It has been an eventful week for me in Bulgaria so far. Last Sunday, we attending the church of the Pastor we are working with here in Sofia. He asked some of us to share a few minutes about what God has done in our lives or our story. I was selected as one of the people to share. He also asked if anyone could play a special song. I was also selected to play a song (being the only person on your team who p
lays an instrument) and sing. It was a big day for me.
Thankfully, my sweet teammate, Sara accompanied me with her lovely voice. I shared on the love of God and then slid over to the keys. I was quite nervous. It has been a long time since I led worship and there literally wasn't a second to practice – just go with it! My other amazing teammate, Alex, noticed my nerves and offered me some encouragement which went something like this, "You're going to be awesome. You're the songbird of our generation. Your voice is a mix between Fergie and Jesus." Needless to say, my spirits were lifted! 🙂 Once my fingers began to stroke the keys, it all came back to me. I closed my eyes and let God do the rest. It was a great pleasure to worship with this beautiful congregation.
Although, it wasn't only worship we got to experience with them. We were able to partake in the Lord's supper with them as well. The Pastor put together a beautiful message on the cross and as always, I was moved. The sacrifice of Christ always leaves me speechless. They brought around the "juice" and bread. I took my bread and ate it. Then I took the "juice". Now, as most of you know, in America we actually take grape juice as the "blood". Hello Bulgaria…they are the real deal communion people here. To my surprise, it was actually real red wine that I swallowed. My face, unfortunately, wasn't able to hid my shock, as my teammates began to laugh at me. This was my first experience with real wine for communion, and honestly, this was the first time I have ever tasted wine. It was a big day for me. The little girl on the stage took of it as well, and let's just say our faces could have been twins. 🙂
As the week played on, we moved into more and more serving opportunities. We have been teaching English at an Art and Music School. HOW FUN! We have learned the basic colors, animals, human body, and a little bit of geography. My drawing has hit an all time low, I must admit. Some of those animals were pretty rough. (Casey would show you my rabbit picture if he could). Nonetheless, the kids understood, thankfully, and the point was made. We also taught them the Hokey Pokey (the most versatile dance in the history of the world – this is my fourth country to teach it in and they eat it up. Plus, it's a good cardio burn). The part that cracked me up the most was when the kids asked me to put on "Gangnam Style" and to my surprise they knew all the dance moves! Funny how that works.
We have been cleaning, teaching, preaching, loving and learning. It's been a wonderful week so far and there are many more stories to be told. Stay tuned. 🙂
