Sabbath

Today is sabbath day, after a crazy week we rewarded ourselves with sleeping in until 11, or 1 if you're Todd, eating pancakes for breakfast and later today we are going to see a movie with the Sunbergs.

Where to start? The adventure began with two awesome days on campus where we were able to learn SO much and have fun as a group. It was really great, Kathy could'nt have done better!  I think probably my favorite part was the first activity that we did, we had a scavenger hunt with our teams and we had to stop at different places on campus to see people and get certain documents, the people we were getting these documents from where various characters, a nurse, a banker, social services, immigration, etc--mad props to Dorothee, Heather and Mike Jackson!!! Everyone who helped made it such a fun day!

Then we had a couple days of travel that went over fairly seamlessly, no missed flights (although we had a couple close calls) and in the end we all got our bags before we parted ways. When we got here we had a few days with everyone where we had some more cultural training but we were all pretty jet lagged so it was more like a time for us to rest and site see! As the groups started heading out to their sites for the summer the experience began to feel more and more real. However, even as I sit here in our home apartment for the  summer and i hear the Bulgarian music that is coming in my window from the celebration happening in the street I am still finding it hard to believe that God has blessed me with this amazing experience.

Yesterday we had the awesome chance to go to a celebration in the village of Vidrare where we dropped off the last team. The kids at the school put on a program that was in celebration of the Bulgarian alphabet and of their teachers! It was so cool to see some of the faces that we met last summer and to go back to the village that captured our hearts. After we left there we went to a small village a few hours away called Stubel, there we put on a short childrens program and played games, shared  meal and just learned about this small village. The people there welcomed us with open arms and those children taught me so much about the language! I think they really loved being able to teach us, they laughed at us quite  bit! We taught them how to play sharks and minnows and also duck duck goose, but we called it cotka cotka cuche, which is cat cat dog. They were so crazy!! We learned so much about every day lives there and the work that they do. One lady was home for a month but had to go back to Italy at the end of May because that is where she works, she went on to tell me that my skin is too white and i need to spend more time in the sun :) We will be visiting the village several times through out the summer and i am so happy for that. I am so excited to see how these relationships will grow and develop.

As i sit here reflecting on the time we have spent here so far i am SO excited for what the Lord is already doing and so humbled that he has called us to be used for his kingdom. I have so much to learn from the people here and i look forward to the friendships that are going to be built. Please continue to pray for us that we may constantly be learning and growing. Thank you all for keeping up with us!

Dana