Bulgaria Romania Outreach!, 31 December, 2009

2 years ago

31 December, 2009

Well, it has been two weeks since our first glimpse of this country, all except for Tassha, who was here before, and I think we have settled in rather nicely. We have been working mostly with one gypsy church here in Sliven, with two wonderful couples. Radko (who picked us up in our cold, lost, and confused state that first day from the train station) and his wife Nevin, and Mitko and his wife Plummena make up the entire permanent YWAM staff here. We pray at the church with them, the pastor, and a few other people almost every morning, and we go to visit the homes of people who are sick and can’t make it to church. We’ve been doing a great deal of praying, which surprised some of us at first, but we have realized that the struggle here is mainly in the spiritual realm, and spiritual warfare is very important.

And we have seen results of our prayers, as well. First of all, we’ve prayed quite a bit about finances because we still need money, but so far, God has provided us with what we need, when we need it. And the cost of living here is much less than it is elsewhere in Europe, so we might end up needing less than we expected.

Another cool story of God working happened a few days before Christmas. A few of us went to a home to pray for an older women. She had some of her family there, including a boy, about 14 years old, sitting in a wheelchair. He had an infection in his eye, which was very swollen, and he could hardly see. After praying for the women, both Ian and Olof felt God specifically say to pray for the boy, so they placed their hands on him and prayed for his healing. Then they said good-bye and went home.

The next day, the church had a Christmas party/service/feast in the gypsy neighborhood and invited all of the neighborhood people to come. When the place started filling up, we noticed the boy in the wheelchair among those in the crowd. We also noticed something else: both of his eyes were completely healthy! The infection was gone, and nothing was wrong with his eye. God healed him!

God really showed us His power that night, and His love for His people. We’ve grown to love them too, and we have found some really good friends here who we won’t want to say good-bye to. But, in the words of one of them, “Hopefully your heavenly home will not be far away from mine.”

Thank you for your prayers!

-Cristia Johnson, student

p.s. We apologize for the infrequent updates; our internet access is a bit sporadic, and it is by Ian’s kindness that we may borrow his laptop. Thank you Ian!

31 December, 2009

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