Bulgarian Rosa
July 15, 2003
FSM 366 12/00, CM/FM
Copyright © 2000 by The Family
By Bulgarian Rosa
From EURCRO: The history of the Family’s work in Bulgaria over the years has been a rocky one. Several of our teams which have opened Homes there to reach and minister to the sheep more personally were forced out by persecution, or led of the Lord to leave before persecution knocked on their door. Please pray for this new push to personally minister to the hungry ones and establish and strengthen the Bulgarian national church of outside members. God bless our brave pioneers, constrained by the Lord’s love to reach out to these dear Bulgarians!
The BEGINNING
During the last week of August there was a seminar/camp in Bulgaria for some of our closest mail ministry Outside Witnessers (OWs). The whole idea was born from the vision shared in the Action GNs and later confirmed further by the Words the Lord gave in Our Activated Future (ML #3298, GN895). Thanks, Mama and Peter, for sending these out!
Clair (of Peter BP) has been taking care of the Bulgarian mail ministry in the MM (Mail Ministry) Home. Clair and I got together and asked the Lord for confirmation and further counsel on the idea of getting our sheep together for a time of retreat and power-packed feeding, and the Lord gave the go-ahead! He told us to write a personal invitation to 12 people we’ve come to know through the years and who have proven their faithfulness as witnessers and labor leaders.
We heard from the Lord about each one of them and He told us to include portions of what He gave us in the invitation letters. This happened right after a mailing the MM sent out to the sheep, introducing prophecy and teaching them how to use it. It was the first time we have ever sent personal prophecies to our MM flock, and we didn’t know how it would go over with them.
Well, we did lose one of them over it, someone who wrote us back and said that he didn’t want us to write him any more. But to our great relief and joy, when we later met the rest at the camp, they all expressed how much the personal Words from Jesus had meant to them. They treasured them and believed them and held them dear to their hearts. Praise the Lord!
An all by faith step for us was the concept of getting the flock all together in one place for five whole days. We had never ventured so far, as our sheep are so diverse in their backgrounds, churches, towns, cultures, races—you name it. But the Lord told us that He wanted us to take this step to start building a homogenous national church, where the sheep will be united and on the same level of growth. He wanted them to get to know each other and feel part of a whole, rather than continue as scattered individuals around the country.
The PLACE
The first miracle to help this project happen was when the Lord raised up a dear friend in Hungary who gladly sponsored it all. The Lord had spoken very specifically in prophecy about which area of Bulgaria to look, for a place for the camp. He even gave us a vision of the type of bungalows He would provide for us! He also said that we wouldn’t have to search for too long for a place. So with all these prophecies under our belt and receiving fresh counsel from the Lord on a daily basis, our scouting team launched out in search of the promised place. The search party was Tim (of Tab), his son Gabe, Charity (Bulgarian), and myself.
The Lord then provided two bungalows in a beautiful forest campground outside of Varna (the Bulgarian sea capital, as they call it), which was only a ten-minute walk from the fanciest Bulgarian Black Sea resort, Zlatni Piasaci (Golden Sands). The Lord gave us very nice weather and the sea was so warm and clean—beautiful! Even though we didn’t have much time to indulge in it, still what we were able to enjoy was great. Thank the Lord for His blessings!
For security reasons (as there was no secure way to communicate), we couldn’t tell the sheep or even the rest of our team where the Lord had provided a place for us to meet—that is, until the appointment we had arranged with them on the morning of our arrival in Varna when we then took them to the camp. They were absolutely flipped out to find out where the Lord had given us a place for our seminar camp.
SPECIAL THANKS!
I was very impressed with the sacrificial willingness with which the Newday Home jumped in, helping us with the project. They not only gave us a donation for the camp, but because they knew that the few Bulgarian nationals didn’t have a vehicle to use, they most cheerfully and willingly sent us Tim and Gabe to help us. Tim drove us around for two days up and down the coast looking for the place and checking out different campgrounds until we found the right place, the one that fit exactly all the specifications the Lord had given us.
Not only that, but the Newday Home most willingly sent Tim back to Bulgaria to the camp (with his daughter Marianne) to bring provisioning, lit, other needs for the outside witnessers (OWs) and the camp, and to help us with the shopping and picking up of the arrivals!—Hats off to Tim and his Home! We couldn’t have done it without them—no way!
Charity also helped in praying about the keynote and the general direction of the classes and the goals of the camp. Plus, once our team was all together, she helped set up the kitchen side of things. After the first day of the actual seminar, Tim, Charity, and Marianne had to go back to Romania, as their Homes needed them. But without their help it wouldn’t have been possible.
Our TEAM
Our team for the camp itself arrived the night before the sheep were supposed to come. That was Bulgarian Clair and SGA Peter BP with their two lovely children (from the MM Home), Bulgarians Eli and myself (from the European Studio Home), and Bulgarian Sam and SGA Becky (who had just come back from Africa and jumped in right away to help us).
Within hours our small weeklong Home was opened and set up. At least it felt like a Family Home! We had six voting members, plus two children. We even had our first Home Council, distributing the responsibilities and organizing the following day—the shopping, picking up the OWs , and other town business.
The way things worked was that Peter and I mainly tuned into the preparation and leading most of the classes, but Clair, Tim (of Tab), and Sam also helped as teachers. Sam also tuned into the feeding of the former Varna catacombers (from the time we had a work there), whom we contacted and who came in the afternoons for a class with him.
(Thank God for Abe [of Love] and Kay [a.k.a. Victory ET] who were the teachers at the Romania camp for catacombers that was held a few weeks before this Bulgarian camp, as we were therefore able to use the classes they had prepared.) Clair took care of the scheduling, and between her, Becky and Eli they took care of the running of the physical side of things—the cooking and CC and shopping, plus also helped in taking personal time with the sheep during meeting breaks.
The DISCIPLES
Of the 12 people we sent personal invitations to, only seven confirmed that they could come. But right before the camp was to begin, three dropped out—one of them because his father had just had an accident and he needed to take care of him, another lady didn’t have the money to come and her husband called us to say that she was too shy to accept our offer to pay for her trip, and the third one had to make a trip with her husband. So only four made it in the end.
At first we were a bit sad because we really were hoping the other ones would come also, as each person was invited for a specific reason. But when we prayed about it, the Lord said that He wanted these four people to be here, as they each needed very personalized care and attention. He said we were not to look at the numbers but to give them our all, as an investment He wanted us to make toward the future work in Bulgaria. He also suggested that we should have a one-on-one buddy system to take care of them. We were the exact number of Bulgarian nationals to tune in to each one individually.
So with the number of people we ended up with, one of the bungalows was for our CM team; it was where we took care of the children, did all the cooking, and had the meals. The other bungalow was for the OWs and was where we had the classes and meetings with them. Each bungalow had a living room, a small kitchen, a small dining room, two bedrooms, and fit exactly six people.
CROSS-SECTION of the BULGARIAN FLOCKS
Here is something the Lord told us before the camp, when we were praying about whom to send invitations to:
(Jesus speaking:) How many people are there in Bulgaria who want to learn more from you? With all the persecution that you have had, and all the bad articles and bad publicity you’ve gotten, how many are there that beg you to feed them? So the people who actually make it through and are still faithfully writing you and feel close to you, they are people who have something that makes them different from all the rest.
Collecting all these people together, you will have a conglomerate of different groups and denominations and backgrounds. But that will help you understand and learn more about these different societies and groups and flocks that I have. That’s what makes you the shepherds of all. That’s why I have said of the Family that you are the avant-garde of all Christians, because you have something to offer to each denomination. Each can learn from you, because I have poured so much into you.
For you to be good teachers and leaders, you have to learn to understand your flocks. And here I am presenting you a variety of personalities you can spend time with, so you can learn about the flocks they represent, and you can understand how you can better help those flocks.
It’s going to be a learning experience for you, as much as for them. And as much as you are going to be teaching all of them something, they will teach you a lot too, which will be humbling for you. But that’s the fruitful symbiosis that I desire between teachers and students—a bond of love, a bond of understanding, acceptance and tolerance. (End of message from Jesus.)
We soon realized the wisdom of the Lord in not bringing more people for us to care for at this point. See, when you have catacombers who you have been ministering to for a while as a group, they grow and learn together and soon merge to approximately the same level, regardless of the number. But with these people it was different. They were four people, but that meant four different worlds—not only four different towns in Bulgaria, but four different backgrounds, levels of social status, church beliefs, ministries, ways of life, even races and languages.
FIRST CHALLENGE
As soon as our attendees arrived they wanted to start talking about their burdens, battles, problems, and questions right away. At one point it was quite difficult to handle them because they were all in the same bungalow and they all started talking about the things they came out of. So we had to step in and tell them, Wait, wait. Can everyone please hold on sharing everything all at once. Why don’t we instead pray and commit all these things to the Lord tonight? Within the next few days we’ll be taking personal time with each one of you, so we can talk about your individual situations separately, as we do want to help you find as many answers as possible.
So that’s what we did—we prayed. We then gave a stack of Bulgarian lit to each one (the Bulgarian mail ministry course), and encouraged them to read it in their spare time and try to finish it by the end of the camp, as we wanted them to all be on the same level. We explained that this is the basis on which we would like to build and teach them new things; that this common ground of knowledge of the Word is what would help them become a more united and cohesive body, speaking the same thing; and that without it, it would be difficult for them to be ready for the new things the Lord wanted us to teach them.
It was so refreshing to see a group of people with so much desire to learn and receive. They went to their rooms with their stacks of lit and started reading. We saw them faithfully reading throughout the camp. God bless them!
The CLASSES and SCHEDULE
The Lord gave us a general plan for the topics to cover, but also encouraged us to confirm each class in prophecy beforehand, and as we went He did show us to make certain changes. For example, the original plan was to have the entire second day dedicated to the Endtime. But after the morning meeting, when we prayed and asked the Lord to confirm the plan for the afternoon, He told us to change the topic and instead teach them how the Family fits in the Endtime, why the Lord had raised us up, etc., and to give them a Spiritual Timetable class (more on that later). This would be their foundation for the last day, which was to be dedicated to the new weapons.
So here is how the camp went:
Arrival Day
Day One:
Morning —Keynote/Getting to Know Each Other
Afternoon—Class on the Word
Evening—Reading Dropouts IV
Day Two:
Morning—Endtime
Afternoon—Spiritual Timetable Class/Ezekiel 34/The Family’s Birth
Evening—David—A Tribute to the Man
Day Three:
Morning—Why the New Weapons/ Gift of Prophecy
Afternoon—The Other New Weapons/
Question and Answer Time
Evening—Communion/Prayer for Building the Work in Bulgaria
W&R Day
Originally we had planned to have seven hours of class time per day—three in the morning (10:00 to 1:00), two and a half in the afternoon (4:30 to 7:00) and one and a half in the evening (8:30 to 10:00), so we wouldn’t exhaust the attendees. Ha! Forget it! We never managed to keep this schedule. There was such a vacuum in these people that we ended up having up to ten hours of classes a day, plus personal time and answering their questions in between the classes, and continual pouring out.
And you would often hear them protest when we had to finally stop for meals (after having stretched our class overtime), No, you can’t stop right now when it’s the most interesting! We would have to keep reassuring them that we were not planning to hold back anything from them, but it so happened that we still lived in our physical bodies, therefore needed to stop for food too!
KEYNOTE
In the keynote meeting we read the attendees a message in which the Lord was explaining the need to see each other as He saw them, and not look at their differences or backgrounds. He wanted them to see that He had brought each one personally here, as each one was equally special to Him.
This was the very first time we had gotten any of our Outside Witnessers together and given them a chance to meet, spend time together, and get to know each other. It was a very big step for them—to learn to accept and love each other, in spite of differences in social status.
The other radical point about the keynote was that we started them right off with straight prophecy. They understood clearly, respected it, and even asked for copies of it to be sent to them later.
We also covered the issue of security right away, which was also new. We explained to them how this time was like being away on the mountain, and was meant to be a time of retreat and infilling, rest, and strengthening in the spirit, but if we wanted to fully benefit from it, we needed to make sure we didn’t jeopardize our security here. We went over some behavioral guidelines, like not lifting their hands outside of the bungalows and shouting Hallelujah! out loud and Praise the Lord! and God bless you, sister! (or brother!) to avoid attracting too much attention to ourselves during this camp. We also had to help one of the girls dress a bit more as though she was on a vacation, and help her understand that there was nothing wrong in forsaking her gypsy apparel for the time being. God bless them, they all did very well! Quite a moldable crew.
What was amazing was that they would really listen to us. Some of them are actual church leaders or serve as pastors, and here we are a bunch of young people, telling them what to do and how!
We also had a short section during the keynote on male and female in Christ, and on respecting the Spirit of the Lord in someone rather than looking on him or her in the flesh and not receiving the Lord’s message just because the deliverer happens to be someone younger, or even a girl! They received everything, and were very respectful. Before each class they would pray that the Lord would anoint our teachers, as they called us. It was so touching to see these people taking the humble seat so willingly, and opening themselves to what we had to teach them.
INTRODUCTIONS
The Lord had shown us to have some time all together after the keynote for introductions, including those on our team. We couldn’t all come at once, as we had children to take care of, meals to cook, shopping to do, besides making sure the classes were going well. But we took turns sitting at the meeting, introducing ourselves, and also listening to their testimonies. That went on well into the afternoon.
After that Tim (of Tab) and Clair gave them a class on the Word, using the DB 8 compilation, The Word, the Word, the Word! (ML #2484). And Peter BP and Sam led the evening meeting, reading to them the MO Letter, Dropouts IV (ML #34, Vol. 1).
One of our disciples, Misho, is very well versed in the Bible and knew all the stories referred to in the Dropouts Letter. He would elaborate on them to help the other three attendees understand.
The Lord also told us in prophecy to put together a questionnaire on basic Bible beliefs and have them answer the questions before the meaty classes began, so we would be aware of their level of knowledge about the Bible and could conduct the classes accordingly. We realized that with these people we had to make sure to show them that what we taught them was based on the Bible, as any other approach would have gone way over their heads. The speed with which they absorbed and grew was commendable and they soon grew to where they could take and understand an explanation based on prophecy. But we had to start them on a Bible level and help them work their way up.—And guess what? There’s no better way to brush up on your Bible! It was a very strengthening exercise for us as teachers and Family members to research the cornerstone Book, and support each of our doctrines with verses from it.
GETTING TO KNOW THEM
They of course were very interested in hearing testimonies of our lives as missionaries, as well as how each one of us had come to know the Lord. They appreciated getting to know us, the fact that we were sharing personal details of our lives, and thus trusting them to get closer to us.
But I think it was even more moving for us hearing their stories. Some of them made me cry.
For example, here’s Misho’s story: He is a former Pentecostal church pastor who has dropped out of the churches. The first time we met him was two years ago. He is someone who has really had to suffer for his association with us and for witnessing. Even though we never met him face-to-face till recently, he has known us through our letters for ten years now and has actively witnessed, using our lit and posters. He and his partner (who unfortunately couldn’t make it to the meetings) hitchhike from place to place witnessing.
One time they finished witnessing and postering in one town and he was sitting in a park to get some rest after an exhausting day, when a boy rode up on a bicycle and said that his dad wanted to see him. Misho got an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but didn’t heed the check. When he arrived at the house, he could see that the father was rather upset. He beckoned for him to come into the courtyard and started rebuking him for distributing the posters. Then all of a sudden he started attacking Misho. He pushed him on the ground and kicked him so much that Misho bled. Misho, being the rather large guy that he is, was tempted to retaliate and fight his way out, but the Lord told him to turn the other cheek.
He was praying desperately and just as suddenly as the man had started, he stopped and stood back. This gave Misho a minute to compose himself, and then the man went toward the house, saying, Wait here. I’m going to get my gun.
Once he was gone, Misho didn’t need more to convince him it was time to leave! He made it back to the park where his co-worker helped him. After Misho got home, he was in bed with severe pain and a fever for a couple of days as a result. He couldn’t even tell his wife, as at the time she was very antagonistic towards his fervor to preach the Gospel and live by faith. God bless him for being willing to suffer persecution and still keep going and passing out our posters.
Misho has a lot of people he visits and ministers to in several towns and villages! Also he has a ministry with an orphanage, and he was really excited at the possibility of Clair and Peter helping him by bringing in some provisioning for the kids there.
Clair and Peter gave him an extended personal class on the Law of Love too, which he was very interested in and had requested to hear more about.
Another of our attendees was Simo, who is a Turkish pastor and has churches in three villages. He also fights for the rights of the Turkish minority, which often lives in very desperate conditions. Simo is not just a pastor in name only, but he truly has a shepherd’s heart, really cares for his people, and wants to help them somehow.
He didn’t have much training as a pastor to begin with, but after he got saved the Lord called him to take up the job of shepherding his people and teaching them the Bible. The way it happened is that he was at a church meeting and one of the elders of the church received a prophecy for him that he would be the new young shepherd of the flock in that town. Then the next day, people gathered to listen to him teach them!
He was so scared (as he knew nothing from the Bible then), that the next day he refused to go back home from work and stayed for two shifts at his workplace. But during the break, the Lord spoke to him and told him that He needed him. So Simo prayed and said, Lord, I am but an ignorant man and don’t even know Your Word. How will I teach Your sheep? You’ve got to do it and You’ve got to explicitly tell me what to say to them.
That’s when he got his first Spirit instruction, which he wrote down and later used as a sermon. It was all by faith for him, but later he was so happy to find many of the words the Lord had given him directly are actually verses in the Bible.
Since then he started writing us, too.—And he has had to fight to stay in touch with us. On at least three occasions, people came to him from other churches to warn him to stop his communication with us, but he said, I couldn’t listen to those people. I needed to find out for myself who you are, so I kept writing you and receiving your lit. And now after meeting you and finding out all about you, I can see why the Devil was trying to stop me from being close with you. I’m glad I held on and didn’t listen to their threats!
After the camp, Peter, Clair, and I took him to his town. When we were just about to drive off, he came to us and gave us a donation. He is not someone who has much money, but he told us, Please, take it.—This is my first tithe! So precious! Earlier, on the drive to our camp, he was asking Clair how we support ourselves, in hopes we could help him and his church financially. So Clair explained the principles of living by faith, shared different tips on fundraising, and then told him of the principle of tithing and the blessing there is in it. He received everything and wanted to put his faith into practice immediately by giving us his first tithe, because he believed what we taught him and he wanted the blessing of living the truth. God bless him!
The third one, Neda, is a single 27-year-old girl who had studied various religions, us included. Prior to this camp she had somehow gotten ahold of our GP e-mail addresses and had written us, saying: Please, can I work with you to witness and win people to Christ? I need to see you guys! Please, come and visit me. So she was more than flipped to come and spend this time with us.
When she came, however, her countenance seemed gloomy and she seemed to be suspicious of us, which we couldn’t understand at first. She kept asking very pointed questions and it was clear that she had read or heard a lot about Father David and us. Then Clair finally had some personal time with her and things came out.
She shared that nine years earlier she met two girls from the Family postering in her town and she prayed with them. Then they told her, We’re so sorry but we have to leave now. Please write us! We love you! Bye! And they left, so she started writing us, and after that she hadn’t met any of us personally.
She was very desperate to learn more about the Bible, so she completed five years at the Orthodox seminary. After she finished the seminary, she didn’t want a normal job but wanted to do something more for God with her life. And lo and behold, she ended up joining the Moonies (the Unification Church). She lived with them for a year, and by the time she left she was very disappointed with them, as she saw they didn’t live according to the Bible. She also had a negative experience with their marriage ceremonies, where she was blackmailed to participate in one of them and get married to someone she truly disliked.
So after returning from Seoul, Korea, she ran away from the Moonies. And that’s when she was getting more and more desperate to meet us again, which finally happened at the camp. She admitted that she was indeed checking us out, because she had gotten burned once already.
She is a very bright girl, and because of her five years in the seminary she has a very good knowledge of the Bible, church history, and the history of NRMs (New Religious Movements). She had studied us. She would listen very intently during classes, ask very good questions, and keep lots of notes (you could see she was used to taking notes in university). She told us that she was convinced that we are true believers, she didn’t find anything contradicting the Bible in what we taught, and she wanted to join us. She also has some sheep she regularly witnesses to and faithfully forwards our mailings to.
By the time the camp was over, she was a changed person. She started shining and smiling and felt like one of us.
The fourth person was a poor Gypsy woman, Zara, whom we’ve known for many years. She got saved about nine years ago. At the time her work was sweeping the streets, and she found a piece of the poster Come under a bench where she was sweeping. She picked it up and read the only thing on that piece of paper, which was the salvation prayer and the return address. So she prayed the prayer, got saved, broke down in tears over it, and then wrote to the address she saw. Since then she has been one of our most on-fire and faithful OWs, and has given out thousands and thousands of our posters and tracts through the years.
Having very sweet faith in God, she has real influence in the community in which she lives, and also in the local church she attends. We know her pastor too. It seems like she keeps him on track and challenges him in the spirit, because of the Word that she has received through the Letters
The Lord told us to bring her personally to the camp and even to give some money to her family for the time she would be away. So Sam and Becky went all the way to her village, picked her up, and brought her to the camp. She was so touched. She had wanted very desperately to come to the camp, but she didn’t have the money to travel all that way, across the country from where she lives.
The night before the arrival day, she poured her heart out to the Lord that she didn’t want to fail us by not attending but that she didn’t have the money for it, and she fell asleep crying. The Lord then gave her a dream in which He sent two angels to pick her up and bring her to the meeting place. The next day she went berry picking, in hopes of selling the berries to get some money. It didn’t go so well, and she was coming home a bit discouraged. But there were Sam and Becky waiting to drive her to the camp, and they left as soon as she got home. She just kept praising God for how He had fulfilled the promise He made in the dream He had given her.
DAY TWO
In the morning meeting, Peter was able to cover the topic of the Endtime up until the Rapture. We were thinking of continuing in the afternoon, except that the Lord interjected something we hadn’t expected. He told us to rather give them the Spiritual Timeline class and explain the Family’s role in the Endtime and the spiritual periods its history marked and went through—the Last Days, the Days of Preparation and the Era of Action.
We used the Spiritual Timeline class that Kay taught at the Romanian NC camp. (It’s a super good class, by the way! GBY, Kay, xxx!) This turned out to be a key class that we referred to and used throughout the Bulgarian Camp. (Editor’s note: This class is being posted on the MO site, for your use as the Lord leads.) The cornerstone for the class was the following quote from The Endtime Series, Part 1 (ML #3263:64-65, GN 866):
Though I said that the End was near 20 or 30 years ago, and you wonder how I could say such a thing because it has not yet fully come to pass, I say that I spoke My Word in truth. It was indeed the Time of the End, for the beginning of My Family marked the beginning of that time period. But now you are coming to the end of the Last Days.
The departure of your Father David from this life and his entrance into the spirit world marked the beginning of the days of preparation. The Homegoing of your Father David was one of the biggest signs of the End.
This is the angle from which we approached the history of the Family, and the spiritual timeline. We explained that it was very important for them to grasp this, because without this foundation we wouldn’t be able to have the classes the third day on the new weapons, which was the main goal for this camp.
In the afternoon meeting we read Ezekiel 34 with them and used it to explain how the Family began and how the Lord raised up Dad. Then in the evening we had an extensive class on Dad and his life story. We used the Tribute to the Man Statement, which came out after his Homegoing.
Ezekiel 34 in the context of the history of the Family was a new revelation to all of them and they were listening wide-eyed and very intently! However, when we came to the verses where David was mentioned, Misho started mentioning that this could also be interpreted as a prophecy about Jesus. We didn’t get too much into discussing this at the time, as we wanted to go through the things that we needed to cover that afternoon.
But something interesting happened the next day.
DAY THREE
That was the day we taught them about what the new weapons are and what’s new about them, as they were already mentioned in the Bible a few thousand years ago. Thank God for the class which Abe (of Love) had prepared for the Romanian camp—Endtime Christian/New Weapons—which we used for this meeting. (Thanks, Abe! LY!) (Editor’s note: This class is also being posted on the MO site, for teaching your live-outs, friends, or catacombers as needed.)
When we prayed before the meeting, the Lord had shown us that this day, instead of only Peter and me being present with the sheep, Clair should join us too. So it was the three of us teaching them about the new weapons.
Here is the interesting thing that happened—which we found funny as well! As the class was proceeding, Misho suddenly blurted out, Excuse me for interrupting, but I just have to get this clear in my mind. Did I miss the point of yesterday’s class? When we were reading the prophecies about David in Ezekiel 34, I kept saying how it could be interpreted as being about Jesus. But then I was wondering if maybe I just missed the point. Tell me, did you mean to tell us that these verses were talking about your David?
We were a bit puzzled, as we didn’t know if that would lead us in a doctrinal dispute. So we suggested to him that maybe we could talk about this in the afternoon Q&A time, as we would like to cover the answer more in depth and share a few more things from the Bible. But he insisted, No, no, just tell me: Do these verses talk about your David or not? I need just a simple answer.
But we, having learned by now that with this kind of people we needed to support our answers with Bible verses as much as possible, told him again, Well, why don’t we leave it till the afternoon, and then we’ll answer that question thoroughly.
By this time he was starting to get perturbed, and he said to me: Listen, Rosa, I only need a yes or no answer. I don’t need all the Bible background to it. I trust you! Simply tell me, do you guys believe that these verses are about Father David or don’t you? Yes, or no?
Clair and I looked at each other, and then back at him and nodded simultaneously, YES!
Well, he said, that’s all I needed to hear! Thank you! It’s all clear now for me! OK, you can go on!—Ha!
GIFT of PROPHECY
All we managed to cover during the morning was the gift of prophecy. We told them about the elite troops of the Endtime and how they could also be a part of this special training, etc. They were so excited, like children, and were soaking up everything we shared like sponges. You could hear an occasional Wow!
Then at the end of the morning class we prayed over each one, laying hands on them to receive the gift of prophecy. It was a very special experience for them and they treated it solemnly. We prayed and the Lord said something for each one right then and there.
Clair shared afterwards, That was a neat experience for me too, as I’ve never before received a prophecy in Bulgarian. Look at how much the Lord said to them in their own language! PTL!
They were all moved to tears! And I tell you, it was no light thing to see someone as big as Misho weeping like a child at all the Lord was saying in prophecy to him. Later he took the time to diligently transcribe from our dictaphone what the Lord had given for him.
Misho in particular impressed me with his faith in prophecy and how much he treasured it. When they arrived the first night, he pulled out the letter of invitation which we had sent him and showed us how carefully he had studied, marked, and underlined the prophecy which we had received and included for him. Misho said, You can’t imagine how accurate those words you sent me were, and how much it meant to me to receive them!
The OTHER NEW WEAPONS
That afternoon we explained the other new weapons—prayer, praise, and the New Wine. We had explained the MO Letters to them already, the changeover in leadership after Dad went to be with the Lord, and how the Lord is now leading us through Mama, using prophecy. We also talked about the weapons of meekness, weakness, humility, the Law of Love and unity, and Loving Jesus. Everything was covered briefly and on a GP level, but still enough for them to have a deeper understanding of these weapons and truths.
It took us the longest to explain the principles of the LOL and how it works in the Family. They were very interested in hearing not just the Word on it, but were very curious about how it actually affected our own personal lives. So having all three of us present was very helpful, because Peter and Clair could give examples from the point of view of a married couple, and I could speak as a single in the Family.
Simo (the Turkish pastor) finally commented: Wow, I have never ever seen Christians with greater faith and greater love than you in the Family. You truly love each other!—I can see it and I can feel it myself!
On another occasion he exclaimed: You have given us so much truth! I have never seen or heard anyone teach with such power. No one else explains things the way you do. We are so rich in the spirit now with all the truth you have revealed to us! Thank you for being our teachers!
QUESTION and ANSWER TIME
We finished the class with a question- and-answer time. One thing they all asked us was how much control Mama has over us. We explained that her role is to feed us the Word, which the Lord sends, and the reason we know all the things we are teaching them is because she first taught us. But that is the whole point—she is teaching us through her Letters how to have a better and stronger link with the Lord ourselves, and thus be better connected to Him and less dependent on earthly leadership in the decisions we make. She wants us to be strong in our connection with Jesus, because she realizes that she cannot be there with each of us giving us counsel, but the Lord can! And she wants us to have the faith to follow the Lord according to His personal leading in our lives.
We then gave them the example of how this whole idea of the camp came about, how it was the Lord who spoke to us in prophecy and we followed. It wasn’t Mama who sent us here, but it was she who taught us how to hear from the Lord. We shared that now they can do that also. Just like Mama has done with us, we also shared that we wanted to do all we could to pass this knowledge to them, because we want them to be strong and hear form the Lord, as we won’t be there with them to keep answering their questions or guiding them.
Later Simo, who was always full of questions, was just about to ask us something else, when he stopped himself and said: Hmmm, I wanted to ask you something about my personal situation, but I guess now I should be asking Someone else, right? I’m supposed to talk to the Lord. I was always wondering why so often things that I thought were a great idea, didn’t work out. I think I understand now—I hadn’t been asking the right Person! But now I know Who to ask! So I’m not going to ask you this question, but I’ll ask the Lord later, now that I have this direct phone line with Him.
COMMUNION
In the evening, after the kids were in bed, all of us got together for communion in the evening and we led it in a typical Family style. First we had some inspiration—and to our pleasant surprise a lot of the communion songs we sing have already been translated into Bulgarian and could be found in their church songbooks. So thank God we didn’t have to sing them in English, and our sheep had a blast singing in Bulgarian—very wholeheartedly at that!
It was Clair and I who led the communion—two girls! Clair read the verses from 1 Corinthians and then prayed over and passed the bread and the wine. And then we prayed, and sang a few more songs and asked them to give everyone a hug. You could see the question marks in the eyes of some of the sheep: Hug everyone?
Yes, everyone, go ahead! we told them, and I think after the first one or two hugs they all got into it and enjoyed it! They couldn’t help but compare, though, how we did communion with what they had been taught and had seen in their churches. For example, Simo and Zara shared how in their churches they also wash each other’s feet and at the end the girls would give a kiss only to the girls and the guys only to the guys. And it would be only the pastor who would give the bread and the wine to each person, one at a time. They couldn’t understand why we would just pass it from hand to hand.
Clair gave a very good explanation: She said that we don’t consider anyone higher than the other but that we respect and treat each other as equals, thus we can receive the communion from the hand of our brother or sister, and the next one is willing to receive it from our hand. She explained that it is also a symbol of our willingness to yield to each other, submit to each other’s authority, and even receive leading, guidance, and correction from each other. To this Simo said, I guess you are just truly amazing Christians. I have never seen others like you—so strong in your faith, so free in the spirit, and having so much love for each other!
To wrap things up, Neda piped in: Okay, guys, let’s give them a break. They don’t have to do the communion like other churches or traditions. What they did was in fact exactly how the first Christians did communion—just like the Agape Christians in the catacombs. It was very Biblically and historically correct—with the songs, and hugs and kisses, and the passing of the bread and wine from hand to hand. So stop comparing them with how other churches do it. They do it the way it should be done!
We just listened to her and felt, Why, thank you! Slava na Boga! (Bulgarian for PTL!), as coming from her that comment meant a lot, with the strong Orthodox scholastic training that she had received.
ANOTHER UNEXPECTED VICTORY
In the new weapons class, at one point I turned towards Peter and asked him, Would you like to cover the Loving Jesus one? as I was feeling bad that he hadn’t done so much talking in that particular class. The idea was that while I wrapped up talking about the other weapons, he would take a little time to get together some Bible verses and gather his thoughts on how to present it. Peter, however, very politely said, Oh, but Rosa, you are doing so well. It’s okay if you finish this one too. But I understood that he would do it, so he went ahead. In my mind talking about LJ was not a big deal; it was just a matter of ticking the last new weapon off the list and wrapping up the class.
Peter did very well explaining the LJ weapon. His presentation was clear, supported by the right Bible verses; the sheep understood it and received it very well, too. Then we went on with the rest of the activities of the day.
By 11:30 PM we were officially done with the last day of our camp and Peter, Clair, and I were exhausted and plopped on the living room couches in the CM bungalow. As we began chit-chatting about the events of the day, and praising the Lord for the fun victories in our sheep’s lives and attitudes, Peter turned to me and surprised me by saying, Rosa, I don’t think you even realize what you did to me today in that meeting!
My heart sank, Uh-oh, what did I do?
No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong. You simply didn’t take no for an answer. You know, when the LJ Revelation came out, I had a real trial comprehending it. So I had just tied it up in a bundle of faith and it had stayed there on the corner shelf up until the moment today when I had to explain it to the sheep. I was prepared to explain every other new weapon, except that one, and that’s exactly the one you asked me to do. I know you did it because you wanted me to teach too, except that I really didn’t feel like doing that one. But no, you wouldn’t let me get out of it. Or should I say, the Lord wanted me to face it finally, as I know you had no clue of what was going on inside of me.
I prayed so desperately, and I asked the Lord to help me not to fail the sheep. And as I was flipping through Word Basics looking for the right verses to share with them, everything clicked all of a sudden! Just like that! I understood it! It all made sense! The Lord punched through somehow and now I see. And I feel liberated, Rosa. I feel happy, and I feel at peace. Thank you!
I was in complete awe listening to him, but my heart was rejoicing, as the realization of the big victory won in his life was dawning on me.Don’t thank me, I told him. I didn’t do a thing. If anything I was completely oblivious that I was being too pushy with you, and I should probably apologize for not being sensitive enough, Lord help me!
Well, I guess, the Lord used it all and I’m so thankful for what He did in my heart this afternoon, Peter said.
I was so happy. I felt the Lord not only was working on our sheep, but He was obviously making sure the shepherds didn’t have any breaches in their armor either. Praise the Lord! And besides that, I respected Peter even more for having the humility to share this with me. God bless him!
The CHERRY ON TOP—44 SOULS
Since we had two vehicles available, and all of us fit in them, the Lord led us to help drive the sheep back to their homes. That was a blessing, as it would have been very difficult for them to carry all the bags of clothes, provisioning, and jars of tomato sauce (courtesy of Mark and Mercy, Austria), which Clair and Peter had brought for them and they were taking to their flocks and families.
Peter, Clair, and I were the team to take Simo back to his place (and then they dropped me at my mom’s place which is only half an hour drive from his town). When we got to his place, though, he wouldn’t let us go till we had some food at his house first—according to their tradition. But by the time the food was ready, guess what happened? Word had spread very quickly that there were some visitors at the pastor’s place and within 20 minutes about 40-some people had gathered in his yard to say hello!
They waited patiently for us to finish eating, and then we were overwhelmed by 40 sets of arms hugging us. Simo pleaded with us: Please, you have to say something to them. Tell them something about the Endtime. This is a great chance for them to hear the Word now that they are together.
We checked in quickly with the Boss, and He told us to tell them about salvation. After we explained salvation to them, we led them all in prayer to receive Jesus—from children to old Turkish mamas. Most of them prayed in the Muslim way of lifting their hands up as if holding a book, or covering their faces. And while they prayed, Simo cried.
BUILDING the NATIONAL CHURCH VISION
I couldn’t really share here all that transpired in the five days we spent together. It was five days with the arrival day and the day of rest and fun on the beach after the classes. They loved this, as it gave them some extra time to just be around us and enjoy our fellowship without the heavy spiritual input.
But to be honest, what we had that one week at this camp was my idea of a nice Home —small in size, and nonstop pouring out. And when reading the GN on The Family’s Future and Expansion program (ML #3308, GN908), I couldn’t help thinking of the experience the Lord gave us in Bulgaria. Everyone on the team is involved in some way with feeding the sheep, who are right there with you. Therefore there is no time for problems, as you have a few pairs of eyes constantly watching you and looking up to you to learn the right way to be a Christian. What better motivation for your team to handle any problems or frictions as soon as they come up?
Also, because of the great spiritual demand on each one, everyone was desperate for times of reading the Word. That was another thing that kept us united—we had to fight to read the Word and have devotions. Thank God for Kay, who kept sending me files of the New Wine, so we had fresh new stuff to read as a team. Under such circumstances the New Wine takes on a whole new meaning to you and your survival.
As the meetings progressed, and as the sheep absorbed more in the spirit and got to know us better, they grew enough to where we could talk with them as our teammates. And gradually this camp turned into a TW meeting where the CM team was counseling with the local labor leaders about the possibilities and the future of our work together and how to reach Bulgaria in this new day and age. The good thing about it is that the team of labor leaders we had present has very much the vision of evangelizing and building a work. So as we shared with them the new spiritual truths and methods and taught them the new weapons, they taught us about the needs of the field and gave us insight where to begin. This made the camp a very fruitful meeting.
We gave them the vision of training others and having a larger vision in their respective ministries—not only simply continuing to feed their sheep, but to also keep an eye out for more labor leaders who they can pass on the truths they’ve learned to and train them to become their co-workers and give them in turn the vision to train others.
We also discussed their individual ministries to see how we can help them in them. The needs of the flocks they take care of are so different. We talked about what kind of lit they would need and what tools they would like to see and also what kind of feeding they would need to receive. Peter and Clair took notes of these conversations and of what they would need to start preparing for them.
It also seems more tools would have to be translated—for example, our national church labor leaders requested the Countdown to Armageddon video, which they were very interested in using. They also requested more songs in Bulgarian —the Memory Book tapes, but not even professionally done, simply the songs sung in Bulgarian so they could learn the words and the tunes and teach their sheep.
They also shared their needs as far as provisioning and requested help with it, as the people they help and take care of are very poor—Misho’s orphanage, Simo’s Turkish churches and the children in them (whom he was very concerned about), as well as Zara’s family and church and neighbors.
So much to do, and so much potential! This is definitely very different from the way the work was done there in the past. Even the people the Lord is raising up for us to work with now and train are very different than those who we used to work with in the past. But the vision is great.
We gave the vision to those four gathered together that they are the special core of a new type of church—a church of leaders. Well, it wasn’t really our idea—it was the Lord’s, Who had said it in a prophecy about them. What comes to my mind is the cell vision type of church. And I think they got the point and were very happy and inspired to be a part of this special move of the spirit in Bulgaria. But they would definitely need some further help and direction and shepherding.
Before closing the seminar we also explained to them about having wisdom once they go back to their homes and churches—to be careful how they share what they’ve learned with us, so as not to blow away their flocks, but rather to help them grow up. We also encouraged them to give the basics in the Word to someone they lead to the Lord, and a good foundation in the faith before introducing to them the heavy meat we had shared with them.
Simo asked us towards the end, So do you believe that we will one day have a big Family church in Bulgaria?
To which we replied, We don’t know about ‘big,’ ha! But as far as a church, we definitely hope so!
Love, Rosa
From Abe, Europe
At the Cat Camp in Romania(held in July, 2000, two weeks before the Bulgarian OW camp), we had 19 attendees. They were mostly catacombers but also live-outs from Romania, Moldova, Belorussia, and Bulgaria, and ranged in age from 17 to 28. Four were FMers who had not been able to join the CM Family due to 10:36 problems. Some are students; others have jobs ranging from factory workers and salespersons to computer programmers and office workers.
The catacombers have been fellowshipping and working with about ten different Homes, who also sent representatives to help in the shepherding as well as to help staff the meetings.
The Lord led us not to make the goal of this meeting to encourage them to drop out and join the CM Family, but rather to teach them how to be leaders of a National Church wherever they are. Here is an excerpt from a prophecy the Lord gave us: This is the final goal, to establish strong leaders who will be able to lead others and feed themselves and survive and be fruitful during the days to come. This is the ultimate goal.
So, with this in mind we tried to teach them and bring them along further in their relationship with the Lord. The Lord, of course, had His plan, as right at the camp, two of them dropped out and joined full time—both from Belorussia. One of them had no intention—nor even the slightest inclination—to join before he came, but the Lord did some wonderful things in his life during the camp, including a special experience loving Jesus after the Loving Jesus class. This experience freed him to hear from the Lord clearly about what Jesus wanted him to do with his life. TTL!