Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Our last full day in Bulgaria! Thank you for praying for us along the way and for your interest in our “investigative ministry” here in this beautiful country. Yes, our purpose was to come and see how we may partner with these churches in the future here, but God has definitely taken advantage of our time here and given us many opportunities to minister to people and be a blessing! But as is often the case, when you go with a servant heart to minister, you are blessed immeasurably in return; and that has definitely been the case here these past 10 days.
Today is a day of travel once again as we make our way back to Sofia for our flights tomorrow morning. We traveled with Pastor Stoicho, his wife Yura and 2 new friends, Nicky and Ana. On the way, we had to travel through the mountains once again and stopped at the ancient fortress (and city) of Belogradchik. (pictures below)
What an incredible fortress that has seen the occupation of the Roman Empire (2nd century), Bulgarians (8th century and present) and the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire (13th – 19th centuries). It is high on a rocky precipice with many interesting rock formations. I couldn’t help to think of the ‘Battle of Helm’s Deep’ from “The Lord of the Rings” movies when walking through this fortress; it was just like the set of the movie! This was definitely a must-see site here in Bulgaria.
Well we were headed for Sofia as I said and the service at the Baptist Church, but our goal was to be there by 6:00pm for the Wednesday night service where I was to preach. We arrived instead at 6:30pm but it was right on time for me to almost just walk straight in and start preaching! It all worked out and we had a chance to say good-byes to the people at the Sofia church and eventually Pastor Stoicho, Yura, Nicky and Ana as they dropped us off at our hotel.
Our group (Sam and Bonnie Nickel – Edmonton, AB; Jim and Daniel Black – Chicago, IL and myself) had a great dinner in the hotel restaurant and shared our impressions and ended by thanking God in a time of prayer for all that He did these past 10 days.
As we were here to discover partnership opportunities for Gateway Teams and NAB, I think we’d all have to say that the answer is definitely yes! But we’re going to let God take the lead as to when and how it pans out. We definitely have some ideas: youth ministry discipleship and leadership training (as I described earlier); pastoral and leadership training and women’s ministry are just the beginning of ways that we discovered to participate in the life of the churches here.
All in all, we had an incredible time here in Bulgaria as we experienced the historical and present-day aspects of ministry and life here. It’s quite obvious to us that God has a plan for future partnership as well!
Thank you all for your prayers for our safety, health and discernment here in Bulgaria! May God bless you for your commitment to prayer for us and may we someday see some of you here on a Bulgaria Gateway Team or in another capacity! Blessings!
Randy
Our last full day in Bulgaria! Thank you for praying for us along the way and for your interest in our “investigative ministry” here in this beautiful country. Yes, our purpose was to come and see how we may partner with these churches in the future here, but God has definitely taken advantage of our time here and given us many opportunities to minister to people and be a blessing! But as is often the case, when you go with a servant heart to minister, you are blessed immeasurably in return; and that has definitely been the case here these past 10 days.
Today is a day of travel once again as we make our way back to Sofia for our flights tomorrow morning. We traveled with Pastor Stoicho, his wife Yura and 2 new friends, Nicky and Ana. On the way, we had to travel through the mountains once again and stopped at the ancient fortress (and city) of Belogradchik. (pictures below)
What an incredible fortress that has seen the occupation of the Roman Empire (2nd century), Bulgarians (8th century and present) and the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire (13th – 19th centuries). It is high on a rocky precipice with many interesting rock formations. I couldn’t help to think of the ‘Battle of Helm’s Deep’ from “The Lord of the Rings” movies when walking through this fortress; it was just like the set of the movie! This was definitely a must-see site here in Bulgaria.
Well we were headed for Sofia as I said and the service at the Baptist Church, but our goal was to be there by 6:00pm for the Wednesday night service where I was to preach. We arrived instead at 6:30pm but it was right on time for me to almost just walk straight in and start preaching! It all worked out and we had a chance to say good-byes to the people at the Sofia church and eventually Pastor Stoicho, Yura, Nicky and Ana as they dropped us off at our hotel.
Our group (Sam and Bonnie Nickel – Edmonton, AB; Jim and Daniel Black – Chicago, IL and myself) had a great dinner in the hotel restaurant and shared our impressions and ended by thanking God in a time of prayer for all that He did these past 10 days.
As we were here to discover partnership opportunities for Gateway Teams and NAB, I think we’d all have to say that the answer is definitely yes! But we’re going to let God take the lead as to when and how it pans out. We definitely have some ideas: youth ministry discipleship and leadership training (as I described earlier); pastoral and leadership training and women’s ministry are just the beginning of ways that we discovered to participate in the life of the churches here.
All in all, we had an incredible time here in Bulgaria as we experienced the historical and present-day aspects of ministry and life here. It’s quite obvious to us that God has a plan for future partnership as well!
Thank you all for your prayers for our safety, health and discernment here in Bulgaria! May God bless you for your commitment to prayer for us and may we someday see some of you here on a Bulgaria Gateway Team or in another capacity! Blessings!
Randy
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your time in Bulgaria. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this beautiful land with its beautiful people. Herman was quite amazed at the lovely church in Sofia which was much different when he was there some 10-15 years ago. I trust you arrived home safely. God bless your continued ministry. - Ardath Effa
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