Spring Update

Hello Everyone,

Greetings to you all in the name of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! We are  finally sending out this update after several very busy weeks of personal business and ministry activities. We will start with the ministry related things.

We just celebrated a wonderful Easter together with the churches of Prishtina which included a  joint Good Friday Service at which Mark delivered a message on the demonstration of "God's love at Calvary" and then again a joint Easter Sunday service after which the CC family gathered at our church facility for a wonderful ham lunch prepared by Celeste. It was a great time of food and fellowship!!

A few weeks ago we had a wonderful time with the CC Bible College from Montebelluna, Italy as we toured the locations visited by the Apostle Paul in Northern Greece which included Philippi and Thessaloniki. At each location Mark shared messages from the accounts recorded in Acts 16-17. We ended our trip with our visit to St. Luke's hospital for Celeste's cancer treatment which also went very well. Recently Celeste had a complete CAT scan and the doctors reported that her cancer remains in complete remission!

And the week before we had our brother Steve Coon back again from California who did a week of evangelism with several members of our fellowship including Mark. We had a number of people who responded openly to the Gospel message with whom we engaged in good conversation.

And the week before that we had the Joint Kosovo-Albania National Assembly for the Evangelical Alliances of both countries held in Duress, Albania attended by our member churches from all over the region. We enjoyed a great time of worship, fellowship, prayer and teaching. Its exciting to discover what God is doing in the different areas through different ministries. We now have over 40 member churches and organizations here in Kosovo. I am now in the third year of serving on the board of pastors for the Alliance and it truly has been an rewarding experience. 

With our coming furlough beginning April 22nd Mark has been getting things prepared such as the teaching schedule and other things related to practical ministry. We will have Pastor Larry Andersen from Phelan, CA coming for several weeks in May to minister to our CC church family here in Prishtina.

On the personal level we have been quite busy dealing with the renewal of our residency permit which we finally got finished and approved by the ministry of internal affairs. Also on top of that Mark had to do our vehicle registration. These things required quite a bit of running around so we are relieved to finally have it past us!!  

And so we will be taking off from Prishtina early on April 22nd for a three month furlough which will begin with a month in the Bay Area of California, and then a month in New Mexico, and then ending with a month in So. California till we leave to return to Kosovo on August 3rd. We are looking forward to time well spent with family, friends, and supporting churches. It has been almost three years since our last furlough so it is well over due. We hope to connect with many of you during our visit in the US. 

Thanks again for your prayers and support!! 

By His Grace,

Mark, Celeste, and Isabella

Here are some things to keep in prayer.

God's blessing and protection upon our fellowship while we are gone.

The members of our church that they will continue to grow and be strengthened in Christ.

The Adam family who have been battling the flu and pneumonia.

Lirak and Suela and for their baby boy which is due to be born in August. 

And that Lirak to be able to find work.

The ministry to the US service members serving here in Kosovo.

God's continued provision for both our personal and ministry needs.

A blessed and refreshing time during our three month furlough in the US. 

Financial Support can be sent to:
Check can be mailed to:  Calvary Chapel Las Vegas, P.O. Box 3235, Las Vegas, NM 87701 or you can  go on-line to www.calvarylv.com and under resources menu there is an on-line giving option for one time or for auto giving every month.  You will need to use the "designated gift" box and designate it for Mark and Celeste Yocom

2014 What A Year!

Greetings Everyone,

We have made it to the end of another year and looking back on this past year of 2014 it was certainly unlike anything we have ever experienced. At the beginning back in February our lives were shaken as Celeste had been diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer that was spreading to her lungs. Then we began the long difficult path of cancer treatment with its side affects which involved chemo and immunotherapy every three weeks. But thank God her treatment was very successful as they were able to apply some of today's most advanced immunotherapy treatment available! The tumors completely disintegrated from the treatment and she did not have to have any surgery! Wow!

So now having ended 2014 with Celeste's cancer fully in remission and she is now almost totally recovered from the side affects from the chemo therapy! And looking back we can clearly see the hand of God upon our lives in this situation as He has sustained us and has provided for our every need! Wow!!

"The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut 33:27)!
It is just amazing how God has been there for us on all sides. We had wonderful support from the local churches and missionary community. And then also our own church family and U.S. Service members who were there to support us. People did things such as prepare meals for us, do house cleaning and laundry, and take care of Isabella when needed. And of course our precious daughter was such a blessing as she brought cheer and sweetness into our lives in dark times. And then we have had our State side supporting churches who have covered us in their prayers and with financial support. Also, while serving on the council of ministers for the Kosovo Evangelical Alliance I have had a great group of brothers (fellow council members) who have been there supporting us and praying for us. And then we had St Luke's hospital in Thessaloniki with a wonderful team of physicians and medical professionals that provided outstanding care! I can just keep going on here! Wow!

And what's also amazing is that all of this happened without having to step aside from our work and ministry at Calvary Chapel Prishtina. Celeste of course did have to pull back a bit from involvement but not entirely (the ladies in her MOPS group were able to carry on when she wasn't able to be there). And there were those times when I needed to be there to help Celeste. We were certainly open to all options and considered them, such as returning to the US, which would have been fine but we sensed that it wasn't what the Lord intended for us. However we do plan to do a needed furlough to the US later in 2015.

I think of that great passage in Ephesians 3:20-21
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen". And so we can certainly testify to this truth in our own lives and experience.
Again we are so grateful for the outpouring of support and prayers this past year. Presently Celeste continues her immunotherapy which she receives every three weeks. This needs to continue to keep her type of cancer which is incurable in remission. And of course we are trusting God to continue carrying us down this path which we know He will. Please do pray that her treatment will continue to be affective and of course for a healing miracle too. Pray also for our visit to the US later this year, and for Gods provision.

Please pray for the funds for Celeste's treatment that she needs every three weeks.  In March we need to renew our insurance which means that before we receive reimbursement for her treatments we will first have to meet the $2500.00 deductible.  We also have our additional travel expenses every three weeks which our insurance does not cover.


Pray also for Gods blessing upon the ministry at Calvary Chapel Prishtina. Pray also for Gods blessing upon the ministry to the U.S. Service Members deployed here in Kosovo. We have things that are in the planning stage for ministry which involves some teams coming this year. Pray for God's hand to lead us in all our outreach and ministry endeavors this year.

Again, thank you all for your prayers and support, and God bless you as you begin a new year serving Him.
By His Grace,
Mark, Celeste, and Isabella

Financial support can be donated online at this link: https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6SSHN0DEHB4KG6DH
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

Or  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

Outreach Week

This is just a quick prayer request.  This week we will be hosting a team from the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Italy.  They will doing quite a bit while they are here.  They will be working with our children in our MOP'S group, hospital visitations, spending time with high school students, worship, helping out with Sunday school as well as helping out with practical things around the church.  Please keep us in prayer that we will have a fruitful week of outreach. 

Praying for a new vehicle

As many of you know we have been praying for the provisions for a new vehicle.  For the last few years we have been having quite a few problems with our Land Rover.  This year the problems have intensified.  Last night on the way home from ministering at the base outside of Prishtina the Land Rover broke down on Mark late at night outside of Pristina.  Please keep us in your prayers as we need to get the Land Rover repaired as well as purchase something that will be reliable for our family.  Thank you for standing in the gap for us. 

August Prayer Update

Hello Everyone,
Greetings from CC Prishtina, Kosovo and thank you all for your prayers. To update you with whats happening and how you can pray.  Mark was recently diagnosed with having a kidney stone. So he is presently waiting for it to make its way out of me. Being that its the first time he has ever have dealt with this, he has yet to find out how painful it is as everyone is telling him.   So pray for God's strength and grace to get through this experience.

Also we have been dealing with a lot of problems with our vehicle (98' Land Rover Discovery); it is presently having its second major repair of the year and at this point we  think we will need a new vehicle. Please pray for God's provision for a new vehicle.

On the 28th of August our assistant Lirak will be getting married to his fiance Suela. They will be having their wedding in Tirana, Albania. Pray for God's blessing to be upon the wedding and the marriage as Lirak and Suela come together in holy matrimony. Pray that God will supply all their needs as they settle into their new life together. Pray also that God will give Suela the grace to settle into her new life away from home and into life here in Prishtina.

Our youth outreach in the community near the church has been facing some challenges. We had a major opposition rise up against us and had to move on to a different area. So we are in the same neighborhood but a different area where a park is. We  have been spending time at this park on Friday evenings and have had some good interaction with parents and their kids. We were also invited to visit one of their homes. Pray that God gives us favor with the families and that we would be able to share the gospel with them. Pray for those who are held captive by the evil one that they would be set free.

Next week our worship leader (Sam and his wife Elizabeth) will be returning from the US. Pray that God will give them a safe trip back to Kosovo. On August 16th we will be going to Austria to attend the CC Missions Conference. Pray for traveling mercies and a refreshing week.

Celeste also desires to go the the US in the Fall to attend a pastors wives conference. She would be bringing Isabella with her and she would  be staying with her grandparents. Pray for God's provision for this trip.

In a few weeks we will be attending the annual mission conference in Austria.  We are really looking forward to this trip.  This conference is such a refreshment both physically and spiritually for our entire family.  The teaching, fellowship and rest is amazing.  This is also a wonderful experience for Isabella as she attends the VBS and reconnects with her missionary friends that she has made over the years.  An added blessing to this trip is that Celeste's parents will be serving at the conference.

We are also needing help in rebuilding our care team in New Mexico and possibly getting a few started in both Northern and Southern California.  If any of you would like more information on what a "care team" is, please email Celeste at celesteyocom@gmail.com







Thanks again for your prayers and support and God bless you.

Mark, Celeste, and Isabella

A little miracle today

The past few weeks we have been pretty busy with traveling, celebrating birthday's, getting ready for birthday's and weddings.  In the midst of the busyness it is easy to loose track of things.  Things like your camera. 

On Saturday evening Isabella drew a picture, one that really touched my heart. I wanted to take a picture of it, it was a pretty powerful picture..... I wanted to capture the moment of the picture.  As I went to get my camera, I could not find it.  It was not in either of the two places I normally keep it. It is either in my purse or in my desk drawer.  I searched everywhere for it and it was no where to be found.  I even called Mark, wondering if he had it, nope he did not have it.  I was REALLY discouraged.  There were a few reasons for the discouragement.  It was my birthday gift from Mark last year.  In the past Mark and I had always shared a camera and most of the time when he was out, he carried the camera with him.  Therefore when I wanted to capture special Isabella moments, take pictures of homeschooling stuff, my garden, stuff that I was cooking.....  I didn't have a camera available to capture the moments.  The camera was really nice, plus we really did not have the money to replace the camera.  Over the past few days I had been really discouraged about the loss of my camera. 

As I had been replaying things in my mind, I knew it had been in my purse and was certain I did not take it out of my purse at home after our last trip to Albania last weekend.  For some reason I felt I had left it somewhere in Prishtina.  I felt that I must of been digging around in my purse to either get my wallet or my ITouch or something and felt that I left it somewhere.  To be honest, I felt that I would never see my camera again.  Mark encouraged me to go back to the places I had been last week to see if it would come up.  This afternoon I went to a few place to inquire and it wasn't there.  This evening, after dinner Mark and I decided to go the restaurant we went to last Tuesday as soon as we had arrived back to Prishtina.  When we asked the waiter about it, he asked what time of day we had come in and he walked to counter and handed me my camera!  I was beside myself.  I felt that if I had left it at a restaurant that either a customer would of seen it and taken it.  Or it would of been taken by an employee.  As we left the restaurant we were thanking the Lord for the honesty of the people at the restaurant.  Thank you Jesus.

One outing, two contrasting conversations

Wow, what a very interesting outing I had this afternoon!  On Monday's Mark takes Isabella out in the late morning to have a special daddy/Isabella date.  This frees me up to have some time for myself.  Yesterday evening a friend had messaged me on facebook asking if I would have time to meet for a coffee.  We had made tentative plans to met.  This morning I realized I did not have credit on my phone to call her with the time and the place to meet, so I messaged her on facebook with the time and location that would be convenient for me, hoping she would see the message and be free at the time.    As I spent time reflecting on the events of the afternoon I am able to see how the Lord directed my steps this afternoon to open my eyes to the good as well as the evil that is taking place in the society that I am a part of.

Before my meeting I thought it would be nice to go and have a nice lunch by myself at a cafe I had not been to in awhile (I enjoy getting out for some quality alone time to read, pray and reflect).   As I walked in, I notice the cafe was crowded, however there was a table close to two young people who were speaking English.  To give you an idea of how close I was to these people, my back was almost touching the young man's back.  Although, I would not intentionally eavesdrop on a conversation (actually I was trying to read), I could hear what they were saying.  They were talking about Jesus!  The conversation was very edify.  From what it seemed like, they were a part of a short term outreach team.  The young man has a desire to be a pastor and the young lady has a desire to work with human trafficking.  Because I did want this people to think I was intentionally listening to them (really I wasn't), I didn't not speak to them.  I just left edified.  As I left the cafe on my way to another restaurant to meet my friend, I was just thanking the Lord for the wonderful time I had just experienced

As I .approached the restaurant I found a table to sit out that would be easy to spot my friend if she showed up, I wasn't too sure if she would show up as we had not made concrete  plans.  This table was very close to another young lady and man.  However the conversation that was taking place was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!  I really was not trying to listen, actually at one point I wanted to find another table simply because I found the language that the young lady was using was offensive.  Every other word that was coming out of the young lady's mouth was a swear word and she was speaking loud.  As they were talking I was really trying to concentrate on my book.   About half way into the conversation the young lady started talking about a relationship that she recently ended.  It turns out the young lady is a lesbian, she was sharing with this young man why she broke it off with her "girlfriend." The details that had taken place in her life were just not good.  I was trying not to listen, however the young lady was talking really loud and I am sure many others heard what she was taking about.  As I was sitting there reading and waiting for my friend, my heart just started to break for these young people at the next table.

My friend did not show up, however I felt the Lord had other plans for me.  As I left the restaurant I felt led to find a bench in front of the place to just sit and intercede  for the young people I was sitting next to at the restaurant.  As I was reflecting on what I had just heard, I felt the  Lord gave me a small glimpse of the ugliness that takes place in the homosexual lifestyle.  As I thought back to the conversation I heard earlier, two young people on fire for Jesus, desiring to seek Him and serve Him with there life, then hearing what I just heard I could help but think about the spiritual battle we are in, good fighting evil.  I felt that the Lord used this experience to open my eyes to what is going on in the spiritual world, there are people seeking Him to do His work, but yet the enemy is out to steal kill and destroy.  Although I did not enjoy hearing some of the things that were said in the second conversation, I am glad I heard them.  Why? You may ask..... Because the Lord loves those caught up in the homosexual lifestyle.  The Lord needed me to see these two young people because He wants to people to be praying for them.  I am thankful that I was able to get a good look at there faces that I will be able to remember them in prayer often.  I am also thankful that the Lord used this to give me a glimpse of what the people go through who are caught up in this lifestyle.   

Now I am sure after this post you all are going to think that I eavesdrop on every conversation, really I don't at all.  I believe the Lord just wanted me to hear some things.