b u l g a r i a ,
vidin, bulgaria.
location: vidin – a port town on the danube in NW bulgaria – it is the poorest region of bulgaria and many romani (roma / gypsy ) people live here. it has the feel of a beauty & the beast “quiet village” – even where there are many people, there is something still in the air – it’s warm and a little humid, and the mosquitoes are out! more mosquito bites here than most other countries on the race! like many eastern europe countries, they are still suffering the effects of communism, which our host says really broke the people’s spirit – it took away their right to speech, act, think, and because of it people are still learning how to find themselves again.
language: bulgarian, english
ministry partner/host: we are working with a small church here that has been around nearly 20 years and just coming alongside them to assist in the ministry here and outreach.
lodging: we are living in a small house in a romani neighborhood, where the government made community houses to help the romani people. we have mattresses on the floor, a kitchen, bathroom, shower, and wifi! and not only that, we have air conditioning. going to be some major culture shock going from this to africa! the church and middle of town is about a 30 minute walk from here, we walk pretty much everywhere. it’s been interesting – the first day we had two women just walk into our house and look around, and people are frequently knocking and very interested to try and chat – i think we will form relationships with them – they watch us weed and sometimes help, and the kids like to dance with us. they try and make us rest sometimes too.
what are we doing? a variety of things – we’ll be doing some manual labor type things, like clearing weeds, dirt, gardening, cleaning the church building and other buildings, participating in bible studies and visiting and encouraging church members, visiting nursing homes, and visiting poor neighborhoods to do kids ministry and VBS type things! basically a little of everything! it’s a relaxed schedule though, some things in the morning, break in the afternoon, and other activities in the evening.
i don’t know – God gave me an excitement and joy for this month, and i feel like He wants to use us to do something. we’ve had a few obstacles and misunderstandings, and a few disagreements in theology with our host – but in the end, we’re here to serve and show love. and this month i think He is asking me to CHOOSE to opt in, CHOOSE joy, and CHOOSE ministry – it’s been hard, but somehow i hope to do this, and i hope that this month, somehow, He’ll blow our minds before we head out to africa.