It's early Friday moring here in Sofia. I am looking out my window over the roof tops toward the mountains. The air is cool, about 52 F and it is a little over cast. It is going to be a beautiful day to begin our adventure. I pray that God will bless us and keep us safe today.
There is a different feel when we walk down the streets in our large group. There is comfort and security within our selves but we remain cautious and aware of our surrondings. They seem safe and in many ways like any large city any where. (Sofia is a city of about 2 million) What is striking is the age of the city and the buildings. They are so very old. The architecture is different. Space is utilized differently. And people still smoke on the streets.
It's strikes me as funny that for us from the US, their efforts to conserve space and consumtion of energy seem admirable with our "going green" movement and all that. Reality is for the people here it is just a way of life. Something that they have practiced for some time now. We should learn from them and pay attention. We need to practice those things in the US as well. Another thing I appreciate about being back in Europe are the bathrooms. Why US manufacturers of bathroom stall doors can't figure out a simple way to let you know if someone is in the stall, without bending down and looking for feet is beyound me. In Europe, the lock on the door turns green or red to indicate if the stall is occupied. So simple . . .
We will be exploring the city parks and common spaces today to see where our efforts will be best focused. The church leaders are a bit disheartened by the slow growth of their church here and we hope to be great encouragers to them. Listening to them and their thoughts and concerns for their church and countrymen was facinating. I could have listened for hours. I learned a lot about the history of their church in Greece with the Bulgarian economic immigrants and their efforts to keep that church alive as they returned to their own country.
Well, sweet dreams to all of you at home. I'm off to start my day!
There is a different feel when we walk down the streets in our large group. There is comfort and security within our selves but we remain cautious and aware of our surrondings. They seem safe and in many ways like any large city any where. (Sofia is a city of about 2 million) What is striking is the age of the city and the buildings. They are so very old. The architecture is different. Space is utilized differently. And people still smoke on the streets.
It's strikes me as funny that for us from the US, their efforts to conserve space and consumtion of energy seem admirable with our "going green" movement and all that. Reality is for the people here it is just a way of life. Something that they have practiced for some time now. We should learn from them and pay attention. We need to practice those things in the US as well. Another thing I appreciate about being back in Europe are the bathrooms. Why US manufacturers of bathroom stall doors can't figure out a simple way to let you know if someone is in the stall, without bending down and looking for feet is beyound me. In Europe, the lock on the door turns green or red to indicate if the stall is occupied. So simple . . .
We will be exploring the city parks and common spaces today to see where our efforts will be best focused. The church leaders are a bit disheartened by the slow growth of their church here and we hope to be great encouragers to them. Listening to them and their thoughts and concerns for their church and countrymen was facinating. I could have listened for hours. I learned a lot about the history of their church in Greece with the Bulgarian economic immigrants and their efforts to keep that church alive as they returned to their own country.
Well, sweet dreams to all of you at home. I'm off to start my day!
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