The two weeks

The last two weeks were extremely busy for us and as a result we did not get a chance to write another post until now. In our last post we gave a quick description of what we would be doing and for the most part it came about just as we expected.

There was a lot of traveling, puppets, and gifts which proved to be a lot of fun for the children and the puppeteers. If there were leftover gifts the van got to share some the goodies inside. Alla was one of the main characters in the puppet show and I was camera man and sound guy. We all helped set up the puppet theater and tear it all down but since all i can say to the kids is "ne Bulgarski" which means no Bulgarian, I figured its better for me to take pictures than interact with all the children. All the groups varied in size and character depending on what part of the country we were in. Closer to Turkey there were a lot of Muslims. Our largest group of kids was at an elementary school which we estimated had 250 kids. Once they all knew they would get presents after the show it was madness! We also had a few groups that were much smaller in size especially in the orphanages. The typical size there was probably 20-30 children which seemed a lot more manageable than 250 little animals. We spent more time with the orphans, typically opening the presents with them and getting the opportunity to see a child stuff his face with a large chocolate bar. The second week was similar but we spent most of the time in Sofia and retirement homes. I also got a chance to play one of the puppet roles which was fun.

Overall the puppet shows were a success and we pray that some of these children will take something from them that will lead them down a different path than many of the present day Bulgarians. It would probably be helpful if we explained what the puppet shows are about. For that I will hand it over.... popcorn, Alla.

Hello all!!!:) Well....the main character, a little boy, is on the hunt for true happiness after his grandpa tells him that the Bible he always reads is just that. The boy then comes across people and asks their opinion. One guy tells him its in money and then a pretty girl says its in beauty. Another character says its in strength and yet another tells him its in wisdom. Then, the character i played comes along and tells him about Jesus...in which he can find strength and wisdom and beauty. Its really quite cute. I enjoyed being a part of this wonderful program they put on. It was interesting that they let us come to their schools and day cares and orphanages and openly speak of Jesus. I guess if you bring presents they don't really care. I would always watch the faces of the teachers to see if I could tell by that if they were unhappy or something. I didn't really see anything crazy. There were a few ladies with attitudes but, surprisingly to me, it went really well.

We got to see a lot of the countryside and some mountainy areas of Bulgaria as we were driving around to do the shows. It really is a very beautiful country. Its nature is amazing!! We drove down almost to Greece and almost up to Romania. We didn't go as far east as i would have liked to see but im sure we'll get a chance in these next 4 mos or so. It'll be better to go to the black sea when its warmer anyway.

I got to see my favorite little girl again...i helped her open her present! She's still just as amazing as i remembered her to be. The orphanages were definitely more enjoyable, for me anyway. I just didnt like handing the gifts out to the kids as they were walking out the door. Doesnt really leave time for me to take it all in and connect in any way. Or even to see how the kids differ from kids in other cities. The gypsy kids were interesting to see too. I'll have Mike put up pics on photobucket, you'll be able to tell which ones are the gypsies.



Christmas has come and gone. It was kinda a weird one. Even though it was good, its just not the same without family. We have a tree but didnt do gifts for one another. There was just no time, and mike has all the money and we're together all the time. It wouldnt have worked well even if we tried. We spent christmas eve at Sasha and Oksana's with 2 other couples. It was time well spent. Christmas day we went to church and to a church-wide lunch afterwards. Hung out with our new best friends: Ira, Sveta, and Marina...our fellow Kostinbrodians. (the little city 10km outside of Sofia in which we live) And then we went to church again. For New Years the plan is to head up to Vitosha Mountain (if im not mistaken) for their youth retreat. That should be lots of fun. We have a lot of fun with the youth, even though Mike doesnt know whats going on. I can follow conversation but its hard to follow jokes and after a while my mind gets tired from all the paying close attention and translating in my head and i just zone out. With most of them we have no problem communicating! I feel like we'll never learn Bulgarian because everyone speaks English or Russian when speaking to us. We leave for the cabins on friday of this week.

Thursday is the last day that the puppet show will be played. Emmanuel (pastor) is taking us with him to one last school for the show and gifts. It'll only be us 3. That will definitely be a challenge...it takes 7 people to do the puppet show. Ive played 2 roles but this will be a little much. I'm sure it will be fine, but kind of chaotic. I cant wait!:)

So one more day of rest for us and then we're back on the move. I always try to be brief and it doesnt work, sorry for the ramblings. Love you all! Miss you all! Thanks for reading!

Settling in Sofia

We've been in Bulgaria 3 weeks now. We've been busy with all sorts of things. Mike more so than me. They have him running around a lot. He's had this lingering cold for the past 2 weeks but now he is feeling better. He hasn't had a chance to get over it because it's just been go, go, go. He's so great! Doing all these things with a smile on his face and without a single complaint. My cousin Sasha, or "Sasho" as the Bulgarians say, does not stop moving from sun up to like midnight, no joke! He's constantly on the move. Between work and his ministry and his kids and getting their business going and doing things around the house he literally only sits down to eat and even then its only for a few minutes. And I thought Mike ate fast. So Mike has been his wingman. I've mostly been helping with babysitting (what else is new? right?); But also with their store. Sasha and His wife Oksana run a thrift store and the opening of their second store was this last week. There was a lot of work with fixing up the space and getting everything in there and up and in an organized fashion. And getting it ready for opening day. Not to mention decorating for the holiday season. It's been really nice getting to know his family. I knew them from their annual trip to California (during which they come to my parents one of the evenings they are in town) but only enough to keep up with how old the kids are pretty much. The kids teach me Bulgarian. Mark's children's books and Diana's Disney channel are also a great help! I'm still scared to speak it but I am getting a lot more comfortable with the understanding part, when people speak slowly.

Thursday and Friday of last week and this week were spent plugging into some of the ministries they have going. This girl Mariana goes around to the really poor gypsy villages and teaches the kids to read and write. There are no laws that require kids to go to school. Although most kids do go to school there are a lot of children that do not, and have not...ever. It was really sad to see girls, bigger than me, that could not copy the simplest of letters from a piece of paper onto the board. Reminded me of toddlers that haven't developed their fine motor skills. That's exactly what it was though, they just hadn't ever used a writing utensil. One of the girls had her nails painted she has to have fine motor skills to do that and they probably use silverware. But I'm sure it's different. Mariana says it was really difficult to get them civilized enough to create a classroom setting. Things like waiting their turn to speak and staying in their seats were foreign to them. It was good when we joined them though, it looked and felt like a typical classroom. She constantly needs to remind them to wear clean clothes and clean themselves before they come to school. I imagine it being very difficult for Mariana, she does this on her own. There were approximately 15 kids; all different ages and different levels of understanding. She has 3 groups of kids and meets with each one 2x a week for about 3 hrs each time. Thank God for people like her. She was so loving and patient with them. I was in awe! Another ministry we were able to help out with was visiting orphanages. One was for kids ages 0-7 and the other kids 7-18. I have met orphan kids before but I have never been to an orphanage. That was quite the experience. It was very difficult for me to see all those kids without a home or a loving family environment. Especially the one with the younger children. It felt and looked like a giant preschool. They had to like herd the kids along. Even if you gave the slightest amount of attention to one of them they would just be beaming. Or some of them didn't even know how to react; one of the many things that made me cry. Being in an orphanage and seeing how the kids live and how many forgotten kids there are is difficult for anyone to see I'm sure but with my exceptional love and compassion towards children it was especially hard. We went to the older orphanage 2 times and to the younger one once. I definitely need to prepare myself emotionally for when I see the little kids again. I have a favorite little girl there. But I forgot her name:( from the moment I walked into the room where they were all waiting for us I noticed her. It wasn't even the fact that she was really cute, it was more so how she acted. She would like blush every time I smiled at her. A lot of the kids are pushy and clingy but not this one. I don't know if they are taught this but when we were leaving they started to say "az iskam s tebe" which translates " I want to go with you". I did not know how to react. It was very difficult to fall asleep that night. I could not get them out of my head. Seeing a real orphanage definitely had a huge impact on me. I hope we get a chance to help them to a higher degree. We go back there on the 20th with our Christmas program but I want to see if I can discuss with someone about spending a little bit more time there and maybe on a regular basis. I would like to volunteer to help them with their daily routine, not just come and hang out for an hour every Friday. They only brought out the kids that were 3+ but they have little babies! That is going to break my heart!

The next two weeks will be spent visiting 25 different orphanages/old people homes in the city of Sofia and a lot of surrounding cities. We will leave as early as 630 am and not return as late as 10pm. We will make as many as 3 visits a day and we hear we will be doing quite a bit of driving. We will go with a Christmas program and with gifts. We spent all of yesterday preparing gifts and practicing a puppet show for the kids. We are really excited to take part in this.

We have been in our own apartment 1 week now. It is now beginning to feel like we're actually living here as opposed to visiting. We also have our own car. We will post more information about our new lives very soon. Now we're off to sleep as we have an early morning tomorrow and for the next two weeks.