Viktor and Teresa Kostov
P.O. Box 81, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
phone/fax: 011 359 2 65-28-33
web site: http://kmission.homestead.com
Missionary
Newsletter March/April
2002
Dear Friends:
Thank you
for your prayers these past two months on our behalf. Your cries for help have
reached the ears of God and He has attended to your prayers. His mercy has
reached us and we have felt ourselves lifted up.
“…we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation
produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
(Romans 5:3)
We are now at a place where we can rejoice and affirm these words of St. Paul. For the Lord has indeed taken us from a place of feeling defeated to a place of being hopeful once again. The battle continues, however, we remain buoyant due to a strengthening of our faith and through your prayers. We cannot minimize the power and significance of your prayers in our lives and our work in this nation.
Crisis
in the church:
The Gathering (our
home church) hit its first relational crises. After a few weeks of broken
communication, confusion and severe misunderstandings, the pot hit its boiling
point, so to speak, and six of us (out of 10) gathered to talk. Frustrations
were shared and we discussed much what “right” relationship before one another
must look like. God was very good to us in all this – for the scenario that we
had imagined that would ensue did not take place. We had imagined a church
break-up or a full acknowledgement of the problems and repentance in the
midst of untamed arguments. Rather, peace reigned, confusion was replaced by
understanding, and a mending of wounded hearts has started taking place. It
will take time for the process of healing to be completed, however, the ground
rule of speaking the truth in love was established. This was an amazing
experience for us also because one thing became very clear: the other four
people involved have been so deeply hurt by their previous pastors (and church
leadership teams) that even the idea to talk “openly” about sin - the “elephant
in the room” - had them almost running scared. After our time ended, they sat
amazed that we could all talk openly, without trying to manipulate or control
one another’s thoughts, and end with a common understanding and a greater love
for each other. For us it became clear
that this struggle was all about God showing them and us that there exists
another model of “doing” church: one without cover-ups and spiritual strong-arming.
Strongholds: After our struggles with feeling
defeated and very broken these past months, the Lord convicted both of us to
begin praying daily (at least five days a week) for one hour for revival to
come to Bulgaria. The strongholds are numerous over this nation, and they will
not be broken without much prayer and revelation from God. We are committed to
this time of prayer and are beginning to encourage other Christians to also
begin praying for revival and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon this dry
and thirsty land. We know He is able to save those who are covered by disgrace
and shame, who have sinned against God from their youth, and who have not
obeyed the voice of the Lord. Hope exists for this nation and its people. May
the hearts of the people of this nation be washed from wickedness so that they
may be saved!
Prayer
Support Team: We are thankful for your concern for our
effort and the Lord’s work in prayer!
Anything that we have achieved here for the gospel is because of your faithful
support and prayer. There are days when
we can literally sense the grace that covers us because of the praying
saints! We would like, however, to ask
you to pray for us on a weekly basis—that you commit at least half an hour a
week to pray for our work here so that we may clearly proclaim the gospel of
Jesus Christ and become more effective in knowing Him. If you can commit that half hour please
inform us by e-mail. Thus becoming a
part of our Prayer Support Team we will send you specific prayer requests as
needs arise. Those e-mails will be much
shorter and will contain praise reports and prayer requests. Please, consider this with the Lord and let
us know. We need your prayers!
For Viktor’s health: on top of an ongoing sinus infection, he now has
allergies. The symptoms are an itchy
throat, runny nose, and watery eyes. We
think it is a new reaction to the dust and pollution found everywhere in Sofia,
including in our apartment! He is often uncomfortable and tired at the end of
the day from coughing, sneezing and blowing his nose. We are hoping that the
Lord would heal this rather than Viktor having to take meds which would limit
his ability to drive.
For the new/old Center for Religious Freedom project: due to a complex of reasons, we
are overhauling the goals of the CRF. It will be a resource web-site on
religious liberty and serve as a support to Christians persecuted for the faith
in Bulgaria and eventually throughout the world. We have received our first
donations from donors in Canada and will begin the work by researching and
creating the informative web-site. We are also in the process of applying for
grants from foundations for the continuance of this work. Please pray that the
Lord would lead us and that the doors would be opened.
Missions 2002: our good friends at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, Jane
and Mike Ingalls, are working at pulling together a team of at least 10 people
to come to Bulgaria this June/July for missions. At this point the team is
struggling to reach the necessary 10 people. Please pray that the Lord would
gather the missionaries and send them out to us! What a blessing their presence
would be for us and the Bulgarians they would serve this summer.
Orphan work branching out: the Lord is good and continues to provide for our
needs to serve and love the orphans in NW Bulgaria. We are at a point both in
terms of finances and youth worker commitment to begin working in a second
orphanage. We ask that you pray for the door to open at a second orphanage in
the area surrounding Vidin where our
three youth workers live. We will soon begin visiting and speaking to
the directors of several orphanages to see where we would be welcomed to enter
and hold Bible studies with the children, as well as assisting to meet their
physical needs.
Vidin Conference April 19-21: Viktor and Ivo, an elder of our
home church, will be traveling to Vidin at the end of the month to teach at
Petra Church’s Prophetic Conference. Please pray that they would know how to go
about teaching and training in the use of the prophetic gifting the believers
at the conference, so that they would be thoroughly equipped for every good
work (Ephesians 4:11-13). God used the
operation of prophetic gifts to release truth, repentance, cleansing and vision
in the small congregation and in the lives of individual believers. The prophetic word we gave them last
Christmas, that they are called to be a “city on a hill, visible to the
unbelievers” and that they “will move into a new place of meeting soon” was
confirmed and fulfilled in part. As of
this month the church left the old “sanctuary” --a former book-shop--which
hardly fit 40 people, and moved into a new hall with 80 seats at a more central
location overlooking the area from the 2nd floor.
Starting a Cooperative Kindergarten: Two families and ourselves are
beginning to talk about opening a kindergarten cooperative (with a high level
of parent participation) that would eventually turn into a homeschooling
network. The other two families are our orthodox friends, Plamen and Illiana
Sivovi and Maria and Mitko Spasovi. We are currently partnering with them
(their foundation, Pokrov, has granted us funds for the orphans’ VBS this
summer) in the Father’s Heart project to the orphans, so this would be an
extension of our work together. Please pray for wisdom and God’s guidance as we
share ideas about starting such a radical “school.” The idea of quality over
quantity, the process of learning over grades, teaching practical life-skills
and Christian values, and being a part of your child’s schooling experience is
a foreign concept in this country. These families have had a change of
heart/thinking as they’ve seen the inability of their children to flourish in
the public kindergarten and seeing the insensitivity and ambivalence of the
teacher’s to their children’s well-being.
The family: Spring has begun to “spring” in Bulgaria and this is a
source of great joy to Danny and Matty. We are venturing out into the nearby
forest almost daily, conducting science experiments. Just last week they
collected some earthworms and made some bedding for them to live in – it’s all
kept in their bedroom! Danny had a great 6th birthday – we spent the
weekend in Plovdiv and ate at McDonalds twice. Can a 6 year old ask for more?
His favorite birthday gift thus far was a red fish he called ‘Pepper’ and
which, the very next morning, was found “sleeping” at the bottom of his bowl.
He took the death of his pet very well and is waiting for us to get the chance
to go to pet store (or zoo store as they call them in Bulgaria) and find
another red fish.
As always, we love you and are thankful for
you and your faithfulness to us. What an encouragement you are to us and our
ministry in Bulgaria.
With the warmest of regards,
Viktor, Teresa, and the boys
To support
us financially, please send checks to: Door of Hope International S-15, PO Box
303, Glendale, CA 91209-9984. Visit our web site for our mission
statement, our vision, photos, and additional information: http://kmission.homestead.com