Hello Everyone,

Greetings to you from CC Prishtina... Hope you are all off to a good start for 2013 and abounding in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We want to thank each of you for your faithful prayers and support for what God is doing in Kosovo.

We are now presently fully moved into our new church facility but still getting settled and organized. It is a blessing to have the extra space and we anticipate a furthering of God's work among the people in Prishtina. As I had stated before we are located just across the street from the facility we were in over three years ago. It is on a main artery road that connects the south part of Prishtina with the center and at times we have thousands of pedestrians that pass by every hour. We had never planned or wanted to leave our last place but we had prayed that the Lord would do what he wished including to move us to a different location in the city according to his will and that's just what he did.


 As we are settling into our new place we are finding that we do have some needs, in order to function as a church better. 

        

Sanctuary

  Our kitchen is used a lot as we serve refreshments weekly after our Sunday service and our weekly MOP'S meeting.  As well as to feed team members.  We are praying for the Lord to provide the funds to be able to purchase small stove top burners as well as a small oven in order to cook monthly lunches for the church as well as for teams to be able to cook.  We are also needing proper cooking utensils. 

Fellowship Lounge

We are hoping to get some nice chairs for the office as well some pictures on the wall and a book case.  We have often talked about getting a copier as Celeste often has to go to the copy place to make copies. 

 We finally have a kids room and Celeste and Isabella are excited about this.  As you can see from the picture we do not have a place to store the toys.  We are needing some cabinets and bookshelves for this room.  We would also like to get some children's chairs and a small table for the kids.  It would be great to have an easel as well as some children's Sunday School pictures on the wall. 

The bathroom on the left is the located on the 1st floor next to the sanctuary and the one on the right is on the second floor.  The bathrooms are in need of shelves as well as small cabinets to store cleaning products. 

While our Christmas was occupied by the move into the new facility we did have a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration (the last in our old facility). We were at a maximum capicity of people attending the service which included a group of US soldiers from the NATO HQ. We also managed to distribute a small number of OCC gift boxes to the kids that came to the service with their parents. We were also blessed this holiday season with a visit from one of our members, Niti and his family, who are presently living in the US but may be coming back around the summer to live here in Kosovo.

A few weeks ago  after the Service, Xhavit's two boys (Fatlum and Arbnor) prayed to receive Christ. It was a real special moment for them and it really meant a lot to Xhavit to see his boys ope their hearts to Christ. So we are looking forward to another baptism this coming summer with Xhavit and two boys ready to be baptized.

Recently a young American couple (Sam and Elizabeth) from Illinois who had started attending our fellowship; are now doing worship for our services. Back in 1999 when I first came to Kosovo, Sam's father (who was working here in Kosovo) was my roommate.  Sam is teaching at a private high school here in Prishtina and he and his bride Elizabeth are newly married since August. We are greatly blessed to have Sam and Elizabeth with us. 

 

Celeste is planning to start a weekly Bible study for women on Saturdays in the next couple weeks. This will be in addition to her Mom's meeting that continues to meet Wednesday mornings. Isabella is now at the kindergarten level with her home schooling which she is doing very well with. Lirak is also doing Albanian classes for her. Josef who has been in Spain is doing well and met up with me in Germany  for the CC Pastors Conference.

Genesis 1:1 in Albanian

Isabella Writing the Bible

Mop's Christmas Party

 Ministry to the soldiers is entering a new season as well as a new commander, LTC Brett Criqui has stepped in. I have enjoyed getting to know Brett. He is an Iraq war veteran who commanded an Apache Helicopter group which was the first to enter Iraq at the beginning of the war. God continues to bless the weekly Bible study at Camp Film City and we are seeing wonderful doors of ministry open to us at Camp Bondsteel as well.

In March, Celeste is praying about attending a Pastor's Wife's conference in Paris France.  She attended last year and came back to Kosovo refreshed and encouraged.  It would be such a blessing for Celeste to be able to attend this year again as she rarely is able to sit in the Sunday service since she teaches Sunday School and isn't able to always make it to  the midweek study as we do not always have childcare for Isabella ( the past few month's Celeste has been able to attend).  Celeste is looking forward to the time of just being able to sit and receive as well as the fellowship with like minded believers.  Please pray with us for the provisions to be able to attend this conference.  

Celeste is seeking the Lord concerning which homeschooling curriculum to purchase for Isabella in the fall, as she will be starting first grade. If anyone has any used curriculum or would like to contribute to Isabella's curriculum  please contact Celeste at celesteyocom@gmail.com to find out what Isabella's needs are for this.

Winter Fun!

Thanks again so much for your prayers and support

Prayer summary:

*  God's blessing upon our new church facility. 

*  God's provision for the added expenses and things we need for the facility such as furniture for the kids room, Mark's office, a copy machine and the needed kitchen equipment.

*  We will be light and salt in our new location and neighborhood.

*  God's blessing upon all areas of ministry at CC Prishtina.

*  The Bible study Celeste will be starting in coming weeks.

*  God will strengthen the members of our fellowship in their relationships with him that they would have close walks with the Lord and bring forth much fruit in their lives.

*  Xhavits two boys; Fatlum and Arbnor that a solid spiritual foundation would be laid in their lives.

*  Sam and Elizabeth that God would bless their involvement in our fellowship with leading worship.

 and that God would bless their new life together as a married couple. 

* God's blessing upon the ministry to the US service members and for the weekly Bible study.

*  Provisions for Isabella's homeschooling curriculm

*  Provision for our insurance payment that is due in March
*  The Provisions for Celeste to be able to attend the Pastor's wives conference in March.