Looking for discernment in the new year

So happy to be back with our Renaissance Church of Christ family this morning!

Please be in prayer for the African immigrants we work with. I handed out several Bibles this morning to some newcomers who requested them. They have some other needs which we're in a process of assessing how best to help. One young man named Musa Ali, from Mali, asked me for a little money today for the first time, though he's been to church faithfully for over two months. He has been studying Bulgarian in the class at church each week, in the hope that it will help him find some work.

I gave him a little money, but we're running pretty low on funds ourselves for this month. Christmas is always more expensive than a typical month, and the months of paying both a mortgage and a rent have taken their toll. Praise God my sister Jeni and her husband James have decided to rent, and eventually purchase, our Nashville house. This will really help things out starting in February, though not bring us out of the woods entirely.

Please also be in prayer for us as we think and plan about the future of our mission here. Our work at the American English Academy is going well, and we feel that we are making a difference in a number of small ways with our students and others associated with the school. It's not, however, what we came to Bulgaria to do, and we feel that there's much more with which we can get engaged. The African immigrants are one thing; working with orphans and post-orphans is the desire that brought us here in the first place. It wasn't a mistake that brought us to AEA; we sincerely feel that God opened that door, so that we could get on the ground and start acclimating and learning the language. We also anticipate having a long-term relationship with the school in some form or another, if nothing more than having our kids there as students. But having said all that, we just feel like we're supposed to do more than just teach school - something we could do just as well back in the US.

So, we crave your prayers. We even welcome your thoughts on how we might proceed forward. We plan on teaching full-time at AEA for another full year, but are open to changes after that point. If you have some particular bit of wisdom for us, please feel free to message or email. We want to hear the ideas of our brothers and sisters, as we press forward in our work for the Kingdom of God.

8 November 2013

Several times now, we've experienced something that rarely happens in the US. At home, it's considered quite a breach of etiquette, but here it's apparently normal. What's the issue? Random strangers critiquing our parenting.

Today it was the lady at the bus stop coming home. We had decided to split up; Lisa would take Avery to the store for ingredients for dinner, and I'd take Elise on home. I took Lisa's backpack and bag from school, and asked Avery how heavy his bag was (bags are not permitted into stores at all. Instead, there are lockers at the front of the store to put them in, but this is generally a hassle). When he said it was pretty light, I told him to give it to Elise to carry.

Immediately, an older lady began to harangue us. I didn't get all the Bulgarian she was saying, but the gist was that this was far too heavy for a delicate flower like Elise (and those of you who know her are guffawing at this point; she's anything but delicate!). I think she even disparaged Americans in general, though I can't be sure. In any case, I took the bag, we walked away 20 steps, and then I handed the bag back to her.

It wasn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Shortly after we moved in, our landlord was visiting to work out a solution on a problem we had. While he was there, I noticed that a light bulb was out, and I asked Avery to replace it. Our landlord just about had a conniption. How could I be so horrible a parent that I would risk the very life of my son in CHANGING A LIGHTBULB??? Suffice it to say, in order to keep the peace, I didn't have Avery change the lightbulb that day.

Bulgarians are intensely protective of children - and that means well up into the teen years. The sad thing is that, while a Bulgarian considers it near child abuse to have an almost 12-year-old change a light bulb, they probably wouldn't bat an eyelash if that same 12-year-old was out in a public park drinking a beer. OK, that may be overstating it - but then again, I have personally seen 14-year-olds doing exactly that.

I don't know that there's a moral lesson here, other than it's an illustration of how messed-up priorities can become. How does a society get to the point where they worry about a bag being too heavy, but turn a blind eye to the epidemic of underage drinking? This is a big part of the reason why I'm so excited about working with Scouting - I will have the opportunity to work with young men in developing skills which they will use for their entire lives, but also in developing a moral character that will enrich their lives and the lives of those dear to them.

Your continued prayers are always appreciated. May God bless you as you serve Him!

Update 29Oct13

Hello, all!  I guess I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted on this blog (or our facebook group, for that matter)!  We're doing fine, and we're adjusting well to life in Sofia.  Lisa has had a fairly minor but painful health issue, but is doing better now.  I am pleased to say that due to the healthier lifestyle here - more wholesome food, lots of walking and stair climbing, and weekly Ultimate (frisbee) practice - I have lost some fairly noticeable weight.  I don't know exactly how much since we don't have a scale, but my Scout uniform fits better than it has in years.  Speaking of Scout uniforms, we are on track to officially restart BSA Troop 359 in January, and I'll serve as Scoutmaster.  Keep that effort in your prayers, please, as it will be a very interesting situation (and opportunity); we will likely have Scouts from at least 5 different nations, including Christians, Jews, and Muslims.  I am really excited about the opportunity to make a stronger impact on these boys' lives, and perhaps even the lives of their families.

We do still need, deeply need, your prayers.  There has been no movement on selling our house.  We're about to enter into the period of time where having both a rent and a mortgage is going to really put us in the red.  So long as the house remains unsold, we are unable to afford a car in Sofia, which is frustrating because we have to spend 200 leva each month (about $130) for metro transit passes, which is a good-sized chunk of a monthly car payment.  We especially would like to have a car for when couples and families who are adopting from Bulgaria fly in, so that we can be a friendly American face to pick them up from the airport and take them to where they need to go.  Thus far we've connected with only one couple (there is another we're meeting this weekend and two more in November), but I had to introduce them to Sofia public transit - which is not so much fun when you're jetlagged.

We're EXTREMELY thankful for a donor who provided enough funds for us to purchase a dryer!  With a family of four, we were being swallowed up in laundry.  Everything had to be air-dried, and we ended up with clothes hanging all over the apartment (which makes hosting a bit awkward).  God bless our friend and brother for his generosity!

I am very excited about something that's coming up in May-June.  We will likely be having a group of 4-6 missions interns from Oklahoma Christian University coming to stay with us for about 6 weeks.  They'll be exploring what living in a foreign missions context is all about, and it's my sincere hope that in that time they'll fall in love with Bulgaria and her people as much as we have!

Pray, please.  We cannot do what we're here to do on our own efforts, nor those alone of our supporters in the US.  We must have the blessings of God daily if we're to thrive and be a blessing in turn to the people of Bulgaria.  Thank you for your support, thoughts, and prayers!

A Pile of Rocks

I wrote on my main Facebook page about our hiking trip to Vitosha mountain on Saturday. It was a great time spent getting to know Viktor and his family a little better, get some exercise, and enjoy a beautiful day in God's creation.

On our way up the path, we passed this stand of rocks. Now, I don't know if there is some significance to this; perhaps it's an ancient Bulgarian tradition, or some sort of protest (Bulgarians are good at that!). Perhaps somebody found some rocks and just thought it would look cool. I couldn't help but think, however, about the story in Joshua 3 and 4 about the nation of Israel crossing the Jordan River on dry ground. God instructed that each tribe take a stone from the middle of the riverbed on his shoulder, and make a memorial for future generations - so that they would remember that God had made a way for Israel to cross where there was no way.

I don't think it was a coincidence, then, that on the next day as we worshiped we sang "Бог направя път там, където няма път" - "God makes a way there, where there is no way." To me it seems that our entire move to Bulgaria has been an instance of "God parting the waters" and making a way where there was no way. We could not have come without God's provision of jobs, nor without the help of several of His people in the US. There is no doubt in my mind - God continues to make ways for His people in the world!

 

A bad hair night

It's Saturday, so I finally have time to sit down and write a little. Our first week (though it hasn't been a full week yet!) has gone quite well, though not without some hiccups. We're getting a handle on doing public transport with two kids, and Hristo and Vania Arnaudova were very kind to take us in their car today to several different stores so we could avoid lugging back several bags of things we needed on the bus.

On our second night here, neither Lisa or I could get any sleep, so at 2 in the morning I decided to be productive and give myself a haircut. I love my buzzcut; it's so simple and easy to maintain! Things were going swimmingly when, having shaved the right side of my head, I realized the clippers were literally smoking. Apparently, while our travel electricity adapters work just fine for most of the stuff we plug in, the clippers use just a bit too much power. So, what do you do when it's 3AM and half of your head is shaved? You spend an hour sitting still, while your wife spends an hour with a pair of scissors doing her absolute best to make you not look like an idiot.

As I was sitting there at 3AM with not much to do but hold still, a scripture idea crossed my mind. The apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 4 discusses how the apostles have come to be seen. He says in vs. 9-10, "For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ". Now, I don't mean in any way to claim apostleship, or to equate having a bad haircut to what Paul and the other apostles endured for Christ. But I couldn't help but think, as I sat at 3AM, "if I were back in the States this would never have happened." I probably wouldn't have been awake at 3AM, certainly wouldn't have cut my hair at that hour, and my clippers would have worked just fine as they always have anyway.

But what I was reminded was that I'm in Bulgaria to be a spectacle. I have no dignity of my own; all of that is an illusion anyway. All I have is a God who justifies me, and a message for those with whom I come into contact. If I have to be a "fish out of water" that looks for a short time like an absolute fool in order that God can be glorified, then that is a small price to pay compared to the suffering of our Savior, or the example of the fathers of the faith like Paul. If my humiliation can be used to bring another soul to reconciliation with our heavenly Father, I will rejoice and give myself a crazy new hairdo every morning.

Friends, keep us in your prayers. I'll try to write as often as I can. Blessings on you all!

16June13 update

Wow, has it really been that long since I posted in this group last? It's been a crazy several weeks for us. We were able to go to Washington, DC and applied for our visas on June 6th. We got back late Saturday night, and Elise and I turned around Sunday afternoon and did a week of church camp. Tonight starts VBS. I hardly know where I am with all the running around!

We are still on the runaround on getting insurance coverage for me, though Lisa and the kids now have it. I have a strong positive lead that I'll be following up on in the morning. On Tuesday, I will fly to Sofia for a two-week trip coinciding with groups from the WestArk Church of Christ in Ft. Smith, AR and the Northside Church of Christ in Spokane, WA. I'm very excited to be working with these teams, and hopefully I will be able to do some rudimentary translation when the need arises. Next weekend the groups will be hosting a seminar of the same kind we did last year, so your prayers for its success would be appreciated. The theme of the seminar will be on the authority and integrity of the scriptures. At the moment, I haven't been asked to participate, but I will be glad to support whatever the WestArk team has put together.

We have our one-way tickets to Sofia! We will fly out of the US on August 12. Lisa has given notice to her boss, and we're full steam ahead. The house has been on the market for a couple of weeks now; prayers that it will sell quickly would also be appreciated.

I promise to post messages and pics from Sofia later this week! Thank you for your prayers and support. May God bless you richly!

Update - May 7, 2013

Hello friends! I don't actually have much progress to report. Last night we met with our real estate agent and set a listing date for our house - May 30. If you know of someone who would like to move to beautiful Kingston Springs, TN, we've got a really nice house for them! While we are excited about being in Bulgaria this fall, we received news that our salary with the school will be significantly lower that we had anticipated. We are committed, but we will need more support than we had originally planned on. If your congregation would be willing to join in partnership with us, we are looking for 10 congregations to supply $100 per month. This will go toward covering two specific costs: the student loans from my Master of Theological Studies degree, and our yearly plane fare back to the US for family visits and check-ins with our supporting congregations. We also really need your prayers for peace, wisdom, and sanity as we go through the chaos of planning an international move. Thank you all for the support and encouragement you give us!