Sunrise in Bulgaria–Photo Taken by Cherie

During much of last year Keith felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit to be open to the possibility of moving back to Bulgaria. I, on the other hand (for those of you who have followed our ministry over the years will get a kick out of this), did not! It wasn’t that I wasn’t open, it was more of a not understanding of what God was up to since we were helping to care for Keith’s dad. What would happen to him if we moved to Bulgaria? I could see God’s plans for us, but what about His plans for him? Oh me, of little faith!

I was blessed to attend the Mission’s Conference the first week of January where God truly spoke to my heart. During each session it was as if His still small voice was whispering to my heart: Let go. Trust Me. Then in the last session He shouted His will so clearly within my heart when the speaker quoted the verse which God gave us twelve years ago to open the Truth and Hope Foundation in Sofia—Revelation 3:8.

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.

I literally had to cover my mouth as I gasped out loud. I knew, that I knew, that I knew the plans God has for me and I would be faithful to walk in them.

And so it was, Keith and I began to make plans to follow God wherever He sends us even though we didn’t know how it would all work out. On the morning of January 15th we were excited to share with our pastor the wonderful news of our hopes of moving back to Bulgaria in 2013. We then went on to explain that although Keith had known we were to move for over a year I couldn’t figure out how to let go of his dad in my heart. I shared how God made it so clear to me at the Mission’s Conference to let go and trust Him therefore I was ready to follow God wherever He leads.

Pastor Joe then prayed with us to have peace concerning Keith’s dad because we know that God is a good God and that He would care for him in ways we couldn’t imagine.

How true we would see that prayer become in just a few short hours! See the previous blog (Everyday Ordained) for the amazing story.

When we posted that devotional in January we couldn’t write about our plans to move back to Bulgaria because we didn’t want our staff to read about this news on the Internet. Instead we wanted to surprise them! Well, the surprise took place on Saturday May 12th. Now that our staff at the Truth and Hope Foundation and many of our Bulgaria friends know we can now make the news public.

Can you keep us in your prayers? We will be in Bulgaria from May 10th to June 6th. We purposely didn’t schedule any retreats or seminars for this trip because instead we plan to scout out the land. We are not sure if God wants us to live is Sofia, the capital city where we lived previously, or to move to a village near the center of Bulgaria so that it will be easier to travel and minister throughout the whole country.

Next week (Monday May 21st through Sunday May 27th) we are hoping to travel around Bulgaria. The only problem, our van has been in the shop for repairs since before we even arrived in Bulgaria! And the latest news is that it won’t be fixed until Monday night (which we don’t really believe since this is the third date we have been given by the repair shop) so it looks like we might have to change our plans or incur the cost of renting a car for a week!

(You know what will happen don’t you? If we stay in Sofia hoping that the van will be fixed by Monday night we will keep hearing empty promises probably for at least a week. But if we rent a car and take off for a week it will be ready Monday night. Don’t you know it! So we need prayer for wisdom.)

If we do find a way to travel and we have access to the Internet we will try to post some photos so you can see the areas that we are praying about moving to. We are looking forward to what God has in store for us. Thanks for joining us on this adventure through your prayers. We really need them. We cannot do the work without you!

Still enjoying His grand adventure, Keith and Cherie