I’m almost positive that our ministry contact this month in Bulgaria is a legit rockstar… No lie! I will talk more about this in a minute though…
Our travel day from Romania to Bulgaria was actually pretty uneventful for the most part. That’s very unusual for a World Race travel day, haha…
So far I have not had a hard time leaving many of our ministries that we have partnered with. Not because I didn’t like them, but I guess because by the end of the month as your time and ministry begins to wrap-up, you just find yourself ready to move onto the next month. Leaving Romania though was very tough for me. I fell in love with the country and the people. It was incredible. Even harder though was saying goodbye to our ministry contact, Mihai.
Kevin’s team, 220, was heading to Serbia for month 7, so they left earlier than we did, and finally around 6:45pm our team headed to the train station as well.
When we got there, we unloaded our things, bought our tickets, took some pictures with Mihai, and before too long our train had arrived. We loaded up all our belongings onto the train car and said our goodbyes, had a big group hug, said a prayer, and before we knew it, the train whistle was letting us know it was time to go. As I watched Mihai wave goodbye and walk back to his truck, I began to tear up as I reflected on how servant hearted he had been to us this past month and about our incredible month in the country, that I was actually least excited about coming too… Funny how the Lord works those things out. Finally at 7:45pm, we pulled away from Aradna.
The next few hours I spent sleeping on the floor of the train, (i’m getting good at this, thanks to my 20 hour train ride across China, haha) until our train cart filled up and I had to head back to my seat to make room. We met a feller by the name of, Bodhi, and he asked us what we were doing in Romania, and we began to share. When I told him we were on a mission trip to share Jesus, he said, “can we talk more of this?” Of course we could! So we shared some more of our mission and what the Lord was doing and had an incredible conversation!
Our first train ride would come to an end in the city of Craiova and our tickets said we were suppose to get off the train at 2:30am. So about that time, we all moved our packs to the door and the train began to stop. We asked a couple of folks if this was “Craiova” and they nodded yes… That was great, minus the fact that they didn’t speak english… LOL… So, when the door opens, my teammate, Michelle, throws her 50 lb pack out of the train door, only to realize there wasn’t a platform… Then our friend, Bodhi, informed us that this was the wrong stop!!! Next thing I know, Michelle jumps out the door which is about 5 or 6 feet off the ground, grabs her pack to pass back up to us, and in the process the train whistle blows to let us know we were pulling away! We quickly drag Michelle and her pack into the train and began to take off again… Talk about a close call! Haha!
Eventually we get to our location about 3am, find a cozy little corner, (praise the Lord for heated train stations! Especaially when it’s snowing), and we all crash on the hard tile floor.
Our next train departed at 8:15am from Craiova to Calafat. We boarded the old, run down, two story train cart, and I spent the next 3 hours listening to sermons. I was happy because we could pry the train doors open while it was in movement, so I got to fulfill one of my dreams of hanging out the door of a moving train! (Sorry, Mama. I know, I know 😉 LOL. Love you!) I also got a picture with the conductor which was cool too!
Finally we arrived in Calafat, unloaded our stuff from the train around 11:30am and began our mile or so walk in the freezing cold to the ferry crossing. I was clinging to the hope that since we were heading further south that it would get a lot warmer… WRONG! Once again, it was snowing. We arrived at the ferry station, got our tickets, had our passports stamped, said goodbye to Romania, and loaded up onto the boat.
The trip across the Danube River wasn’t a long one at all. When we stepped foot off the ferry we were in Bulgaria! Pretty cool! We had about another half mile walk to the boarder station, got our next passport stamp and we were set to go into month 7 of our World Race!
Okay… So, now back to the first part of the blog… Once we arrived in Bulgaria, our contact, Yavor, walked over to meet us! I knew immediately that this would be a great month because he has long hair, a cool accent, and a great beard! Definitely rockstar material! Come to find out, he actually is the Pastor of the church here we will be attending, and has been for 12 years. In his spare time of not doing ministry and being a Pastor, he is also in a rock band and travels all over Bulgaria doing shows! Haha, how cool is that?!
I am super pumped about our ministry this month in Vidin, Bulgaria! It’s going to be full of surprises and amazing opportunities! We are working with a youth centre in the middle of Vidin, teaching and helping with guitar lessons. Hanging out with the youth, and just building solid relationships with them. We also have the chance to go to gypsy communities and preach the Gospel and evangelize to the locals! The first few days of ministry we have been working in an orphanage with 18 -30 year olds who have special needs… We did that in China as well with smaller children and I am so blessed and excited to the the chance to do it again! There are some other things too, but I will save them for a later blog.
Well, there you have it! Month 7, ladies and gentlemen! Time is flying by here on the World Race! Thanks for your love, prayers, and support. We couldn’t do it without each of you! Be in prayer as we minister this month and bring the Kingdom to Bulgaria!
Love y’all!
P.S. Random nugget… Vidin, Bulgaria is the poorest city, not only in Bulgaria, but also in the whole european union…
