Reps, Albania



January 2002 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Lord Jesus, Greetings: Yesterday I was walking after my test, and I realized that the end of the month had come and I needed to sit down and write this report. February is a month of tests for most Albanian students. It is the time that you get to study harder than usual, and take tests as well. This year we started a little earlier than usual. I am supposed to take 5 tests, and I just had the first one. The church is doing well. We are studying a series of lessons on the Old Testament. I realized their need to have the lessons typed, so they can have something to look back at after I leave. I’m typing the lessons and printing them, so each of them will have their own copy. Kledis is leading the singing, doing the Bible Reading, and soon he will start to lead prayers as well. Kledis and I got to talk this weekend, and maybe he will start leading prayers this week. He is generally a shy guy, so it takes time to work with him. Paul reminds us that patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and if you don’t have it, you have to work hard to become patient. Each time I see that I am doing as well as I should with my patience, I try to remind myself of Job. He really is the best example of patience. We are planning to join the First National Youth Rally that is going to take place in Tirana, on February 16th. The theme of the Rally will be "Jesus, My First Love." Many people will think that this relates somehow with Valentine’s Day. They’re right to some degree that this Rally has to do with love, but they are wrong when they think that "eros" will be the kind of love we will be talking about. The focus of this Rally will instead be "agape" love. Six young guys ranging in age from 15-21 years old will be bringing the messages from the Word of God. I think I will be the oldest of the speakers. Since I am part of those who are organizing it, I am speaking with the first person plural. We have planned the lessons to build on one another. Starting with the true meaning of love, we would like to lead them to the greatest example of love, "The cross." Ellen Walker is directing a group of young Christians in a play called "The Carpenter’s Family." The program starts in 10 AM, and continues up to 4 PM. Those brethren that will be traveling from areas outside Tirana are invited to spend the night with brothers and sisters from the Tirana congregation, and participate in the Worship Service together with the saints of Tirana the next day. On February 17th, the Church in Tirana is having a special day that is called "Friend’s Day." We hope people will invite their friends and family. Dennis Winebarger will be the guest speaker that Sunday. The youth of Tirana have decided to have a monthly publication. I am the editor of that publication that aims to meet the needs of the youth here. We will use email to publish it, and we will print it for those that don’t have email. What a pleasure is to see young Christians take responsibility on themselves. My personal experience has taught me that the best time of spiritual growth are when you except responsibility on yourself. I want to thank all of you who are supporting this ministry with your prayers and money. There is no way I can be on the field if it was not for your support. It means so much for me. I just agree with the words spoken by Paul to the Philippians, " I thank my God every time I remember you." May God keep blessing you! Your partner in the Gospel, Bledi Valca, Minister PS: Letters of encouragement are welcomed. PSS: Letters of encouragement are always welcomed.
February Dear ones in the Lord, Greetings in the sweet, sweet name of the Lord! I hope all of you are enjoying good health and the blessings of the Lord. I was glad to get many letters of encouragement during this last month. This helps me see that you are reading my letters, and you are being part of this ministry with your prayers. It means very much to me. This month has been a very full month. I've been busy with tests, the work of the church in Reps, the Youth Rally, the work with the youth’s newspaper. But let's take one step at a time. College: Well, the battle with tests is at least behind me now. I had to take five, and to this point, I know I passed three. I still don’t think I am giving my best in college. I still plan to continue though because God has been enabling me to share the message of love with many in college. Ministry in Mirdita: Mirdita is the district in which Reps is located. The Gjeci family is moving from Reps at the end of March. They are going to Rreshen, the main town in district. Our plans have been to plant a church there. But with Kledis, Emilina, and Mentela going there first we have a good core to start. The more you work in the field, the more you understand how our God is a providing God. I remember Abraham going to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. “The fire and the wood are here” Isaac said, “But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” When we submit our lives to Him and His service, God will always provide. Last Sunday, soon after I took my last exam, I left Tirana to go and hold services in Reps. Since the van was going to another place, I had to stop and proceed by foot the last mile. Just when I was thanking God for the help that Kledis has been to me in our worship service in Reps, and I was thinking that I had to start conducting the service all by myself again soon a guy came to me and said, “I would like to come to your services if it is possible.” I said that it would be a pleasure for us to have him join us. He is the brother of Valmira, one of our members. He seems to be a very good boy; he has an open-mind and a lot of skills. If he decides to be baptized, I believe that he will be a great help to me. Thank God. Ministry in Tirana: Since I go to college in Tirana, I spend five days a week in Tirana and only two in Reps. I decided to help Brother Artan Samara with the classes on Wednesdays. With Cimi’s going to Durres full time, and Artan’s being busy with his job, I thought that he might need some help. I have several series of lessons prepared, so I thought that I could teach some of those here. I will be teaching once every other week. I am also helping Butch with the youth ministry. The Youth Rally: We were pleased to have the first National Youth Rally, on February 16th. The topic was “Jesus, my first love.” Four brothers brought five messages. Flori Pollo preached on “The Meaning Of Love,” Ervin Ballabani preached on “Love Your Neighbor As Yourself,” Olsi Qerama on “Love As Told From The Cross,” while I preached first on “The Deeper Love” and in the end of the Rally on “Do You Love Me?” Bujar Mallakaj from Prizren was supposed to preach too but unfortunately was not able to come, so I stepped in for him and preached twice. We had 216 people from 7 churches attend. Vlora 31, Fier 5, Durres 17, Elbasan 12, Prizren (Kosovo) 7, Tirane 134, and Reps had 10. The people from Reps invited some of their friends that live here in Tirana. I believe that in the end we had a great time. We also worshiped together on Sunday. Dennis Winebarger (Durres COC) preached on that special Sunday, Friend’s Day. Over 300 where present. The Newspaper: The first publication of the Youth newspaper is being sent out via e-mail. I sent it to some of my friends that live abroad. Many people in States, Canada, Italy, and Greece and all over Albania read it. They all liked it. We are trying to do our best to publish a hard copy as well. We are supposed to have this month’s edition come out soon. We are trying to do our best to meet the needs of our readers. May God bless all of you! In His service, Bledi Valca, Minister Reps Church of Christ
March 2002 The month of March is now behind us, and we can look forward to the blessings of the new one. Things have been great this month. I have been busy as usual, but the results of the work make the fatigue disappear. Ministry in Reps: This has been a great month for the work in Reps. March 15th; Besar Gjini (age 16) was buried with Christ in baptism. He is the answer to many prayers. I have been praying that God will send me some help in the field, and Besar is the answer. He is a pretty smart guy, and has a willingness to serve. He was baptized on Friday and did the scripture reading for us in the worship service the following Sunday. After the worship service, Besar, Kledis, and I sat down to talk. I told them that God wants men to serve in His Church, and that means we should share the responsibility of the worship service. This Sunday Kledis led the singing, Besar had the opening prayer and scripture reading, while I did the lesson and the Lord’s Supper and offering talks. It is such a joy to have all become part of our Lord’s Worship. More involvement generally means better concentration and more acceptable worship (for those who have participated.) Bledi with Reps Church We are going to have our first business meeting this Saturday. I realize that I am their servant, and I am there to meet their needs. So far I have been teaching lessons that I thought they needed to hear, but now I have asked them to give me ideas for my lessons. I want to know what they want me to talk about. This will be one of the items that we will discuss in our business meeting. The whole idea behind this is to help them feel a part of the work and to help them contribute to the work. I also realized that I took my last vacation during the summer of 1996, and I feel I need to plan to have some time to rest this summer. I am using my time in Reps now to train Kledis and Besar for the work of service. They have been taking a lot of responsibility for the work, and are willing to accept some more. I will be giving them responsibility for different parts of the worship one at a time. We also talked together about the possibility of having them preach for us in the near future. I gave them the Albanian translation of "Every Man’s Guide to Salvation" from Truth for Today. It is a real blessing to have that book. It deals with salvation, church, and worship as taught in the Bible. When I got that book I could not put it down. It teaches important biblical truths simply and clearly. Then I will be proceeding with the translation of the WEI English Course in Albanian and special lessons that I am working on. When you have people that are limited to English materials, their lack of knowledge of the language becomes a problem. But I am glad to know that God has called us to work within our abilities, with what He has given us, and He will hold us accountable only for that. The third busy week of March: The third week of this past month was really a busy one. On Wednesday 20th, and Thursday 21st, missionaries and church leaders came together for the Third Missionary/Church Leaders Conference. It was an uplifting time for all those able to attend. With the spirit of collaboration and the sweet means of fellowship, all shared the many blessings God has given them on the mission field. The highlight of the conference (from my viewpoint) was discussing the problems that the Albanian Church is facing. We all agreed that we need to train teachers/preachers of the Word, to have more opportunities to come together, and to work toward a national song book. I thought the conference was a real success. The next morning Bob Threlkeld, Doug Smith, Tom Bonner, and I went to Lushnja to try to locate a place for offices. WEI is planning to have a campaign there this summer. We were able to look at several good places. On the way back we stopped to have lunch in the suburbs of Lushnja and prayed for the success of the work there. Tom Bonner is considering the possibility of moving to Albania. He has not made a decision and is now in the process of making one. He surely needs our prayers, as he tries to find God’s will for his life. Then on Saturday, 15 brothers and sisters went to Lushnja to hand out leaflets offering the WEI correspondence course. Last summer brethren from Tirana and campaigners made a similar effort. We were able to hand out over 2000 leaflets that day. After we were finished, we formed a circle and prayed that God will bless this effort to glorify His name in Lushnja. Amen! Then on Sunday Doug Smith and I made a trip to Durres. I preached for the church there. After service with the church in Durres, Doug and I made our way to Reps. Doug preached for us in our Worship Service. It was great for them to hear the Word of God preach by somebody else for a change. I think that is good once in while to change preachers. Doug preached a simple lesson from Romans 12. Tirana and Newspaper: I am teaching the Wednesday Bible Class once every other week now. This is part of my work for the church in Tirana. I also spoke at Youth Fellowship this Friday. Butch, having a degree in preaching, has begun to critique my sermons. This will help me improve my lessons and the presentation of my lessons. It is like taking a course in preaching. The work with the newspaper is going well too. We are sending it out via e-mail only, for now. Arrangements are being made with a publishing house to have a printed version as well. Bledi Gjoça is doing the designing. He studies electronics at Harry T. Fultz High School. He also works part time as web-designer. Those who have read it so far have spoken highly of the work done. It is a blessing to have so many skilled brothers and sisters to work with. May God bless you! Your fellow servant, Bledi Valca
APRIL 2002 Calvary greetings to you from the Reps church of Christ! Before I sat down to write this report I took some time to thank God for the blessing of knowing each one of you in a special way. I count you one of the many blessings God has given me. Three years ago Brother Wayne Speer preached a message based on the song "Count Your Many Blessings." It is wonderful how well we can be encouraged by songs, and most of all to see the blessings God has given us. He is a faithful and rewarding God. Amen. Brother Lee Allen brought me some nice books from Max Lucado last month. I start my morning by studying a chapter or two, then doing the study guide in the end. Soon after that I go on with prayers. Those are some of my sweetest moments with God. I noticed that my days are getting better as I start my day with these morning devotionals. In December I went in Vlora to spend time with Virgil and Jackie. They used to start their mornings by reading a chapter of the Bible, thinking about what they read, and then praying. When I was there the first day they were reading from John 11. Virgil said I wonder if God is saying to Albania, "Take off the grave clothes and go." I used to study the Bible sometime during the day when I have time to do it, but the experience with Virgil and Jackie was so uplifting that I decided to shift it to the mornings. The third week of this month quite a tear accompanied our service. Kledis, Emilina, and Mentela had their last service with us. They moved to Rreshen on the following Thursday. Our plans have been for a long time to have a church planting there. Rreshen is the main town in the district. It seems that soon Reps will be abandoned completely. Last week I heard that my family wants to move there too. However, Rreshen is only 27 kilometers (18 miles) away from Reps. Right now a large number of WEI students are living in Rreshen. I will start by making contacts with them, and letting them know that we are there. Probably Artan Xhaferi, national follow-up coordinator of WEI, will go with me on that trip. Before I started my service as a preacher, I use to go with Artan to meet correspondence students. Some believe that is not the duty of the church to teach English. I don’t believe so. I learned the truth of gospel through my desire to know English. Right now it is the best tool we have to preach the gospel here in Albania. Using the need and desire of people to learn English, we make them know the truth of the gospel. I also used to be a correspondence student. Having a whole church compiled mostly of WEI correspondence students, I am also one who believes in this correspondence ministry. It furnishes the preacher or missionary a core group of people before you go there to evangelize. I would like to let you know that right now there are many people that are waiting for a teacher, whether via e-mail or correspondence. If you would like to know more, Bob Patterson at weibp@aol.com can tell you more. Besar is continuing to be a blessing in my ministry. We meet each Saturday together and discuss the things he has read. He has gone through the WEI Albanian Bible Course. Last week he came telling me that he read the gospel of John. Besar and I went to look beyond the stories, deep into the principles. He started to read Matthew on Sunday. He is probably the best thing that has happened to my Reps ministry. My sister Luiza (you pronounce it Louisa) is always amazing me. She went and had quite a talk with the Catholic priest recently. She has been going there with a friend who wants to be "baptized" in the Catholic Church. As they were studying the priest asked my sister’s friend, "Why don’t you baptize your young sister as well?" Luiza said, "she is too young to be baptized. She is only three years old." The priest said, "why not? My sisters answer was"baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. Tell me what her sins are?" "Well I see you understand,"said the priest, "but have you been baptized?" "Yes, I was immersed for the forgiveness of my sins at the Church of Christ." Let me emphasize that my sister is not a brilliant mind. It is a joy to know that the church you are committed to serve for is growing in the knowledge of the Word. Amen As I mentioned earlier we at Reps Church of Christ are planning to start holding services in Rreshen. I was going to Durres yesterday, and on the bus I met with the JW that serves in Rreshen. I was able to get some information from them regarding Rreshen. What they told me was that they have seen the great impact the Catholic Church has had on people. Which I knew already, cause historically Mirdita is one of the two regions that were never invaded by the Turks (a small region in Montenegro, is the other one). They, however, have been able to convert two so far. Right now in Rreshen, Brethren, Word of Life (Pentecostal), and JW are being active besides the Catholics. This fact tells me that even though is going to be difficult, it is not impossible to succeed. The words of Paul from prison are very encouraging; "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength". "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you." 2 Thessalonians 3:16. May God bless you! Your fellow servant, Bledi.
MAY 2002 Dear Friends, I was thinking one day about all the individuals who receive this newsletter. I was amazed to find out that the recipients of this newsletter live in four continents and 13 countries: Europe (Albania, Italy, Kosovo, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania), America (USA and Canada), Asia (India, Singapore, Turkey) and South Africa. God has enabled us to improve our communication. One day a special brother shared with me an observation he had made. He said that Paul would have surely rebuked us for the way we conduct ministry, for he sent the gospel message to all the known world of his time by walking and sailing. It would be quite impossible for us to do ministry without communication, and God has surely blessed us with ways to preach the Word. With all of you I share one important thing, we all are serving God where we live. Is it not amazing to know of the many co-workers we have? God is certainly being good to me by blessing my life with each one of you. Your service to the King and your prayers over my work are a great source of strength and encouragement. We are getting ready for this year’s Youth Camp being organized by the saints in Vlora. To this point I don’t know if I will be able to attend; but a group, if not all, from Reps is going. Virgil has asked that I send a counselor and an assistant counselor to camp. I believe it to be good thing for their spiritual maturity. I went to Saranda (South Albania) for a workshop on Business Law, May 16-20. I thought this would be a good time for me to take a break as well, so I arranged with Besar that he would conduct the service in Reps on Sunday. Since I knew that there is no congregation of the Church of Christ in Saranda, I took communion bread with me and left Tirana on Thursday the 16^th. If you have been to Albania and have had the chance to see Butrinti, you know it is a gorgeous place. The Ionian Sea has nice beaches as well. So I went there to enjoy my time off. To right of the hotel where we were staying, there was a Pentecostal congregation. As I was going by their door, I noticed they had the communion table prepared. I said to myself that even if they only serve the Lord’s Supper one time in a month or quarter, this must be the one time, so I decided to go in and talk to the preacher. I found out that he believes in the partaking of the Lord’s Supper weekly. I quickly noticed that they have a baptistry in their meeting place, and I asked the preacher what his view is on the matter of baptism. His answer was "It is the gate." I was able to see that no instruments where there and found out that he is against the use of the instruments in God’s house. After we talked about many other things, I decided to go and worship with them. I had thought this Sunday to be one of the few that I was not preaching, but when I arrived there he asked me to speak. With no outline and nothing in mind to speak about, I got up front and started. Now at this point I asked myself, "should I speak about the things that I believe to be very important or be ‘polite.’" I made up my mind and spoke about the things I believe. The outcome was commendation by all of them, especially the preacher. I was invited to go and have lunch with the preacher and his family, but I decided not to. I could see that they were poor, and I did not want to be a burden on them. I gave them my email, mailing address, and phone number, however; and I think we will stay in contact. I am told we will be going there again in September for another workshop. Looks like even my vacation was not a vacation. Jesus said, "My Father does not stop working, and neither do I." Right now I believe this was the very reason I went to Saranda. God has an amazing way of making things happen. All Praise is to Him! Sokol Thanati plans to join me this summer in my plan to plant a church in Rreshen. We will be holding a campaign there during the month of August. I really am thankful for his decision. It will be a great experience of spiritual growth. But what is the most important is that God will be glorified. Right now Sokol is helping me with the youth newsletter. He is just a great kid and those of you who know him are aware of his skills in personal evangelism. May God bless you! Your fellow servant, Bledi
Newsletter of summer 2002 Mirdita Team Dear Friends, Greetings in the sweetest name of the Lord. The month of June was filled with tests, so my efforts that month were concentrated on studying for tests. God was very good to me and enabled me to have 100% success. I was able to pass all four exams. Things are moving for me. After I finished the tests I remembered that I have only one more year before I graduate. If the Lord’s willing I will graduate next summer. My plans are to keep working with the church in Reps till the end of 2003 and then take off for a couple of years. The reason for that is that I will try to get two years of training before I commit myself to full-time ministry, also I need to think of having my own family. These are my plans, but God may have a different schedule for me. Like all, I just have to submit myself to His will. The Church in Reps is doing well. On July 7^th another soul was added to the kingdom in Reps. Erjola Cera was baptized for the remission of her sins in the Fan River. In the past we have gone to Tirana for our baptisms; but she was firm that she wanted to be baptized in the river, like John baptized people in the Jordan River. Erjola is the youngest sister of two of our members, Enkelejda and Ilirjana Cera. It seems that their only brother Emirjan is close to making the decision to follow Jesus. Besar keeps being a blessing to my ministry in Reps. He has only been a Christian for four months and he is doing classes for the church in Reps. He went with Kledis to camp in Llogora, where they both had a great time. That really was an uplifting experience for them. The others told me that Besar did very well in all the classes. It is a joy to hear that the flock that God has entrusted me is growing in the knowledge of the Word. My sister Luiza, Valmira Gjini, and I went on the following week. Miri Doda went with us. He was baptized in the July 4^th, 1999. Miri and I have been sharing a room together this past year of college. He lives in Rreshen. It is the prayer of my heart that he will be able to come back to the Lord. If so, he will be a great asset to the work in Rreshen. This year, they added a forth week to camp for the college age. Mladen Johanovic from Zagreb (Croatia) was the speaker for the week. We were blessed by his presence at camp. When he got in the taxi to leave his words were, "Next year I need no invitation!" You can understand what that means. At this moment, Sokol Thanati and I are in Rreshen. We are going to be here for a period of four weeks teaching classes using WEI material. It is the desire of our hearts to have a congregation started here. In March three members of the Reps congregation moved to Rreshen with their family to live. My family is moving here next week. We already have a core for the new congregation. This will mean that we will leave behind in the Reps congregation, Besar, Valmira, and the three Cera’s sisters. We were planning initially to have a service in Reps at 9:30 AM and then have another in Rreshen at 1 PM. Dick Ady came to preach on Sunday, August 4^th. Unfortunately, no one appeared accept for those who came from Tirana. We thought that maybe it was because 1 AM is not a convenient time for worship, especially now in summer. Under these circumstances we decided to "sacrifice" the church in Reps with a 4 PM service, and have the service in Rreshen at 10 AM. I think it worked out. Sunday the 11^th, Sokol and I worshiped God with two students and one of my cousins. My cousin has attended the Brethren Church for a long time, and then she stopped. Now, she wants to worship with us. Her sister came with Koli and me to Reps for the service that afternoon. In that historical service for the work of Lord’s Church in Rreshen, I preached the sermon "The Bad and the Good News of the Gospel," and Koli led the singing. Too bad that Koli and I are not good singers. On the 18^th the church in Reps came to worship with us, and Brother Artan Samara preached the sermon. In regard to teaching students, we are combining a few things. When we see that a student wants to come with a friend, we set them up together. When we see that one may be good and the other not so good we have them study together, and this way they help each other. We found that some are not able to study with us right now, so we gave them "The Introductory Lesson" (the first lesson in the WEI Courses), and encouraged them work it at home in their own time and then mail it to us. This way they will study the course via-correspondence. In fact, the courses are designed to be studied through correspondence, and we are also using WEI in our daily classes. Usually Koli teaches the young people, and I teach the older ones. The age of our students ranges from 13 to 52 years old. Koli is teaching 9, and I am teaching 10 students. When we came to Rreshen, we were aware that we might not be able to convert any, yet we set as our objective to make as many new contacts as possible. In that regard I believe we are doing great. Besides our students, we have many more friends. Sokol is very good at making new friends and teaching them on a personal level. I think I am good from the pulpit. This way we make a good team. If any of you would like to come and help the work here for a short or long period of time, I would be most honored to answer your questions. We have an apartment with two rooms and a kitchen. We use one room for classes, and the other as a bed-room. The bed room has two single beds. I believe it has all that one might need to live a simple life, as our Lord taught through His example. Please feel free to ask any questions. Now I will let Koli add some lines. I think Bledi described our work and the situation perfectly. We could use some help though. Since our students and our friends are mostly teenagers, we would appreciate some assistance from the youth in Tirana. We all know that the one of the best ways to evangelize is to be a good example. So let us share with others the fellowship that God gave us and show them his love. Today, we went to Lezha with one of our students. The other students and friends that were invited didn’t show up because of the rain last night. Even though there were only three of us, I think we had a great time. We were amazed by the beauty of the castle in Lezha and had a great time at the beach, which is very close. We plan to arrange something for the Church in Tirana to join us sometime in September. I think that will be a great chance to share our fellowship with the people here in Rreshen. And, also as Bledi mentioned before, we definitely need immediate assistance from the church in Tirana in order to teach the prospective-future-members of the church here and also to the members of the church in Reps HOW TO SING. If you ever decide to come here to help, I am sure you won’t regret it. There are wonderful places around the town. We have organized trips on bikes to some places around Rreshen with students and our new friends. People complain here that there aren’t many things to do to spend time and have fun, but I am telling you, I wish we had more free time… So considering everything I think with your prayers and with the blessings from the Lord we will be able to plant the seed in people’s hearts here in Rreshen, but they will need watering. Your fellow servants, Bledi and Sokol. PS: At the moment of writing of this Newsletter Sokol was still in Rreshen. Now Sokol is back to Tirana, but will come time to time. I will inform you more next month. Please pray for me as I take my tests next week.
November 2002 Dear Ones, Greetings in the sweetest name of the Lord! I hope things are going well with you in your personal walks with God. Sharing with you in the riches of the gospel, and being supported by your prayers on behalf of my ministry makes my service to the King easier. In fact there is little news this month. I continue to be the usual busy guy. Going to college 5 days a week, teaching the saints in Tirana once every two weeks, and more than anything else, taking care of the church business in Reps and Rreshen. Right now Besar is being a great help in my ministry in Reps. His walk with God continues to be a source of encouragement to me. He is preaching once a month. I’ve thought a lot about what it means to be working with two congregations at the same time. One of the most important things is not to violate the principal of autonomy for the local congregation. For one thing I think that it is important to have separate treasuries. Considering Besar trustworthy and wanting to delegate more responsibility, I asked him to be the treasurer for the church in Reps. Ilirjana is preparing the communion bread. A little task, but of a great value. Often we don't consider the small things as of great value toward the spiritual growth of our members, but they are. God keeps working in our lives with the "details" to bring about great things. What I am about to say might be of interest to those of you who have taken the task of sharing God's Word with your congregation. I would like to have some feedback on it as well. One day I was thinking about topics for my lessons, a portion from Jeremiah came to me, "Thus says the Lord." We sometimes spend too much time thinking about lessons, and we neglect to stop and preach the Bible. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean taking a book of the Bible, and concentrating upon it in our studies. We take too much of our time saying, "this man said this, and this one said that," but what if we stop and look at God's Word and say "Thus says the Lord." I believe that we have to stop so much Expository Preaching, and start preaching the Word. Jesus said that His words (the words that He spoke) will be the basis of our judgment. Why consider what others think and not what God says in His Word? In light of this I am teaching the book of Philippians in my Sunday Class. The church seems to like it. Next year I plan to preach and teach on the Gospels throughout the year. Truth for Today is printing teaching materials in Albanian. In their book "Meet the Master 1," a one year study on the Gospels was suggested. Studying a portion of the gospels each week on personal basis, and discussing things in the Bible Class will, I think, be helpful. I presented the idea to the church, encouraging them to study the portion of the Scriptures and pray to God. I believe that after a year of study on the life and teachings of our Master Teacher, we would be the spiritual Christians that this world needs to come to know the Lord. Let us become lovers of God's Word and disciples of the Master Teacher, Jesus Christ. Finally I would like to ask for special prayers on my behalf. This is a very difficult time in my life. Several things are happening, and I have to make some difficult decisions. I have taken a lot of responsibilities. Pray that in every decision I make, Glory will be given to God, and nothing will hinder my service to Him. I love you with the love of the Lord! In His service, Your fellow servant, Bledi.
January 03 Greetings in the precious name of Lord Jesus! It has been a while since my last newsletter, and there have been many celebrations since that time. I hope and pray that you had the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year celebration ever. My prayer for all of you and your families is that this year will be a year filled with blessings by the One from Whom all blessings flow, as we serve His purpose of saving the lost, one soul at a time. December 15th the leaders of the Tirana Church of Christ and I had a meeting to evaluate the results of the work in Mirdita. The Tirana Church of Christ has been sponsoring my work in Mirdita. After we talked a lot and reconsidered the situation, we decided that we are no longer going to continue the work in that area. Because of the strong Catholic influence and deep roots of Catholic tradition we were not able to succeed there. It is not a matter of not trying hard enough or that we should have done things differently, but the conditions in which we were called to serve proved to be too big an obstacle. As for us we did "the planting and the watering," but the soil was not right to give the increase. You might well raise the question "What about those who have been converted in Reps?" That's a really good question. During the two and a half years I served in the area, I was able to baptize nine people into Christ. They included: my sister Luiza; my three cousins Enkelejda, Ilirjana, and Erjola; my two friends Valmira and Besar; and three others to whom I was related, Emilina, Mentela, and Kledis. The first move we had was Emilina, Mentela, and Kledis who moved to Rreshen. We decided to follow them and start a church in Rreshen. Well, it did not work out the way we thought, for they did not attend services in Rreshen. Their father changed his mind and decided that he was against the idea. Then we also had Enkelejda and Valmira move. They are now residing in Tirana, and are going to worship with the church there. Besar plans to leave the country soon. This has been a major problem for many Albanian Christians throughout the years. Many of them emigrate, and very few of them return. My sister Luiza will move in with me soon, and so she will be attending with me. The problem is with Ilirjana and Erjola who are left in Reps. I have instructed them how to worship together, and they will continue to worship together. Since I am not working in Reps anymore, you might ask "what about you?" Well right now the leaders of the Tirana Church of Christ have asked me to work with the team here till my graduation in late June or early July of this year. I will finish my bachelors of Economics in the summer, and then I will see what God has planned for me. I will visit with all the missionaries in Albania and see where I am needed most and where I will best fit. In March we have our annual Missionary/Church Leaders Conference. Each mission point in Albania will report on their work, and I believe this will help me make my decision. By that time or soon thereafter I will most likely make my decision. The leaders in Tirana will have input in this decision as well. I have a lot of relationships that I believe can be powerful for evangelism and in strengthening the Body, and I don't want to miss that opportunity. Please pray for me as I make this important decision regarding my future in the service of the Master. Your fellow worker for the cause of Christ, Bledi Valca March 2003 Greetings in the precious name of the Lord Jesus! I pray everything is well with you and your souls. This is a difficult time for world peace and yet God is on His throne. To Him be the glory and dominion now and forevermore. Surprisingly enough the time is moving on, and we seem not to catch up with it. I wrote my last newsletter in January. Since then many things have happened. I will be writing about each of them at this moment. The first thing has to do with the session of tests that I just finished. I took five tests in Applied Econometrics, International Finances, Applied Microeconomics, National Accounting, and European Integration. I successfully passed all of them. This semester I am taking five more classes in Applied Macroeconomics, Financial Economics, Development Economics, Investments, and Special Seminar. This last one is a practical class with people from civil society and politics. I was hoping to be able to do a working paper instead of taking a final test, but my request was rejected for 0.1 of my average grade. This made me once more aware of the God’s grace. His grace is able to cover all of our transgressions when we do our best to serve Him and live right with Him. This helped me appreciate more His grace and loving-kindness. Under the new condition I will have to take my final test based on the classes I have taken the last two years of college. Nevertheless as some of you know already I do not plan to pursue a secular career. My plans are to start my Masters of Religious Studies with Nations University this fall. After that I plan to help the work of Nations University in Albania. The Second thing I want to tell you has to do with my sister Luiza. She has moved in with me. She is already being of help to me. She is eager to tell anyone she meets that she is a Christian and to invite them to church. Yesterday, as she was walking out of the assembly she stopped to talk with a girl that was present at our worship service. They appointed a meeting for today, and Luiza invited me to go with her. Now guess what we did. We shared the blessings that we have been receiving as a part of the Lord’s Church. We will meet again with her. She is a student of Bill Morgan from Lushnja. Thirdly I want to talk about my ministry. I have been considering all the different mission points to see where I can of more help in the body of the church in Albania. While Tom Bonner has been away from Lushnja I have gone to replace him on three Sundays. Others have gone too to cover the other three Sundays. It was an experience I enjoyed. I was glad to be able to see the work in Lushnja myself. I went and visited with Pete Hodge in Elbasan on Sunday to have an impression of the work there. Pete asked me to preach; which, as always, I was more than happy to do so. Last week I went to Korça as a part of training session. I was asked to help train students of high schools in a project called "Enlarging Economic Knowledge," and to referee the competition that was part of the project. The first thing that I did when I got to hotel was to call Roger Michael who is replacing the Saltsmans in Korça while they are gone. We set a time to meet and talk for the next day. I enjoyed fellowshipping with Roger, and at the same time I got a general understanding of the work in Korça and a possible church planting in Pogradec (40 Km north of Korça). Also I have been doing teaching and preaching for the church in Tirana. As you read these lines you are probably asking yourself "what is this guy doing?" It may seem that I am going in many directions, but let me assure you that I know exactly what I am doing. I am just looking where God can use me better for His glory. Please join me in prayer that whatever decision I make it will be God’s will. I have started to teach two WEI students twice a week. Miran Tace (male) is 15 years old, and Etleva Hoxha (female) is 26 years old and has a quiet little daughter of 18-months. Please pray for them as the Word of God is planted in their hearts. Forth, some special events have happened in this period of time. We were blessed to have Brother F. LaGard Smith for a seminar in Elbasan. He also came and spoke to the church in Tirana one Sunday evening. A group from Tirana went to listen to him for one night as he spoke on "Male Spiritual Leadership." I went again to hear him the next day on his final session. Brother Smith also came and spoke at the annual Missionary/Church Leaders Conference sponsored by WORLD ENGLISH INSTITUTE, March 19th-20th. We had a great two days fellowshipping with the missionaries that are working in Albania and Kosovo, and hearing of God’s work done through these special people. Fifth is something to which I am really looking forward. Under the direction of Sister Ellen Walker we are preparing to perform a drama for our Friend’s Day. Many people are putting efforts into the preparation of this drama. Please pray that God will grant us patience as we make preparation for it, and we will do our best as we try to glorify God with this. Please pray for all those that are involved in it. Right after that we will have our Second Annual Youth Rally on May 3rd. The church in Durres is going to host this year's rally. In service to the King, Bledi Valca
April-May 2003 Newsletter of Bledi and Luiza Valca Greetings in name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As you know my sister, Luiza is now here. Our apartment is close to the offices which makes all our work more convenient. Under the new conditions I can be more effective in the use of my study time. We do thank God for you who are God’s instruments of provision. We have felt, since we moved to the apartment, that it is one of God’s blessings. Therefore we thought that it would be selfish not to share the blessing. One Saturday we invited the teenagers over to sing. We started at 11 AM and stopped at 3:30 PM. We had to stop, because some of us had to go to rehearsals, but we had a great time together in singing and prayer. This happened during the month of April. This month we thought that it was time to get the older ones together. We invited the college age members and older to come and join us on a Sunday evening right after our worship service. It was a bit late for some who had to take tests the next day, but we still spent two hours together. We had 15 come over on both occasions. I believe everybody had great time. Praise God! These two months have been filled with activities. We had Friends’ Day on April 27th. A lot of planning went into this day so that everything would go well. Friends’ Day is an evangelical outreach effort that we have use several times in Tirana. We ask our members to invite their loved ones on this day. So they invite friends, family members, and relatives. We had Brother Bill Wilson, missionary in Koln Germany, come and speak to us. We had something to eat, and after that we presented a drama. The day was focused around forgiveness. Brother Wilson spoke on forgiveness. The drama written by Brian Simmons, and directed by Ellen Walker was entitled "Forgive Our Sins." Twenty-five people were involved in the show. Then on May 3rd the Durres congregation hosted the second annual youth rally. The topic was based on 1 John 4:4. A hundred and fifty people from Durres, Tirana, Vlora, Fier, Orikum, Elbasan, and Prizren attended. We were divided into five groups and walked around town to listen to the lessons prepared by Erik Qirjaqi, Sokol Haxhiu, Bledi Valca, Alfred Zike, and Skender Kola. I had the privilege to speak from a second century AD amphitheater. Durres was a good choice for the Rally. When the Apostle Paul said in Romans 15:19 "...from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ" he meant Dyrrah (the present Durres). Shelqim Kafexhiu the Albanian minister for Durres congregation had the final talk. Our sister congregation in Vlora celebrated her 10th Anniversary on May 24th. We went to rejoice with them. We also presented the drama that we had previously prepared for Friends’ Day. I believe that we had a great time there. We had put a lot of effort into the play. I know that several of the troop had to sacrifice from their special time of study to be at rehearsals and are to be commended. Thanks be to God for their commitment. My students are doing well. Miran and I are studying together the life of Jesus. He told me that he would like to be baptized as soon as he finishes this book. I do not plan to rush him. I will try to let him make his decision at his own timing. I understand that my part in teaching him is planting and watering, and it is for God to give the increase at the right time. My other student Etleva is doing well too. She tries to prepare. Right now I am taking the basic preaching class with Butch. We have three more lessons to go before we finish. Butch is doing great work with the teaching. He brings many years of practical ministry to the class. Ervin Ballabani, Perparim Kalemi, Nastor Sterjo are part of the study group as well. Now that Alfred Dimçe has joined the team, three of us are sharing the responsibility of teaching the Wednesday Bible Class. I am teaching the book of Acts. Alfred is teaching the Minor Prophets, and Artan Samara is doing the Life of Christ--a harmonious study of the gospels. As you know college is coming to the end. At the moment I have one more test to take for my classes and then the final test. The final test will cover all the knowledge gained in the last two years. One day I collected all the books and lectures that deal with the topics studied and guess what? There are about 3000 pages. Well I know there will be some repetition, but still that is a lot to review. Please pray that I will pass these two tests. Some of you are well aware of what I have been through in my college studies. Praise God it is coming to an end! This will mean that I will have more time to dedicate to my Biblical Studies. It is my plan to start my Master of Religious Studies program this fall. Right now I realize that there is a greater need for laborers in God’s vineyard, so I do not plan to pursue a secular career. I am trying to understand what my calling is, but I firmly believe that it is ministry. Whether in Tirana or some other town in Albania, God will show me the way. I am praying, and I know that several of you are praying with me on the matter. Wherever He leads me, I know that His grace will keep me. May God be glorified in my decision! May God bless each one you according to His riches in Christ! Because of Jesus, Bledi & Luiza Valca