Three Weeks and Counting...

21 days to go, but who's counting? Oh wait, all of us! Excitement is building among the entire team as time winds down to our departure. This will be my fifth visit to Bulgaria, but I'm as expectant as the first time. Not a day goes by throughout the year that I don't think about and pray for the nation and its people... my friends and family there.

We are still putting the final pieces into place, but our general schedule is going to look something like this:


Monday, June 24........... Depart & travel all day
Tuesday, June 25.......... Arrive in afternoon. Rest and fellowship in evening.
Wednesday, June 26.... Work day at Revelation Church in Fakulteta / Blaga Vest service
Thursday, June 27........ ??? / Stolnik Service
Friday, June 28.............. ??? / Elin Pelin Service
Saturday, June 29........ Drive to Macedonia / Youth Event in evening
Sunday, June 30.......... Macedonia / Dobra Vest service
Monday, July 1............. Drive to Sofia
Tues-Tues, July 2-9....  Black Sea Camp
Wednesday, July 10... Visit historical/cultural location. Blaga Vest service
Thursday, July 11....... Depart and travel all day

The question marks on Thursday and Friday indicate space we haven't yet filled. We're trying to work out an opportunity to minister in a Sofia orphanage or to the homeless downtown on one of those days.

Worshipping in Fakulteta 

On Wednesday, June 26, we'll be spending a day with the Revelation Church in Fakulteta. This area of Sofia is a separate community of Roma (gypsy) people known as a mahala. The mahalas are literally ghettos where the Romani live segregated from the surrounding Bulgarian communities. Fakulteta is the second largest mahala in Bulgaria, with about 40,000 Roma living within a few square miles... all within the borders of the nation's capital city, Sofia.

Linzi befriends a Roma child

The ladies on our team will be ministering to a group of Roma children for the day. They are planning a day camp with a circus theme and sharing God's word through crafts, dramas, games and activities. At the same time, the men will be helping the congregation with construction work they are doing on their church building. They are in the process of expanding their facility to provide a regular food ministry and to accommodate other ministry to their community as well. We will be pouring concrete, laying brick, and whatever else is needed.

Continue to pray for us as the time draws closer. There are still many organizational details and preparations to be made. Pray for time to accomplish everything and for our hearts and minds to be fixed on God's work, not our own. Above all, pray for the direction and power of the Holy Spirit to soak everything that we do!

Слава на Бога! (Glory to God)