Happy birthday congratulations this week go to Tatjana Dosti who played an important role in the rebirth of the Albanian church.
Tatjana – or Tanya as she is known on Facebook – married Berti in her village of Melcan, near Korce, on Saturday, October 24, 1981.
She then moved to Berti’s home in Lushnje where they have lived ever since.
As well as bringing up their two children, Alta and Dorian, and looking after the family home Tatjana has played an important part in the church.
She hosted the second ever service in Lushnje in their home and every week for the next six months until the Way of Peace church grew too big for their flat and moved into a bigger building.
In 1997 during the troubles when angry crowds took to the streets Tatjana, who had been working as a court official, got up early to help her boss remove important legal documents from their office and move them to safety as the mob were setting fire to public buildings all over the country.
It wasn’t the first time that Tatjana, pictured below, had braved a violent demonstration.
She had been caught up in violence in Lac when Berti’s policeman brother had been injured and crowds had surrounded the police station.
She then helped Berti set up the Victory School and as numbers grew there and at the church she gave up her job to work full-time for both organisations.
The saying that behind every great man, there’s a greater woman is certainly true of Berti and Tatjana.
She is one of the quiet but unsung heroines of the new Albanian church.
I hope she had a great birthday on Monday.
I am too polite to say how old she is, but readers can work it out if they read the Dostis’ story in God’s Secret Listener, published by Lion/Monarch of Oxford.
To order a copy for £7 including postage in the UK and £8 anywhere in the world email John@jbutterworth.plus.com
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