I promised an update on our summer, but have been woefully slow. So
before we move too far into fall, here are the highlights from summer:
Paul and I travelled to Hunadoara, Romania (about 8 hours from Sofia) for Paul to perform the Christian wedding service for Kiki and Stefan Tanev. Kiki is Romanian and has been attending IBC Sofia and Stefan is Bulgarian. During our stay in Hunadoara we had opportunity to visit Corwin's Castle with Kik & Stefan. The old castle has quite a history (including Dracula!)
In June, I spent a week helping at a Young Life camp for teens from Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. My time was mostly spent preparing the dining room, serving food and cleaning up for about 120 teens and their leaders. It was a wonderful opportunity to serve, help out, occasionally participate in the fun, and see God at work in the lives of these young people.
In July, we had our first guest - our dear friend, Casey Heid. She was only here for 3 short days, but we had a wonderful time showing her some of our new favorite places! The day Casey left, Sarah arrived and spent a little over 2 weeks with us. We were able to see a bit more of Bulgaria with her and spend 3 days in Macedonia.
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| Getting morning coffee |
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| Casey at 24 Grill Center |
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| Paul & Sarah with our friend Eric |
Summer is a time for lots of goodbyes and hellos. In an international church, many people are only posted to their country assignment for 2 or 3 years. Through the summer we said goodbye to 9 families who had served and participated significantly in the life of the church. As we lost our key worship leader, two elders, a musician, a tech person, our youth group leaders and a Sunday school teacher, we are seeing God provide new people to step into those roles.
The summer also has many visitors - including those from the Netherlands, Slovakia, Nigeria, Sweden and Madagascar. We are blessed to welcome people from around the world - whether they live here long term or are only visiting for a few days. And as we head into fall, we are seeiing new families come who are just starting life here.
If you'd like to see more pictures from the summer, please check out my Facebook page.
Blessings, Kathy for the two of us
