GENI is a pilgrim that was found by Jesus in July of 1991. He was captured so deep by the good news of Jesus, that after hearing the gospel for the first time he immediately decided to surrender his life to Jesus. On a muddy field he knelt and decided to follow Jesus in all the days of his life. His first prayer was: “Dear Jesus, I want to do what these people (the missionaries who brought the gospel) are doing. I want to serve you”. Jesus grabbed the life of a depressed, wounded and hopeless post-communist young Albanian and dramatically changed him. His mother was so shocked by the dramatic conversion, than when she saw him at the door she said: “where have you been my son, and what happened to you?”. The next day he was baptized and share his public testimony in front 100 people. The first two things that Geni understood right from the first day of his conversion were: 1. The gospel is the hope for a totally hopeless and desperate Albanian. 2. The Lord has called Albania to be a blessing to the nations. These two things led him on an exciting journey that has never stopped. Being one of the first believers of the church in post-Communist Albania he became involved in traveling throughout the country sharing the gospel with missionaries that were coming from all over the world. In 1993 after finishing an intensive discipleship course, he was sent as the first missionary to the north of Albania to plant a church. He had sold his life to Jesus, because to him Jesus is everything. The passion of his life is to know Jesus and to invest his life serving the purposes of God’s kingdom in the world.
SONI was 17 when her English teacher told her to go to the American missionary meetings to learn English. She went and for two hours listened to a teaching about baptism in English. After the missionary finished teaching he asked the group about getting baptized. No one responded. Being the woman of action that she is, she felt she had to do something with this invitation. So, she said yes. This unconscious act of will, let her to the most incredible journey she could imagine. She was baptized, although she had no clue about what she was doing, or who Jesus was. After getting baptized her pastor approached her and said that now that she is a believer she needs to go public and share her faith with people in her city. For her this was real madness. How could she loose her face and reputation in her community for something she wasn’t sure what to make of. Being a bold woman that she is, she decided to respond. She went to the streets to share Jesus with others. While doing that, she was captured by Jesus. This young unknown lady had been called with a heavenly calling, and Jesus had her hand on her. After finishing the first evangelism, she prayed and fully conscience and with a repented heart surrendered to Jesus. A few years after, when Albania went through a civil war and all missionaries were forced to leave the country, she stood up for Jesus and led the church, not just in prayer and teaching, but evangelism in hot war zone. Talk about God story!
Family:
In 1998 our paths met and we became one. Since than our family has grown and now we have three children. David is the beloved of the Lord, that is very black and white. He could very well be the prophet. His life is marked by a genuine fear of God, and a desire to follow him. Nikol is the victory of Jesus. She is the strong one that is determined to make it through to the end. She has potential to be the prayer and worship warrior. Simon is the one who hears the word of the Lord. He is the one that is marked by a gift to draw people. He might very well be an effective preacher/evangelist.
Life Call:
We believe that the Lord has placed us in our culture, in our time, in our generation for a purpose. We are motivated by that purpose and want to live our lives to fulfill that purpose. Our heart is to see an Albanian missionary movement. A movement of Albanians that fulfill there God given destiny to become a blessing to the nations. We believe that the Albanians are equipped especially to take the gospel to certain places, where the gospel has not penetrated yet.
Current Ministry:
They are currently involved in leading an Albanian team of church planters in Kosovo. They see this field as the best step forward to train, mobilize, support, send Albanians towards further fields. Their team is made up of five other Albanians. Besides the work of evangelism and church planting, they are actively involved in establishing a Pre-School and Elementarey School to serve their community; running English courses, evangelizing in other areas, as well as training other Albanians from Albania.