The Church at Pogradec, Albania

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Matt 28:18-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." NIV John 20:10-16 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). NIV Learn More

WELCOME

Pogradec, Albania Church of Christ

Xhumert & Irana Nuro
xhumert@yahoo.com
Xhumert is pronounced "Jumert."

World English Institute
Rr."Teatri i Kukullave", P.154,
Pogradec, Albania,
Europe

Email: weipogradec@fastmail.fm

The church in Pogradec begins.

The work in Pogradec began in 2006. Membes have now moved away.

Pray for those committing their lives and that the student's hearts will be open to God's Word in the future..

Kevin and Allison Morrill worked in Pogradec in 2007 and are now in Korca (2012, 2014,...). Xhumert moved to the USA.

Campaigning

Sept 06

Nov 06
(Morrill)

Jan 07

April 07

Aug 07

Archive

September 2006

Dear brethren.

Grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ to all of you who receive this report about the work here in Pogradec. We greet everybody in Christ's precious name giving Him glory for what He is doing through you to keep His work going on in this part of the world. We pray to Him who is the head of the church to bless you and to accomplish great things through your desire to serve Him. We are in debt to Him, because He gives us always more abundantly than all we ask or think and we are in debt to you as well, because you are giving out of love with humbleness in your hearts by giving yourselves to God first and that is pleasing in His eyes.

During the summer time we did visit some of our brethrens at their homes. Our aim was to encourage them to come and meet with the church regularly on Sundays. We tried to explain to them that meeting with the body to worship God is very important. It is very important, because, first and foremost, we come together on Sunday to commune with
God and then to build and give each other strength. These gatherings were so important to the early church that the writer of Hebrews said, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, ...but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near"(Heb.10:24-25;ESV).

According to the New Testament witness Christian gatherings were a common feature for the early church. This fact is so evident that we can read for ourselves that the members of the fledgling church met "...day by day, ...together breaking bread in their homes, ... with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people" Acts 2:46-47;ESV). I believe that the early Christians gathered in their homes mainly for worship, instruction, fellowship and prayer; in other words for the benefit of the people taking part. In today's busy world and changing lifestyles meeting day by day in Christian homes or in other premises is almost unthinkable and a thing of the past. I think today we are less willing to use our homes to edify and encourage each other in our Christian walk. Here I am not suggesting that all Christians are not willing. I am pretty sure that a lot of them are doing otherwise. The idea of lone Christians is found nowhere in the New Testament. Close and regular fellowship with other believers is not just a nice idea, but an absolute necessity for the encouragement of Christian values.

We are writing these things to you dear brethren to inform that some of the brothers and sisters in our fellowship have drifted away from the body and are no longer meeting with the church. No one of the brethrens we visited gave any convincing reason why they are not
coming to meet with the other believers. We never in any away have caused them to stumble. It is purely their own choice. We will not give up and will keep on encouraging them to come back, because we are sure that God has not given up on them either, unless
they have given up on Him.

I am keeping on teaching students the Bible through the WEI materials. Eniana young Christian girl who is still taking the course, met regularly with us on Sunday, but she stopped coming just a few months ago. She told me that her parents did not let her to come. I had met her parents on separate occasions very briefly, but the circumstances did not permit us to talk to one another. After I had talked to Eniana beforehand, Irena and I went to visit her family one Friday afternoon. We spent almost three hours at their home and enjoyed talking to them. They were nice people and very responsible parents. They were not against her coming to meet with the believers if she was accompanied by somebody. I believed they were sincere in all they said, because later I was told by Eniana that they would not let her go anywhere unaccompanied by them, a relative, or a trusted friend. Many Albanian parents in Pogradec show the same kind of attitude towards their daughters. I advised them in a very kind and loving way that being too overprotective towards their daughter would do no good to her in the long run.

In my last report I wrote you about my student Monika, a 29-yrs.old, unemployed girl who showed real interest in the word of God. Thanks to God she works for the local newspaper now. Unfortunately she is unable to attend the course, because she is to busy with her new job. The overall number of the students I taught this summer with the WEI materials was twelve.

On Thursday the 27-th of July we were glad to welcome Gary L. Hunt our brother from Idaho Falls church of Christ who is our sponsoring congregation. Ray Wheeler drove him up to Pogradec. He was accompanied by his son Lynn, his daugter-in-law Leida, and Leida's sister Irla. While the rest of the group went for a walk, Gary and I set down and talked. It was very nice to talk face to face to him and to exchange thoughts about the current and future work here in Pogradec. In all, I can say that our conversation was
beneficial and encouraging and I thank God for that. They left that same day to Durres and we said good bye hoping to see each other again.

Apart from my responsibilities with the church I volunteered to help with the translation of Matthew's Gospel from a New Testament commentary. The project of translating this commentary from English into Albanian is undertaken by our brother Van Tate from the church of Christ in Searcy Arkansas who is also its editor. It took me a lot of time and painstaking work to get it finished, but it was worthy doing it. I believe the commentary will be a great help and benefit to many Albanian Christians among our fellowships.

In our Bible class on Sunday I taught from Exodus for quite a long time. We completed the study on the 24-th of September. Now we are studying 1-st Corinthians and our brother Virxhil is teaching the class. Virxhil and I take turns in teaching and preaching on Sundays.

I want to conclude this report with a very exciting news. Kevin and Allison Morrill who worked in Pogradec for one year and a half are coming back. If everything goes according to their plans God willing they will be back to Pogradec on September 2007.This is a very good news indeed, because there is a great need for laborers in Pogradec and they will add a lot to the work of God here. The words of Jesus ring very powerfully when He says: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to sent out laborers into His harvest."(Mt.9:37-38;ESV). God is faithful and He will do it.

We send our greetings in the precious name of Jesus and ask you to pray for us constantly and steadfastly. God bless you all.

In His service
Xhumert & Irena Nuro

October 2006

Kevin and Allison Morrill

Thank you for your continued support of our plans to return to Albania. We have been focused on Albania this month. October has been a very busy month for the both of us. October saw a trip to Albania for Kevin, an increase of our support, meetings with old friends and much more.

Support Increase: In September the Maryville (Tennessee) Church of Christ agreed to become our sponsoring congregation. This month we received news that the Maryville Church will be able to provide a full fifty-percent of our support. This was very exciting and encouraging news. We are continuing to seek support for the remaining fifty percent. The church in Maryville would like us to seek monthly supporters, and we agree that monthly support is very valuable. If you know of any individual or church that would be willing to be a part of encouraging and growing the church in Pogradec, please send us their name and address and we can send our packet of information. Although our move to Albania is still almost ten months away, we feel that this is an important time because November is when many church budgets are being finalized for the coming year.

Albania Trip: Kevin had the opportunity to travel to the brothers in Albania for the National Men’s Day this year. He was in Albania October 12th through the 15th. The Men’s Day was hosted by the Tirana Church of Christ and was well attended. The speaker for this years meeting was Bill Morgan. Bill, from our sponsoring congregation in Maryville, TN, presented a series of lessons over two days. His lessons focused on the structure of the church, the structure of effective missions, and how the Albanian church, as a mission site, can work with missionaries and their sponsoring congregations. The lessons were well received and an encouragement to both missionaries and Albanian Christians in attendance.

While at the Men’s Day Kevin met with Xhumert Nuro, the minister in Pogradec, to discuss the future of our work in Pogradec. They were able to discuss some logistical concerns. Making plans for apartment hunting, securing a new place for the church to meet, discussing realistic monetary needs, and revising goals for the work were some of the topics that Kevin and Xhumert talked about. It is amazing what can be accomplished in a one-on-one conversation in comparison to email.

Kevin had hoped to meet with other Christians from the church in Pogradec but Xhumert was the only one able to attend. Landro and Verxhil (Virgil) were unable to attend because of work, while Idajet had to stay and deal with a family emergency. Please keep these men in your prayers as they work with Xhumert and the other Christians in Pogradec to help the church there grow toward Christ.

Kevin also had an opportunity to meet with the brothers and sisters in the church in Durres, Albania. It was such a blessing to be able to catch up with them and renew friendships. He was able to practice some of his Albanian language skills, and it seemed to come back rather well.

Another encouraging part of this trip was meeting with Shega Doka, a former student (now friend) from Durres. Shega has kept in email contact with us since we lived in Durres. She made a special trip just to meet and talk with Kevin. Shega is in her final year of nursing school at the university in Tirana and has also been taking care of her ailing grandmother. This has been hard as her grandmother lives in Tirana, but Shega still lives with her parents in Durres. Family is very important to this young lady, and being even only an hour away is not easy. Shega is not a Christian yet, but seems to be on that road. In a recent email Shega informed us that her grandmother passed away on the 23rd of October, please keep this young lady and her family in your prayers.

We wanted to extend a special thank you to the Maryville Church of Christ for providing the funds for this trip. It is amazing all that can be accomplished by being in country for even a short time.

MAP Reunion: While Kevin was at the Men’s Day Allison was able to meet with former York College students who participated in the MAP program, a student missions program; it the MAP’s fortieth year and a reunion took place at York College during Homecoming Weekend.

MAP Simulation: It seemed as though every weekend in October was full of excitement. During the last weekend of October MAP has a simulated international trip. We helped organize a trip to MAPland (a country of many cultures including Albanian). The students learned to cook using recipes in foreign languages, and attended an Albanian meal at our home. We spoke more Albanian than we ever do on a daily basis in the United States. Kevin taught a few Albanian songs and even preached a short sermon in Albanian. This was especially difficult because of a lack of sleep on his part (we had tried and succeeded in producing jet lag in our students, and the result was jet lag for us too!). The weekend was a lot of fun and good practice for us too.

Thanks and a Request: Thank you again for your support of us in this work and our plans to return. We know that it is through your prayers and work that we have, and will be able to serve God in this special way. If you are interested in finding out more about helping to support this work financially please contact us or Tom England at the Maryville Church of Christ directly. We will be more than happy to discuss the work and its needs in greater detail.

In Christ,
Kevin and Allison Morrill

Contact Information:
Our email: morrills@fastmail.us

Sponsoring Congregation:

Maryville Church of Christ
611 Sherwood Dr.
P.O. Box 5293

January 2007

Dear brethren,

We send our greetings in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour wishing a very happy New Year to all of you. We pray that God will fill your hearts with joy and bless you in every way bringing peace and love in your lives. We constantly thank God for your love and your thoughtful concern for us. Your gift of love is like a sweet smelling aroma to God. May God be praised and glorified and may His name be lifted up in heaven now and forever.

On October 13-14, 2006 I was in Durres for men's annual day. This year the event was organized by the church in Tirana and was held in one of the seaside resorts in Durres. Brothers from ten different congregations throughout Albania came to attend this event and spent two days together in a very special and uplifting fellowship. It was great meeting with brothers and spending time together. It was one of those meetings that make you feel good in the company of God's people. Unfortunately I was the only man from the church in Pogradec to attend. Virxhil and Landro were busy with work and Idajet had to deal with a family situation that day. Our brother Bill Morgan from Maryville church in Tennessee, who has invested a lot of time, energy, and devotion in the mission work in Albania, was the event's speaker. His speech was focused in three major topics: 1) The Foundations of Spiritual Leadership; 2) Developing a Mission Church; 3) How the Church of God is Organized (The Structure). Bill's insight and long experience gave us a better understanding about these topics. May our Lord be praised in all he does for Him.

During the two days meeting I had the chance to meet Kevin and we spent time chatting together about the work in Pogradec and his future plans to come back to Albania. Kevin had come over from the States to attend the annual men's day and was great to see him after sixteen months. We had not seen each other since June 2006. As you already know from my previous newsletter Kevin and Allison Morrill are planning to be back to Pogradec by September this year. We are very happy that they will be part of the team working together to bring glory and honour to our Lord and to help the church grow not just in number, but most importantly spiritually toward maturity. We think that because of their previous experience in the mission field in Albania, Morrills will be of great help to the work of God here in Pogradec and our God who is faithful has answered all the prayers addressed about their return and we thank Him about it.

Teaching the Bible through the WEI materials is one of our constant evangelizing tool and it occupies most of my time during the week. My students come from very different backgrounds and most of them are high school students. Two of my students are unemployed and three of them are school teachers. Only five of them are baptized believers who have been immersed according to the biblical pattern. Among those
baptized only two of them are not part of any particular fellowship of believers right now. Tefta and Elda, who are mother and daughter, have been my students for quite a long time and they know what we teach and practice. They both are in the Advanced Bible Course. Tefta is studying book three "The Church" and is almost at the end of her course, whereas her daughter Elda has just started the first book "The New Birth". They both are diligent students and ask a lot of questions. They have confessed that they have learned many things from this course, things not known before by them and things known with errors. The important thing is Tefta's desire to continue studying the Bible with me even after she has finished the course and that is great. Irena and I went one evening to visit them at their home and invited them to join our fellowship. They responded positively. In the meantime we are praying and waiting for them to make the move. We ask you beloved brethren to pray for them too.

While waiting for Morrils' return the church in Pogradec invites any brother or sister among our fellowship to join us for the summer campaign between June and August, that is, any time from the beginning of June to the end of August. Based on our previous experience we think that two added teachers are sufficient to help us at this given time. Summer campaigns are good and do help, but the biggest problem with them is that they leave behind a lot of students that need to be followed up. Our experience has shown that when the teachers leave, the students disappear. Morrills' return in September this year will solve up this problem. They will have the students left by campaign teachers. Those who are interested to be part of our work during the summer can write to us on the following e-mail address: xhumert@yahoo.com.

We can not close this brief report without telling you that now we have a telephone number at our school. Our telephone number is: ++355 83 26603.

Finally, dear brethren. we send our love and ask you to pray for us.
God bless you all.

In His Service
Xhumert & Irena Nuro

April 2007

Dear brethren,

Greetings in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ. Our hearts overflow with thankfulness to God, for He is good and faithful. He has blessed us so much in Christ that we can never repay Him back. We never forget to pray for you dear brethren asking God to bless you in every
way, for you are part of His work here in Pogradec. You are a great encouragement to us and we thank God for that.

It has been awhile since I last wrote to you. The time flies by so quickly and I want to start without any further delay trying to arrange everything in a chronological order.

On the 4-th of January 2007 I had to travel to Tirana to be beside my older sister who was having a gall blader operation. Her condition was really bad and the doctors decided to remove her gall bladder on the 3-rd of January. The operation was postponed due to my sister's fear of what might happen. It was her first operation and she needed someone
to encourage her that that was necessary and nothing wrong was going to happen and that's why I had to be there. The operation took place two days later on January 05 and went fine. Cimi and Ray were driving back to Durres and stopped by at the hospital only for awhile to see my sister. It was very nice to see them there. Right now my sister has
fully recovered and doing well.

I traveled to Tirana in three other occasions as well. On January 18 my aunt's husband died and I went to attend his funeral. Then almost three months later on the 19-th of April, Artans father passed away. The funeral took place on April 20 at 5. 00 PM. Artan is a dear brother
and a close friend of mine. After completing two years of advanced Bible studies in England, he returned to Albania on 1995 and since then he has been working with the church in Tirana. We met in 1995 in the church in Tirana and became close friends and dear brothers in Christ. Many brothers and sisters came to comfort him and his family
at this time of pain and sorrow. "Blessed be the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourself are comforted by God"(1 COR. 1:3-4;ESV).

On the third occasion we traveled to Tirana for a joyful event. My wife Irena, my daughter Debora and I went to attend the youths rally, which took place on April 14. This is an annual event that gathers together young Christians from all over the country. The Church in Tirana was the host and the brothers there had prepared everything for the day. Our brother Steve Byrne, who works with the church in Fier, was the guest speaker. He spoke about True Freedom and we listened to his message as he brought some insight about the True Freedom In Christ based on the text of HEB. 2:14-15. We sang together, prayed together and shared a wonderful meal at the end of the day. Overall, it was a great time of fellowship.

Right at the beginning of February five sisters from the church in Durres came for a visit to Pogradec. Sarah, Rachel, Robbie and Anna of the AIM team and Suela, the church secretary, spent a weekend here. They came on Friday at noontime and on Saturday they went to see Ohrid, a city in the neighbouring Macedonia. They worshiped with the church in Pogradec on Sunday and departed to Durres on the same day by train. We enjoyed their company and had a great time together.

In my last report I wrote about two of my students Tefta and Elda who are mother and daughter. They have been my students for quite a long time. They know what we teach and practice and they have been biblically baptized. Irena and I had invited them quite often to be part of our fellowship. Finally, they made the move and joined us. Praise the Lord they are part of our fellowship now. But that's not all. There is more to say. Violeta, Tefta's mother and Elda' s grandmother, a 76 year old lady, attends the church regularly along
with them. Isn't it wonderful seeing three generations of one family coming together and joining the spiritual body to praise the Lord? God is great, God is good and all praise belongs to Him alone. We thank you dear brethren for your persistent prayers.

There is another good news that you already might know. Kevin and Allison Morrill are coming back to Albania in September this year to work for the Lord. This time they are not coming to Pogradec, but to the neighbouring Korca. That does not make any big difference, for there is only a short distance, about 24 miles, between the two cities
and it takes only thirty minutes drive in one way. The important thing is that a wide door for effective work has been opened by God for the Gospel of Christ to be preached and we are very excited about it. We believe that God will give us wisdom to find ways to work together for His glory and praise.

In our bible class on Sunday we are studying Paul's second letter to the Corinthians and right now we are in chapter nine. Virxhil and I take turns in teaching and preaching on Sundays.

Dear brethren. The church in Pogradec invites any brother or sister who is interested in joining us for the summer campaign to write on the following e-mail address (xhumert@yahoo. com).

Finally, dear brethren, we send our greetings in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. We ask you to pray for us constantly and steadfastly. God bless you all.

In His Service
Xhumert & Irena Nuro

August 07

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