Hospitality at its Finest

Hallelujah, Slava na Boga and Slava na Aveska

This morning we visited the Black Sea. There were so many different races, ethnicities and languages in one place. I girl approached us to buy a ticket to a party train. We of coursed declined, but she did ask us if we were from the UK. We replied, "No, we are from the United States.". She was shocked and taken back. I kind of wonder if we were the first American's she has ever met.

That night we visited a village called Karnobat. During worship a little boy played air guitar like no one's business while Ben, Russ and Jameson were playing. He loved every minute of it.



Air guitar like no other!

The pastor and his wife hosted us after the service for a  full meal. I was overwhelmed by their hospitality! As soon as we walked in - the tears came flooding. I could not believe all the work put into this meal for us. We were supposed to be there serving them and they were serving us! There is an American military base near the village. This base employs most of the Roma villagers. This village is better off than most of the villages we visited. This by no means takes away the value of the meal provided to us! We were so thankful for the hot meal of chicken, shopska (aka house salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and white cheese), roasted potatoes, cinnamon bread, Danish wedding cookies and homemade baklava. Everything bite of it was delectably amazing! When dinner was finished and we returned to the vans, we equated that the meal was probably half of their monthly wages. Wow! We felt so humbled by their generosity. During the drive, Dinko told us that the American general on the base would come speak to the Romas and knows them all by name. He said this was so special to the Roma people because most Bulgarians do not acknowledge them. he said the Bulgarians think Romas are half human and half animal. This ignorance is so shocking to me. I wonder if this was what it was like between the blacks and whites during slavery. The positive note was the American general that is loving on these people. Why can't stories like this make the news instead of only bad things?

Shopska "House" Salad

Meal from the generous hospitality of the Karnobat'a Pastor's wife. It was delicious!