Hello dear friends,
Here’s an update of our family and ministry.
A couple of days ago I returned from my trip to Bulgaria where we had a men’s retreat. This was the second retreat for men we had in Bulgaria. The first one was last year at exactly the same time. It was organized by a Russian missionary there, who I have known for a few years already.
The spiritual situation in Bulgaria is very hard. Pastors don’t gel along with each other, do not trust each other. It’s difficult to preach the Gospel. Difficult to do something with different churches.
The retreat was not big in numbers. This time we were nine – two more then last year. This time a few Russian speaking guys joined from international church in Varna. There also were local Bulgarian guys from Varna and Ruse. The youngest one was 19, and the oldest – 55. We gathered in a ‘tourist shack’ in the mountains in the middle of Bulgaria late in the evening Thursday October 26. The first class we had Friday morning, and it was a weapon class. Anton, the Russian missionary, used to have his own school of medieval martial arts when he hived in Moscow. He has lots of swords, helmets, armor and other cool stuff. So we had a very interesting class about weapons and how to use them, and what it means for us in spiritual realms.
After lunch we talked about our fathers and how we were influenced by them, good or bad. Difficult topic. But an even more difficult one was the ‘mother wound’, which followed right after the father. A lot of conversations, a lot of boiling. Saturday started with a climb to a nearby mountain. The weather was a true blessing for us – wind, snow, sleet and fog. Just what we needed. As Anton kept saying, I managed to find Norway in Bulgaria. We did summit that mountain, even though some of the men were not ready for that – they came from warm Varna, with no snow clothes of footwear. But they did it! Great men!
After lunch we continued and talked about the creation of man, about the fall, compared Adam and Jesus.
Later Saturday night, after dinner we all started back home. Me and Anton also went to Varna to meet with the pastor of that church, who wasn’t able to join the meeting. The pastor, Gena, is a missionary from Kazakhstan, a Russian Korean guy. A strange kind of mixture, but he happened to be a great man. We discussed some possible plans for the next year. He looks like he’s very much interested in this work. We’ll see))
We participated in their Sunday service, and later in the afternoon went back to Anton’s home in Ruse area. All Monday we spent in Methodist church in Ruse talking with the pastor Vladimir, who participated in both retreats. He’s very much interested, too.
It looks like the guys there want another retreat next year. We’ll see what God will do.
A couple of more prayer requests:
Masha is not feeling well. The delivery was difficult, the baby was big, and Masha is small, and now she is having consequences. Please pray for her. She can’t have a surgery now because she is breastfeeding. We need a miracle.
It’s winter now here, snow and ice on the roads, and I don’t have snow tires. Driving is becoming dangerous. Please pray for that.
Thank you friends for your prayers! I appreciate you so much!