Mark and Ruthie Stoscher have been serving the Lord in Albania since 1994. They moved to Erseka, a small town in the southeast of Albania, one month after getting married. Their hope was to encourage young Christians who had recently made decisions for Christ.

A church grew as other young churches were springing up around the country. The abyss of communism has led many Albanians to seek life and understand who Jesus Christ is. In 20 years, the evangelical church in Albania has grown from nearly nothing to the place where there are believers in almost every city and many villages as well.

In 1999, the Stoschers and their church cared for 1000 refugees from Kosovo. Through that crisis, the Lord opened the door for the Erseka church to obtain a large building. In the year 2000, they started using that building for summer camps, and in 2004 opened the doors to a winter Torchbearers Bible School. Now over 1000 people a year come to the camps and conferences and Bible School.

As the influences of materialism come into Albania, there are challenges, but people are still very open to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The church continues to grow, and people continue to come to Christ during the summer camps as well.

Mark and Ruthie's family has grown now and their four children feel that the Erseka church and town is home. Please join them in prayer that more Albanians would come to Christ, and that the Albanian believers would grow deeper in their faith

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