Many of you are probably wondering what we are doing in Bulgaria. Well its been a crazy week! My team is doing something a little different than normal. Our month in Bulgaria is called Unsung Heroes month. We are actually here in Varna, Bulgaria searching out new ministry sites for future world racers to come to. With this being said we don’t have a particular ministry site to call home for the month. We literally have to find our own lodging for the month. This hasn’t been the easiest for me because I can be a go with the flow person but not all the time, I really do like my schedules and structure.
First off we are starting this month off not knowing how this whole world race thing works and then we basically have to fend for ourselves. Lodging has been nothing but a headache. We booked an apartment at our 10 hour layover in Chicago, but when we met the lady she wouldn’t let all 7 of us stay. When do we find this out at 7:00pm?! After we have had a 7 hour bus ride! We were frustrated, tired, and annoyed. So we started walking with our 80 pounds worth of stuff and just searching for whatever we could find. We came across a hotel and was able to get 2 rooms. God provided! We then started all of our focus on finding a place to stay. Oh by the way our budget is $5 a day per person for lodging and we are in a tourist area. Yeah not so easy. We thought we had it all figured out and we could go around the system. So we set up another meeting with an apartment and thought we could just send 2 people to meet the lady and get the key. We all new it wasn’t the right way to go about it but we were so tired and ready to focus our time on what we came for. Well God showed us he wasn’t liking our decision very well and we wound up getting kicked out of the apartment. Yep that happened. Not our finest moment. So we searched and searched some more and finally went back to the hotel we came from. We started our search again and God started shutting doors again! What the crap?! We are in a city we know nothing about and can’t find a place to live. Well we had already had a meeting with a church that we came to on Sunday. We called him and asked if we could all come with our 80 pounds worth of stuff and sit for awhile. We did and guess what?! God provided! The church has an apartment that they rent out with plenty of room for us. I was literally in tears when we found out. The whole time God just wanted us to trust that He had a plan and that He would provide if we would seek His guidance. We were too busy trying to do it our way instead of listening to Him.
Now back to why we are here. My team has already sent in 2 really good churches to The World Race Unsung Hero team. Both of these churches are so excited about a future partnership with the world race! I can’t wait to see Varna, Bulgaria open up as a new place for future teams to come! We are laying the ground work for future ministry to be done. Its truly humbling to think about!
We have had an opportunity to help in a local disabled children’s home this week also. Today I got to go and truly feel like I was needed. These kids really need to be loved on. I pushed kids in straight up chairs (to get their muscles working differently than they are used to) around the house for hours. I played ball with an autistic kid. Also got gently shoved by the same kid when I sat in his seat. Of course, I feel in love with this kid after this! I can’t wait to go back to the home and love on these kids!!
God has showed me in this short week I have been in Varna, that His plan is always better than mine! He always provides no matter the circumstance! Please keep my team in your prayers as we continue to find new contacts for future ministry sites!!
