Gateway Teams

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A full day in Lom! We spent some time seeing the Baptist Church in Lom and talking and praying with Pastor Stoicho Apostolov and his family. As I said yesterday, there is an incredible amount of history surrounding this church and the NAB Conference and we were able to compare old pictures of the church with what we were seeing before our eyes today!



Lom Baptist Church in 1930 (during a visit from NAB Missions Director William Kuhn)



Lom Baptist Church in 2007 (during our visit!)

We then went to another part of town where there is a Gypsy Baptist Church that also dates it’s beginning back to this time. It is actually the first know Gypsy church in the world! (below)

We had a great time talking and praying with the current pastor of this church and he asked us to pray for many needs in his family and congregation; a very rich time. Since Lom is on the Danube River, we decided to have lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the water and continued to have an enjoyable time with Pastor Stoicho and his family. After this, we had an appointment to visit with an elderly woman who was a little girl back in the 1930’s when 2 female NAB missionaries spent some years here in Lom working with children, youth and women of the church. She reminisced back to her childhood telling us of the kindness of “Lydia and Emma” and how they spoke Bulgarian with a strong German accent! ‘Darinka’ gave us a glimpse into the past and she told us that we were such a blessing to her knowing that we came from the same group of people as these 2 beloved ladies in her early life. (‘Baba’ (Grandma) Darinka below)

After a short late afternoon rest, we went to the Lom Baptist Church where a group of people from the church were gathered and eager to meet us because of our history with the beginnings of their fellowship. We had a great time sharing our own stories with them and receiving thanks and appreciation for our visit. We also had an extended prayer time into the evening (over 2 hours!) where many of these people asked that we would pray for their needs and those of their families. It was really a special time for everyone to know that we were reuniting after 70 years of separation. A very full day in all respects! Blessings!

Randy