February 5th, 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you so much for your prayers and emails while I have been on my Macedonian Adventure. As you know, I came to Macedonia last Sunday to renew my visa for Bulgaria. When I went to the Bulgarian Consulate in Skopje, Macedonia (the closest one to Lovech, Bulgaria) on Monday, I was told that I could not return to Bulgaria until I got my type D visa, and that it would be 30 to 40 days. I took an interpretter back the next day to make sure that we understood each other correctly. That time they told me that it would be 20 to 25 days before I could return to Bulgaria. This was a problem since I had only packed for four days, but packed a few more items in case it took a couple of more days. I packed a carry-on bag, but now it has to last me for a month!
From Sunday until Tuesday, I was hosted by Evangelical Church in Skopje.
While there I met many national leaders, and felt that it was a divine appointment. On Tuesday night I stayed in a hotel so that I would have telephone access, and could make plans for the rest of my time outside of Bulgaria.
Wednesday I came to Gevgeliya, which was good anyway, because I had wanted to come here anyway while on this trip. My time here has been absolutely wonderful! I am so excited that we have a VBS team coming to this city in June. They are ripe for it! I have stayed with Pastor Zoran Kolev, his wife, Hilda, and their children, Anna and Milen. They have made me feel so much at home, and part of the family. I have also had much opportunity for ministry here.
On Thursday, I did the Kid's Bible Club Night. They also told me that they were going to distribute the Christmas gift boxes to the children from Samaritan's Purse that night. (It is normally this late, because of all the problems with the custom's officials when they try to bring them into the
country.) Since they were receiving gifts from Samaritan's Purse, I decided to teach on the Good Samaritan. (It was their biggest turn-out ever, and the children didn't know that I or the gifts were going to be there.) First we talked about neighbors...who they were, what they were, and what the children's concepts of who neighbors were. Then I went on to share the story of the lawyer who asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" and that his motivation was probably to find out who he didn't have to love as himself instead of who he had the opportunity to love as himself. Then I told the story of the Good Samaritan. The kids really seemed to get it. Then I had made up a relay race. We divided into three teams. One child laid on the ground as if he had been beaten and robbed. A priest and then a Levite had to run around him in turn, and back to the starting point. Then the Samaritan and his donkey (I told you that there were more kids than we
expected!) had to run to the poor victim, wrap him up with bandages (toilet paper), and drag him back to the starting point. Then they had to run to me to give me 2 Denarii to take care of him. (Macedonian money happens to be Denari, so there is a 2 Denari coin. When I told them that the good Samaritan gave the inn-keeper 2 Denarii, they said, "That is such a little
bit!") Anyway the first team to the finish line won. They had so much fun!
Then they got the gifts from the Samaritan's Purse. The pastor told me later that the kids were asking if Checho Marty (Uncle Marty) was coming back next year to bring more presents!
On Friday, I went to a village on the Greek border to minister to a home group there where they are hoping to plant a church. They meet in the home of a couple. The wife, Troyanka, is completely blind, and her husband, Troyko, has only 30% of his sight, but they have such joy. Troyanka is going to Russia in March to see if she can get retina transplants. They are not sure that she is a good candidate, but since becoming a Christian about a year ago, she is believing that she will see again after 24 years of total blindness. I know that God can heal her. We have prayed for her, and we leave the results to God. Pray with us that God will do a miracle in her life and eyes.
On Saturday, I cooked a big spaghetti and meatball dinner. They (and I) really enjoyed it. They had never had Italian meatballs before. We will have it again today for lunch. (Lunch here is served at 4 PM, and supper at around 8 or 9 PM!) It was a nice day. Unfortunately, Milen had a virus, but he is better today!
Today, Sunday, I preached at the church, and we had a wonderful altar service at the end. Now they are having doing their bible college lessons that are done by DVD through Vision School out of America. On Tuesday, I will go to Skopje to catch an airplane to Budapest. I will fly back on Feb.
21. Hopefully by then my visa will be ready. (I am believing for the 20 days instead of the 25.)
I know that God has everything in control. As I mentioned in my last update, I am going to get to see some friends of mine in Hungary. God seems to have us all converging on the city of Debrecen at the same time! It is so neat to see God organize things. The last time this group was together was on New Year's Eve, 2003. I am so glad to get to be with them again! I am sure that God has wonderful things in store.
In Bulgaria things are still moving ahead at a fast pace! We are having to buy another gas burner, and a nine gallon pot to cook the soup in! We will have nearly forty eating this week. (We started off at the first of January with around ten!) We expect wonderful things to continue to happen!
The YWAM team has arrived from Romania, and they are doing well. They are helping in the soup kitchen, in different church activities, and helping to clean the homes of the sick and elderly that we are feeding.
I have a couple of urgent prayer requests.
1) I have mentioned the young mother, Sylvana, before. She is having so much trouble getting food for her baby, and she is leaning more and more toward giving her baby up for adoption. This is sad, because she was given up as a baby. It is almost impossible for a baby to make it to a home--especially if it is a gypsy baby. As far as I know, private adoptions are illegal in Bulgaria. I am going to talk to our lawyer again. I have a good lead on a prospective family in America that told me that they were looking to adopt internationally. I am going to see if there is any way possible that we can facilitate that. Until then we will do what we can to make sure that the baby is fed. If you would like to help sponsor this baby girl (I don't know her name, but she is 3 months old) you can send a donation to us, and we will make sure that it goes to her needs.
2) There is a wonderful Christian lady, Lindy, that works for my mother. She developed pancratitis, and tried to resist it. She didn't get medical help in time, and she has been in the ICU for several days. Her sister told my mother that they didn't expect her to live through the weekend. She has a teenaged daughter, and a nine year old son. Their father died a couple of years ago. Please pray that the Lord will heal her, and raise her up so that she can raise her children to the glory of God.
I appreciate all of your prayers and financial support. If you would like to send a tax-exempt-donation to support our work, you can make your check or money order to Obedient Life Ministries, and mail it to P.O. Box 267, Clarion, PA 16214. If you want to make a donation by credit card, you can do so from our secure PayPal link found on our website at www.obedientlife.org. Thank you for your faithfulness.
Be blessed in Jesus' Name,
Martin Sutton