Let's Try That Again!

Ok, after a few hours in line and on the phone, we got re-booked through San Francisco with a departure from Las Vegas at 1:18 this afternoon. Only hitch is, now we get in at 10:10 Wednesday night, so we'll miss the evening service at Blaga Vest. Fortunately, we extended our trip one day so we can attend the Wed service on the way back.

God is good and we're on our way once again... well, in a few hours anyway!

On Our Way... Sort of

The team, along with our families and drivers

We're off on another epic adventure across the world. We gathered for prayer and last minute packing arrangements (redistributing stuff to make sure we're all under the weight limit) this morning at Pastor Chuck's  before heading off the Las Vegas for the first flight of our journey. We made it to the airport  with time to spare, got through security in no time, found our gate and then grabbed a quick breakfast. Special thanks to the Hartmans and Jim White for driving us up to the airport!

After boarding on time, we found ourselves sitting for awhile past our departure time before finally hearing the announcement that a seal was bad on our aircraft. To make matters worse, the airline did not have the seal in stock here in Vegas. However, another airline has now loaned them the part. We are currently de-planed and waiting for repairs before boarding again and resuming our travels.

Our broken airplane

Three things are keeping my heart calm and peaceful right now.

1. We have a 4-hour layover in New Jersey, so this delay shouldn't affect our overall schedule. 
2. This is my fourth trip to BG and we have never had an eventless journey. My first year, the Sofia Airport was closed because of a fire, forcing an overnight stay in Germany. On our second trip, we missed our connection in Germany, leading to a 7-hour delay. Last year, the vehicle taking us from Bullhead City to Vegas overheated the whole way and we arrived at our gate in the nick of time! This delay fits the pattern perfectly!
3. God is in control... Seriously, We're going in His name by His calling and strength and we completely trust Him to make it happen. We know He's got amazing plans and we can't wait to see them unfold regardless what happens to oppose them.

Having said all that, I'm really hoping we keep our schedule intact. We're supposed to arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria at 12:10pm tomorrow and I'm supposed to be teaching at the Blaga Vest church tomorrow evening. I'm really looking forward to it! Because of our previous mishaps (and last year's Thursday departure), I've never even been to a church service at Blaga Vest... really excited about this year!

-Pastor Mike

Sunday Send-Off

Pastor Chuck prays over the team

This morning in church, the team came forward and Pastor Chuck prayed over us along with the rest of the congregation. He shared some of our plans with the church and encouraged them to be praying for us during our trip.

This is always a special moment for me in the years that I've gone, and I know it carries a lot of meaning for some of the others as well. I am reminded of how the apostles and church would lay hands on those called to serve in the New Testament. We are privileged to be going as an extension of our local congregation as, together, we go out into the world in fulfillment of His Great Commission! We may be the eight who are going to Bulgaria, but truly, our entire church is reaching out in obedience to serve our family in that nation.

Brijon, Brittany and Linzi packing supplies

After church, the team gathered in a classroom for some final preparations. We all brought our suitcases so that we could split up all our supplies among them. We had to pack crafting supplies, food, brochures and gospel tracts, and more. At the same time, we made photocopies of everyone's passport. Each one of us will carry a copy of someone else's passport with our own in case one gets lost or stolen.

Now, we spend the next day and a half relaxing with our families. With summer camp and VBS wrapped up, I look forward to hanging out with my wife and kids for these last moments before leaving them for a few weeks.

God bless you all and be praying for us!

Final Countdown

Vacation Bible School wrapped up last night at our church and, with that, the team is now completely focused on our upcoming trip. With our departure only a few days away, we are all scrambling to get our clothes organized and packed, purchase last minute supplies, wrap up business at home, and spend time with our families over the weekend.
Sunday after church, the team will gather to dole out and pack all the team supplies, including: food, candy, craft supplies, t-shirts, etc. At the same time, we'll make copies of our passports to hand out among the team so everybody has a copy of somebody else's. This makes it easier if a team member loses their passport overseas (which has never happened yet!).
Monday will be spent with our families, enjoying our last quiet day together for two and a half weeks. Then, we reassemble Tuesday morning at 1:30am for a last check of weight on everyone's luggage, followed by a team picture with those who come to send us off and prayer over the trip. We plan to be on the road by 2am  so we can make the airport in Vegas by 4, leaving us plenty of time to reach the gate for our 6am departure.
Please be praying for us over the next few days and follow along right here as we embark on another epic journey for the Lord!

"I Will Follow"

front cover of our conference brochure

That is the theme of the one-day youth conference we will be hosting in Sofia on the Saturday after we arrive. Our desire is to encourage the young people of Bulgaria to not only accept the doctrines of Christianity at an intellectual level, but to passionately pursue Christ as disciples, surrendering their lives to His plans and purposes.
Joey, Vernon, and I will teach the main sessions on discipleship, peer pressure and accountability. Joey and Linzi will be breaking out the boys and girls for a lesson on living in purity. There will also be a breakout session with several different classes for the kids to choose from. Our teenagers will be involved in the teaching on these, and we will close with a Q&A session for all the kids to ask questions of our team.

conference schedule

Be praying for the conference to go smoothly. It's a lot to plan long-distance! Itzo Yatanski of Blaga Vest has been very helpful in working out details, and we've even put together a nice color brochure for all the kids with the schedule and topic information that we translated into Bulgarian with the help of our good friend Simona Ivanova.
When its all over, we're serving a taco dinner to the whole crowd, with salad and a side of refried beans for a little taste of home BG-style.
Please keep this conference in prayer. It is a new endeavor for us, but one we've been talking and praying about for several years. We're expecting about 40 kids from Sofia, Elin Pelin, Gabrovo and Macedonia. We really need to be led by the Holy Spirit to minister to these kids and point them toward a radical relationship with Christ as His followers!

Trip Schedule

Last year's team in the airport

Less than four weeks to go! We're almost there and these last days are going to fly by because we've got so many other things going on with the church as well. On Sunday, half our team leaves for Big Bear for the high school youth group summer camp. The next week, I leave for the jr. high youth group summer camp. The week after that is our Vacation Bible School at Calvary Bullhead and we're all helping out with that. Then, the following Tuesday we're on an airplane headed for Bulgaria!
Tonight, we've got a team dinner with some Bulgarian food and we're going to share lots of pictures from past trips. We're inviting the parents of our teenagers so that we can share about the trip and answer any questions they may have at this point. We'll go over packing and travel arrangements and talk about the safety and well-being of their kids overseas.
Here is the schedule of our activities while we're there. We're going to have a busy trip, but we really feel that we need to make every moment count. We're not going for a vacation... we're going to serve, and we've got a long flight home to catch up on sleep!

• Tues, June 26 - Travel to BG (about 24 hours of travel)
• Wed, June 27 - Arrive in BG (around noon local time), attend church at Blaga Vest that evening
• Thur, June 28 - Spend the day painting and working at the Romani (gypsy) church in Stolnik... Cookout w/ Stolnik congregation in afternoon, and attend their church service that evening
• Fri, June 29 - Visit an orphanage in Sofia... Attend church service in Elin Pelin that evening
• Sat, June 30 - We are holding a one-day youth conference in Blaga Vest church in Sofia
• Sun, July 1 - Attend church service in morning... Fellowship or relax in afternoon
• Mon, July 2 - Travel across Bulgaria to Black Sea
• Tues, July 3-Sun, July, 8 - Black Sea Youth Camp with 50-60 Bulgarian, Romani, and Macedonian children
• Mon, July 9 - Travel back across Bulgaria to Sofia
• Tues, July 10 - Spend the day in Fakulteta, a large Romani mahala (ghetto) in Sofia... About 40,000 people in a couple square miles
• Wed, July 11 - We are planning a trip to an historical, cultural site... possibly a monastery or small village... We will attend the church service at Blaga Vest that evening
• Thur, July 12 - Travel back to the USA

Joey teaches with Raya to translate

Keep us in prayer for strength, rest, and health with this busy schedule. The week at camp is a lesson in sleep deprivation with us usually getting around 5 hours a night. Above all though, be praying for us to be bathed in the Holy Spirit in all that we do and that God would move supernaturally through us as we walk in obedience to His calling! God bless!

Linzi, Joey, Roy and Mike goofing off with some of the merchandise

Time is rapidly winding down to our departure for Bulgaria (only 5 weeks until we leave) and we're busy getting all the details worked out. Last week, we held our last yard sale at the church, making about $600 toward trip expenses. We really appreciate all of those who donated stuff for us to sell, and also those who came out to buy other people's stuff from us. The support of the church body continues to bless and help meet the need year after year! For instance, last Thursday Vern and I drove to Mike and Cheryl Meadows house to pick up a donation. They are a new couple in the church, but heard about the yard sale and wanted to help. We ended up filling the back of a pickup truck AND a trailer with stuff while enjoying some great fellowship. We spent some time in prayer together and drove away feeling so blessed! Thanks again to everybody who has helped out, and please feel free to continue donating your unwanted stuff. We'll be starting up the yard sales again in September to fundraise for next year's trip. We also appreciate those who have made personal donations to various members of our team to help get them there. It is so amazing every year to see how God provides from so many directions to send the team overseas.

Mike helps decorate a shirt at last year's camp

We got the schedule for the children's camp we'll be helping with at the Black Sea. Joey, Vern and I will all have the chance to teach in the evening services while we are there and the topics we've been given are AMAZING! I get to open on Monday night with a message on Coming to Christ (salvation). Vern will share two nights later on Sharing Christ (evangelism) and Joey will teach on Spiritual Warfare later in the week. We also help all day in getting the kids where they need to be and spend about 3 hours each morning at the sea with them. During the VBS-type activities in the afternoons, we will be responsible for arts & crafts and teambuilding games. We have a couple neat projects in store including:

• having the kids decorate scarves in traditional Bulgarian style
• cross necklaces made of nails
• paper flippers used to demonstrate and share the gospel message, and... 
• possibly, we will be launching colorful sky lanterns by the sea one evening

Keep us in prayer, as we order and assemble all our materials and figure out how to pack them! In my next update, I'll share about the one-day youth conference we're planning in Sofia before the camp... God bless!