Monday, June 30, 2014

VBS in Kyustendil and Dupnitsa

What a week!

We held a VBS Monday through Friday with right around 100 children. A team from our home church, Christ Community came with songs, crafts, and Bible lessons. The theme was "You are His treasure". They taught the lesson of the lost parables and told the kids how valuable they are to the Lord. They made treasure chests, sheep, and crowns. This time to end the VBS we took the kids up to the mountain to give them a chance for some fresh air and a chance to get out of the village.

We took a picnic lunch, played games, and laughed a lot! This week we will remember for the rest of our lives! Many thanks to the team for sacrificing so much to come and love on us and the people of Bulgaria!

How you can help-Donate towards (I am leaving this up for one more week. We have received some gifts but I don't have a total yet. I should be able to let you know next week where we stand.
Clothing fund for the children $10 per child x 50 children ($500)
Galloway camp scholarship fund- this will cost our family 600 euro ($817/US) to attend which is not in our budget
August camp scholarship fund- $35 sends a teen to the Love Bulgaria conference for a week and we are looking for those willing to sponsor a teen. We would like to send 10 from our area ($350)
If you would like to donate to these events, please use the links below, but please indicate to which fund you are giving. I know you partners can make this happen for the kids!

Many thanks to those that love and pray for us. We value your partnership and support. Being on the frontline of ministry requires a definite group of people willing to pray and uplift us, and we know we would/could not be here without you all. You are loved much!

Praise reports:
*An absolutely amazing week with the Christ Community team that came this week. God has worked through His people to spread His love, joy, and comfort.
*35 people were baptized in the river today!

Prayer needs:
*Our home church, Christ Community, will be traveling back to the USA today. They will be very tired and I know of one that has to return to work Monday.
*Pray for the projects (agricultural, church plants, and orphanage/safe house) beginning here on the ground in Bulgaria.
*Pray for the financial budget to be met. We have received $6,000 since our last report, praise the Lord, but are still $2,000 below budget for the year.
God Bless,
Chance, Dee Dee, Mitch, Catherine, Jessie, and Alan

Monday, June 16, 2014

Cherry Pickin' Time (and Lipa too)

We went yesterday to pick cherries and lipa. We went to a village right outside of Kyustendil that had a beautiful view of the city. Kyustendil is surrounded by 3 mountains, Osogovo (being the largest and toward Macedonia), Konyavo (that we travel over going to Sofia), and Lisets (which is toward Serbia and the one which my previous post was about).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyustendil_Province (more info. of our region)
My friend's family is from Lisets. They have some cherry trees that needed to be picked. Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Afterwards we went to pick lipa. I believe it is called Lindon in english. If you pick the small leaves that have a bud coming off of them, you can dry them and make a great tea. The tea helps with blood pressure and helps you sleep well. I have a cup every night. They sell it in the apteka (pharmacy), but I like the real thing better. Alan was a big help pulling down the limbs so Borislava and I could pick the leaves.

It's now drying on newspaper in Catherine's old room.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

June 11th

This past week has been fun, adventurous, and a little stressful.

First, it was Alan's end of the year program and last day of school. He was with this teacher for 3^rd and 4^th grades. She was a bit apprehensive in letting an American that spoke little Bulgarian into her class, but said her granddaughter had moved to Italy and a teacher had allowed her in and said, “Well, if she learns anything, she’ll at least learn Italian.” That was our philosophy with Alan. He had already done 3^rd grade with me, so this was an infiltration into the language step, and I would take up the slack with math and English at home. Last year he was a bit intimidated and unsure, but we had a friend that was also in the class, and that helped.

This is Alan's first day of school on Sept. 15, 2012.

This year his Bulgarian has blossomed and I couldn’t be more proud. He is not on grade level in the Bulgarian language, which I would not expect him to be as it being a second language, but he earned good grades in Bulgarian and outstanding grades in math (which are mostly in word problem form).

This is Alan giving his teacher flowers on the last day of 4th grade.

Alan and Jessie after the school program

Last weekend Alan and I went up into the mountains of Bulgaria with our good friends Stanimir and Borislava and their 3 children, Ande, Nadi, and Kati. It was nice to feel the temperature drop to nice levels the further we went up. We were up by Serbia in a village called Sredorek. Their house has been around for a hundred years and his family has lived in that village as far back as he knows. It was fun listening to stories that he remembered going back to when the Ottomans ruled Bulgaria. It was nice lying in the hammock and going for a walk on the mountain trails. The only hiccup was forgetting toilet paper when going to the outhouse. After a little wait, Ande came out and I was able to yell for help. Always an adventure! Here are a few pictures…