Part of the benefit of having a property in a town or village is the outreach to the immediate community. This year in the few weeks we have spent at the house in Northern Bulgaria we have had a chance to meet quite a few of the village residents. I remember Andre, the local Contractor, and have met many on his work crew. We were able to give some work to Philip, the electrician, and met his son (also Philip). On village day, Philip Jr. was keen to hang out with a few of us with his friend as we watched the festivities.

Across the street is the shop, watched over by Ginka. In the spring the owner, probably feeling sympathy for us, brought us a gift of a blade sharpener for our scythe. "A small gift" he said. Usually a friend we have met many times, Rumiana works in the shop. Her husband Marin is the village plumber, and reads the water meters for the local water company.

On village day I took a look inside the dilapidated orthodox church - looked after in recent years by Teodora. She was pleased to chat and show us the building. When her husband died 5 years ago Teodora determined that she would take the church on as her project, including ringing the bells every day, rain or shine, at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. With an invitation to come and visit her home, and after being given her phone number I was on my way again.
Prayers go up all the time for the village. As I walked from the train station I would pray through the narrow lanes for the people in the houses. One day, before the team arrived, a friend brought two other friends, one of whom blew the Shofar in the centre of the village. We went and pronounced a blessing over the town as the trumpet of the Lord was sounded.

Each encounter is an opportunity to intercede for the village. We have friends there!

You don't have to be able to do the same as everyone else on the team to be part of the team. Everyone has their place. I firmly believe that everyone has a gift to bring. Not everyone who travels with us can sing or play an instrument. Not everyone has to be able to do "front line ministry" - such as praying and laying hands on people. Oh, wait.... most people do that. But you don't have to have experience. Training is provided. Just come to serve the church and reach the lost, and God will direct you.

On one trip, we had a wonderful friend travelling with us who came to intercede. She prayed all the way round! That alone is a vital part of ministry. Its worth the trip for that. But God had given Sharon a mission on the mission. Before leaving He had her buy a new bible to give to someone on the journey. She was convinced God had said there was a particular person, and that God would show her who it was to go to. We travelled a lot on that trip. Everywhere we went, Sharon asked the Lord, "Here?" "No." "This person?" "No!"

Eventually, of course, its time to leave. We got to the airport, the Bible still in hand. Had she heard wrong? Did she not hear when God had said, "Give it to this one" at one of our many stops? Jane and I decided that most likely we would have just picked someone and made sure we gave away that Bible before leaving. Through passport control and on to the plane. Sharon got a great blessing - it doesn't happen often; she was bumped to business class! Nice reward for her faithfulness. We were glad for her. On the journey home Sharon sat by a nice woman who chatted with her.  She began to talk about her spiritual hunger, and questions she had about God. Who he is. If he is. Then came the word: "Give her the Bible!" All that way. All those towns and people. Sometimes you gotta keep waiting for the right time....

One team trip was unusual in many ways, from before we left until we arrived home. This shouldn't be taken as an example of how we generally plan team trips. It definitely does not comply with standards that are suggested by missions organisations. A  couple of weeks before this trip, God had me ask the team members if they were willing to go and travel in Eastern Europe as described in the scripture. Its says, don't take extra money for the journey, or clothes etc. Just go and if they welcome you, accept the hospitality, if they don't just move on. Words to that effect.

You see, with two weeks before departure, we had raised enough money to get the team there, but not enough for transportation, accommodation, etc. and all the other expenses. It was a close knit team, and everyone agreed. We had no bus booked to take us from place to place, and did not know how we would get around the country. Didn't know exactly where we would stay, or exactly what day we would be moving on from one town to another. (Like I said, its not usually like this!)

After the team said, "Yes." the funds came in. Surprise. God always knows what He's doing! So in the next two weeks we were set and ready for our adventure. Two couples. A father and son.

We were invited to attend a conference for young leaders hosted by an International Mission organisation based in England. We were glad to be there and meet the people, but I began to wonder why. After three days of sitting in on seminars, and meals, and viewing the local spots of interest I was ready to move on! Then Jane and I were asked to join the leaders of the conference in praying commissioning prayer for the attendees on the last night of the conference. Would we? "Oh yes!!"

When the time came, the words of encouragement that were spoken to encourage the faith of the expectant delegates were enough to cause Jane to lean over and say, "I can't do this!" To which the only reply can be, "You're right. We can't do it."

We started to pray and speak words of encouragement and blessing over these young leaders-in-waiting at 8:15 p.m. This made the waiting worthwhile. It was one of those times when you'd say, "Just for this it was worth the trip." We have many times like that. I think every single person came up for Jane and I to pray for them. They laughed and cried, stood tall and fell over. For two years following we would meet people all over the country who said, "You prayed for me at....."

It was great. We didn't look up or stop 'til 2:15 a.m. The room was cleared out. A miracle just that Jane was able to stand for six hours straight to pray for people. Next morning we were on our way, but before bed, although we were tired, just time for one more cup of coffee at the Gradina down the street.

The Shepherd and his flock.

Everywhere you go in Romania and Bulgaria you'll see shepherds leading sheep or goats. Not just in the country. Its not unusual to see a flock of sheep gathered with a shepherd or two feeding on the grass by the side of a busy road. The shepherds don't keep them on a leash, but the sheep don't run away. They carry a stick, but I've never seen one beating any of the animals. Often they just stand there while the sheep graze.

Its a sight which, for us in Canada, is lost in the past. When the analogy was given everyone who heard it would understand the meaning. Jesus said, "I Am the Good shepherd.... Lay down my life for the sheep..... They hear my voice.... I go ahead. They  won't follow another."

We're not sheep. We're people. Its an analogy and there's a principle to be learned. About following and leading. Its interesting to see the reality in so many places!

In Sibiu, we had one of those "chance meetings" which was unquestionably a God set up.... On our first evening in town we ran into German prayer missionary Erika Klem, founder of the Sibiu House of Prayer. We readily agreed to come and join her for the next morning's prayer time, and were blessed to worship and pray in a picturesque 100 year old Lutheran church.

The worship was introduced by Erika playing a baroque piece on her tenor recorder. Managed to get a recording of it, which is not the greatest quality, but we think you'll like it:

God's presence was great as we stood together to pray for the nation - at least one person thought it might have been one of the highlights of the trip.

In the picture above, you can see the team, "post-prayer", and Erika talking to Gabi and Marchel.

Jane's "on the job" review....

About four or five days after leaving Canada, Jane sent out a prayer letter. Now that I read it the memories come right back of how we knew that God was with us, and why we need to go again. I'll include it here for you to have a look at. It details the agony and the ecstasy of mission!

Hi Guys,

Haven't had access to e-mail until now, so hope you get this ok. I guess you realized that we had to wait to take off last Thursday. The lightning and rain were incredible. I heard after that you even had a tornado touch down around Toronto. We were supposed to take off at 8 o'clock but it didn't happen until 10:30 so we were quite late getting in to Manchester. Nigel had been waiting a long time for us. It was supposed to take us about one and a half hours to get back to Halesowen, but there was a big music festival starting and the roads were packed and it took us six hours. We were so exhausted that we all flaked out at Wendy and Stephen's house for some sleep, had supper and went to the service at Long Lane Church.
It was a really good service and good to see friends there. Irene [John's Mom, age 92!] caught the bus from her house and got off only to have to walk a long way from The Oak pub to past The Stag*. She said she had forgotten how far it was. We all went to different houses to sleep. JM and Kim went to Irene's to spend some time with her. We were supposed to get everyone by 5 a.m. and leave for Manchester to fly on an 8 o'clock flight to London then to Bucharest, but of course that didn't happen, so we ended up driving to Heathrow and catching the plane there.
That was fine because it was one less flight.

Gabi picked us up at the airport and we headed off to a place called Draganesti-Olt to a Canadian ministry there. That ride took us six hours
instead of three. We got there late. Draganesti-Olt is called the devil's footstool by the people around the area. There is a lot of witchcraft (which is very evident. You can feel it and actually see stuff in the spirit quite clearly.) (It's wonderful to have a God that is so much bigger.)
There is a strong spirit of oppression against women which is reinforced by the culture there. But the ministry is wonderful and has such a big vision. We did pray a lot there and Michelle took us sight seeing to a Roman ruin (so boring - please tell P. Ace sooo sorry) We also got to pray for the pastors of a house church there and had a very good time with another couple in children's ministry. He was English married to a Romanian girl. Got to pray with them too.

When we left there we went to Deva which is a six hour drive that took eleven. As you can see the infastructure here is not really good for the
traveller. Met a couple there with another very big vision for unity and God's move in this city. What a nice couple. We got to pray with them too.
Everyone here is very loving and giving and hungry for the Lord to move in a very big way. Also everyone here keeps asking John if we can come for six months or so or move here and teach. He keeps telling them to ask my wife.

Now we are in Sibiu. Meeting up with old friends and we are going to the Sibiu house of prayer in the morning to stand with them in prayer for this country. Friday we leave for Bulgaria. Please pray about our travel arrangements as the van we are in is not in good shape so we are planning to catch the train.

Jean and Geneva are doing fantastic and the team is in tight unity. We have laughed a lot since we got here. It has been good. Please pray we keep that unity and grace for each other and for the travelling.

Miss you all. Jane

P.S. It's flippin hot here.

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* Very common to use pubs as landmarks in England!