Albania Project

Our friend in Albania, Memli Mema, has done work with the church in Kosovo. Here is a information and a prayer request from the church in Kosovo

Remember Kosovo

During the Kosovo crisis in 1999 Kosovo was in the main news worldwide because of the war and tragedy. It was then that we asked our brothers and sisters around the world to join us for an International Day of Prayer and Fasting for Kosovo on the 31st of January 1999. Now after 7 years many things have changed, but still there is a need for lots of prayer...

Where is Albania?

Albania is a country in the region of Europe which is known as the Balkans. It is surrounded by Greece on the south, Serbia-Montenegro on the north and Kosovo and Macedonia on the east and the Adriatic Sea on the west. It is directly east, across the Adriatic from the ‘bootheal’ of Italy. It has a Mediterranean climate and is mountainous with a large plain that sweeps down to the sea.

What is Albania?

Albania is a former Communist country that freed itself from Communism in 1991. It was ruled by a dictator who had complete control over the nation and its people for over 40 years. He declared that ‘there is no God’ and went so far as to break relations with Russia and China because their brand of communism was not pure enough. The country was completely shut off from the rest of the world. Most people in Albania were non-religious before 1991 because of government coercion, but the heritage of people there is about 70% Muslim, 20% Orthodox Christian and 10% Roman Catholic. Muslim and Orthodox organizations have begun to go into Albania and build national organizations. The Evangelical or Protestant Christian movement is somewhat small but having a large impact on the people of this beautiful country. Albanian people are fairly well educated and western in their lifestyle, though poor because of years of neglect to infrastructure and political upheaval.

Why are we there?

In 1991 Simi Covenant’s own Andy Lay was with an organization working in Eastern Europe and visited Albania. He ‘fell in love’ with the country and established an organization to bring the good news of Jesus to the people by distributing Christian literature to every home. Over the years many of us have heard about Albania and had a desire to see it first hand. We have visited twice, once in 2003 and once in 2004. We who have been there have been blessed by making friends and creating relationships with people in Albania and, indeed, fallen in love with this country and its people.

What are we doing in Albania?

Many of you have met, or heard about, our dear friend Eli Mema. Eli was the national director of the organization Andy Lay established. She has been our hostess on our visits and has visited here in Simi Valley. Eli and her brother Memli have become dear friends of Simi Covenant. Memli is an elder in the Disciples of Jesus church in Tirana, the capital city. Memli and his wife Luiza have a ministry in a small, very poor Muslim village outside the capital where they minister to the shut-ins, conduct classes and activities for the children of the village and generally share the love of Jesus with people who have been isolated and forgotten for a long time. Memli also is involved in church planting in Kosovo and Macedonia. We are helping Memli with encouragement and hoping to find a way to help him financially so that he may devote all of his time sharing the love of Jesus with people who have not been able to hear it for over three generations.

We are planning to have Memli and Luiza visit here in Simi Valley sometime in the near future so that everyone can meet this dear couple and encourage them in their work.

14 Oct. 2004

- Hi All -
It is Thursday night...our last night in Albania. Chas, David and I are amazed that the time has gone by so fast. The time has gone by too fast. We really are not ready to come home.

13 Oct. 2004

Hello all.
This is Wednesday in Albania. What an incredible, busy, wonderful day.

Started off going to CCL where I led devotions. I taught; Eli translated. I think she repeated what I said.

12 Oct. 2004

Hello All
Our trip continues to be amazing. Here is the latest:

Monday was a work day. It started off after breakfast with a frantic, hectic drive in our van (Eli rented a van for us with the same driver we had last year--Fatmir). Monday morning traffic in Tirana is crazy...no freeways..just surface streets and people everywhere...and phantom construction projects...and red lights that aren't obeyed....and traffic officers who seem to bring more confussion! It is great fun!

9 Oct. 2004

Hello All--
I have said before that this country has a way of capturing hearts. This continues to be true.

Today was our first full day in Albania. We began early in the day with a walk around Tirana, showing Chas the city. Then we ate a wonderful breakfast at the Stephen Center.

10 Oct. 2004

- Greetings All -
What a wonderful day! We went to the International Church this morning...a different experience than last night, but still a great time.

This afternoon we hosted a picnic in the National Park in Tirana for 42 children from His Child. We ordered 25 pizzas and they were all eaten! The look on the faces on the children was absolutely priceless. They are dear children, from some very difficult, poor and sometimes tragic situations, but they are greatly loved by David and Nathan and others who are a part of the staff for months or years at a time. David, Chas and I had a great time playing with the children. The kids are fantastic! It was a long but amazing afternoon.

8 Oct. 2004

Hello All--
Chas Wilson, David Hill and I made it! We had a long but uneventful flight from LAX to Washington DC to Vienna, Austria to Tirana, Albania.

We were greeted by Eli Mema and Desi Mema our good friends from our last visit. Today (Friday) we checked into our rooms at the Stephen Center where we stayed last year; David and I showed Chas around town; and took a quick trip to His Child, the orphanage in Tirana. The orphanage now has 42 children from babies through 17 years old. Last time we were here, there were 26 children. It is an amazing organization. There is no way to describe the love in this house as David and others care and love on these children. This orphanage truly is a family with older children taking care of the younger, and most of all everyone simply attending to each other. We distributed tennis balls to the kids, turning the home into a mad house for a while. You will see the pictures of these children. They are a delight. In this little corner of the world, without any fanfare, a small group of people reach out to children simply because they are called to do this as followers of Jesus. It absolutely humbles us to watch these people simply give because it is the right thing to do. Again, I am overwhelmed.

May 10th, 2003
10:39 PM

Dear Simi Covenant Church Family

So the team arrived home safely after a very busy travel day. We left Tirana on Friday at 5:15 pm and landed in Vienna Austria 1 and ½ hours later. Saturday morning (after being put up in a hotel courtesy of Austrian Airlines) we caught a ten hour flight to Washington DC, and then a five hour flight to LAX. I am still on Albanian time as I write this at 10:30 pm Saturday night: 7:30 AM Sunday.

May 8th, 2003
1:43 PM

Dear Simi Covenant Church Family,

Here is the report...our final report from Albania...for Thursday May 8th

Tomorrow afternoon we begin our long trip home. We fly out of Tirana at 5:15 pm, have an overnight layover in Vienna, then a flight on Saturday to Washington DC and another flight to LAX arriving Saturday evening. We will be in church on Sunday! We are anxious to see you all. And we are very sad about leaving. This country, this country of miracles has touched our hearts in profound ways. We will have difficulty describing it, you will maybe tire of hearing from us about Albania, but we have been moved beyond words with a love for this country, its people and it burgeoning church, which is just over 10 years old.