James Clarke - Mission Update March 2012

James & Lori Clarke’s
News Bulletin     March 2012

Working with the Albanian Evangelical Mission (AEM)  in southern Albania
Dear Friends and family,
Here’s an update on some of the points that I have asked you to pray for in previous news letters.

Tepelena
In my last news, I asked you to pray for the group of teenagers in Tepelena and especially for the girls who had recently stopped coming to meetings. Two of these girls have recently attended a few times. Last Saturday we looked at some passages that speak about God’s love, including Romans 5:6-8. One of these girls, called Tea(pronounced Teya), listened very carefully. She has often responded very positively and in the past has expressed that she believes the Bible to be God’s word. Yet she has never professed faith. Please pray for her in particular this month –that God would open her heart. Pray for us as we prepare Bible studies for this group.  Kristi and Juxhin (Eugene) continue to attend regularly. We’ve had some good times of studying God’s word with them. This is the older age group in Tepelena. There are also meetings for younger children and teenagers on Saturdays and on Fridays which others lead.

Gjirokaster Lads
Please continue to pray for the lads in Gjirokaster. Recently I’ve became aware that the amount of drug use
among teenage boys in particular has really increased in the last few years. A few weeks ago a couple of the lads that we’ve contact with had quite a serious punch-up with each other. One of them has been getting himself into a lot of trouble recently and has been experimenting with drugs. Other vices such as gambling and pornography seemed be more common today too.  One week I gave a short talk on the verse: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The boys listened and I’m sure understood the message. Pray that God will convict them of sin and make them see their need for Christ.

Ballsh
You will remember that previously I asked you to pray for outreach over Christmas and for everyone who came into contact with God’s word either preached or written during this time. For a while we have been travelling to a city north of us called Ballsh for outreach. This city currently has no church although there was a church there ten years ago. While doing outreach around Christmas we were again very encouraged by people’s response there. There seems to be an ‘open-door’ at the moment in this town. As well as this we met several people who had contact with the previous church and still profess faith.
Recently Shaun organised a gathering of missionaries and church leaders from the neighbouring area to discuss the town. As a group we committed to planting a church there. Shaun, Geni (from Memeliaj) and Will Niven (in Fier) will take turns preaching. I have committed to helping with youth work and evangelism.
Please pray for this work which is now in the planning stage and will begin at Easter with evangelism.  Shaun is now preparing the Easter edition of our evangelistic newspaper. This will be given out in Gjirokaster, in neighbouring towns and villages  and in Ballsh.

Contacts through English Teaching
I asked for prayer for the opportunities I’ve had through English teaching. Recently I noticed that several of my students were reading the book ‘The Secret’. If you’ve never heard of this book, it’s basically about achieving happiness, health and wealth through the power of positive thinking. Its attractive message is very bewitching. I took the opportunity of explaining why I believe the book was very wrong. With one of the students in particular I shared some passages from the Bible and presented faith in God as opposed to faith in oneself.

Women in Gjirokaster
A work which plays a very important part in church  life in Gjirokaster is the women’s ministry lead by Jen
(Shaun’s wife) and Shirley (Geoff’s wife). This has been a way through which many women have come into
contact with the Gospel and have begun to attend church services. Jen and Shirley hold weekly meetings for
woman. Recently an event was held for women. Around 50 women attended.

Prayer points:
• The teenage girl in Tepelena called Tea (Teya)
• The teenage lads in Gjirokaster.
• Preparation and planning of the church plant in Ballsh

Thank you again for your pray and support..