Spring Update From CC Prishtina

To bring you up to date with whats happening over here. Recently  Isabella's finished preschool in our homeschool "The Yocom Christian Academy" and she has now begun kindergarten. Mark was greatly blessed to do the last assignments with her to finish preschool. Her kindergarten has come with an increased volume of work and assignments. We have loved homeschooling our daughter and the time and work is worth it. It has been such a rewarding experience for us as parents. Its just such a great blessing to be directly a part of our daughters academic development and to lay in her life a Biblical foundation with it... Isabella is becoming a little evangelist as she endeavors to tell people about Jesus and how they can go to heaven.

We are starting our garden.

 

In science we studied plants and the desert.

Isabella loved planting our garden.  We planted cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, herbs and flowers.

We made cactus's

This is an experiment on how water climbs up the stem.

 In Math, we played store.  Here she is learning how to write the prices of the items she is selling.

 Recently she was invited to join the worship team (playing the tambourine) at a chapel service we attend every other Sunday evening at Camp Bondsteel. Its a blessing to see her growing up into a servant of the Lord!

She received a certificate of apprecition

At CC Prishtina we have been studying through the book of Titus on Sunday mornings and we just finished the book of Job on Thursday evenings. So we are now getting ready to study the Psalms on Thursdays which Mark is really looking forward to.

 Lirak is presently taking a break from teaching every other Thursday due to a busy schedule with school and work etc. He and his fiance Suela are now preparing from their wedding on August 28th. It will be my Mark's wedding he has ever officiated  Lirak has been as a son in the faith and it will be an honor to officiate his wedding. Lirak and Suela will also be attending the ministry conference at Vajta, Hungary at the end of this month. 

Since the outreach with the soccer team from Vienna, a new chapter of youth outreach has begun in our ministry as we have now been doing the kids club again every other week. We have had a group of around ten kids from the Dardania district (near the church) coming for a time of activities such as songs, Bible teaching, English lessons, games, and crafts. These kids are from the same area where we first began doing outreach at Calvary Chapel's beginning 12 years ago. Many of the kids that we first ministered to back in the beginning are young adults and so the younger sibling of some of them  are now coming to our programs. And in addition we have been going out to a school yard every Friday evening to do recreational activities with the kids. 

Another highlight to update you with is that we have a new family attending our fellowship who are from Serbia. The man Dejan, is Serbian and the woman Daily, is Estonian and they have three beautiful children. They are baptist missionaries in a small town outside of Prishtina called Gracanica which is predominantly Serbian. So their focus of ministry is reaching the Serbian minority here in Kosovo. They presently operate a community center in Gracanica that provides a kindergarten and other services for the community. What's significant is that we have a Serbian believer who is gathering with Albanian believers to fellowship and worship the Lord despite the deep rift that still exists between the two ethnic communities. So this is a very significant development in our church at CC Prishtina. The Albanian members of our fellowship have received them very well. Only this can happen as a result of the work of God's spirit in people's hearts. 

Ministry at Film City (NATO HQ) continues with the Bible study on Tuesday evenings and counseling and prayer on Saturday afternoons.  

After a great Spring with the mom's ministry Celeste and the ladies are now taking a break from their weekly sessions for the summer season. They will still be meeting regularly to do outdoor activities with the kids. 

And and again thank you so much for your prayers and support. We look forward to a summer of fruitful ministry and outreach as The Lord opens doors here in our community. Keep in touch and may God bless you richly in Christ.

By His Grace,

Mark, Celeste, and Isabella

Prayer Summary:

* That God will move upon peoples hearts in our community and draw them to himself.

*  For God's blessing and anointing to be upon the ministry of the Word as it is taught and preached throughout each week.

*  Isabella's home schooling and that God enables us to provide her with a quality education. 

*  The funds to be able to purchase next year's curriculum. 

*  Celeste's group of women and children that they would continually be strengthened and refreshed.

*  Our outreach to the kids and families in the Dardania district, that God would draw the kids to himself.

*  The Saturday kids club that God would anoint us to minister to the kids.

*  Lirak and Suela's wedding in August as they plan their future together. 

*  Our US service members serving here in Kosovo that God's hand would be upon their lives and for the ministry to them at Film City. 

*  God's guidance and wisdom and that the council of ministers, (which I'm serving with) will be able to deal wisely with the local government and religious communities in Kosovo.

In regards to financial support; donations may be done online at this link: https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6SSHN0DEHB4KG6DH

You will find  Mark Yocom in the missionary list provided.

Or a check can be made payable to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa with a note attached indicating; "Missionary Account : Mark & Celeste Yocom". 

Then it may be sent to the following address: 

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa

Attn: Accounting.

3800 S. Fairview Rd.

Santa Ana , CA

92704

It has been awhile since I have shared about our life and ministry.  Wow, a lot has been taking place over the past few months.  In order to share all that has taken place I have decided to let the pictures speak for themselves. 

In March I had the opportunity to attend a Pastor's Wife's retreat in Paris.  It was a wonderful time of refreshment and encouragement in the Word and GREAT fellowship!

Within a week of returning from Paris we hosted a soccer team from Surge International.  The group is based in Austria, however the team members were from American and Canada.  Not only did they play soccer with the kids, but they hosted and English Camp.

  Mark sharing the Gospel with the kids.

 While the team was here we hosted a church lunch for Easter.  We had a great time of fellowship and every one seemed to enjoy the food.

Family fun in Skopje, a day of rest

Thank you all for praying for us.  It has been a pretty busy spring and we are looking forward to a great and fruitful summer.

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.

As I have been watching Isabella’s personality and character develop, one of the things that I have noticed is that she has a giving heart.  She absolutely LOVES to give things to people and as I have seen this quality develop in her I have been blessed.  When it is someone’s birthday she always wants to give something to that person, not just when it is a birthday party that she has been invited to.  Whenever she hears that it is someone’s birthday she always wants to get or make present for that person.  Every so often she makes things to send to her friends in other countries and often when we go places, she makes things to give to the people we are going to see, this is all upon her own doing.  At times she even wants to give her own toys and books away.  This year for Christmas she was so set on giving Mark and I gifts that she got her own blankets wrapped her stuffed animals in them and set them under the tree, I knew it would upset her if I were to take them and put them away.  So this year when it came time to exchange gifts she was so excited to give us her gifts.  If we even try to give them back to her she gets upset.  There are times that she would like to give something of hers away that I don’t want her to, or often times she wants me mail her books to her friends in the US and she doesn’t understand why I can’t do this all the time.  At times I have felt as if I discouraged her in always wanting to give things away.  As I have been watching this God given gift of giving develop in her I have been praying asking the Lord how I could encourage her in this gift. 

A couple of days ago I came across a devotion that really spoke to my heart concerning this area.  The devotion came from my devotional called “The 100 Most Important Bible Verses for Mothers.” 

Give, and you will receive.  You will be given much.  Pressed down, shaken together, and running over, it will spill into your lap.  The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.  Luke 6:38

Giving Freely

A fistful of squished yellow dandelions, a paper with a crooked rainbow colored on it, a heart with “I love you’ penned across it – your children are naturally giving to the ones they love.  They give with great delight and affection when they are young, and often would give away their own toys if you did not stop them (yep, that is Isabella). 

Something happens as children get older.  Unless cultivated, that free spirit changes as the child matures and learns to look at things “reasonably” and with “good sense.”  Your own giving spirit might have shriveled in the face of adulthood, particularly when you faced the reality of having a family to support.  Adulthood is serious business. 

God’s call to you is to regain the abandonment and the joy of giving.  Instead of a careful measure of what you think you can do, give freely and generously.  God will generously give back as freely as you give.  What a promise – He will never fail you.  Proclaim your faith and trust in God, and become like a child again, believing he will do what He said He would.  Imagine the people you can bless when you give with God’s abandonment.

Learn to give freely and joyfully like a child again, and God will give back to you in that same measure. 

The statement in this devotion: “Unless cultivated, that free spirit changes as the child matures and learns to look at things “reasonably” and with “good sense” really challenged me.   I found myself asking the question “am I cultivating this free spirit that I see in Isabella?”  I would love hear how you all cultivate this free spirit of giving in your children.   

This year my birthday was spent traveling back from Italy to Kosovo.  Thankfully this year we flew, in the past we drove to the Austria conference and spent a few days in Italy.  The drive would normally be about 15 or so hours.  It had always been too expensive for our family of three to fly.  This year we found a budget airline which made it affordable to fly.  Actually it was cheaper to fly this year then drive!

Our flight left Treviso, Italy at 9:30 and we landed in Skopje Macedonia a little after 11:00.  Once we got through passport control and collect our suitcase (yes, suitcase being that it was a budget airline they did charge for checked baggage therefore we only had one suitcase and Isabella's carry on).  We headed out to my favorite restaurant in the old part of Skopje for a special birthday lunch that serves pork ribs (something we cannot get in Kosovo).   After lunch we walked down to the center of town for a special dessert, baklava and a cappuccino. Mark and Isabella had ice cream.   We enjoyed it at one of our other favorite places in town.  This is a picture of Isabella and I  being goofy and loving on one  another as we were enjoying our dessert.

 

After lunch it was time to head out to Prishtina, finally.  As many of you know our summer was spent in the US on furlough.  It was a wonderful time, however we did a lot of traveling.  Once we  arrived back to Kosovo at the beginning of August we were only home for a week before we headed out again to Austria.  It was finally nice to be coming home and staying for awhile! 

Isabella and her friends opening up the last night of the conference in worship.  It was special, actually it brought tears to my eyes

Pastor Brian Brodersen sharing God's word with us. 

Greetings in Christ to you all from CC Prishtina. We have finally hit the ground running after our 3 month furlough in the US and attending the Calvary Chapel missions conference in Millstatt, Austria. The conference in Austria was a a tremendous blessing and perfect way to transition back into life and ministry in Kosova after our furlough. Before we went to the conference we had already been in Prishtina for a week and were able to accomplish a lot including teaching two Bible Studies; one at church and one at Camp Bondsteel for US soldiers. We also attended an American Family (AM-FAM) meeting at NATO HQ (which meets once a month) and were able to minister to the soldiers and meet the new Chief of Staff; Gen. Steven Duff who just started his one year service in Kosova. Pray that God's hand would be upon Gen. Duff as he provides leadership for our troops. And so beginning next Saturday I will be spending several hours each week at the NSE to provide pastoral care for the soldiers. And we will also be starting up the weekly Bible studies on Tuesday evenings as well. At the beginning of September we have a new rotation of US soldiers arriving in Kosovo from South Carolina. So please pray for strength, guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit as we reach out and serve our troops deployed here in Kosova. Pray also that the transition for the incoming and outgoing rotations will go smoothly. 

 At CC Prishtina, the church and our ministry team managed well while we were gone. Lirak who did most of the teaching continued to teach through the Gospel of John while Josef looked after the practical needs of the church. We were blessed also to have a hand full of visitors come minister from the Word including Pastor Jeff Harry from Malishev. 

Niti, our worship leader, and his wife Lule will be in the US for a while at this time. Their baby; Alba has a minor birth defect that will need to be surgically corrected when she turns one. Please pray that God's hand would be upon Niti, Lule, and Alba and bring them through this season in their lives. Since Niti has been gone we have had a young lady named Jehona step in to do worship for some of our meetings. 

 

We will be continuing our study through 1st Timothy on Sunday's and through Esther on Thursdays. Pray that God will bless our worship services and anoint his Word that it would bring about transformation in peoples lives. Josef just left to go to his home in Norway for a couple months. Pray that God will bless Josef and his time with his family. Celeste will continue her MOPS meeting on Weds and the English classes at the widows center on Fridays. Please pray for open doors to share the gospel with the widows and that God will bring about spiritual breakthroughs in their lives. 

Prayer Requests

 

God gives the members of CC Prishtina Strength and courage.

Besi who recently returned to the fellowship, he left two years ago.

For open doors to share the gospel at the widow’s center

Niti, Lula and the health of there baby.

Josef and the time with his family in Norway.

Strength guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit as we reach out and serve our troops

Contact Us and Support:

mark@calvaryprishtina.com

celesteyocom@gmail.com

To make a tax-deductible contributuon to the Yocoms’ ministry in Kosovo, mail a check to:

Global Adventures - Yocoms • 4001 Osuna Rd. NE • Albuquerque, NM 87109