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As our two teams of fourteen stood on a street corner in Petrich, awaiting the next chapter of Bulgaria to unfold…

Here’s what we knew: A pastor of a neighboring town’s church was coming to get us…by the name of Pastor Mitko.

Here’s what we didn’t know: Where we were going, what we’d be doing, where we’d be living, if they spoke English.

But with our bags packed in eager anticipation…we waited…we trusted…

 
And Angel (pronounced Ungle) and Pastor Mitko pulled up to the curb.

So far so good!

As I crawled into the back of Angel’s car…I asked the million dollar question…”English?” Since Pastor Mitko (driving the other van) spoke none…it was a relief when Angel said yes…what I didn’t expect was how he came about the language…

“Years ago someone gave me a Bible…it was in English…so I translated it word by word into Macedonian.” (where he’s originally from) “So I know English only for words in the Bible.”

Wow!

We were driven to Sandansky, Bulgaria to an Evangelical Baptist Church (or so we’re told – Bulgaria uses a Cyrillic alphabet – your guess is as good as mine) where we were given accommodations in the church basement, a variety of service projects to choose from, and Bulgarian women cooking for us during our stay. Praise Jesus!
(Marissa, Hope & Emily – happy for beds!)

One day we were driven to Cold Water – a home for mentally handicapped women. We got up, showered and put on our Sunday’s best (which means us girls actually put on make up and wore earrings – a couple of us even sported skirts) – but after a quick conversation with Angel – decided to change into work clothes – not sure yet what the “work” entailed but knew we wouldn’t be playing cards with the women as we originally imagined. We then drove to the top of a mountain where the home is located and got out to enjoy the breathtaking view.

The first task at hand was given through broken English…and we began…painting trees!!! That’ right…we painted trees – which as best as we could understand would help decrease bugs and disease.
Once completed…we went back for more instruction. And the next thing we knew, blankets were spread out in the timber behind the home and we were shown the act of picking up pine cones. We all looked to the left…and to the right…”Did we understand them correctly? Are we really supposed to be picking up pine cones in the timber?” But as far as we could tell – we were right on track. So we loaded up the blankets (manual wheel barrels) and dumped them across the fence on the property line. We laughed…we joked…we felt foolish…but we continued. Before long…one by one, some of the women began to help us.

When the job was through and the blankets were folded…we walked up to a group of women sitting outside the home. I gently kicked a soccer ball towards one of the ladies…and much to my surprise she hauled back and kicked it right back to me. With a huge look of surprise on my face I clapped and hollered “bravo” (which I believe they know to mean ‘good’). The smile on her face was priceless. Impressed by her improving foot skills a few of us continued in the game of kickball until it was time for us to leave.

We still laugh at the randomness of that mountaintop in Bulgaria thinking…”maybe we were there to set an example…maybe we did it to give those who helped us a sense of purpose that day…maybe we did it because the real instructions were lost in translation…or maybe we did it simply because they asked us to.”

Either way…we spent the day painting trees and picking up pine cones as the words of Apostle Paul rolled through my head…

I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:22-23