Progress is being made! What a difference since we got here on Saturday!! The Learning Center (herein "Center") is coming along... slowly... but it is coming along. We actually were only at the Center 1/2 a day today - we spent the morning at one of our favorite places (Berk 4 - explained below) and then this afternoon at the Center cleaning, assembling furniture, and doing other various tasks (explained below also).
First, we went to Berk 4 this morning. Berk 4 is a wonderful place to go! It is a home (orphanage) for handicap children and adults (herein "residents") - ranging from age 5 or 6 to age 40! This is a wonderful example of a well-run orphanage here in Bulgaria. They teach the residents skills of making crafts (you may have seen some of the manger scenes they have created!), and the residents look after each other as if they were one big family. It is a sweet and refreshing place to be. I've often wondered who was the better example of Christ: us coming all the way from America... or them, loving each other and caring with no reserves. What a beautiful picture of Christ.
They have the residents split into 5 different "groups" - so we did the story of David and Goliath, colored pictures, and sang songs in these 5 different groups. They enjoyed it so much... and so did we.
Lots of folks send their love to the people of our past teams. One specific greeting is for Tom - from Hristo (Cristo) at Berk 4. He says "tell him hello and that the Lord bless him."
After Berk 4 we drove to the Learning Center and worked. Judy asked us today to set up a bedroom for the open house - it's the first furnished room now! It is still not completely finished, but it hopefully will be soon. It's all hands on deck here now. We have lots of people coming and going. We set up the room for Judy with furniture that men in Texas made - handmade, quality, solid wood furniture. It is amazing what God provides!! For each room there are bunk beds (also can be made into two seperate beds), 2 desks, and a dresser and wardrobe.
It's funny (not really) how a lot of things are different from the US construction sites... REALLY different. Nothing seems to have much order - you cannot find anything you need, you hardly have the tools you need when you need it... and Judy and Paul have been dealing with this for a year! When we got here this past weekend, Bulgaria was celebrating a national holiday for their language and alphabet. Yes, that's right. They took Monday and Tuesday off, having a long weekend (but don't worry, they will work for the next 2 Saturdays to make up for their holidays). Anyway, the working crews for the site have finally come to work (since we've been here) and there are a lot of people helping now - when they are not on break. :) Oh, and there are major OSHA violations... such as no goggles or eye protection on site, even for the ones cutting metal.
Good night to all... we have just gotten back to the rooms after a delicious meal... did we mention that the food is amazing?? :) Well... time for sleep.
Lots of love,
the team
