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 May/June
2002
Dear Friends:
Thank you
for your prayers…we feel them and we thank the Lord for continuing to impress
us upon your hearts.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:10-11.
It is not power against power in the battle of
light against darkness. It is the power
of the cross of Jesus against cunning.
Only by deception can the devil overcome us, who have been reconciled to
God by the blood of Jesus. The enemy
has been stripped of all power.
However, he is a master deceiver and often the people of God fall for
his tricks. But God has given us the
light of His word and the work of His Spirit to overcome “the devil’s
schemes.” We are learning this every
day in our life and work in Bulgaria.
An
encouraging visit from a missionary from Wales
Liz, a
former missionary to Bulgaria, visited our home group toward the end of May.
She shared with us her heart, hope and vision for Bulgaria. It was about being
humble ministers of the Lord and coming against the spirits that rule this
nation with the opposite spirit, that of love and joy and generosity. During her visit, it became more clear to us
how the enemy tries to discourage any change in this nation. All servants of God are threatened with two
choices: to be subject to the rules the devil already has set in place or to
leave. However, we sensed in prayer God’s desire to strengthen us so that we
may stand firmly against the powers of darkness and shine in this dark nation.
We ask that you pray for Liz and her family in Wales - that the healing work which the Lord has begun He would bring
to completion and that revival would break out soon in Wales. And pray that we
who love the Lord here in Bulgaria would become humble, strong, and shine
brightly for His glory.
Health issues: Viktor’s second-run with antibiotics for his chronic sinus
infection seems to be working for now. Teresa and the kids are also back
on-track. Thank you for your prayers!
Religious Liberty: Viktor just finished a 25-page report and analysis on
the three religious bills introduced in the Bulgarian parliament. This report
was requested by the Commission on Human Rights and Religious Denominations in
the parliament. The Center for Religious Freedom (CRF)--a project of Door of
Hope International which Viktor manages--will take the credit for this work.
Viktor has invited two other Christian attorneys, as advisors to the Center, to
give their opinion on the report.
The document itself (my report) is highly critical of two of the draft laws for
introducing a high level of control of believers and their organizations and
expression of faith. In practice, if these bills become laws and are strictly
applied, they will introduce religious police and conscience control
unprecedented since the era of communist dictatorship. For example, one of the
bills introduces a fine of approx. $250 for preaching without a license from a
religious institution registered with the state (for comparison: an average
salary in Bulgaria is $120). The other demands that all religious teaching be
approved by the state. This would mean that even all private Bible studies and
Sunday School lessons will have to be submitted to the officials for approval!
On behalf of the CRF Viktor is urging the legislators to radically rethink the
concept of how they are treating religion and believers and their right to
freedom of practicing their faith. We are insisting that the right to
evangelize people of other faiths be specifically introduced in a new
legislature. Any new law, the report states, should not be a "Law on
Religion" but a "Law on Religious Liberty"--meaning that it will
have to reinforce the religious freedom already given by the Bulgarian
Constitution and the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (part of internal Bulgarian law) and not re-define those
rights in a lesser law.
We will
appreciate your prayers for wisdom on how to promote and publish this position
and that the National Assembly will take into consideration the views of
adopting an unrestricted operation of conscience and faith which Viktor
endorses in the report. The goal that we look to, and so does the CRF project,
is to make sure that the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will face no
legal opposition or restriction in the nation of Bulgaria. Such restrictions
are a present and clear danger because of the possible introducing of a
backward legislature on the matters of freedom of conscience and religion. Your
prayers will help the effort of CRF, and other similar efforts done by
Christians, to successfully counter the demands of the kingdom of darkness
against our mission which is to make Jesus known to those who need him.
Vacation Bible School: We will be in Belogradchik June 17-21 with a group from
the church Petra (Vidin) to have fun and minister the love of Jesus to the
orphans there. We have been planning and waiting for this first VBS for a year
now. We have overcome many obstacles this past year: finances, raising up a
youth worker’s team, the director of the orphanage agreeing to this
ministry….now that the weather is warming up again, we’re set to go! Thank you
for having prayed for the weekend training with the youth workers and volunteers
from Vidin, all went well…beyond well infact! Do continue to pray that the
children, even the director and teachers, would open their hearts and minds to
the good news of Jesus Christ. We are praying for lives to be saved and changed
forever!
Belene: On Saturday, June 1, Viktor went to Belene – an island in the Danube –
for a meeting of the survivors of that former island
prison. The communists used
Belene as a prison for political and religious prisoners. It was a horrible
place with thousands having suffered torture and death on that island. Haralan Popov, the founder of the mission agency we
work with here in Bulgaria, spent some of his 13 years in prison there on the
island. He was able to interview and videotape former prisoners, most of them persecuted
for political reasons. Our hope to is take this raw footage, along with other
interviews to be shot in the future, and put together a small documentary film.
Please, pray that this project would be funded and completed by the end of this
year. It’s purpose will be to reveal the buried truths on which the past of the
nation is built: injustice, treachery, greed, fear and crime.
Vidin Conference April 19-21: Viktor and Ivo had a blast
ministering at the Prophetic Conference in Vidin. We walked out in faith, teaching on the prophetic gift as a way
of strengthening the Body of Christ and building up the saints for
ministry. However, the Holy Spirit
exceeded our expectations! He was
eager, even more than us, ministers, to bless his people, speak to their
hearts, and encourage them to overcome in faith while living in the harsh
reality of Vidin. I took a very
pragmatic approach—what I had read in the Scriptures and books, what I had seen
other prophetic ministers do in the US, I took into account, molded it to fit
who I am and took the risk to speak in faith. And the result was the people of
God were liberated by the Holy Spirit, who supernaturally revealed the
struggles of their hearts, and showed them that He cares! As the Bible states, whoever prophesies let
him prophesy according to his faith. We
did just that and we saw the Lord move!
I believe that the Lord will enhance the use of the prophetic gift to
bless his saints in Bulgaria and release them into the ministry of the harvest
of souls!
Starting a Cooperative Kindergarten: We have been offered to use, free
of charge, space in the church offices of the Pokrov Foundation. There is
enough space indoors that we could easily start with 8 children from the
interested families. The outdoors playground is huge and the possibilities are
infinite. The Pokrov Foundation has an excellent relationship with the priest
of the church (Orthodox) and so we are welcome to work there. Please pray for
the upcoming talks we will need to have regarding expectations for the
teaching/care of our children as well as the area of moral/religious teaching.
Since those interested come from orthodox and differing protestant
denominations, we want God’s wisdom and love and unity to reign.
The family: This week Viktor finishes off his Fuller online course…it
has proven to be quite demanding amidst his regular workload. He is looking
forward to a break from schoolwork! ● Teresa and the kids continue to
press onward in the language learning area. Please pray for God to grant them
grace and that they would keep the task of learning this second language in
perspective. ● We are looking forward to a family vacation and plan on
taking ten days off in the beginning of July. Danny and Matty want to hit the
beach at the Black Sea – so we’ll probably rent a beach bungalow and let them
pick seashells and chase seagulls until their hearts burst with joy. We hope
you have a blessed summer vacation as well!
Trip to Serbia. Viktor has to plan
a visit to go to Serbia to help organize the youth leadership seminar which
will be held there in September.
Please, pray for finances and wisdom in planning.
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