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Albanian Christian Camp Tirana, Albania, 2012

Sokol Haxhiu
On behalf of the board for the Albanian Christian Camp

 “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3)”.
  
In the beginning of August we completed 3 full weeks of great fellowship with each-other and with the Father (from 14 July to 4 August) during the Christian camp in southern Albania with a number of almost 300 campers of all ages from 5-year old to 70-year old coming from churches of Christ located in Tirana, Durres, Elbasan, Korca, Fier, Lushnja, Vlora, Kucova, and Magjat. In addition, we had Christians coming as far as from Kosovo, Montenegro, the Netherlands, USA, and Greece.

I have to emphasize that what we are organizing each summer here is not just a simple retreat or camp but the concept and philosophy we are instilling is for having a special and unique time of fellowship with each- other where we concentrate on studying and meditating on the Word of God, on praying together for each-other and the church, on restoring/refreshing our relationship with the Lord, and boldly declaring our Savior, Jesus Christ. Some brethrens have labeled the camp as a mini Bible-school or as an evangelistic camp. To this end, there is a full Bible curricula prepared and this year’s was dedicated to the topic of Freedom in Christ in view also of Albania celebrating 100 years of independence.

The first week of camp was dedicated to children and Brother Alfred Zike from church of Christ of Adriatik, Durres, once again did an excellent job of leading and providing Bible classes for campers. Bledi Valca from church of Christ in Tirana and Edi Hoxha from church of Christ in Vlora offered the leadership and spiritual food for the second week of camp that was the week for teenagers. The fact is that for many of the churches in Albania the most active part are the youth and that’s why Bledi and his team prepared for every detail in order to provide the best possible environment for having a positive impact over the young people. And once again for the third week of camp, that is the family-week, we had a treat by having as a guest speaker Brother Mladen Jovanovic, an elder and preacher from Zagreb, Croatia. Mladen led the evening Bible studies and did a wonderful job by explaining the meaning of being free in Christ. Mladen’s insight into the Word of God, his long experience of being a Christian and serving to the Lord, and his humility and dedication has already made him a demanded speaker for the camp. And there is no surprise why the third week of camp was over-capacity with more than 110 campers and there were camp applications that had to be rejected because of lack of space. Whereas, the morning Bible studies were shared among different leaders of churches in Albania and a thank you goes to all of them for sharing their experience and thoughts on the topic of Freedom in Christ.

I never stop being amazed by God’s faithfulness and the power of prayers and persistence. For a long time, I had been inviting my brother who lives in the city of Vlora to attend church whenever I was down in Vlora or during his time in Tirana. In response, he attended church a couple of time but overall kept the distance. Meanwhile, I had asked him several times to come to this year’s camp and he had said no by claiming to be busy or not having any friends in camp. Parallel, I kept praying that God would touch his heart and make him reflect about his relationship with Him. Two days before the beginning of the third week of the camp, he had told me that didn’t want to come to camp and only in the last minute he said yes. To make this story short, my brother Ermal had such a wonderful experience at camp and was touched so much by the Word of God, that he decided to be baptized for remission of his sins and now his is also my spiritual brother and from that point on an active member of the church in Vlora. On that same very week, another camper coming from city of Korca decided to start a new life in the Lord and was baptized for remission of his sins. Praise be to the Lord for his wonderful ways of working and influencing people!
 

       
In the end, we would like to thank all of you that have actively prayed and generously supported this camp. Lord’s willing we are planning for having this camp in 2013 and we can hardly wait for what God has in store for us in 2013. If you need more information or have a question, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

In  Christ,

Sokol Haxhiu

On behalf of the board for the Albanian Christian Camp

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