New Opportunities in Ancient Lands

By Jay Walsh

In the spring of 1999, Yugoslavia's Serbian leader, Slobadan Milosevich in a few short weeks successfully drove nearly one million ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo and into the bordering countries of Albania and Macedonia. Our TV screens were filled with tragic scenes of helpless people fleeing for their lives. Military and para-military troops murdered, raped, looted and destroyed as the Albanians fled.

Along with many other groups, ABWE's Eastern European missionaries saw the situation as an opportunity not only to help the refugees camped on Albania's border but to share the message of Christ's love and compassion. A team of missionaries led by Dr. Nik visited the refugee camps to determine how we might help. After hearing their report, ABWE launched a fund-raising program that brought in more than $14,000.

Missionary director of ABWE's GAP ministries and GAP missionary V. D. used the refugee situation to get the scriptures into the hands of thousands of disillusioned people. George and V. D. traveled to Albania and signed a contract with a publisher to print 20,000 copies of a booklet containing V. D.'s translation of John and Romans. They also inaugurated a second project with a Kosovar team to adapt the Gospel of John into the Kosovar dialect. A taped master copy of John will be used to reproduce thousands of cassettes for distribution in Kosovo.

After three months of continuous NATO bombing, Milosevich was forced to sign an agreement that included a multinational peace-keeping force to take control of Kosovo. Immediately, thousands of refugees returned to their villages, including our Kosovar translation team, Dr. and Mrs. Chitaau.

On August 2, 1999 V. D. and I had the privilege of seeing copies of the John/Romans booklets. We immediately began to set up a distribution plan. The rather sudden and early return of the refugees-including the translation team-added another dimension to our task: a 230-mile mountainous road journey to Pristina, Kosovo via Macedonia. We were advised not to take the shorter northern route because of possible dangers. Good thing we received that advice. The next day we read in an Albanian newspaper that a bomb on the north border exploded, killing 20 people and injuring many more.

In Pristina we searched out the residence of the Chitaaus with the help of a woman assigned to us by the hotel manager. The Chitaaus had just completed relaying their wood-tiled living room floor which the Serbs had destroyed after looting their home. V. D. and I were the first guests to walk on it, and they were pleased to entertain us. After a day of checking their work and encouraging them in the faith, we returned to Tetova, Macedonia for an overnight and a bath, well worth the $40 charge.

My job was a fact-finding mission for ABWE. Would our awesome God open a new door of evangelism and church-planting in Albania and Kosovo for ABWE missionaries? Would He have us work among the Muslim population living in the Balkan States? I challenge every reader to pray earnestly as we seek God's will in these matters. Our task has just begun!