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From
Our Team in the Field
Vanya
and Christos with Dino Roussos (from Greece). Shawn worked with
all of them in Athens.
Dear friends, elders, brothers and sisters in
the Lord,
Greetings from the Church of Christ in Sofia, Bulgaria and from
Hristo and Vania Arnaudov, servants of the Lord!
With the summer officially arriving in Sofia the weather has
become sunny, warm and pleasant. Though it rains often, it refreshes
the air and provides a nice breeze. The best part is that such
weather allows for outside activities and opportunities for
us to meet and share the Gospel with our fellow citizens.
On June 20, Vania organized a women's seminar on the subject,
"The power of forgiveness" according to the words
of Jesus in His prayer in Matthew 6:12, "… forgive our
sins as we forgive others..." This topic fits very well
the times we are living in and draws lots of interest. It sparked
discussions among the people not only during the seminar but
in the days that followed. It seems harder and harder for people
to forgive nowadays. Forgiveness requires an inner spiritual
strength, humble spirit and obedience - all of which are often
missing from people's lives, even those of Christians. We must
continue to pray that the Holy Spirit of God will give us the
strength that is needed to fulfill Jesus' commands. Starting
in September, we plan to have such seminars more often and invite
not only our church members, but people from outside.
Our prayer for Bulgaria and in particular for our church congregation
is that more young people would come to know the Lord and accept
a life of obedience to Him; young people who would actively
share their faith with their friends and peers anywhere they
go. In the last few months, we had four such young people join
our church family and who also have the wonderful talent to
praise the Lord with their voices. Together, we have organized
a small group of praise and worship and actively practice to
learn more of the new songs that have come our way from the
American songbooks. Many of these songs are still in need of
translation before we can use them during worship. Our hope
is that more young people will be attracted and touched by the
sound and words of these songs. With the help of our translators
Vania and Raicho and the vocal talents of Emi, Todor, Dani and
Yanko, we will continue to work on this effort.
A great joy and the answer of our longtime prayers was the visit
of a wonderful Christian group from Arkansas. The group was
here between June 24 and July 7, led by brother Rick Odell assisted
by Brian Robbins, Cyndi Glidewell, Colleen Frost and Shanna
Davis. There were 11 young people with them who spent part of
their summer helping our small congregation in Sofia. For two
weeks we had a blessed time of fellowship with these brothers
and sisters and were able to see in practice the ways in which
they reach out to others and share their faith with the Bulgarian
people. We took them to all the different parks in Sofia where
young people often meet. On one of the Saturdays we took the
group up to Vitosha Mountain where we visited the Dendrarium
and Opheliite - locations with lots of greenery on the lawns
and other natural vegetation. We took them to the TV tower that
is on top of the mountain with its huge terrace from which you
can see the panoramic Sofia. The whole day these young people
sang praises to the Lord, played ball games, tennis and other
in which they invited Bulgarian young people who were in the
area to play with them. Our three and a half-year-old grandson
who was here as well, was very happy to be able to play with
them. We had a picnic together with sandwiches we made at home
with the help of our son and daughter-in-law who came from Burgas
for part of the time the group was here.
During the group's visit, we had two worship services together
where the young people were actively involved in the prayers,
praise and breaking of the bread. Brother Rick preached on Acts
2:42-47 and all attendees were very touched by the songs and
the sermons. We were very happy to have six new young Bulgarian
people attend the worship on invitation from the visiting group.
At the end of the service, we had wonderful fellowship together
with snacks and refreshments during which time the group sang
a few more songs in praise for the Lord.
On July 4, America's Independence Day, our Bulgarian praise
team greeted our guests from Arkansas with a few songs for the
holiday.
Together we spent a day in the Sofia center visiting the administrative
buildings, the churches and temples of various religions, and
some historic sites at the National Historic Museum. We finished
the day by gathering at our home and sharing some Bulgarian
food which to our surprise was very well liked by our guests.
We continued to praise our Lord with songs and hymns at our
home, both in Bulgarian and in English language. This was an
amazing time and fellowship which we will always remember.
Prior to their visit to Bulgaria the group had also expressed
a desire to visit an orphanage in the city of Vidin. One of
the girls in the group, Emily, had been adopted by Cyndi and
her husband from this orphanage years ago. We contacted the
orphanage and arranged for a day when the group can visit. While
there, everyone in the group spent precious time with the children
and the staff at the orphanage home.
Emily along with some of her friends from the group, as well
as, Cyndi, had expressed interest in Bulgaria and we would be
very glad if they decide to come visit us and the church again
and help with the work here in Sofia. We pray that God will
continue to work and touch more and more young hearts that will
be willing and able to devote time to the missionary work in
Bulgaria. In the meantime, we will be working hard to put in
practice some of the ideas brother Rick and others from the
group shared as effective methods to use in our efforts to bring
the young people of Bulgaria to the Lord. This is our hardest
challenge because of the atheistic "heritage" of our
country.
Dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to continue to lift us
in your prayers to the Lord, and more specifically, pray for
the new souls that show interest in knowing more about God and
Jesus. May they be saved and devote their lives to the Lord!
We are also praying to God to provide for a place for us to
call our own as a congregation - a place where we can have more
worship services than once a week, have more seminars and Bible
classes, Sunday school for the children and any other events.
This is very important for the church in Sofia and we hope that
God will make a way where there seems to be no way.
We thank God for all of you who encourage and support our ministry
spiritually and financially!
We bless you in the name of the Lord!
The photo material follows.
http://picasaweb.google.bg/lh/sredir?uname=christoarnaudov&target=ALBUM&id=5497900576376744529&authkey=Gv1sRgCLeY9NXHmJPB0wE&feat=email
In God's Grace,
Hristo & Vania Arnaudov
1618 Sofia, Bulgaria
P.O.Box 333
jchristar@hotmail.com
Church of Christ in Sofia, Bulgaria-25 July'10
In His Grace,
Hristo & Vania Arnaudov
servants of the Lord
jchristar@hotmail.com
1618 Sofia, Bulgaria
P.O.Box 333
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