Our Last Days There

After teaching at Lilly's father's church on Sunday, we spent the rest of the week in Plovdiv doing a variety of things. We spent three nights teaching in Marina Dimatrova's Bible School. These are classes for people who want to know more about the Bible and about ministry. Many of them go on to more formal training and in the last 30 years or so, she has given the foundational training to many Pastors in Bulgaria. We also had meetings. We met Salcho and his wife for a meeting and, before the meeting, we toured a 4th century church. Many people do not know that Bulgaria is a land of the Bible. Modern Macedonia was part of Bulgaria when the Apostle Paul went there so there are many ancient, Christian ruins here. We also met with our friends, the Communists! These are guys who we met a couple of years ago who are very concerned about the Muslim incursions into Bulgaria and their efforts to radicalize the young gypsy men. They know that the only people who are effective in combating this are evangelical Christians, so we find common cause to work together. It is truly amazing to see how God sometimes open doors for us! Finally, on the last Saturday, Pat held her customary Women's Conference which she has done for about 8 or 9 years now. About 150 women from about 8 denominations were there! Here are some pictures of these events.