During this month my team and I were partnered with an amazing church called BPZ Church. They were so welcoming and gave us lots to do. It is a church that reaches so many people and have so much going on so, they kept us busy all month.
(This is the front of the church we got to partner with this mont)
Photo Taken by: Renee DePhillips
We would do something different everyday but one thing that was consistent was that we joined the staff every morning in prayer and would often have a Bible study. We would arrive around 8 am everyday and fellowship over coffee and tea. Then we would get to pray with them and go through the Bible together. One thing I will always remember is when we would all prayer at the same time, there were moments I would just listen and I would hear so many different languages all praying to our Lord. There were usually a minimum of 5 different languages spoken, German, Albanian, Italian, Romanian, and English. It was truly amazing to hear us all praying and praising the Lord in so many different languages.
Like I said earlier, this church has so much going on a daily basis and we were given opportunities to take part in. Other than the kid clubs we got to participate in, we also got to help sort clothes for their secondhand shops, kids truck, evangelism, and their mercy ministry.
One thing we did a lot was helping sort through clothes that are donated to them from around the world. We would bring a bunch of boxes into the basement of the church and would dump everything on the table and slowly go through the mountain of clothes and bedding to find things that could be sold and the items that couldn’t be sold would be separated to be given away to families in need. We would get to play some music and talk to some of the Kosovar people also helping us sort as well.
Another ministry we got to take part in was their mercy ministry. This ministry was very special. Each week a different group would come to the church and gather. We got to pray over them and some of us got to talk to them about the Bible. After that we got to hand out goons and clothing to these families in need. To see the joy in their faces was amazing. This ministry was also an opportunity to speak to people who didn’t know Jesus. The church rotated through four different groups and they organize them so that those who know the Lord are in one group and those who do not are in the remaining three groups. Getting to be a part of this ministry was such a blessing and it was one of my favorite days of the week.
(This is my team leader Kaitlynn who had the opportunity to speak to one of the groups with the help of Alban to translate)
Another one of many ministries we took part in was a kids truck! During most weeks on Friday we would load up and drive to a village outside of the city Prizren and put on a kids program including a mass game, song and dancing, and face painting! One of the more memorable weeks was the first week and me and one of my teammates Renee were asked to dress up in costumes of Mario and Winnie the Pooh and to walk around and greet the kids there. It was fun…at first. There was definitely a point that some of the local preteen and teenage boys were let out of school and thought it would be funny to beat the back of the mascot heads but, it was amazing to see how excited the younger children were to see us.
(This is Renee and I in the Mario and Winnie the Pooh costumes during one of the days we were with the kids truck)
Lastly, one ministry that we got to be a part of was helping the local evangelism team. They are a part of an organization that has a goal to knock on every door in Kosovo and share about the gospel. This team was such a blessing and was so welcoming to us. They were such a joy to work with and I can actually say that I enjoyed evangelism this month. I’m usually not the biggest fan of walking up to people and attempting to talk to them but, this month because of the team we were with, it was not as uncomfortable as it had been in the past.
(This was our last day doing evangelism with this amazing team!)
Overall, this month has been very busy and definitely had its challenges but, it truly was a blessing to get to meet so many people that just love Jesus so much and just want his name to be known to those around them.
Praying for all
Katie, what diverse and fun ministries! Such a blessing to work with such wonderful, truly giving people so involved in ministry. I am so proud of you, for enjoying evangelizing. I am sure you realize that this is an area that so many people do not enjoy. However, we are commanded to tell people the good news about Jesus. Way to put yourself out there!