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A child from one of the
orphanages that we worked in coming up to the car to say hello
(click on any photo on page to enlarge). |
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Team from Towne
View Baptist Church in
Kennesaw, Georgia, Spring '07
The Towne
View Twelve had a great
ministry here this past week. It was the first team from this church to
come to Bulgaria on a BCI mission team. We hope it is only the beginning
of their involvement.
They arrived on Tuesday, the 29th, and traveled straight (yes, I know
that the mountain road is very curvy) to the town of Berkovitsa. They
began their work the next morning by visiting 6 classes at the public
school in the gypsy village of Rakovitsa. Many of the children in this
village do not attend school at all, and many others are very sporadic
in their attendance. The children were encouraged to continue their
education and to be serious about attending on a regular basis.
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At the Rakovitsa public school. |
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The volunteers were prepared to speak about the great state of
Georgia, bringing with them GA quarters, flags, stickers, etc., for each
child. The presentation included a short introduction to the state with
pictures, teaching of the song Georgia on my mind, presenting each
classroom with specially prepared calendars featuring sites in the
state, the teaching of a Bible verse, and presentation about special
churches in the state. Special emphasis was placed on the fact that our
currency has the words "In God we trust" printed on them. We were
able to present this same program to classes at the Health school one
morning. It was of great interest to students AND teachers.
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VBS at Berkovitsa IV |
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The daily afternoon schedule included work at both Berk 4 (home for
handicapped children and youth) and Berk 3 (home for school-age children
without parental care.) At Berk 4, some of the team worked with the
especially severely handicapped children providing sensory and therapy
activities. Hyacinth Crooks, a nurse practitioner; Teresa Denmark, a
sensory and speech therapist; Bobbie Bruce (grandmother/baby holder);
and Andrew Ridgway worked mostly with this group.
Other volunteers went from room to room telling a Bible story, doing
an ability-appropriate craft and a game. One of the stories was about
Zaccheus. The activity involved gluing a Zaccheus figure on a tree. We
were especially blessed when one of the more handicapped kids asked for
another figure to represent Jesus!
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Hanging out with children at
Berkovitsa III. |
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The children especially enjoyed role-playing and the acting out of
the story. There was one interesting twist when the child portraying
Jesus decided he did not care for the behavior of one of his disciples,
so he just leaned over and slugged him! Oh well, I guess we all fail in
our efforts to be Christ-like. Several team members took part in the
preparation and presentation of these stories and activities: Lorraine
Roote, Trey and Jennifer Lyon, Patti Lowe, Kim Dyson, Daniel and Melanie
Connell, and Taylor Jansen. Translators were Vasco Vacilev, Vladi
Raichinov, Yordanka Tesheva, and Denitsa Papratilova.
The team used the same stories and activities at Berk 3. There, however,
Patti Lowe and Stephanie worked with some of the older teenage girls in
a more intimate circle where the girls felt freer to talk and share
about their lives, hopes, and fears. The environment was totally
non-threatening. We made friendship bracelets, gave manicures and
braided hair as we talked!
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Playing basketball at Borovtsi.
The basketballs were donated by the team. |
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Organized outdoor activities were a great hit at this home with many
kids getting involved and working off some of that pent-up energy.
We took these same activities to the home in Borovtsi on Saturday
morning. The kids there were thrilled to get some one-on-one attention.
A highlight of the whole week was the celebration of the International
Day of the Child on June 1. The kids from Berk 4 had put together a
Sports Spectacular! They made all their outfits. They had sewn
black pants with a white sports stripe down the side. The fabric has
come on containers, and of course they used sewing machines purchased by
FBC, Cabot. They all wore t-shirts shipped from Cabot, also. They were
donated by a school that had them left over from a band tour! Some
of the older girls had made cheerleading costumes, complete with
pompoms and white headbands. They were soooo proud!
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Getting ready to march the
flag. |
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At any rate, the show consisted of a flag ceremony, gymnastics,
relays, bike-racing, and singing. It was terrific. I was so proud
of these kids. One of the high points was a gymnastic dance that had
Nellie (a 16-year-old that does not speak) waving flags while standing
on the knees of two of the boys. Yavor (8 yrs. old) and Stancho
(28) sang at the end. Though the team had nothing to do with the
preparation for this event, the members served a vital part by being a
very appreciative audience! The children really needed to show what they
could do, and our Georgians were more than happy to clap and cheer them
on.
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Gymnastics. |
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On Sunday morning the team served in the church in Rakovitsa. The
children from the community kept pouring in until we simply had to begin
turning them away due to lack of space. We had around 100 children there
for Bible stories, activities, and singing. Around twenty-five children
from Berk 4 came. We sent our vans to pick them up. All the children
sang two songs in the worship service, and then the kids from Berk 4
sang Jesus Loves Me, all 3 verses.
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Two children from Berkovitsa IV |
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Lorraine Roote introduced the Georgia team and they all sang "We Are
One in the Spirit". We were especially blessed by the sermon given by
Teo Angelov. He spoke to our hearts about real treasure. He so inspired
the orphanage worker that had accompanied the children that she asked to
address the congregation! After the service the ladies in the church had
prepared a special treat of many kinds of banitsa, a Bulgarian pastry
specialty. Unfortunately, we left there to go immediately to lunch!
Then it was on to Sofia for souvenir shopping outside in a downpour!
The team left early Monday morning, tired but happy. This was a
week of hugging and establishing relationships. The good-byes were very
difficult for the children and for the team members, but we are hoping
that this is merely the beginning of these friendships.
--Judy Ridgway |
