Merry Christmas (a little late I know but better late than never!)!!! We have had a wonderful but very busy previous couple of weeks. Since the last time we posted many events have taken place, and many days have been filled with things to do. We have received 3 packages from home and we are so grateful for each and every one of them! We received 2 from Cowan First Church of the Nazarene and just received the one Kathy (Joshua’s mom) had sent us at the beginning of December. It has been a process that we needed to complete and we are glad that it is now finished! We are super excited about all of our goodies from home that we have missed terribly, such as, salsa, ketchup, candy canes, skittles, and macaroni and cheese! Thank you to everyone who has sent cards as well. We have a row of cards taped on the wall above our bed! We have loved that bit of holiday cheer every time we enter our room! Like I said earlier we have been very busy but have attended many interesting events. We were invited to attend a rally against aggression in school and we were able to meet many new teens as well as seeing many of the teens, break dancing and singing and having a good time!
We have had a total of 5 Bulgarian language lessons! Our teacher Elena is so great at teaching. We received books from Jessica and she is using those as a guideline! We are learning vocabulary as well as grammatical rules. It is hard but we are excited because we can tell we are learning more and more each session. We are beginning to be able to understand more and more of what the people here are saying as well as being able to respond more easily than before!
We have attended two city concerts. During the Christmas season, like in the States, many drama, choirs, and bands perform their Christmas concerts and performances. It is a big part of the culture here to attend and enjoy some of the Christmas spirit! We were invited by Pastor Nikolay about a week and a half before Christmas to attend a children’s Christmas performance. Many children from the church were participating in it. It was mainly a ballet with different dances and songs incorporated in but it also had unique touches with the city break dancers and a few individual soloists to add flair to the event! It was very entertaining and definitely a great way to get us in the Christmas spirit! A few days before Christmas we attended the Phil Harmonic here in Razgrad and listened to an orchestra (mainly composed of Violins) and the City Choir sing their Christmas songs. The orchestra was very beautiful on its own but then to throw in an amazing choir to it was a wonderful addition!
We visited a village called Zavet, where there is a boy’s detention center that the church has ties with the church. We went to pass out Samaritan Purse gifts to all of the boys as well as let them see the children’s drama and choir that has been preparing for Christmas for quite some time now. We enjoyed a day of seeing many boys, who mainly other than those that work there, never get to hang out with any visitors. Nikolay, Joshua and Nikolay’s son Simone played Futbol (or Soccer) with the boys for hours. It was a long day but well worth it to see the excitement on their faces when they were able to open gifts and play soccer with all of the boys from Razgrad. Many of the boys in this center have committed crimes that will keep them in prison for a lifetime sentence; however, the government places them in these detention centers until they turn 18 in order to school them and to try and make them better kids.
The town has been in full motion of Christmas since about 2 weeks prior to Christmas. Small booths have been set up in the city center. They sell toys, clothes, accessories, etc for much cheaper than the larger chain stores. We enjoy going past the shops but mainly just because of the donuts we can get! They are so good!! They are much like mini funnel cakes with powdered sugar just in the shape of a donut! They are really cheap too! We all get a set and share them! It only cost 2 dollars and they are so good when it is so cold outside because they give them to you directly out of the fryer! YUM!
We have definitely had our fill of a very WHITE CHRISTMAS! Six inches in one day and it has stuck around for over a week and a half. It has all melted away now except for a few patches that rarely see sun. We went outside yesterday and it was very warm and we were saying how nice it felt outside, but when we saw that the temperature was a mere 31 degrees Fahrenheit, we realized just how used to the cold we had gotten. There is no telling how cold it has gotten since it snowed! We played in the snow and had fun throwing snow balls but now that it is just ice we are ready for it all to melt away. We will be ready for another snowfall in a few weeks!
We spent much time preparing for the BIG Razgrad Church of the Nazarene Christmas Eve Celebration! We arrived the day before Christmas Eve at the church to help clean and finish decorating and spent the entire day there! There were Christmas trees, balloons, presents for all of the children and many, many, many more intricate decorations that went into the church that day! We went home and got plenty of sleep because we knew that it would be a busy few days to come! We were at the church on Christmas Eve by noon and we stayed until 7pm! The service went amazingly well! We had over 120 children there to receive gifts. Many of the "Samaritan Purse" gifts passed out will be the only gift they receive this Christmas. We had 2 Praise and Worship bands, 1 solo, a singing duet, and clarinet duet, a mini sermon, the children’s performance, and the adult choir! The kids became very rowdy toward the end of the service, but what child wouldn’t become anxious seeing over 100 presents up near the stage! We chatted at the church with friends for awhile including Lubcho! We were able to see Lubcho for the first time since arriving in Bulgaria. He and Joshua became very close when Joshua was here last summer. It was neat to see them reuniting! After the service everyone split up and went home to spend Christmas with their families!
Pastor Nikolay and Yanita graciously extended an invitation for us to spend Christmas Eve with them and their family. Here in Bulgaria, Christmas Eve is the day that everyone celebrates. We went to Baba Tana’s (Yanita’s mother) house for a family time known as Budni Vetchar. There were so many interesting traditions and customs that are followed and that are precious to the Bulgarian people. We were very blessed to be a part of this Family celebrating time. They had many gifts for us that we truly were not expecting, but we felt so special and appreciated them very much. There was an abundance of wonderful food and a great time of fellowship and talking.
Following Budni Vetchar many of us began walking to the church to meet with the other teens that were participating in the Christmas caroling extravaganza! It is a big tradition especially in the church that begins early the morning of Christmas (early as in MIDNIGHT). We carol around the city singing songs of Jesus’ birth and visiting the homes of people in the church! We walked all over the city, 15 of us in all, and went to church members homes. The group caroled from Midnight until 8am. We would go to people’s homes and begin singing at the door. They would hear us and come let us in and serve us food and let us have a warm place to sit for a few moments before heading to another person’s house. We were eating full meals at 4am depending on the places we went. Many just had wonderful snacks setting out on the tables waiting on us, but it is custom to leave your food from your Budni Vetchar dinner. We were up all night and it was so cold none of us could feel our toes! It dropped below 10 degrees and we were all becoming exhausted. At 7am Joshua and I left the group while passing our apartment and went to sleep only missing 1 home before the completion of the caroling for the rest of the group. We slept 2 hours then woke up to get ready for church. Joshua preached at the Christmas morning service as well as at Kubrat later that afternoon. Not many people were at church that morning because many were traveling and visiting family but it was a great time of fellowship. Joshua and I stayed at the church all afternoon and at 3pm we rode to the village of Kubrat and celebrated Christmas with them. We had our normal services then had snacks after. We enjoyed getting to spend time with our friends there! God has truly blessed us with meeting such wonderful people thus far!
Needless to say with only having 2 hours of sleep in about a 36 hour timeframe we were very exhausted when we arrived home; however, we had not celebrated Christmas at our own home! We ate a small dinner then we all gathered in the living room to share gifts with each other. We all were very blessed this Christmas. We made it a rule that all gifts must be Bulgarian. No “Americanized” gifts!! Between Debbie, Joshua, and I we received: 2 trinket boxes, 2 scarves, 3 sweaters, LOADS of candy in our stockings, a chess set, ear muffs, and an apron! It was a wonderful evening together! However, after all of the excitement from the day(s) prior we were extremely tired. We went to bed decently early and woke at 9am feeling very well rested.
We are working currently on a few special projects with Pastor Nikolay that we will begin once the New Year has begun. Pastor Nikolay has been using the "Each One Win One" book to teach discipleship among the people here in Sunday school and we are going to begin the Prayer Cells soon that is discussed in this book. Also we are having a special guest, Brian Fentress, to come and minister and teach gospel music at the end of January so we have been meeting with Nikolay on a daily basis getting details and schedules worked out! We are excited for all that will be taking place here in the upcoming months!
Yesterday we attended the city prayer meeting again. It occurs every last Friday of the month and we were able to attend again! It is a great time of prayer and gather of believers. There are 2 churches in the area, other than the Razgrad Nazarene church, that are somewhat branches of the Nazarene church here and they are looking into becoming part of our denomination. These pastors along with a few other protestant pastors in the area gather and pray for the city and for specific prayer needs. It is wonderful to see all different denominations and beliefs coming into one place to gather in prayer for their community. God is really moving in Razgrad!!
Last night we went to a village close by named Osenents and celebrated Christmas with them. We ate new Bulgarian foods and desserts, sang hymns together and enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship with the friends we have made there. They gave us each a small gift for Christmas! They are so precious and are so excited to see us every time we enter their home.
Well it is New Years Eve and we will be gathering tonight at 11:30pm at the Razgrad Church to pray in the New Year!! Then we will all make our way to the city center where there will be fireworks and traditional Bulgarian dancing for hours into the night! Another event I am sure we will never forget! This season has been filled with wonderful memories that will forever remain a part of us. We have made many relationships in the past few weeks that we are sure to keep for years to come!
Please keep us in your prayers because as this week has started and ended all three of us have been/are sick with one thing or another. Life here continues on through sickness and therefore we are fighting it head on and need all of your prayers for healing. We feel as if we are on the mend but with another long evening ahead of us outside anything can happen. Thank you all for your support and love and best wishes throughout these holidays. We have received emails and cards and chats on Facebook. We have truly been blessed by all of those remembering us during this holiday season. We love and wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the pictures from the past few weeks. We can only post so many pictures on our blog, but all of our pictures from our time thus far are located on Facebook!
The Next few pictures are of the Christmas
Decorations that were put up all of Razgrad!
The next few pictures are from us
decorating our tree in our apartment!
We found out that our couch that we sit on in the kitchen turns into a bed!!!
Getting ready to go to Zavet!
Our Laundry :)
After receiving our package from Cowan we made
Chicken Quesadillas! They were SOOO Good!!
A day out in the snow!! It was so much fun!!
This is our favorite donut place!
A snowy day in Razgrad! The tree looked extra beautiful
with all of the branches covered in snow!
The day before Christmas Eve we spent time cleaning up the Church preparing for the BIG Christmas Eve Celebration and there was snow everywhere so Joshua and Andrei shoveled all of the sidewalks and entrances into the church property!
This was our Christmas Eve Meal! Taco Salad... except with no lettuce or tomatoes!
Nachos, cheese, beef, onions, and salsa! It was so delicious!
Thank you Cowan family! IT WAS AWESOME!!
After our busy Christmas Eve and Christmas day we came home to open presents!
We have been waiting and filling out paperwork to receive our box from Don and Kathy Hawkins!
We were so excited when it finally arrived and we were able to open it up!- Thank you so much for everything you sent us :)
Tomorrow is our 1 year wedding anniversary and Joshua has been bringing me flowers since Wednesday! I was sick and not feeling well and he secretly left the house and went and got a single rose for me and then yesterday he left again to go get a few needed groceries for dinner and came back with 3 more! He is so sweet and I have been so blessed this first year to be married to him!
The white ball in the center is actually a Christmas ornament! It is so pretty. Flowers here are inexpensive and they make them look very pretty!
We hope you have enjoyed our pictures and we apologize again for the delay in posting, but we are glad to share everything with you now. Look for our next blog to find out all of our New Years Eve and Day events as well as what is going to happen in the weeks to come! Happy New Year!
Love, Katie Haun
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