town of Erseke) which has an estimated population of about 275,000. The team from england shared their personal testimonies of how they each came to decide to live their lives for Jesus, as well as shared about their time spent in Erseke, and their thoughts about Albania.
VARIOUS PICS FROM ERSEKE
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