As we entered into month nine of the race, we had two curve-balls thrown at us. First, there was team changes. I left my co-ed team of six, and joined an all-female team of seven. Second, we would be the first team to experience “no host month.” No host month is where we as a team are not assigned to a particular ministry but instead we’re given the freedom and responsibility to ask the Lord how He would like us to spend our time in that country. This not only includes what we would do for ministry but also where we would live for the month and what our schedule would look like.
We only had two days to determine all of these things after joining our new team. Thankfully the Lord spoke clearly to each of us which unified our team from the start. This was a huge blessing because if we all heard something different from the Lord or heard nothing at all, entering this month that already has no structure could have turned into chaos and disunity among the seven of us quickly.
A lot of us felt like we needed to be by a body of water. The Black Sea is on the eastern border of Bulgaria so we focused our efforts in that part of the country. Next came the actual city we would stay in. A few of us felt pulled toward a city called Burgas but didn’t know why. A few other of us felt like we wanted to be in an area that would be a “mixing bowl” of cultures and people groups. We felt called to not only minister to the people of Bulgaria but also to people who are visiting or live in Bulgaria that would have influence in other countries.
The eastern part of Bulgaria is bordered by Turkey, Greece and Romania and is across the Black Sea from Russia and Ukraine. So, we figured there would be a lot of nationalities represented in this region. We found there was a lot of religious affiliations represented there as well. Bulgarian orthodox and Muslim were of the major ones as well as Catholic, Protestant and Armenian.
While we were figuring out where the Lord wanted us to plant ourselves for the month, we also had to figure out our team name. We are a group of very strong women so we knew we wanted something bold yet feminine. We decided on the name “Fortress” as it embodied strength and femininity but also loved the picture it presents of being a strong tower in battle. We are warriors for the Kingdom of God who find our strength in Him and in our community who fight with and for one another.
Through a series of events, we decided on Burgas as being the city we’d head to and we had announced our team name to leadership at about the same time. Soon after this, we were researching more into Burgas and we came across the meaning of that name for the city.
The name Burgas is derived from the latin word “burgos” which means “tower.” Also in Greek, the area was described using the word “Pyrgos” meaning “tower.” Also included in the description of the meaning behind the town’s name the words “walled village” and “fortified city” are used.
See the connection?
The Lord was sending team Fortress to a city named to describe itself as a fortified tower.
We could already sense the provision of the Lord coming our way. But He had more than we could have ever imagined.
The way I’ve described our time in Burgas to my fellow squadmates is that it felt like the city was anticipating our arrival. Which is a strange thing to say because no one in this city knew a missionary team from America was coming. No other teams were assigned to this city and we had absolutely no connections before jumping on a night train from Sofia towards Burgas. We were just trusting that God had already gone ahead of us to prepare for us works to do in His name to bring Him glory, and boy did He.
Our approach to our time in Burgas was to start of by doing prayer walks and taking in what the area was like. We were met by a small vacation spot that is usually bustling during the summer but in the off season was just a local spot full of cafes, kebab stands, street cats (SO many street cats), street musicians, park go-ers, walkers and runners, and a friendly, laid back community of people that enjoy meeting foreigners and hearing their stories.
We also planned to reach out to local churches, mostly to find a church that spoke English to be poured into by on Sundays but also to inquire about any opportunities they may have for us to serve.
By the end of the month we had partnered with four different protestant churches in some way or another. For two of them it looked like sharing testimonies and leading worship one Sunday, for another it looked like attending a weekly youth group and pouring into their young adult community, and for yet another it looked like just becoming friends with their members which led to even more connections throughout the city.
We also got to preach a message at a Turkish church outside of the city limits that was planted by one of our four contact churches. We were given free bibles to handout during our time in Bulgaria.
Also, we had wanted to host a Good Friday service to invite the people we had created relationships with throughout the month to a final event to end our time together and give them a glimpse of how we live out our faith. We searched all over the city for a space to hold it at, however nothing came back. We considered inviting everyone over to our tiny Air BnB, but the night before Good Friday, we were offered a space by one of the churches, which was a huge answer to prayer the church knew nothing about. We had about 15 people attend a night filled with worship, prayer, communion and scripture reading. It was incredible.
Outside of the things we did with the churches we partnered with, we also cleaned up the beach as a way to serve the current community and the tourists to come. We played worship in the city center. We did bar outreach where we met a group of youths who spent most every night at a hookah bar which turned into strong friendships. We talked to our servers at restaurants and coffee shops, we chatted with our barbers and hair stylists, the clerks at the grocery store, the night owls roaming the street of the city center, the men who frequent the local brewery, and even our favorite kebab maker.
Ministry was life and life was ministry. We were intentionally relational and asked God to give us clear direction. We would meet every morning as a team for a time of prayer and worship to put Jesus at the center of hearts. We prayed over our days, the people we would meet and those we had already met and interceded for the country of Bulgaria. We heard so many stories of corruption and darkness that is intertwined in the everyday life of Bulgarians. So, praying for revival and God’s presence to rain down on this country felt valuable and important.
One of our goals at the beginning of the month was to keep track of the people we met and felt like we had an intentional conversation with to hear their story, share some of our story, or both. Each day at our prayer meeting we would share names of people we had met and add them tot he list.
By the end of our time in Burgas, we had a list of 87 names. 87 appointments divinely set up by God for us to pour into and to be poured into by in return. We made so many friends, created so many memories, and saw so many times that when you rely on God to provide ways for you to glorify Him he comes through big time.
We were literally handed ministry when we came to a city that had no idea we were coming. We felt needed, appreciated, and wanted by a community that wasn’t expecting us. We left feeling used, but in the best way. Not tired or drained, but filled and encouraged that this life with God is beautiful and mysterious and so, so worth it.
We stayed in an Air BnB that had the smallest kitchen I had ever witnessed, I’m pretty sure it was an old half-bath, and it had one burner, one frying pan, and one sauce pan to cook with. We ate some of our meals at the house, when we could think of something that wouldn’t take forever one one burner, but we also ate A LOT of kebabs this month. Kebabs are similar to gyros or soulvaki if you’re familiar with that. It’s basically a pita filled carved chicken or pork off of a rotisserie rod with tzaiki, cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, pickles, french fries and I always had to add the spicy sauce on top. We also ate at a restaurant called Happy’s which was a french cuisine based restaurant that had the largest menu I have ever seen. I had a lot of poutine and surprisingly a lot of really good sushi from this place during the month.
We did our laundry at a half laundry mat half coffee shop, that turned into a ministry opportunity for some of my teammates. The owner was french and had recently moved to Bulgaria, so we became friends with him and shared the gospel with him and just built a strong friendship with him.
. . .
I’ll miss hanging out with our friend Ivo and the joy he exuded.
I’ll miss runs through the sea garden and down by the beach that helped to clear my head.
I’ll miss trying to speak bulgarian when ordering my kebab just the way I like it and seeing the workers laugh at my failed attempt.
I’ll miss hanging out with Zara, one of the wisest high schoolers I’ve ever met.
I’ll miss worshipping alongside Victoria in the city center late at night and talking with the people who would stop and listen.
I’ll miss walking around this cute little beach town and feeling at home here, seeing familiar faces everywhere we went.
Songs that remind me of this month are:
- Tremble by Mosaics
- 139 by Kings Kaleidescope
- Mountain to Valley by Housefires
Want to know more? Ask me about:
- Our good friday service
- My trip to Greece at the end of the month
- How the rain followed us to Bulgaria
