June 29, 2007
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Recent Travels
Here’s a photo journal from my recent trip to Bulgaria for
lay evangelism training. Because our
programs in Bulgaria were to
be held on two weekends, the week between was spent in Turkey doing a
self-guided study tour of the seven churches.
Although we only intended to see two of them, we ended up visiting all
seven sites! It was such a blessing.Thanks to the generosity of a friend my parents and sister
Amy were able to go along to help with the training and go along with us on the
study tour. It was such a
blessing!! I have always dreamed of
going to Turkey
to the seven churches, but it never seemed that likely to happen. The five of us – my parents, Amy, Leasa
Hodges (ASI), and myself had a wonderful time.On the way back it was much cheaper for us to travel through
Greece (the train from Sophia to Thessaloniki was about US$40) than to fly back
from Sophia, so we took a couple of extra days to see Thessalonica, Kavala
(Neapolis), Philippi, Amphipolis, and Athens.I hope you enjoy the pictures! The most amazing thing now that I look back is that we did it all in just two weeks.
BULGARIA
The main purpose of our trip was equipping lay members to do
personal (and small-scale public) evangelism using the New Beginnings DVD
studies. We trained the members and
equipped them with a player, the New Beginnings disc, and a printed book of the
25 New Beginnings sermons. Altogether we
trained about 400 members.
Our first weekend was in Kyustendil, a city southeast of
Sophia and very near the border of Macedonia. Here is a large Gypsy community which has
been transformed by the power of the gospel and the Adventist message. In the past five years the Adventist Gypsy
population has grown from around five to around 3,000. In Kyustendil Gypsies were gathered from
around the country.The Gypsies are still very much discriminated against (even
within the Church) and lack the basic human rights and many services that we
take for granted.
Each of us had parts of the training which we
presented. Here I am giving an overview
on preaching evangelistic sermons.
Here’s my Mom.
Leasa
Hodges.
My wonderful sister Amy.
The next weekend we trained in one of the main churches in
Sophia. Here are the members after they
received their equipment and training.
I confess. I fell in love in Bulgaria. The Gypsy
children completely stole my heart. This little boy had a shirt full of
cherries.
Please join me in praying for the members who are now
working to win their friends and associates to Jesus and His end-time message.
Comments (6)
Awesome pictures, especially of the kids! They are adorable.
the kids are SOOOO ADORABLE!!
and yea, that is amazing you did all this in two weeks. but you know ur good at power tours!! =D
Hey ~ it was so nice to see you and your family again. I loved the pictures from your Grecian trips. It looked very much like Israel. I’m glad you all were able to go and visit all those sacred historic sites. I enjoyed reading all your captions. And the kids were adorable. I can’t wait to work at the hospital. I’m leaving Monday morning for Santa Monica. I’m driving all the way myself!! I’m so scared. I have this little U-Haul trailer and stuff… Pray for me? I miss you. Please visit me in LA when you can. A big hug full of love to you, Amy, Dr. & Mrs. Clark. Ciao ~ jOhN
I have never seen a larger collection of pictures on xanga. but i’ve always wanted to go to greece and the photos were super, man.
Ooo that is SOOOO kool!!… when i went to romania… i was walking down the street w/ another girl… and these two little gypsy boys came running up to me.. and was begging for money.. then food… and i just bought a big bag of cherries… so i asked them if they wanted some… so they put thier little hands in the bag and pulled out a big handle full of cherries… and it totaly took my heart away and i felt Sooooooooo bad for them!!.. so i gave them the whole bag and they were soooo excited….. theres nothing like helping someone else .. will make a person happier than anything else…
Man, you must have an awesome camera!!! The pictures look so professional. I guess you’ve had enough experience taking pictures. Your family looks good. My parents always talk about how good your mother is to them. They love it at OHA. I’m happy for them.
Good to see you still diligently working for the Lord. I wonder how many stars will be on your crown. You probably won’t be able to wear it because of the weight.
Well, live life to its fullest, Chester!