NEWS - Albania

Hope for the Family …...


This month we have begun a new phase of our ministry in Albania. It is called “Hope for the Family”. We are beginning with helping ten families in villages within an hour in travel time, from Tirana, the capital city of Albania. These families are trying hard to keep their children at home, not wanting to send them to an orphanage, however, it is impossible due to extreme poverty and unemployment to provide enough food for themselves and these children who have lost one or both of their parents, either because of disease, accidents, or tragedies.


Most of them are having to live in the homes of grandparents who are hardly able to provide for themselves and who receive a very, very meager income. Our staff, under the direction of our in-country President, Perparim Demcellari, has made personal visits and home studies in several villages where we have chosen children who need help, along with the family members who are caring for them.


How does it work?


There are three steps to this program: #1. To provide $50 worth of food per month per family. We have visited a store in their village and made arrangements for these families to be able to purchase staples each month such as rice, beans, spaghetti, sugar, oil, etc. They will not be allowed to purchase cigarettes nor alcoholic beverages of any kind. #2. For staff workers to visit these homes on a regular basis and to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the family. It will be our desire to bring this family to Christ. We will provide the family with a Bible in their language. #3. To introduce them to a good local Bible-believing church in their area where they can grow in the Lord..


How You Can Help


1. We desire your prayers.


2. Adopt a Family for $50


Per month for one year. You will not only be feeding a family with physical food, but will also help us reach out to them spiritually. You and your family can have a great impact by loving them through the mail with cards, letters, photos of your family. All of these will speak volumes to them of how true Christian people express the Love of Christ.


In order to adopt one of these families shown in the paper, be sure to specify when you send your first gift of $50. Otherwise, we will choose a family for you.

Meet Fred and Debbie Tag - A part of our ministry to Albania…..
In the year 2000 Fred Tag, a Lead Aviation Maintenance Technician Supervisor with Delta, (after having visited our ministry in Albania) was burdened to do something to help for the teen-age orphans that are made to leave the orphanages at age 14. He planned and performed a great physical feat of riding a bicycle from California to Georgia coast- to- coast and raised over $50,000 to renovate a building in Tirana that we have been using ever since to house these teens and literally give them a Hope for the Future. Since 2000, we have had a number of teens from “The Tag Center” graduate from the University of Tirana, some are now teachers and professionals in their field of education. Many have also been directed into vocational training and have jobs. Fred surrendered to a call to preach, and with full support of his wife, Debbie, he prepared himself by attending Atlanta Baptist College. He received his Bachelors Degree in Pastoral Studies in 2007. He was ordained by his home church, Glen Haven Baptist, McDonough , GA in Jan. 2008. Fred feels led to become a pastor and has been filling the pulpit in several places of late. He is also working alongside of us in planning and hosting a working mission trip to Albania in June of this year. He is available to present the work of Hope for the World in churches or to other organizations. We are so happy to have Fred and Debbie working in our ministry. If you would like to have them come to your church to preach and acquaint you with the work of Hope for the World, give them a call. They also have a lovely daughter, Heather, who is a very gifted singer and a music major at Atlanta Baptist College. Debbie is the pianist at Glen Haven Baptist and their son, Aaron, is a Senior at Bible Baptist Christian School in Hampton, GA.

Happy Songs From Happy Hearts at the Shkoder Preschool Orphanage
It is always such a joy when we see our little ones enjoying each other and singing songs about their country, and about the Lord Jesus Christ that they have learned from our leader, Mirela, who has been working steadily in this pre-school orphanage since 1995. Our children in Albania actually have opportunities that our own children in America do not enjoy in many schools They have Bible classes, and sing songs about Jesus every day in a class room environment, and these are government-owned facilities. Amazing! We thank God for this open door to make a difference in their lives and in the future of Albania through them.

Hello From the Vlore Baby Orphanage
We are so happy to celebrate Christmas Day... the day our Lord was born! We are so happy to know that Jesus was a baby, as we are babies too. Albana teaches us about Jesus and His birth. Thank you so very much for the toys and the parties and all of the fun you have brought to our lives at this special time of the year. Albana (our worker with the arrow over head) wants to say a special thank you for the great love that you sponsors show to these children all year long. God bless you for everything you do and will do in the future. Note from Cherie: Please remember '11 Albana's mother in your prayers, as she has cancer and is in the midst of chemo. Albana has to spend much time caring for her. Please pray that God will heal. AIbana is a great blessing to us and to the children of Vlora.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

It is always so exciting when we go to Albania and listen to our little toddler orphan children as they are singing about Jesus. We think back to our first years in Albania, back in the early 90's when we were the first ones to even tell them about Jesus because they were forced to leave Jesus and God out of their country under communism for over 50 years! How blessed Hope for the World is, and what a blessed thing it is to know that we have been used by the Lord to bring them their first knowledge of "Jesus", the reason for the Christmas Season. You do not know how to appreciate our freedom in America to love Jesus and to celebrate Christmas until you have worked in a country that had shut him out completely. This really gives us a wake-up call America... to not allow atheism and communism to choke out the Christ of Christmas!

Van Breakdown - God Provides Water
The road from Vlore to Saranda is a long, winding, treacherous road. It takes us 6 hours to make this trip, and although very beautiful, it really is a tough road on our vehicles. This van is a 1992 VW van with well over 400,000 miles on it. This trip it kept overheating, we were able to pause along the way and God miraculously provided us places where He had natural springs running from the mountains so we could get water. However, when we were within 30 minutes of our final destination, it finally gave up the ghost! You can see our group here wearing Hope for the World Ball Caps ... not to look cool, but to keep the sun off our faces as we stood along the roadway awaiting some transportation to come for us from Saranda. It cost us $1300 to get this van fixed so it could be driven back to Tirana, but without a doubt we will soon need to replace this old van. It has been a workhorse, but even the best horses die after a while. It was a memorable trip, and we were blessed at how God provided our needs and got the old van most of the way. To those who have traveled this road with us, you know that there are very, very few (if any) gas stations and "no mechanics" along the way that we know of. That's why it is important that our Hope for the World Drivers are also good mechanics. We thank the Lord for Sokrat and Toni who are capable drivers, good Christian men, and also ace mechanics. This trip will be one we will never forget. We're making T-Shirts now that say, "I Survived the Road to Saranda"

Awesome Adoption of Fatjon and Elda!

On May 5, 2006, siblings Fatjon and Elda came home to their forever family in Whitehall, Michigan. They were welcomed by their new parents, John and Jeanne Jager and two older siblings, John and Lena.. Kyle (Fatjon) was 16 and would have been put out of the government orphanage at 16 years old, but thanks to Hope for the World he was accepted into the Tag Center for the older teens. His mother had died when he was 9 or 10. His sister, Elda was 4 or 5 years old. Upon the death of his mother his father came to him and told him that he could come and live with him, but that he would not take his sister. Kyle knew his sister would have no chance if he left her and he had promised his mother that he would take care of her, so he went to the orphanage and his sister soon followed. Life in the government-run orphanage was very difficult, it was a constant struggle. When the social workers asked Kyle if he would like to be adopted, he didn't want to at first, and because of his age, he was able to choose. But because Elda was younger, she didn't have a choice and Kyle wanted to stay with his sister, so he agreed to be adopted. Back in the United States the Jager family was preparing to adopt a child from the Philippines, but God had other plans. When they saw the video of Kyle and Elda they knew instantly that these were their children and made plans to go to Albania. It has been 2 1/2 years now since stepping off the plane. There have been many changes, so muchgrowth. Ellie has been diagnosed as being legally blind with her glasses on and also has mild cerebral palsy. Because she didn't have glasses at a young enough age, her brain did not "learn" to see properly. In Albania she was cast aside, she was not considered able to learn. She is in the 6th grade now and is reading at about 3rd grade level and is about 4th grade level in Math. She will be trained in Braille this next school year. Kyle is going to be in the 12th grade this year. He has been attending night classes to catch up and has been on the honor roll every semester since attending school in America. He is an excellent varsity soccer player and will probably be a starter this year. He loves soccer, which is the sport of Albania. He is trying to decide what the future holds for him. He has talked about becoming a missionary to Albania. He thinks about college and he also wants to go into the Marines. We are not sure what he will do yet. We are grateful to God for the ministry of Hope for the World-Albania. Through this ministry both of our children came to know Christ. Praise be to God for the ministry of Fredi and Prenda Zefi of Hope for the World.

Urgent Need at Korca Baby Orphanage

As you can well imagine, washers and dryers can wear out fast when you are washing for 15-20 babies. We have the money to completely renovate the laundry at Korca, much of which has been given by Crossroads Baptist Church in Eatonton, GA. However, we have a need yet to purchase the commercial style washers and dryers of industrial strength. This need is $3,650. We would appreciate help on this so we can complete this project. If you can help us with these appliances, please be sure to mark your gift, "washers and dryers". Thanks so much for helping!

We Have No Sad Faces To Show

People have asked us why our orphans always look so happy, so nice and clean and well dressed? We just smile and say, "It's because of Jesus and His love for them and the special way He cares for them through the gifts of our wonderful sponsors as well as our sweet Christian Albanian staff." When they first come to our homes they may look very lonely, sad, dirty and downhearted, but it doesn't take too many weeks of loving them and caring for them and teaching them about Jesus and His love before they begin to look different, like this beautiful little group of girls from the Day Care facility in Shkoder. GOD IS GOOD!!!

Albania Summer of 2008
Were going to make history one more time Amen? August 28 to September 8 we will be traveling to the country of Albania with our Romanian Gypsy brothers & sisters. We will go to the capital city of Tirana to plant Albanian Gypsy churches, then head up to Shkoder for three nights of evangelistic meetings. We covet your prayers. You can see a video on our web site about this historic trip.
www.hopeforromania.com

Handicapped To Receive Physical Therapy Equipment We have been blessed since we made the decision to try to help the residents at the Center of Development in Shkoder, Albania. There are over 70 handicapped children and adults who either reside at this center, or who come for day care from Shkoder and the surrounding villages. We have not yet put them into our monthly sponsorship program, but have instead opted to help this special group on a project basis. We are very thankful for a special group of Christian people from the Murray Hill UMC in Jacksonville, FL who, under the leadership and direction of Mike Franks, Administrator of Hope for the World, have contributed funds sufficient to provide much-needed physical therapy equipment to benefit this large group of special needs children. We are very excited to be able to purchase some much-needed fitness equipment that will aid in their physical rehabilitation. When this equipment is in place we will display photos showing them in full swing.

Roger will be in Tropoja seeking out the possibilities of Hope for the World beginning a feeding center to help the poor and destitute children in the area. This ministry would be two-fold. 1.To gather in
children to feed them one good healthy meal a day. 2. To also teach them from the Bible. It would also be a means of reaching the adults in the community. Our office has been sponsoring a National Pastor and his wife in this area for many years. People from his church in this community would be instrumental in helping us with this project. Meet Pastor Astrit Zefi and his wife and children. Astrit is the
brother of Fredi Zefi, our HFTW staff member. Roger will have his first opportunity to visit Astrit's church this month when he visits Tropoja and Bajrum Curri.

Birthdays are So Special to Our Orphan

When we began the sponsorship program in 1994 we felt that a great need for these children was for them to be made to feel very special on their birthdays. Many of them did not even know they "had a birthday", let alone know what day it was. It was so sad. Now, it is the highlight of their year! Even greater than Christmas to them personally, because it is "their special day". They all get a very special gift from their sponsors, and a big party too! The month of February was extra special because of Mr. and Mrs. John Wilzman. They have decided to celebrate their own birthdays during the year With all of our orphans and senior citizens. They send money for every one of them to have a very extra special day. They have done this several years, and we want them to know how much we appreciate them.

Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ!


Every end of the month when we sit in front of the computer to write the month update it is hard to express in words how much we appreciate you. God is Awesome and we are privileged to be his Servants. Thank you so much for your love, prayers and support.

Bible classes have been amazing this month. The children have been so hungry for His Word that we have never seen this desire in them before. They all have come and they have paid so much interest in everything during the Bible classes.

Every afternoon practicing for the Christmas program they have loved it and eagerly taken place in the roles they were playing in the program. Awesome month in a spiritual way .

Birthday shopping and parties are as always fun and special. The kids love to pick out what they really want.

Christmas at the baby orphanage was wonderful with the day care and the orphan children. That day a day care child was running a fever but she did not want to miss it and she came and laid there on the couch and saw everything and took her special present. She comes from a very poor family and she had never seen that happen before. All the kids sang and recited verses and after they all received their special gifts from Hope for the World's sponsors. They were so happy.

That day one of the day care children was not feeling well, but she did not want to miss anything, so they laid her on the couch so she could see everything. She came from a very, very poor family and had never experienced anything like this in her life. You sponsors make this such an exciting day for these children!

All the kids sang and recited verses from the Bible, and after that they received their gifts. Our own staff worker, Nikolini, was St. Nick! A good role for him!

School-age orphanage kids put on a great program telling the true meaning of Christmas to lost government workers. This was repeated in nearly every orphanage. There were leaders of Albania who attended these programs and our children were a great witness to them. Even though many of the leaders and workers are Muslim, they heard the gospel from our children who portrayed it unashamedly. We praise the Lord for this liberty that is granted us in a previously atheistic and communist country.

Thank you sponsors for making all of this possible!

Winter 2007

John and Jennifer Herring of Milledgeville, GA are in Albania for their second stay in connection with finalizing the adoption procedure on their little girl, Viola. She is from the Vlore Orphanage, and they fell in love with her about a year ago and have been working on adoption since that time. The Herrings and Roger Mullins left for Albania on December 5th. They expect to be home for Christmas to bring their first "daughter" home with them to their family. They have three sons, JR, Rylan and Tucker, anxiously awaiting this pretty little girl who is now their sister. What better Christmas gift could they receive? Enjoy the photos of Viola, John & Jennifer in our full newsletter. This family is so excited, and we can't imagine how the life of the little Viola will change and what a great opportunity she will have because she'll have a mommy, a daddy, and three brothers in a wonderful Christian home! God is so good! WHAT A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS THIS IS!

April 2007

The remote mountain village of Tropoja - a day's journey from Shkodra - has begged Hope for the World to come to the rescue of about 200 needy children. Some are orphans, some are with just a mother and no father, but all are without enough food to sustain them. They also lack in so many essentials of life. A group of citizens of the Village has written to our foundation and asked if there is any way we can help them. We are in prayer about what God would have us do for this group of suffering children in Albania. Please make it a matter of your prayers that God will help "us" as we try to help "them"