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We arrived home Tuesday evening after 25 hours of travel and a day that tallied about 32 hours all in all. We are exhausted, but happy and excited about what the upcoming year will bring for our two churches as we work together to share the love of God.

Visit to Russe's Gypsy Outreach Program

On Monday evening we had the pleasure of visiting and meeting the children who are part of Russe's outreach in the gypsy community. The children meet weekly in a local home where Krassie and Panka share bible stories, songs, prayers and snacks with them.

While we were there the children sang for us before Panka read a story to them. It was a fun time as we learned about the love of Jesus together.

Familiar faces from last year have grown taller!

Panka shares a story.

Older siblings bring their younger ones.

Mallory and Patti pose for a picture with some of the children.

The woman on the left hosts the children in her home.

The neighborhood.

Shopping and Relaxing

Sunday evening and Monday morning brought with it time to relax a bit and do a little shopping in Russe.

Joanie, Mallory, Patti, Maria, Dave and Greg in Russe's city centre

Mallory and Patti

Taking a break from shopping, Dave is shown taking one of his famous "mental" pictures.

Natalia shows off her sporty New Hope coffee tumbler

Ilian and Natalia enjoying Tootsie Pops

Tanya and Ilian gave Mallory the opportunity to Skype with her friends back in Wisconsin

Tootsie Pops were the hit of the week!

Sunday afternoon in Hotantza

We traveled to Hotantza Sunday afternoon for worship with Russe's second sister church in their circuit. (Russe, Hotantza and Tsenovo) Krasimir is the local pastor and he and his wife Panka are very involved with the outreach to the gypsy children not only in Hotantza, but in Russe as well.

Pastor Greg gave the sermon and the children sang for us. Following the service we had a very enjoyable time of fellowship and a delicious dinner with the Hotantza congregation.

Krassimir is the local Pastor at Hotantza

Daniel translates our introduction

Pastor Greg gave the sermon with Daniel translating

Everyone loves it when the children sing!

The Hotantza Methodist Church is rich in history preceeding the times of communism

The ladies in Hotantza prepared a delicious meal of pork and sweet peppers stuffed with cheese.

Sunday morning of course is time to worship

For now pictures will need to speak louder than words as it is time to dash out the door to go to Hotanza. Worship in Russe (pictured) was filled with joy in being able to worship together as one.

sunday at 3:15 p.m.

PSB

Saturday night - a visit to the country

Saturday evening found us the honored and fortunate guests in the home of Georgi and Penka who live nearby in Koshov. Georgi and Penka have been members of the Russe Methodist Church since the early 80's - even before the fall of communism. They are a delightful couple who opened their home and hearts to us for a fun evening of blending cultures.

Dave, Maria, Penka, Patti, Georgi and Pastor Greg

Bulgarian custom is to greet guests with bread that you dip in honey and/or salt. It represents the sweetness and the salt of life.

Our driver, Daniel, took us on a real adventure in the countryside.

Georgi followed behind in his jeep.

There are caves in the cliffs that the monks used to hide out in for protection. Some of the caves are used today for raising sheep as it is warmer in winter and cooler in the summer.

Daniel was an excellent driver through the rough terrain.

The sheep added some excitement.

Dinner at a nearby restaurant was of course excellent!

We are getting really good at the authentic Bulgarian dining!

Nina and Tanya arranged for me to wear my very own authentic Bulgarian apron for the evening. (This of course gave me authentic Bulgarian dancing abilities.)

This vkusno (delicious) meal is chicken, potatoes, beans and pork kabobs that were prepared on the skara (grill).

Saturday was a day of learning

The devotional this morning spoke of "The Art of Gleaning" - here's an excerpt:

"As I read the book of Ruth this morning I was so impacted by Ruth's willingness to glean. Gleaning was good old-fashioned manual labor: gathering leftover crops after a field had already been harvested. In a sense, it was the ancient welfare system. But it wasn't a free hand-out. It was back-breaking work. And it took a spirit of humility. There was nothing glamorous about gleaning. But Ruth was willing to do it.

Can I borrow that metaphor? Leaders are gleaners. They glean everything they can from everyone they can! It harkens back to something that has been attributed to everyone from Ben Franklin to Thomas Carlye to Ralph Waldo Emerson. I'm not sure who said it first, but it's such good advice: 'Every man is my superior in some way, in that I learn of him.'"

How smart it is to gather knowledge from others. We spent the day learning about what those who came before us figured out; and then shared ideas of how we can take that knowledge, adapt it to our needs and move into the future to grow the church.

Pastors Greg and Daniel led a full day of seminars that was attended by over 40 people from all over Bulgaria. The discussion was lively and the ideas were many.

Worship in Tsenovo

We went to Tsenovo Friday afternoon to worship and have a delicious dinner. Tsenovo is a sister church of Russe and is about a 45 minute drive into the country. Most of the people who live in Tsenovo work on the nearby farms. Pastor Greg gave a very well received sermon about opening new doors and not being trapped in our old routines. Pastor Greg, and Mariana (the local Pastor of Tsenovo) served communion.

After the service was over we did as all good Methodists do and we ate! They prepared their specialty, Musaka and it was yummy.

Freidie with his fun laugh and "tour guide" attitude is our driver.

Tanya, Nina, Ivaylo and Daniel sang

Mariana Genova is the local Pastor at Tsenovo

Pastor Daniel translates Pastor Greg's sermon

Pastor Daniel and Pastor Greg bless the elements

Pastor Greg serves the communion

Musaka is Tsenovo's specialty. It was meat, potatoes and an egg mixture on top.

Served with shopska salad of course!

Luckily the rain stopped so we could eat outside

David and Ivaylo are tough to get to smile so this one had to

be posted as it's a gem!