In the beginning of this month I prayed that I would fall in love, and boy, does God give us the desires of our hearts. Oh my goodness. My heart is bursting and I can’t wait to tell you all!
It’s true, I’m falling hard and fast, and if you were in my shoes I guarantee you would be too. [Insert ELF quote] “I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!”
It started out very easy and subtle, with the little things you don’t normally think of or would look over, but I took notice at how He was showing me love.
Only three sentences in but I know you’re dying with curiosity about who I am in love with, but it’s more like, what and where and who.
Meet Dobromirka, Bulgaria.
Yes, I am in love with where I am. I am in love with the views, the fresh air, the cold air, the trees changing color, the mountains, the grass. The population is about 607. Super tiny.
(Dobromirka neighbors some super super beautiful towns. Like this one.)
(Honestly would get an apartment right here on the river.)
It’s even as great inside; I’ve fallen in love with the conference center we’re living in. Us girls get a huge bedroom and 3 bathrooms to share, we all get our own beds and nightstands, and that means no bunkbeds this month! Numerous couches and chairs, and loads of blankets. A huge kitchen where I get to practice my Paula Deen skills and spend my early morning hours alone with Jesus, the Man making this all possible.
But throw all of that away because our hosts, Emi and Val are the icing on the cake. They are the sweetest couple that love God, and each other so well. Which in turn their loves spills over onto us and we are being loved and taken care of. They like to have fun with us, they are so silly and infinitely gracious. Daily hugs from Emi are my favorite. Val even brought some of us girls over to a little farm where we got some fresh milk, petted some cows and the loudest (yet cutest) baby pig, and then asked the farmer if we could ride a horse and I rode a horse for the first time!
Of course this whole thing is bringing us closer together as a team, our team times are filled with so much fun and laughter and even in normal day setting we are enjoying each other, sharing stories, and learning more about each other.
This whole month is going to be cooking and cleaning and serving (housewife training) the various conferences they have here.
This week is a women’s conference and the ladies here are wonderful. Everyone is so full of the Spirit, and they invited us to have morning prayer and devotions with them. There is even a British team here and that’s been fun to get to know them. The ladies attending the conference, even though I don’t know them personally, will still come up and give me a hug and say “God Bless You.” They invited us out for walks, we sit together at meal time, and they all have made me feel included here.
The first night of the conference, I was missing home. I haven’t found a cure for homesickness, but God did. There were a couple older men here that donate to Mission Possible, and come to find out, they are American born and raised! Half of my team and I spent maybe an hour and a half after dinner just talking to them laughing so hard my face hurt. I walked away with so much joy. And after that, I think about home, but I am getting my love tank filled to the brim and God helps cure that missing piece that’s home.
Today we all had communion and afterward we prayed in small groups. I was with a couple Bulgarian women who spoke English very well, one of them was helping lead the conference, the other was attending. After we were done praying, the girl who was attending turned to me and said, “I feel like you have a lot of questions, about things in your life,and this 11 month journey is going to be difficult sometimes and you’ll have questions about it. But I just want to encourage you that God has all the answers, and He will give them to you at the right time, you just have to be quiet to hear them.”
DANG. This girl doesn’t even know me and I’ve never told anyone about the million questions swirling around in my head. But for the last week I’ve been praying to hear something from God, anything. This time God used a stranger to talk to me. Just wow.
I just feel so much love for everything and everyone here. Did I tell you this town means “good peace?” From our fun time in Sofia to ministry here, month 3 is amazing.
Thanks God, for letting me fall in love here.
