It was a chilly spring morning in Peje, Kosovo, when my team of five other girls and I set out around 7:30 am to catch a bus headed up into the Rugova Mountains. We planned to trek to different remote villages in the mountains in hopes that we could share the gospel. Earlier that week, we had spent some time in listening prayer, asking the Lord where he would like us to focus our time for the next couple of weeks. We felt a directional calling to head west from the capital of Pristina. After some more research, we found a trail many others had hiked in the past that would lead from village to village and take roughly 7-10 days round trip. We loaded up with our tents, sleeping pads, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, and faith that we would be able to buy some more food in the first village. The bus ride took about 45 minutes; our only companions were two other middle-aged ladies.
The bus dropped us in the village of Kuqiste and continued up the road with one of the ladies. After a quick look at our map, we started up the road to find the trailhead. We used All Trails, a reliable and widely used app, to navigate our journey. So, we were confused as the first four miles continued up the same road the bus had continued to travel up after dropping us off. The hike was gorgeous, with stunning snow-covered mountains surrounding us. We were in high spirits and began praying that the Lord would provide connections, a hot meal, and a warm fire.
We came upon the first village on our route: Boga. We pulled to the side right before entering to pray and ask the Lord if this was where he wanted us to stop. While praying, our group received a couple of things from the Spirit: a picture of a heart, the word “wood,” a picture of an abundant feast, and lastly, I saw a man’s face. I had never seen a picture like this and was unsure if it was from the Lord, so I quietly told one of my teammates and thought very little of it. We felt at peace about heading into the village, and with those pictures in mind, we started walking.
The village turned out to be less of a village and more of a ski resort, a resort out of season. It was empty! None of the villas housed people; no smoke came from the chimneys and no sign of life. But, we kept walking a bit further and saw a single villa with smoke curling up, and we quickly stepped up and knocked on the door. To our surprise, the woman we rode on the bus with opened the door! After figuring out that we needed google translate to communicate, we asked if she knew of a place we could stay that night, where we could purchase some food, etc. She quickly called her boss, the man that owned the villas. As she called, we saw that on her phone case was a single, large, red heart. We exchanged glances with each other – the first sign confirmed.
On the other end of the line, her boss, B, who spoke English, spoke to one of my teammates. We moved the conversation to WhatsApp so that we could continue talking. He was very interested in meeting us, so he offered to let us stay for free in one of his villas for the night. He told us he would love to take us to dinner the following evening. We gratefully accepted the offer of free lodging. The lady took us to our housing, a wood cabin with a wood fireplace – the second sign confirmed. We settled in for the night and snuggled up to the fire. We felt blessed to have a roof over our heads for the night instead of a tent.
The following day, we woke up to seven inches of snow – boy, were we grateful to have had a warm place to stay! A hot breakfast was provided by our hosts (food would be continued to be provided for us for the entirety of our stay – the third sign of a feast, confirmed.)
B, the businessman who owned the property, messaged us that morning and told us that he would be coming from Pristina (a three-hour drive) to drink coffee with us. He had an important meeting that evening for which he needed to go back to town, so dinner was no longer an option. He arrived that afternoon in his luxury SUV. He entered the villa, where we were eating a delicious lunch. When he came through the door, I recognized him, but not because I had met him in person; he was the fact that I saw when we had prayed the day before! I turned to my friend and whispered, “That’s him! That’s the face I saw,” – the fourth sign confirmed.
We drank coffee with him and began to talk about what we were doing in the mountains. We discussed several topics, including religion, business, our lives back home, etc. He told us to ask, and he would provide anything we needed or wanted. Jokingly, I began to pray privately, asking God if he would allow our team to use the jacuzzi at the resort. B stopped the conversation, pointed to me, and said, “You all can use the jacuzzi because of her.”….speechless. God was providing everything we asked for, even if it wasn’t necessary.
As the afternoon crept into the evening, our conversation continued. B invited us to go to a restaurant down the road with him, and we went. At this restaurant, we were able to share the gospel with him for over two hours! We were also able to pray for him. It was clear that the Spirit led us up this mountain and to the village for this one specific man. He bought us dinner, and we left. We later realized that he had missed the meeting for which he needed to be back in town. As he drove back to Pristina that night, he sent these messages to our team:
“To be honest, I am thinking a lot about this meeting. Why did it happen?!!! Don’t know why I dropped everything and a busy day and simply came.”
“It was my most interesting day in years. You are all so kind. I think you all are a gift from God for me.”
“I didn’t want to say and felt strange, but after the prayer, at the restaurant, I had a strange feeling and almost cried. I am the most relaxed I’ve been in years.”
We spend the next couple of hours in worship and prayer for B.
He continued to shower us with generosity. He allowed us to stay at the villa for as long as we needed, free food continued to be provided, and we were able to minister to the family of the lady who came to visit her (and see us, lol). We are continuing to pray for his salvation!
What did I learn from this experience:
- God is a good father who wants to provide abundantly more than we could ask or think. God graciously answered every one of our prayers, including things just for fun, like the jacuzzi. Our team motto following this experience was: The Lord Provides!
- God uses pictures and words to lead us to where he is working and confirm things.
- God gave our team the spiritual gift of faith for the rest of the time together as a team. We were led into more trust, dependence, surrender, and confidence that he was going before and behind us. As we headed into the rest of our time in Kosovo and Georgia, this gift of faith marked us.
- Sometimes, it’s about the one and not the many.
- That obedience to the small things is often more important than the big things.
Just one of the incredible stories from the field! More to come soon!
With love,
Corban
