Endings and Beginnings

Part of the reason I have written a new update recently is that each time I go to write one, I think about just how much has happened, and I get overwhelmed thinking about how much I have to convey! But it is rather late, and I need to just take the plunge!

SCA

So much has been going on lately as we wrapped up this school year, but we are also in the throws of planning for next year! The school is going to have a complete overhaul, with all new families for next year. All of the families currently at the school will be leaving Bulgaria, either for a short stint back in the States or as a permanent move. With this change of families, comes a great change of students. We will have three kindergarteners, a first grader, and a second grader. Due to this change and the fact the school has never had such young students, we are having to come up with all new curriculum and figure out who can teach what subjects.

It has become a school tradition to have a talent show at the end of the year, and this year boasted of quite a variety of talents! Students sang, played piano, performed a skit, made a virtual replica of the school building on a computer, demonstrated tae-kwon-do, and did a stand up comedy routine. It was a fun time with former SCA students coming to support the current students.

Piano performance

Virtual version of SCA

The whole school from this year

Being goofy

Current and former students/teachers

Civil Ceremony and parents' visit

In April, my parents were able to come to see Bulgaria, meet Angel and his family, and experience first hand my new life here. It was such a special time to have them here! We also were able to schedule the Civil Ceremony while my parents were here (the legal part of the marriage). They will then return in August when we will have the wedding in the church and then be officially married. :) 

While they were here, we were able to travel to a couple of other cities outside of Sofia. I spent some time showing them around the city center here, and they attended my church and the church which Angel's father pastors. It was such a blessing for them spend time with my in-laws and just generally see why I love it here so much! 

Dinner with both sets of parents

With my parents

With Angel's parents

 

What's to come...

This year has already been one of the years of greatest change in my life... and it isn't over yet! God has been growing me and stretching me in ways I had no idea I could bend. Well, actually, I can't bend that way on my own, but with His help, He has shown me new things about myself and the plans He has for my life are so much better than anything I could have ever planned. I hadn't planned to go to Bulgaria. I hadn't planned to stay for three years. I hadn't planned to meet an amazing Godly man whose family and friends would welcome me in as if they have known me my whole life. Yet, this is what God had planned all along. Even though the future will be complicated (don't even get me started on Visa processes, etc), and I know it won't always be easy, when I see how far God has carried me thus far, I must remind myself that He will continue to be faithful, even when I can't see the road ahead. 

As most of you know, I have now wrapped up my "official" term with MTW. It has truly been a blessing to be a part of the MTW Bulgaria team family. They are the reason I wanted to return after my first year here - the amazing community they create and their passion for serving Christ and spreading the gospel. They have been my family and closest friends when I've been so far from everything and everyone back in the States. 

I will continue teaching at the school next year and will maintain a close relationship with the MTW team, but I also am transitioning more into becoming a part of my Bulgarian family. It's not always easy with language barriers and cultural difference, but God is gracious and he transcends every difference and allows me to see the similarities of His creation - each one of us created in his image. 

So thank you to each and everyone of you who has made it possible for me to serve here in Bulgaria. Thank you for all your prayers, love, and financial support. God has encouraged me and blessed me through your notes, messages, and responses to my updates. 

Blessings in Christ,

Bethany

Holidays, Celebrations, and Getting Older!

Here are a few updates from the school, the holidays, and my birthday. :)

SCA

It is hard to believe that we are already halfway through the school year! We had a big Christmas party which most of the parents were able to attend. The students wrote a play telling their own version of the nativity story. While it may not have been exactly accurate, they really enjoyed writing it and performing it for their parents. Here is a link to watch the play: SCA Christmas play

Decorating the school for Christmas

Secret Santa gift exchange

Performing the Christmas play

Holidays

I was super blessed this year to spend the Christmas holidays with Angel's family. His brother surprised everyone and came in from Germany for about a week. We also had our annual MTW Christmas party, which is always a great time of fellowship. 

MTW Christmas party

MTW Christmas party

Skyping with my Parents on Christmas 

My Birthday

Well, as some of you may know, earlier this week I celebrated the big 3-0! Of course, the best way to celebrate is to act like a 12 year old and go sledding, swinging, and building a snowman! :)

          

              




Many blessings to you all this new year! :)

Bonus Entry!

I just saw this article about some not so well known facts about Bulgaria! I wanted to pass it along to give you more of an idea about this small, but impressive country. :)

http://truenomads.com/2013/11/facts-about-bulgaria/

Ever Changing Roles

I have been meaning to write an update for quite a while now, but upon reflection, it has only been about a month and a half since I’ve been back, so I guess this isn’t as late as it feels! Here are some of the highlights! 

SCA

When I got back to Bulgaria, I only had about 3 days to get readjusted and over jet lag before immediately starting back at school. SCA (Sofia Christian Academy) is very different from my first year there! I am the only teacher of six students from four families of various Mission groups. Fortunately, all of the students are really good kids who want to please. The parents have also been very supportive and understanding, and for this I’m truly grateful.

One room school housing it!

It has been a big adjustment now being the person in charge of everything for the whole school day. Thankfully, I’ve had some help at lunch to give me a short break. Two days a week parents come in and the other two days, one of our interns has been coming and playing games with the kids.

Overall, school has been great, but at the time exhausting.

The students dressed up for halloween

Bulgarian Language Learning

This year I have tried to put more focus on language learning. I had a very rough time my first couple of weeks as I was putting unrealistic pressure on myself to be farther along with the language since it has been two years now. But, I am beginning to gain a more realistic view and expectations, thought I continue to bounce back and forth between feeling like I’ve learned so much and feeling like I know nothing.

Two weeks ago, I finally started back up with my formal language lessons with the same teacher I’ve had the past two years. She is a Bulgarian language professor at one of the local universities. At our first lesson, she expressed she was concerned that I would have forgotten everything after 3 months without lessons, but instead, she said I have continued to improve! This of course is largely due to Angel having enormous amounts of patience with me and trying to teach me so much!

In addition, a huge answer to prayer is that I finally found a language helper! One of our former Bulgarian interns, Teah, and I have been meeting once a week for two hours. She helps me by practicing speaking, teaching me new vocabulary, practicing writing from dictations, and reading from the Bible for pronunciation and comprehension.

Me with my Language helper, Teah

English Clubs

This year, my main focus is obviously with the school. However, since Lydia my teammate in charge of our ESL ministries, is in the States, I have been helping a small amount as a resource to the interns currently running the clubs. I also was able to attend the halloween party where we had a record number of attendees with over 50 people from the English Clubs as well as some of our friends from our church! 

English club friends at the Halloween party

The ESL ministry is continuing strongly with our two clubs, now on two different nights. Our interns have really stepped up with all the planning involved and also they have been able to branch out. Some are working with an outreach to gypsy children where they help teach the children some simple English. In addition, due to an influx of refugees in Bulgaria, they have begun research to see how our church might be able to become involved in helping these people, including holding Bulgarian lessons.

Overall, life has been very different this year, as it has been each year. I am living in a new apartment in a different part of town, but I will only be here until sometime in January when my roommate goes back to the states to transition from a short termer to a career missionary. There are a few different options for what I might do at this time, but I’m unsure exactly what will happen. 

Fall colors with my apartment building

I'm really excited to see what this school year will hold and to see what God has in store! :)

Blessings!

English Camp and The Well

So, I'm beginning this update as I sit in a plane getting ready to depart from Sofia. I had intended on sending out this update before I departed, but with packing to move my things to a different apartment for when I return,  cleaning the old apartment, and packing for the States, it was a rather busy week after English Camp. So without further ado:

English Camp

It was a huge blessing being able to actually attend the camp this year. I must say that even with all the detailed preparations we made, I don't think anything could have prepared me for the spiritual warfare we all faced. The second night in particular was very difficult for many of us leading the camp. We all felt very tired and worn out at the beginning of the week! We all felt very under attack. I was really struggling with feelings of not wanting to be there, but fortunately, that night, I was able to attend a prayer time which Katherine and Lydia had set up for anyone who wanted to pray together. It was an amazing time where many of us were able to pray for the week, for the people attending the camp, and for each other. I know this helped me to feel refreshed and reenergized for the week.

English class

The basic schedule of the camp was an English lesson in the morning, followed by a reading comprehension using the Bible. We would break for lunch and then the afternoon was comprised of several electives to choose from (Volleyball, CPR, RICE, personality types, interviews, and time management). Then there was always some sort of team activity - volleyball tournament, dodgeball, etc.  After dinner, we then had the Theme which was a time where a speaker would expand upon the Bible passage we read earlier in the day, and usually included someone giving their testimony as it related to the passage. The amazing part was that nearly every camper attended all of the these talks even though they weren't required. Each night we broke into smaller groups to discuss some questions posed by the speaker. There was then an evening activity - movie night, game night, and, my personal favorite, a dance night where we taught them swing dancing and they taught us some traditional Bulgarian dances.

The Yellow Team!

One of the most amazing parts of the week for me was actually the bus ride back to Sofia. That morning, one of my teammates shared about the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and how that story has resonated with his life. On the ride home, I sat with my roommate for the week, a friend of mine from English club with whom I've been meeting for about a year and a half. After hearing so many testimonies during the week, she asked me if I could share with her my story. God completely opened the door for me to be able to share how the story of the Prodigal son reflects my own family, but that even through the difficult times, God brought my family through it. Earlier in the week, I had stayed up talking with her and a couple of other Americans until 1:30 am discussing all kinds of things from creation to Abraham willing to sacrifice his son to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to heaven and hell. Please pray for her as she has expressed interest in reading the Bible, but feels she doesn't have the time.

My friend and me

God really worked through this week as many of the campers were asking amazing questions about Christ and our relationship with God.

The whole camp

The Well

As I've mentioned, each summer our team hosts an internship for Americans and Bulgarians to gain insight into missions and to learn about Bulgarian culture. This year, the interns ranged from ages 18-25, two Bulgarians, six Americans, three guys and five girls. Four of them just returned to the States a few days before me to continue their studies in University. Please pray for them as they readjust to their lives back at college and as they experience any reverse culture shock. Two of the young ladies are extending their time in Bulgaria through next May. Please pray for them as they adjust from a very planned schedule to one with more freedom which they are responsible for maintaining.

We really had a great group of interns this year, and I'm thankful that I was able to spend more time with them and get to know them. They were truly a blessing to me in so many ways!

The Interns on the ferry in Istanbul

Easter and MTW Area Retreat

These past couple of months have been very busy! This year, the Orthodox Easter was over a month later than when you all celebrated in the States.  Since most people here spend Easter (Великден – literally translated Great Day) with their families back in their villages, we decided to hold our English Club Easter Party halfway between the two Easters so we could share what some American traditions are and they could share with us the Bulgarian traditions. We had some Easter candy from the States which we hid around the Cultural Center for them to find, and one of our interns even made kozunak, a traditional Easter bread which takes hours to make. 

We also copied excerpts from Matthew and Luke that told the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. These were in English and Bulgarian to make sure that everyone, no matter how little English they spoke, would understand the story. After reading, we had some questions that led to really good discussions about what forgiveness costs.

 

For Easter, since most people spend the day with family, we had just a few friends over for lunch to celebrate.

In April, MTW had a retreat in Spain for all the missionaries based in Europe. During the retreat, there was teaching by Paul Kooistra, the head of MTW, seminars for times of learning and networking to hear from other teams, community groups for times of fellowship, and worship where we could sing in our heart language. This last part was something I hadn’t even realized just how much I missed. 

While at the retreat, we did get to go and visit Tavira, Portugal, which was a small touristy town that was very beautiful.

And we also were able to stop in Sevilla, Spain to see some of the sights.