“Is it concrete or is it poop? It’s never concrete, it’s always poop…”
After a few hours, sometimes mere minutes of baking in the hot Bulgarian sun, the identification of what surrounds a squatty potty can be hard to distinguish. And lets be real, squatty potty or western toilet, when do people ever make it into the hole? You’d think having a target of almost a foot in diameter would make things a bit easier…make it hard to miss the mark….well my friends, this is NOT the case. And putting 1,000 people on the top of 1 mountain, sharing 7 holes….you can only imagine the monstrosity of messes we would find.
This month my team and I were placed with the organization Mission Possible. Just to give you a little bit of a background on this amazing organization….their main office is located in Sofia, Bulgaria, where they produce the only Christian Women’s Magazine in the country. They also accomplished printing the first and only Bulgarian Bible to include maps. Mission Possible serves their community in many ways, including training Sunday school teachers, church leaders and providing Pastoral care. They also minister and work with many gypsy communities, telling them about Christ, and encouraging the young girls to wait to marry. (A lot of gypsy girls will marry at 12 or 13). The fruits of this organization are undeniable, and the passion they have to glorify the Lord is beautiful.
This past week, my team and I found ourselves serving alongside this organization on top of a mountain in Sliven, Bulgaria. It was amazing. Mountains, tents, worship, community, and fresh air. You can’t get much better than that. Specifically, we were there to cook and help in the cleaning efforts of a large Christian Worship Conference, which takes place on top of this mountain every year. When I say cleaning efforts, I mean grab a hose, grab a stick, grab a broom, and figure out how to get the pile o’ poo over there into that hole in the cement slab…..because, yes, folks….people NEVER make the mark.
My lovely teammate, Candace Bruce, wrote the little jingle above to sing while we questioned whether each baked lump was meant to be there or not….”Is it concrete or is it poop? It’s never concrete, it’s always poop.”
I must say, it’s a pretty accurate picture. Most of the time it was a big mess of poo.
Although this seems like just about the last task you’d want to perform, it really wasn’t as bad as you’d think. It gave us an opportunity to serve humbly and with happy hearts. I mean, if you can scrape poop into a hole with a happy heart, you can do just about anything with one. When Jesus came to earth, he came to do the dirty work. He got messy, and he associated with the messy people. We aren’t called to live a comfortable life, but we are called to serve, and to serve with a happy heart. I can truly say that our team was incredibly blessed to serve the Bulgarian Christian community in this way last week. I will never forget how welcoming and thankful they were for our help, and I would gladly do it all over again.
The clean version…you're welcome.
Worship
The Sophia Team
I love Bulgaria!! 🙂
