Zap! It was the most intense pain I have ever felt. Hundreds of volts of electricity jolted through me causing every muscle in my body to contract so forcefully that I could not let go of my wire cutters. I knew I was being electrocuted and was completely helpless to stop it. Before I blacked out, my only thought was “I’m dying, and I’m not ready! God, save me!”

On October 22, 1998, God did save my life, and He really got my attention, too. When I regained consciousness I had an overwhelming sense that God had a plan, a specific purpose for my life. I was sure of it! I just didn’t know what that purpose was. Now that God had my attention, He took me on a wilderness experience. That’s another story. Finally, in the summer of 2003, I knew! My wife Brenda knew God’s purpose for her life, too, and it was the same purpose! God is so good. Unbeknown to me, God had been preparing our family step by step for foreign mission service; specifically, soul winning and church planting among the people of Albania.

Why Albania? The only answer we can give is that God planted the seeds of compassion for the Albanian people in our hearts even before we knew where Albania was! Brenda and I each felt drawn to Albania separately after reading articles in Adventist Frontiers by the Hendricksons and the Wilcoxes. Brenda and I happened to be living in Germany during the momentous events surrounding the fall of the Berlin wall. We saw the effects of communism up close. Maybe that has something to do with our empathy for the Albanian people. Maybe it was the Hendricksons’ fasting and praying for more missionaries in Albania on June 5, 6, and 7. By divine providence, on June 7 we approached John Baxter about service with AFM. Since then, God has made it very clear to us that He wants us to serve Him in Albania, the poorest country in Europe.

The Albanian people have been through incredible heartache. Communism ended there in 1992, but in its wake, tragic suffering lives on. The people are devastated by grinding poverty, extremely high unemployment, excruciating memories, suspicion, fear, and an overriding sense of hopelessness. Just try to imagine for a moment what it would be like to live your whole life without knowing Jesus, believing the atheist creed, “There is no God.” Just to peer into that black pit of meaninglessness, emptiness, and utter despair. It’s a deep, dark, horrifying place isn’t it? How would you like to live there?

There is only one way out for the Albanian people, but they don’t know the Way. Since we know the Way, we can’t just leave them in that pit, can we? Can you? Will you join us in the urgent mission of showing them the Way? Are you willing to pray? Are you willing to give? If you are, we are willing to go! Together, we can be a rescue team. If you will hold the rope, we’ll go down after them. Together, with God, we can do it!

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