{"id":25105,"date":"2025-12-02T09:15:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T09:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=25105"},"modified":"2025-12-02T08:49:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:49:46","slug":"three-join-the-adventist-church-in-albania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/three-join-the-adventist-church-in-albania\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Join the Adventist Church in Albania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>18 November | Tirana, Albania [Vefiola Shaka <em>with<\/em> <em>tedNEWS<\/em>]<\/p>\n<p>Three members of the Tirana East Seventh-day Adventist Church have recently made public commitments to follow Jesus, marking a period of celebration for the Adventist community in Albania. Two baptisms took place on 14 September in the waters of Lake Ohrid, while a profession of faith was made on 6 September. Although their spiritual journeys are different, each story testifies to the power of God\u2019s Word and the influence of personal ministry in transforming lives.<\/p>\n<h2>Kliti Gramozi Affirms His Faith After Two-Year Spiritual Journey<\/h2>\n<p>Kliti Gramozi, an advocate with a specialisation in psychology, first connected with Pastor Gentian Thomollari, the minister of the Tirana East Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Publishing Ministries Director for the Albanian Mission (AM), nearly two years ago, when he requested a copy of <em>The Great Controversy, <\/em>written by Ellen G. White, Chruch co-founder<em>.\u00a0<\/em>The book sparked further questions, and he continued reading other titles shared with him, including <em>Patriarchs and Prophets<\/em>, <em>Health and Wellness<\/em>, and <em>Amazing Discoveries<\/em> <em>in the Holy Land<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>As their Bible studies deepened, particularly through the <em>Explore Bible Series<\/em>, Gramozi decided to commit his life to God. On 6 September, he made a public declaration of faith, testifying to the miracle of God\u2019s power, including helping him overcome smoking. \u201cGod really uses the Bible and our books to inspire, change worldviews, and transform lives for His glory,\u201d Thomollari emphasised. \u201cThis book touched my soul and mind. It showed me the way things are and how great God\u2019s love is for us,\u201d Gramozi shared.<\/p>\n<p>For Gramozi, John chapter 4 was key in helping him understand which church he felt aligned with, and he encourages others to read and reflect on its message. Emotionally moved, he affirms that this was the best decision of his life. \u201cOn September 6 of this year, at the Tirana East Church, I began to live my new life,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<h2>Spiro Ndrio Demonstrates Faithfulness Through Bible Study and Stewardship<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25112\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25112\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25112 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Albania-Baptisms.jpg\" alt=\"Pastor Gentian Thomollari baptises Spiro Ndrio and Eugen Cela in the waters of Lake Ohrid, Albania, with Ndrio, Gentian and Cela pictured from left to right\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Albania-Baptisms.jpg 630w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Albania-Baptisms-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Albania-Baptisms-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Albania-Baptisms-350x197.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25112\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor Gentian Thomollari (middle) baptises Spiro Ndrio (left) and Eugen Cela (right) in the waters of Lake Ohrid, Albania<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Spiro Ndrio began attending the Tirana East Seventh-day Adventist Church after receiving an invitation from a member named Flora Agolli. He soon accepted Thomollari&#8217;s invitation to study the Bible twice a week. When they explored the biblical teaching on tithing, he responded, \u201cI am not rich, but I love God and want to be faithful.\u201d Despite receiving a small pension, he has remained faithful in this commitment ever since.<\/p>\n<p>Ndrio was baptised on 14 September, expressing deep assurance and gratitude. \u201cI am under the protection of Christ, and I feel very complete,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Eugen Cela Makes a Decision After Seventeen Years of Searching<\/h2>\n<p>For more than 17 years, Eugen Cela had been attending church without being baptised. He participated in worship and valued fellowship but had lingering questions about certain doctrines, especially the biblical teaching on the state of the dead.<\/p>\n<p>When Thomollari noticed that Cela&#8217;s name was not on the official membership list, they began studying the Bible together, focusing on the topics that had caused confusion. \u201cWe studied four times a week,\u201d the pastor said. \u201cIt was wonderful to see how his understanding and joy grew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On 14 September, Cela made the long-awaited decision to be baptised, rejoicing in his newfound peace and clarity of faith. He shared how grateful he is to finally be baptised in the Adventist Church. \u201cNow I need to grow in faith, and I pray throughout the day to grow in dedication and apply the Bible in every aspect of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter baptism, life is not a field of flowers but a battle. Only through prayer and reading the Bible will God give us victory and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p data-start=\"3448\" data-end=\"3672\"><em>[Photos: Courtesy of the AM Communications Department]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The commitments followed months and, in one case, years of prayer, Bible study and supportive relationships<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":25114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1580,7,1577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albania-croatia-slovenia","category-news","category-organisational-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25105"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25161,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25105\/revisions\/25161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}