THE BENEFIT OF MINISTRY
There are many benefits to living the life of a missionary. I believe one of the greatest benefits would be doing the work of the ministry. In the midst of our busy days here in Albania, God is blessing! The ministry is going well with always much work to be done. We are so thankful for all the people God has brought into our lives. We have heard that many churches in Albania struggle with the lack of men resulting in poor leadership and the detriment of the New Testament church. However, at New Life we are blessed with a great bunch of men, we are excited to see them grow in the Lord. These men are the future of New Life and will be holding the fort while we are on furlough in 2010. Please pray for their development.
The Baptist church in Priske is also growing numerically, but more importantly it is growing spiritually. I have remained senior pastor of the church, but the church is flourishing under the leadership of national pastor Nardi Elponoria and we are happy to have him and his family as part of our ministry team. In addition to the two churches, our camp ministry in Priske has also served as a great benefit. God continues to open new doors of camp ministry opportunities. Youth retreats and church conferences have been a great way to teach and disciple Albanians molding them to become the spiritual leaders, pastors and missionaries of the future.
"Missionary partnership" is a hopeful future benefit. We are excited about the possibility of a another missionary family coming to work with us, we are praying that this will become a reality in the coming year.
Even though God is working there are those around us that seek to destroy the ministry that God has given us. No doubt there is a spiritual oppression that exists here and many days it is a struggle to see results. The Devil uses people, and what ever means possible to try and dismantle the work of God. But I always claim the verse "…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." The work of God will always go forward and it is a benefit to know that our work is not in vain.
THE BENEFIT OF A CLOSE FAMILY
I am thankful today for the benefit of my family. God has blessed Debby and I with wonderful & talented children who love the Lord. Ben is 17 and in another year he will be going back to the states to attend college majoring in music, we will miss him greatly! He has become a very intricate part of the ministry here. For sometime now he has been leading in worship and playing guitar. He also plays the piano and he has a very good voice. It has been a blessing to see him use his talent for the Lord.
Heather also plays guitar and piano. She has a unique talent in photography and she is very good at it. She is great at organizing children’s activities and helping mom with ladies Bible study group and Sunday school functions. Both Ben and Heather are very active is Tae-Kwon-Do, currently they hold a second degree red belt and will soon be testing up to Black belt. This has been a lot of work and dedication on their part and they have stayed with it, never giving up.
And then there’s Mikayla. When God brought her into our lives 5 years ago we were not sure what He was doing, but Mikayla has truly been a gift. She has brought such joy to our home and has even had an impact on the ministry in some very interesting ways. We are proud of our children. They have had their share of challenges and problems over the years, but God has brought them through it and they are better for it. They are certainly not perfect, don’t claim to be but they are real and true and not hypocritical, they are who they are and we are proud of them for that.
Living on the mission field has brought our family close together. It has built strong relationships within our family unit, I believe this has been the greatest benefit of all.
