Eleven months of my life. One month down, ten months to go. It is hard to believe Bulgaria comes to an end in just a couple short days. On Thursday, W Squad heads to Romania for debrief and *all squad* month for our second month on the Race; all 36 of us plus both squad leaders will be in one ministry house with just two bathrooms and a whole lot of crazy.
This month in Bulgaria has been an interesting one. It has not at all been what I expected the Race to be like. I assumed we would jump right into crazy ministry weeks, sleep in our tents, hold orphaned babies, play soccer with children, and have a ministry host whom we would have to play charades with because of a language barrier. In other words, I expected the Instagram version of the Race. But the version I expected is not the one my team received.
Instead, we spent the month living every Racer’s dream. We have had a kitchen to cook in, several grocery stores within a several minute walk, a hot shower, access to a real washer and dryer, beds to sleep in, an all English speaking ministry team, and a café across the street with wifi. Our ministry has been less hard work and more time spent being intentional – intentional in prayer, intentional in team bonding, intentional in building friendships with each other, intentional in building friendships with the ministry team, intentional with the people we interact with, intentional in encouraging the ministry team, and intentional about our time. It has been a month of growing in the Word during quiet time and during our team bible study, a month of reading non-fiction books and experiencing growth in my walk of faith, and a month of learning where God wants to see me grow.
We have spent our off days and downtime doing a various amount of fun things. We have explored Svishtov – the college campus, the cool viewpoints which overlook the town, the parks, and thrifting for winter clothes. We have had game nights with Josh and Lydia; we have spent time at the café for quiet times and free wifi. We spent an off day in Butovo, a village about an hour south of Svishtov, with our friends Pete and Jasmyn. We spent our most recent off day in Velico Turnovo exploring the city – we spent several hours in a beaten down 1000+ year old castle which used to house a king and queen, we explored the city for souvenirs and thrifted for winter clothes, we ate lunch at a restaurant with a stunning view, and we had desserts (and hard cider for the first time since leaving the States) at a local café.
Bulgaria has been an absolute blessing to be our first country on the Race. We have been spoiled and loved on by the ministry team and have met people we will never forget. Many aspects of it have felt a little like home, but at the same time we have dipped our feet (maybe our knees) into the water of what the Race will be like for the next ten months as we continue in Eastern Europe, then on to Africa and South America.
