Field Missionary

Praises: A relatively easy move to Varna with God’s provision for transportion of my things, help from my home group in loading the van, and assistance from the Razgrad church in unloading. Ease in finding an apartment that is in a great location accessible by all means of public transportation in Varna so that anyone can reach my apartment for when we start groups. Dick and Cindy Phelps, who are incredible teammates and a source of encouragement and solidarity. The shared community that I have with the Phelps in times of prayer and Bible reading. God’s work in the lives of the people that He is bringing into our lives.  Rarely do I ever bring up spiritual things because the people that God has given us are the ones doing all the questioning and searching.  It’s a joy to share the journey and to share out of the overflow with them. The Dechs, a family coming to serve in Varna in the fall both teaching in Theological Education and teaching English. A new student in the TE classes: Liliya. Various volunteers and summer teams for the summer and the ministry that we will be doing with them. Prayer requests: This week (April 13-18) we’ll be starting English lessons.  We have identified several cafès where we could meet with people for conversation classes.  On Tuesday (April 14th), we’ll be meeting with managers and owners at the several locations that we’ve narrowed down to see if they’re willing to host us several…
Source: April 2015 from Jessica Morris

Praises: The founding of a new compassionate ministries center in the NW Bulgarian city of Montana to help people start new businesses.  Our mission is ”Helping People Feed Themselves”.  We are committed to providing long-term solutions to real problems in our communities. The visit of Hermann Gschwandtner, who was the Eurasia Regional Compassionate Ministries Coordinator.  Before he retired, Hermann visited Montana and offered incredibly useful information and worked with us on developing our project proposal for the Montana center.  In addition, the German foundation ,,Helping Hands” that he leads, provided an incredibly generous donation to allow us to open the center. God’s provision of two workers: Kameliya and Valentin to head the work of the Montana center. God’s provision of Ani, who has set up the theological library in Razgrad.  We have successfully completed this project and will be moving on to add the Montana library to the internet catalogue for the college. Prayer Requests: The developing strategy for expansion of the center.  We really need to add a lawyer, an experienced businessman/woman to mentor, and one of them needs to be fluent in English as all the translation work has fallen to me for proposals and communications between the team and sponsors. Financing for year 2 of the center (which will begin on July 1) Kameliya and Valentin, the two center employees.  Pray for strength and wisdom as they work with so many different people, who are often discouraged and have very different needs. Unity on the Bulgaria district…
Source: 2014 from Jessica Morris

Yesterday we celebrated Easter in Bulgaria, which according to the Eastern calendar rarely falls on the same Sunday as the date when the Western church celebrates.  On Maundy Thurdsay together with Dick and Cindy Phelps (volunteers in Bulgaria pictured with me above), we went to Razgrad for their Holy week services.  An interesting tradition that they have is to re-enact the Last Supper complete with costumes, the Lord’s Supper, and even foot washing.  It was a very special time and filled with laughter, rememberance, and conversation. Since I last published here, there is a BIG change in my life…I have moved to Varna (the second largest city in Bulgaria) to be apart of a new church plant there. The on-site team is comprised of the Phelps and myself but our wider team also includes the Razgrad church who bring a van-load of people almost every Saturday to prayer walk with us and to do service projects as we make new contacts and serve the community. It has been a beautiful time of re-centering and returning to what for me is the heart of ministry: prayer and building relationships.  We’ve seen God moving in the hearts and lives of people who He has brought into our lives – often to help us as we transition here and at other times for us to serve as a support to them. I’m still working in Theological Education, Literature, and Compassionate Ministries.  Here are some quick updates about those areas: Theological Education We had…
Source: New ministry location: Varna from Jessica Morris