It's great to have friends!

This week I have really enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with friends. God has blessed me through friends here. It's wonderful to see people I know, and have them happy to see me. I enjoy brightening up peoples' days. I enjoy spending time with people and getting to know them more. This week I have been able to spend time with friends, and I have been blessed.

Learning more about this area

Here are some pictures of where I live. 

Our apartment is on
the top floor of this building.

From the front balcony,
looking to the right

Happy New Year!

New Year celebration in Razgrad.
Traditional Bulgarian instruments on balcony,
people dancing below.

It's 2012, and this is my first post of the year! (Sorry I didn't write one last week.) We had fun bringing in the new year in the city center.

Many fireworks went off at midnight, and then people started dancing! There are many traditional dances here in Bulgaria, many of them involve lines. I participated, holding the hands of strangers, and followed their example as I stepped as they did. Left foot kick out, step back. Right foot out, step to the side. It was a line that moved to the right, so I just had to follow the person to my right, and all was good! It was fun, and cold, and exciting. I enjoyed listening to the traditional Bulgarian instruments play. I only joined for the simple dances, but stood back and watched as the instruments took up a melody for a more complicated step. (My boyfriend also called me a few minutes after midnight to wish me happy new year - what a wonderful surprise!!!) It has snowed on New Year's Eve, so there was snow all over the ground, which made it slippery for all the people dancing. However, it provided plenty of ammunition for a spontaneous snowball fight with people on the other side of the huge Christmas tree. :)

First snowman of the year!

Our Sunday morning church service was good, but less people than usual, because so many people stayed up late. We had fun after the church service, building a snowman with some of the kids. I was busy eating banitsa and chatting with people after church, so I only got to help with the last bit of the snowman building.  

Joshua, Katie, and Debbie
at the Stone Forest

Monday after New Year's Day we took a trip to Varna. We went to visit the pastor of the church there and to see how the church was going. It was enjoyable to sit and talk with him and his wife, and learn about the Varna church. Varna is about a two or three hour drive from Razgrad, so we made a day of it and had some fun. We went to a natural wonder called the Stone Forest. There were rock pillars that stood up like tree trunks, it was amazing to see! It became like that during the Great Flood, Pastor Nikolay told us. It was fun to explore that and learn a bit more about Bulgaria.

Eating fish at the Black Sea

 Later that day, we went ice skating with some friends (to help celebrate Joshua and Katie's first anniversary), and then ate some fish while sitting at the beach of the Black Sea. The sunset was beautiful! We did other things, too, like go to the site of one of the last battles of the last Crusade. That was interesting to learn some more history. After the long drive back to Razgrad, we went to a friend's home to celebrate his birthday by sharing a bit of cake. It is great to be able to celebrate special moments with friends.

My friend Joanna and me ice skating

On Wednesday last week, we went to the home of a baba (grandma) in the church, and all the youth got together to watch a movie. We had fun talking and laughing together.

On Friday, we had a meeting with the Municipality to talk about the concert we will have the end of January. A man from Poland is coming here to lead a Gospel music workshop and concert. Friday evening, we had a nice dinner with the pastors from Razgrad and surrounding villages. The daughter of one of the pastors came, and I got to talk with her for a bit about different Bulgarian foods. One of the pastors spoke a bit of Spanish, and he enjoyed talking to me in Spanish. One time, I didn't even notice he spoke to me in Spanish, I just automatically replied in Spanish! It was funny. :)

On Sunday we had a good church service, and then in the afternoon we went to the village of Kubrat (about a 45 min. drive from Razgrad), where we had a church service. I got several kisses on the cheeks from old ladies who wished me a blessed, happy new year. A kiss on each cheek is a common greeting among friends here in Bulgaria, and is also a common thing for babas to do. At least, a few babas kiss my cheek when I say hello to them.

This week has been good so far. On Tuesday, Pastor Nikolay and Yanita came over for dinner. Nasko, a man from church, had been over fixing a broken tile in our roof, so he stayed for dinner. After dinner, Joshua interviewed Pastor Nikolay for a paper, and we learned a lot listening to him talk about the history of the Razgrad Church of the Nazarene.

Last night, Wednesday, was the first day of the Bible Study for the youth Bible Quizzing. I am leading it. Three teens showed up, which was good. I did not know how many to expect! I anticipated anywhere between one and fifteen. However, the three who came were excited about studying the Bible, so it went well. One other boy who has expressed interest in joining was unable to come because he had no transportation. Pray that a way will open up for him to be able to come.

In just a few minutes, Bible study at church will start. We are currently going through the book of Proverbs. It is good to listen and learn here. Even though I cannot speak Bulgarian very well, I can understand it enough to tell what is going on. I am still able to pray for people, even if it's in English and not Bulgarian. Soon enough I will be able to participate in prayers in Bulgarian.

Happy 2012 everyone! Thank you for your prayers and support.