Looking for Partners

There has been quite a lot happening with us here in Bulgaria; some of it is uplifting and affirming, but some of it is also quite challenging. Lisa and I have been doing a lot of discussion about what we're doing here; that is to say, what is the focus of our mission, and where do we see God leading us in the future? There are various aspects of what we do here that we consider "mission": we work with adoptive families who come through, since we are an adoptive family ourselves and can provide guidance and moral support in this foreign environment; we work at a school where we are free to talk about our faith with young people, influencing them with Christian morals and scripture; we've started a Scout troop, because we believe that there is a serious lack of guidance and development opportunity for young men in today's world; and of course we work with the Renaissance Church of Christ in as many ways as we can, including me singing on the praise team and Lisa teaching a children's class.
We're really thankful for the jobs at the American English Academy that allowed us to move here. We're working every week taking lessons in the Bulgarian language; we're making connections all the time with people. But we feel that it's time to begin working toward even deeper engagement than what we've been able to do thus far.
Because I'm working a 40+ hour per week job, with an added commute of over an hour each day, plus paper grading, I simply don't have the time or energy I need to engage in other aspects of what we want to do here. We want to work in some expanded manner with orphans, and with post-institutional young people. There is a great need right now for people to work with refugees in Bulgaria, both African and Syrian. I feel strongly that the church needs to reach out to young families in Sofia. I can't effectively do any of that while working full-time in teaching.
So we're actively beginning the process to look for supporting congregations. Right now, knowing that churches need time to budget for missions, our thinking is that we will both continue to teach through the 2014-2015 school year. After that, Lisa will continue to teach while I either completely stop teaching, or only teach a class or two. With Lisa still teaching, we will not need the level of support that a family of four typically needs in the field. What we're seeking to raise is the level of a small salary ($15,000 annually); the cost of one kid's tuition ($4,000 annually - right now both kids are going for free because we're both teaching, but that will obviously change if I'm not teaching); and airfare for one return trip to the States each year (about $5,000). That totals $24,000, or $2,000 per month.
If you are a member at a congregation which might be capable of supporting us, even in part, we very much want to talk to you. If you know of other congregations which might be capable of some monthly support, we would love to hear who they are, so that we might make contact with them. For all of you, we deeply need your prayers and words of encouragement. We were told that there would be times, especially in the first year, when the challenges would accumulate to the point where we would doubt our purpose. Those doubts are certainly there, but we are committed to working where God wants us to be.