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Albania2010 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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After the brothers at headquarters considered John’s report on his visit to Albania, they assigned Leonidha Pope, Sotir Papa, and Luçi Xheka to care for the Tiranë Congregation and the work in Albania.
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Albania2010 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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Soon, reports came back showing that the brothers had got the point precisely. The three brothers in Tiranë were functioning as a Country Committee, and Spiro was visiting congregations regularly.
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Albania2010 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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A GOOD START—THEN A BLOW
Though the Country Committee was working hard to promote pure worship, trouble was soon to come. In 1963, Melpo Marks wrote her brother John that two of the three brothers who made up the Country Committee, Leonidha Pope and Luçi Xheka, were “away from their families” and that meetings were not being held. Later came word that Spiro Vruho was in the hospital and that Leonidha Pope and Luçi Xheka were sick, referring to Acts 8:1, 3, where Saul of Tarsus sent Christians to prison. What was happening?
Leonidha Pope, Luçi Xheka, and Sotir Ceqi worked in a factory where members of the Communist Party held talks for all the workers, promoting Communist ideals. One day during a talk about evolution, Leonidha and Luçi stood up and said: “No! Man did not come from monkeys!” The next day both were taken away from their families and sent to work as exiles in distant cities, a punishment Albanians called internim (internment). Luçi was sent to the mountains of Gramsh. Because they considered Leonidha to be “in charge,” he was sent to the rugged, cold mountains of Burrel. It would be seven years before he returned to his home in Tiranë.
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Albania2010 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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The brothers who took the lead had been sent away. The vigilant eye of the Sigurimi did not let the others communicate with one another. Nonetheless, the brothers in internim gave a remarkable witness to whomever they met. The people of Gramsh would say: “The ungjillorë [evangelizers] are here. They don’t go into the military, but they build our bridges and fix our generators.” These loyal brothers gained a glowing reputation that remained for decades.
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Albania2010 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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In the early 1960’s, Luçi was made a member of the newly formed Country Committee, which was to oversee the work in Albania. Soon he was sentenced to five years of internim (internment) in Gramsh, far from Frosina and the children. There Luçi continued to preach and talk about the organization. People in Gramsh remember him to this day.
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