On Sunday, July the 2nd, we celebrated God’s faithfulness by dedicating the new church in Yastrebovo. The first Christian church in this town ever! It was such a praise to God! We cried from joy, laughed, sang and prayed!
Gopi finally got the cross and the bell in the new church. Eventually I will send you a video so you can hear the bell. There were ten Americans and one Greek pastor among those that came to celebrate. We had about 130 people. 50 percent of the town! What a glory to God. All this He did through prayer and generous giving by some very generous people!
Praise God that 17 years ago he brought us together with Gopi and eventually Reni through our American missionaries, Keth and Margie Brown. What a dedicated couple serving in Bulgaria for 20+ years.
Elaina with her sisters and friends raised over $600 to buy food for a very poor ghetto where people still live in chicken coops!
This was a day of hard work but the joy on the people’s faces made it all worth it!
Gopi and his wife Reni. What a blessed dedicated couple!
DAY OF CELEBRATION!
Jim and Pantelis did the dedication service!
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHURCH EVER!
Hello again:
After the mini conference at the Turkish church in Pazardjik, we moved on to the Pastors’ Conference in Yundola. We lost track of time but it is either the 12th or 13th annual.
It was wonderful to see our pastors and their wives once again. They were all ready and anxious to learn more and were very attentive to the teaching. Pantelis and Jim did five lessons each and I had the privilege of doing three sessions with the women.
We started the morning at 7:30 with singing and prayer
Very attentive audience
It was hard to say good bye!!!
Hello family and friends:
On Friday June 23, Pantelis, Jim, Elaina and I left Litochoro, Greece for what turned out to be an amazing 10day journey of two weekends and a five day conferences with our Bulgarian, Turkish and Roma pastors and other people whom we have come to love and call family over the years. In Pazardjik, Ilene and Mike from Alamo Travel were waiting for us along with pastor Sasho, his wife, Christina and others.
The first weekend we spent in Pazardjik at the Turkish church where Sasho is the pastor. Pantelis and Jim did a mini-conference and Saturday evening we went to a village church where Jim gave the message.
I was at this village over ten years ago with a Greek pastor Kostas and his wife Nina. A parishioner of that village church, which met outside in the summer and different homes in the winter, told us at that time that he would legally give part of his property and trust that the Lord would build a church for them. At that moment, the Greek pastor said, “if you do that then I will give you the money for the foundation”, which he did. You can see from the picture the foundation was built with the possibility of holding over 100 people.
To be honest with you as the years went by, I totally forgot about this. They didn’t ask for money then and they didn’t ask for any now. However, the fact that they brought us to this village was an indication to me to remind me of that day many years ago. I didn’t promise anything but since they do the building themselves, I did ask how much was needed for the architect (new EU rules) and for the materials. Pray with me asking the Lord, if it is His will, to help us build this village church.
We then finished Sunday worship at the Turkish church and on Sunday afternoon we went to Yundola for the Pastors’ conference.
Jim and our wonderful translator Teo
The village congregation with all of us
Turkish congregation
We continued with Annie and Robert Ching by doing VBS in FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Yugoslavia). We stayed overnight and spent hours with our kids there playing, eating and teaching. Annie is a wonderful Bible teacher and the kids enjoyed the lessons and coloring pictures of the stories. We had lunch for them both days and enjoyed watching them enjoy every minute.
The Ministry sponsors all the kids of this small ghetto outside the capital of Skopje. All the school age children are in school and two of our older girls are starting beauty school in September.
We thank God for pastor Sokrat and his wife Elena and their daughter Christina who are doing a great job taking care of the kids and pastoring this group and another nearby.
In the midst of poverty and extreme need, the Lord is touching hearts of young and old. We are grateful to the Lord for the privilege of serving Him in this forgotten area by many. He certainly has not forgotten them. Praise Him that He loves us all the same!
