For 45 years the
country of Albania
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existed under the
iron shadow of communism.
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It was a particularly
vitriolic type of communism
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that banished
all forms of religion
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totally from society,
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except for the
religion of atheism.
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Today, the new, young, fledgling
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Seventh-day Adventist church
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is growing
despite many challenges.
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That and much more
coming up on today's program.
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Just before He
went up to Heaven,
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Jesus gave us a command.
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He gave us a mission.
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Jesus said go, go
unto all the world,
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telling them of His love.
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This is our mission,
this is our Global Mission.
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Hello, and welcome to
Global Mission Snapshots,
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coming to you today
from the city of Tirana,
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the capital city of Albania.
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It's a bright afternoon here
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and this is a place
where the Adventist church
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is relatively young.
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The fall of communism
came in the early 1990's
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and so the church
has started to grow,
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and Global Mission is
starting new congregations
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around the country.
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We will be talking to
the mission president,
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a missionary from the
country of El Salvador.
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We'll also be
talking to one of only two
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ordained Albanian pastors
working here in this country.
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We will be traveling
to Balice, but first up,
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let's visit three
Global Mission pioneers,
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planting new
congregations in South Africa.
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Three pioneers, one common job.
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Gift, Steward, and Moketsi,
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are an energetic
Global Mission pioneer team,
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with a mission to reach
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the city of
Pretoria, South Africa
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These men
understand the local context.
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They speak
different African languages
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and they are ready
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to creatively face
the mission challenge.
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Daily they look
for an opportunity
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to relate to people.
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Some they
encounter door to door,
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others they are
only able to talk to
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during a work
break at the gas station.
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Hollen works here,
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for a few weeks he
has been actively learning
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the Bible with
the three pioneers.
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One of the many
important life lessons
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Hollen has learned is to share
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the knowledge of
Jesus with friends.
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And before long
he invited Maria,
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a co-worker to study with him.
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Now, they are
both waiting to finish
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their last
lesson before baptism.
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In Pretoria, there
are many train preachers,
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it's a common sight
while traveling by train.
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Pioneer Steward
frequently travels by train
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and one day he
decided to address
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the many
misconceptions presented,
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as he rode the train.
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But instead of
confronting train preachers,
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he chose another wagon,
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where he speaks directly
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from the Bible on a daily basis.
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He always prays
with the fellow riders
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and he's found
encouragement through the growth
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he has seen on regular commuters
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in his church wagon.
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And so far I have discovered
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that many people have benefited
from these presentations.
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Because right now,
they are able to identify
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who is saying the truth
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and who is saying
the false doctrine.
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Because people are
beginning to even follow me
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wherever they see me
getting into a coach.
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People, they are now
knowing me, they follow me.
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Some audience they follow
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because they want to learn
more about what I am presenting.
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As the three
pioneers dodge traffic,
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navigate crowds
and climb endless sets
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of stairs in the city's
towering apartment buildings,
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they know God is
working with them
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to find hearts
hungry for truth and hope.
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One day the three pioneers
met an interesting woman.
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As usual they
spoke kindly with her
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and gave her a study guide.
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I introduce the lessons
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and she showed
interest in this lesson.
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And in two days
when I left there,
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she called me
because I had supplied
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my contact number
on the paper piece.
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And she called that,
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come I am done
with your lessons.
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You know, I went back
there, think that in two days,
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I know people can take a
month, some weeks to complete,
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but in two days she was done.
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I went there, I
took the lessons,
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and I marked them.
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You know, when I was marking,
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I could see that
really she read them.
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The pioneer team was
surprised to see that this woman
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had been up all nights
studying all of the lessons.
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She couldn't put them down.
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Although tired, she
still had many questions
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about the Bible, God,
salvation, and prophecy.
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So, Gift, Steward, and Moketsi,
continued to visit her house
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and strengthen her faith.
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It was clear
that the Holy Spirit
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was moving her heart
and mind towards God.
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The spirit of the Lord is always
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waking in peoples lives.
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We had people who are
willing to come to the church.
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Some they have already decided
that they are coming to church.
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In fact during
the past two years,
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the pioneers
have studied the Bible
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with some 1,500 people
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and baptized
more than 200 of them.
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Through this they started
two new branched churches
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and they are
encouraged to continue
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reaching many more
for the kingdom of God.
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Thank you, for your prayers
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and financial support
of Global Mission Pioneers
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across the world.
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They are making a difference
in reaching the cities.
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I'm talking with
pastor, Leo Espana,
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and we are in Albania.
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Well, Pastor Leo,
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you are serving as the
president of the mission.
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Yes.
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Plus you're also
pasturing a church in this city.
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How many years have you
been pasturing the church here?
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I came here in
2008, end of 2008,
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and since then
I've been pasturing here
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in the church of Durres.
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Yeah. How many people do
you have worshiping on Sabbath?
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We have an average of
30 people to 35 people
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coming every Sabbath.
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Wonderful, wonderful. Yes.
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Now, this is a
port city obviously.
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Yes.
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Now, what happened
here in the early 1990's?
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Well, this is a
city very important.
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It's a second
largest city of Albania.
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And also it's
important because of the harbor,
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just across we
have Italy about 300kms
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from here at the city of Bari.
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After communist
time, many Albanians
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wanted to go away from Albania
and to know other countries
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and to look for a better living.
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So, many people came
here and tried to go to Italy.
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Right, so there's
pictures of the boats
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that are just full of
people trying to get away--
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Yes, it happened
just right here--
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Yeah. Yes
exactly, this is the place.
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Now in the last couple of days,
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we've seen
Global Mission projects
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here in Albania.
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What are the good
things that are happening here?
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Well, we thank God
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because the best thing
that can happen in Albania
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is people coming to Jesus.
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Yes.
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And through the
Global Mission projects
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we have seen that
people are coming,
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for example, here in
the church in Durres,
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one of our projects is
to run language courses.
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Spanish,
English, and people like
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to learn languages
and they have come.
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We have a computer
lab there and people come
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and they register and
then once they are learning
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they say, what is here?
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What are you doing here? Yes.
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We say, well, this is a church
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and we also
teach about the Bible
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and we invite them to come.
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So you're really a
central influence in this city.
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Yes, I am. In the
heart of the city.
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Wonderful, now, I have
heard you speaking Albanian
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and it seems to me
that you speak it very well,
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but that is not your
language, where are you from?
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I'm originally from El
Salvador, Central America.
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So what is a family from
El Salvador doing in Albania?
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Well as you know, Gary,
God has plans for all of us
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and once we
decided to follow His will,
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He knows where
He wants you to be.
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We are serving as
missionaries here with my wife,
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my wife is from Honduras.
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Wonderful.
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And by the way,
we have two children
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and of our--
just five months old.
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We have a baby
girl born in Albania.
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What a blessing.
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Yes.
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What are your
plans for the future
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here in Albania?
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Well, we wanted to see
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the church
growing even much more.
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We have many cities that
still have not been penetrated.
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Even though Adventist church
is in most of the main churches,
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main cities here in Albania,
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we're still lacking to penetrate
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in north Albania and
very south of Albania.
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Cities like
Shkodar, and Saranda,
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are cities that are
need to be a rich for Jesus.
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We recently started a
new Global Mission project
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in the city of Fier as well.
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It's very good,
now, after many years,
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45, 47, years of communism
where religion was banished.
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Yes.
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There is a high rate of
atheism in this country,
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is that still the case?
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Yes, there's still some people
that are skeptical to religion
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or there is that just
don't want to talk about God.
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Yeah.
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However, that people are
more open now to the gospel
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and I believe it
that's an opportunity for us
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to spread the gospel here.
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Now what about pastors,
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how many Albanian
pastors do you have?
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Okay, we have a presently
three Albanian pastors.
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One is our secretary
of the mission as well,
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but he is also pastor in
the central church, in Tirana.
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Pastor Julian Kastrati,
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we have also Pastor Genti
from Vlora, who is in Elbasan,
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the Prague that
you recently visited.
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Yes.
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And we have a
Pastor Trifjol Ngjela
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who is in the
church plant in Fier,
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the city that I
just mentioned to you.
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Okay.
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He was
previously working in Korca
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and now he has moved to work
in the church planting at Fier.
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Yeah, so you have a
small team and a big task.
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Yes, you said so.
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We understand what it means
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when Jesus said that we
need to pray for more laborers.
00:10:06.56\00:10:09.07
Yeah, so what would
you say are the bigger,
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what is the biggest mission
challenge facing you here?
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I believe we
need to be more open
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to the, to the
communities still.
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Yes.
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We need to get to know people,
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Albanians need to
know who the Adventist are.
00:10:23.96\00:10:25.61
Right.
00:10:25.64\00:10:26.67
We thank God for ADRA
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because ADRA
International was the first,
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also an NGO organization
that came to the country.
00:10:29.96\00:10:32.37
Yes.
00:10:32.40\00:10:33.61
But also we need to spend more--
00:10:33.64\00:10:36.32
The most well known
religions here in Albania are,
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is Islam and
orthodox, Greek Orthodox Church.
00:10:39.72\00:10:42.24
Right.
00:10:42.27\00:10:43.30
And Catholicism
variance, it's a 10%.
00:10:43.33\00:10:46.24
And then, so we are
not that well known.
00:10:46.27\00:10:47.93
No.
00:10:47.96\00:10:49.00
So we need to work more on that.
00:10:49.03\00:10:50.73
I will say that as Adventist
we still need to invest
00:10:50.76\00:10:53.37
in Albania in education.
00:10:53.40\00:10:54.55
Yes.
00:10:54.58\00:10:55.61
In health. Yes.
00:10:55.64\00:10:56.67
And we don't have
a school here yet.
00:10:56.70\00:10:59.11
Yeah.
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We don't have any hospital
or clinic even though with ADRA
00:11:00.20\00:11:04.18
we had been working with
that, with health as well.
00:11:04.21\00:11:07.72
But we still need
to get to know more
00:11:07.75\00:11:10.60
the Adventism in the community.
00:11:10.63\00:11:12.04
Yeah. Pastor Leo, thank you
so much for sharing with us.
00:11:12.07\00:11:15.75
It's my pleasure.
00:11:15.78\00:11:16.82
And viewers at home,
00:11:16.85\00:11:17.88
please remember the
challenge here in Albania,
00:11:17.91\00:11:21.42
remember, Pastor
Leo, and his team
00:11:21.45\00:11:23.65
as they follow Gods
leading, as they seek to build
00:11:23.68\00:11:27.81
His kingdom
right here in Albania.
00:11:27.84\00:11:29.61
We have got more
mission coming up
00:11:29.64\00:11:31.15
right after this break.
00:11:31.18\00:11:32.35