Greetings once more from the great city of Sofia, Bulgaria

We have returned from a week long mountain camp in the Balkan Mountains (stara planina: the old mountains). This is the 2nd summer camp that some of the older children have attended and this continuity brings a stability to their otherwise unstructured summer. The kids thrive on structured time. This camp was well planned and had much less free time than previous camps. For this I am grateful. There were workshops, small groups, hikes, sports, and loads of worship and teaching. It is a great joy to see the kids with their bibles and singing praises to the Lord, even some of them singing word for word in English! How sweet.
We will be having our weekly bible study in Nadia's apartment this Tuesday evening. As you recall, the last study was quite eventful. Hopefully we can have it this week without a visit from the local police!
Will go out to Roman this week for a day...just to visit and say hi to all of the kids and follow up on some of those who are serious about their commitment to the Lord. I will also be making arrangements to bring Mariella, Patricia, and Svetla in to Sofia with me on Friday to prepare for the trip to Dolna Banya, and the upcoming scholastic evaluation. This will be a huge step in launching the BulgariChildProject. Please be praying for this.
I am very excited to announce that all of the preparations have been made to bring a small team from the US and Canada back to Bulgaria this August. Craig and Cathy Dulin, Brittney Derouin, from the States, and Joelle Burch, Jon Bok, and Breanne McDaniel, from Canada.
This is a great opportunity to fellowship with all the kids from the orphanage, as we will accompany them on their yearly outing to the Black Sea in Obzor, Bulgaria.
We will have daily (covert but not so covert) bible studies and worship in the afternoons. This daily devotion was a big hit last year along with Joelle's art classes. We love seeing the children worshiping the Lord with such enthusiasm!
My summer here is more than half over...hard to believe. The extended stay this summer has given me a more acute insight for the need of a longer lasting presence for me in Bulgaria. Please be praying about this. My language skills are improving but I still have much more to learn.
Last but certainly not the least, please be praying for Sara, the girl to the left. On the last night of Vlady's camp, a couple of girls from the isalt team from Illinois were praying with her and she asked Jesus to be her savior. This is a joyous occasion, but please be praying for protection and follow up. I have witnessed the vortex of the orphanage and it will be trying to such her back in. This will be an ongoing labor of love. All for now from the beautiful country of Bulgaria...wish you were all here to share it with me. In His grace and for His glory, Mark

Hello All,

Greetings from Bulgaria. I have a few things to report since our last meeting. Tuesday evening we held our weekly bible study in Nadia's apartment. There were a handful of regulars and the message seemed to resonate with them. We discussed Romans chapter 7 and the paradox that Paul found himself in from time to time. How easy it is, when we let our guard down, to refrain from doing those things we know is right; the things that bring us joy, and to practice those things which we hate; the things that steal our joy. By the nods of their heads, I could see that the message was sinking in. I challenged them along with myself, to invest in those things that keep us looking up.

At the beginning of the study, a lady was waiting outside Nadia's apartment to collect a "foyer tax" for general upkeep of the lobby area. Quite frankly, she didn't seem to be a very friendly person. After taking the 7 leva, she asked Nadia who we were, and Nadia told her we were her friends and that we were going to have a bible study. Her response was icy at best.

Just as we were finishing the study, we heard a knock on the door. I could tell by the look on Nadia's face that something was up. And up it was. There were 2 police officers at the door wanting to check our documents. Even though we had done nothing to provoke a visit by the local authorities, the woman had called the police. For what reason I don't know and we received no explanation from the police. They entered our information into their data base and left.

Bulgaria is similar the the United States back in the 60's. If you are a person of color, your life can be very difficult. Romi (gypsies) are oppressed every day in this country. Bulgaria is also an orthodox country and many people consider evangelicals to be cults. These 2 facts may have contributed to the phone call.

Through it all, emotions were running high but it provided a great opportunity for us to call on the Lord and not let the police or this woman steal our joy. Mission accomplished!

Please keep praying for the kids, both in Roman and in Sofia. It is an uphill battle but we're in it for the long haul.

~that God will provide a way for continued mentoring in their lives
~for the BulgariaChildProject...that God will bless this and that it would be fruitful
~for next year's CCE TeamBulgaria
~for my health (slight bronchial infection)

God bless you all, thanks for your faithfulness! Mark

Hello Everyone,
It has been a while since i last updated, so here we go!

We have tweaked the candidate list for the first two to be assessed for the Bulgaria Child Project. Mariella will remain on the list, while Pati will be added. This change was made due to some insights acquired recently. During the past two or three camps I have noticed Pati taking care of all the small children. She is very good with them and quite patient. Her love for them is obvious. It was discovered that when she leaves high school and eventually the orphanage, she would like to study in a university and become a teacher for kindergarten or elementary age children. Please be praying for this change.

We have completed our first camp with the older kids and even through some rather in-climate weather, there was some beach time and time for fellowship, small groups and praise. Most of the kids had a week without cigarettes and we discussed the advantage they now have in their ability to quit. Some desire this, but time will tell...another thing to pray for.

The kids from Roman performed a skit on how sin entered the world and how it was defeated by Jesus, on the cross at Calvary. Through my proud, teary eyes, I noticed the other kids, the ones from Sofia and some of the adults were also welling up. Jesus IS making an impact in the hearts of these kids from Roman.

We are now back from a week at the seaside with the smaller children. Mrs. Tosheva, one of the teachers, was there with the children. She is a solid believer and a great strength to those kids who choose to follow Jesus. It is a delight to watch Zoiya and some of the others join in with the praise music so intently. There was, however, and incident worthy of reporting. One of the children from Roman was staying in a room at the camp with a couple of girls from Sofia. When 40 leva went missing, (about $33) it was no stretch to realize who had done this. The bigger issue was, would she own up to it? After 20 minutes, she did admit that she had stolen the leva, and that she felt ashamed. We are tankful for this step of faith on her part, (most children clam up when confronted about bad behavior) and extended our patience and mercy to her and did our Lord to us. It was reinforced to her that Jesus will always love her no matter what and the He is her advocate in times like this.

It was discovered the one of the children, Yulia, 10 years old, cannot read, while Zoiya, 1 year her junior, can read proficiently. I see the need now, more than ever, to launch Bulgaria Child Project. To that end, I will be meeting with Blaga Popova this week to discuss plans to have Pati and Mariella assessed. Also, I will be meeting with Vlady Raivhinov tomorrow to finalize plans for his youth camp starting the week after next. Please be praying for this as it is a great opportunity for the kids to grow closer to the Lord.

I spent a day and night in the mountains above Vratsa with a Dutch group and some of the older kids from Roman. This was a relationship building visit and the leaders and team members were gracious and engaging. This group have been going to Roman for 11 years, and have accomplished many capital improvements at the home and have developed strong bonds with the children. It was good for the kids to see us working together.

I gave photos to some of the kids from Roman that I had brought with me of some of our children from CCE, holding pictures of the children from Roman. The children from Roman were told that the child holding his or her picture would be praying for them. The smiles on their faces were from ear to ear!

Well, all for now...In His grace and for His glory, Mark