Black Sea camp theme

Raya (right) translates while Mayla teaches the young children.

I got a message from Raya Yatanska in Sofia this week with the basic theme for the youth camp we'll be taking part in at the Black Sea this year. Every summer, the Blaga Vest church in Sofia holds the camp for 50-60 kids of all ages from across Bulgaria and Macedonia. Raya's father, Lyudmil, is the pastor of the church and she serves with the team, led by her mother Tsvetanka, that organizes the camp each year. We have been honored to serve with her and the rest of the Bulgarian leaders in ministry to these awesome kids and Raya has done a great job the past few years of coordinating with us ahead of time to help our team prepare for the work.

The Adventure of a Christian...
This years theme will focus on the adventures of the Christian life. Each day, the lessons and activities will teach the kids about another aspect of the walk with the Lord.

• Day One: Acceptance of Faith / Meeting God
• Day Two: Equipping (Preparing) / Building habits / God's Armor
• Day Three: Sharing the Gospel
• Day Four: Ministering to God
• Day Five: The Battle
• Day Six: Meeting With the King

Kids work together in team building exercise.

In addition to sharing the teaching of daily lessons, we will be responsible for coming up with team-building activities and arts/crafts that reinforce the daily lessons. The Bulgarian leaders will be using drama and dance, with an emphasis on Bulgarian history to tie in with the theme. Also, the entire group will head down to the sea every day for some beach time, and we will gather nightly for our evening church service with worship and teaching from the Word. 

The camp will run from Monday, July 2 to Sunday, July 8. Please be praying for all of the leaders in Bulgaria who are working hard to plan and organize everything. Pray for our team as we prepare the lessons and activities we will be responsible for, and that God will bless our time with the kids in ministry. Above all, pray for the kids themselves... that God would open doors for them to be able to come and that He would prepare their hearts for the work He desires to do in them.

Sharing A Taste of Bulgaria

Our Favorite Flavors
As we've done in the past, yesterday we shared a taste of Bulgarian cuisine with our church family at Calvary Bullhead. We grilled up some kebapchete, a blend of ground pork and beef seasoned with chopped garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper. We also shared some shopska, a refreshing salad of chopped up cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions with oil and vinegar and topped with crumbled sirene cheese (a feta unique to Bulgaria). Finally, we added our favorite appetizer, french fries topped with more sirene cheese.
Joey handled the grilling, while Vernon, Roy, Linzi, and I loaded up the food on plates and Megan handed them out. Special thanks to my lovely bride, Melissa, for taking donations and calling the orders into the kitchen!

Making Plans
After serving up the food, we each made a plate for ourselves and sat together to go over plans for our upcoming trip. We've got a lot of preparation ahead of us, so we'll be meeting pretty regularly from now until we leave. A good chunk of our time in BG will be spent at the Black Sea children's camp. However, we really can't start planning our ministry there until the Blaga Vest church in Sofia finalizes the details of the week (theme, lesson topics, etc.). However, we are really striving to maximize our time this year and are planning a number of other ministry opportunities while we are in Sofia before and after the camp.
Its quite a challenge to make plans each year for ministry that will take place on the other side of the planet. We're never quite sure what supplies and resources will be available there or what we'll need to bring with us in our limited luggage space. We have to coordinate with multiple people from different churches, and their day/night cycle is the opposite of ours. This, along with the language barrier, makes for interesting communication issues. Also, the culture in Bulgaria is radically different from our own and we need to take that into account in every aspect of our planned ministry and activity. Things just don't work the same or get taken the same way over there.
Having said all that, our greatest need right now is prayer. We are prayerfully considering what every aspect of our service will look like and how God wants to use us so that we can effectively prepare. We don't just want to do ministry... we want to minister and serve the Church and people of Bulgaria on the Lord's behalf and through His power. We have a number of really great ideas that we'd like to take with us, but we need to determine what God wants us to do... not just what we want to do. We don't want to get stuck doing things because we've always done them, or not doing things because we've never done them. We just want to do something for God that will bless the our Church family there and minister to those in Bulgaria who still don't know the hope of Christ (most of the country)!

The Team
The makeup of the team is still in flux, but it looks like were taking a smaller group this year. We hope that will allow us to be more flexible as the Spirit leads, and more focused on the work before us. Prayer for several teenage girls who really want to go but need to come up with the money to make the trip. As I write this, there are only 120 days until our departure and I know from past experience how quickly that time will fly by. God bless!

New Year... New Team

2012 is upon us and the team has begun to gear up for our trip back to Bulgaria this summer. We kicked things off with a two day yard sale last weekend that brought in about $500. More importantly, though, the event provided an opportunity for the team to spend time together, as returning members welcomed the newest additions and regaled them with stories of the land we love so much.
This year's team will feature a number of familiar faces, but we're also glad to introduce some fresh blood. Joey Leslie and Linzi Drew will be returning as the longest standing members of the team, followed by me (Mike Kern) and my daughter Megan. Last year's newbies, Vernon Garrett and his son Roy, are both planning to return this year as well.
Both Brijon Ortiz and Brittany Hogle helped with the yard sale and plan to make the trip this year. Brijon has a lot of preparation already underway, as she planned to go last year but couldn't make it. A number of others are praying about making the trip as well, so we are eagerly awaiting the Lord's direction on what the final team is going to look like!
Pastor Chuck's recent accident has put a crimp in his travel plans. He has still not been released by his doctors for air travel, due to the nature of his brain injury, and we are still praying about God's direction for him and Lynda in connection to Bulgaria. If all goes well with his continued recovery, they make take a separate trip this spring (as they usually do). We will continue to seek the Lord on their involvement with the team trip in the summer.
Meanwhile, we continue to encourage others to pray about going with us. We are going to begin meeting as a team this month and plan to purchase our tickets earlier this year, so if the Lord puts it on your heart, let us know soon!
In my next blog update, I'm going to share some of our ideas about some things we'd like to do this year. We've got some really exciting new possibilities we're considering and we'd love you to keep us in prayer as we plan our visit. God bless!

Final Days of Camp

I am writing this as Pastor Chuck teaches on the topic of Trust to the entire camp in our evening service. We are sitting outdoors on a covered patio with a cool breeze occasionally blowing in to keep us cool. The kids are worn out from a treasure hunt around town earlier this afternoon, but their attention is still focused on his every word as he challenges them to respond to God's love with obedience.

Tomorrow will be the last full day of camp and we will pack up and leave Sunday morning after breakfast for a seven hour drive back across Bulgaria to Sofia. Our team is fully aware that our time is short and we are making the most of every moment with the kids and the adult leaders from Sofia. We recognize that the relationships we are building here will enable us to continue in ministry even after we are gone, thanks to the Internet.
Most of these kids have Skype, Facebook, e-mail, and cell phones and it is a great joy to know that we have built friendships this week that will endure beyond the camp. Many of us know we will return and look forward to seeing our family here again, but even when we are home in the U.S., we will be in touch and remain a part of their lives. I have expressed over and over to the people here that Bulgaria is not a two week ministry for us, but a year-long opportunity to serve.

Yesterday, Megan, Mayla, and Zach all had the opportunity to teach about Jesus calming the storms in our lives. Joey wrapped up with a message in the evening service on trusting God enough to lay aside the things that separated us from Him. It was exciting to watch the kids respond to the translated message and even more exciting to watch our teens step out in faith and share from the word of God! We also played some great team-building games with the camp and joined them today for a treasure hunt that took us all over Chernomoretz before ending up on the beach, where we found and dug up a treasure trove of chocolate.

Please continue to keep the team in prayer. While you are at it, pray for a couple here at the camp. Ivon and Maya are a married couple from the Blaga Vest church in Sofia who came here with us on Sunday. Monday, they found out that Maya's father had passed away and they had to return to Sofia. They came back to the camp yesterday and, while they are fully engaged in the ministry here, Maya's heart is still heavy with the loss of her father. Please pray for God's peace and comfort for them.
I also want to take a moment to express my appreciation for the people who have supported this ministry. The ten of us are here because of the investment of many. We thank you for believing in what we are doing and, more importantly, what God is doing. God bless you!


P.S.-  There are many more pictures on my Photobucket account!

Rainy Day at the Black Sea

Today we saw a typical storm blow in off the coast from the Black Sea followed by scattered showers throughout the day, so no beach. Instead, we enjoyed some free time with the kids in town. It was a bit of a treat to take the day off from the organized (and sometimes, hectic) activities at the beach and instead relax with our friends.
I spent the afternoon with Lidija and Tea, two good friends from Macedonia that I have known for three years now, along with Viki, Kali, and Iva, and Niki from Elin Pelin. Also, George, Simona, and Samuel from Sofia... Many were old friends, some were new. We walked through the village of Chernomoretz for awhile before settling in at a cafe for some cold beverages and good conversation. It was a real joy to share our Christian experiences with each other and to encourage them as Christian teens in an un-Christian nation. Afterwards, we walked down to the coast and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and weather.
These unplanned moments are probably the most valuable in our time here in Bulgaria. It is in these times that our hearts truly connect with the Bulgarian (and Macedonian, in this case) people and we find ourselves ministering to them and being ministered to by them. These are relationships that will be with us for life and I am overjoyed to see how friendships I made in my first two years have blossomed into a relationship that allows me to really make a difference in these lives. Not that the ministry is one way... on the contrary! I am blessed and my life has been changed by these friendships.
Vernon and I were talking today about how difficult it is to express what we experience here to all of you back home. How can we put into words all that we see, hear, and feel when it is so foreign even to us? At the time, we were talking about the culture as a whole... the buildings and roads, personality differences, construction techniques, traditions and habits, etc., but the thought holds true for the work that God is doing here.
I came to Bulgaria three years ago, not so much out of a sense of calling, but to discover for myself what we as a church were doing in this nation. I had heard the reports and seen the pictures, but I couldn't truly understand our purpose here and felt I needed to see for myself. I return now with a true sense of calling, but I struggle to share the experience in a way that will truly allow you to understand what is happening here. I can't put into words the real value of simple things like the friendships and our long-term commitment to these people. The visible ministries you read and hear about are really only the tools we use to get close to the hearts of a people that we love and God loves even more. The real work is done one-on-one or in small groups... not only daily, but year after year.
So please, enjoy the pictures and follow our adventures online... but make it a point to grab one of us for lunch or dinner after we come home and ask us to tell you our story in person. Watch our faces light up as we talk about this place and hear the passion in our voices as we share what God is doing here. Then, pray about what you can do to help us!

Here are some pics of the day to enjoy... More on my Photobucket account.

Mayla helps Samuel with his sand candle

Yanna shows off her candle ready for pouring

Our wax-melting setup... all purchased at a local hardware store

 Megan helps tie on a bandanna

Danitsa builds a picture frame

36 years old and I still play with my food

 

 

Some Camp Pics

Our second day at camp is coming to an end and we are basking in the presence of God and all that He is doing. We just heard an excellent sermon by Zach on faith from the book of Romans and the kids are blowing off some steam before bed.

Today, we went to the beach for 3 hours in the morning. While there, we are responsible for keeping an eye on the younger children while they swim. Of course, we have fun playing with them as well. We also organize beach games for all 60 of the kids.

This afternoon, several of our team members had the opportunity to teach God's Word in the small group lessons. Joey, Vernon, and Zach all spoke about Peter walking on water in their groups. Then, we organized some team activities, including a rope maze with teams racing against each other to work their way down a rope line, and a game that demonstrated the need to hear God's voice in the middle of all life's distractions.
We are definitely struggling with our energy level as we are operating on about 5 hours of sleep at night. When the kids go to bed at 11, we usually get things done that have to wait for their absence. For instance, each night we hide about 25 small toys all over the camp for the kids to find the next day. Also, one of our team helps the Bulgarian teachers each night to put the kids to bed and then patrol later to make sure they are all still there.

Even though we are tired, it is such a blessing to see God working in these kids lives. The teachings have spoken to many of them, but more importantly, the Holy Spirit is speaking through us in the one-on-one conversations that are so critical to what we do here. Please keep us in prayer that we would be led by the Spirit in our time with the kids and that God would speak, not only to us, but through us.
Слава на Бога!

First Day At Camp

We just wrapped up our first full day of camp and it was a great one. It wasn't our day to teach the lessons, so we got to observe and take part in the Bulgarian teachers' lessons and see how they interact with their kids. Tomorrow, our team will teach so pray for Joey, Vernon, Zach and Linzi as they share tomorrow.
Tonight, I taught in the main service on the need for our faith to be demonstrated through our works (James 2). It was a joy to share God's word on the other side of the planet, even if its a little tricky through an interpreter.
Our team also handled the crafts today. We had each of the kids paint a t-shirt with the Bulgarian word for "trust" (the camp theme) on it. Then, they made a necklace with a sea theme. The shirts were great and I will share pictures tomorrow.
Pastor Chuck and Lynda delayed their arrival one more day to spend more time in Gabrovo but will join us in the morning. Keep the team in prayer and God bless!