Back in Bulgaria

We arrived back to Bulgaria this week and have accomplished getting phones set back up, refrigerators re-stocked and bags unpacked. Next week we will head to the visa office and reapply for another year. Many people who read this blog were also directly involved in some aspect of our time stateside and each of you made our five months back home very enjoyable and relaxing. The boys loved their time in America but are also very happy to be home and sleeping in their room and their beds.

Even though we have enjoyed having this week to set up life again and get readjusted to our time zone, we are anxious to reconnect with people like Papa Isho who Micah and Jennifer used to visit weekly. We are excited to also return to the village we were working in prior to heading to the states. Tonight all of us were inspired by a story from Hudson Taylor. I was reading to the boys about one of Hudson Taylor's experiences while he travelled on a boat in China. He had just shared the story of Christ with a Chinese man. The man had many questions and told Hudson Taylor that he was not ready to make a decision but would come to listen to his preaching later in the village. As they continued sailing towards the village Hudson Taylor went to his cabin to collect his things but heard screams of concern from the deck above. When he returned to the deck, he was told that the Chinese man he had been talking to had fallen over board and could not swim. Hudson Taylor jumped into the water and began desperately searching for him without success. He saw fishermen close by and called for them to come and drop their nets to aid the search effort. The fishermen replied that they were busy fishing and it would cost too much valuable time to join the search. After much yelling back and forth, the fishermen were convinced to join the search if 14.00 dollars would be paid to them for their time. It took only one attempt to find the man when the nets were dropped but it was too late. Though Hudson Taylor tried to resuscitate him, the man was dead. Hudson Taylor paid the fishermen with great frustration and sadness and returned to his cabin in sorrow. He cried out to the Lord, "Those fishermen were guilty of a man's death. All because they were too busy fishing! They would not leave their fishing even to save a life!" "In the stillness, a new thought came to Hudson Taylor. Those Chinese fishermen were cruel and heartless. But how many Christians are no better? How many Christians have no time to go and tell others about Jesus? They will not try to save dying souls, because they are too busy with their own lives...too busy fishing!" The boys and us all looked at each other and talked about how easy it is to become "too busy" with our own lives,

but we must be active in telling a dying world about God's saving love. People can be fooled that a missionary is different from everyone else, but missionaries also struggle with not being consumed with worthless, time wasting events from day to day. We don't want to waste our lives living where God has called us and not being used to change a dying world. As we begin our activities next week, pray for us as we pray for you that we won't be "busy fishermen" too busy to save the lost at sea.