Nivens News- April 2012
Ballsh
This month has been one of intense activity in Ballsh. A team of volunteers worked intensively to distribute thousands of shoeboxes from Samaritan’s Purse not only in Ballsh itself but also in every village in the surrounding area. Each child was given a booklet telling the Easter story and there were several good opportunities to talk to teachers about the gospel. The finale was a special Easter event in Ballsh at the theater there. It was so packed that there was standing room only and afterwards children were invited to register for an English club at the church. Shaun Thomson and Geni Dogani have been leading this work each week but it has grown so much that they have been obliged to create three separate groups. Last Saturday there were some 70 children who came to learn. They were taught Christian songs and the creation story from Genesis. We then stayed for the service, at which Will was preaching, which was full of emotion as members of the team who had originally worked in Ballsh over 11 years ago came back for a visit. There are three stable believers at the church but please pray that there will be new faces coming and that souls would be saved. Pray that the efforts that have been made will bear fruit and also for follow up in the summer in some of the villages.
New faces and new members
We have been encouraged by two ladies who have asked for baptism. Djana is not only neighbour of the Patos church but has been studying with Doreta for over a year. She is assisting Fey Cotter with a group of mature ladies and has a real burden to start leading the study when Murray and Fey are on furlough. She is a great visitor and evangelist and soaks up the Word. Mira came to the Fier church a year ago having heard about us from a Christian friend. She has weathered many storms since then but has a face that simply shines for joy in Christ. What has been nice is that our friend Desi Maxwell was the preacher at her first meeting in the church and will be preaching this Sunday when she is baptized! Both of these ladies are to be baptized this weekend at our church weekend away. Please pray that their testimonies would be powerful and that God would continue to work in and through them. We have also been blessed by the return of our dear friend Elvis. All who have visited us have met Elvis who, despite having real limitations mentally, has a big heart. His family pressed him into a marriage with a nonbeliever and Elvis disappeared from the church. Suddenly he appeared again with his wife, Elda, and they are coming regularly. Elda loves coming to church and is very open to the gospel. Pray for her salvation and that she will understand the gospel fully. Another new face in Fier has been Fatjon. This young man, related to one of our ladies, has had many deep problems in life but has enjoyed friendship with the young men in the church. He is having many discussions with his aunt about the gospel so please pray that he too might be saved.
Fjala
One of the greatest joys that we have is to invest in church leaders. For the last few years we have been working together with Geoff and Shirley Townsend to organize a conference for church workers and leaders called “Fjala” or “The Word.” This year saw around 50 delegates meeting in Durrës along with a number of day visitors. The time was special in a number of ways. Firstly it was the first year that an Albanian was preaching. Arben Bushgjokaj from Shkodra led us in 6 Bible readings from Titus. His expositions were brilliant and his ability to apply the Word to the Albanian situation was an added blessing. Secondly it was the first year that we had people come from the north of the country. Primarily this has been a conference for the churches of the south but this year has seen a good number of friends from the north and fellowship with them has enriched us all. Also we have seen Albanians taking more responsibility for the conference. Geoff delegated all the technical side of the conference to Xhelo Palushi who did a great job with the sound system and video projector. It was also special to see God answering prayer to supply our financial needs. With more people staying at the hotel and a last minute price rise of 20% we were deeply struggling about how the conference could take place but we praise God for His provision. Pray that the Word preached will have a great effect on all who were there. Pray that God would raise up many more preachers like Arben who will be passionate about the Word and skilled in dividing it rightly. Pray also that this conference will continue to influence those who serve in churches.
Ministry amongst the blind
Geoff Townsend and Will were among a group of brothers who met in Erseka to seek to further the work of the gospel amongst the blind. It was a great blessing to hear that there are several blind people now going to churches near us simply through the contacts made by the blind forum. We sought to set the foundations for a legal foundation which will co ordinate this work and also to discuss camps in the summer. All the members of the board of this foundation are blind believers and Will and Geoff will continue to seek to serve them as ‘friends of the board.’ Geoff was able to give out the first batch of Boom boxes and to train the blind folk how to use them. They have the New Testament in Albanian already and part of John Blanchard’s booklet, “Why the cross?” We hope to use Albanian believers to record both evangelistic and devotional books that AEM have already published in Albanian so that they can be put on a website and also used with the Boom boxes. Please pray that God would use these means to bring His light to the blind community.
Documents
One of the deepest challenges of living in the Balkans is both the red tape that we have to deal with but also corrupt and inept officials. This eats up a huge amount of time. This month we needed to do our MOT and pay our road taxes. The police suddenly pressed on us a bill for a car that Will sold some 11 years ago for scrap but which had not been unregistered. Doreta spent hours in different offices and finally on Monday we were given a solution to this problem. The only problem was that we needed a document from the police station. On Monday we spent 6 and a half hours waiting for one signature! The next morning another 2 and still the document remains unsigned. Even when we get this we must wait more time for documentation to be dealt with. This situation is worsened when the internet crashes in the office that we go to! Pray that we might be freed up to serve God rather than standing around offices!
Family news
Ester has been growing as a violinist over the last year and is now playing at least two songs every week at church. Pray that she and Lidia might grow in grace and their desire to serve God. Doreta continues with her many studies and is encouraged by slow growth in those that she serves. Samuel continues to sprout and be full of life. Please pray for the family as Will returns to the U.K. for a month.
Please do not forget the IGT conference on June 16th at the Grange Baptist church, Letchworth!
