Viktor and Teresa Kostov home phone: 011 359 2 65-28-33
web site: http://kmission.homestead.com e-mail:
vikkostov@hotmail.com
Missionary
Newsletter August 2001
Dear
Friends:
Do
not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts
do not think evil of each other. (Zechariah 7:10)
It is without a doubt that the
prophet put the care for the needy and the attitude of our
thoughts toward our brother together for a reason. As I observe life in Bulgaria, I come to
realize that an evil thought, envy toward your brother, is hardly the
heart-soil for charity, kindness and mercy toward the oppressed. The passions of strife are so consuming
that, in this needless battle, all vision of true spirituality loses its
sharpness. This predicament is true in
the secular society here, it is true also in the church. Oppression in terms similar to those of
which Zechariah spoke about abound. And
the only light in the tunnel, the only salt in the bland and godless life of
Bulgarians, is a Christian church that lives what it believes. And does so without strife against one
another. A noticeable example of such a
church here is still to come to life.
And the spirits of fear, discouragement and discord are so strong
against Christian unity that every small step in that direction seems to me
like a big victory. It is no joke when
the Bible speaks that only those who overcome will be saved. May God give us grace all the way through,
as Jars of Clay would put it!
IN THIS ISSUE:
MINISTRY REPORTS
NEEDS
AND PERSONAL PRAYER REQUESTS
VW
We are thankful for so many things
this month...We purchased a sound second-hand car imported from Germany—a
simple yet spacious and well-kept VW. The constant travel by bus and foot
proved extremely exhausting and expensive both within Sofia and traveling out
to the country. Buying a good, second-hand car in Bulgaria can be a scary
thing, but with the help of God and a friend knowledgeable with cars, we found
one that will serve us well as we minister throughout Bulgaria. But in order to meet this need, and due to
lack of a reserve fund, we had to borrow the larger portion of the money we
needed for the purchase. Thus, we would
ask you to pray that God, who has His hand on all resources, help us clear this
financial obligation. Some of you may
wonder how wise it was to take credit to buy a vehicle. We carefully went through pros and cons
regarding buying a car. We prayed about
it. And even as we went through the
details of finding a reliable vehicle from an honest seller, checking it out
and taking it through registration and insurance (all time-consuming and
effort-demanding tasks here) we sensed the favor of the Lord. It would be great also to have your prayers
that our God provides for the completion of what we felt was the right way to
go about this issue and repay the loan back quickly.
THE BED IS COMING!
We praise God that we finally got a
hold of our agents and got the shipment of our personal stuff back on
track. Due to some personal issues and
changing companies, our US agent had missed to fax some documents to her
European counterpart and the items remained in storage for a month in Rotterdam,
Holland. Now things seem to be in
motion again and we are hoping to get our dear bed and the rest of our
earthly belongings next week. I know
that we may seem fleshly with our excitement about our bed but
sleeping on an air mattress has its limits as a worthy sacrifice for the
Kingdom.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS.
PRAY MORE!
The pressures of life here are
noticeable. Since we arrived, my dear
partner in life and a servant of our Lord has counted three white hairs on my
head and several more in my beard.
This could mean three things – I am getting wiser, I am getting older,
or I am just getting frustrated.
Whichever of those is true is not really a concern of mine. I just know that as long as we are bathed in
the prayer of the saints, and this is to say we need your prayers, things won’t
get out of control. We have seen
difficult situations get resolved in somewhat illogical ways, yet entirely in
our favor. Thank you for your
intercession and if you have a special burden to pray for our work here on a
regular basis, please let us know as we would update you with more
specifics.
WE NEED A VACATION
We hope that you all have been able to enjoy a time of rest with family and friends this summer. As yet we have not had our summer break, but come the first week in September and we are off to the seaside with two other families. We are excited at the prospect of building sandcastles with the kids -or perhaps being buried by the kids- and playing in the waters of the Black Sea. The waves here are no match for the Pacific surf ,but we will take any time off with family and friends in God’s beautiful creation to refresh ourselves.
VBS STILL ON HOLD
As some of you already know, the Vacation Bible School at the "Hope" orphanage scheduled for late July was put on hold. We had applied and were granted full funds through a Bulgarian nonprofit for the VBS. One of the requirements to receive the funds was that the foundation be given approval letters from the Director of the Hope orphanage and from the Inspector on Social Affairs of that region. As we expected, the Inspector told us all activities with the orphanage had to be stopped until she received clearance from "Sofia" - the capital. Viktor went last week to meet with her personally, to introduce himself, explain the VBS, and provide her with an itinerary. Although the lady seemed impressed with our program and willing to help in a timely fashion, as of this writing she has not contacted us or given us the letter of clearance that we need to go ahead with the project. Viktor held a three-hour seminar of training for the volunteers and youth workers from Petra church last month and had planned a second one right before the event. Unfortunately, with the delay of the VBS, we had to indefinitely postpone the training, too. Please, keep this issue in your prayers as the Lord loves the orphans and wants them to hear and experience the gospel of Jesus. The encouraging news is that the seeds of the gospel were not sown in vain. There are at least four girls from the orphanage who have given their life to Christ as a result of the Christian work we've done so far with the help of Church Petra of Vidin. These girls visit regularly the nearby churches and were (or will be) baptized in water this month.
YLTS
My (Viktor) current and most
demanding task is seeing the Youth Leadership Training Seminar happen. I am responsible for the organization of the
seminar and the work has intensified lately as details in doing business here
have the tendency to get lost between the cracks. The seminar is interdenominational and we are trying to pull
together youth leaders and workers from the whole country. The goal is to challenge youth workers to
grasp a new, more mission-oriented vision for reaching the lost youth of Bulgaria. Bred within an evangelicalism in which
survival and rivalry were the main features, mission and outreach are much
needed assets in youth leadership and the work with young people here. We are hoping that bringing qualified and
anointed youth teachers from North America will be the first step in building
up a new passion and a new vision in ministering to the young generation in
this nation.
MEN’S PRAYER
Today was the first prayer
breakfast. I get together with two
brothers with whom I have shared the idea of starting a Christian home fellowship. Although Bulgarians culturally are not used
to committing to regular events or working from a schedule, we
reached an agreement that this will be a weekly prayer meeting. We had a sweet time of sharing, getting to
know each other, and prayer and worship.
Please, pray that out of this small group will grow a strong Christian
gathering with strong relationships, accountable leadership, and missionary
zeal.
Dear friends, thank you again for
your prayers and sharing of your financial blessings with us so the work which
the Lord has entrusted to us here can go on!
Receive our love and the abundant blessings in Christ through His
Spirit,
Vik, Tes and the boys
Sofia, Bulgaria
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, and
additional information: http://kmission.homestead.com