Pictures!

Greetings!

Jim and I (Rachel) are still in Bulgaria. We drove to a town named Plovdiv yesterday and today we will sight see. It has a lot of Roman ruins and some other interesting history. Below you will find pictures from the past several days. It has been so fun and we already miss the team. They made it home safely last night and I know that they are happy to be home. Ask one of them if you see them about their thoughts on the trip. It was such a good time. Here are some pictures from the Pizza Party with Berk 4 and pictures from the 1st Annual US/Borovtsi Festival! (Notice "annual" is thrown in there - so this means if you are reading this, you need to help in the 2nd annual festival - LOL!)

Keep watching the blog later this week for more updates on the Learning Center and the dedication ceremony on Saturday.

Ciao -
Rachel

PIZZA PARTY PICTURES

US/Borovtsi Festival

Presenting the mayor of Borovtsi with a gift bag



Borovtsi Festival a Success!

Greetings from Sofia after another great day in Borovtsi.  Wow, what a festival we had.  It was the U.S.-Borovtsi cultural festival, and there was lots of singing and dancing.  The purpose of the festival was an introduction of the town of Borovtsi to the Learning Center, which is just out from the town.  The learning center has been the biggest employer in the town over the last year and a half with its construction and remodeling, but there's still not full understanding of what this place is.  It will be a learning and transition center for young men aging out of orphanages, and they will live there 12-18 months to learn to live on their own and gain job skills.

Judy and Paul (the missionaries) offered to do a street festival for the town, and it grew into a cultural exchange festival, which was great.  It was a perfect day for it, with sunny skies and 80 degrees.  There's a large plaza and an outside stage in the middle of town.

For our American part, we started with games for kids (a "fishing" pond where you cast the line over a partition and someone on the other side attaches a piece of candy to the line, a small duck pond with prizes for the very little kids, jump rope, bubbles, etc.) and a line dance.  We served lemonade, s'mores (made beforehand with marshmallow creme), and candy. Then for our program, we dressed in overalls and straw hats.  We began with words spoken by Skip, then sang Amazing Grace, then Jim talked some about East TN as compared to Bulgaria.  (The two are amazingly similar in terrain, weather, plants and flowers, etc.)  We square danced to Turkey in the Straw, sang America the Beautiful, and performed the "doctor's office" skit, where one male patient in the waiting room catches the ailments of everyone else and then runs out screaming when a pregnant lady walks in.  We were nervous about how that would play with the crowd, but they completely got the humor and loved it.  We of course finished with singing Rocky Top.  It all went well.

For the Roma and Bulgarian parts, there was also singing and dancing.  The Roma (the politically correct term for gypsies) did belly dancing and some traditional dances.  Then the Bulgarians did a very elaborate play and dance about their culture.  It is a group from Borovtsi who has performed all over and even has some type of certificate from the UN.  They were in their traditional costumes (from hundreds of years ago) and had their own band, a spining wheel and wool-working on stage, wooden benches, food which they served to us during the play, and several dances.  The story line was an old history and even involved the stealing of a wife for one man.  They put on an excellent performance.

The mayor spoke, and we presented him with a gift bag.  The regional TV station was there to do a story, too.  Our estimate was a crowd of about 150.

Afterwards, we packed up a drove back to Sofia in time to go to the market downtown and then to dinner at the delicious Chinese restaurant near Paul and Judy's church.  We are now at the hotel in Sofia.  Everyone except Jim and Rachel will fly out in the morning.  They are staying another week and will be at the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Learning Center on Friday.

Check back tomorrow for photos of the pizza party for Berk 4 and the U.S.-Borovtsi Festival.  We had some computer difficulties this morning, and it's late tonight.

Thanks for all your prayers this week.  It's been a good trip.

Pizza Party for Berk 4

Dober den this Friday evening.  It has been a tremendous day and one full of joy!  We started with a few hours of work at the Learning Center but then made our way back to Berkovitsa for a pizza party with the residents of Berk 4.  The theme was a luau, so we showed up at the restaurant early (we had rented out the entire inside space) to decorate with balloons, palm trees, pink flamingos, beach balls, and toys.  We also prepared goody bags that contained pens, some small toys, a beanie baby, a banana, a cookie, and a pixie stick.

About 55 residents from Berk 4 came down the hill to town for the party.  This is a BIG deal for them because they rarely leave the grounds of the orphanage.  They were all smiles and full of excitement!  We greated them at the door with a lei around their neck and then welcomed them in.  It was a great party!  Each person got a bottle of juice, and there was plenty of pizza to go around.  Then the dancing began -- line dancing, the hokey pokey, the twist, a slow dance, and several more traditional Bulgarian songs.

Everyone had a great time.  They had all put on their best clothes and were very polite to wait patiently sitting at the tables until everyone had arrived.  (It takes a while to shuttle everyone there in vans.)  In a way, it's a big family at Berk 4, and they all look out for each other, especially the older ones with the younger kids.  They even cleaned up after they had finished eating, throwing away all the trash and neatly stacking all the throw-away plastic plates.  They are such wonderful, joyful folks, just in bodies and minds that don't quite work right.  They are beautiful creations of our Creator, and each has a unique personality.  They are a joy to be with.

After the party, we headed back out to the Learning Center in Borovtsi to do some more work.  It's really coming together, although there's a lot left to do.  The Dutchmen finished most of the laminate flooring installation in the meeting rooms and offices.  We assembled furniture for the dorm rooms and did some more painting and cleaning.  We also helped the two sets of house parents get moved into their upstairs apartments, and tonight will be the first night they stay there.

We had a quick dinner of sandwiches because we had to practice our presentation for the festival in Borovtsi tomorrow.  Several of our team met with the officials there this afternoon to plan the event, and they're expecting singing and "traditional" dancing from us.  Yikes!  There are posters around town announcing the U.S.-Borovtsi folklore festival, and rumor has it that the regional TV station will be there tomorrow to do a story.  So we've coreographed our square dancing and practiced singing songs!  We'll also have games and food for the kids.

It's late, and we're off to bed.  We pack up and head back to Sofia tomorrow after the festival.

Dober Den

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

Greetings!

It was a long but lovely day. We began this morning by first driving from Berkovitsa (where we are staying) to Borovtsi (where the Learning Center is) to do our devotional (as we begin each day). We like to do the devotional at the Center so that the workers can see that Christ comes first and is important in our lives.

Directly after the devotional our Dutch friends began laying floor, our Aussie friends began painting, our Bulgarian friends began their normal duties of contruction, and we, the Americans from FUMC went to Georgi Damyanovo (the preschool orphanage), with Rachel driving one of the cars - her first Bulgarian driving experience.  (Leanne, we saw the water buffalo again on the way.)

We spent the morning with these beautiful, bright-eyed, energetic children. There were about 26 kids there total. Many of the faces that we are familiar with from past years have aged out (at age 7) of the orphanage and were not there (although we saw some of those 'older' children walking in another nearby village on our way to Georgi - they have been moved to another orphanage).

We told the Bible story of Zacchaeus (from Luke 19) to the children, acted it out (Greg was Zacchaeus, Brad was Jesus, and Skip made a great tall tree!), sang a song, danced, colored, and played. The children are wonderful!

There was one brother and sister that was at the preschool orphanage that have an interesting and sad story. Earlier this year they were found living under a bridge with their mom. The workers at the orphanage showed us a picture of when they were found and told us this story. The kids were taken from their mother and have been living in this orphanage since February. Such a sad story. Rachel held the sister for a long time because she just wanted to be held and loved on. Others in the group held children, sang to them, and just played (swinging them round and round). Jim counted in Bulgarian from one to ten with the children.

After about 2 hours we headed back to Borovtsi and ate lunch with everyone... then we jumped back into work - painting, sweeping, cleaning, scrubbing windows, and doing whatever we were needed to do (including carrying heavy furniture up 3 flights of stairs).

Following our work we headed to the mountain town of Vratsa with wonderful food and atmosphere. Of course we are eating the famous Shopski salad (with tomatoes and cucumbers and cheese - mmmmmm!) and good home cooked meals! Fanta orange and lemon are the drinks of choice. The resturant we ate in is at the base of vertical rock cliffs a couple of thousand feet tall - a beautiful place.

We are now going to sleep in the midst of a thunder and lightening storm. It is soothing to hear the rain falling outside our windows (the prefered choice is to sleep with the windows open). It is a hard rain and very calming.

Good night to all. We love you. Thanks for your prayers. We ask for continued prayer for the Learning Center - the work is slow and the opening for the center is scheduled for next week. Judy and Paul are under a lot of pressure and want to see this completed.

Brad, Andrew (Judy and Paul's son), and our Dutch friends singing during our devotions.

Midge cleaning a window.

One of the Bulgarian workers lifting cement buckets up to the 3rd floor.

Skip and Jane after a hard day's work.

One of the dorm rooms at the Learning Center BEFORE.

One of the dorm rooms AFTER.

The view of the mountain where we had dinner.

Dober den (which means good day in Bulgarian).  Hope everyone is doing okay. We continued work on the learning center today.  We continued sanding, painting, and laying floor.  Today we also cleaned windows and vacuumed floors. 

Fun events of the day:
(1) We have been doing our devotions in the mornings at the work site. We have good memories this morning of singing and our devotional done by Greg (yesterday Cindy gave the devo).

(2) We had lunch with 5 countries represented: US, Bulgaria, Australia, Holland, and Hungary. A group of teenagers joined us today to help with the painting (thus the Hungarian addition).

(3) We had Stancho from Berk 4 work with us today - one of the orphans that is now living on his own and doing construction at the Learning Center.

(4) We are seeing progress. This morning rooms were bare that now have color... floors were concrete that are now laminate... walls without drywall now have it.

(5) Brad ate a tomato for the first time in about 15 years. This is a momentous event.

(6) We took a walk through Berkovitsa after dinner as a group. It's a nice spot for a walk.

See below for examples of us in action today at the Learning Center.


The Cleaning Crew: (L to R) Midge, Cindy, Jane, Debbie, & Brad

 


Cindy, the clean sweeper!





Jane, the bandit, cleaning.

Greg cleaning.

Jim sanding.



Mr Clean, Mr Clean... Brad the vacuum man!



Our Dutch friends laying floors - amazing work!

Debbie, Midge, and Cindy looking out a newly cleaned window.

Outside front view of the Learning Center.

Side view of the Learning Center - there is an addition of a 3rd floor (the skylight windows in the red roof) and beautiful wood trimming (see the picture below).

Bigger view of beautiful wood trim on side of roof.

Wilma the dog that lives at the Learning Center (one of many dogs!).

WORK day! :)

Hello from Berkovitsa!  We are enjoying companionship with not only team members from Morristown, but brothers and sisters from Holland, Australia and Bulgaria.  Today was a WORK day at the Learning Center in Borovtsi.  We cleaned, painted, layed flooring, washed windows and sanded walls and ceilings.  It was a great day and we're all looking forward to a good nights sleep.  Our pictures below show some of the work we did.

 Skip and Jane laying laminate flooring. Yes! It's true!

Kataya painting - she is one of our interpreters.

Some Bulgarian workers.

Jim talking with Dan (the Australian missionary and Louis Hyde's twin).

Cindy cleaning.

Fun day!

Greetings from Bulgaria!

As yesterday's blog was titled: Slava-na-boga... this means "Praise the Lord!"

We began this morning at the gypsy village of Rakovitsa. We parked at the Baptist Church - which is at the entrance of this village - and walked up the road to greet people and invite the children to church... much like a Pied Piper! When we reached the school in the center of the village - about a 5-10 minute walk (half mile) - we turned around and walked back down to the church for the children's Sunday School.

Not knowing how many children would show up to Sunday School, we did not know what to prepare for. These children do not have a regular Sunday School and they do not go to "big people's church" (the main service) because children do not normally go to it. Thus, the only time that they get presented anything about the Bible is when a group like us shows up. Well, about 100 children showed up for Sunday School this morning!! Slava-na-boga!! Here are some pictures:

During Sunday School we told stories, made a craft, and loved on the children. Skip presented the story of Jesus rising from the Tomb while several people acted the story out: Greg played Jesus, Midge and Debbie played the two Marys at the tomb, and Cindy was the Angel. After this story, Jane talked a little, then Skip, Debbie, Greg, and Midge rang bells.

We then went upstairs to "big church" and worshiped and sang. They first sang songs in their language for us and then we sang hymns in English as a choir for them - they sang along in their language for the hymns that they knew. It is a beautiful thing to have songs sung in different languages at the same time!! We even have a group of 4 Dutch men (from Holland) with our group this week - so they sang with us too! After all this singing, Skip sang a solo, followed by Jim preaching. The people in the church had snacks for us after the service. It was a wonderful fellowship time.

Our God is so good and faithful! We were reminded this morning (from Jim's sermon) that being faithful does not mean that we will get something in return. This is a problem that the gypsies face: they think good works should bring rewards. And Oh! how often we do the same! But we find our treasure in His presence alone! Our teasure from our faithfullness to come to Bulgaria was His presence among us today - in this worship service and in the other activities we did today! Our God is good!

After church, we then went to Klisorski Monastery and walked around. We also ate lunch at this monastery. We definitely are not starving - the food is amazing as always!

After this we went and changed clothes and drove to Borovtsi, where the Learning / Transition Center is. Since we went yesterday to see it, we went back this afternoon with our Dutch friends to show them around. They will be laying laminate flooring this week. They are a fun bunch - speaking very little English - but a good group. They prove that you are not too young or too old to go where God calls. They range from 1 retired/widowed man (70 yrs old) to a teenage boy of 16 (grandson of one of the other men in the group). (They make a total of 4 men).

As for the Center, we ask for your prayers - the people building it are on "Bulgarian time" and are neglecting the fact that their contract says the building should be done next week!! It is months aways from being finished at this time. We just hope to be a help to get things done while we are here - i.e. painting, putting furniture together, setting up rooms and doing whatever is necessary. Please pray that the work gets done quickly and that Judy and Paul find the strength to keep dealing with this building project.

After going to the Center, we drove back to Berkovitsa and rested for a little bit (or walked around town) before going to dinner. Again, another nice meal! This was the resturant with excellent fish (yes, with the head still on) and other wonderful food - including homemade baklava!!

Good night to you all here in Berkovitsa. We will sign off for the evening and write again tomorrow (God willing).

Thanks for following our blog!

Blessings,

The Bulgaria Team

Slava-Na-Boga

Greetings from beautiful and sunny Berkovitsa, Bulgaria.  We arrived safely in Bulgaria at noon time today.  We were greeted by Paul and Judy Ridgway and new friends from Australia.  We drove about 2 hours into the mountains to see the almost completed training center for orphans who are displaced from orphanages due to their age.  We are so excited to be a part of God's plan for the fatherless!  Please continue to pray for our team and all those whom we will come in contact with.
In Christ's Love
Team Bugaria

Missions 2011

Greetings!

The Young Adult Missions Team left early this morning for St. John's Island. Please keep them in your prayers as they do construction work and enjoy fellowship with those they help.

The Bulgaria Team is also busily preping for their trip. Please keep their travels in your prayers this week, as well as the ministry they will bring to the Bulgaria people and children.

Praise our God for His glorious riches!!

It's 2011

Greetings!

We are so glad you are on our blog! We have an exciting Spring and Summer planned at our church - First United Methodist Church Morristown, TN.

Our God has so richly blessed us with His grace and we are excited to tell the world about Him and His love for them... and you! Please follow us in our trips and see where and how God is working!

Please feel free to email us anytime at FUMConMission@yahoo.com

God bless!

We're Back!

We are back in the states! Sorry for lack of communication... but the last few days flew by in a breeze. We had a marvelous time!!! We cannot wait to share with our friends and family and church. Thanks for your prayers!!

Home Stretch

Dear friends,

There is so much to tell. We have long days - up before the sun and down long after the moon. Thursday morning we went to a home (orphange) in Dren - a home for preschoolers. These precious kids were a great highlight. The kids just want to be held and played with. One kid crawled up in Tom's lap and pointed to his own glasses and then to Tom's glasses and then just wanted to sit in his lap the rest of the time. Jeff had kids jumping up and down all around him. Leanne crawled in a playhouse and played with some smaller ones. Bridget had a small girl hold her hand and walk for about 15 minutes; when we were ready to leave the little girl began to cry and wail and did not want Bridget to leave. It was hard to leave; these kids soaked up the attention and love.

We then went and ate lunch at an OMV (a fancy gas station). We also went to a beautiful monastery.

Next we went to a special needs home (orphanage) in Petrovo. This home was very touching. There were children of all ages and of all needs physically and mentally. It was very touching to see the bed-ridden children and adults. Each of us prayed over the kids that we worked with. These people are so precious in our Father's heart.

We ended the day by driving into Greece; was a long day... With a HUGE surprise at the end of it. We arrived in Greece around 10pm very tired, but the Ridgways had secretly planned with Rachel's boyfriend the 'proposal.' Jim, Rachel's boyfriend, was waiting for her at the hotel with an engagement ring. She said 'yes'! Jim has joined the group for the rest of the trip.

Friday was an R&R day in Kavala, Philippi, and Thassos - places in Greece. The team had an amazing time wandering the ruins of Philippi where the Apostle Paul spent time. See Acts 16:6-40. We sat outside of the place that is thought to be the prison Paul and Silas were sent to. It really brings the Bible to life! We also saw the place where Lydia (from the same Acts story) was baptized. The afternoon was spent on the island of Thassos swimming in the Aegean Sea.

Today we are traveling to one more orphan home. We look forward to all God has planned.

Blessings!