Day 10

Chaos-the time change wasn’t just in America. Bulgarians recognize Daylight Savings too. So, we were supposed to be at the bus at 5, and we were actually there at 4. Apparently only 2 people knew about the time change so the whole team was out waiting. Svetlo was all worried about us and called Jeffrey. And we just went to the airport really early. It was sad saying goodbye to Bulgaria. It felt like we didn’t have enough time to really take in all that was going on. Brandi and I talked at the gate some and it’s neat to see how the Lord faithfully works in the hearts of His children.

Our plane was about 20 minutes late leaving-no big deal since we had a 3 hr layover in Munich. We got to hang out and get some lunch. Then on our flight to the States. It was super nice-I’ve decided I’m flying with the Germans wherever they go! I stayed awake most of the time since I didn’t want to have a hard time sleeping that night. I sat by Brian Baker who is just funny, but I hadn’t really got to know him so we got to talk a little. He’s traveled a lot too so we got to talk about the places we’ve been.

Once in the states we had to go through customs and passport control in Chicago. It was a little crazy, but not too bad, not near as bad as Munich where we literally got every inch of our bodies patted down-gross. Then we grabbed our first American food in 10 days at a little Chili’s in the restaurant and just about the same time we all started crashing from all the travel. Some of the guys watched football and I read a magazine trying to stay awake. Our plane was pretty much on time and we boarded with no problems. We pulled away from the gate and then everything changed. We just stopped and pulled back up to the gate and they told us there was something wrong with the computer system and a mechanic was coming out to look at it. When he got there he determined he couldn’t fix it and they needed to totally replace the computer-so we sat there while they did. Of course normally getting in at 9:30 wouldn’t seem that late, but by that time we had been awake for over 24 hrs so we were not happy. And neither was our flight attendant!

But we made it, and several people showed up at the airport to welcome us home. And lets just say I didn’t have a problems sleeping that night!

Day 9

Stood out on the balcony of the hotel and watched the small military parade go down the street-it was independence day in Greece. Headed back to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The bus ride wasn’t near as long as the one there. We got there, dropped Sharolyn off at the Hotel Champion-the name is misleading-and headed out to see Sofia. It’s really a neat city with lots of old churches-Bulgarian Orthodox. Apparently Constantine worshipped in one of the churches we visited. Then we headed to the market to buy pottery and see a little more of the city. For dinner we went to a cool Bulgarian restaurant that was decorated in local stuff and was real fun. We celebrated Kara’s birthday and ate way too much. Once we were back to the hotel we went to visit everybody in the Suite and then headed to bead early. We had to be at the bus at 5 the next morning.

looking down a street in Sofia

military guarding the Presidential offices-which are coincidentally located inside the local Sheraton hotel

one of the local churches we had an opportunity to visit-just around the corner there's a market that sells Communist paraphanelia-Bulgaria is the only country where selling these relics is legal

Day 8

We woke up really early to start out for our trip to Greece. It was supposed to be a 4 hour trip but turned into about 8 and a half. It was a long day. As soon as we got there we went straight to Philippi, looked around for a few minutes and then had a little service in the arena. It was really neat to hear some history and learn the reason behind Paul’s military references in the book of Philippians. And stand in and arena where believers gave their lives for the truth. And none of them are looking back saying it wasn’t worth it. We got to walk through the old town and see where Paul and Silas were in prison. And we saw where Paul probably stood before the council and walk the Roman Road that we know he walked. Too cool.


the group in the ruins at Philippi

me and Amy in the Basillica ruins

worsip in the arena

Then on to Lydia. It was just a few minutes drive from Philippi. Jeffrey offered to baptize anyone who wanted to be baptized, but it was too cold and we were all just excited to see it. Tommye read the story of Lydia’s conversion for us.

Lydia, where Paul met Lydia and she was baptized

Then it was dinner time-the first official meal we had for the day. Gyro’s again. But at least it tasted normal. We souvenir shopped for a while and several people went out to eat octopus, but I just didn’t have it in me.

Day 7

Back to the village-much earlier than normal. We spent a little time cleaning up the rest of the road on the way in to the village.

Richard and Sharolyn-picking up trash in the fog

Then headed out with Nancy and Heike to deliver bags to the other part of the village. We ended up in a part that was separated from the rest of the village by a considerable distance. Apparently that’s where the gypsies live. We met a believer and she told us that there are actually 3 families who are meeting together as a fellowship. So cool. As we continued on we met a family with an 8 year old daughter who is paralyzed. It was heartbreaking and it was all I could do to not completely break down. But I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and trust that He’ll work.

Then it was time to head back to the school. The kids presented a program for us. It was heartbreaking as well-the young girls did a dance that was totally inappropriate for girls of their age, but sadly probably just like something they saw on MTV. They did do a traditional dance and that was really neat to see-apparently they all tell stories-I guess just like most cultures. And then it was time for Amy to sing. Wow, the enemy attacked-she could barely breathe and couldn’t stop crying. We prayed. And she sang, but when it came time to sing again she couldn’t think of a song. The enemy definitely doesn’t want to give up his territory. Bill and I joined in to help her make it through-I know I know, I can’t sing, but you do what you have to do-and it was Amazing Grace, so I’ve heard it enough times to at least get close. What’s really cool is later the girls came up and wanted to hear her sing again-and she got to sing a song all about Jesus. And then we got to learn to dance. I don’t think I laughed so hard the whole time we were there. The boys were playing futbol and we were getting laughed at.

one of the girls singing during their program for us

Amy singing for the girl at the school

And for lunch. . . Lamb. It was good to see the community come out in mass to eat and fellowship. Not my favorite meal while I was there. But it was food. The men at first so lots of women didn’t get food. And some tried to stay at the back of the line so they wanted have to have any I think.

After lunch several of the ladies set out to deliver bags in that part of the village and the guys headed to the other part. It didn’t take long for our big group to split up into two smaller ones and I ended up with Amy, Heike, and Anita. And we didn’t go very far before we were invited in for. . . .you guessed it, more Baklava. And Werther’s and chocolate candy, and yogurt, and strawberry drink. It just kept coming. There was way more food than we could eat. But we had a blast hanging out there and they asked us to pray for them.

me, Amy, and Anita with the group that offered us all the food

Just as we were walking out to take a photo the bus drove up looking for us to take us back to Block 46 for the party there. Before the party we headed out to deliver bags again. The first round I went out with Brandi and Amy. It was kind of discouraging. Hardly anyone opened the door and we got doors closed on us several times. We had two young boys with us trying to help us out, but when people didn’t open their doors they would spit on their doors-apparently a Turkish curse. We went back a little dejected. Amy was feeling well so Brandi and I headed out again with Jeffrey. Our first stop was to our friend Rose’s house. And she took us from there-all over her building and out to the back of the building. Maybe she’ll turn out to be a person of peace.

me and Brandi with "Rose" and her friends

Everybody started gathering for the meal and next thing I knew I was helping serve the lamb. In America I think I would have been totally grossed out by it, but I just did it. And actually had fun. David thought people wouldn’t come, that they’d be afraid to be involved, but there were tons of people there. It was totally worth all the hard work to see the people respond.

helping Richard, Chris, and Nancy serve lamb

Once the crowd started to clear we headed to get our own food. The Bulgarian version of a gyro. It was nice to have something that tasted so much like food you’d get in America. Then back to the hotel for devotion and off to bed.

Day 6

Up early. And off to the village. The Lord really worked and opened the door-the mayor was getting cold feet about letting us come. When we arrived we split up-most of us started working and a few headed to the school and started handing out bags to the kids.

Then we all joined in the work. Even the mayor and several of the young guys helped with the work. Apparently we cleaned up what the local newspaper had named “trash hell.”

Amy, Patrick, and Chris-cleaning up "trash hell"

the mayor

the group heading off to clean

Once we were done we headed down one of the streets to take a look around. We met a precious old lady who wouldn’t let us take her picture. Her granddaughter was there and spoke some English so we got to talk for just a few minutes.

Then it was time for the ladies to leave and head back to the Blocks to prayerwalk. The guys stayed behind and cleaned up as much as they could along the road.

The prayerwalk was really cool. We walked from Heike’s Block to David and Katherine’s and then kept walking around the area for a while longer. When we were almost back to meet up with the group I told Amy that I wanted to sing-something specifically that repeats the name of Jesus. So we were kinda humming. I walked away from the group for a second and I heard Amy say, “oh, Amber just said that.” Turns out Sharolyn told her she wanted to sing something with the name “Jesus” in it. How cool. So we sang several hymns that just repeated the Name and marveled at how awesome our God is. A little boy was sitting with us watching us the whole time and Heike sang a song to him. Apparently he is Romani instead of Turk and everyone is really mean to him.

Then off we went to town to shop for souvenirs and chill out for a while. And back to the hotel to get ready for dinner-in other words. . . more chopska salad.

Back to the hotel for devotion and off to bed.

Day 5

Up early again-and down to the hotel restaurant for potted meat, cheese, tomato, and cucumber for breakfast. You’ll notice we had lots of tomato and cucumber.

Then off to the Block again. This time we spread out around the area and tried to focus on cleaning up around the other Blocks near by. I started cleaning up around the Block across the street and encountered about 3,000 cigarette butts. So I had my work cut out for me. And two little old ladies were watching me and talking near by. A little girl named Biedra helped me sweep up all the trash and made sure to treat me with a little candy for the holiday.

the two ladies who spent the morning watching me clean

After finishing in that area we-me, Brandi, and Anita-headed to the back of the building to pick up as much trash as we could.

trash we found between the two buildings

David came by and said that he had a feeling we were about to be offered coffee. If you know me you know I don’t like coffee, at all. But I sucked it up and when we were called did my part by drinking 2 cups, eating a moon pie, and having my first of many servings of Baklava. Yumm. . . the lady was so sweet. Her name translates into “Rose” in English, so that’s what I’ll call her. She was precious. David had several opportunities as we were sitting there to share the gospel. People were really open to hearing that we were there because we love Jesus.

Amy, Brandi, and I with "Rose"

Then lunch time again-same thing as the day before. David had an opportunity to tell us about the ups and downs of the past few years in reaching the community for Christ.

Then for something a little more fun than cleaning up trash. Amy, Brandi, Sharolyn, and I headed over to Heike’s house to put together bags to hand out in the community with candy and scriptures in them. We had a blast. It was so fun to just have girl time.

Then we headed back to the Block to meet up with everyone and head back to the hotel for dinner. And the Lord blessed us-our luggage had arrived and we got to wear clean clothes for dinner. For dinner we went to a restaurant up on a mountain overlooking the city. It was nice to get a good view of everything going on and be able to pray over it. Then we had more chopska salad.

a view from the dam

Brandi and I after enjoying a little Iran (a drink made from yogurt and water)

another view from the dam

Back to the hotel for devotion and bed.

Day 4

Up pretty early. It was hard to sleep late on the different time schedule-they are 8 hrs ahead of us. Headed to Block 46 where we did most of our work. Anita and I walked with Heike to the market to get lunch food. It was a nice opportunity to see a little more of the city-Khardjali. We went back and prepared lunch at David and Katherine’s house-sandwiches with some kind of meat and tomato sauce. Some of the guys went down to the river to collect rocks to be used in the walkway and others were busy making a plan for the sidewalk.


view of the area surrounding the Block 46 from David and Katherine's apartment


the guys unloading stones from the river

People were definitely noticing our presence and coming out to watch us and see what was going on. Svetlo, our bus driver, offered to help, which was a big deal. He’s Bulgarian and the Bulgarians and Turks don’t like each other so much.

I spent the afternoon digging grass out of the cracks in the sidewalk along with Brandi and Tommye. It was hard work, but totally worth it when the sidewalk looked so clean.


digging grass out of the cracks in the sidewalk

We headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Still no luggage. So, Sharolyn offered us jeans so we didn’t feel totally gross. For dinner we had our first of many chopska salads. It’s basically cucumber and tomato with shredded cheese. It was good, the first time atleast. They eat lots of starch so we had lots of potatoes and bread.

chopska salad at the restaurant

Then back to the hotel for devotion and off to bed.

Day 3

Once we arrived in Milan we had to check in for the next flight. And imagine that our reservations had been lost. Of course they had. The girl was very pouty-as many Italian girls are-but very helpful. We asked about our baggage-to make sure it made it all the way to Sofia and she checked with the airline and assured us it would. I don’t think I remember much of anything else that went on there, but I know we got on the plane.

A few minutes after boarding we receive what I can only describe as the most vicious nasal attack I’ve ever experienced. Apparently someone bought some cologne in the duty free shop that they thought smelled nice. And maybe, just maybe, it would have if we hadn’t been on a closed airplane with it. We were dying laughing at the experience-better to laugh than to cry, but I couldn’t breathe.

this was taken just moments before our cologne experience

Our flight pulled away a little late. But the pilot assured us we would make it there on time as he was going to take a short cut. Now that made me laugh. But I later found out that they can actually fly closer to the earth to cut out time-who knew! Fog was covering Milan as we left so there were lots of cool clouds.

view from the plane-obviously

We landed in Bulgaria and headed into the airport. First stop-passport control. No big deal but the dude really checked out all the places I’ve been. Then on to the luggage carousel. It took forever for bags to start coming out, and they stopped coming. And the half of the group whose tickets had been cancelled didn’t receive their luggage-including me and Amy. Next stop-the lost luggage department. The lady really didn’t like us. I should’ve kept count on the number of times she threw her pen down. We finally made it through the paperwork though. Then we headed back to join up with the rest of the group and see if Richard and Brian had arrived. Richard arrived with no Brian and no luggage. I headed through customs without anyone even looking at me and found Jeffrey immediately. We gathered up everyone and headed to the bus and on to Khardjali.

on the bus to Khardjali

The bus ride was a nice time to get an idea of the country. We stopped at McDonalds and were immediately introduced to their love of American music-Cotton Eyed Joe was playing.

scenes from the drive

the road there

When we got to the hotel-Hotel Ustra-we got to meet the couple we’d be working with. And eat our last American-ish meal for a while. And have an introduction into the culture and people we’d be working with. Oh, and take a group picture!

Day 2

The day started out much more relaxed. We’d already done all the last minute stuff and had a “trial run” the day before. We knew how long it would take to get to the airport, check-in, and get through security. But we did one thing wrong-we assumed that because we had tickets in our hand meant we had reservations for the flight. Wrong. We were told our travel agent cancelled our reservations-well, half of our reservations. Really? Not so much. After another hour of hassle we were booked, again, on the flight. We got to the gate and actually left on time.

In Atlanta we had to check in again. The lady there, Christine, was really nice and helpful. The first thing she did was ask why our luggage wasn’t going all the way to Sofia. Yeah, we didn’t have any idea. So she made the change and assured us all would go well. So, we headed off to Milan after a few nervous minutes at the gate worrying about the overbooked flight.

Day 1

We woke up super early to finish packing and run a few errands. We headed towards the church around 9 since we had a few stops to make and needed to be there by 10. We loaded all the luggage, said a prayer and headed off to the airport with no problems. We started checking and at several of us went ahead through customs and on to the gate. A while passed and no one else came through so we gave someone still checking in a call and they said Leroy had left his passport and someone had gone to get it-no big deal. We had plenty of time. Then they announced that our plane was a few minutes late. Again, no big deal. Our layover at Dulles was supposed to be several hours so we had plenty of time. Amy and I headed to the gift shop to waste a little time. Since the B’ham airport is so small, we didn’t waste too much time there. As soon as we got back to the gate we heard the news that changed the tone of the trip-our flight was cancelled. We got word to stay at the gate and wait for news. . .

the group in prayer after we found out our flight had been cancelled

After praying, we got a call to come back to the check-in counter. They’d be bussing us to Atlanta. By the time we got to the counter things had changed. It was too late to drive to Atlanta and get on a flight in time to make a connection to Frankfurt. So we waited.

Richard, taking advantage of the opportunity to nap

me and Amy waiting for news

And waited, and waited. And finally heard that we wouldn’t be going anywhere, atleast for Friday, and Saturday was still up in the air. We finally heard that we had flights booked for the next day on a different airline. 16 of us would fly through Milan, and 2 would take the original path through Frankfurt.

So we headed home.

the buses coming to pick up back up

Once we got home we finally had an opportunity to rest after days of running to finish the last details. And then, we decided to order some pizza. Bad move-I had the worst allergy attack I’ve ever had-including a huge swollen lip. Now I know what it feels like to be pouty!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we start our almost 24 hrs of travel into Bulgaria. I'm ready in some ways, but not quite ready to get on the plane.
We were commissioned at church last night. It was totally amazing how the Lord worked. Our Pastor wasn't there, which meant our normal study of Galatians was put on hold. Another pastor taught. . . on Joshua 3.
What really struck me was this:

vs. 5
Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great things among you."

It just hit me, our trip was basically tomorrow, just a little more than 24 hrs away. And it was a promise, "get ready, get your heart ready, get clean, get holy, cause tomorrow. . . He's working miracles!"

And then, he looked at us, spoke specifically to our Bulgaria team and reminded us that we need to put into practice the principles in this passage.

It's neat how the Lord works every single detail for our good, and His glory. . .

It's almost time

Just a few days now till we catch our flight to Bulgaria. The bags are almost packed, and Chattie has been helping, like usual.


having a blast testing out all the pockets

It's hard to believe all the preparations are over and in 2 weeks I'll have been and be back. Please keep praying. I can't wait to share what the Lord does.