A village, a film and the hope of Christ.....

Every weekend that we can, we pack our things and head to the village on Saturday. This Saturday was no different as we packed clothes and teaching materials for the weekend away, however this weekend had excitement in the air for it was the weekend we were showing the Jesus film in a new village. Several things were necessary to pack for this project and Cameron had already been hard at work making a large base to hold up the projector's screen.

Unfortunately we had searched all morning for our generator with no success. We needed to travel with it so that we could use it for the electricity but unfortunately it was missing. We assumed that perhaps it was stored at the church while we were in the States over the winter and decided to look for it there. Before we left the guys needed haircuts and I quickly trimmed them up. I opened the balcony door to sweep out the hair and accidentally forgot to shut it. Boots, the gray kitten went to explore and fell off of the balcony!

Yes, if you've read our blog you are familiar with our last cat, Snappy dying after falling off of the same balcony. We have since had a "no cats on the balcony" rule and I was crushed that I had so foolishly forgotten to close the door! We were scheduled to leave the city by 2 so that Cameron could hold a Bible study that evening with a group of guys in the village, but now I was rushing to the animal hospital at 1:30. The cat was alive but had bleeding in his chest and would need to stay at the clinic until x-rays showed he had stopped bleeding. This was not the way we wanted to start the weekend but we left Sofia with no generator, a hurt kitten and sad hearts.

The next day we had a great time worshipping with our friends in the village of Gulyantsi. One of the boys after church caught this amazing lizard and we all had fun taking pictures.

Even though we searched every corner of the church, we still could not locate our generator and only hoped that we could borrow someone's electricity in the new village. We drove to Pleven to purchase another long extension cable (also missing) and then made a pitstop at a gas station about 5 minutes away from the village. As we ate our snack, the large gray rain clouds approaching the village's skies began to push away our hope that the Jesus film could be shown that day. Cameron called our contact in the village and more disappointing news arrived that he wasn't even home. The man who had asked us to come and show the film was in Sofia and now with no generator, the approaching rain and no person of peace in the community we were left to consider rescheduling for another time. The rain began to fall as we passed the village but to our surprise there were large groups of kids in the fields despite the rain. We turned around and decided that if they were standing in the rain waiting for us then how could we not give it a try.

I have never experienced in Bulgaria large groups of children running behind the car and beside the car with cheers and excitement like we did that day. It was unexpected to see people coming out of their homes waving and smiling as we entered the community. Cameron rolled down the window and asked if our person of peace had arrived back from Sofia and they said yes! Supposedly someone was borrowing his phone when we called and did not realize he was home when they told us he was in Sofia. We are so grateful we turned around because we were unaware that so many had been waiting and expecting our arrival. All the excitement in the world could not stop the rain though and running an extension cord in the rain isn't the way we wanted to introduce people to Jesus :) But if you know Roma, you know they are quick to problem solve with materials they have laying around and before we knew it, tents were set up, blankets brought out, clothes pins were going up everywhere, benches were being set down and the Jesus film was ready to be shown!

Cameron and Stefcho (Stefcho is a Roma believer that desires to be a pastor one day. He travels with us most weekends and helps me with children's church and works beside Cameron with starting new groups) gave introductions and testimonies and then the film began. I sat down in the front on the ground and two little girls climbed into my lap. I silently prayed that the rain would stop and that hearts would be open to see God's love for them. As I was praying a finger poked me in the cheek and a woman who had sat down next to me whispered in my ear "You're a liar. You are a liar. You don't believe in God!" Shocked, I immediately assumed I had misunderstood her and whispered for her to repeat what she said. Again she poked my face and said in an evil sneer "You are a liar! You don't believe in God." She continued to poke my face with each question and accusation "Do you pray to Mary?" "Who do you believe Mary is?" "You don't believe in God." "You are a liar" "Do you believe in Mary?" Like I said, I had two little girls in my lap and the film had stared so I was trying to remain very calm but also trying to keep her hands off of my face. She became more and more aggressive with me and I could tell she was drunk. She grabbed my face like a parent grabs a child's face and squeezed my jaw and again began sneering, "you are a liar. You don't believe in God" Immediately I told her in the name of Jesus to not touch me again and yelled for Stefcho to come and talk to her. As you can imagine, it was a pretty big distraction from the film but praise God for Stefcho because he handled her so well and told her that she was welcome to come back next weekend to discus her beliefs but she had to be sober. She left and a little later a car came by revving their engine over and over until some in the group told them to leave. Afterwards the restaurant next to where we were watching the film turned up their music full blast and drowned out the movie. Some of the guys from the community went over and had the restaurant stop. It was clear from beginning to end that satan was at work but the rain couldn't stop it, a flying kitten who thought he was a bird couldn't stop it lol, the woman didn't stop it, the car didn't stop it, miscommunication didn't stop it, lost materials didn't stop it, restaurant music did't stop it, and at the end of the night Stefcho was surrounded by men wanting to know more and a guy who wanted to know how he could be a follower of Christ. As we packed up, the children sang a new song "Jesus rose from the grave! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen!" Even though the sky was dark in that little village as we drove away, a light was sparking in the hearts of men, one that the gates of hell will not prevail over!