A Servant's Heart

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13 NLT

As I watch our son David grow, I am amazed by the things he learns and imitates. He loves to serve. He loves to help wash the dishes, clean up, hang laundry and anything else. Living in Albania with lots of walking on the dusty roads you get very dirty feet especially now in the summer wearing sandals. One night David checked my feet and told me, "Mama feet dirty, clean up!" (in a mixture of half English half Albanian words). I went and got the bucket to wash my feet and he sat down on the floor and rubbed, washed and dried my feet. How easy it seems for my two year-old to be a servant. Why is it so hard for us to be servants as adults? We are called to serve. I pray that David continues to have this servant heart the rest of his life! How will you serve today? 

VBS in Elbasan: 

For one week, Arian and Jak (a faithful youth from the church in Durres) went to Elbasan to help two other missionaries (Mondi & Pino) lead VBS. This was a great experience for Jak. They enjoyed serving and helping other missionaries and teaching children about Christ. 

                                           
                                           Visit from North Ireland: 
We were blessed by a visit from a mission team from N. Ireland. They were very encouraging to us. A brother from the group George shared a short message to the church that Laura translated. 



Visit from Finland:
Our dear brother in Christ Milto also came for a visit. He spent the day serving with us in Kavaje. For several years Milto worked with the poor children and old home in Kavaje. We were very blessed by his visit and all the residents of the old home were happy to see him again. 

Resting in Heaven: 
It is bittersweet to announce that one of our faithful members of the church has now gone on to heaven. Nene Patra passed away last week. She lived a full 82 years and we are very sad to see her go. 

Updates: 
* We are still raising money for a building. We know that God will provide the right building at the right time. 

*We are still hoping and praying for Arian's parents. They have stopped coming to church. We hope that they will start again soon. This is something Arian has been praying about for many years now. 


*Exciting news coming!!! We will be having another baptism soon! Always exciting to have new brothers and sisters in Christ! 

*David is still growing and learning English and Albanian so quickly.

Praises/ Prayers:         
*Funding of a new Church home for us.
*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.
*Pray for Arian's parents to come to Christ!
*Pray for all right now during this high heat in the 100's (F). It is very difficult for us.


Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta

Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 

Durres, Albania kkdurres@gmail.com

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church,
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund,
2000 Jonesboro Rd.
McDonough, Ga 30253 

Choose Joy!

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15: 11

Choosing Joy is something that I have to do daily. Circumstances, difficult situations, and life try to steal our joy. I know that my ultimate joy comes through Jesus Christ. I want to share that joy with others and be a blessing daily.

Here are some ways that God is working and bringing joy here in Albania: 

 

Arian performed his second wedding ceremony to a sweet couple of the church in Kavaje. The wife, Lume is blind. Her husband, Artur was baptized last month. We had a quiet simple wedding ceremony outside. It was beautiful how much this couple love each other and love God! May God bless them for many years with a loving and faithful marriage! 

 

For four days Arian & I were privileged to attend a conference in Lecce, Italy, heald by Pino Neglia an Italian Missionary. The theme of the conference was the letter of Philippians and Joy. It is always a joy to see believers come together to learn more about Him and worship Him. Arian was asked to speak on Sunday morning and Mondi Gjoni another Albanian from Elbsan translated for him. The Anderson Family from Mt. Carmel Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio were there singing and were a great blessing to us as well. 

We are trying to get some help for Klara. About 6 months ago Klara was walking funny. Come to find out one leg is shorter than the other. We took her to do x-rays where they found out that her spine is very crooked. The opinion of one doctor is that she has spina bifida. After much bureaucracy we have finally gotten her an appointment for a CAT scan in September to see if her spine is open or closed. Please pray for Klara. 

We are needing scholarships for three poor children in our church who can not afford books. Petrit 16 is in Highschool, Denisa 12 is in middle school, and Bardha 9 is in Elementary. School is free here but you have to buy all of your books and that is very expensive for these families. We would like to see these children continue with their education. Books cost about $100 per child. Please pray for this situation and if you can help let us know. 


Stefanie is starting a new ministry to the poor women of Kavaje. It has been on her heart for several months now. The plan is within the next couple of weeks to gather all of the women of the communty who are pregnant and with babies under two years old. Stefanie will teach them about breastfeeding, caring for babies, and the word of God. There are many women who never have been taught about this and are struggling. Please pray for Stefanie for this new ministry opportunity.

Praises/ Prayers:         
*Funding of a new Church home for us.

*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.

*Pray for Arian's parents to come to Christ!
*Pray for the ministry to be fruitful in all our endeavors.

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
kkdurres@gmail.com
Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church, 
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund, 
2000 Jonesboro Rd. 
McDonough, Ga 30253 

We all face the same trials all over the world

Resist him [Devil], standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

1 Peter 5:9 

It brings comfort to me to know that we are all facing the same battles and trials in our lives all over the world. Things that you think would never happen to you happen. The past few days have been very trying for us. Thankfully it has brought us closer to God personally and as a staff. Our church was broken into and money was stolen. Now we are puzzled and baffled as to who would do such a thing to a church. I was once given some very Godly advice by Pastor Paul Leslie, he said,  "we are to love, the Holy Spirit is to convict, and God is to judge." As much as we want to see justice in this situation it is our duty to show love, grace and mercy.

God has really been working and we are excited to be a part of what is going on here. On May 10th we had a baptism service at the beach. We were able to baptize four new believers. What a joyous time we had singing and praising the Lord for these new babes in Christ. We also had 40 in attendance that Sunday! Please pray for these new believers, Artur, Manuel, Fatmira, and Petriti as they start their walk as Children of God! 

Another Praise, Stefanie has been doing private English lessons with a girl named Seri who is Muslim by tradition. Through these lessons Stefanie has been sharing with her the gospel. This past Sunday Seri came to church with her son. Pray that Seri continues to come to church and will open her heart to Christ. 

We were blessed by a wonderful concert from a Master's college a Christian college in California. The 70 person choir and their director came and gave a free concert to all the churches here in Durres. They were traveling to other cities in Albania as well on their tour. It was nice that they sacrificed time and money to come to Albania. Most of their songs were in English (hymns etc.) but they did surprise us by singing a couple of songs in Albanian.  

We try very hard to remember the birthdays of people in the church. On May 3rd our dear brother in Christ Pandi turned 81! He was so excited and honored. We greeted him at the door telling him happy birthday. He said that he had actually forgotten it was his birthday and thanked us for remembering. 

We are happy to announce the newest member of the church. Alan was born on May 19th to Genti and Alda. He is a healthy baby boy. His family has just started coming to the church. We were excited to do a home visit so we could see this new baby boy! May Alan grow to be a strong man of God! 


Praises/ Prayers:         

*Funding of a new Church home for us.

*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.

*Pray for Arian's parents to come to Christ! They are still attending church!
*Praise- David turned two years today!

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
kkdurres@gmail.com
Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church, 
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund, 
2000 Jonesboro Rd. 
McDonough, Ga 30253

Death where is your sting?

In the past two weeks we have had six deaths. Arian's dad's family alone has had three of those deaths. A sad fact is that we are not sure if five of them were Christians. Death has a great sting for those who are non-believers. During this time of the year with Easter fast approaching, we think about the death of Jesus. We are grateful that nothing could hold him down. Death did not feel the sting of Jesus' death. He is risen! 

Women's Banquet: Mother's day here in Albania is celebrated on March 8th. It is a lovely day where all women even if they aren't mothers spend time and fellowship together. We celebrated with the women of the church on March 7th. Stefanie has been praying to have an event like this at the church for over a year. We decorated and prepared for the event. We had 17 women in attendance with 5 men serving and hosting the event. We shared in singing, a devotional and a meal. It was a great encouragement for the women of the church! 

Men's Conference: On March 20th the men attended a conference hosted by another church here in Durres. Eight men attended the conference. It was a great time of fellowship and encouragement from other believers. We are especially praying for one man who went Ismail who is not a Christian yet. The theme of the conference was to continue with faith until the end. 


Updates: 
* We are still raising money for the building. We know that when the right time comes God will provide the building we need. 
* Klara (2yr old with spine problems) went to the doctor again and doctor said that things looked better than expected. She needs to wear a build up shoe and have an MRI scan to make sure that her spinal column is closed.
* Our church will be attending a revival at the end of the month of April. This is the first time there has ever been a revival in Albania. Pray for renewed spirits and for Christian growth Albania. 
* Arian's parents are still attending church. Arian's mom enjoys reading Christian books and magazines at home. We are still praying fervently for their salvation.
* David is growing and wants to know what everything is. He loves looking at books. He is very curious like his favorite stuffed animal Curious George. 


Praises/ Prayers:         
*Funding of a new Church home for us.

*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.

*Pray for Arian's parents to come to Christ.
*Praise- David is 22 months! 

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
kkdurres@gmail.com
Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church,
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund,
2000 Jonesboro Rd.
McDonough, Ga 30253


 

God is with you!

What a great comfort to know that whatever we are going through God is with us! We see great suffering here in Albania, unemployment for long periods of time, death, sickness, lack of food, but we always try to encourage the people that God is with them and has a plan. We can give someone bread for a day but if they don't have God they will never quench that hunger. 

We are truly seeing God at work in our ministry and I am excited to share with you some things going on. 

Old Home: 
We are excited to announce that we had a Bible Study last week at the Old Home. There has been a change in Directors there. The old director would only let us visit the people, but the new Director said we could go back to having Bible Studies again! What a Praise! The residents were happy about this as well! 

Church in Kavaje:
We are still seeing growth spiritually and physically in the church in Kavaje. It's amazing to see that less than 3 years ago we were a small house church with about 7 people. Now we are running in the mid 20's with 10 families. They are so excited about coming to church that they keep bring more family members with them. Here's our latest church picture from Kavaje. 

English Course: 
The English course has started and is going well. The oldest student is Arian's dad who just comes to listen. All the money earned is going to raise money for our new building in Durres. We pray that this will be a good evangelism outreach for the church.

 

Update on the building: Our small little church in Durres has been working hard to raise money as well. We have members who have made things to sell. We have raised $120. All total we have raised $14,750!  Thank you so much to all who have donated! We are still needing individuals, small groups, or Sunday school classes to buy a meter. You can buy a meter for $100 or even split it up into so much per month. You can donate through paypal at the donate button on this site or write a check to the address below.


Member Spotlight:
We would love for you to know this humble little family. This is Manuel (Husband), Festime (Wife), and Klara (Daughter) almost three years old. This family has been attending the church in Kavaje for about 4 months now. We have been praying for Manuel to find job and in the past two weeks he has! Praise the Lord! Now we are praying for Klara. We have taken her to the doctor for the past two weeks to find out what is causing her leg to be shorter than the other. She walks ok but falls down a lot. Come to find out her spine is severely curved. Please pray that we can get her to the right Doctor to correct this problem before it causes any more damage. We love Klara and want to see her healthy!

Thank You!
We would like to send an extra Thank you to Colonial Hills Church of Christ in Norfolk, Virginia who have been sending us letters of encouragement in the mail! We need all the encouragement we can get!  


Praises/ Prayers:         

*Funding of a new Church home for us.

*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.

*Pray for Arian's parents to come to Christ! They are still attending church!
*Praise- David is growing quickly and today celebrated 21 months! He keeps us busy!  

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
kkdurres@gmail.com
Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church, 
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund, 
2000 Jonesboro Rd. 
McDonough, Ga 30253

This is the time

 

New Year new expectations, challenges, and discoveries. This New Year for us started off with a bang literally. After two years of praying and hoping my parents (Stefanie) were finally able to visit Albania for the first time. Never being out of the country of the United States was very eye opening for them. We enjoyed spending Christmas and New Years together. My parents were amazed at the spectacular fireworks explosions shot from one apartment to another here in Albania for New Years. They were touched by the love and kindness shown by the Albanian people. They were saddened by the poverty that they witnessed while serving with us. We were very glad to spend this special time with my parents and watching God open their eyes to the ministry here in Albania was amazing. As they were scheduled to go home very early the morning of January 2nd, we received a phone call very late from the states on January 1st stating that my brother, Brad, was in a diabetic coma. My parents rushed home to take care of my brother. After watching God's hand performing miracles for my brother who Doctors said would die, and 26 days in the hospital, he is now home. We praise God for this miracle. He still has a lot of therapy and rehabilitation to go through but God has brought him very far! We know that God has a plan and His timing is perfect! 

Here are some pictures from Dad and Mom's visit. 
Dad even got the opportunity to preach while he was here. 

Update on the building: Our small little church in Durres has been working hard to raise money as well. We have members who have made things to sell. We have raised $85 which is a great feat for us! We have now raised $14,500!  We are still needing individuals, small groups, or Sunday school classes to buy a meter. You can buy a meter for $100 or even split it up into so much per month. You can donate through paypal at the donate button on this site or write a check to the address below. 

Please pray for the following things: 

*The owner to give us a great price for the land and building. 

*The owner to work with us to do a lease purchase (not common at all in Albania! but God can do it!)

*Us to raise the rest of the funds needed.

 

Now is the time! After a year of praying and working to get things started Stefanie will start English classes at the church in Durres on February 5th. We are very excited about this new evangelism outreach to the community. Stefanie taught English in the public schools in America before coming to Albania. Pray for the classes and the students that will come. Classes are being offered at a very low price for only $1 per week. 

 

Change in Kavaje: We have changed the service in Kavaje to Sunday afternoons. Sundays are a day off for most people so it is easier for them to come on Sunday. We have been meeting for two weeks now and have had record attendance. Please pray for two new families that are attending. They are very interested about knowing all they can about Jesus. I asked Petrit who is 16 why now he has decided to come to church, since he had never been to church before. He said that he saw the love of God and he is excited to know more. 

 

Updates: 

We are still praying about the situation with Vathja needing a bathroom. The property is officially her in-laws and they have not given permission to build a bathroom. Please pray that we can work through this to build her a bathroom. 

Arian's parents are coming to church every Sunday Praise the LORD!! Pray that they will open their hearts to God and seek his salvation.

 

 
Praises/ Prayers:         

*Funding of a new Church home for us.

*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.

*Pray for English classes starting Feb. 5th.   

*Pray for Vathja and her family to get a bathroom. 

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
kkdurres@gmail.com
Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church, 
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund, 
2000 Jonesboro Rd. 
McDonough, Ga 30253

 

Stand Firm

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

 This verse came to me very clearly while we were visiting in the States these past two months. Sometimes I feel like when we are in the States we are wasting time by not being on the mission field and that our work is in vain.  Even in the states we don't waste any time! We visited 10 churches and some of them twice, in the 10 weeks we were there all the way from Florida to Virginia. We enjoyed church services, bible studies, and even a women's Christmas dinner. It was great to worship and speak at many churches. We appreciate the hospitality that we received at every church. We also thank all of the families that hosted us or let us stay with them as we were traveling. Now that we are back home, with the Christmas season here we are working hard to get everything accomplished. We are very thankful for the Elders and Deacons here that kept things running while we were away. 

Update on the building: While we were in the states we were able to raise some funds for our Church home. We now have a total of $14,000! Yea God! We are still needing individuals, small groups, or Sunday school classes to buy a meter. You can buy a meter for $100 or even split it up into so much per month. You can donate through paypal at the donate button on this site or write a check to the address below. 

Please pray for the following things: 

*The owner to give us a great price for the land and building. 

*The owner to work with us to do a lease purchase (not common at all in Albania! but God can do it!)

*Us to raise the rest of the funds needed.

A great blessing while we were in the States, Arian was asked to preach at the Colonial Hills Church of Christ in Norfolk, Virginia. It was a great honor for him to be asked to preach. He was nervous of course preaching in English, but did a great job! 

At the Huntsville Space Center

We were able to bring Arian's parents to the States for the first time as well. They were with us for almost three weeks. We took them to see many places and we drug them along to churches while we were there. Arian's dad especially liked the churches. Arian's parents are not believers and didn't attend church before. Now since they have been home they have been attend church for four Sundays in a row! It was nice to be able to worship with them the past Sunday. Pray for their salvation.  

"I need a bathroom." While we were having church services this week a sweet member of the church in Kavaje, Vathja who never asks for anything told us the story about not having a bathroom. She said please pray that I will get a bathroom. She doesn't want indoor pluming. She only wants an outhouse set up outside. She has been living for a longtime with out a bathroom in her house. We think that for $300 we could build her a good outhouse. I can't imagine not having a bathroom especially one in the house. Please pray that we can get the money to help her and her family with this need. 

Praises/ Prayers:         

*Funding of a new Church home for us.

*Pray that more will come to Christ here in Albania.

*Praise the plane flight back was great with David and he is finally over all his sickness.     
*Pray for Vathja and her family to get a bathroom. 

Merry Christmas! God bless!

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
kkdurres@gmail.com
Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable): 

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

McDonough Christian Church, 
Attn: Lisa Thomas-Albania building Fund, 
2000 Jonesboro Rd. 
McDonough, Ga 30253