A Whole New World
We are in Sophia, Bulgaria. It’s a whole new world compared to the past three months in Central America. No more riding in truck beds, hearing the same beat over and over again, chickens, and colors… Oh and HEAT.
Central America went from a place I didn’t want to go to a place my heart grew to love. However, I was definitely looking forward and a little bit nervous about this next season of the race. New country, new continent, new team, etc… After 76 hours of travel, which included getting to see the most beautiful girl I know, Meredith Ann Amason in Houston, we made it to Sophia, Bulgaria.
We are partnering with International Baptist Church Pastored by Scott Chadwick. Us seven along with his wife and son are living in their 2-bedroom apartment. It may be a tight fit but we are more comfortable than we have been during this whole race. The Chadwicks have been amazing host and go out of their way to make sure we are well taken care during our stay here. I feel like I have a home to come to every night verses just a place we are staying.
They are devoted to reaching out to the refugees here through the church. On Thursdays, they worship, present the word, pray for, and feed the refugees. We have been apart of making that happen while being here.
Lets not forget the behind the scenes work like painting, cleaning, and organizing. I’ve learned that these little things that we seem to over look on the scale of needs in the missionary world are the things that keep the “big deals” running. The things that the long-term missionaries don’t have time to complete. We are only here for a short amount time and want to enable those that are here long-term so that way they can continue to build God Kingdom long after we are gone.
One day when we had nothing going on we decided to allow the Lord to lead us into whatever ministry he would have us do for the day. We call this ATL (Ask the Lord). We started the day out in worship together as a team. We then made our way to a park. In this park were all walks of life: the school kids, the 15 year old drug dealers, young moms and dads with there children, videographers shooting a hardcore parkour movie, and elders walking there dogs. We picked some spots to sing and play worship songs and socialize with the teenagers. It was awesome seeing people become interested in what we were doing. We had the opportunity to share what that was and simply spend time with them and make more Facebook friends. For sure, seeds were planted that day.
We’ve also had the opportunity to go to Borovtsi Training & Transition Center for a week. It was way out in the countryside of Borovtsi, Bulgaria. I have to say, this was such a blessing for me to get out of the city and back into the country. Not to mention I had my own room with a bed! That just doesn’t happen on the race!
The center is for boys coming out of orphanages and transitioning into life own their own. They have a set list of chores, classes, and are taught a few different vocational skills. We spent our afternoons painting the 3rd floor of the center in preparation of opening up more rooms to house more boys. We would then spend our afternoons spending time with the boys by playing sports, games, and music. Yes, they even got me out there shooting some basketball.
There were currently five guys living in the center. Lives that had been broken and shattered all over the place but hearts as big as they come. I was blessed by my short time with them and hope they too were blessed.
We have only a few more days here in Bulgaria. Going to take in and pour out what I can before leaving.
Stay tuned to hear what it was like being away from home on Easter for the first time!
