I woke to my alarm at 5am, I said “goodbye” to the Lambanana* at Liverpool airport.

I hopped on a plane and arrived at София Airport in Sophia, Bulgaria in September. When I arrived I spent a week with the ECMers Kate and Andrew Blackwell in Sofia, then I travelled to Blagoevgrad. There I met Bill and Lisa from the Navigators as well as Radi and Ani.

Radi is a Bulgarian Roma with a passion for equipping the Roma to reach other Roma people with the gospel through discipleship and storytelling. As I spent more time with them I realised the challenges and the need there is for this in a language that doesn’t even have a word for discipleship.

Whilst I was there I spent some time with the American University Logos club (Christian union). It was encouraging to see the relationships Bill and Lisa have built in the university over their many years in Bulgaria. It was great to spend some time with the students who were all at different stages of their faith. I also met a local teacher named Сашо who heads up a youth group at the local church in Blagoevgrad. It was really encouraging to see the intercultural relationships that are being built and the unity between different organisations working together for the sake of sharing the good news of Jesus with others.

Although worldwide we may be in a pandemic, and travel and reaching those in Europe looks different at this time, throughout my time in Bulgaria one truth remained the same — God is the same yesterday today and forever."

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Please click here for more information on ECM's involvement in Bulgaria.