Spiders and Mistaken Identity

I arrived safely in Sofia, Bulgaria, a little before 2 pm (Bulgarian time) on Friday, July 18th. It was a long flight, but it was good. I also did not get lost or confused in Frankfurt's airport which was a huge answer to prayer. (I was quite nervous before the trip since I only had a little over an hour to find my next gate.) When I got to the airport, I got both of my bags and found my ride. Teanna Sunberg, three of her girls (Lexi, Sophia, and Jenna), and two other volunteers (Caleb and Joe) met me at the airport and helped put my bags in the car.

And so the adventure began...
We were driving through Sofia when Teanna realized she needed to pick up a few things. When we parked, I decided I wanted to walk with her because I had been sitting so long. Everyone else decided to join too. We went to the bank and then this marketplace that was made of several tables with different souveneirs and trinkets. After about an hour of being in Bulgaria, we headed back to the car... or at least where we had parked the car. All of us stopped and stared at the empty spot between several other cars. Teanna said, "I locked the doors," but I was just thinking all of my clothes and my computer were in there. I was also thinking I just got here, this can't be happening. There was a police car parked near us to Teanna went to talk to them. Eventually, one of the men came out and led Teanna to a road sign. She came back and said the spider had taken our car. It turns out she had parked where only officials or certain workers could park, so when the spider, or tow truck, spotted the unbelonging car, they towed us away. While Teanna went to retrieve the car, the rest of us went and got ice cream. But eventually, we were back on the road with all of my luggage still in the back. :)

Right now, I am in Koubrat which is about 45 minutes away from Razgrad. We are here working with a Work and Witness group from California. We are working on a church for this town. There are so many stories to tell especially about this family that I met today. This man has had diabetes for over 20 years, has recently lost his sight completely, and is also on dialysis. His wife became a believer, but he eventually also became a believer. While he is experiencing great hard times, he maintains his faith in God. He prays for healing in this life, but he also accepts the possibility of healing in the next. With my struggles of understanding and accepting God's love and presence within our lives, this family certainly inspires me.

I am sure to speak more about them and others, so before I end this blog, there is one more humorous story to tell. So, the Californian team arrived a day after me. I met them here in Koubrat. Now, when I'm in unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people I am more quiet than when in a familiar or even just around familiar people, so I haven't spoken a lot to the group as a group. Even still, I didn't really ever think of myself as looking like a Bulgaria, yet I have had 2 or 3 people ask me if I was from nearby or if I could tell them how something was pronounced. My answer is simply "I'm from Colorado" or "I only know English." We laugh, and then they ask me to tell a little about myself and that I have only been here a day longer than them. When I told Teanna, she thought it was pretty funny and said maybe it was also because of my dark hair. I don't know... maybe...