Evangelism Has Been Very Good We have a very strong team for sharing the Gospel and spreading the New Testaments, Bibles and other literature in our area. Four days during the week, the team walks the streets, visits in the hospitals and visits homes to share the Good News with people - Bulgarians, Gypsies and Muslims. For the Muslims, we have Bibles and other books in Turkish. Some of the testimonies include:
•When a lady, in the beginning of the park, received a Bible she asked the team to come the next day again at 10:30 a.m. to explain more about Jesus. The next day it was raining very powerfully but the team was exactly on time at the place. The lady told them, “I wanted to see if you will keep your promise. Now I see that your are God’s people.” And on the street, she received Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and decided to come to the church.
•Another Turkish man in a high position has kept contact with us for many weeks and now he is on the way to receiving Jesus.
•During sessions of the town counsels in our area we distributed special Bibles to the leaders of the towns. All of them received the Bible, but later there was some oppositions on the behalf of the party “Ataka. Национален съюз Атака The National Union Attack is a nationalist political party in Bulgaria. The coalition's leaders have criticized Bulgaria's ethnic minorities for allegedly being too privileged, they have accused the entire Bulgarian political establishment of being corrupt, and are opposed to NATO, the Iraq War and closer ties with the USA.from Wikipedia.org
•In the hospitals, many sick people started immediately to read the Bibles they received.< •We have seven new mission fields in the area - Jordanovo, Delenkite, Dolna Studena, Baniska, Svalenik, Krasen and Babovo, where there are groups of people who are gathering to listen to the Gospel. Not only adults but children are receiving Jesus Christ with bigger joy and blessing
Leadership Conference Focuses on Young Leaders
The mother church in Rousse hosted a leadership conference September 8-10, 2010. Guest speakers were Bishop Clayton Endecott, General Presbyter for Europe, CIS and the Middle East; Bishop H.E.Cardin from the International office of the Church of God of Prophecy and Dony Donev from Bulgaria. The subjects were very interesting. “How to Prepare a Sermon,” “Accepting your Calling,” and “Church Finances” were some of the topics taught. The emphasis was for inspiring new young leaders for the Harvest. All participants were blessed and encouraged.
Summertime Cleanup During the summer months, it is a very good time for repairing our church buildings. We repaired the roof of one and continued work on others. Above are pictures of clearing the land at the Vetovo church. Also, repairs were made at the guest house in Rousse and benches were refurbished for the church.
Summer Camping Experience Blesses 106 Children
From August 23-29, 2010, 106 children were at the camp in Yastrebino. The children were divided into 7 groups and had 7 classes in the morning which included a Bible lesson, memorizing verses, music, crafts, drama, sports and Bible games. In the afternoon we went for hikes in the forest, participated in sports events and funny games, had competitions for best picture drawing on the asphalt, had a water party and other activities. During the evenings we had meetings with lessons, dramas, puppets, and dancing. Thirty-nine new kids received Jesus and sixty-one renewed their dedication to God. Again, the last day we had camp fire and prayer in the tunnel (prayer line) for every child by the teachers. When we walked in the village, we invited some people to come and five of them regularly visited the evening sessions. Three of them received Jesus. The joy of the kids was great during the camp.
● One little girl, Gaby, who was attending camp for the first time asked, “Will you take me at the camp next year? These days were the best in my life.”
● One of the little boys said, “I haven’t patience to wait. When will next year come and we will go to the camp again? It was great!”
● Hoang, an eight-year-old Vietnamese boy, enjoyed walking in the forest. He is very poor and only his grandmother cares for him. He hasn’t a father and his mother left. He said he has never eaten such good food. He and his grandmother live in a broken-down little building outside of the village. He received God’s love at camp, and he received Jesus in his heart.
● Katy, an eight-year-old girl from the orphanage, stayed close to Sister Donka, the camp director, and held her hand the whole camp. For the first time she saw God’s love at the camp and she received Jesus.
● Borchin, a ten-year-old Muslim girl who lives with her father suffers from a problem with her nervous system. She received Jesus in her heart and was filled with joy.
● Twin girls, Iveta and Joana, live with their mother who is a non-believer. The girls received Jesus at camp and shared, “We liked all events at the camp - the lessons, games and taking part in the dramas, but the precious thing is that we know our Good Shepherd and Savior.” These are just a few of the many testimonies. The lives of every child is filled with problems but here at the camp, they saw God’s love in a very good atmosphere and received Jesus Christ in their hearts. It was really a blessed time for every participant.
