Testimonies

My name is Anila Difi, and I am part of the church in Tirana in Via Besa. I was born into a Catholic family in a small town in northern Albania, called Pukë. Since childhood, I asked myself existential questions: Who am I? Why am I in this world? Why do people die? These questions came and went without answers, but the desire to know the supernatural always returned.

Out of the desire to find answers, I began attending the Catholic church, as it was the faith of my family. I did my catechism, was baptized, and received Confirmation. During this period, my cousin invited me to her home because some evangelical Christian believers were gathering to talk about Jesus. I was immediately struck by the way they spoke about Him, as well as the love they showed me, even though they did not know me.

As soon as I told the nun who taught catechism that I had met a group of evangelical Christians, she rebuked me and told me not to meet them again, because they were not Catholic and I should not “betray the faith of my fathers.” For fear of doing something against God, I stopped going. Shortly after, my entire family moved to Tirana.

But God did not give up on me: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). One day, a friend of my sister invited me to her house because an Italian missionary, Salvatore Corcelli, and a group of Christians were meeting to read the Bible and talk about Christ.

I began to read the Bible and understand that I needed Christ. Even though I attended the Catholic church and thought I was a “good, quiet girl,” when I read the Bible and listened to the sermons, I realized that—comparing myself to the holiness of God—I was not that good and that I needed to be purified by the blood of Christ.

Although I faced a great dilemma, thinking I was betraying my family’s traditions, I read in the Bible: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I understood my need for Christ, and one day I knelt down and asked for His forgiveness, inviting Jesus to become the Lord and Savior of my life.

The missionaries Salvatore and Beatrice Corcelli invited me to join them on a mission trip to Kosovo for a year. During that year, I built the pillars of my faith and made a commitment to serve God every day of my life, wherever He places me. Salvatore and Beatrice became my spiritual parents, caring for me with great love and patience, and providing an example of humility and love for God, for the church, and for people.

My prayer is that God may use me in the service of the local church and the community where I live. To God be the glory!