After a flight from Atlanta to Chicago, a 10 hour layover in Chicago, 12 hour flight from Chicago to Istanbul, flight from Istanbul to Sofia, a night in a hostel there, a 7 hour bus ride from Sofia to Silistra, and finally a 15 minute car ride to Kalipetrovo, my team and I have finally arrived at our first ministry host! 2 days in travel ways brutal, but I learned so much about how to find joy in between. I don’t think I’ve had a more entertaining couple of days in my life, whether it be attempting to break dance in the middle of O’Hare airport, getting my perfectly packed day pack be completely dumped by airport security because they thought I brought a gun ammo magazine (surprisingly missing from my seemingly endless packing list), or having the time of my life flying Turkish Air (free movies and slippers), it’s been a truly, truly joyful and fun time.
We just got to our first ministry host, Roger and Gail Dine, last night, and I don’t believe we could have been blessed more by them. They greeted us with gift bags, complete with candy bars and a small souvenir, as well as a dinner made from Bulgarian cuisine. The Dine’s live in one of the most quaint houses I’ve been in, centered around an outside area with fruit trees all ripe, bearing crops of grapes, peaches, and plums. Our team has truly been blessed over this first few days, and with amazing accommodations for the next month.
Bulgaria is truly beautiful, and I am so excited for the month that lies ahead here. But as wonderful as the accommodations and views are here though, it is a place desperately in need of spiritual revival. Talking to our hosts, the economy of the country is still in question in the advent of communism, and most young people move out of Bulgaria because they believe there isn’t much of a future for them there. This negative view of Bulgaria seems to be present in most people, even the ones still there, multiple times people on our squad noted that no one seemed very happy as we walked through the cities, it looked like they were clocked in for their day of life, and were ready to clock out. One of the consistent themes that came up from our conversation with our hosts that there was a major need for hope. If any country seems like a place in need of Good News, Bulgaria is it. Fortunately my team comes bearing the best news imaginable in the form of The Gospel.
I want to invite all my followers of the blog to pray for Bulgaria with me this month. Bulgaria belongs to The Lord, and He loves all the people here so much! Pray for hearts to be open to The Gospel here. Pray that people find their joy and hope in Him. Pray for a revival to start here, and that God would send His Spirit to change the hearts and culture of this country. And finally pray for the Dine’s as they continue to minister to this country, and for my team as we minister to the people here.
I love you guys so much, I should be keeping this updated more often now that I’m on the field, I can hardly believe that it’s finally here!
God Bless,
Andy
