Mission Bulgaria Week 16

NEWS – Week 16 – December 1-8, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA

Greetings from Bulgaria: I just returned from the country of Romania, a northern neighbor of Bulgaria. We traveled in a heavy snowstorm, which covered both Romania and Bulgaria, yet the trip was more than successful. We visited the Church of God in Bucharest at the dedication of their new church building in northern part of town. We were kindly received by Pastor Bolgar and his team. After the meeting we had an opportunity to speak with a number of church officials from Cleveland, as well as the local pastors and leaders. As an overall my impressions is that Romania is a beautiful country. Like Bulgaria, it is going through heavy economical crises. The Church of God there is the largest one in Europe, and this gives the local churches security and a good name. In Bulgaria, there have been some new developments on the building project, which the Central Church of God has been working on for the past two years.

Our ministry has been going with the same good speed and success, and we are all preparing for the upcoming holidays. Several thousand shoeboxes have been prepared for the homeless children and children of prisoners, whom we minister to. In my teachings I am at the end of the Book of Revelation. I am expecting to finish it on December 26. In the beginning of the New Year, I am planning to do a study on the Letter to the Galatians. This week I have been meeting with the representatives of the Chaplains Ministries (hospital, army and prison) in Bulgaria to discuss an upcoming Chaplaincy Training Seminar. Our committee also arranged the distribution of several thousand of Christmas shoeboxes to the children of the prisoners at a Christian concert in the Central Prison in Sofia next Tuesday. This is a holiday event, which we have been holding for the past three years.