November 8, 2018 – A few weeks ago we shared about the possible new law that would impact churches.  The latest word is that the legislature will be voting sometime next week.  This coming Sunday all the churches in Bulgaria are planning on a silent protest and prayer time on the parliament steps.  We have no idea what the law would mean except that it will not be good for evangelical churches – how we train pastors, receive contributions and even hold services. Please keep praying against this proposed law.

Here are a couple of news releases on it:

#1 Click here 

2 Click Here

3 Click Here

Additionally, we have a concern that we are involved with here in Bulgaria. When we first came to Bulgaria we need an invitation from an existing Church in order to come – the organization we worked through provided that by asking an existing church to invite us to come.  Now that we are a recognized church in Bulgaria we often do this for other missionaries coming.  One of the ones we are helping is a Young Life Missionary – but because someone in Bulgaria does not like him – they are filing complaints and because we are the supporting church we are being brought into the process.  – Pray for and about this matter that again God would intervene and it would work out for His Glory!

Diane and I about to begin a stateside time – pray for our safety in travel as we fly back this weekend (11-10) (More on our stateside plans next week!

November 2, 2018 – this week we are in Spain for meetings with European Leaders of the movement we are in.   We are meeting to strategize and develop programs to reach more people for a couple of days as a European Team, then we will be participating in the annual Spanish Churches event followed by a retreat time for the just the missionaries.

It is always encouraging and uplifting to gather and hear what God is doing and how He is working.  We have folks from Hungary, Spain, Portugal, England, Belgium, USA, and a few other places.

Pray this week for the meetings and the programs we are working toward.

Pray also for us as we are in the final days of preparations for our stateside Sabbatical project – including the Holiday Store in Jackson Michigan.

Pray for Team Balkans as they continue the wort during our time stateside.   

October 25, 2018 – This month we have been hearing and reading about a new proposed law that would create very tight controls on all churches and basically make the Orthodox and Muslim Clergy employees of the state.  All donations to the church would have to go through the state and the training and ordaining of ministers would have to be done by state-authorized schools.

Read more about it here

The groups that are opposed to this that we are a part of have responded and all we can do now is pray!  - So we are asking all our prayer partners to pray that this bill which is to be voted on soon will not pass but be rejected.

Also, pray for us as we are in the final stages of preparations to be stateside and operate a test store this Holiday Season.

Financial update:

Our CPD – Country Budget has not been fully funded for the year and we are looking for funds to come to that budget. Click here to give to CPD

Additionally, our personal support is lagging a bit from past years – several of our churches that have been supporting us have hit some hard times and have cut back our budget which could impact our bottom line.   Click here to give to our MSA

If God leads you to help with either of these needs it would be greatly appreciated.

October 18, 2018 – This past Sunday we were at Hope Church in Lancaster, England. This church has partnered with us for many years and sent teams over, the most recent came this past April.  They have become very interested in the St John’s Home.

Several from the church are part of a “Netball Team” (A Europe version of Basketball) – they were sharing with their team about the Girl’s home and proposed that they try and raise some funds to buy a "Wardrobe" for one of the bedrooms. The team talked and asked if they could sponsor an entire room (that would be 1100 Pounds - $1400 or 2500 lev)... Well, this past Sunday the team attended church (some of the team for the first time) and presented us with the total of their fundraising for the furnishing of the St John’s Home – and it was 2412 Pounds! More than enough for 2 of the bedrooms and more!

Additionally, Hope Church has several recovery type groups and one of them called Adullam (a ladies group) also heard of the Girls home and they wanted to help and provide hope for the girls who would eventually use the home.  They do crafts as part of their group's activities and so they decided to hand make dolls for each of the first 10 girls who will be part of the home.  Each one is different with their own personalities.  Here we are pictured holding many of them!

These two presentations touched my heart!  They all gave of their time and talents to help girls at risk – people they do not know but know the pain that they might encounter if someone does not do something. 

Team Bulgaria is so glad to have Partners like Hope church and the people who not only attend but also share what they hear and know with those beyond the church walls and engage them in ministry. (I was told that a couple of the ladies from Adullam were heard talking about the service and said they thought it was good and that they would most likely come back – these ladies had never come to church before)

God was working and ministering on so many levels this past Sunday, I am still brought to tears when I think about it.  God loves the folks and is using the needs of other to reach out to those who are not part of the family at the same time!  We serve an awesome God!

This week pray for…

…Hope Church in Lancaster UK and all the ways they touch the people in their community – pray God Blesses them as they bless others!

…Our church in Petrich as we have had some local visitors come recently – pray that we would find a way to connect them to our services.

… the locals who are using the building for Cultural Dance lessons and exercise.  Diane is part of this group that normally meets in a local school – it is being remodeled and so the group could not meet this fall – we offered our space and they jumped at the chance to use it.  Not sure where it will lead but we are praying and have 2 of our members who are part of the group!

October 11, 2018 – As we are working on more ways to develop economic support for the folks we serve an idea came to me – why not do some workshops where folks are brought together to help assemble/make a product to add to our store(s).  We do not need these made on a regular basis but doing for one day would provide us with the inventory we need for a season.  We pay a fair wage for their time and we get a product that once sold will allow us to reinvest the surplus funds in other projects.

This past Saturday we held our first Workshop with a group from our Krynitzi church.  The helped us be sanding, painting, cutting and the start of assembling home décor items for the Holidays.  They helped with a nativity set, a candle holder set, and a tree set.  It turned out to be pretty good (we learned a few things about how to be a bit better prepared) and we will be doing other projects with these and other folks in the future! 

These items will be shipped to the US for our Around the World Shop in Jackson, Michigan and online at Marketplacemanna.biz later this fall.

This week pray for:

• The start of our English Homework Club for the kids in Petrich.
• The ongoing details for the Jackson Store opening in November.
• The Virtual Christmas Gift Box Ministry – we have the names of more than 650 kids in our churches we plan to serve this Christmas season (click here to watch the video)

PS – If you are in the southern Michigan area and are crafty or like to make things and have some time on your hand we want to know as we have some idea we want to try while stateside for our economic sabbatical this winter.