November Update from Brother Hristo

This is a letter from Hristo Arnaudov detailing what's happening in the Vazrazhdane Church.

Dear friends,

Greetings from Hristo and Vania Arnaudov, servants of the Lord at the Church of Christ in Sofia, Bulgaria!

We thank the Lord for Jesus and the salvation He has gifted to all of us!  It is with great joy and privilege that we serve Him and His world-wide church, part of which is our small family of faith with brothers and sisters who have opened their hearts for the Savior.  We are grateful for every soul that steps through the door of the church to worship with us on Sunday and hear the word of God!  We pray to God for all that come for the first time to our worship services with various needs, for often it is that very need that helped them to take the step and search for the Lord.  We pray that God will work in their hearts and help them decide to become His children, willing and ready to follow Him and give their life to Him!

We are also very grateful that God answered our prayers for a prayer house which we can use at any time for worship, Bible classes, meeting with members from the church, as well as others who seek the Lord.  God touched many hearts and now we have the finances needed to rent such a space.  For the past three weeks Vania and I have been contacting real estate agents and meeting with them to see various locations and spaces available for rent so we can find the one that fits our needs and budget.

We have found a space on the first floor of a commercial office building which had been used for a dance studio.  The location is very central - close to the railway station, subway, buses, tram, and trolley stations - it will be very convenient for all church members who travel from various directions within the greater Sofia area (NOTE FROM JEFF: From what I can determine the location is a dozen blocks due north of the Renaissance Hotel where they meet now, on Hristo Botev Blvd. just north of Slivnitsa Blvd.).

Currently, the space is being renovated and once completed we will purchase chairs and other furniture that may be needed.  All brothers and sisters are very excited and eagerly await the time when we will be able to move to the new place.

During this period, along with the search and other hardships, we continued to meet for worship and Bible classes.

On November 12 I had my second eye surgery (on the other eye).  I thank God for the successful surgery and my ability to see well now with both eyes and no need for glasses.  Vania also had some health problems and needed to be on bed rest but is now feeling better - Praise to God!

Immediately after my eye surgery, brothers Bisser and Gencho were very helpful in helping lead worship and preaching in my stead.  Brother Bill Binum, a missionary from Texas for Eastern Europe also visited us and shared the word of God with us.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with the church members with a special program - the praise and worship group sang new songs of thanksgiving to the Lord.  Many of the sisters brought fruit and vegetables to decorate.  Others had prepared cheese pies, cakes, and sweets and we ordered some pizza for everyone to share during our fellowship time after the worship.

The singing group is already preparing for Christmas - we often use this worship service to invite non-Christian people too so we can share the Good News of the birth of our Lord and Savoir with family, friends, coworkers, and others.  We will praise the Lord with Christmas songs, a sermon, prayers, and will then have a fellowship time and lunch together.

After a short time of illness, we said our goodbyes to brother Peter Velkov who was only 33 years old.  Peter was a member of our Bulgarian church of Christ in Athens.  He returned to Bulgaria in 2008 and lived and worked in his hometown, Vidin.  Not long after his return, the doctors found cancer in his intestines.  He underwent a serious surgery which was followed by many chemotherapy treatments.  Peter wanted to be a part of the seminar which we held in June this year but was unable to do so because his condition had worsened.  We visited him in the hospital many times and together with his wife, who is a very new Christian, prayed for him.  Several days before his passing, we visited him again and served him the Lord's Supper.  We believe that he is now with the Lord.  We pray that the Lord may be with his wife, Vesi, to give her comfort and strengthen her in the faith so she can trust in Him for everything.  We ask all of you to keep Vesi and Peter's family in your prayers as well.

We also need your prayers for the renovation and repairs of the new place for the church, as well as our move there - we should be able to do so by December 15.  May the Lord give us strength, physically and spiritually, and we hope to praise His name at the new place for the Christmas holidays.

Praise be to our God and thanks to all of you who support us in our ministry in Bulgaria!

May the Lord bless you and your loved ones!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

In God's Grace,

Hristo & Vania Arnaudov

Dec. 3, Part 2

I just read a letter from Hristo via Shawn Moore at the Northside Church of Christ in Spokane, WA. The Vazrazhdane Church of Christ has a facility! From the pictures Hristo included, it looks pretty nice, though he said it needs some fairly extensive renovation. I am terribly excited for the beginning of this new chapter in the life of the Vazrazhdane Church! I hope to make a visit in February to help out with things, but it's an expensive proposition. If you can help pay for a plane ticket, both I and the Arnaudovs would be very grateful!

Dec. 3, 2012

Yesterday we had lunch at a local Greek restaurant, where I ran into a former student of mine who is waitressing there. She, like Elise, was adopted from Bulgaria. She was five years old at the time back in the early '90s. We introduced them to each other (something I've wanted to do for years), and talked over "things Bulgarian." To our shock, we learned that this girl has never had any Bulgarian cuisine! She's never even heard of tarator (the cold yogurt and cucumber soup that's a staple in Bulgaria)! We've extended an open invitation to her to come share a Bulgarian meal with us, and I hope that someday she will come with us for a visit to the land of her birth. It made me wonder - how many other Bulgarian-born young people in the US have no experience whatsoever of their culture?

Post-election...

 The following is taken from a post I wrote on our Bulgarian Blessings Facebook page.

I have a heavy heart today, as I'm sure some of you do. I posted on my main wall a more concise message about the election. Forgive me for unburdening further here.

I'm afraid. I want to believe, as many have said, that it's all going to be OK. In an absolute sense, that's true; God reigns supreme, and He controls all things. The problem is, I wonder if this will be OK in the same way that it was OK for the early Christian martyrs? I wonder if this will be OK like it was for Christians in Constantinople as the Ottoman Turks breached the wall and sacked the city? We are guaranteed an eternity with God, but we are not promised an easy go of it here.

I'm writing this on this page because I am concerned for our mission to Bulgaria. I want so desperately to go! When I talked to Vania last week, she said again how much we're needed there, how much she wishes we were there already. The church in Sofia has been blessed by an amazing gift from Northside in Spokane, WA; they'll be able to get the facility they've needed for some time. God provides.

So why hasn't he provided for us? I've been unemployed for years, and not for lack of job searching. We've been unable to raise any church support. Father, where have you been? You know that we want to serve you only; equip us, support us, so that we can be Your lights in a dark place.

I had hoped that Romney would win, because it's clear to me the President has no idea what he's doing when it comes to economy. I had hoped that within six months of a Romney presidency, the economy would improve to the degree that churches would see increased contributions, allowing many more of them the capacity to support missions like ours. That was my plan, anyway, which of course on the cosmic scale means absolutely nothing.

Perhaps this is God's way of pouring fire on top of the altar. When Elijah faced the prophets of Baal, he told the servants to thoroughly douse the altar with water, which should have made it impossible to light - so it was all the more dramatic and awe-inspiring when the whole thing went up in flames. Perhaps that's what God has in mind here, to pour water on an already soggy economy so that in it he can show His incredible providence and the amazing generosity of his people. I hope so.

Perhaps I'm overpersonalizing all of this. I'm pretty sure that the President wasn't reelected so that we would have a harder time getting to Bulgaria. But this morning a phrase has been bouncing around in my head, "you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." I took a look at the passage's source, Hebrews chapter 12:

'Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.'

Father, I don't know what this election means, but I am afraid. Help us to have a measure of your peace, and give us Your provision which equips us for Kingdom work. You are the great God of all the universe, and nothing is too difficult for Your hand or too small for Your notice.

Nov. 1, 2012

I was blessed to be able to talk with Vania for about 20 minutes this morning. She and Hristo are well, and more importantly their daughter Natalia in New York was relatively unaffected by Hurricane Sandy, though she did experience some high winds.

Hristo continues to heal from his eye surgery, and prepare for surgery this month on the other eye. In addition, Vania told me that she will need the same type of surgery herself soon. As a result, she has decided it is not for the best for her to come to Nashville in January as we had all planned.

Instead, we are going to see about me traveling to Sofia again in January for a couple of weeks. The church in Sofia has been very blessed by the Northside Church of Christ in Spokane, WA, and will be able soon to rent a facility full-time in which to meet, hold classes, teach Sunday School to kids, etc. I'll be helping out in any way I can to set up that facility (paint, organize, etc.). This will necessitate me raising a bit more money, and I hope that some of you will be able to help with that. We had raised $300 for Vania to come, and I hope to apply that amount to my ticket (with the approval of that money's donor).

As always, we need your prayers. Vania expressed again how much we are needed on the ground in Sofia; there is so much Kingdom work to be done! May God bless us richly to His service.

Trip to Fort Smith

We had a great weekend trip to Fort Smith! We headed out Friday afternoon at about 1, with a first stop in Searcy to have dinner with my cousin Jordan. We would have loved to have my cousin Sarah there as well, but she's on Harding's track team, and they were at a meet in Oklahoma. From there we headed south to Stuttgart for the night, staying at Lisa's Aunt Ann's house with her brother Chris (Ann is out of town... are people trying to avoid us?). Saturday morning, which was stunningly beautiful, we got up to head for Fort Smith at a nice leisurely pace. On a whim, we stopped at Toltec Mounds State Park to walk around 1,000-year-old Indian mounds and feed some turtles.

Upon arriving in Fort Smith, we visited the Fort Smith History Museum, which was really well done. Next door to it is the Fort Smith National Historic Site. For those who don't know, Fort Smith was the center of administration for the Indian Territories (now known as Oklahoma) in the days of the Wild West. If you've seen either version of True Grit, that story starts out in Fort Smith.

We were very blessed to be able to have dinner with Shawn Moore from Spokane, WA on Saturday evening. Shawn spend two years in Athens, Greece, where he got to know Hristo and Vania very well. He is the preacher for the Northside Church of Christ, which supports the Arnaudovs and their work. He shared with us his story, and we shared ours with him. It is amazing how God works in the lives of His people!

We stayed Saturday night with Jerry and Meg Canfield, who graciously opened their home to us. Sunday morning, I taught the adult auditorium class at the Westark Church of Christ (with some MC-ing by Chris Benjamin). It was wonderful to see familiar faces again from our summer trip to Sofia! I was blessed to be given the opportunity to preside at the Lord's Table for Westark, as well.

After an amazing lunch at El Rodeo (I've never had molcajete before - fantastic!) with the Benjamin family and Shawn Moore, we headed back on the road. It was a great trip, and we're very thankful the Lord brought us safely through our journey of just over 1,000 miles.

The battleground of our lives

We feel like a bit of a battleground lately, in that Satan has been attacking, and God has been blessing (though sometimes that blessing hurts a little, too). First, some of the blessings: Lisa (for those of you who aren't her Facebook friend) will have a second phone interview on Thursday for a fantastic position in North Carolina. This job would be a substantial raise for Lisa, and would allow us to remain in Nashville; the downside is that she would have to travel a lot, but we can deal with that.

Then an attack - I am covered quite ridiculously in poison ivy, mosquito bites, and chiggers, and I don't think it all came from the campout last week. When I say ridiculously, I mean poison ivy on my leg, the back of my neck, my forehead, my nose, my chin through my beard, and my eyelids. I never went into the woods, so I don't know where I could have picked it up. It's a fairly minor thing in the grand scheme, but quite annoying. Within the last month, Avery's been sick, Elise has been sick, and I've been almost sick. And Lisa is dealing with a horribly dysfunctional workplace that led her to look for other work in the first place - but that, as I've said, may be a hidden blessing.

Probably the most difficult "blessing" is our remaining cat, Kira. Kira has been with us for almost 15 years now, our first baby. Since we have made the decision to go to Bulgaria, we had wondered what we would do with the cats, and her in particular. We had found a person to take Keiko, but we knew that Kira would never adjust; It's too expensive to take her with us to Bulgaria, and even if we did the flight would probably kill her. We're taking our call to mission seriously, and we can't tell God "Sorry, but we can't go do the work you've put before us - we have a cat." The horrible blessing is that we may be putting Kira down this week. She has not been right since we put Keiko to sleep; she hardly eats, and I have not seen her drink water in weeks (which makes me wonder seriously how she's still alive now). She has balance issues, and staggers often. There have been other disturbing behaviors which I won't go into (you might have just eaten...) that tell us it's time.

Strangely, I am more at peace on this. I am sad, to be sure, but perhaps losing Keiko prepared me somewhat to lose Kira as well. This will be a pet-less house, which makes it easier for us to prepare it to sell. I've learned through life that transitions are tough, but God leads us through them to brighter futures.