Christmas 2010 Afterparty in Plovdiv

It has been hard to be away from the people we love, especially around Christmas, but it was great to be able to Skype with family and speak with friends on the phone. We share this experience of missing loved ones with other missionaries. There are three families on our team who spent their first Christmas away from home. It was nice that we were all able to spend some time enjoying each others company. Joshua spent 2 nights with Gary and Tammy and one night they were so kind to watch all the children while Susan and I went on a double date with Pete and Renee. This morning before we jumped on the train, Pete made a delicious breakfast of biscuits & gravy, bacon, and eggs - almost like being at home! Then it was back to Sofia. I had a conversation on the train with a guy who insisted that I understood more Bulgarian than I actually did. He gave me his newspaper, his phone number and some advice. I must confess that since he spoke no English, I am not entirely sure what that advice was, but nonetheless, he was friendly and gave me an opportunity to stretch my language learning skills. When we got to Sofia, I introduced Susan to the post office, where a couple of packages were waiting. When we got home and opened the packages, we were surprised and touched by the generosity of some dear friends. The timing was perfect and made a special ending to Christmas 2010 for us.

Merry Christmas to All

So this is our first Christmas in Bulgaria.  It came up on us rather quickly.  Susan and I found ourselves scrambling to make last minute purchases and wrap presents this week so that there would be something under the tree for a few days.  We thought we would have a white Christmas.  There was a lot of snow on the ground a week ago, but it has been steadily melting away for the past week. Last night we had a private Christmas party including a dancing segment American Bandstand style where we all showed off our best moves.  We guessed gifts, ate sandwiches, watched fireworks from the balcony, and read from Luke 2 and Matthew 2 of the Savior's birth.  We got up this morning and tied a ribbon around Happy, Eli's dog.  The boys made coffee for Susan and me.  By the time we came down, they had already checked out their stockings.  They were anxious to unwrap presents, but we insisted that they wait until we could get Skype up and share with the grandparents.  Nothing doing - neither set of G-parents were online.  We took a few minutes to pray for our family, here and there.  Uncle Matt was on so we Skyped with him and LeighAnn.  Then Susan's mom and dad got online and watched the kids open their gifts.  The boys all seemed very pleased with their gifts and ran off to play with them.  Right now, I am sitting next to Susan with Christmas music playing gently in the background. I can hear Joshua upstairs playing with his new guitar, but here we sit, relaxing, sipping on coffee, just glad to be together and enjoying a quiet moment.  Merry Christmas to everybody!

Thy Mercy, My God is the Theme of My Song

Things are not happening the way we planned.  When Susan and I were first invited to Bulgaria, it was with the idea that we would be providing therapy services and consultations based out of newly established resource center called Lomidol.  We figured that we would be working side by side with a Bulgarian couple.  We really liked them and we liked the idea partnering with them in a gospel-driven ministry of mercy.  But much has changed since we started down this path.  Our Bulgarian friends had to make decisions for the well being of their family that led them away from Lomidol and Sofia, the city where we now live.  Lomidol is no longer in operation.  Our team's leadership changed while we were raising support and since that time there has been an ongoing effort to recast the vision of what our team is doing.  Susan and I have spent a lot of time praying and wondering about the shape that our ministry, both team and family, would take.  We have been telling people that our primary job this first year is to learn the language, but I have become increasingly aware that our first job is the same as it has always been, to know God and walk with Him.  Everything else follows.  My pastor used to say that he was praying that God would make us desperate for Him.  I can't help, but wonder if he has been praying that prayer a little more frequently since we left for the field.  For the most part we have adjusted well to life in the field, but there are days and seemingly minor events that sometimes create a great deal of stress for us, like finding a cab on Sunday morning and being turned down because our family is too big or he doesn't understand my Bulgarian.
With everything that has happened, and all the changes, God has been faithful to our family and even now, on this day, I have a strong sense of Him drawing us closer.  Though we have spent much of our time here like blind men wandering around, God has opened doors into relationships with Bulgarians.  We are now part of a family group in our church that is taking seriously their responsibility to help us learn Bulgarian by limiting their use of English, though most of them speak it well. From our visit in 2006, relationships have been rekindled and have led to opportunities for us to meet with and support families with disabled children.  Just over a week ago, I went with a medical team to the nearby town of Pazardjik, where we worked for a week.  Though I had opportunities to serve and to encourage people who passed through this church-based clinic, I felt very much like a student watching nurses, doctors, translators and various church members share the love of Christ through encouraging, sometimes challenging words, compassion,and prayer.  It was such a blessing to me to be a part of this team. There have been other opportunities.  We got a call out of the blue from Tsvetan who referred a family to us.  Susan and I invited them over and we spent maybe an hour and a half with them and their little girl who has cerebral palsy.  They were a delightful couple and their little girl was as cute as she could be.  We talked and played and made recommendations.  Before they left we exchanged contact information and an offer was extended to connect us with families in Vergas, on the other side of Bulgaria. Through our involvement in a family group at our church, I was asked to help proofread an English version of a proposal for a community center on church property.  I expressed excitement about the proposal and was quickly invited to be a part of the team, particularly to help develop an outreach component focused on children with disabilities.

So it is true, things are not happening as we planned.  Our vision was small and neat and manageable.  Though we are looking dimly as through a glass, we are beginning to catch a glimpse that maybe God's vision is large and messy and completely unmanageable in human terms, though very much under the control of an all powerful, merciful, and loving God!  In all of this what does God require of us "but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God?"

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He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8