Report by John King.

The Light for Bulgaria team had another visit to South-West Bulgaria last month. The team, myself, Sue Gaynor, Pauline Morse and Norma Latham (both VLC) and a young guy from Porchester, Rob Rolf, spent 8 days visiting the residents of some of the villages that are situated in the mountains of the Pirin range. Yet again God continued to surprise us as we sought to share the gospel with people through personal testimonies, prayer and practical support providing food, clothing and small gifts.

Over the 8 days we spoke to many people all hungry to hear about God and the good news of salvation and there were a handful who repented and accepted Jesus.

One of the features of this trip was the amount of impromptu stops we made as our carefully prepared plan and detailed itinerary went out the window! On one occasion we stopped the minibus to talk with a group of elderly ladies sat on a roadside bench and ended up in a local coffee shop sharing the gospel with them and a group of young girls from a local care home who happened to be there. In another village one of the Bulgarian team members popped into see the mother of one of his best friends and we ended up, again, talking with a small group of villagers all keen to hear about Jesus! Over the 8 days we spoke to many people all hungry to hear about God and the good news of salvation and there were a handful who repented and accepted Jesus.

Although when first speaking with people they nearly all claim to be believers you soon discover that their knowledge of Jesus, salvation and eternal life is very limited. The background that has shaped these people is the dry religion of the local Orthodox Churches, with some of the villagers we prayed for trying to give us money as payment for our services, something they are used to doing when the local priest comes to visit. Another major problem is witchcraft. Rob and myself spoke with some farmers who, whilst believing in God, would not hesitate to call on a local women to come and perform spells on their sick animals to cure them...and it works! There is a lot of darkness for these people, but that is what makes it so exciting and rewarding when we explain more fully to them the truth about Jesus, his love for them and the amazing hope they can have in him!