1. The food. Being my first time outside of the U.S., it was fun to see how people eat in different parts of the world. I know that it will only get stranger form here on out and starting in Eastern Europe is definitely easing myself into it. The food in Bulgaria was a lot like food at home, but with a strange twist that made it feel undeniably foreign. I was thankful for everything I ate and really admired Didi and Maria spending so much time working in the kitchen to serve others. Bread and cheese in the morning, Creamy soups and savory meats during the day, and pink pudding for dessert almost every night. Some of the more interesting things served: warm milk at breakfast, potent cheese “from heaven” at every meal, and pasta with sugar.
2. The Mission Possible staff. I feel so blessed to have met these people of God. In Bulgaria there’s a mixture of post-communist atheism and legalistic orthodoxy. The result is a nation that is pretty closed to evangelism. They don’t want to hear it but they need the perfect love of Christ. And here we have Mission Possible Bulgaria, a hardworking staff of only eight men and women, who are not ashamed and don’t grow weary in doing good. And God promises in His word that they will reap a harvest, His word does not return void. They passionately serve and support the local church. publish the only Christian women’s magazine in the country, organize social projects for the poor, and host camps, conferences, and retreats at the center where we were living and working. And they loved us so well. They all prayed for us the night before we left and Roumen asked us all to come back to Bulgaria some day. My heart!
3. The animals. We woke up every morning to a chorus of birds filling Dobromirka with song. And you couldn’t step outside without running into a stray dog. Some of them we’re afraid of us because of how people have treated them but there was one dog in particular who had kind of even domesticated. He was so sweet and friendly. We found out later that he had a name but we called him Buddy. It made me sad to see the dogs mistreated, and we learned that the cats and even horses are typically not treated well. I’m glad we got to love on them a little while we could though.
4. Speaking of horses 🙂 Mikel and Di! Our cowboy and his wife. My team first met Mikel before I arrived in Bulgaria. He is one of the only English speakers we met. After chit-chatting with him at the local grocery shop, he affectionately nicknamed us the “Jesus Girls” and we called him the urban cowboy. We had one of our best evenings of the month when we went to their house and met their horses and puppies, drank tea, laughed and played with their son Sky. I will never forget the warm welcome they showed us. We shared with them about our mission and they responded with respect and friendship.
5. Worshipping with the church in Bulgaria. I’ve never experienced being a part of a church service that was in another language. In some ways it was difficult. It isn’t easy to stay engaged during a sermon in a foreign language! But it was a great experience to just sit and listen to voices lifted up in prayer. And every so often they would sing a worship song that I knew in English! So I would just quietly sing the words in English. It made the worship experience feel so special and I was so grateful for the words to be able express myself with the group.
6. The amazing thunder storm that the locals said was pretty normal. The lightning was non stop and filled the night sky with light. I love thunder storms at home bytes oh my goodness. I turned out all the lights and just pulled a chair up to the window to sit and drink it in. As I watched the amazing display unfold I had to question how people can look at such beauty and power and deny the existence of a God. How could something so incredible just be random? It’s been said before but I’ll say it again, it seems to me that it takes more blind faith to say that there is no creator than to trust that there is.
7. Our British friends! For our last week in Bulgaria a youth group from England came to help run the kids camp and we fell in love with them pretty much immediately. It was not a mistake or a coincidence that we were there at the same time. We laughed at each other’s accents, played card games and charades, worshipped together under the stars, talked and prayed and just generally refreshed one another. It was an encouragement to be poured into and to have the opportunity to pour into them.
8. Picking up litter. Our main ministry was doing housekeeping chores for the Mission Possible center, but there were lots of times when we got everything done and didn’t know what else to do with ourselves. We had to get creative, and one afternoon some of us went out and picked up the trash that littered the sides of the road. It felt so good to leave the village a little better than we found it, to the glory of God. Psalm 24:1 says that the earth and everything in it is the Lord’s, including a sleepy town in Bulgaria that is now a little cleaner thanks to us.
9. Beauty everywhere. The rural area we were living in was definitely lovely but we also enjoyed ourselves whenever we went into the city. I never saw so many examples of quirky street art. Around every corner there was something spray-painted on a wall. The murals were at times amusing, at times thought provoking, always a joy and a treat. But as cool as the street art was, God’s artwork out in the countryside blew it away. The Bulgarians are apparently crazy about sunflower oil, and it was evidenced by all the rolling fields if sunflowers we saw. The bright yellow faces, always turning toward the sun, always made us smile. If flowers can bend and muster the strength and control to turn and always keep the sun in the focus of their gaze, I should be able to do the same with the Son. This first month of my trip was hard at times. I know more hard time are to come. I want to be a human sunflower, turning away from the stuff that tears at me to look squarely at Jesus.
10. Coffee with the Orthodox monk. One morning we went out to mail some postcards, only to find that the post office was closed. On our way out we saw Mikel having drinks with a local man that we has seen around quite a bit. It was hard to miss him with his long gray beard, long black robes, and funny little hat. We couldn’t believe it when this guy that we had been calling “the priest” asked us (through Mikel as translator) to sit down and talk. He wanted to know who we were and why we had come to Bulgaria. When we explained that we were Christians and had come to bless and support Roumen’s ministry the conversation quickly turned to theology. The monk did everything he could to convince us that we were going to the wrong churches and desperately needed a priest to connect us and make us right with God. It was a cool opportunity to be bold and respond to him with confidence. We talked scripture and defended that Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death was all we needed to be right with God and the Holy Spirit within was all we needed to be connected. In the end we kind of agreed to disagree, but he bought us all coffees! Who knows, maybe we got him to think, or at least earned his respect.
11. Last but without a doubt not least… Our soccer buddies from the village. For most of the month our housekeeping ministry barely kept us all busy for the morning, so we found ourselves with a lot of discretionary time on our hands. First our group connected with some kids who spoke English. Other kids from the village started to gather outside the property and watch us until one day we invited some of them in to play with our frisbee. From there things just took off. The kids kept coming back day after day, sometimes bringing more and more friends. The language barrier definitely presented a challenge but the struggle to communicate and little victories just made the time sweeter. We came to love the kids so much and it got harder and harder to think that we would leave at the end of the month without being able to share with them about the love of Jesus. But Roumen invited then to be a part of the kids camp the last week and they made that lasting connection with the ministry that would still be there after we had gone. On our last night we gave the boys a new soccer ball and a children’s Bible for each of them (Bibles provided generously by Mission Possible!) We cried and prayed for them and said goodbye. I can’t stay in Bulgaria, and my love can only go so far, but since I loved in the Name of Jesus while I was there I can leave with peace because I know He is always there and His love never runs out.
