Zdraveite friends, family, strangers from the interwebs! This month, my sweet teammates and I find ourselves in Burgas – a beautiful city located in the southeast of Bulgaria, right on the Black Sea.
Before I get too ahead of myself, let me first apologize. I had another update to post from Romania, but sometimes technology and I don’t get along and files get lost or deleted, so the post isn’t going to happen. But I will say this about my time in Romania: There is such darkness in that place, but there is a light that is slowly but surely making its way in through the people that the Lord has placed there to do His work, and I am honored to have been a part of it, if just for a month. The “Graveyard of Missionaries” isn’t going to be a graveyard any longer.
Our sweet friend and translator, Andreea, who met Jesus just a couple of months ago through another World Race squad.
I had the honor and privilege of orchestrating the logistical side of a free eye glasses clinic put on by my squad, a missions team from the UK, and Hope church that served over 200 people from the community. I had the honor of guiding this woman to have her physical need met and watching my teammates pray fervently over her to have her spiritual needs met.
Back to Bulgaria. This month is not the norm for my team. Usually on the World Race, each team is partnered with a church or organization for the month, coming alongside them, providing lift to the ministries they’re already engaging in and providing extra hands and feet so they can pour into things they don’t otherwise get to pour into. Each team gets to be a refreshment and encouragement to missionaries, pastors, workers, serving in some of the darkest and most difficult places to serve.
In Bulgaria, specifically in Burgas, part of the difficulty of serving here comes from being categorized as a “dangerous sect,” being forced to obey the laws and restrictions placed on other religions and cults that flooded the country after the fall of Communism.
This month, my team has the unique honor and privilege of being tasked with pioneering this city for Adventures in Missions, of seeking the treasures of the Kingdom planted here, and facilitating partnership so that future teams can amplify the Kingdom work happening here.
This month, we are treasure hunting, more or less without a map.
This month, instead of a host greeting us and showing us our home for the month, we were greeted by hostel bunks and pointed in the general direction of city center. Instead of ministry orientation and instruction (as vague and surprising as that can often be), we dove into ministry creation and connection, using a few names we’ve been given from various people, and primarily relying on the guidance of our good friend, Holy Spirit.
This month, I’m learning more than ever what it looks like to depend on the Lord, to take everything before Him in prayer. Each morning my team and I spend a sweet hour in prayer over our ministry, our supporters, our friends back home, and our other squad mates. We spend an hour nearly every afternoon covering the city with our feet and our prayers. We spend the hours in between reaching out to potential ministry partners, meeting with them, and learning about ministry in this city. This month, I’m seeing prayers answered, maybe more than ever – funny how that works.
We’ve prayed for lodging that can be a place of rest and refuge, within budget, and full of light; we’ve received a precious studio apartment that is as sweet, safe, bright and cozy as can be (especially with 7 people in it), and under budget to boot. For the week we can’t rent the apartment, we’ve graciously been given the best lodging a church could possibly offer (HELLO, fully equipped gym, washer AND dryer).
Emily, the one with all the knowledge on what mapless ministry looks like, who is even more cheery, full of light, and a blessing than this cozy studio apartment with all 7 of us in it. I’ve never been so happy to sleep inches from the kitchen.
We’ve prayed for young adults to minister to; we’ve befriended an English teacher from Ohio who’s been praying for people her age to fellowship with, and been invited into a young adults group.
We’ve prayed to be invited to share traditional Bulgarian food; we’ve been taken to lunch at the local’s favorite spot on the shore that same afternoon.
We’ve prayed, maybe most prominently, for a flood of ministry contacts, for eyes to see the Kingdom treasures planted here, and for new partners for AIM (not husbands, as might be directly translated without clarification) in this city; we’ve attended church at and met with the pastor of the largest evangelical church here – the church that takes smaller churches under their wing, providing what they can so that they flourish despite persecution – and been given access to his network of Christians. We’ve been exposed to the needs of that specific church, and of the churches in this city and surrounding villages.
We pray expectantly for more meetings, more treasures discovered, more relationships forged, more Kingdom revealed, and more guidance to the ones who need what we have to give.
We have no map, but we have this truth to rest in: the goodness of God and the manifestation of his goodness through His people is, and will always be, more than enough.
And if we forget, we have this sea and this rainbow that interrupted the storm to remind us of that.
