Missionaries Bulgaria Tim and Lydia Awtrey What’s in this hotdog? (Part 1)
So, what exactly does a missionary do? It was a simple enough question. We help start healthy church planting movements so people can hear about Jesus. Okay. But what do you do? Now, this was a hard question. The goal is clear, but the details are not so. Missionary work is a little like a hotdog. Everyone knows what a hotdog looks like, but we are all a little unclear as to what is exactly in a hotdog. So, I decided to let you take a look into a Bulgarian missionary hotdog. What exactly do we do? The only way to answer this question was to give you a glimpse into my week.
Sunday. I go to church a few hours early to turn on the heat then return home for my morning cup of coffee. After all, it is five below zero. At nine we meet for worship practice and prayer before the service. Perhaps another cup of coffee is also in order. At ten we kick off with worship, then discussion questions and a sermon. Don’t let your imagination run away from you. We are not in a large church building with hundreds of people. It is more like twenty in an old, storefront building with a very leaky roof. The Holy Spirit hasn’t fixed the leaky roof, but has brought new people to hear about Jesus. We had a new father and his daughter attend for the first time. It’s always amazing to see someone who is fifty years old and for the very first time in their life they are stepping in a church. Of course, he was a little reserved at first, but after service he seemed more relaxed as we all lingered after service drinking tea and coffee.
After church is over we continue the “unofficial” service at a coffee shop. Whoever has the time free goes out after church for a cup of coffee. If you are keeping count, yes, it is my third cup for the day. After two-three hours at church we spend another four hours catching up. People here do not have the money to go out to a restaurant after church so we sit around nursing our coffees while we get to hear what God is doing in each other’s lives and to encourage one another.
We get home around five and Lydia has some delicious lentil soup ready. I try to catch up on some emails while Alex is busy getting a workout playing Kung Fu Panda. I watch the news before bed. The headline is that 11 out of 14 bishops in the Orthodox Church have been found out to be working as secret agents for the Bulgarian KGB. That will be an interesting topic of conversation with my co-workers at school this week. Praying for the new family that attended church today. Good night all.