Bulgaria
This month in Bulgaria, I started all the way on the east coast in a beach city named Varna on the coast of the Black Sea. I spent a few days with my teammates (RJ, Kayla, & Amy) planning the upcoming events and changes for our squad. One night, after a long day of planning and leadership calls, we went to dinner at a cute little restaurant on the beach (even if it was a little cold, it was an evening full of meaningful conversation with lifelong friends).
[[On the way to dinner we got to pray for a teenage kid who had hurt their ankle skateboarding, even if it’s not in the pic]]
Dobromirka with the Wildflowers
Next stop was the tiny little town of Dobromirka, Bulgaria, which means “good peace”. Within the first hour of arriving, we walked down the street to visit this adorable woman who showed us how to milk her cows. Quite an experience. We sat with her for the next hour as she told us a story in Bulgarian about the time she saved a baby lamb that had fallen in a well near her house. Some of the girls from Team Wildflowers continued to visit her throughout the rest of the month, and she was our steadfast supplier of fresh cow milk.
Our sweet friend as we were leaving her home.
The next day, we visited an elderly home to join in celebration of this young lady’s 100th birthday! We prepared 3 songs to sing as Britt played the ukulele, then sang happy birthday, of course. It was an honor to get to visit and celebrate with her.
One day we went for a hike in the afternoon, after we had finished our work for the day. Along the way, Cassie and I picked many wildflowers, because if you know Cassie at all, she loves to pick the wildflowers. As you can see, the view from the top was gorgeous, and the conversation along the way about our dreams was just as golden.
Surprise! On the walk back home from the hike, we came across this funny little lady. I tried to give her my small bouquet of wildflowers, but she insisted we come inside the small little Orthodox Church of the town, where we soon discovered she was the bell ringer of. However, we were not allowed to ring the bell LOL, but that didn’t stop Cassie and Calli from venturing to the top of the stairs to see the bell up close.
While in Dobromirka, we stayed in a conference/retreat center. While I was there we helped run a conference for a nearby church, making sure rooms were set up, cleaning the building, cooking meals, and washing dishes.
A big chunk of our time and efforts went towards this yard. We tilled it all up, hoed, raked, pressed, and picked out glass, trash and rocks. After all of that we added the seeds for the new grass, and I even was able to see it start sprouting before I had to leave!
Val & Emmy were our “Bulgarian parents” and hosts. These two people are incredible selfless, kind, and hospitable. They were thoughtful of us, encouraging, and genuinely cared about how everyone was doing. On top of that, they are true servants and I am so thankful to have witnessed what it looks like for them to serve like Jesus. They were a blessing to the team and to me.
Trains have been a fun part of Eastern Europe because before here, I don’t think I had ever ridden one (unless you count the ones at Six Flags). After almost two weeks with the Wildflowers, I hopped on a train to Vidin, Bulgaria where I joined my teammate, Amy, and we jumped into ministry with Groovy Crew.
Vidin with Groovy Crew
In the city of Vidin, Bulgaria, which hugs the Romanian border and Danube River, Amy and I spent time with Team Groovy Crew. Ministry varied each day, but we did have the privilege of visiting 2 different elderly homes. The first one we went to, we sang some songs, gifted a man with a guitar from the church, prayed over people, and Amy gave an encouraging word about hope. The man in this picture with my squadmate, Cristina, was soooo adorable. Him and Cristina spoke Romanian, and he appreciated her so much that he gave her that rose and even a necklace, too! He was so excited to see her when they came back the second time. You could tell that the Lord had really blessed him through their time together.
One of my favorite days in Bulgaria was the day we visited the gypsy kids. The gypsy (or Roma) population in Eastern Europe is extremely discriminated against and typically live in very impoverished areas. We spent a few hours with the kids, singing songs, dancing, playing games and racing on another. These children were so beautiful and so much fun to be around.
Before we left, the kids started picking the weeds and flowers around us and giving them to us as presents. It could easily be seen as silly or insignificant, but it meant so much to me that they wanted to do nice things for others, and they wanted to see US smile. Again, the Lord just humbles me.
This little nugget found Amy as we were leaving and insisted on being carried. Clearly, Amy didn’t mind 😉
One morning, we cleared out the garden in front of the house we were staying in to make a flower and veggie garden. We began by pulling weeds, then tiling up the dirt, then adding in the plants and seeds. The neighbors were always quite interested in what we were doing, so eventually the man below jumped in and just began helping us. He spoke no English and we spoke no Bulgarian, but somehow we could communicate and he was very helpful. He ended up showing me a video on his phone later of him singing worship songs in Bulgarian. Talk about awesome!
Up close and personal of Wendy & Carolyn planting the tomato plants!
Our aforementioned helpful neighbor. He insisted on taking a picture with us on his phone after we were done and then showed us a video of him singing worship songs in Bulgarian on his phone. He was so cute. 🙂
This was our next door neighbor, Martin. Everyday he would ride around our little community area on his scooter and give us high fives. His mom was a sweet woman who also greeted us with a high five every time we saw them. I wish we could have communicated more with them in Bulgarian because I feel like they probably had an interesting story. I don’t think she worked because she sat outside everyday and her husband seemed a little sketchy, but I don’t want to assume anything. My teammate and I prayed for them often just interceding on their behalf.
Our last few days days in Bulgaria, our squad came together in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) for a Leadership Development Weekend (LDW). We had team changes, some time to process the last few months in Europe, think about our expecations for Africa, time for prayer and worship, a little game of Bible Jeopardy ;), and a few teachings by our squadmates.
Right now, I am currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in one of the few places we can find wifi access, and I can’t wait to post some blogs about what the Lord has us doing here.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support. See you in 3 months!
