Celebration of Christian Women & Final Thoughts

March 25 is the day of celebration of Christian women, which is the Christian alternative to the March 8 celebration of women. The March 8 event began under communism and is still being observed in Bulgaria. For several years, Pat has been invited to do a conference for women on the weekend closest to March 25 so again this year, she did so.


There were about 150 women in attendance from nine different denominations. This has become quite an event and some of the women traveled a long distance to be there. They love Pat's teaching on practical application of scriptural principles!


On Sunday, she was invited to preach in the A.G. church in Plovdiv. The pastor and his family have become very good friends of ours and so it was particularly enjoyable for her to deliver the Word on Sunday.

After church, we went to lunch with our faithful translator, Mimi and a close friend and member of the church, Sylvia. Sylvia has quite a testimony and we had a great time at lunch. After lunch, Sylvia, and the pastors adult children, Danny and Mimi, drove us to Sofia where we will spend the night and fly out for home in the morning. Our trip was made more exciting by the fact that we had to figure out a way to get around several massive protests that had the roads closed. They are protesting the high price of gasoline and so the protest sites (which were on major highways) were all blocked off. But we did make it and I am posting this last report from our hotel in Sofia.


Thanks to all of you who have followed us on this adventure. Hope you will join us again in October!

Smolyn

On Thursday and Friday we were in Smolyn. This is a resort town in the Ridopi mountains, not far from the Turkish border. Because of the history of the area (too long to go into here) there are a lot of Muslims here.

The pastor, Nikki, has been here for about six years trying to build a church from scratch. As you might imagine, it is difficult in this area. However, he is making headway. Here is a picture of Nikki and his family.

We were invited to come and speak to the church about stewardship. So, on Thursday night Pat spoke about the stewardship of spiritual gifts and I spoke about stewardship of time, talent and money. They really seemed to enjoy it and thought it was very timely for them. Due to some issues we had that night, we didn't get pictures. Sorry!



On Friday evening, I had been asked to give what amounted to a lecture on the topic, "Leadership During Times of Crisis". The pastor is trying to make inroads into the community by bringing in speakers on topics that attract business and political leaders and then leveraging that to develop relationships. He worked hard to set it up and I was interviewed by the local newspaper and they sent several people and a photographer to the lecture. Of course, afterward there was a lot of conversation in Bulgarian that we didn't understand. Nikki seemed thrilled with the result so I assume it was good.

Equip Level 1 Class In Perushtrtsa

For the last two nights and again tonight, we are presenting Equip Level 1 in a small gypsy village near Plovdiv. We are in a church that we have been coming to and teaching in for the last three years and we have really bonded with the pastor and his family and with the people.

The gypsy people are one of the most neglected and desperate people groups in the world. None of the Western European countries want them and have taken some rather extreme measure to move the out of their countries. Their plight in Eastern Europe is not much better. The native cultures and governments reject them and just ignore them. Bulgaria has a lot of gypsys and they are in a sad state. Essentially, they are treated like the lepers of the Old Testament.

Most live in ghettos in the large cities or in small villages outside of the large cities. Many cannot go to school because there is no school in their village and no transportation to get to the village where there is a school. So, their plight is perpetuated generation after generation. They live with almost no medical care, often without running water and usually without sewers. Their unemployment rate is usually about 60% or more in normal times. Now it is 80% to 90% because of the hard economic times.


We are training this group and two others. These are people who are the hope of their people and culture. They are leaders in their villages and communities. Most are pastors, others are not but they are all leading in some sphere of activity. They are often poorly educated but very bright and with a wealth of hard life experience. They are like sponges; eager to soak up everything we can teach them. (Not many Americans have come to teach them anything.) And they appreciate us so very much. We have never been so fulfilled as we are when serving these people!

Equip Level 2 Class in Sofia

On Friday and Saturday (Mar 18 & 19) we, along with Nick Nedelchev, presented the third class of Equip level 2. These are people who completed level one a couple of years ago and elected to go on.


Most of these people are mid level or senior leaders in both businesses and churches. We actually had about an equal split between business people and church people so the insights were varied and interesting.


This class is more interactive and participative than level 1. We break the students down into small groups for discussion a large portion of the time. That makes our life a little easier!

When we finished, we headed immediately for Plovdiv, where we will spend most of the rest of our time in Bulgaria. Vanya, one of the class participants gave us a ride. As you can see, her little Toyota was really packed with luggage!!!

Equip 1 in Stara Zagora

For the last three nights, we have been presenting the Equip level 1 material to students in Stara Zagora. These are people that we know very well. We have been coming here and teaching them for about eight or nine years now and we have watched them grow. It has been a joy for us.


The people here are, for the most part, members of the Care For All team in Stara Zagora. They function at a very high level and really understand and practice all of the best attributes of high functioning teams. So, when we talk to them about mentoring and teamwork, they get it! Their insights are profound and their desire to learn and grow is amazing. They are the kind of people that keep us coming back and back because they appreciate what we bring them and they use it!



As I think I have mentioned before, our teaching is nearly all done at night because the people are working during the day. So today, we went to the Metro store (like their Sam's Club or Costco) and bought enough food to prepare 20 food bags. Then we went to a poor Gypsy village and gave out the food. It is always a humbling experience and reminds us of how truly blessed we are to live where we do.

Bulgarian Theological Seminary in Pleven

For the last two days, we have been in Pleven teaching leadership at the Bulgarian Theological Seminary extension course. By the time we returned to Sofia, we were completely exhausted having spent two hours on the road and then teaching for eight hours on Friday, teaching another eight hours on Saturday and then two more hours on the road back to Sofia. However, it was a terrific experience and well worth the effort.


As is fairly common in Central Europe, theological educational institutions have had declining enrollments. Their response has been to create extension programs in cities around the country so that people who wish to study can do so while they continue to work. Also, they don't have to move to Sofia and have the expenses of living away from home. The program is working quite well and the BTS has extension programs in several cities outside of Sofia. Pleven is one of them.



This was a group of older students, for the most part. The people were nearly all in their late 30's and up, so they had lots of life experience. Many had lived under communism. So the Biblical principles of leadership that we are teaching really resonate with them. We had terrific discussions and they were very engaged and had excellent insights.

Our Equip 1 Students in Sofia

Here is a picture of our Equip level 1 group on Sofia and one of our crazy host, Dinko!

Equip Level 1 Seminar in Sofia

Last night we began our second module of Equip Level 1 training in Sofia. We will continue tonight and tomorrow night with this same group of people. All of these people are from the region in and around Sofia. We will be working with other groups later in the trip.


A number of these people are new. They were taught the first module by others in the group after we were here last fall. That is exactly how the Equip model is supposed to work; we train people and then they train others.


Our discussions were very lively and they were and are a lot of fun. They all have a lot of life experience so the concepts that we are presenting are very real to them and they quickly see how to apply them. This is one of the things that makes teaching adults a lot more fun. Because of their life experience, they grasp things more quickly than young people who don't have those experiences to draw upon.