December 18 Update

We've had a wonderful December so far.  There's not been much snow; we've been able to attend most of our village meetings.  In the last couple of weeks we've seen three good professions of faith in the name of Jesus.  

In my last update I wrote about a girl who had just started church.  That was supposed to be work that she just started.  She's been in church for several years.  When she entered the work place on the first day some of the unbelievers said, "Here comes the Christian".  Later that day, during their lunch break she took out a hymn book and sang them a song that apparently softened their hearts.  This week one of her co-workers came to church for the first time.  

It actually wasn't a real church service that she came to, but a church supper.  Over here, many times when people have a great blessing like surviving a car crash, or surgery etc. they will give a supper for their family and friends in the community to celebrate.  The Lord actually gave instructions for this type of meal:

 

"Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."

 

This practice is also carried out in the churches, with the difference being that now they give glory to God in the name of Jesus for his blessings.  This summer when the lady in our church regained her sight after being blind in one eye for six months, she made a supper and fed over fifty people in the village.  At that gathering we sang hymns and preached the gospel to several people that would not normally come to a church service.  Last week the pastor in the village made a supper.  The occasion was the completion of a meeting house for the church.  Alish is 72 years old and lives off of about three hundred dollars a month.  Yet, he was able to build a room on the end of his house for the church to meet.  He did the work himself and paid for all the materials himself.  The only thing he asked help for was the door and the window, which I was able to get for them.  Very quickly, the new meeting room for the church was full of people, and once they started singing, the spirit filled the room.  The unbelievers that attended heard good spirit-filled singing, many good testimonies of salvation, and at the end a sermon about the resurrection.  At the end, the meal, too, was excellent.  These community suppers have proven to be a tremendous opportunity for evangelism.

 

In the summer we had started a prayer meeting in Ruse, a town about a hundred miles away.  It's along drive, but we believed that if the Lord opened the door, we should go.  Now, after six months of weekly meetings we've had six good testimonies of salvation.  Four people have been baptized (some will wait until next summer to get baptized in the Danube river.)  Two people have given testimonies that the Lord answered our prayers in such a way that amazed the doctors.  The little group of believers is beginning to love the hymns.  We've seen a pattern among the new believers here.  First, they love to sing the hymns, later they love to pray, and as they mature in the Lord they love the Bible.  We thank God for each and every one that has given their heart to the Lord Jesus.  

 

Our daughter, Katy, has come to Bulgaria on her Christmas break.  She's been gone for a year and a half (but hasn't forgotten the language).  We're thankful for the time we have together.  

 

Pray for us. From Bulgaria,  Zachary LeFevre