Честита Коледа
(Chestita Kolehda, Happy Christmas)
We thank God that in the last few weeks we have been able to set up some work with Roma (gypsy) children, orphans and an elderly peoples home here in Shumen.
These are some of the children with their teacher Mrs Petrova
The social kitchen is feeding 130 people a day, 28 of these are Roma children from a school near by. They come Monday to Friday, some have no food over the weekend and others only have bread. They are a lively bunch, as a result of them coming into the centre, we have been invited to go into the school each Friday morning. In Europe there are 8 million Roma people, approximately 600,000 live in Bulgaria. The Roma people have worsening living conditions and have little prospect of employment, they suffer from discrimination and harassment. We are really pleased to have an opportunity to spend time with the Roma people, as it had seemed unlikely to begin with.
In the last few weeks we have also made contact with an elderly people's home. There are 150 people living in the home, the old ladies like to talk, fast! whilst the grumpy old men complain because they cannot hear the TV!!
Training News; Sam is learning how to make some Bulgarian dishes, whilst Pete had his first Bulgarian driving 'lesson'!
'Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ'. Ephesians 5:20.
Visitors; Pete's Mum and Dad had a holiday in Bulgaria during October. We had a good time with them in Shumen for 3 days. Colin Ride (European Secretary, Methodist Church) came out in November to meet with us, the minister and Bedros Altunian the Superintendent of Bulgaria.
We've had 2 earthquakes, the epicentre was in Romania and they measured 4 & 5 on the Richter scale.
We are pleased to report that we have set up a link with the 'Detalina' (Bulgarian for Clover) Orphanage in Shumen. The children are aged between 7-18 years old and there are 75 in total. The activities with the children take place on two Saturday mornings each month. Pete also meets the teenage orphans to play football. Most of the children in the orphanage have parents but are living there due to lack of money in the family or if the parents have left Bulgaria to find work elsewhere.
It is good news that we have managed to make progress with these ex-communist institutions. We've found that we have to tread carefully, the director from the orphanage was very firm in saying 'Come into the orphanage, but only if its without religion!' It's quite strange and frustrating to find out that the Methodist Church is regarded by a lot of people here as a 'sect'.
We took 4 of our teenagers from the church young peoples group to Ruse for the weekend. Ruse is a city in North Bulgaria. We stayed at the Methodist Church there with their young people. On the Saturday we played games, looked around the city centre and we also went to see the River Danube. A 'what type of person am I?' presentation formed the 'God Slot'. Pete preached on the Sunday with the help of a translator, but he did manage, only just, to do a prayer in Bulgarian. They all seemed to enjoy it and very little sleep was had! As a result of this weekend the Minister from Ruse wants to bring the Ruse teenagers to Shumen for a weekend in January.
On 17th September Bulgaria celebrates its elderly people, we helped the kitchen to fund cakes, here is Baba (Grandma) Hintos enjoying hers.
Please give thanks for
the small steps we feel have made
the teachers at Ivan Vasov school.
Please pray for
the Shumen Church family
the outreach work we are trying to do.
We wish you all Happiness and Peace this Christmas.
Pete & Sam Taylor
Shumen
BULGARIA