Bulgaria is Blooming

It is graduation time, and we are traveling once again around the country to hold fireside/ graduations for those branches that have youth and YSA who have completed the course. Varna had 2 Graduate with four years of Seminary attendance - Iva Kostova and Radi Hristov. Iva was our chairperson for our Youth Conference, with Radi helping. Their teacher, Sister Neli Mihalova is between Iva and me. She is serving in her home country as a missionary and doing a wonderful job. In Burgas we had 4 student, Gergana receivied her third year certificate with 100 %attendance. Andrei, an investagor, received his 1st year certificate and Acen, his first year certificate in Institute. Another investigator, Borislava, received a certificate of participation as she started in February to attend church

For those in America it is hard to comprehend how difficult it is for these kids to attend S/I. They are unique, and they are very few in number. But when they get a testimony they are solid as rock in their dedication to the church.

Varna and Burgas were the first to hold their Graduation/Temple Fireside activities, so we took advantage of being in our favorite places in Bulgaria - the Black Sea. Beautiful weather and fair seas gave us the opportunity to take a little P-day trip to a remote northern sea coast historical site called Kaliakra. There is a legend that when the Ottoman Empire had control of Bulgaria they were going to force 40 young Christian virgins to marry Ottomans, kind of like slave wives. These 40 refused and the legend says they tied their hair together and jumped to their deaths at Kaliakra. The cliffs and rocks below suggest that instand death was their fate. The poppies are in bloom everywhere, lining the roads, scattered throughout the fields, and making the whole area very colorful. Along with lavendar, the air is field with wonderful smells.

John is standing about 200 feet above sea level

The wind, which blows frequently along the coast carved some wonderful arches in the sandstone

We didn't take the steps to the sea, the sight was spectacular from above.

YSA and Youth Conference at the Black Sea

President and Sister Gibbons of the Eastern Europe Area Presidency

Line Dancing with Sister Cox from Star Valley, Wyoming - a local gal.

John and Henry enjoying a reunion at the Restaurant. Henry was our CES Coordinator when we served in Latvia. Now he is Eastern Europe CES Coordinator living in Moscow

Building Bible Sand Castles. Below the kids are enjoying a bit of free time before scripture study and prayer and lights out.

Life has been revolving around the conferences and now we will get back to our regular CES duties. It has been quite a merry-go-round: exhilarating and exhausting.

The Black Sea Conferences

These past 2 or 3 weeks has been very busy putting together the final touches for the youth and young single adult conference held on the Beautiful Black Sea. Iberostar Hotel complex gave us a good deal with all you can eat buffet bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a 4 star resort right on the beach. The young people loved it. The pictures only tell a small part of the story. Our good friend who is the CES Coordinator of all of Eastern Europe, Henry Kosak and our immediate supervisor, Igor Poddubny were there to provide learning experiences for each group. Elder and Sister Gibbons of the Eastern Europe Area Presidency attended and gave us all excellent council to make our choice now, so that when tempted we will already have made our decisions. Missions, marriage, temple marriage, etc were part of the goals we should be making.

Building Bible Sandcastles. The youth and YSA were given the challenge to make something that represented stories from the Bible.

Good friends were made. Ayre and Sevda with the Jorgensens, Andersens, and Sis. Mace.

The youth took a Flight 409 Simulated crash that lead them to the 3 degrees of glory, where they were instructed in the entrance exams to each of the kingdoms.

Young Men and Young Women had separate lessons from the Bennetts and Gibbons on proper behavior and etiquette.

Lots of pictures but they still do not tell the whole story. The testimonies of the participants were increased as hearts were touched by the love they felt and the lessons they heard. The food was great; could not have put more into their stomachs as we fed their spirits as well to capacity. What a great opportunity to share our weekend with the wonderful youth and young adults of the Bulgarian Mission.