Returning Home

 We're home!  It's been a journey, in more ways than one, and I kept waiting to update until I "knew more."  "Knowing more" seems to be somewhat elusive....  Here are some bullet points of the last 3 months:

• It was sad to leave Sofia!   We will miss so many great people from the church, who have been a great community and a little taste of what heaven will be like, with people from all over the world! And we will miss our neighbors, who have shown us great kindness even with our almost non-existent language stills and rough start in the building (for those of you who remember us flooding the apartments below us to the basement because we didn't know we should turn our water off when we leave town - that was in the first 2 months we were there!)
• I will especially miss walking and and getting around the city via various public transportation.  I had actually hoped to spend some time out walking before we left and visiting some museums we hadn't been to.  Unfortunately, a badly sprained ankle while visiting an old mountaintop fortress changed those plans and I spent 2 weeks laying around and on crutches before I started very limited hobbling about.  Paul also experienced some ankle issues with a return of the tendonitis he experienced early in our time in Bulgaria.  We're both better, but still not fully recovered.
• Covid-19 cases continue to increase in Bulgaria, although the situation is not nearly as bad as in the US.  Most stores and restaurants (that survived economically) are back open with requirements for masks indoors and especially on public transportation.
• IBC Sofia continues to meet on Zoom but, for the last 8 weeks or so, we have also been able to have a limited number of people meet in person wearing masks and social distancing.  People sign up ahead of time to reserve a spot and 15 is the max we can do in our space.  It's been great for some, especially for singles and extroverts, who don't have much social contact otherwise or just really miss being around people.
• With our plans to leave Bulgaria, the search for a new pastor has been ongoing.  Paul has played a role in facilitating meetings with a very diverse group (ethnically, culturally and theologically) from the church who are the search committee.  We had hoped to find someone from within the EU, since people from most other countries (and especially the US) are currently restricted from entering Bulgaria (unless you are a citizen or current long term resident.)
• Without a new pastor in place, Paul officially remains the pastor due to legalities of how churches function in Bulgaria.  This means that he (likely we) will return to deal with some ongoing issues.  Since we have residency into Feb. next year, a trip back will likely take place prior to that.
• We originally set a return date of July 30th which changed to Aug 6th and then to Aug 14th, due to various issues with flights and shipping.  It almost changed again a couple of days before departure, but we were able to work out the glitches and start the long trip back via Amsterdam and JFK.  Overall, things went smoothly except for Kathy's briefly lost passport and boarding pass in Amsterdam and arrival amidst tornado warnings and torrential rain in Minneapolis.  Sarah did a great job welcoming us home and setting us up with the basics in the first floor of her duplex!  Of course, we now begin the task of resettling with our stored household goods (and shipping, when it arrives 😞)....after we finish our mandatory 2 week quarantine.
• We look forward to seeing many of you in person at some point as we transition to life in MN!

Blessings!  Kathy

Flying without a Net (and other big news)

We have experienced lots of technical challenges of late!  Since we're home virtually all the time and doing our work online, being "without a Net...as in internet" is a big deal.  In the last 3 weeks, we have had our internet provider out 4 times due to lack of service.  There have been adjustments, more adjustments, a new modem and some adjustments outside our apartment.  While frustrating, we are very grateful for both our Bulgarian friend who calls and explains our problem and that our provider usually sends someone out the same day.   So YEA for customer service!

At the same time we were experiencing these issues, I realized my computer cord was quite frayed.  Some electrical tape helped for a couple of days and then....nothing...no fiddling, moving, adjusting could give me a charge.  A quick online order to the local Apple provider and free home delivery in about 24 hours (although they told me it might be 3 days) has me all charged up again!

Paul's technology issue has been his phone with missing pixels on his screen creating some havoc in his communication.  After determining that trying to fix it would be expensive and challenging in the current environment, a new phone was ordered from the local Best Buy equivalent.  Ordered on Friday, we are still waiting to hear when that phone might arrive.....

As we deal with life amidst the Coronavirus, we experienced the loss of a friend and church member.  Danny was an 80+ year old vibrant gentleman with a great smile and compelling story of  miraculously escaping Bulgaria 50 years ago.  He built a great life in the US, but has spent most of his time the last few years in Bulgaria.  We were privileged to share life with him, hear his story and eat his incredible home made banitsa (Bulgarian pastry.)

We have big personal news!  After much prayer and consideration, we decided in January that we would be heading back to the US in early fall.  We told our kids and got a call back from Peter and Megan.  Before we purchased tickets, they wanted us to know that they are expecting twins, due in early Sept (and probably arriving in August...)  Big excitement!!!  While we will leave part of our hearts here with the awesome people we have come to know, we are also anticipating this new time in our lives!

Now the Coronavirus....and we don't really know when we will get back.  By choosing to stay here now, which we both think is the place we should be, we realize that timing of travel over the next few months is uncertain.  And so, we seek to be faithful to our call here, trusting that God has the PLAN - like He always does!  Please pray for us, that we would trust His plan and timing for us.  Thank you!

Blessings, Kathy

If you are interested in giving to our work in Bulgaria, and Paul's consulting in Africa and beyond, gifts can be given online at Global Horizons/Emmaus Assoc or mailed to Global Horizons, P.O. Box 64059, Eagan, MN 55164-0059.,   Please attach a note indicating Emmaus.  Thank you!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Dear Friends,

We in Bulgaria celebrated the resurrection with you on this Easter Sunday.  We will also remember Easter in our church service next Sunday, which is the traditional Orthodox Easter celebration.

Around the world, this day is remembered in ways that are unprecedented in our life times.  We didn't dress up and go to church for a big celebration - maybe with a choir, maybe a special breakfast before the service and certainly a lot of hugs and smiles.  This year, as you probably are, we celebrate remotely from our homes tuning into the service of our local church or somewhere else we find on the internet.

Here in Bulgaria, we celebrated our services and small groups over Zoom - and a lot of us did dress up!  Since we are a relatively small group, this allows us to talk together and have different people in their homes take part by singing, reading scripture, etc.  A bonus has been that it's given people in other countries (most who lived here previously) opportunity to also participate - kind of a nice reunion!

Daily life has changed drastically here as well.  Schools are teaching kids online, many people who still have jobs are working from home, only "essential" stores are allowed to be open and - even on the nicest days we've had - fewer people are outside.  (There may be such a thing as a "hair emergency" here because I've seen a couple of hair salons open 😁!)

Saturday we heard loudspeakers outside of our apartment building twice.  We weren't sure what that was all about, but had a guess which was confirmed by a Bulgarian friend later on.  As of midnight, some kind of face mask needs to be worn anytime people are out in public for the foreseeable future.  Many people have been doing this already (including us) but I think there was a need for a renewal of commitment.  So far Bulgaria only has 676 reported cases and 31 deaths, numbers which are updated online twice a day.  Like everyplace, this most likely doesn't account for all cases, but I find it somewhat encouraging that numbers seem to be increasing by less than 10% each day.

In our building, we are also participating in trying to keep cases low.  We normally have a shoveling schedule in the winter and, on average, each apartment is listed once a month.  With only one real snowfall all winter (until April 1 & 2 when we got a good amount of heavy snow that stuck to tree limbs for days) our assignment was now to disinfect the common areas of the building - door handles, elevator buttons, etc. - a task I think most people are happy to do.

Despite the challenges of this time, we are encouraged that God is faithful and we can trust Him.  In one of my ladies small groups, we have been discussing a book entitled When Changing Nothing Changes Everything, which encourages us to look at our situation not just for how it impacts us, but  how we can be a blessing and encouragement to others in the midst of difficulty.  And we don't alway see, until much later, the full impact of any given situation or difficulty.  While we continue to pray that this pandemic will end soon, we also look for how we can stay faithful in sharing God's love where he has us currently - in still beautiful Sofia, Bulgaria!

With love and prayers for health and safety,  Kathy


If you are interested in giving to our work in Bulgaria, and Paul's consulting in Africa and beyond, gifts can be given online at Global Horizons/Emmaus Assoc or mailed to Global Horizons, P.O. Box 856678, Minneapolis, MN 55485-6678.   Please attach a note indicating Emmaus.  Thank you!

Holocaust Remembrance and Bulgaria

Last Tuesday we were invited to a Holocaust Remembrance Event here in Sofia, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.   It was an opportunity to be reminded of the horrors of genocide against not only the Jews, but also Roma (gypsies), handicapped and others - including Christians who stood up for or protected Jews.

In March, 1941 Bulgaria gave in to Axis demands to form an alliance with them. While initially agreeing to deport all Bulgarian Jews to German control, Bulgaria did not carry through.  There were a number of restrictions placed on Jews in Bulgaria and most of the non-Bulgarian Jews in areas under Bulgarian control (but not Bulgaria proper) were deported.  There were public demonstrations and Parliamenty disagreement against following along with the Nazis.

But Bulgaria was in a tough place considering its geographic location.  The laws on deporting Jews were protested, not only by the Bulgarian Jewish community and intellectuals, but by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and its leader, Metropolitan Stefan I.  Deportations were entirely cancelled in May 1943. The Bulgarian government  tried to arrange transport for Bulgarian Jews to Palestine on British vessels in the Black Sea.  However, these efforts were rebuffed by Britain.  Around 20,000 Jews were expelled from Sofia to the provinces where they were used in forced labor, while the Bulgarian government used labor shortage as the reason to refuse deportation.

Hitler was angry with Bulgaria and their king, Tsar Boris III, due to their unwillingness to declare war on the Soviet Union and not deporting the Jews to death camps in Poland and Germany. Several days after his return from meeting with Hitler in August, 1943, Tsar Boris III died of apparent heart failure at age 49.  His German doctors believed he had been poisoned with a slow acting poison.

Bulgaria was officially thanked by the government of Israel but this was kept quiet until Bulgarian independence in 1989 because the credit belonged to the royal Bulgarian government, the King of Bulgaria and the Church (all considered enemies of Communism) in response to calls from the Bulgarian people to defend their Jewish neighbors.

Of the 48,000 Jews in Bulgaria, none was deported or murdered by the Nazis.

Peace, Kathy

Seasonal Sights of Sofia

The holidays are past, but we haven't experienced much of what really feels like Christmas and winter weather here in Sofia. We have had very little snow and the cold, for us Minnesotans, is quite tolerable.

Sofia has been going through a lot of public improvements, which are always a bit disruptive and controversial (in any place, I think).  One here has been to change a street from tram and car traffic to only tram and walking.  It seems to take forever for these kinds of projects to be completed (impacting traffic and definitely local businesses) but it was nice to see some Christmas cheer amongst the workers all dressed as Santa as they layed pavers.

Stray cats are everywhere in Sofia.  These 2 (and a couple of others) hang around outside our apartment building.  I've heard they were left behind by a resident who moved out and that someone in the building continues to feed them (which bothers some other neighbors...)

We haven't had much snow or even rain, but it can be beautiful when it does come.  Summer was dry too, so I wonder if we're moving into a drought.  So, no snow pictures, but this is Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the main Orthodox church in downtown Sofia.  On one of the beautiful recent sunny days, I managed to even get a picture with no cars around in the middle of the day - a very unusual sight.

As we have each of the Christmas seasons we've been here, we had a Christmas potluck on one of the weekend nights in Dec.  We fit as many tables and chairs into the sanctuary as we can and have a great assortment of food, music and fun.  We're blessed to have a youth group who comes to help set up and contributes to the program, thanks to our great youth group/Young Life leaders - who also serve as worship leaders many weeks.

Bulgarians have a lot of food traditions associated with Christmas - including an odd number of only vegetarian dishes for Christmas Eve and this beautiful bread.


We hope and pray that you experienced a wonderful Christmas and that you will recognize God's blessings in the year ahead.  We have frequently been reminded of late how very much we have to be grateful for - even as we acknowledge the difficulties and suffering in our world today.

Blessings, Kathy

If you are interested in giving to our work in Bulgaria, and Paul's consulting in Africa and beyond, gifts can be given online at Global Horizons/Emmaus Assoc or mailed to Global Horizons, P.O. Box 856678, Minneapolis, MN 55485-6678.   Please attach a note indicating Emmaus.  Thank you!

Grief and Hope

My mom passed away last Thursday.  It was not unexpected and yet...in some ways it's never expected.  I was home last summer to help out as my two sisters who live nearby had been caring for mom 24/7 for about 6 months.  I stayed with her about 10 days, with Paul there for part of the time.  We talked about what the future might hold and that we were quite certain this would be the last time we saw each other in person on this earth.

As I reflect on that time, I'm thankful that I could be there to help her, cook for her (at least some...) and share her bedtime devotions.  I'm thankful Paul could be there because she always enjoyed talking with him - and he and I were able to get her out in the car one night for a trip to the Dairy Queen.  That was in late June and, by early August, she decided along with my sisters that she needed to move into an assisted care situation.  That was a hard decision for all of them, but it's what needed to happen.

For a variety of reasons, she moved into a home in Beresford, SD where one sister lives.  She still was able to have lots of visitors and the family who lived close was there virtually every day.  She seemed to do okay until the last few days when she pretty much stopped eating and communicating.

It's hard to be far away when you lose a loved one.  You wish you could have had that one more time just to look on their face, hold their hand or say "I love you."  But it's also hard to be close by - to be needed at inconvenient times, to have your loved one forget who you are or be cranky when you visit...to watch someone you love drift away physically and mentally....

I am so thankful for my sisters who cared for mom so faithfully when I was far away.  And I'm thankful we will be able to go home and celebrate her life with friends and other family.  Paul will officiate at the service as that was one very specific request mom left.  We leave here tomorrow morning (Thursday) and arrive into Minneapolis just before 1pm (thanks to the time change - it's really a 14+ hour trip.)  Sarah will drive us to Sioux Falls where we'll stay in the house I grew up in and that mom lived in for almost 70 years.  I'm sure it will feel different....

While we grieve, we also celebrate because mom had the hope of a life forever with Jesus.  While we mourn, she is rejoicing and free from pain.

For those of you who'd like to read more about mom (Marion Roos) and/or remember her from some contacts through the years, here is the link to the obituary and service information https://www.millerfh.com/obituary/marion-roos

Thank you for your prayers for and encouragement to us and our family at this time!

With love, Kathy

If you are interested in giving to our work in Bulgaria, and Paul's consulting in Africa and beyond, gifts can be given online at Global Horizons/Emmaus Assoc or mailed to Global Horizons, P.O. Box 856678, Minneapolis, MN 55485-6678.   Please attach a note indicating Emmaus.  Thank you!

Summer Laughs

This summer some Australian friends rented a house on the Aegean Sea in Greece, and invited us to join them for a few days. Vacations in this part of Greece are very common for people living in Bulgaria, both foreigners and Bulgarians, so we were excited to join the trek. (Think going up north or going to the lake...)  

Due to new EU regulations, we could use our Bulgarian phone in other EU countries for Google Maps etc. to find our way around. This was extremely helpful! However, I struggled with what exactly was available to me for data, etc. in a new country as the messages are always in Bulgarian.  I decided to use my Google translate, which told me how much data I had available and other important facts. It also encouraged us to "drive carelessly". This provided a good laugh as we traversed the crowded and busy Greek highway to our destination!

Whether we are in Bulgaria or another country nearby, there are always interesting cultural experiences that we don’t have in the US.  Upon our return to Sofia, Paul went to fill the car with gas and must have passed a certain threshold because, as he was paying, the clerk reached under the counter and pulled out a liter bottle of beer which was a free gift to him because of his gas purchase. We also got a good laugh about this. 

A similar experience came when we were looking at refrigerators at a local electronics store.  We’ve had a lot of problems with ice buildup and then water all over our floor due to a long crack in the back of the refrigerator.  This has also lead to some other ugly things in the refrigerator which I will not describe... So, in looking at several brands of refrigerators we noted that there were free gifts involved, mainly a dozen liter bottles of a certain brand of beer. The deal did not provide the required incentive to buy a refrigerator but it did give us another laugh. 

We find that it’s not just in our daily experiences but also in the church that our cultural differences come out.  They may relate to the importance of being "on time", how we pray, what and how long we sing, what is expected in the sermon and how long we meet.  For the most part we have enjoyed these challenges and the diversity, although sometimes it does leave us shaking our heads or chuckling to ourselves.  God is Good and we appreciate the opportunities to share life and faith in this amazing country!

Blessings, Kathy

If you are interested in giving to our work in Bulgaria, and Paul's consulting in Africa and beyond, gifts can be given online at Global Horizons/Emmaus Assoc or mailed to Global Horizons, P.O. Box 856678, Minneapolis, MN 55485-6678.   Please attach a note indicating Emmaus.  Thank you!