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From Albania to Oxford

The witness of an Albanian student in the UK (reprinted from the magazine of International Student Christian Services (ISCS))

In 1991, Albania opened to the world and to the gospel. I was among the first students who opened their hearts to Jesus. Once we were saved we were really feeling 'born again'. We felt sorry for all the years that we (and our country) lived without even the slightest idea about God, let alone having a spiritual relationship with him. In our mind the Western countries (including the UK) were Christians, privileged to believe in whatever they could choose.

When I arrived in Oxford in September, I was very disappointed to find that despite the many church buildings and the number of people with Biblical names there was little evidence of 'living' Christianity. However, God led me to a church where the Bible is preached and the gospel proclaimed. When the church started to grow in Albania there were many of us on fire for God, willing to serve and sacrifice a lot of our time, possessions and gifts for God and for one another.

We grew up in our faith sharing with one another the strengths and weaknesses of our relationship with God. The lack of such spiritual encouragement from fellow believers in the UK was not helping me to settle down.

Nevertheless, despite my struggles, God kept giving me opportunities to share the gospel with my fellow students and teachers. Being a student provides excellent opportunities to point people to Jesus and it has been my privilege to be able to do this with many colleagues and to lead a student from Ukraine to a personal faith in him. I long that all my fellow Christian postgraduate students be like living magnets, drawing others to the love of Christ.

As an encouragement, God has al-ready blessed me with a few English friends who make me feel at home, and are really on fire for God and willing to serve him. I am grateful for their help, encouragement and friendship to me. And I do hope that there will be more brothers and sisters in the Lord like them. There is always hope in the Lord Jesus!

Edlira Mulla, MSc student in Oxford

This story is taken from the magazine of International Student Christian Services (ISCS).