Честит Първи Сняг - Happy First Snow

On December 3rd,  I woke up to this amazing sunny view:

I think this is one of my favorite things about living here in Sofia! 

Later in the day, we had our first snow flurries of the season:

By the end of the evening, that same view from the morning looked like this:

If this year is anything like last year, we will have snow pretty much through March! We were fortunate to have a more mild fall, and I was thankful for the opportunities to do more things outside on some warm sunny days.

Солунска Английски Клуб

Quick update on our English club at Solunska:

We have been praying for more people to come, since for the past four weeks we've only had 2-4 people coming, but last night we had 8 Bulgarians and 4 Americans! Praise God!

Here is a photo from last night:

More Photos

One of our friends from English Club took us to see the Seven Rila Lakes (a well known attraction in the mountains here). It ended up raining, snowing and sleeting on us during the hike back, but it was an amazing trip! We were only able to see 5 out of 7 of the lakes due to the weather, but I hope you enjoy the pictures. They don't even do justice to just how beautiful it was up there. The highest lake is at 2,535 m (8,317 ft), but the highest we made it to was 2,282 m (7,487 ft).
Седемте Рилски Езeра - The Seven Rila Lakes

I've added some new photos to this album from things this fall:
Есента е Тук

And the link again to my daily photos:
A year in photos - Fall/Winter 2012

Christian Cultural Center

Xристянски Културен Центьр – Младост

Christian Cultural Center – Mladost

We recently purchased a new property, which includes a large retail space we will use for a Community Outreach center, and a flat (apartment), which we are using for our offices.

We moved in to the new office in mid-September, and we have been busily doing renovations to both spaces to get them ready.

Here is a picture of the front of the Christian Cultural Center. Our offices are the windows in the orange section, directly above to the right of the roof:

A couple of photos from the move:

Looking down from the kitchen in the office:

One of the first events we hosted in the new Cultural Center was a consultation for Daughters of Bulgaria. Here is a photo from that:

There is still much work to be done, but last week we hosted our first ESL Bible Study in the CCC, which will be meeting weekly on Thursday evenings. This is a Bible Study we started for seeking non-believers, so please be praying that God would bring more people who are interested in learning more about God. We are working through the Gospel of Mark in both Bulgarian and English to ensure understanding.

I'm sure I'll be posting more photos as renovations are completed. I'm still waiting on some painting to be finished, and then I can show you my new office. :)

благословии!
Бетани

Encouragement

"When sinks the soul, subdued by toil to slumber, 
Its closing eyes look up to Thee in prayer; 
Sweet the repose beneath Thy wings o’ershading, 
But sweeter still to wake and find Thee there."
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe - "Still, Still with Thee"

Update 2: Daughters of Bulgaria

This update is a bit more difficult for me to write, but at the same time, I’m so excited by the work that God is doing, I can’t help but share!

Today is the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Day, meant to bring awareness to modern day slavery, and to strive toward an end of the trafficking of human beings. Tonight, we will be participating in a prayer walk, to lift up the people here in Sofia. In light of today, the European Freedom Network has put together a 40 day prayer guide, for anyone interested: http://europeanfreedomnetwork.org/prayer.html

One of the outreaches in which our team is heavily involved is a multi-organization group called Daughters of Bulgaria. Here is a description from our website about why there is a need and how we are trying to help:

“Prostitution is rampant in Bulgaria where it is common to see girls (and boys) on street corners or along stretches of highways between cities.  Added to this, Bulgaria is one of the primary 'feeder' countries of prostitutes for Europe and America - this supply of human slavery is often through trafficking - the forced indenturing of people into the sex industry.  The use of children in this sexual slave trade most often originates in Gypsy/Roma communities and children graduating from orphanages.  Unsuspecting young women from villages coming to universities in larger cities are also recruited into the sex industry through false promises of employment in Western Europe and abroad.

 As we live the gospel, we are seeking greater understanding, networking with believers across Europe and Bulgaria, and prayerfully seeking God's wisdom and guidance as to how we can help prevent and raise awareness of prostitution/human trafficking and rescue of those involved….By demonstrating the love of Christ to those being lured into and caught within the sex industry, we seek to make known the hope of Christ and to introduce freed captives to newly planted and existing supportive communities of faith.”

One way in which the women in this group minister to the women here is to go out and meet them on the road where they work, bring them something warm to drink, speak with them, and show them love. Please pray for them as they go out every Sunday evening from about 8-10pm (for you all it would be around lunch time on Sundays). Pray for the relationships they are building, and they would be able to meet with these women at other times. Pray for their safety as frequently the police and the pimps come by while they are there.  

Last week, several of the women from our team got together to watch a documentary called “Nefarious: Merchant of Souls”. For anyone unaware of just how extensive human trafficking is all over the world, I recommend you watch the trailer by clicking on that link, and perhaps check out the film. I’d love to discuss it with anyone after they have seen it! At one point, it talks about how in some countries, parents will sell their daughters into the sex industry, and my heart just broke. To think that the people in your life that are supposed to love you the most, are supposed to care for you, to have them sell you into that life. I was filled with anger. But by the end of the film, it talks about hope. A hope that comes with knowing there is a God that loves you unconditionally. That even when everyone else in the world abandons you and fails you, His love continues.

The film ends with a song, which every time I hear it, it brings me comfort, that even amidst my strife and struggles, no matter what, He loves us.

“He is jealous for me,
Love like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
 How He loves us so,
How He loves us,
How He loves us all
Oh, how He loves.
 And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way He loves us.”

Photos

Here are some links to some pictures from my time here thus far:

New Beginnings in a familiar place
Fall is here!
Rila Monastery

I have continued my daily photos for the year:
A year in photos- Fall/Winter 2012

Ministry Update Part 1: ESL

Well, I’ve been back in Bulgaria for over a month now, and in many ways, it feels like I just got back, but in others, it feels like I never left. It has been a completely different experience than my initial arrival in Bulgaria last year. Before, it was all unknown: new people, new language, new culture, new everything. But this time, I returned to friends, to a community, to things no longer foreign, but rather, familiar. 

I had a bit of a gradual easing back into things as I am discovering my new role on the team, but now, I’m back in the throws of it with my schedule quickly filling back up!  This year, I am finding myself with many different “hats” and responsibilities, and rather than writing a book of an entry, I am going to try to break it up a bit into different entries over the next couple of weeks.

ESL

So I guess to begin, the most recent addition to my schedule has been our English Club starting back up on Wednesday nights. The first week, we had about 10 students, but at the second one we had 20 students, plus 6 Americans, all packed into a tiny room!  Nearly all of the students are new, and they have gone really well. We sent around a sign up sheet to gauge interest in meeting up one-on-one to practice English, and between last week and this week, we had about 16 people express interest!

In addition to this English Club, we are in the process of starting up several other opportunities for people interested in learning and practicing English. On October 17th, we will be starting a second English Club, which will be run with the young adults from Solunska, the church we attend. We will be a resource to them by providing curriculum and native speakers as they begin this outreach to their friends and community. It seems that I will be helping out more with this new English Club, or perhaps switching back and forth. That is yet to be decided.

 Additionally, Lydia is beginning a curriculum for a two Bible Studies done in English: an introductory one and a women’s Bible Study. It will be a bit of a challenge figuring out who will be involved in what as we have so many new opportunities beginning. Please be praying for Lydia as she is heading up all these new projects, and trying to delegate accordingly.