Windy March - It's about over!

The month of March has flown past! It is already the last day of March, and it seemed like the month just started last week. So many exciting things have happened this month. I’ll update you on what’s happened in the past three weeks since my last update.
Keep reading if you'd like to hear what's been going on!

Helping in a Bulgarian School

We went to an elementary school a few weeks ago to meet the director of the school and a couple teachers. When Brian and Yacek were here for the Gospel music workshop and concert in January, the Municipality had invited them to the schools. Because they were only here for a few days, visiting the schools became a responsibility of Joshua, Katie, and I. It’s been a good way for us to be God’s presence in the schools and represent the Church of the Nazarene. We’ve been at the elementary school several times now, helping out with English classes. We help two different teachers; both of them are in their twenties and are named Irena. Between all the times we’ve been there, we’ve helped with first grade, second grade, third grade, fifth grade, and seventh grade. The kids love to see us, but I think it’s mostly because we’re Americans. It’s been fun getting to talk to them. We’ve been able to help in a few ways whether answering a grammar question, helping with pronunciation, reading a story out loud, or even grading English quizzes. We’ll probably go to the school to help about once a week or so.

Bible Quizzing

Youth Bible study / Quizzing has been going well. One week from today will be the quiz meet in Silistra! The past few weeks we have been meeting at church so we can practice with the jump seats after we finish the Bible study portion. One day we were able to meet outside, the weather was so nice! I have enjoyed leading the teens in Bible study. I can see God working in their lives as they think about what we are learning from the Gospel of John. Practicing with the jump seats has been a fun challenge for me. I have to come up with questions to ask the teens, so usually I have my English Bible and my Bulgarian Bibles side by side. I figure out a question in English, then look to the Bulgarian Bible to see if the structure is still the same to allow me to ask the same question. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I ask the teens a question and they only have a blank look on their faces, but most times they can understand what I’m trying to ask. They’ve also had opportunities to ask the other teens questions, and they’ve had fun with that. We only have one more Bible study and quiz practice until the quiz meet next weekend. Pray everything goes well! I still need to figure some more things out regarding how the quiz meet will go.

English Club

English Club with teens on Monday nights is fun, and I’ve gotten to meet some new teens. Most of the teens that come nowadays are in 8th grade (which is considered high school here), and only a couple are older. Many of the teens that had been “regulars” before are involved in a dance group that will be competing in “Bulgaria’s Got Talent” next month or so, and they’ve had many rehearsals. I saw one of those teens in town the other day, and enjoyed talking with her for a bit.

Speaking Bulgarian

I’ve had several opportunities to practice Bulgarian recently. About two weeks ago we met a neighbor who lives down the street from us, and spent a while talking with her. I’ve run into people I know while walking through town a few times the last couple weeks, which has given me good opportunity to practice my Bulgarian. One older man from church works at a chess club not far from my house, so I’ve seen him on the street a few times when walking home. Talking with him is interesting; he speaks mostly Bulgarian, but with a mixture of Turkish, Romanian, and Russian thrown in. Sometimes I can understand him, other times I can’t understand even a word. I also saw a lady from the Ossenets church the other day, and had a nice 20 minute conversation with her in Bulgarian. I think that I don’t speak Bulgarian very well, but conversations with people boost my confidence. I can understand Bulgarian much better than I can speak it, and I can speak it better than I think I can!

Village Churches

Visiting village churches this month has been good. We had a good service in Kubrat two weeks ago, and I played a song on my clarinet. After the service, we got to spend some time standing around talking with each other. In Ossenets the next week, Petur taught us how to make banitsa his way. (Everyone has a different way of making banitsa.) I enjoyed learning how to make some more Bulgarian food. This last week Sunday we did not go to a village church, but in the afternoon we went to a lake. Joshua, Katie, Simon, and Lilly, and I all went, and we had an enjoyable time walking around the lake and skipping rocks. There are no natural lakes in this area, so this was a man-made lake.

Two good Saturdays

The previous two Saturdays have been wonderful days full of church things. On the 17th, everyone in church got together to celebrate the warm weather and beginning of Spring. We got to church early and made makitsa, a tasty deep-fried dough eaten for breakfast. After that, we went on a long walk/hike to a hill outside of Razgrad, and spent several hours there. We played games, talked with each other, ate the food we’d brought, and soaked up the sun. It was a wonderful day.

Last week, we (Pastor Nikolay and Yanita, Joshua, Katie, and I) took a trip to Varna on Saturday. Pastor Nikolay had to stop in Shumen to fix a machine (for work), so we spent a bit of time in Shumen. We saw a monument built during communist times that celebrated Bulgaria’s 1300th birthday, in 1981. After that, we went to a neat fortress in Shuman that was in use from the 9th – 13th centuries. It was fun to explore the fortress. We stopped at the mosque in Shumen after the fortress, and got to look inside and talk to the Muslim Imam. He was very friendly and helpful in answering our questions. We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Shumen (Andrew, I was thinking of you :) ), then headed to Varna. In Varna, we first spent some time at a mall. Pastor Nikolay was meeting up with his nephew (well, some family relation, but not a nephew), who was in sad shape. The mall was a nice neutral meeting ground. After that, we went to an amusement park for kids in Varna. A man who grew up in Ossenets was the manager of that park, and he had gotten out of touch with the church when he moved to Varna. We went to go find him, so Pastor Nikolay could talk with him. He was SO happy and excited to see Nikolay! It was great to see! We spent a while there talking with him, and then we went  to visit someone else. The last people we visited were from Zavet, a town near Kubrat. The father was a doctor, and the family had moved to Varna so he could learn how to be a heart surgeon. It was fun visiting the family; there were five kids: four girls and one boy. We spent about two hours there, until we realized how late it was (a few hour drive home to Razgrad, and daylight savings time starting that night, make us not be able to stay any longer). It was a full and good day.

Theological Class

This weekend is a Theological Education by Extension course through European Nazarene College. Professor Arnold Klaus is here from Germany (well, EuNC is actually in a German colony in Switzerland) to teach the class. Several leaders from around Bulgaria are here to learn. At least fifteen people are here at all times, other people sit in on the class as they have time. The class is on the History and Polity of the Church of the Nazarene, starting with an overview of Christian Tradition (Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Calvinist, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Methodist, etc.). I’ve had classes that covered this material while I was at NNU, but it’s interesting hearing it all again. However, the best part of the class is that my friends are here. Zhana from Vidrare is here, and it is great to see her. I met her in 2006, and saw her briefly in December, but this weekend I get to spend more time with her. Galin and Lydia, my friends from when I was in Bulgaria in 2006, are here, as well. I am so excited to see them! The last time I got to see them was two and a half years ago. It’s wonderful to catch up with my friends and spend time with them again. I hope to visit them in the future, before I leave Bulgaria the end of June. I want to see how the church in Vidrare is doing (I was in Vidrare for a week in 2006 for a missions trip). It’s wonderful to be a part of this theological class here in Bulgaria, and see things from a different perspective. There is so much to learn!

Coming Up

God is working here. Easter is coming soon, prayer cells are going well, and we are getting excited to see the results of all our prayer. We trust God will do great things. I will be teaching Sunday school next week and then the next Sunday school session, teaching about multiplying churches and pastors. Palm Sunday is in a week, which is a big celebration in Bulgaria. Easter is the biggest celebration in the Christian calendar, and I look forward to participating in it here in Bulgaria. I get to sing in the church choir again for Easter, and I look forward to it. Meanwhile, we are still looking forward to the cross, and must go through sorrow and suffering before Easter is here. It’s neat that my study through John with the teens is leading up to Easter. I pray God speaks into the lives of the teens as we study John. Please pray for God to touch people through my life, and pray that I continue to die to myself each day so Christ can live through me. Thank you for all your support!