Zlatitsa

On October 21, we went to Zlatitsa, a very small village about 20 miles from Sofia. This was probably the worst area we visited in terms of the squallier. However, it is very small so the sensory impact is not as great as some of the others we have seen. Most of the people here live in what I would call huts, not homes. Many live in just one room. Again, there is no running water, no plumbing and the streets are mud. Flies are everywhere (and other biting bugs). Chickens, dogs and cats run in and out of the homes. The children are filthy and there is much disease.


Many gypsies are not married; they just live together. The pastor here is a Bulgarian man who serves these people without pay. He lives in Sofia and drives here to serve them. He started with five people and began visiting each home. Now he has a church of about 60 people or so. He is teaching them about the importance of marriage (legal marriage) and has been taking the couples to the authorities and getting them legally married after doing a wedding service for them. Now, most of the couples in the village are married. The town officials are amazed at this; it defies all of their preconceived ideas about gypsies.


The church itself was formerly an abandoned stable. They have gradually “remodeled” it and made it into their church.


Once again, we taught the introductory session to our marriage seminar. Because of the pastor’s work among them, these people really “got it.” For them, it was not so much new information as a confirmation that what they were doing was right and pleasing to the Lord.


This was our last night “on the road.” Starting tomorrow, we will be in Sofia for just over a week. We will be teaching different topics to four different groups of people, but all are in Sofia. That will be good for us. Traveling to teach every day is very tiring, even though the distances are relatively short.

Levski

This morning, October 20, we left Stara Zagora and drove for about three hours through the Redobe mountains to Levski. This is a medium sized town in the southern part of Bulgaria. The Pastor of the church here is Nickoli. As is true of all of the pastors that we have met on this trip so far, he works full time at another job and serves the church for nothing.


As we did yesterday, we distributed some bags of food and clothing to some of the poor people in the town before the seminar. While they were obviously poor, they were not in nearly as bad shape as the people we saw yesterday. It reminds me that, “poor” is a very relative and limited term. The materially “poor” in our country are “rich” by comparison to these people. So of course, “the poor will always be with you” is absolutely a statement of eternal truth. However, the materially poor can still be rich in other ways. The joy of the people we saw yesterday is proof of that.


In contrast to yesterday, this church was a very nice building and the people were clean, well dressed and obviously educated. Most were ethnic Bulgarians with a few gypsies. Once again we taught the first session of our marriage course. It was well received by the people and we were invited back.


Due to our remote location, we were invited to stay at the Pastor’s home which was very nice and quite comfortable. This was a very nice change from hotels.

Tvurdista

On October 19, we went to teach in Tvurdista, a large gypsy ghetto about an hour from Stara Zagora. The living conditions of the people there are very primitive. There is no running water and no plumbing in the homes at all. Most have a well but the water is often polluted and all of them have outhouses for toilets. Since the homes are crammed together side by side, you can imagine what it is like. The streets are mud and the houses look half finished. Many have no windows or doors, only curtains.



Before we went to the church, we took a bag of food and a bag of clothes to a number of families. They were all so grateful to receive these basic necessities you would have thought it was Christmas.



Despite their almost desperate circumstances, the people were joyful in their praise and worship. We had a great time singing and dancing with them before we started our teaching.


We taught the introduction to our marriage course because the Pastor, Vesko, requested it. He said that most couples do not have a legal marriage so teaching about the marriage relationship was more important than leadership. The people seemed to receive it really well and the Pastor was very complementary.
After we finished, they insisted on serving us a meal. Although they are extremely poor, their hospitality was very humbling and we couldn’t refuse.



Once again, being among these people makes us almost ashamed of our abundance. We could not help but marvel at their joyful worship in the midst of such grinding poverty. It proves to us, once again, that money cannot buy the really important things in life.

Sliven

We are in Stara Zagora, the town where we have so many friends from so many trips in the past. We came here the first time in 2000 and held our first seminar at the Bulgarian Theological Seminary (BTS). Subsequently, we came back and taught our entire course to the facility and students here (there are a total of 16 modules and it took four visits to finish.) In addition to those visits we have been here on other occasions. It has been our base for going out to the gypsy churches before.

On Sunday morning, we attended church at the Bridge Church where Stefko is the Pastor. The church is one year old next month and there are about 30 people attending. They meet in one of the classrooms of the BTS. After church, we rested for a while and then departed for Sliven.


Sliven is a town not far from Stara Zagora where there is a very large gypsy village. The Pastor here is Sasho, a good friend with a huge heart for his people and for the Lord. It is very rough. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.



When we arrived about 6:00pm, the service was fully engaged. These people know how to worship! The music was joyful, the smiles abundant and we were uplifted. I can tell you that gypsy worship music will touch your soul. It is impossible for me to describe it; you just have to hear it.


Despite their circumstances, they love the Lord and their praise and worship comes from grateful hearts. When we consider our own circumstances, it is very humbling. They have so little, but they have what really counts! We taught our basic entry module for three hours and enjoyed every minute with these precious people.


Teaching in these gypsy churches and even teaching the pastors is a challenge. Many have only three or four years of formal education, sometimes less. Some cannot read or write. We are teaching rather complex concepts and so getting it to a level that they can grasp is very difficult for us. However, they tell us that they are learning so I suppose we are somehow getting there.

Pazardzik

Yesterday, our host, Stefko Zlatarov picked us up in the the big blue van and drove us to Pazardzik, a small town not far from Plovdiv, which is the second largest city in Bulgaria. We spent the night at a small hotel on the square, the Jor-Daniel, where we had stayed last spring.

It wasn’t as quite as last time because it was Friday night and the casino across the street was pretty busy with people going in and out. At least there was no disco nearby. They are pretty popular in Bulgaria and can be really loud!

When we went upstairs for dinner, we were told that the restaurant was not open. The cooking equipment was broken. So, we found a traditional Bulgarian restaurant just down the street and had a great meal there.

This morning when we went to check out, we were told that the charge card machine was broken and we would have to pay cash. Funny thing is, it was broken last spring too. Makes one think that maybe they don’t want to pay the small charge to use the charge card service, even though they advertise that they take Visa cards (and others.)

This is a common ploy in Eastern Europe; a small manipulation of the customer. Manipulation was developed into a high art under the communist regime; it is how people survived and beat the system. Now the habit is ingrained and is one of the bad practices hurting their ability to enter into the European Union.

We came here for our first seminar at the Assembly of God church here. The Pastor, Timothy, had invited Assembly of God, Church of God and United Church of God pastors from the region to attend. Most are gypsies although there are a few ethnic Bulgarians too.

Bulgarians are Caucasian people like Russians and Ukrainians. Many have Turkish ancestry as well because Bulgaria was under the rule of the Turks for over 400 years. Gypsies are a very different ethnic group. They came to Europe as slaves from Bangladesh many generations ago and have retained many characteristics of their original culture. In other words, they have not integrated into European societies much. As a result, they are highly discriminated against by virtually all European countries. Many live in abject poverty as I explained in an earlier blog post.

Our translator, Raina and her husband, Gopy drove over from Stara Zagora early this morning. Raina is on the staff at the bible college in Stara Zagora and Gopy works with a children’s ministry. Pictured here is Timothy, the Pastor, Pat and I, Raina and Stefko (we couldn't find Gopy.) This was Raina’s first time to translate for us, although she, herself, has been through our entire course, as has Gopy.

Our host was disappointed that only about 40 people showed up, about half of whom were pastors. We never know what to expect but we have learned that it will usually be fewer than advertised. It bothered us a little in the beginning. Now, we expect it.


Our seminar lasted from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm with 30 minutes for lunch, so we worked them (and ourselves) pretty hard. We try to engage them in the discussions, a teaching method that is very new to them. They are used to being lectured at and saying nothing. Usually they are a bit slow to warm up but once they get into it they get fully engaged. This group was no exception. By the time we ended, they were talking and laughing and taking copious notes; all good signs that learning was occurring. They invited us back next year; another good sign. We called it a successful day and headed to Stara Zagora where we will stay for the next three nights. Tomorrow we attend (and speak in) church in Stara Zagora and then do a seminar in the evening in a village nearby. On Monday and Tuesday we will do seminars in other villages nearby.