Tuesday, June 14, 2011

I woke around 6:00am, enjoyed my morning activities, and sent out those e-mail requests on the blog. Then, I finished packing, went over to their apartment for breakfast, and Hari and I spoke about my plans in Sofia and the rest of the Balkans. We spoke about his vision and he gave me some advice and encouragement for how to make the most of my time with other brothers and some specific questions to ask them. They blessed me in so many ways, and I know that God will continue to bless their household and ministry more than we can imagine. He invited me back if I am able at the end of my trip in August, when I return to Bulgaria, and so we’ll see what work is available for me elsewhere in the region before I am able to commit – though I would certainly love to return and visit some of the new and younger believers as well as refresh the hearts of the olders saints. Then we headed to the bus stop, purchased my ticked, hugged and said goodbye and thanked God. I loaded onto the bus, and have been writing this account and those of the past two days during the trip.

I finished the journaling of Sunday and Monday about 20 minutes prior to our arrival, and so I worked on some Bible memory for the last 10 minutes or so. Nicky and I connected immediately when I offloaded, and he and Denny took me to meet a youth movement leader in Bulgaria for coffee (I wasn’t hungry at the time). Jan is the brother’s name, and he helped initiate the 365 prayer movement in Bulgaria as well as works to implement humanitarian groups in the country. He also leads a home group and has developed the youth ministry at his church (Nicky and Denny were the former leaders before Jan came in) so that many of the youth are now leading ministry teams at the church (for their age groups and more). I think we chatted for nearly two hours, with me asking him questions about the youth culture and undercurrents in the church. I also asked him about his vision for the church globally and Bulgaria in particular.

From there, Denny took me back to the BL office, and I unpacked and prepared my room. It was Tuesday again, and so there was no running water, and so I had to postpone the shower and such until after 4am. I was going to go to the premier of a musical on video, but because of transportation issues I was unable. Then, I had planned to go treat Jan to dinner, but after he called his wife and found her sick he was decided to go home to her and his children. Thus, it was obvious that I would stay at the office for the evening. I had some yogurt and juice and nuts I had purchased the previous week before I found I would be going to spend time in Kardzhali with Hari and Penka, and I spoke with Pr. Bob on Skype. Afterward I wrote briefly about my day and then uploaded videos to YouTube before tiring out and sleeping on the bed around 10:30pm.