Brenda Knopp | Gjilan, Kosovo

A few weeks ago I was having a really tough week, and someone here on a visit directed my attention to Jesus’ prayer for his followers in John 17.  He prays, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”  (v.22,23) What an incredible thought!  Our Father loves us just as He loves His Son!  Have [...]

Yippee!  Wahoo!  It’s been raining the past two days!!   After almost three months of no rain, everything was very dry and getting brown, which means a not so great harvest for the farmers and rationed water for us city dwellers.  So we are VERY THANKFUL for the rain!!  Yeah!  I love rain! This morning as I was walking in the drizzle to a prayer meeting at the church, the words of Hosea came to my mind: “Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.  As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will [...]

This past weekend we were invited to join in with our partnering church’s retreat.  We left on Friday, traveling about 3 hours to the western side of Kosovo and up the mountains to the “Rugova Gorge”.  It is a beautiful spot and it was a lovely, sunny weekend!  For me it was especially fun to be together with folks from the Prishtina Church.  I lived and worked there for three years (from 2001-2004) and had built some special friendships during that time.  So it was nice to have the opportunity to spend time with those friends and reflect on special [...]

… to be getting ready for winter!  Yes, I know it’s only September, but, this is the time for getting wood ready for those winter fires.  Most people heat with wood because it’s much more economical than electric heat.  It’s also more practical, since we do still have power outages on occasion.  This past week and weekend, people have been getting their wood delivered, cut, chopped and stacked. Usually you go to the “wood market” and choose your wood.  One must be wise when purchasing his wood in order not to be “ripped off”!  Once the wood is delivered, you [...]

Greetings Everyone!  I’m embarrassed to think of how long it’s been since I’ve written an update on this site!  It’s been a full summer.  This past week was perhaps the busiest of the entire summer … and the hottest!  We had a kid’s camp (like our VBS) going on all week.  It was well-organized by one of the Kosovar workers.  There were volunteers from our partnering church in Prishtina as well as from the church here in Gjilan.  More than 20 children attended throughout the week and really enjoyed the camp!  They are ready to come back in September for [...]

This past  Sunday the three churches in Gjilan had a picnic together to celebrate the success of the Easter project and to continue to build unity.  We started our picnic with a time of worship and hearing testimonies.  It was a great day for a picnic, a little overcast and breezy – perfect for making fli  (pronounced “flee)!  Fli is a traditional dish only made by Albanians in Kosovo and it’s standard picnic fare!  It is pretty labor intensive, taking about 3 hours to make!  It is made by making layers with a basic batter (flour, salt and water), with [...]

We’ve been in the midst of some major changes these past few weeks.  From our team of 14, 6 members have left for home assignment (some for 3 months, others for 1 year), and two more will be leaving in June and July.  This has meant a “shuffling” of roles and responsibilities!  The biggest change for me is that I have been made Team Leader for this upcoming year.  When I first came back to the field last year, I began to realize that this could be a possibility in the coming year … and I was VERY RESISTANT to the idea!!  But, [...]

We are praising God for how well things are going this week.  Every day has been full and busy … and we have all been tired, but happy!  People are noticing our volunteers in their bright yellow t-shirts doing “servant work” (cleaning, painting, planting trees, weeding, fixing playground toys, etc) in their city.  I want to tell you about the miracle that happened today.  Today, an Albanian teenager gave her life to Christ!!  She has been helping the teams that were teaching the drug awareness seminars in the schools.  Throughout this week she has has seen God’s people worship and talk to [...]

Today was the start of a week long project called “Life for Kosova”.  This project was started a number of years ago by the alliance of the Protestant Evangelical Churches of Kosova.  Each year it takes place in a different city and this year it is taking place in Gjilan!  The purpose is to bless the city through a variety of community projects during the week.  Volunteers will join us from many of the churches around Kosova.  Some of the events include: A number of prayer meetings and prayer walk through the city A blood drive at the local hospital A [...]

Last Tuesday we had a really great time celebrating International Women’s Day.  We had invited a number of women to the center where we had a simple program followed by coffee and cake and lots of time to talk!  We were very specific about the ladies that we invited and most of them came.  A few of them were some new folks that we were recently connected to from the local society for the blind.  We hope to have more opportunities to reach out to these women and invite them to special events.  On Saturday one of their volunteers joined our [...]