Well, our trip to Bulgaria has turned out to be quite different than we were expecting. After we got here we found out that we were leaving for Istanbul on Sunday (rather than Tuesday) and that our trip thru Greece would be more extensive than previously indicated. But more on that later.

Jim’s class has gone very well. The students were all very diligent and really enjoyed the class. Some of them travel quite a distance to the college so on the first day they all decided to go 8 hours a day per class and just go for 5 days instead of 6. So they all put their noses to the grindstone and got through the material in a more intensive way than planned. Jim was exhausted each day by the time 5:00 came around. He would take a rest for a couple of hours then we would go to dinner with some friends from the college.

On Wednesday this week as Jim was taking his rest after class, Kay opened her email to check it for the day. There was an email from her Mom in Texas bearing the devastating news that Kelsey, Kay’s 16 yr old niece had been killed in an auto accident. She had died just 3 hours before we got the email. Needless to say, Jim did not get his rest. He set up Skype on the computer and we called family and emailed our sons with the news of their cousin. We were interrupted when some friends from the College arrived to take us to dinner. The next two hours were utterly surreal. We were out with friends at a restaurant halfway around the world from home. Getting to know them better, while the same time, somewhere living in this twilight zone of unreality, our hearts were in Texas with Kay’s brother and his family.

The next day Kay shared with Jim’s Bulgarian class what had happened, they all gathered around Kay, put their hands on her and with tears streaming down their faces poured their hearts out to God for her brother and his whole family. Even though we could not understand a word they were praying, we could understand their hearts and the Father they were praying to.

Kay had been studying Psalm 23 all week, preparing a devotional for a young mothers group on Saturday. How just like our Father to minister to our own hearts before we minister to others! She had a wonderful time with 9 young mothers this morning, talking and sharing about families and learning from Psalm 23 what a wonderful Shepherd we have that comforts, gently corrects and provides for us, and how we can then pass that on to our children. The hostess of the group pulled out a beautiful hand tooled leather Bible and told me the story that it had been in her family for several generations. Her father and grandfather had hidden it during the communist domination, and had to be very careful about pulling it out to read. Now they are so thankful that they can read it freely. It is a treasure for their family.

Tomorrow we leave for Istanbul and Greece. The college here decided to make full use of the trip (two friends from the college are going with us, to guide and drive). They will be doing some videography for a promotional project for the college. We will be providing most of the funds for the trip, through your generous gifts. This will be a great help to the college and will help them in their fund raising efforts. So once again, our plans give way to the better plans of our Father!!

Thank you all again for your prayers and your support of God’s work in Bulgaria.

Jim & Kay