Access

The world is getting smaller. There are three McDonald’s and a Starbucks in tiny, post-cold war, formerly communist Bulgaria, half a world away from their American roots.  We passed one of the McDonald’s on our way from the Sofia airport to the town of Pernik where the Service Project is being held.  If people in Sofia want a nice dinner out on the town, they go to McDonald’s (open 24 hours a day). Most of the buildings I’ve seen in Bulgaria are crumbling; poverty is everywhere, their hospitals and schools are sub-par, but one can get a caramel macchiato at Starbucks.

It’s a funny world we live in, isn’t it?  A world of irony and oxymoron’s and unfairness.  The people of Bulgaria have access to a Big Mac but not proper health care. Teenagers in America have access to the best coaches, the best computers, the best malls, the best clothes and yet many have limited access to their parents. They are often unreachable because they work too much or they’re distracted too often by their phones or their tv’s.

This week in Bulgaria, the kids who came on the service project have access to the entire world. They go to excellent schools in England, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany. Their parents run oil companies and international conglomerates and foreign Embassies. There is no doubt they will attend college and go on amazing vacations; they’ll see more of the world than most of us ever will, and if their health is at risk, they’ll go to the best doctors and hospitals. 

 A little Young Life fun around the town of Pernik yesterday!

We were a tourist attraction, too.

Program team selfie

Yet none of this access matters when compared to eternity. It’s our access to the King of kings that really matters.  The older I get, the more responsibility, the more money, the more notoriety I receive, I can’t help but hear the echo of this truth ring through these empty accomplishments. Each of them has an end. God’s kingdom has no end.

So a team of about 40 people has worked for many months before and for many hours since last Wednesday to put together a Service Project in Bulgaria so that we could tell these world-rich teenagers that it’s better to be poor in spirit so that you can inherit the rich kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3). Instead of piling up accomplishments and treasures on earth that fade and diminish, it’s best to pile up treasures in heaven that never end.

The best way we know how to share this “access” to God’s kingdom is to tell them about the One who is the access- JESUS.  He is the gate and the door who beckons us to come to the Father, the bread of life who sustains every need, the vine who gives life & growth, the Shepherd who guides and protects, the resurrection & the life who conquer death; He is our comfort, our peace, our everything. It is in Jesus that ALL things hold together. The world is not held together by Ambassadors or billionaires or geniuses but by the perfect Son of God who gives us access to a Kingdom lined with streets of gold and a river of life, one with no tears and no pain but with the glorious wellspring of everlasting joy.

Thanks for reading these thoughts & for caring about my time here in Bulgaria. It's been fun and hard work to pull off a week of YL camp NOT at a YL camp. But I've loved it! I've met and worked with some incredible people- so loving and selfless. As you remember, please pray for the kids & leaders and for our assigned team. Pray for the speaker, Brooke Johnston. Please pray for the Bulgarians we meet, for the language barrier and all the hiccups that come with what we are trying to do (like this morning the water at the hotel just kind of ran out...). Most of all, please pray that Jesus would lifted up in our words & deeds and that kids would fall in love with Him!

Enjoy some pictures:

The view from my hotel room. The town is at the edge of the mountains in Bulgaria.

The assigned team eating dinner before camp starts.

Speaking of access, we can get Coke Zero here! (Still haven't seen Diet Coke or "Coke Light")

Madi helping out on one of the job sites with the kids

One of the schools where we are building a playground (the service project part of the week)... very "communist" looking around here

these types of apartments are all over Pernik. I've barely seen any houses. Just lots of cement and straight lines!

There is some beauty in this town- the snow-capped mountains off in a distance.

more service project work!

the kids eating dinner at the hotel... please pray for the students from Munich, London, Brussels, Kandern & Basel.

a close up of what most apartment buildings look like. 

sweet little boy I met at one of the schools

the main square in Pernik... can you say cement?

Very typical of apartments in Pernik

there's an old fortress that dates back to the 11th century, high on a hill in Pernik. The kids headed up there yesterday during their scavenger hunt!

part of the fortress... 11th century! and the Bulgarian flag

catapult from the middle ages

They use the same alphabet as the Russian language...the Cyrillic alphabet.

graffiti everywhere

a snail I saw yesterday... and it was moving at a snail's pace! Bulgarian wildlife :)

Little Pernik neighborhood

I love all the tile on the roofs of the older homes- before communism :)

so many cute little ladies tending to their little houses :)

Do you speak English?

One of the gorgeous sites in Vienna- inside Schonbrunn Palace!

   These few days in Austria (and Slovakia) have been fun and enjoyable. Right now I'm sitting at the airport in Vienna waiting for my flight to Sofia, Bulgaria where I'll be working for the next 10 days. 

    In the mean time, let me share a few adventures from the past few days: 

 There are some new & old friends with me here in Vienna- all make up the assigned team for the camp in Bulgaria. Namely- Madi Smith who is my program side kick and Kristin Farren who is a Wolfpack girl now in Colorado. The rest of the friends are new to me and work in YL camping in Colorado. 

We visited Schonbrunn Palace on Monday. Madi and I took the tour of the inside (pics below) and we all enjoyed a beautiful day around Vienna. The highlights were the delicious desserts. (I did try the Wiener Schnitzel but didn't love it... it's veal. I didn't know either) 

We also heard several musicians around the city - cellos, violins, accordions. It was nice to hear music in the city where music was born.

The Vienna Opera house! 

 
  
   Lots of horse-drawn carriages around Vienna! Enjoy more pictures at the bottom of the page. 

European Adventure Take 1

          Well, I’ve been in Vienna for a little over  two hours and so far it’s been memorable: I was the VERY last person off my plane; I caught (like a baby) an elderly woman who was in front of me on the escalator when she fell back on me; I had zero people in line in front of me at customs (read: everyone had already left because I was THE last person off the plane…. and they are really trustworthy in Austria. The customs lady looked at me and then my passport and then gave me a grunt to say you’re through). I’ve paid $65 for a cab ride and $7 for a latte and was a spectator at a marathon which included many children, people on rasor scooters, several men running barefoot (not those weird toe shoes, actually barefoot) MANY women and a few very secure men participating with walking sticks and long strides (read: Phil Dunphy) And a few seniors on bikes.

        Speaking of secure men, I've seen many men wearing headbands. Not just sweatbands but headbands. I can dig it. And a special treat was when I arrived at the hostel, there was a line of 50 or so Italian teenagers checking in before me and 10 or so of their European buddies blowing smoke in my face as I rolled my massive American suitcase on the sidewalk to be put in storage bc check in is at 2:00, and it wasn't even 11 yet. It’s currently 5 am in America. I want to go to sleep but I’m sitting at a café on a street in Vienna, watching a marathon, drinking coffee. OH and I just got weirdly yelled at by a man in German. He stopped at my table and put his face really close to my computer and yelled a kind of siren sound for about 10 seconds. I'm still a little freaked out.

       Other things I’ve seen a lot of so far: pigeons, small cars, the word Wien (I think that’s Vienna in German?), really long words that look fake and really funny English names for food and restaurants like Chicken Run and Kebap Pizza Palace. Also I’ve seen a lot of dogs and children and did I mention the people smoking? Oh and really annoyed people at the airport. (maybe I was looking in the mirror at that moment?)

       What I haven’t seen, on this Sunday morning, is anyone who seems like they are going to church or coming from church. I’m sure they are here somewhere. At least I hope they are. But I’m guessing like most of Europe, the Christ-followers and church-goers are dwindling. 

That’s ultimately why I’m here. I’m on my way to Bulgaria (with a few scenic days in Austria) to share Jesus with a bunch of Europeans through Young Life. I’m always excited for an adventure and a new place, but what I hope to report when my time is over, is that I saw many people come to a saving faith in Jesus.

So please pray for me (doing program, connecting with kids & leaders, helping break down walls) and the many friends from the States (who arrive to Vienna soon) and from all over Europe who will be serving together. Will you pray James 4:8 over the kids whom we will be serving... that they will draw near to God and that we will help them draw near. I cling to his promise that if we draw near to him, He will draw near to us.