I come from Pristina, Kosovo, from a Muslim family. I was a good boy and everyone loved me. After the war, I joined a gang and did many bad things.
I started selling drugs and smoking marijuana. Then, I started to sell and use cocaine. I felt like I was a king. When I started using heroin, I realised I was a loser, but I could not stop. I was addicted for 16 years.
I headed for Sweden. I thought if I got away from my friends, I could change my life. But I started again, doing worse things than in Kosovo. I was arrested, then returned to prison in Pristina. I wanted to stop but the devil was more powerful. When I left prison, people wanted nothing to do with me, even my family. There was no mercy for me.
One day I was thinking and crying, ‘How can this be my life? No one loves or wants me now. No one wants to help me.’ Then I thought about God. I realised the creator of this world and me is higher than anyone. I prayed, “God, if you really exist, please help me because I cannot live like this anymore.”
I went to a rehabilitation centre in North Macedonia, not realising it was Christian. Withdrawal was so painful. I could barely sleep or eat. You cannot imagine how I was tempted. But gradually, I got a little better each day.
I watched the people working there. From where were they getting their energy? I would wake up early and see them at 6am, reading the Bible, praying for us, and helping us. I thought, ‘How can these people love me? I want to be like them’.
I started to read the Bible. I realised that when I had prayed before, God’s response was to send me to a Christian centre. So, I started to pray to Jesus, asking Him to come into my life. After four months of praying each morning and evening, Jesus spoke to me. I heard His voice within my soul. Jesus said I don’t need to be scared because I will never be addicted again. All I needed to do was to follow Him.
I start to work at the centre. People there called me ‘rocket’ because I was flying. After three years, I returned from North Macedonia, and we opened a centre here in Pristina.
Arton speaks at the House of Hope; Prayer time in Kacanik; Pastor Artur Krasniqi and Arton baptise a young believer
People started to love me again. Then my family gave us a place to open the centre. I felt so welcome in my country. I found the local church—Fellowship of the Lord’s People. Pastor Artur invited me to share my testimony one Sunday, and after that, God started to bless me. There, I met my wife, Monica. She is from Romania. God has blessed us with a little girl, Ruthie. She is almost three years old now.
Pastor Artur asked me to consider a few places to go and serve in. I prayed for one place: Kacanik. People kept asking, “Why have you chosen this city? It is very dark, because Islam is very strong there.” I kept responding, “I don’t know why, but God put it on my heart to pray for that place. Even Jesus, when He was on the earth, didn’t look for the easy way. So, I will go there.”
Now, we have the House of Hope in Kacanik, with our Mercy Ministry. Children come to the centre. A girl there gave her life to Jesus. We have about four families who come to all the prayer meetings.
For three years we have driven to and from Kacanik each day. Now we have found an apartment there, and I am so happy. I love the things that God loves, and I know He will take care of us. I know that He’s going to be happy to start a church in Kacanik, so I put all my trust in my God because He saved me, He loved me, and He blessed me. I will serve Jesus with all my family, until the end of this world.
By Arton Veliu, House of Hope and Fellowship of the Lord’s People, Kosovo
