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 August/September 2002
Dear
Friends:
We hope
this letter finds you well, having found time to rest in the Lord and with your
family!
“He who is faithful in what is little is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?” (Luke 16: 10-12)
As we begin
our second year of living and ministering in Bulgaria, we thank God for the
opportunities we’ve had to share the good news and the resources by which to
share them. The doors that have been opened to us have been varied: working
with the orphans in Belogradchik, gathering and training youth pastors in
Bulgaria and Serbia, advocating for and publishing newspaper articles on the
status of religious liberty in Bulgaria, and starting a home fellowship where
leadership is actively being developed. The “little” that the Lord have given
to us has kept us busy—but even more than that, it has tested our faithfulness
to Him and to His kingdom. At this time we see the Lord giving us a little more
territory, especially in the area of Youth Ministry. This includes evangelism
to youth, training them to serve the Lord and an expansion of the current work
to abandoned children and orphans.
This is an
exciting time for us—seeing the further shaping of God’s call upon our lives.
We truly feel that we were made for “a time such as this.” We ask that your
prayers be with us, that we would be faithful with all that the Lord gives to
us…that we would be faithful in the unrighteous mammon…that we would be
faithful with what does not belong to us.
TWO
UPCOMING VISITS:
Stuart Watkins, a former missionary to Bulgaria, will visit our home group the middle of September and be a part of our first church conference. Please pray that Stuart would know a great peace and joy as he visits friends and encourages the church here in Sofia. Especially pray that the Lord would release new vision for both his work to Eastern Europe and Bulgaria specifically.
Maria
Blust, Teresa’s
mom, will also be visiting the middle of September and staying for one month.
This will be a great time for the boys, as they have dearly missed their
grandma! We plan on giving her a tour of some special sights of the country, as
well as having her participate in some aspects of our ministry. Should be fun!
Please pray for an abundance of peace and joy to be hers too during this
time. And that she would do well with the long travel that includes
three plane transfers!
Trip to Serbia: Door of Hope’s four-day Youth Pastors’ Training Seminar in
Serbia has just recently ended. Thirty youth pastors participated and the guest
teacher was once again Marv Penner from Canada. In Viktor’s very own words:
“Marv was in his element and we all had a blast!” Please pray that
Vacation Bible School: We hope you all received last month our email with the
website where you could view pictures from June’s VBS in Belogradchik. If not,
please take a look at:
We had a
blast with those dear children and felt God’s pleasure during our times of
bible study, discussion, and fun and games. We, just our family, returned a
week ago to visit the kids for a short time and see how they were all doing.
They were overjoyed to see us and begged us to return for yet another VBS!
Here’s to that! Please pray for the door to stay opened to us there and
for the needs of these abandoned and orphaned children to be meet daily! Especially
their spiritual needs!
Starting a Cooperative Kindergarten: September 15th will be
the first day of school for our little cooperative kindergarten. Five families
will join together to participate in the care and learning of their children. This
is a novel idea for Bulgarians and a pilot project. We will be using the
facilities of the Pokrov Foundation (in an Orthodox Church) and have hired a
teacher for the daily care of the children. The parents will then participate
weekly in teaching, playing and excursions. Please pray for good
communication between the families, for energy to participate since almost all
of the parents work fulltime, and great joy for the children!
New Orphan Work: We are currently working on attaining the permissions required
to enter a second orphanage in Novo Selo, NW Bulgaria. There we hope to
replicate the work we’ve been doing for the past year in Belogradchik, namely
holding weekly bible studies and a
yearly Vacation Bible School. Please pray that we would receive the
“okay” from both the regional director of orphanages and from the Novo Selo
orphanage director to begin work by the end of September. The Lord has told us
to expand and so we believe every detail will be handled by His merciful hand:
the permissions given, the finances delivered, and the children’s hearts opened
to the saving knowledge of Him.
Also, we are currently working on
the development of a Transitional Care Model for 18 year old graduate orphans:
youth who are transitioning from state care to independent life. This idea was
birthed after the VBS, when we realized that in less than 4 years many of the
orphans we have come to love will be released to a life for which they are not
prepared to live.
Each year, Bulgaria has about 300 sixteen to eighteen year olds graduating from state residential institutions. According to estimates, only about 20-30% of these young adults integrate normally into society. The others commit crime, suicide, prostitution, and abuse alcohol and drugs with resulting high costs to themselves and society. What is more, sizeable evidence exists that these youth in adulthood often replicate the same practices and in turn abandon their children.
Having grown-up without the care and protection of a family or suitable guardian, these youth are without life/vocational skills, do not know how to interact with the community, and have a limited understanding of how to find a job and apartment. Our project would be a small community-based, family-centered ministry providing these youth with a place to live, and all the things that most of us take for granted, for two years after leaving institutional life—so that they would be able to start a successful life on their own. Our hope is to purchase land, build four family homes, an independent living block, and a training center. The youth would come from the orphanages in which we already work and have established relationships. Two-to-four orphans would live per family for the first year, learning life skills, receiving emotional support and counseling, choosing and pursuing some type of vocational training or higher educational degree, and be involved in bible study. The house “moms” and “dads” would give these kids a family environment in which to heal and be responsible for giving the youth direction and support; the youth would have responsibilities of their own to fulfill; and specialized trainers would be brought in to teach in the training center. In the second year they would move-in to the independent living quarters where they would continue these activities plus begin looking outward: volunteer work in the community, job training, and exploring careers. After the second year, we would advocate on their behalf for housing and a job placement, if necessary, and release them with our blessing.
In this way these youth will be given HOPE, PREPARED
for life on their own, and hopefully show the general public that the negative
influence of institutionalization on children can be TRANSFORMED by the
love of Christ through His church.
Please pray
for wisdom as we begin this work: its development, its funding and
implementation. And pray for the orphans that would join and be given a
future and a hope through Christ’s love.
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