Arrival

After over a half a day of travel, we arrived in Sofia.  It was a hazy day, but it was still an impressive sight.  Looking through the city skyline and its mix of old communist bloc apartments and cranes steadily making improvements to the city, all the man made structures are overshadowed by the massive mountains surrounding the city.  It is like there is a wall of rock holding up the sky.  God's creation once again far outstrips humanities.

Our arrival in Bulgaria came with a bit of a surprise.  For those of you who have followed our ministry over the years, you would probably have been surprised if there was no surprise.  This time, our little glitch turned out to be an obvious blessing.

As we approached the baggage claim after clearing customs (thanks again for praying for the visa by the way), Sasha asked me, "How are we going to get all our baggage out to the van.  In Minneapolis we had my massively strong brother and Dad to help move boxes around, but now it was just me (also massively strong), my lovely wife (strong in character, but not in muscle), and my three strong willed kids.  God had already taken care not only of the transport of our baggage to the curb, but all the way to our temporary home in Kostenetz.  How did He do this you ask?  By keeping 9 of our 10 checked bags in Paris.  It is unfortunate that we don't have our stuff.  I am missing having a change of clothes for one thing, but in the next day or two it should all be hand delivered all the way to our door by the airline.

Praise God for his provision.  This was seriously a great blessing.

Our arrival in Kostenetz was joyful.  Sasha's Dad greeted me with a warm "Welcome Bulgarian!  You are a Bulgarian now!"  It is nice to be accepted by my family here as a fellow countryman.

Well, it has been a long trip, and I'm ready to catch some z's.  Good night.