Pray for one another

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

 

There is something special about prayer. That time with God speaking to Him about your needs and the needs of others makes a very big impact on your life. When your prayers are getting answered it brings the biggest joy! We are seeing answered prayers. While we were in America, the ministry in Albania was struggling. There were three deaths while we were away and people in Albania were very discouraged. The whole time we were praying about what God was doing through all of this. Thank you so much for praying too! Now we are seeing prayers being answered and God's hand at work in a powerful way! 

 

We are so blessed by all the churches that we visited while we were in the States. One church, Hickory Valley Christian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee chose us to be their mission spotlight for the VBS week. The children collected new tennis shoes for the children and raised money to have them shipped. They collected over 180 pairs of shoes and $700 for shipping! Go God! What a blessing these shoes will be for the kids in Kavaje and Durres! Stefanie was very happy to help with the VBS and teach the kids "Who is the king of the Jungle" in Albanian. It was a great week! God is good ALL the TIME! 

 

Another blessing has been the church in Kavaje. We have been praying about growth because attendance was very down while we were in the States. We are very near to the old home that we work with and we have been praying for them to come as well. Last Sunday we had 36 in attendance and 6 of them were from the old home! We also have some new families coming. This is exciting to see the Lord working in the church of Kavaje. We are seeing lots of answered prayers. Continue to pray for the church and Arian as he preaches to teach them the basics because most of them are unchurched. Shpresa and Gloria are also working on teaching the small children in the church during the sermon. 

 

Most of you might know or have heard of the people on our staff. I would like you to take time to know them and pray for them as well. In the picture from Left to Right: Arian, Shpresa, Romi, Dr. Nikolla(towards the back), Vito, and Juli. A praise for Arian, his parents are coming faithfully to the church in Durres! Shpresa and Romi are married and have been now for two years they are trying to have a baby. Please pray that they will be able to have a baby soon. Dr. Nikolla is our medical doctor for the clinic in Durres he is a ripe young 78 years old. He has been having back trouble for a couple of months now. Please pray for the healing of his back. Vito is the cleaner and all around helper for the church in Durres. She is a widow and is rasing two daughters (Ina and Evi) and a son (Kladi). Vito's daughters are currently in college and one is in Belgium and one in Romania. Kladi is in highschool. Vito fell and broke her foot this week. Pray for her family and healing of her foot. Juli lives in Kavaje and helps us out a lot in Kavaje. Juli is having some struggles with his family. Pray that they will come to know our Lord and Savior. Please help us in praying for our staff and to become more unified as we work together to bring people to know Christ in Albania. 

 

Praise: Stefanie made it back with the children safely with the help of her friend Julie. Abby is growing quickly 2 1/2 months now. And David is three! David loves being a big brother and helping out with Abby. 

 
Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta
Stateside address: 148 Wolfe St. Cohutta, Ga 30710
Albanian Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania
email:kkdurres@gmail.com

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania

 

Happy Easter

I always wondered why the Friday before Easter is called "Good Friday".  Seems to me that the crucifixion of our Lord and the punishment that he bore for our sins is a horrible sacrifice that He did not deserve. Why would we call it "Good"? I would rather think about Easter and how he miraculously raised from the dead and now is in heaven sitting at the right hand of God. 

This is our first Easter in America since Arian and I got married. I am very excited about sharing all the Easter excitement with David. Even though we will participate in the church Easter Egg hunt and get dressed up on Sunday, we will also stress the importance of the day with David. 

We hope that you all have a blessed Easter! He is Risen! 

Busy Busy! 
Things have been busy both in the States and back home in Albania. Here are some of the highlights from the past two months. 

The church in Durres decided to take a field trip to Kosovo mainly to celebrate Women's Day but the whole church was invited to participate in the event.
The church has not done an excursion like this in a long time. They had a great day but were very tired when they got back. They had a great time of fellowship. We are also blessed that God told Mac and Diane to go to Albania to encourage the churches for a month in our absence. Another praise is that since we have been in the States Arian's parents have continued to be a part of the church and have been in attendance every Sunday. 

We have been busy as well! Other than attending Doctor's appointments twice a week, we have been able to visit several churches. We have been blessed by Crosspoint Christian Church, McDonough Christian Church, Bridge Christian Church, First Christian Church in Dalton, Ga, as well as Hickory Valley Christian Church. It has been a blessing to be with you all! One of the greatest blessings is that I (Stefanie) was able to share and give a devotion to the ladies of Hickory Valley Church. Thank you for allowing me to share my heart for the ministry of Albania. Arian has also been volunteering. He has served at the local soup kitchen Greater Works here in Dalton and helped some men of Hickory Valley Christian Church build a ramp for a handicapped woman. 



In November, I shared with you about a new blessing to our church. Meri gave birth to twins. We have very sad news to announce that in February her husband Tani 46, died of heart failure. This was a sudden shock to the family and church and we are very saddened by this event. Please pray for Meri as she has these young twins to raise without a father. A praise is that their daughter Sabina who is 18 is working and helping her mom. 

Praises and Prayer Requests:
*Continued prayer for Spiritual and Physical growth of the church in Durres and Kavaje. 
*Pray for Mac and Diane and their service while in Albania. They will return April 4th.  
*Pray for families who are dealing with out a father and husband because of death.   *Stefanie is in her 37th week of pregnancy. Other than dealing with gestational diabetes and normal pregnancy stuff all is going well. This week the baby was already 7lb 4oz. Three more weeks to go! If baby Abby waits to come they will deliver by c-section on April 12th.
*Pray for strength and unity in our staff and growth of the Kingdom of God in Albania. 


Serving in His name,



Arian & Stefanie Kosta
Stateside address: 148 Wolfe St. Cohutta, Ga 30710
Albanian Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043 Durres, Albania
email:kkdurres@gmail.com

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania

Donation address (tax deductable):  
 *****Please put ALBANIA in the Memo line on the check*******

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

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

God's plan

I am a planner and I like to have a plan. Every night before I go to bed I talk with Arian about what our plans are for tomorrow. Usually I make a meal plan for the week so I know what to buy at the market. When I don't have a plan I  feel lost. When I look back at some of the plans that I had made in my life I saw that they didn't turn out the way I expected them too because God had another plan. If you would have told me 4 years ago that I would be married and serving as a missionary in Albania, I would have laughed. When God told Sarah at 90 years old she was going to have a baby, she laughed. I have seen first hand this week that even when you have a plan, sometimes God changes things and we want to ask God why. We just have to trust that God knows what is the best for us. 



Two weeks ago many plans of ours changed quickly. A dear brother in Christ, humble servant of the lord, and devoted husband died suddenly of a heart attack. Our brother Astrit went to be with the Lord. Astrit leaves behind his wife Drita, married son Ervini in Turkey, married daughter Ornela in Greece, and a 20 year old paralyzed daughter Ana at home. The day before Astrit passed the men of Kavaje shared time together drinking a coffee and sharing about the word of God. Astrit was not a evangelistic type but he was a quiet servant always in the background. He will be missed! We are spending time and trying to comfort his wife Drita during this time. It is a very difficult time for her but her Hope is in the Lord even though she doesn't understand why. Please join us in praying for this family. Arian and Juli did his funeral service. This was a first for Arian and Juli but they shared to all the truth of Christ. 

During this cold and rainy winter we are very grateful for several things. First is our new building in Kavaje. Since the weather has been bad, we have been meeting with the children inside. The children are getting used to coming to a new place as well. It is just right across the street from their neighborhood. 
Secondly we are grateful for shoes. We hate to see the children especially in the winter with sandals, no shoes, or holey shoes. We still have a few pairs of shoes left to give to the children who come needing them. We are very thankful to Mrs. Grimm who helped get them to us! 

Thirdly we are thankful for our staff! We don't know what we would do without them. They are ready to take over the reins while we will be in the States. We pray that while we are gone that the Lord with strengthen, unify, and bless them. We were able this week to go out with them to lunch to encourage them and break bread together. 

Praises and Prayer Requests:
*Praise! The Kosta family are all now healthy. It has been a hard winter with coughs and colds. 
*Stefanie is in her 28th week of pregnancy. It has been difficult but this weeks seems to be going a little better. 
*Pray for travel- we will be leaving February 1st with a complete travel time of 24 hours. Pray that David does well on the plane this time. 
*Pray for strength and unity in our staff and growth of the Kingdom of God here in Albania. 


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

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable):    
 *****Please put ALBANIA in the Memo line on the check*******

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

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

Merry Christmas! Our Lord and Saviour is born!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family!

 

On December 20th we celebrated Christmas with both Churches. These are pictures from Durres. We had a wonderful time of service and fellowship afterwards. 

 

In Kavaje we had a packed house with over 60 people. It was nice to see new families and celebrate Christmas together. It was amazing how we had only planned for 50 people but some families brought extra food and we ended up having enough for everyone. This was our second week in our new building and we are very thankful God provided a bigger space for us. 

 

 We have also been very busy this week. We sang Christmas Carols to the old home and bought them each a pair of winter socks. One resident was upset because the old home doesn't allow them to have electric heaters and her gas heater was out of gas. We went and refilled her gas so that she could be warm. 

 

We have also been blessed with Christmas boxes this year from Team Hope (like Samaritan's purse). We were able to distribute them to children in both churches, poor neighborhood kids in Kavaje, and we partnered with another church in Rrogozhina to take boxes to a daycare. All total we gave about 200 Christmas boxes. 

 

Romi, Shpresa, Arian, David, and I also went for our 1st annual Christmas Caroling. We visited 7 houses singing to them and wishing them a Merry Christmas. The families enjoyed the visit but wanted us to stay longer and all of them gave David many treats. 

All in all it has been a very rewarding and blessed Christmas time. We pray that you and your family have a blessed Christmas and New Year as well! 
God bless! 
The Kostas


 

 

 

We have lots to be Thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Even though Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here in Albania, we were still very Thankful. We are the most thankful for our family, friends, and prayer partners. We are very happy to see what amazing things that are happening here. 

New Home: We are happy to announce that we are moving the church in Kavaje. We have been praying and the Lord has directed us to a new building. Hopefully we will be celebrating Christmas in our new home. We will be able to use our new home for the Kids club meetings as well. 

Serving at the Old home: Our weekly visits and Bible Study took a new level this past week. We were able to bless the residents in different ways. Shpresa cut Nene Antoneta's hair, we bought a set of dominoes for the men to play, and we even washed some dishes for a resident while we were there. We are thankful that God put us in the right place to serve. 

Help for Klara: We have been informing your about a little girl 3 years old named Klara with a crooked spine. We have gone lots of places trying to get her help and we haven't gotten very far until now. Klara stayed in the hospital this past week and was able to get a CAT scan and an MRI on her spine. The doctor said that one of her vertebra (L4) was misshapen and causing the rest of the spine to be crooked. Good news is that it is not affecting any of the nerves in her back. We should hear what the next steps are next week. We are very excited that we are finally making progress with getting this sweet girl some help. We took David to visit her one evening in the hospital. David was very concerned about his friend Klara being sick. Keep praying that she will get the surgery she needs soon. 

New Babies: We were delighted to make a visit to Meri and Tani to see their twins that were born in October. They are very overwhelmed but happy as well. We can't wait to welcome Brigel and Brajen in the church! 

 Praises and Prayer Requests:
*Pray for Stefanie this has been a very tiring pregnancy for her. She is now 20 weeks. David is very excited about mommy's growing tummy.  
*Pray for strength and unity in our staff and growth of the Kingdom of God here in Albania. 

We are Thankful for you! 

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

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable):    
 *****Please put ALBANIA in the Memo line on the check*******

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

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

Jealousy an acceptable sin.....

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:3-4

We have many blessings to count and no time for jealousy here, even though it sneaks up in the church from time to time. Jealousy comes in the smallest forms and turns in to envy. I really like this quote above and I will lead people to counting their blessings instead of looking at others. 

Matt Scott preaching Juli translating

A church full in Kavaje

Group photo at the Old Home

Diane encouraging Miri

We are truly blessed! We spent a wonderful 10 days with six of our most cherished mentors. Mike and Lisa Thomas, Mac and Diane McClintock, Dennis Temple, and Matt Scott sacrificed time and work to come spend a week with us. They dove into helping us with the ministry head first. We didn't even give them time to worry about jet lag! Their encouragement and advice we truly cherish! We thank God for these wonderful co-workers helping us to advance the kingdom of God here in Albania. We are also thankful for Colonial Hills Church of Christ who sent lots of craft supplies and Crosspoint Christian Church that sent shoes for the children we serve in Kavaje. Thank you very much! 

A dinner with Dr. Nikolla

Cheese! Mac and David

The children in Kavaje singing to the group

Dennis' new buddy David

 





Things are going great with the English Classes at the church in Durres. Stefanie has started a beginners English and intermediate English class on Thursday night. The average is about 6 students in each class. All the students are new to the church. 

Mamisa and Enes

Stefanie is still working with the babies in Kavaje. We are thankful for Hickory Valley Christian Church and the women's group for their support and help in this new project. Stefanie and Shpresa go together on Wednesday and encourage the moms and invite them to church. Hekuron's mom Ana has been coming to church in Kavaje for the past three weeks. We are very excited about this! 

Praises and Prayer Requests: 
*We had two families give birth to babies this month. The babies and families are doing well. Pictures to come soon! 
*We are growing out of our building in Kavaje. We had 30 in church this past week and 12 of them were children. We are excited that whole families are coming to church. We praise God for the growth and pray that he will provide all that we need for this growth. 

*Our family will be gaining another Kosta in April. Stefanie is in her 3rd month of pregnancy. We are praying for a little girl.  
*Pray for strength and unity in our staff and growth of the Kingdom of God here in Albania. 

We covet your prayers, encouragement, support, emails and letters! We would love to hear from you! You are in our hearts and prayers as well!  

Serving in His name,
Arian & Stefanie Kosta 

Address: L3 Rr Egnatia AP:1043
Durres, Albania
email:kkdurres@gmail.com

Follow us on Facebook: Kisha Kristiane Albania 

Donation address (tax deductable):   

*****Please put ALBANIA in the Memo line on the check*******

Make check to McDonough Christian Church

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