My team has been in Dobromirka, Bulgaria for over two weeks now. The village is quiet and the streets are often empty. Most of the people here are over the age of 65 and I have only met a couple of adults that speak English. The place where we are staying and the ministry that we are doing is not quite what I was expecting my first month of the World Race to look like.
This month we are doing ministry for Mission Possible, a missions agency that aims to support Bulgarian churches and minister to the locals by holding seminars and camps. In the building that we are staying in we are very blessed to each have a bed to ourselves, two rooms to share, a kitchen, a washing machine, and wi-fi. Earlier in the month we cleaned rooms in preparation for the people who stayed with us for a weekend. The people who stayed with Mission Possible are a church group who came to hear sermons, play games and worship the Lord. During the time that they were here we helped prepare food in the kitchen, served them, and washed the dishes. They stayed with us for four days. Since they left we have had a lot of free time. We take walks around town, shop in the small stores in the village and play games with some of the children from the town.
One bright light in the past few weeks has been Annabelle.
Annabelle is the 18 month old granddaughter of one of our hosts. She is constantly smiling and loves to dance. She loves to feed us and always wants to be chased. She has so much joy when she sees us in the morning and when she is looking for us she calls out, “Kako” which means “aunt” or “big sister” in Bulgarian. She fills our day with laughter and fun. She finds fun in any place that she is in.
One of the things that I love most about Annabelle is she is in love with her grandparents. The relationship that I see between her grandfather, Nasko, and Annabelle reminds me of the one between God the father and myself. Nasko has so much love for his granddaughter and Annabelle in return loves him. The way he smiles when he sees her and the way she laughs and runs for him, moves my heart. Annabelle is always on the move. I always see him following after he wherever she goes. She walks from one end of the yard to the other and when she walks in a direction where she is not supposed to go (like the stairs…) he will either pick her up or lead her in the right direction. My teammate Stephanie has a picture of Annabelle. While her face is full of curiosity and wonder, Nasko can be seen in the background looking down at her and smiling.
Even though I am not where I would think to be, I always want to exude joy and laughter. I know I will stumble but God will not let me fall. I want my Father to always look down on me and have have a smile on His face. I want to make him proud to call me daughter.
I think that it is safe to say that this month has been a challenge for most of my team. Whether in not being able to do the ministry that we expected or in feeling lost and confused, our team has been a little discouraged by our time in Bulgaria. But during this free time we hope to grow closer together, go deeper together and grow closer to God.
I am FULLY FUNDED! Thank you to all my supporters and glory be to God. It is truly amazing what He has blessed me with this past year. If you would still like to donate please email me and I will give you a list of people on my team/squad that you would be able to support!
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
