Day 1: Sofia

It has been two years since we last came to Bulgaria, so we should not be surprised at how much things have changed. The main orphanage in Lom closed this year and all of the kids that we know have been split up and sent to live in different places.  Since we do not have an orphanage full of kids in which we could work, this year's trip has been very different so far. The other major change is that many of "our" kids have grown up! Today we saw eight of the kids from Lom who are now living in Sofia. We were very impressed with each of them and surprised at how well they are doing. Zoycho is 23. He has completed his first year of university. He has a part time job at a bakery and hopes to get a degree in social work. Naiden, Anatoly and Darine all have jobs and live on their own. Benny has completed a year of military school and has the rank of a sergeant. He has three more years of school. Misho and his sister, Krasa and another boy, Yannislav, are living in transitional housing for young people and working. They all seemed very happy and we enjoyed supper with them! We also saw Marinka in a town south of the city.  She has a newborn son, Christof.  We enjoyed meeting her boyfriend and seeing their new family. We are very grateful to have Emily and David Applegate from the U.K.! They have been great to drive us around this trip. Beth Watts, our other friend from the U.K., is also here! As always, God provided us with a wonderful friend and translator, Steffi! She will be guiding us around is week in our quest to see the kids. Our dear friend, Kris Angelov surprised us and came to greet us when we arrived. He also stopped by our supper. Kris is the reason we came to Bulgaria in the first place. He and his wife, Tedi, inspired us to share God's love with these children. We are grateful to God for allowing us so many opportunities to serve him and love these kids over the past ten years.

Jennifer

Aside from doing magic tricks, Zoycho also works at a bakery in Sofia

Karen and Benny

Group Dinner in Sofia 

Darine works at a local gas station

Marinka with her new baby and boyfriend