How do you change the world? One act of random kindness at a time. I love that quote. It's proving itself to be true over and over again in my life. Today we set out for a Bulgarian adventure and got more than we bargain for in the best way. We were heading into town to explore the cute city, Bankya, that we are staying in. As we were walking down the hills (let me tell ya, our buns will be in great shape after this month due to all the hills and stairs. PERK!), Kristin sees this elderly lady carries several heavy bags of groceries uphill. She said to me, "Hey, we should offer to help her". So we walked over and offered to carry her bags for her to her home.
She spoke no English, but thankfully understood that we wanted to help her. After a nice little uphill stroll, we made it to her beautiful home where she lives with her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters. Side note – Bulgaria might as well be the flower capital of the world cause I have seen more gorgeous flowers and gardens here than I could count. I LOVE IT! So after we drop off her groceries, she offers us to stay for coffee. We politely declined, but she insisted. We sat down on the porch and her daughter and granddaughters came out. Thankfully, her 17 year old granddaughter, Victoria, spoke wonderful English. For the next hour or so we shared coffee, homemade plum juice delight, some yummy cookies and stories. We found out the coolest things about this incredible family. They opened their home to us, shared their very best treats and even offered to take us site seeing sometime later in the week. It was such a delightful afternoon! The mom is an incredible landscaper and extremely talented artist. Victoria taught us some words in Bulgarian, which will sure come in handy this month.
As we said our goodbyes, they continued to show their appreciate for our visit. I was honored to be able to spend the afternoon with them. I love those organic meetings…when you are just walking about your own life and you cross paths with a need. When you step out to meet that need, you can find the most interesting and beautiful people. That's what this journey is about really. Meeting needs on the outside in hopes that you will get to reveal to them the One who meets the needs on the inside.
I encourage you today, wherever you are. Keep your eyes peeled for ways you can just step out of your comfort zone and be a blessing. You never know where it could lead. Sometimes to life long friendships, and ultimately the greatest goal would be to point them to Christ.
I cannot wait to see how this relationship with this lovely family unfolds over the month. Since they are just a few houses down, we will have lots of opportunities to be Jesus to them and hopefully lead them in the Way of Life.
