Disclaimer: This blog is about a month too late, seeing as we're almost to the end of our month in Romania. I apologize for being so behind on my blogs – I promise to get all caught up so that I can keep you properly updated!
Allow me to let you in on what we did last month in Bulgaria – month 7.
We were working with a missionary couple from England last month, Kevin and Anne Luck – they’re the ones who connected us with all of the ministries that we had the opportunity to work with.
They were an incredible blessing to us, serving us with such selflessness.
They would drop whatever they were doing to help us get where we were trying to go when we got lost – which was a frequent occurrence for the first week and a bit – and they were always there to encourage us with bits and pieces of spiritual wisdom that they had picked up over the years.
I’m incredibly thankful that we had Kevin and Anne behind us as we made our way through the month in Bulgaria.
It was a busy month for us – we finally had a schedule!
We were connected with four different ministries throughout the month and each day would look a little bit different.
The first way we served was by cleaning at a nursing home a couple of times a week.
We would go in the morning and clean the nooks and crannies of the residents’ rooms.
Oftentimes the staff at the nursing home wouldn’t have time to clean everything in the rooms, such as the windows or behind and under the beds or the tops of dressers.
There were only a few staff members and they were doing everything – from changing sheets to serving the meals to scrubbing toilets to caring directly for the residents.
So our job was to bless them by doing the deep cleaning of places they haven’t had time to get to in a while because they’re so busy.
We were also able to sit with the residents in the moments in between cleaning.
Although there were few words we could actually exchange with them, it was still so special to give our time to these people who are rarely visited by anyone in the nursing home.
Our second ministry involved partnering with three young people serving long-term through YWAM (Youth With A Mission).
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, Kaitlin, Emily, and Fabion lead a kids club at the church in the gypsy village of Kazanlak.
We had the opportunity to partner with YWAM during our time in Bulgaria, helping them love on the kids of the Roma community.
The YWAM’ers led them in worship songs, followed by a short message, and then we just got to play with them!
One afternoon, Kaitlin felt it on her heart to pull each child aside, one by one, so that they could be prayed over.
She has such a strong longing for every single one of the gypsy children to know their true, full worth in Jesus – it was really cool to be able to watch her encourage their beautiful young hearts to love the Father who created them.
Our third ministry was at an adult disability center – a place for adults with disabilities, both mental and physical, to go during the day and learn life skills, do crafts, or just hang out.
This ministry involved assisting with several different areas each day, such as cleaning up after their recent renovations, painting the fence outside around the center, and sweeping up sticks and pine needles on the ground outside.
During the times when we wouldn’t have much to do, we got to do some crafts!
No, we didn’t exactly help the clients with crafts… they sort of just sat us down with some materials and let us do crafts on our own…
Which ended up being just fine and dandy!
One of my favourite parts of this ministry was the friend we made there: Mitko.
He was one of the clients at the disability center and spent all of his time with us while we were there.
He loved Jesus and was not afraid to tell you all about it, and of course ask if you have Jesus in your heart as well.
He was the essence of genuine joy and I looked forward to seeing him every time we went there.
Our last, but not least, ministry for the month was at a disability daycare.
This daycare was for children up to the age of 18 to go during the day and be cared for and taught by the workers there.
Several days that we were there were spent cleaning up the downstairs part of the center, which was new, for the grand opening that also happened while we were there.
We also spent a lot of time just being able to love on the kids, which was probably one of my favourite things to do this month.
There were children with a wide variety of disabilities, both physical and mental.
Spending time with those kids filled my heart to the brim and showed me in a small way how Jesus feels when we cling on to Him with all of our might.
Those kids are so special and are in no way less than anyone else.
I felt so blessed to be able to show them that.
